Macrobius. the Saturnalia 9780231885911

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Al A C R O B I U S :

the SAtußnaliA

NUMBER

L X X I X OF THE

RECORDS OF C I V I L I Z A T I O N S O U R C E S AND S T U D I E S

MACROBIUS

t h e SAtuRnaLiA TRANSLATED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

by Percival Vaughan Davies

N E W YORK A N D L O N D O N

C O L U M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS 1969

Copyright © 1969 Columbia University Press Library of Congress Card Number: 67-16233 Printed in The Netherlands

RECORDS OF CIVILIZATION. SOURCES AND S T U D I E S Edited under the Auspices of the Department Columbia University

of

History

GENERAL EDITOR

W . T . H. Jackson, Professor

of German and

History

PAST EDITORS

1915-1926 James T . Shotwell, Bry ce Professor Emeritus of the History of International Relations 1926-1953 Austin P. Evans, Professor of

History

1953-1962 Jacques Barzun, Seth Loiv Professor

of

History

E D I T O R : EUROPEAN RECORDS

W . T . H. Jackson, Professor

of German and

History

CONSULTING E D I T O R S : EUROPEAN RECORDS

Gerson D. Cohen, Associate Professor of History Gilbert Highet, Anthon Professor of Lathi Language and Literature Gerhart B. Ladner, Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles Paul O. Kristeller, Professor of Philosophy John H. Mundy, Professor of History on the Matheivs Foundation Jacob W . Smit, Queen Wilhelmina Lecturer and Associate Professor of Germanic Languages E D I T O R : ORIENTAL RECORDS

Wm. Theodore de Bary, Horace Walpole Carpentier Oriental Studies

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CONSULTING EDITORS." EUROPEAN RECORDS

Ainslie T . Embree, Associate Professor of Indian History Chih-tsing Hsia, Associate Professor of Chinese Donald Keene, Professor of Japanese Ivan Morris, Professor of Japanese Burton Watson, Associate Professor of Chinese C. Martin Wilbur, Professor of Chinese History SPECIAL EDITOR FOR THIS V O L U M E

Thomas A. Suits, Associate Professor of Classics, University of Connecticut

of

TO T H E M E M O R Y

OF

ROBINSON ELLIS S O M E T I M E P R O F E S S O R OF T H E L A T I N LANGUAGE AND

LITERATURE

IN T H E U N I V E R S I T Y OF O X F O R D

Nolis dicere nil valere nimm

tRAnslAtoß's pRefAce

of the Saturnalia of Macrobius was made from the text of Eyssenhardt's second edition (Teubner, Leipzig, 1893). B y the time that the new Teubner text had been published, in 1963, the translation had been completed; but two readings proposed by its Editor have been adopted, and each has been duly acknowledged in a footnote. T h e rest of the footnotes are of three kinds: ( 1 ) Brief explanatory notes. ( T w o additional notes, too long for inclusion as footnotes, have been placed, as Appendix A and Appendix B, at the end of the translation.) (2) References to passages in Greek and Latin authors and to certain books, to some of which an amateur of the classics might perhaps care to turn. These references are not meant to be anything like a full list of sources and parallels: for such information a reader should turn to Jan's edition and to the new Teubner text. THIS TRANSLATION

(3) References (Λ) to the medieval authors Bede and John of Salisbury, made because both writers used the Saturnalia·, and (b) to Isidore of Seville, for his place as a connecting link between ancient and medieval scholarship. A third appendix (Appendix C) contains references to lines in Homer, Lucretius, and Vergil, wherein the reading cited by Macrobius differs from that of the Oxford Classical Text. In seeking to render into English the excerpts from Homer and Vergil the translator has chosen stare super antiquas vias·, nevertheless he is not unaware that there are some who may well prefer versions in a modern idiom, and they have their remedy. T h e renderings here offered of these excerpts have little, if any, claim to originality, being for the most part recollections of earlier reading and borrowings from or adaptations of translations to be found in well-known works. Columbia University Press has had the index compiled in ac-

χ

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

cordance with its usual indexing standards and practiccs, utilizing material of a lengthier manuscript index prepared by the translator. T h e Editors of the series and the Press have determined, in accordance with the practice of other volumes in the series and with the requirements of space and expense, how much of the text of the original could be included in the translation. In addition to a due recognition of the books named in the bibliography and notes, grateful acknowledgment is made of the help given throughout by Dr. Thomas A. Suits, who undertook the exacting task of "Special Editor" in the project and whose scholarship and taste have, time and again, come to the rescue. P. V. D.

Tunbridge Wells, Kent January, 1968

Contents Introduction The Author and His Writings

ι

The Saturnalia

2

The Characters in the Dialogue

3

The Dialogue

13

The Vergilian Criticism

17

The Saturnalia in the Middle Ages

23

Macrobius: The Saturnalia Book ι

26

Book 2

159

Book 3

189

Book 4

254

Book 5

282

Book 6

385

Book 7

440

Appendix A:

Doctors and Dons

Appendix B:

Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism .

519 .

.

520

Appendix C: Lines from Homer, Lucretius, and Vergil Where the Text of Macrobius Differs from the Oxford Classical Text

522

Selected Bibliography

529

Index of Citations: Homer, Lucretius, Vergil

533

General Index

541

ìntpoòuction T H E A U T H O R A N D HIS

WRITINGS

is known for certain of Macrobius is that he had a son, Eustachius, to whom he dedicated two of the works which pass under his name, and that he was not a native of Italy but had been "born under an alien sky" 1 —the many references to Egypt in his Saturnalia suggesting that he may perhaps have been a native of that country. In most of the manuscripts he is called Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius (the order of the names varies), vir clarissimus et illustris, and the official titles lend some probability to an identification of the man with the Macrobius to whom reference is made in the Theodosian Code as Vicar of Spain, 399 A.D., Proconsul of Africa, 410 A.D., and Grand Chamberlain (praepositus sacri cubiculi), 422 A.D.2 It is not unlikely that he is the scholarly Theodosius to whom the fabulist Avianus (or Avienus) dedicated his work. 3 A L L THAT

Although the works of Macrobius contain no reference to Christianity, he may have been a Christian; and a holder of the office of praepositus sacri cubiculi would have had, officially, to accept the new State religion. But such official acceptance of Christianity by Macrobius would not necessarily be inconsistent with the genuine sympathy with the old religion, which his apparent connection with staunch supporters of paganism would seem to imply.4 Three works attributed to Macrobius are extant: excerpts from a 1 Saturnalia, preface, 11. Stalli (pp. 4-5) summarizes the conjectures which have been made about Macrobius' birthplace. - Codex Theodosianus 16. 10. 15; 1 1 . 28. 6; 6. 8. 1. T h e Code also mentions a Macrobius w h o was fined in 400 A.D. f o r making unauthorized use of the public posting service (8. 5. 6 1 ) , an abuse which the Macrobius of 16. 10. 15 was required, in 399, to check. 3 Robinson Ellis, ed., The Fables of Avianus, pp. xvii-xix, xxx. 4 Stahl, pp. 6-9. In this connection it may be noted that there are no traces of Christianity in the Fables of Avianus.

2

INTRODUCTION'

grammatical treatise (dedicated to a certain Symmachus) on the differences and affinities of the Greek and Latin verb; a Neoplatonist commentary on Cicero's Somnitem Scipionis·, and a considerable part of a longer work, the Saturnalia.

THE

SATURNALIA

The causes of the decline of Latin literature were many and by interaction would be cumulative in their effects. Perhaps the two most potent causes were the growing gap between the spoken and the written word (as Latin gradually developed into the Romance languages and dialects) and the discouraging of original creation by the retention of rhetoric, with its stock themes, as the staple of education long after such training had ceased to have much practical value.5 Certainly education under the Empire, so far from fostering original work, tended rather to stereotype literature and to produce that "cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators" which, in Gibbon's view,· at that time "darkened the face of learning". Nettleship, too, in a lecture on Aulus Gellius, with whose Nodes Atticae Macrobius would have been acquainted, has referred to "the passion for making epitomes, selections, florilegia, and miscellanies of all kinds" which "arose among the Romans in the first century after Christ, and continued in activity for a long subsequent period";7 and the Saturnalia, it must be confessed, is one of the results of this activity. The work is in the form of an imaginary dialogue. In the preface to it the author says that his aim is to put his wide and varied reading at the disposal of his son and so to provide him with a store of 5 See H. Bardon, La Littérature Latine Inconnue, II, Chap. 6, who refers also to the absence of imperial or private patronage of letters, to the effects of the barbarian invasions, to the supersession of Rome as the administrative capital of the Empire, and to the hostility of Christianity to pagan literature. See also F. H. Dudden. The Life and Times of St. Ambrose, I, io-n. • E. Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chap. 2. ' Nettleship, Essays in Latin Literature, p. 248.

INTRODUCTION

3

useful information. H e expressly disclaims any literary merit for the work, since it is intended to be no more than a collection of things which he considers to be worth knowing; and it would seem in fact to consist of extracts from notebooks containing excerpts from writers whom he had read.8 Like the Nodes Atticae, then, the Saturnalia has preserved much anonymous and other material which would otherwise have been lost; and, in addition to its value on this account, there is also the intrinsic interest of the Vergilian criticism and of the varied antiquarian lore which the book contains.*

THE CHARACTERS

IN T H E

DIALOGUE

Of the twelve chief characters most, and—although there is no compelling evidence of this—quite possibly all, are real persons. Macrobius indeed admits that it is doubtful, in view of their ages, whether the interlocutors could actually have met, but he claims that in taking leave to make them meet for his dialogue, no less than in his use of the dialogue form, he is following the example of Plato (ι. ι. 3. 5, and 6). He would seem, too, to have been at some pains to make the speakers fit their parts and to suggest individual characteristics; but there are also times when he forgets that he is writing a dialogue and would appear to be transcribing 8 Cf. the elder Pliny who nihil ... legit quod non excerperet (Pliny the Younger Epistulae 3. j. 10). It is clear from his preface that Macrobius was not concerned to give chapter and verse for his borrowings; nor would such references have been of any great use to the young Eustachius. The criticism by Muretus (Jan, p. lviii), which compares Macrobius with plagiarists "qui ita humant a se nihil alienum putant ut aìienis aeque utantur ac ruis," is witty but irrelevant. • In the excerpts from Greek and Latin authors the text as cited in the Saturnalia often differs from the received text; and sometimes, too, the same passage from an author is cited differently at different points in the Saturnalia. This may be explained by the fact that the more popular the author, the greater was the number of manuscript copies of his work in circulation, and, consequently, the greater the number of variant readings. There is the further possibility that Macrobius at times may have been quoting from memory; (e.g., at 6. Ó. 13, where, citing Aeneid 6. 405, he has Aeneid 4. 272 in mind). See Appendix C.

4

INTRODUCTION

from notebooks for the benefit of his son.10 Of these tw elve characters, half are prominent members of the Roman nobility ( ι. ι. ι ) —three of them (Praetextatus, Symmachus, and Flavianus) being leaders of the "anti-Christian Fronde"—and the remaining six are men of learning, interested in the topics which they severally discuss; but, although Sidonius—in G a u l could say, a hundred years or so later (Epistulae 8. 2), that culture was the sole criterion of nobility and, although, for the purpose of the dialogue, Macrobius refers to Flavianus and Eustathius as par insigne amicitiae (1. 6. 4; cf. ι. 5. 13) and represents Praetextatus as having invited Eusebius to take the place of Postumianus ( 1 . 6 . 2), it may be doubted whether—in Rome—all of these remaining six would have been on quite such intimate terms with the others as the dialogue might suggest. 11

Praetextatus Vettius Agorius Praetextatus was a worthy representative of the last generation of paganism in the latter half of the fourth century. He is described by Ammianus Marcellinus as "a senator of noble character and old-time dignity"; 1 8 and by the same writer mention is made of the high distinction with which he discharged the office Prefect of the City (367 A.D.) . It was as Perfect of the City that he put an end to the sanguinary dispute between Damasus and Ursinus for the papacy by banishing the latter. 13 Reference is made in the Saturnalia to his serenity and strength 10 T h e r e are many references to a "reader," but all arc not necessarily incompatible with the dialogue; and the occasional use of the second person singular mav often be accounted for b y supposing that the speaker is addressing his host or his questioner. Nevertheless, in 1. 20. 6 and 16 and in 1. 23. 17 Macrobius would seem to be addressing his son; and inserui in j . 4. 4, transcribere in 6. 2. 30, and the use, b y a G r e e k speaker, of noster in 5. 21. 7 and nos in 5. 21. 17 can hardly be explained otherwise than as slips. 11 Servius, as a grammarian, Eusebius, as a rhetorician, and Eustathius, as a philosopher, are introduced into the dialogue because so much of the Saturnalia is taken up with these aspects of V e r g i l ' s works, and the contents of the seventh Book w o u l d account f o r the inclusion of the physician Disarius. See Appendix A : Doctors and Dons. 11 Ammianus Marcellinus 22. 7. 6. C f . Symmachus, w h o , writing of Praetextatus, says: gaudia corporis ut caduca calcavit (Epistulae 10. 12. 2). " Ammianus Marcellinus 27. 3. 12 and 9. 8-9.

INTRODUCTION

5

of character (i. 5. 4)—a quality, however, sometimes accompanied in a Roman by a certain priggish self-consciousness and lack of humor —traits which Praetextatus is made to show, for example, in his rebuke to the young Avienus for seeming to disparage Socrates (2. 1 . 4 ) and perhaps rather more certainly in his remark that his household gods would not approve of any entertainment that suggested a cabaret (2. 1.7). His antiquarian interests are well illustrated by his discussion of the origins of the festival of the Saturnalia (1. 7-10) and of the Roman calendar (1. 12-16). His intimate knowledge of pagan religious observances—he is said to be sacrorum omnium unice conscius (1. 7. 17)—is illustrated both by his discourses on Vergil's acquaintance with pontifical law (3. 4-12) and by the long speech in which he explains that all the gods of Greek and Roman mythology represent the attributes of one supreme divine power—the sun (1. 17-23). 14 A sepulchral monument15 records the sacred offices which he had held; and the same monument testifies also to his scholarship, for it tells of his services to letters in revising and emending the texts of Greek and Latin authors. Nevertheless, as presented in the Saturnalia, he gives the impression of being something of a pedant, and Evangelus has some grounds for taunting him with making a parade of his learning (I. II.

I).

Symmachus Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, statesman, orator, and man of letters, was a younger contemporary and a close friend of Praetextatus. An inscription to his memory records the offices which he held18 and refers also to his oratory, which was said by Prudentius to be more than a match even for Cicero's.17 His correspondence, drastically edited by his son, shows the remarkably wide circle of friends, both pagan and Christian, with whom he was intimate. He must have been a much pleasanter person than 14 On the monument referred to in the following note his wife, addressing him, says: divumque nwnen multiplex doctus colis. 15 CIL VI. 1779. See Ellis, Avianus, p. xxxii, and Glover, pp. 162-64. T o Jerome, of course, Praetextatus was miserabilis Praetextatus ... homo sacrilegus et idolorttm cultor (Contra loannem Hierosolymitanum 8). '« CIL VI, 1699. " Prudentius Contra orationem Symmachi 1. 631-34 (cf. 1. 55-58).

6

INTRODUCTION

Praetextatus and the difference between the t w o is well exhibited 1 9 b y the difference between the tone of the famous third Relatio, addressed b y Symmachus, as Prefect of the C i t y in 384, to T h e o dosius f o r the restoration of the Altar of V i c t o r y (which had been removed f r o m the Senate House b y Gratian in 382) and that of the sarcastic reply of Praetextatus to Damasus:—"Make me bishop of Rome, and I will be a Christian straightaway." 1 · In the Saturnalia the oratorical style of Symmachus is described as rich and ornate (5. 1 . 7 ) , and it is he w h o undertakes to discuss the most striking examples of Vergil's use of rhetorical devices (1. 14. 14, and Book 4). Macrobius presents him as meeting the somew h a t dull decorum of Praetextatus with a proposal that the company should amuse themselves after dinner b y recalling w i t t y and humorous sayings of men of old times (2. 1. 8); and he is introduced, appropriately, as relating a number of Cicero's jests (2. 3). Later (7. 1. 2) he views with some apprehension a suggestion b y Praetextatus that the conversation inter pocula should be in no lighter vein than that w h i c h had preceded the dinner. A subscriptio to a manuscript of the first B o o k of the Commentary records that one Aurelius Memmius Symmachus amended and punctuated his c o p y of the text w i t h the help of one Macrobius Plotinus Eudoxius (i.e., the latter acting as the "counterreader") ; and this suggests the duration in a later generation of a friendship between the families of the Symmachus and the Macrobius of the Saturnalia. Flavianus Virius Nicomachus Flavianus, w h o too held a number of public offices, was a kinsman of Symmachus and the families were also connected historiens

by

marriage. A n inscription in w h i c h he is styled

disertissimus

is evidence of literary tastes.20 Like Prae-

A s Ellis has remarked ( T h e Fables of Ai'ianus, p. xx). Jerome Contra loannem Hiero sol y mit animi 8: ''Facite me Romanae urbis episcopwn et ero protinus Christianus." A n d y e t it w o u l d be less than fair to Praetextatus to o v e r l o o k the evidence (CIL V I , 1779) of his happy union with his w i f e Paulina: coniuncti simul vixerunt annos XL. 20 CIL V I , 1782. H e may have been the author of the w o r k De zestigiis et dogtnatibus philosophorum (now lost) referred to b v John of Salisbury in Policraticus 2. 26 (460b), 8. 11 (749a and 755a) and 8. 12 (758J and 761 a). See W e b b , 18

1β

7

INTRODUCTION

textatus and Symmachus he was a staunch supporter of the old Roman religion and gave his life f o r it at the battle on the Frigidus (394

a.D.)·"

H e is said b y Macrobius to have surpassed even his father Venustus 2 2 in the distinction of his character, the dignity of his life, and in the abundance and depth of his learning ( i . 5. 13). In the proposed discussion on V e r g i l he promises to speak of the poet's k n o w l e d g e of augural law 2 3 (1. 24. 17), but his contribution to that discussion (it probably formed part of the n o w incomplete third Book) has not survived. H e is referred to in the dialogue as a friend of Eustathius, another character in the dialogue (1. 6. 4), and in the seventh Book he counters certain remarks made b y his friend about the natural properties of wine (7. 6).

The Albini O f the t w o Albini, politely described b y Praetextatus as b y far the most learned men of the time (6. 1. 1), Caecina is a contemporary of Symmachus (1. 2. 15) and is thought b y Jan to be the Albinus mentioned in the prologue as the father of the Decius w h o is represented there as asking Postumianus f o r an account of the symposium—an account which, Dccius says, but f o r his father's departure f o r Naples as soon as the holidays of the Saturnalia were over, he could have had f r o m him (1. 2. 2-3). H e is identified b y Dill and G l o v e r with the Publilius Caeonius Albinus, the pontiff w h o had a Christian w i f e and of w h o m Jerome speaks w i t h respect. 24 I, 141; II, 294, 304, 309, and 314. H e also w r o t e Armales, w h i c h w e r e used b y A m m i a n u s M a r c e l l i n u s ; see D i l l , p. i j j . 2 1 " N e a r l y f o r t y y e a r s a f t e r the battle o n the F r i g i d u s the E m p e r o r s V a l e n tinian and T h e o d o s i u s did justice t o the v i r t u e s and d i s t i n c t i o n o f F l a v i a n u s in a m o n u m e n t w h i c h is still e x t a n t " CIL V I , 1783; D i l l . p. 20. F o r an a c c o u n t o f t h e battle and a d e s c r i p t i o n o f the terrain, see T . H o d g k i n , Italy and Her Invaders ( O x f o r d , 1885-99), I e d . ) , j ó 9 f f . and D u d d e n , Life and Times of St. Ambrose, II, 429ff. 22 P e r h a p s the V i c a r o f S p a i n m e n t i o n e d b y A m m i a n u s .Marcellinus (23. ι. 4 and 28. ι. 24). 2 3 In the a n o n y m u s Carmen contra paganos the o b j e c t of the attack ( w h o , a l t h o u g h not n a m e d , is g e n e r a l l y s u p p o s e d to be Flavianus) is c a l l e d Etruscis semper amicus. See D u d d e n , II, 42772; H . B l o c h , The Last Pagan Revival in the Π r est, p. 230,7268; and, f o r the text, Riese, Anthologia Latina, stipplementum, pars prior (carmina in codibus scripta), p. 13. 24

Dill, p. 14; G l o v e r , p. 171; J e r o m e EpistuJae

107. 1.

8

INTRODUCTION

Both Caecina Albinus and Furius Albinus—the latter's name appears twice 25 in the manuscripts as Rufius—may perhaps be connected with the family of Albini mentioned by Rutilius Namatianus (c.416 A . D . ) . 8 8 In the Saturnalia Caecina's contribution to the conversation is to discuss the reckoning of the civil day at Rome (1. 3), substituted sacrifice ( 1 . 7 . 34), "sweetmeats" (2. 8. 3), and the luxury prevalent in Rome under the Republic (3. 13). This last topic is subsequently dealt with at greater length by Furius (3. 14-17). Both Caecina and Furius, in fulfillment of their undertakings (1. 13. 19), illustrate by quotations Vergil's debt to earlier Latin writers (6. 1-5); and in the seventh Book they put a number of questions of a physiological or physical nature to the physician Disarius (7. 8). In the seventh Book, too, Caecina recalls an account given by an authority on pontifical law of the origin of wearing a ring on the fourth finger of the left hand (7. 13. 11-16).

Avienus Avienus cannot be identified with any certainty, but he may perhaps be the fabulist Avianus or Avienus—an identification which becomes more probable if the Theodosius to whom the Fables are dedicated may, as has been suggested, be taken to be the author of the SaturnaliaF He is represented in the dialogue as a worthy and modest young man (6. 7. \\η. 3. 23), with a fund of anecdotes (2. 4-7), but given to making impetuous interruptions (1. 6. 3; 2. 3. 14; 7. 2. 1) and whispered asides (1. 4. 1; 5. 7. 1)—a device which enables Macrobius to extend at need the scope of a discussion or to introduce a new topic (1. 5. 1-3; 1. 17. 1; 5. 1. 2 and 6; 5. 3. 16; 7. 3. i). 28 And 15

Saturnalia 1. 2. 16 and 1. 4. 1. De reditu suo 1. 167-76, 466-74. 17 See above, note 3. Referring to the fact that much of the Saturnalia is taken up with a discussion of Vergil's poetry. Ellis observes (p. xiv) that "no remnant of Roman literature is more informed with the diction of Vergil than the Fables" [of Avianus], adding (p. xxxiv) that every fable has echoes or actual imitations of the Aeneid. " A good example of this device is the neat touch by which in 7. 3. 1. Avienus puts to Eustathius the very kind of leading question which the latter had recommended in the previous chapter. M

INTRODUCTION

9

so it is that, when, at the end of the first day of the festival, some of the company undertake to discourse on various aspects of Vergil's genius, Avienus is made to say that he will not take it upon himself to speak about any of the poet's merits but rather will listen to what the others have to say and then o f f e r such observations as it may occur to him to make ( i . 14. 20; c f . 6. 7-9).

Servius Servius, the famous commentator on Vergil (fl. 390), is introduced as a young man w h o has recently joined the ranks of the professional "grammarians" (1. 2. 1 5 ) , remarkable f o r his learning (1. 24. 8; 6. 7. 2), and lovable f o r his modesty. His modesty and shyness are referred to elsewhere in the dialogue ( 2 . 2 . 12; 7. 1 1 . 1 ) , and so too are his lectures on Vergil (6. 6. 1 ) . A discussion of certain linguistic forms (1. 4) and an explanation of Vergil's use of certain words, phrases, and grammatical constructions (6. 7-9) are naturally put into his mouth b y Macrobius, together (less obviously) with the lengthy lists of fruits in the concluding chapters of the third Book. Nettleship has shown that Macrobius did not draw on Servius f o r his Vergilian criticism but that both Macrobius and the real Servius drew from the w o r k s of earlier commentators and critics. 2 ®

Eustathius Eustathius, who, J a n suggests, may perhaps be the G r e e k N e o platonist Eustathius of Cappadocia, is described as a friend of Flavianus ( 1 . 6. 4) and a learned philosopher (1. 5. 1 3 ; 7. 1. 8). His exposition of Vergil's knowledge of philosophy and astronomy, which was to open the proceedings of the second day of the Saturnalia (1. 24. 18 and 2 1 ) , has not survived; but in the f i f t h Book of the dialogue he gives instances of lines and passages which Vergil has taken or adapted f r o m Homer (5. 2 - 1 4 ) and makes a number of comparisons between the t w o poets (5. 1 5 - 1 7 . 6). H e also compares Vergil, to his disadvantage, with Pindar (5. 17. 7 - 1 4 ) 29

In his essay, "The Ancient Commentators on Virgil."

IO

INTRODUCTION

and illustrates further the Roman poet's debt not only to Homer but also to many other Greek writers (5, 17. 15-5. 22. 15). He remarks too on Caesar's debt to the Egyptians and to the Greeks for the development of the Roman calendar (1. 16. 38-44); in the second Book, in connection with the use of wine and touching the pleasures of the senses, he refers to Plato, Aristotle, and Hippocrates (2. 8. 5-16); and, in the seventh Book, argues in favor of the discussion of questions of philosophy at table (7. 1. 5-24). The seventh Book also contains his observations on tact in conversation at dinner (7. 2 and 3) and his arguments with his fellow Greek, the physician Disarms, on a number of physiological subjects (7. 14-16). Eusebius Eusebius is an elderly (7. 10. 1) Greek rhetorician, who takes the place of the lawyer Postumianus at the symposium and later tells him what passed at it (1. 2. 7; 1. 6. 2). His discourse on Vergil's knowledge of oratory (to which reference is made in 1. 24. 14) may have formed part of the missing chapters at the end of the fragmentary fourth Book, for at the beginning of the fifth Book he is found discussing styles of oratory. In the seventh Book he considers certain concomitants of old age with the physician Disarius (7. 10). Jan suggests that he may be the Alexandrian rhetorician of that name. Disarms Disarius (who may be the medicus mentioned by Symmachus in the forty-third letter of the ninth Book of his Letters) was also a Greek (7. 5. 2; 7. 5. 4) and, like Eusebius, getting on in years (7. 10. 1). He is said to be the best of the medical profession in Rome (1. 7. 1), and Praetextatus, on whom he called in company with Evangelus and Horus (1. 7. 1), makes his presence the ground for proposing that the conversation after dinner on the last day of the Saturnalia shall touch on topics of medical interest (7. 4. 1-3). It is in the course of this conversation that the others in turn put to him the miscellaneous questions that make up the greater part of the seventh Book. As a follower of the physician and anatomist

INTRODUCTION

Erasistratus, he sharply criticizes incursions by philosophy into the field of medicine (7. 15. 1) and thereby provokes a retort from the philosopher Eustathius (7. 15. 14).

Horus Horus may possibly be the Oras referred to in a letter of Symmachus (2. 39) as "philosophus ritu atque eruditione praecipuus." He was, as his name would suggest, an Egyptian (1. 15. 4; 1. 16. 37; 7. 13. 9). A f t e r a successful career as a professional boxer he had, like Cleanthes, turned to philosophy (1. 7. 3) and, now a man of dignity and distinction (1. 16. 38), practiced the asceticism of a Cynic (7. 13. 17). In the first Book a question from him serves to introduce accounts by Praetextatus of the origins of the worship of Saturn (1. 7. 14) and of the Roman calendar (1. 15. 1); and it is some criticism by him (now lost) of the luxury of the time that leads to Caecina's reference to luxurious living under the Republic (3. 13. 16). In the seventh Book he makes the interesting remark that the practice of cremation had fallen into disuse (7. 7. 5).

Evangelus Evangelus, who with Disarius and Horus called on Praetextatus after the other guests had assembled, is described as an impudent fellow with a bitter wit and a shamelessly caustic tongue, whose presence was likely to accord ill with a quiet gathering (1. 7. 2).80 Finding himself in the presence of a large company who courteously rise as he enters, he greets Praetextatus with clumsy jocularity; but he is mollified by a polite invitation to join the party, with his two companions, and he takes no part in the conversation which immediately follows until references by Praetextatus to honors paid to slaves and to the origin of the festival of the Sigillarla make him charge his host with superstition and with seeking to show off his learning (1. 11. 1). Later, his call for more wine (2. 8. 4) serves to enable Macrobius to refer to Plato's remarks on 30 G l o v e r (p. 175) suggests that Evangelus may be the man of that name referred to in a letter of Symmachus (6. 7) as having an animus incautus.

INTRODUCTION

12

the beneficial effect of wine at a dinner party and to what Aristotle and Hippocrates had to say about intemperance (2. 8. 5-16). In the seventh Book, Evangelus intervenes with a question about the human brain, designed to trap Disarius (7. 9), and afterward rudely interrupts an argument between Eustathius and Disarius with a mocking request to be told which came first, the egg or the hen (7. 16. 1). Disarius, however, in all seriousness puts the case for either proposition, and Evangelus then, referring to an incident which had occurred on his country estate at Tibur, asks why game goes bad more quickly in moonlight than in sunlight and why the insertion of copper nails checks such decomposition (7. 16. 15). But his chief role in the dialogue is to lead up to the criticism of Vergil and then to intervene from time to time (e.g., 3. 10-12; 5. 2. 1) with disparaging remarks. Thus it is that, when Praetextatus has come to the end of the long exposition (1. 17-23) which had been prompted by a reference to a line in the Georgics, he objects to Vergil's being called on to corroborate theological theories; and he objects, too, to an uncritical admiration of the poet, worthy only of a schoolboy. For Vergil, as he reminds his audience, thought so little of his Aeneid that he directed his executors to burn it, for fear, Evangelus suggests, of being blamed not only on moral grounds—for representing Venus begging from her lawful husband a gift of armor for her illegitimate son—but also on artistic grounds—for offenses against literary taste in the awkward arrangement of the poem and in his use of Greek words and outlandish expressions (1. 14. 1-7). However, the others present will have none of this. For them Vergil had taken all knowledge to be his province (1. 16. 12), and the conversation before dinner on the last two days of the Saturnalia is concerned with the poet's merits as they see them. It appears that, in spite of his name, Evangelus is not a Greek, for, unlike the Greeks present on the occasion, he speaks of Vergil as "our poet" (1. 24. 2). The question, arising from his name, whether or not he was a Christian, cannot be answered with any probability one way or the other. But the name may have had associations with Christianity; and, if Evangelus was in fact a Christian,81 he would have been distasteful to an admirer of the 31

T h e charge of superstition which he brings against Praetextatus (1. 11. 1) may be of significance in this connection.

»3

INTRODUCTION

old religion. It is tempting therefore, and perhaps not unduly fanciful, to see in this unprepossessing character a reflection of Macrobius's o w n opinion of the Christians of his time. 3 2

T H E

DIALOGUE

A f t e r the preface and the explanatory chapter w h i c h follows it, the scene opens ( i . 2. 1 5 - 2 0 ) on the eve of the festival of the Saturnalia, at the house of Praetextatus, w h o is at home to his friends and is discussing with Furius Albinus and Avienus the question of when, exactly, the festival is due to begin. T h e n

Svm-

machus, Caecina Albinus, and Servius call, and a discourse

by

Caecina on the divisions of the civil day follows ( 1 . 3 ) , the rest of the evening being spent in the examination of certain grammatical usages ( 1 . 4 and 5 ) . 3 3 O n the next day, the first day of the festival, N i c o m a c h u s Flavianus, Eustathius, and Eusebius join the c o m p a n y ( 1 . 6. 4) ; and later, after Praetextatus has explained the origin of his o w n and certain other family names and of the custom of the wearing of the toga praetexta b y b o y s ( 1 . 6 . 5 - 3 0 ) , Evangelus, Disarius, and Horus arrive ( 1 . 7.

ι - 1 3 ) . T h e conversation n o w turns to the origin of the

M Although there are examples of happy mixed marriages (see, e.g., Glover, p. 172), the positive principles of Christianity were, in the fourth century, much less evident than a narrow intransigence. The old religion, on the other hand, stood for disciplined tolerance and tradition and the maintenance of the Pax Deorum. The Senatorial opposition to Christianity had a firm regard for the legacy of the past—in the words of Furius Albinus (3. 14. 2), vetustas nobis semper, si sapimus, adorartela est—and no less firmly believed that departure from traditional observances would call down the wrath of the gods. It is not surprising, then, that Julian could refer to Constantine as novator turbatorque priscarum le gum et moris antiquitus recepii (Ammianus Marcellinus 21. 10. 8). 33 Great importance was attached to a correct use of the Latin language and the avoidance of any unusual word. Hence this discussion of grammatical forms and the reference in it to Caesar's insistence on "analogy" (1. 5. 2). See W . R. Hardie, Lectures on Classical Subjects, p. 279; and Aulus Gellius 19. 8; and cf. Quintilian 8. 3. Hence, too, Macrobius' apology in the preface (11) for any possible failure by him, as one "born under an alien sky," to do justice to the Latin idiom; although, if the Theodosius to whom the Fables of Avianus are dedicated is in fact the author of the Saturnalia, the apology was unnecessary, for in the preface to the Fables Theodosius is complimented on his mastery of Latin.

INTRODUCTION

'4

festivals of the Saturnalia and Sigillarla (ι. 7. 14-1. 1 1 ) , with the legends of Saturn and Janus, and with a long digression on the treatment and behavior of slaves. The chief speaker is Praetextatus, who continues with an account of the development of the Roman calendar (1. 12-16) and a detailed exposition of the theological doctrine of syncretism, which makes all the gods of the pagan pantheon manifestations of a single divine power, the sun (1. 1723)—a doctrine which conveniently enables its holder to combine a profession of monotheism with the practice of polytheism. A slighting remark by Evangelus (1. 24. 2) serves to introduce the main theme of the Saturnalia: Vergil's many-sided erudition. The poet had already been described as an authority on every branch of learning (1. 16. 12), and Symmachus and others now undertake to illustrate his knowledge of philosophy and astronomy, of augural and pontifical law, and of rhetoric and oratory; and, further, to exemplify his use of the works of earlier Greek and Latin writers (1. 24. 10-21). At this point the company go in to dinner. The second Book records the conversation which follows, inter pocula. Symmachus suggests (2. 1. 15) that each of the diners in turn repeat a witty saying of some famous man of old; and, when the others have made their contributions (2. 2), he proceeds himself to relate a number of Cicero's jests (2. 3). Avienus then recalls certain bons mots attributed to Augustus and his daughter Julia and to certain others (2. 4-6), going on to tell the story of Caesar and Laberius and of the latter's professional rival Publilius Syrus, and referring also (in connection with the Roman stage of those days) to the rivalry of the actors Pylades and Hylas (2. 7). In the last chapter of the Book, the arrival of the dessert prompts some remarks by Flavianus and Caecina on "sweetmeats," and there follow references by Eustathius to Plato on the use of wine and to Aristotle and Hippocrates on indulgence in sensual pleasures—a discourse (2. 8) which ends abruptly, since the last part of the Book has been lost. The third Book relates to proceedings at the house of Flavianus on the second day of the festival. The exposition by Eustathius on the scholarly Vergil's knowledge of philosophy and astronomv34 54

K n o w l e d g e w h i c h Quintilian (1. 4. 4) holds to be necessary f o r the understanding of poetry.

INTRODUCTION

'5

has not survived, nor has the account by Flavianus—which would have followed it—of the poet's knowledge of augural law (i. 24. 17 and 18); but the first twelve chapters of what is left of the third Book are devoted to the illustration of Vergil's acquaintance with the details of pontifical law.35 In these chapters the speaker (Praetextatus) cites lines which refer, for example, to ceremonial purification by running water or by aspersion (3. 1) and shows (sometimes with etymological explanations) se the exactness with which Vergil brings out the ritual significance of a word or expression. The care with which he marks the ceremonial distinction made between the classes of sacrificial victims is also noted (3. 5), and the fact that he assigns to a god not only the sacrifice appropriate to that god but also the god's special style of address (3. 6). Moreover, such knowledge of the pontifical law is not obtruded but (with docta elegantia) is often indirectly and allusively revealed.'7 There is a gap after the twelfth chapter, for in the thirteenth the second course of the dinner is in progress, and Caecina Albinus, in reply to some comment by Horus on the luxury of their times (3. 13. 16), is arguing that earlier generations took much more thought for such pleasures. Furius Albinus then emphasizes Caecina's point by reference to the regard had under the Republic for skill in dancing (3. 14), to the high prices paid in those days for certain fish (3. 15-16), and to a long series of sumptuary laws (3. 17). Servius follows with a disquisition (which reads rather like a nurseryman's catalogue) on the various kinds of nuts, apples, pears, figs, olives, and grapes (3. 18-20); but this is brought to an end by Praetextatus, who remarks on the lateness of the hour and reminds the guests that the party will reassemble on the morrow, the third and last day of the festival, at the house of Symmachus (3. 20. 8). Both the beginning and the end of the fourth Book have been lost, and what remains treats of the use made by Vergil of the rules of rhetoric.38 The speaker would seem to Symmachus who enumer35

Cf. XV. Y. Sellar, The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age: Virgil, p. 374. " E.g., religiosus (3. 3. 8), delubrum (3. 4. : ) . 87 E.g., cum faciatn vittda pro frugibus (Eclogues 3. 77), where the word vitula suggests the terms vitulari and vitulatio. 38 Cf. Butler's Hudibras (Part I, Canto 1, line 89): For all a Rhetorician's Rules Teach nothing but to name his Tools.

ιό

INTRODUCTION

ates the devices employed by the poet to depict or evoke emotions (πάθη). 3 ' By way of illustration a speech is analyzed (4. 2. 4-8), 40 and examples are given of rhetorical "figures" (4. 6. 9-24). From the opening words of the fifth Book it appears that Symmachus was followed by Eusebius, and it is probable therefore that the fourth Book ended with the discourse which the latter had undertaken to give on Vergil as an orator (1. 24. 14). At any rate, at the beginning of the fifth Book, Eusebius is represented as having just ceased from speaking and, after refusing to be drawn into making a comparison between Vergil and Cicero 41 as models for an orator, as going on to refer to four kinds of oratorical style, all of which (he maintains) arc to be found in the poems of Vergil, who may be said to unite in himself the distinctive eloquence of each of the ten Attic orators (5. 1. 20). Evangelus, however, scoffingly takes leave to doubt whether Vergil, "a Venetian of peasant parentage," could have had any acquaintance with the literature of Greece (5. 2. 1) and so enables Macrobius, in the rest of the fifth Book and in the sixth, to illustrate at some length Vergil's knowledge of both Greek and Latin authors and the use which he made of it. The contents of these two books will be considered below, in the section dealing with the Yergilian criticism in the Saturnalia. The seventh and last Book of the Saturnalia, like the second Book and chapters thirteen to twenty of the third, purports to record the after-dinner conversation of the company, and many of the topics discussed are taken from the Quaestiones Convivala of Plutarch.42 The first question posed is whether philosophy is suited to a convivial gathering (7. 1), and this is followed by a talk, by Eustathius, on tact at table (7. 2-3). The rest of the Book is devoted to the consideration of a wide variety of subjects, many of a nature which may be described, loosely, as "scientific": for example, whether a simple or a mixed diet is more easilv digested " Cf. Quintilian 6. 2. 8: πάθος, quod nos vertentes recte ac proprie adfectum dicimus. 40 The speech of Juno in Aeneid 7. 293-320. 41 Cicero was to be considered on some future occasion (1. 24. 5)—possibly an indication that the Saturnalia is an earlier work than the Commentary. 41 According to Archbishop Trench in Plutarch: His Life, His Lives, and His Morals, etc. (London, 1873), these "questions" record actual conversations. See Glover, p. 1 7 3 7 7 .

INTRODUCTION

17

(7. 4-5); why women rarely become drunk but old men readily (7. 6) ; why women feel the cold less than men (7. 7) ; what causes gray hair and baldness (7. 10), blushing and pallor (7. 11); why a ring is worn usually on the fourth finger of the left hand (7. 13); why fresh water is a better cleansing agent than sea water (7. 13); the nature of the nervous system (7. 9) and of vision (7. 14); which came first, the egg or the hen (7. 16) ; and some observations on the curative property of copper (7. 16). The abrupt ending of the Book suggests that the conclusion of the work has been lost."

T H E VERGILIAN CRITICISM The central topic in the Saturnalia is an appreciation of Vergil. A close acquaintance with the poet's works was part of the intellectual equipment of an educated Roman, and these works are discussed in three (4, 5, and 6) books and in certain chapters of two more (1 and 3) books of the seven of which the Saturnalia, as we have it, consists. Suetonius in his Vita Vergili (s.43) says that Vergil had never lacked hostile critics, adding (no doubt with the Homeromastix of Zoilus in mind) that this was not surprising, since Homer too had had his detractors. Thus Carvilius Pictor wrote an Aeneidomastix; Vipsanius Agrippa censured Vergil as the inventor of a new kind of affectation in language (novae cacozeliae repertor); and Herennius published a list of his Faults (Vitia), Perellius Faustus of his Thefts (Furta) and Octavius Avitus of his Rese?nblances ('Ομοιότητες), i.e., passages in Vergil reminiscent of passages in the works of other authors. On the other hand a Reply to the Detractors of Vergil was written by Asconius, and the poet may have had other friendly critics whose names have been lost. Since Vergil's poems, from the first, not only became a textbook for schools but also continued to supply teachers of grammar and rhetoric with material to illustrate their rules, these early critical 43

It is noteworthy that the conversation in the Saturnalia never touches on contemporary politics.

ι8

INTRODUCTION

works were for long current, and Nettleship has shown that Macrobius drew freely from them.44 Literary criticism at Rome was essentially practical and regarded its objects from the outside; it would be unreasonable therefore to find fault with Macrobius for failing, as a critic, to do full justice to Vergil as a poet. Moreover, a critic after all is b y w a y of being, as it were, a signpost, pointing only to those qualities in the object of his criticism to which he wishes to direct attention, and he may fairly be allowed to point to matter of his own choosing. It is clear, from the preface to the work, that the purpose of the Saturnalia was educational; and the aspects of Vergil's poems which interested Macrobius are those which are set out in the last chapter of the first Book. 45 With Vergil's poetry as such Macrobius was not primarily concerned, since he was deliberately dealing with the poet's technique and with the undertones of learning in the poems and not with subtle overtones of poetry. Nevertheless, much of what he, or the earlier critics whose works he has excerpted, has to say, and in particular the examination of passages which illustrate Vergil's debt to other writers, 46 contain valuable criticism and often show considerable judgment. But the emphasis throughout is on Vergil's erudition and skills; and this is what might be expected, since literary criticism at Rome, whatever the nationality of the critic, did not attempt (as Greek criticism) to consider the ultimate nature and aim of poetry but reflected rather the utilitarian bent of the Roman character. 47 And indeed nearly all extant Latin poetry is written with a purposeCatullus being, perhaps, the only Latin poet who could truly say, " I do but sing because I must"—nor could anything well be more utilitarian and prosaic than the very origin of existing Latin literature, which begins with a translation of the Odyssey written to serve as a textbook. Thus, except from time to time in literary coteries, achievement in letters was not held in any very great regard at Rome, and it is significant that Vergil does not even 44

" O n Some of the E a r l y Criticisms of Virgil's Poetry."' See, above, p. 3. 49 Sec Appendix B: Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism. 47 E.g., H o r a c c Epistles 2. 1. 162-63: "In the peacc which f o l l o w e d the Punic wars the R o m a n began to ask himself whether Sophocles and Thcspis and Aeschvlus had anything to o f f e r that was of use." C f . the remark of the elder Pliny, that the R o m a n was "obstinately attached to virtue and utility."

INTRODUCTION

•9

include such excellence among the accomplishments which, if beneath the high calling of the Roman people, might yet be cultivated b y "lesser breeds without the L a w . " 4 8 N o t unconnected with this "practicalism" was the close connection of Latin poetry with scholarship, f o r what in Greece came to pass naturally was at Rome, to a great extent, consciously contrived. T h a t is w h y to call a poet doctus was to pav him a high compliment; and, just as Servius begins his commentary on the sixth Book of the Aeneid with the words to tus quidem Vergilius scientia plenus est, so f o r Macrobius Vergil is omnium disciplinarum peritus ( ι . 16. 12) and poeta aeque in rebus doctrinae et in verbis sectator elegantiae (3. 11. 9)—an authority in every branch of learning, whose aim it was to combine erudite subject matter with elegant diction. T h e literary criticism in the Saturnalia begins with the fourth Book, w h i c h illustrates Vergil's command of the technique of rhetoric, and, since rhetoric played so important a part in Roman education, these illustrations would be of particular interest to the y o u n g Eustachius. In one of his minor poems 4 · V e r g i l had bidden farewell to "the worthless paintpots of the rhetoricians and the tinkling cymbals of idle y o u t h , " but, although it is necessary always to bear in mind that, like much other Latin poetry, the poems of Vergil w e r e written for reading aloud, the Aeneid leaves a reader today in no doubt but that the poet had remembered all that Epidius had taught him. 50 This fragmentary fourth Book may, indeed, reasonably be held to be the least readable part of the literary criticism, and y e t among the quotations chosen to illustrate the devices of the rhetoricians are many of Vergil's best known and best loved lines. T h e f i f t h Book opens with some remarks b y Eusebius on the different kinds of oratorical style, with examples taken f r o m Vergil's poems (5. 1). But in the rest of the Book the speaker is Eustathius, w h o had undertaken earlier to discuss Vergil's use of G r e e k models—a use of which he had then described as a cautious use and one which might even have the appearance of being accidental, since V e r g i l sometimes skillfully concealed the debt, althrough at other times he imitated his model openly (1. 24. 18). 48

Aeneid

6. 847-53.

Catalepton 5. 00 C f . H . \ V . G a r r o d , The Oxford Book of Latin Verse ( O x f o r d , 195:), p. x x x v i i : " H o w m u c h of the Aeneid w a s w r i t t e n u l t i m a t e l y b y E p i d i u s I h a r d l y like t o inquire." 49

20

INTRODUCTION

A f t e r suggesting that the Aeneid in effect may be regarded as a mirrored reflection of the Iliad and Odyssey (5. 2. 13), Eustathius goes on to quote a number of parallel passages, taken haphazard, in some of which Vergil's lines so closely resemble their Homeric originals that they merely show (in Professor Saintsbury's words) 5 1 "that Vergil was an excellent translator, and was, rather more frequently than becomes a great poet, content simply to translate." T h e speaker then proceeds, book by book of the Aeneid, to make, without comments, a systematic survey of passages which are imitations of or translations from Homer (5. 4-10)—material which may have come from the Resemblances of Avitus to which Suetonius refers or from some similar critical work. This section of the Book is followed b y three chapters of parallel passages, cited, with brief comments, to suggest that Vergil sometimes improves on his model (5. 11), sometimes equals it (5. 12), and sometimes falls short of it (5. 13). Thus, in the similes of the bees ( j . 11. 2-4) Vergil is said to have shown a more careful observation of nature; and elsewhere (e.g., 5. h . 10-13 and 23) it is suggested that his renderings contain a greater wealth of detail and are closer to reality. O n the other hand, there are times when his verse seems to be somewhat meager in comparison with Homer's (e.g., 5. 13. 1 and 26) or to lack his model's vivid touches, as in the descriptions of the chariot races (5. 13. 3) and the foot races (5. 13. 4 and 5) and in the similes of the waves (5. 13. 20 and 21). Moreover, in the incident of the eagle and the serpent (5. 13. 28-30) Vergil has omitted details which, in the speaker's submission, are the very soul of Homer's description, with the result that in the Latin "only a lifeless body is left." Vergil is censured, too, for inaptly describing the spreading of a rumor in terms which Homer had applied to the growth of strife, since strife and rumor are not comparable and Vergil's comparison is therefore inappropriate (5. 13. 31 and 32). A f t e r a somewhat technical discussion, reminiscent of the lecture room, of apparently unmetrical lines (5. 14. 1-4), examples are cited from Homer and Vergil of lines which would seem to differ in no w a y from the language of everyday speech (5. 14. 5) and of the effective use made by each poet of a repeated phrase (5. 14. 6), 51 Saintsbury, A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe, I, 332; see also his A Second Scrap Book, p. ÎJO, and A Last Scrap Book, p. 71 (London, 1923 and 1924).

INTRODUCTION

a compound epithet (5. 14. 7-8), and a narrative of past events (5. . 1 - 1 5 ) . W hen the "catalogues" are considered, Homer's geographical arrangement is preferred to Vergil's disregard of any such methodical order, and the former's consistency in his references to individual persons to the latter's not infrequent inconsistency (5. ι j. 1-13); but no attempt is made to excuse Vergil's inconsistencies on the ground that the Aeneid lacked its author's revision. Credit is given to Vergil for varying the form of words with which he introduces his Italian chieftains,52 but it is submitted that, although Homer too can show a comparable variety, his normally simpler technique well becomes a poet of an earlier age (5. 15. 14-19). Proverbial sayings are met with both in Homer and in Vergil (5. 16. 6-7); and Vergil, like Homer, will sometimes, by way of relief, introduce a narrative or some other matter calculated to please the mind or the ear (5. 16. 1-5)—although there are times, too, when each poet treats the same story or myth in different ways (5. 16. 9-14)· The unrealistic account, in the seventh Book of the Aeneid, of the beginnings of the war in Italy is attributed to a need to improvise for lack of a model in Homer or some other Greek (5. 17. 1-4); and the reference to "some other Greek" serves to introduce comments on Vergil's debt both to Apollonius Rhodius—from whose story of Medea he adapted the story of Dido (5. 17. 4-6) — and to Pindar, for a description of Etna in eruption—a description which (in a detailed criticism also to be found in Aulus Gellius) 53 is condemned as clumsy and "unnatural" (5. 17. 7-14). Examples are then given of Vergil's use of proper names from the Greek and of Greek inflexions to illustrate his devotion to the Greek language (5. 17. 15-20), the book ending with instances of recondite allusions, cited by Macrobius to show that the poet's learning embraced all the literature of Greece (5. 18-22). The sixth Book begins with an account by Furius Albinus of Vergil's debt to the earlier writers of Rome, the speaker quoting, 52 For a criticism of the style of Vergil's catalogue, see E. Fraenkel, "Some Aspects of the Structure of Aeneid VII, journal of Roman Studies, X X X V (1945). 1-14. 53 Aulus Gellius 17. 10. Common subject matter is not necessarily an indication that Macrobius has borrowed from Aulus Gellius; each may have drawn from a common source. See Nettleship, Essays in Latin Literature, pp. 2Ó4ff.

22

INTRODUCTION

first, lines taken wholly or in part from these writers (6. i) and then comparing whole passages (6. 2). Furius explains that his aim is to show the good use which Vergil has made of his reading of the works of his predecessors; but he is aware, he says, that he may be affording hostile critics an excuse to accuse Vergil of plagiarism,54 and he therefore carries the war into the enemy's country by referring to the reply made by Afranius when he was charged with having borrowed too freely from Menander, and by suggesting that in fact it is the old writers who are in Vergil's debt, since his use of their works has enabled those works to survive. Moreover, he continues, Vergil has shown such nice judgment and skill in his borrowings that to read the originals is to realize that their words sound better in their new than in their former context (6. 1. 2-6). Furius Albinus then goes on to point out that Vergil has sometimes borrowed from Homer at one remove by imitating lines of Ennius or of some other of his predecessors who had taken them from the Greek. And he ends by begging his hearers not to underestimate the writings of these early Latin poets on account of the roughness of the versification, for, thanks to the labors of succeeding ages, it is from them that the later, more smoothly woven, verse derives (5. 3. 9). Caecina Albinus follows Furius. First, he illustrates Vergil's debt to the old poets for single words which, from a neglect of these old writers, were sometimes thought to be Vergil's own invention, drawing attention also to the poet's use of even foreign words (peregrina verba) ; and he concludes by citing a number of picturesque epithets which also have been borrowed by Vergil from earlier Latin authors (6. 4-5). T h e conversation is then carried on by Servius, with comments on certain unusual expressions and constructions. These are for the most part Vergil's own and may perhaps be examples of the "affectation" criticized b y Agrippa and of the "faults" censured by Herennius: among them are examples of "figures," which by a more careful arrangement of this Vergilian section of the Saturnalia might have been included in the fourth Book (6. 6) . M T h e section 54 Macrobius here is probably excerpting from a reply to the Furtj of Perellius Faustus or to a similar work by a hostile critic. See also Appendix B. 55 Probably Macrobius was transcribing notes taken by him from the works of w o separate authors.

2

INTRODUCTION

3

etymological) 5 ·

ends with an explanation by Servius (largely of some words and constructions the meaning of which was often misunderstood (6. 7-9)

T H E SATURNALIA

IN T H E M I D D L E

AGES

In the fourth century the hostility of a Christian "Establishment" at first provoked in the pagan opposition a revival of interest in the classical writers of Rome. Then the growing pressure of the barbarian invasions brought home to Christian and pagan alike the need to safeguard a common cultural inheritance in the face of a common enemy and so led to a measure of that peaceful coexistence for which Symmachus had pleaded. Later, ironically enough, it was the Christian monasteries—scornfully referred to by Rutilius as slave-barracks (ergastuhi)58—that preserved many of the precious relics of Latin literature through the long "Gothic night" of the Middle Ages until their rediscovery, for the most part b y laymen, at the dawn of the Italian 8 · Renaissance. T h e influence of the works of Macrobius upon the writers of the Middle Ages is discussed at length by Stahl in the introduction to his translation of the Commentary on the Dream of Scipio.*0 It is proposed therefore to mention here only three names—writers who were concerned more with the Saturnalia than with the Commentary. Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville (c.560-636), a link between the learning of antiquity and the Middle Ages, in the fifth Book of his Etymo50 A combination of grammatical with literary exposition is characteristic of Latin literary criticism. See W . R . Hardie, Lectures on Classical Subjects. p. 280, and note 33, above. 57 T h e same material is also discussed b y A u l u s Gellius (2. 6; j . 8; 10. 11; 16. 5 and 6; 18. 5. T h e rest of B o o k 6 has been lost. 58 Rutilius Namatianus De reditu suo 1. 447. 59 O f the countries of Europe, only Italy had always had an educated laity—a legacy f r o m educated paganism. See F. W . Hall, Companion to Classical Texts ( O x f o r d , 1913), p. 96; and Momigliano, ed., The Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century, pp. 113-17. "> Stahl, pp. 4 2 - î j .

INTRODUCTION

logiae may be making use of the accounts given by Macrobius in the Saturnalia of the divisions of the civil day at Rome (i. 3), of the magmis annus (1. 14), and of the Kalends, Nones, Ides, and other days of the Roman calendar (1. 15-16). There are references in Isidore's eleventh Book to the ring finger (the digitus medicinalis) and to the derivation of the word pollex, which are comparable with what Macrobius has to say (7. 13. 7 and 14); and, in the thirteenth Book (13. 16. 4), to the fresh waters of the Black Sea, which are referred to by Macrobius (7. 12. 34). Again, passages in the nineteenth and twentieth Books of the Etymologiae (19. 1 and 2; 20. 5) suggest acquaintance with the chapter in the Saturnalia (5. 21) in which the names of various kinds of drinking vessels are discussed. Nevertheless, the possibility that Macrobius and Isidore have drawn from a common source—e.g., Athenaeus in the case of the drinking vessels—cannot be overlooked.

Bede to Bede 81 (673-735) i s have had access to an abridgment of the Saturnalia known as the Disputado Hori et Praetextati, of which traces may be found in the references in chapters 7,9, 12 and 13 of his De temporum ratione to the Roman day, the Roman month, and the Kalends, Nones, and Ides (Saturnalia 1. 3 and 12-15). There is, however, no evidence, in chapter 28 of Bede's work, that he had read what Macrobius (7. 16), following Plutarch, has to say about the influences of the moon.

John of Salisbury In the Policraticus (she De Nugis Curialium et Vestigiis Philosophorum)82 of John of Salisbury (d. 1180) there are numerous excerpts from the Saturnalia often reproduced verbatim,83 although words or passages in Greek are omitted. As Jan and Webb have re" See Bedae opera de temporibus, ed. C. W . Jones. See Webb. With the subtitle cf. the De nugis curialium of Walter Map. " References, by book and chapter (and by the column in M igne) arc given in the footnotes in the translation. 81

INTRODUCTION

25

marked,®4 John appears to have had a more complete text of the Saturnalia than that w h i c h w e have today; for in Book 8 (chapters 6, 7, and i6) of the Policraticus there are references to statements made by one "Portunianus"—now generally taken to be the Postumianus w h o reports to Decius the account given to him b y Eusebius of what had been said at the symposium (Saturnalia i. 2. 1-14) — w h i c h must have been taken from parts of the text of the Saturnalia no longer extant, 65 as well as a sentence (described as a quotation f r o m Macrobius) w h i c h w o u l d seem to fit into the lacuna at the end of the second Book.·® 84

Jan, 1,1-li; W e b b , I, xxxviii; see also W e b b ' s article, " O n Some Fragments

of Macrobius' Saturnalia." 95 See W e b b , II, 254, ηη\ 256, n i 2 ; 257, ηιη\ 263, ni3 and 1 2 1 ) ; 264, ny, 268, »114, 270, n y » W e b b , II, 341, m i .

the SAtucnaliA · Book ι PREFACE [ ι ] Many and various, Eustachius my son, are the things on which in this life of ours Nature has led us to set our affections; but of all Nature's ties the strongest is our love for our children, and it is her will that we should take such pains to train and instruct them that nothing else could give a parent so much pleasure as to succeed in these aims and nothing so much distress as to fail. [ 2 ] That is why I too regard your education as my chief care. In seeking to make it complete I have preferred the short cut to the roundabout route and, impatient of all delay, instead of waiting for you to make your own way forward through those studies, and only those, on which you are yourself diligently engaged, I purpose to put my own reading as well at your disposal. In this way the whole of the material carefully gathered by my labors, after your birth and before it, from a number of different works in Greek or Latin will furnish you with knowledge; and, if ever you have occasion to call to mind some historical fact, buried in a mass of books and generally unknown, or some memorable word or deed, it will be easy for you to find it and produce it, as it were, from a literary storehouse. [3] Moreover, things worth remembering have not been heaped together in confusion, but a variety of subjects of different authorship and divers dates have been arranged to form, so to speak, a body, in such a way that the notes which I had made without any plan or order, as aids to memory, came together like the parts of a coherent whole. [4] You should not count it a fault if I shall often set out the borrowings from a miscellaneous reading in the authors' own words (for the present work undertakes to be a collection of matters worth knowing, not a display of my command of language), but be content with information of things of ancient times,

BOOK I, PREFACE

27

sometimes set out plainly in my own words and sometimes faithfully recorded in the actual words of the old writers, as each subject has seemed to call for an exposition or a transcript. [ j ] W e ought in some sort to imitate the bees;1 and just as they, in their wanderings to and fro, sip the flowers, then arrange their spoil and distribute it among the combs, and transform the various juices to a single flavor by in some way mixing with them a property of their own being, [6] so I too shall put into writing all that I have acquired in the varied course of my reading, to reduce it thereby to order and to give it coherence. For not only does arrangement help the memory, but the actual process of arrangement, accompanied by a kind of mental fermentation which serves to season the whole, blends the diverse extracts to make a single flavor; with the result that, even if the sources are evident, what we get in the end is still something clearly different from those known sources. [7] W e see nature acting in this way in our own bodies without any effort on our part, since the food we take is a heavy burden to the stomach for as long as it remains in its original state and floats there in a solid mass, but when it has been transmuted, then, and not until then, it passes into the blood and strengthens us. And so it is with the food of the mind: we must see to it that we do not allow what we have absorbed to remain unchanged and thus fail to assimilate it, but we must, as it were, digest it. T o do otherwise is to feed the memory, not the mind. [8] Let us gather then from all sources and from them form one whole, as single numbers combine to form one number. Let our minds aim at showing the finished product, but conceal all that has helped to produce it; just as the makers of scented unguents take special care to ensure that their preparations have the property of no one scent but blend the essence of all the odors into a single perfume. [9] Or take a choir: it consists, as you see, of many voices and yet all those voices form a unity; for in a choir one voice is high, another low, another of the middle register; there are men's voices and the voices of women, and among them the notes of the pipe; and yet, although individual voices do not emerge, the voices of all are heard and from a number of different sounds there comes a harmony. 1

Seneca Eptstulae 84; John of Salisbury 7. 10 (66oa-b).

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[ io] This, then, is what I would have this present work be: a repository of much to teach and much to guide you, examples drawn from many ages but informed by a single spirit, wherein— if you refrain from rejecting what you already know and from shunning what you do not—you will find much that it would be a pleasure to read, an education to have read, and of use to remember; [ 11 ] for, to the best of m y belief, the work contains nothing that it is either useless to know or difficult to comprehend, but everything in it is calculated to quicken your understanding, to strengthen y o u r memory, to give more dexterity to y o u r discourse, and to make y o u r speech more correct—except in so far as the genius of the Latin language may in places prove to be a stumbling block to me born under an alien sky. [ 1 2 ] And so, if after all there happen at times to be some with the leisure and the will to make the acquaintance of my work, from them I would seek, and would hope to win, a reasonable indulgence, should my words lack the elegance of the native Roman tongue. 2 [ 1 3 ] But here I am indeed imprudent, and I have incurred that neat rebuke which Marcus Cato 3 gave to the Aulus Albinus who was consul with Lucullus. [ 1 4 ] This Albinus composed a History of Rome in Greek and wrote in the preface to the effect that no one ought to criticize him f o r any lack of arrangement, or faults of style, " f o r , " said he, " I am a Roman, born in Latium, and the Greek language is altogether foreign to me"; and on that ground he claimed the privilege of being excused from censure f o r any mistakes he might have made. [ 1 5 ] A f t e r reading this, Marcus Cato said: " U p o n m y word, Aulus, you carry your trifling too far in choosing to apologize f o r a fault instead of refraining from committing it. A s a rule, one asks for pardon after making a mistake through inadvertence or after doing wrong under compulsion; but who, pray, compelled you to do that for which you would ask pardon in advance?" [ 1 6 ] And I shall now proceed to indicate the theme of the work in the form, as it were, of a prologue.

1

C f . the a p o l o g y to the reader in the preface to the Metamorphoses leius. 3 A u l u s Ccllius h . 8. See also Cicero Brutus Si.

of A p u -

CHAPTER ι f ι ] During the festival of the Saturnalia leading Roman nobles, and some scholars with them, meet at the house of Vettius Praetextatus and devote the annual celebration to conversation on matters relating to the liberal arts, inviting each other in turn to dinner, in friendly hospitality, and separating only for repose at night. [2 ] For the whole of the rest days 1 the better part of the day is devoted to serious discussions, but at dinner their talk is on topics that become the festive board. In this way there is always some subject under review the whole day long, for learned treatment or light, although the conversation at table will of course take a more jovial turn, as having pleasure for its aim rather than some earnest purpose. [3] Certainly in Plato's well-known Symposium (as in the works of other writers who have described such banquets) the conversation of the guests does not touch on any matter of graver import, but the theme is love, treated with diversity and charm; and Socrates indeed here, so far from seeking as usual to press his opponent hard and to tie him up in tighter and tighter knots, seems to be engaging in a sham fight rather than a battle and all but giving his victims the chance to slip away and escape. [4] N o w the table talk, while decent and above reproach, must also be attractive and pleasant, but the morning discussions will be of stemer stuff, as befitting men of learning and distinction. And, if in the writers of old a Cotta, a Laelius, and a Scipio 2 shall continue to discuss matters of the highest importance for as long as Roman literature shall endure, surely a Praetextatus, a Flavianus, an Albinus, a Symmachus, and a Eustathius, men of like distinction 1 2

Fowler, Essays, p. 79. See Cicero De natura deoricm, De re publica, De amicitia, De senectute.

3o

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

and no less worth, may be permitted to express themselves in the same way. [ 5 ] I trust too that no one will think that I am acting unfairly if one or t w o of the characters who meet reached maturity a generation later than Praetextatus, for the dialogues of Plato prove that this license is permissible.' Thus Parmenides, for example, lived so long before Socrates that the latter as a boy could hardly have met the former in his old age, and yet they are represented discussing certain abstruse problems together; and a famous dialogue is wholly taken up with a discussion between Socrates and Timaeus, although it is well known that the t w o men did not belong to the same generation. [6] Again, Plato makes Paralus and Xanthippus, the sons of Pericles, converse with Protagoras on his second visit to Athens, notwithstanding the fact that long before that time, the two had been carried off by the disastrous plague at Athens. Thus, with the example of Plato to support me, it has seemed inappropriate to go to the length of reckoning on my fingers the ages of the persons whom I have brought together. [7] T o enable the words of each speaker to be more easily recognized and distinguished, I have introduced Decius questioning Postumianus about the talks and the participants in them. But now, not to keep the reader any longer from what he is waiting for, the conversation between Decius and Postumianus will explain how the colloquy began and how it progressed. 3

C f . Athenaeus 11. J05f.

CHAPTER ζ [ ι ] The rest days, said Decius, which we enjoy for much of the month of January have come conveniently; for I have been looking for a chance to meet you, Postumianus, and for the most favorable opportunity of questioning you, since on pretty well every other day, as being a day for legal business, it is impossible to find a single hour in which you are not engaged, either speaking on behalf of your clients' cases in court or considering them at home. But now—for I know that you devote this leisure to serious matters and not to trifles—if you will be so good as to answer the questions which I have come to ask, you will have done something which will not only, I think, give you pleasure but will certainly win my warmest thanks. [2] The first thing that I want to know is whether you were present at the dinner party which a succession of hosts hospitably prolonged f o r several days, and whether you took part in a conversation to which, so I hear, you give the highest praise and commend to everybody in the most complimentary terms. I should have heard of that conversation from my father but for the fact that, when those famous parties were over, he left Rome for Naples, where he is now staying. However, I have lately met others, who have spoken with admiration of that powerful memory of yours, which has enabled you more than once to recount in order everything that was said on that occasion. [3] M y dear Decius, said Postumianus, all my life—as you can have seen for yourself, so far as your age permits, and can have heard from your father Albinus—all my life, the one thing to my mind most worth while has been to devote such leisure as I may have had from my work at the bar to meeting men of learning, like yourself, and to talking with them; [4] for nowhere can the

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educated mind find more useful or more seemly relaxation than in taking some opportunity f o r learned and polite conversation and friendly discussion. [5] But as for this dinner party of w h i c h y o u speak, y o u refer, no doubt, to the occasion on w h i c h the most learned of our nobility and the others w h o were with them recently met at the house of Vettius Praetextatus, and, b y parting only to meet again at the house of another of the guests, gave a pleasant variety to their proceedings? T h a t , replied Decius, is just what I am here to ask about. Please describe the party, f o r all the guests are such close friends of yours that I am sure that y o u w e r e there. [6] I should have been glad to be there, said Postumianus, and indeed I do not think that my presence w o u l d have been unwelcome. But at the time I had a number of cases to examine w h i c h concerned friends of mine, and so, w h e n I was asked to the dinner, I replied that I should have to spend the holidays in study rather than in dining, and I suggested that another, w i t h no business cares to engage and o c c u p y him, should be invited instead. T h a t is what was done; [7] f o r Praetextatus gave instructions for an invitation to be sent to the rhetorician Eusebius in m y place—a ready speaker and an accomplished man, one w h o , among the Greeks, is superior to all practicing rhetoric to-day and one w h o is well versed in Latin studies too. [8] H o w then, said Decius, do y o u come to k n o w w h a t passed— those topics which, they tell me, w e r e propounded and discussed in so pleasant and friendly a fashion, w i t h abundant illustrations of value f o r the conduct of life and with a wealth of many-sided learning? [9] T h e day of the winter solstice, replied Postumianus, that is to say, the day w h i c h followed the festival of the Saturnalia when those dinner parties w e r e held, I w a s spending at home, all the more pleasantly since I had no legal business in court. Eusebius called, accompanied b y a f e w of his pupils, and said at once, with a smile: [10] "I confess, Postumianus, that I have much to thank y o u for, and not least f o r this, that in begging to be excused b y Praetextatus y o u made room for me at his table; so that I find not only y o u r kindness but fortune herself too combining in my favor to win f o r me a benefit from y o u . " [ 1 1 ] " W e l l , " said I, " w o n ' t y o u repay the debt y o u have so kindly and generously acknowledged

BOOK I , CHAPTER 2

33

and enable me to spend this all too rare leisure of mine in such a w a v as to imagine that I am one of the company now in which you found yourself then?" [ 1 2 ] "Indeed I will," said he, " I shall not tell of the food and the wine—both were plentiful without being extravagant—but I shall recall to the best of m y ability what was said b y the guests when they met, and especially what they said when not at dinner, in the course of those days. [ 1 3 ] W h e n I listened to that conversation, I thought that I was entering the life of those whom philosophers speak of as the Blessed. And I learnt too of what had passed on the day before I joined the company, from Avienus, who told me of it. I have put all into writing, that nothing be forgotten and omitted; but, if you wish to hear m y account of it, you must not suppose that a single day will be enough to recall what it took so many days to say." [ 14] What then, said Decius, was the conversation which Eusebius reported? W h o took part in it, and how did it begin? Here I am, all attention, a listener who will not g r o w tired. [ 1 5 ] T o w a r d evening on the day before the festival of the Saturnalia, replied Postumianus, Aurelius Symmachus and Caecina Albinus, closest of friends by reason of their age, their habits, and their pursuits, called on Vettius Praetextatus, who was at home to all who wished to meet at his house; and Servius, who had recently joined the ranks of the professional grammarians, a man as remarkable f o r his learning as he is lovable for his modesty, was close behind them, walking with his eyes fixed on the ground after the manner of one who wished to pass unnoticed. [ 1 6 ] A s soon as he saw his visitors, Praetextatus went forward to meet them and greeted them warmly; then, turning to Furius Albinus who, together with Avienus, happened to be in the house, he said: What do you say, Albinus? Our friends, whom w e shall do right to call the leading lights of Rome, have come, as you see, at just the right time. Shall w e tell them of the matter which w e had begun to discuss? [ 1 7 ] W h y not? replied Albinus. There is nothing that I should like better, for nothing could give them or us greater pleasure than to debate some learned topics. [ 1 8 ] M y dear Praetextatus, said Caecina, when all were seated, I am as yet unaware of the matter to which you refer; but I am quite sure that it is well worth knowing, since the rest of you have been discussing it and you refuse to leave us out of the discussion.

34

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[19] You must know, then, replied Praetextatus, that the subject of our talk was this. Tomorrow will be the first of the days dedicated to Saturn. But when are we to say that the festival of the Saturnalia begins? or, in other words, when are we to suppose that tomorrow begins? [20] W e have indeed touched lightly on some small points that bear on the question; but your researches in the written authorities are too well known for your modesty to deny, and so I would have you proceed to set out for the benefit of us all everything that you have learned and know about the subject of our inquiry.

C H A P T E R 3» [ ι ] There is, I see, said Caecina, no need for me to tell peopl· what they know already, for you have yourselves learned every thing and forgotten nothing of all the work of our predecessors 01 the matter which you invite me to speak about. But I should b sorry if anybody were to think that I felt the honor of being aske< for my opinion to be a burden, and so I will briefly recount what ever my all too poor memory shall bring to mind. Then, as soon a he saw that all were ready and eager to hear him, he began a follows. [2] Marcus Varrò in his work on Human Antiquities,2 writinj of days, says: "Persons who are born in the course of the twenty four hours between one midnight and the next are said to have beei born on one and the same day." [3] These words suggest that hi so divided the reckoning of a day that the birthday of a man bori after sunset but before midnight is the day which preceded thi night, but that, on the other hand, the birthday of one born durinj the last six hours of the night is held to be the day which dawne< after that night. [4] Varrò also wrote in the same book that thi Athenians have a different method of reckoning and say that thi whole interval of time between one sunset and the next is a singl· day; and that the Babylonians have yet another rule, for they cal the period from one sunrise to the beginning of the next sunrise : day; and, as for the Umbrians, they say that the interval betweei one midday and the next is one and the same day; [5] "but this,' says Varrò, "is too absurd, for the birthday of an Umbrian born a 1

In connection with this chapter see Isidore of Seville 5. 30-31 and Bed De temperimi ratione 7. * Aulus Gellius 3. 2.

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M A C R O B I U S : THE SATURNALIA

the sixth hour on the Kalends of a month will have to be regarded» as comprising half of the first day of the month and up to the sixth hour of the second." [6] There is plenty of evidence to show that the Romans, as Varrò said, reckoned each day as running from one midnight to the next; for of the religious ceremonies held at Rome, some are "diurnal," others "nocturnal"—the term "diurnal" being taken to cover any ceremonies held between the beginning of a day and midnight, but any which begin after the sixth hour of the night being taken to belong to the "nocturnal" ceremonies of the following day. 4 [7] Moreover, the ritual practice in connection with the taking of auspices also points to the same method of reckoning; for, since the magistrates must, on one and the same day, both take the auspices and perform the act touching which the auspices have previously been taken, they take the auspices after midnight and perform the act after sunrise; and thus they are said to have taken the auspices and performed the act on the same day. [8] Again, if the tribunes of the people, who may not be absent from Rome for a whole day, leave the city after midnight and return after "first torchlight" but before the midnight following, they are not regarded as having been away for a day, because by returning before the sixth hour of the night they spend a part of that day in Rome. [9] Furthermore, I have read that the jurist Quintus Mucius used to say that a woman w h o began to cohabit with a husband on the first of January and left him on the twenty-seventh of December following, 5 in order to interrupt the husband's possession, had not interrupted it, because the three nights' absence from her husband, required by the T w e l v e Tables to effect the interruption,® could * I.e., by Roman reckoning. Reading (with Bornecque) et ea quae diurna sunt ab initio diei ad medium noctis protenduntur; ab hora sexta noctis, seqitentis [sc. diei] nocturnis sacris tevipus impenditur. T h e text is corrupt. T h e distinction would seem to be between acts which have to be performed in the course of a day of twentyfour hours (running from midnight to midnight) and acts performed at night between midnight and the following daybreak. 5 A.d. iv Kal. Ian., December then having only twenty-nine days. • One of the ways in which a marriage could be contracted at Rome in early times was by usus, i.e., by the continuous cohabitation of a man and woman as husband and wife. If the usus lasted without interruption for a year, 4

BOOK I , CHAPTER 3

37

not be completed, since the last six hours of the third night belonged to the following year, which would begin on the first of January. [10] Vergil, too, suggests the same method of reckoning, but (as became a poet) by means of an indirect and veiled allusion to an old established practice, in the lines: The dank night wheels her course midway, and now I feel the breath of the cruel steeds of dawn [Aeneid 5. 738] for with these words he reminds us that what at Rome is called the civil day begins to run from the sixth hour of the night. [ 1 1 ] In the sixth Book of the Aeneid too the poet has described the time when the night begins, for he says: Dawn with her rose-red car even now had passed in her heavenly course the middle of the sky 7 [Aeneid 6. 535] and a few lines later the sibyl added: Aeneas, night comes on apace, and we but spend the hours in weeping. [Aeneid 6. 539] Thus Vergil's description of the beginnings of the day and the night is in the closest conformity with the definitions of the civil law. [12] The divisions of the civil day are these: first, "the middle turning point of the night"; then "cock crow"; after that, "the silence", when the cocks are silent and men are still asleep; then "first light", when day becomes discernible; after that, "morning" (mane), when the light of day is clear. [13] Now we use the word mane either because daylight begins to rise from the world below, that is to say, from the abode of the Manes,8 or departed spirits, or (and this to my mind is more likely to be the true meaning of the word) because it is a word of good omen; for at Lanuvium the word mane means "good"—just as we too use its opposite immane the woman passed into the man's mantis [hand], and so passed from her own agnatic family to come under the potestas of the head of her husband's family. T h e Twelve Tables, however, enacted (Warmington, III, 462) that the absence by a wife from her husband's home for three consecutive nights in any one year (trinoctii absentia) broke the period of prescription and mamis did not then arise. Gaius (1. h i ) remarks that the law regarding usus and the trinoctii absentia had become obsolete by his time (i.e., in the time of Marcus Aurelius). 7 I.e., it is past midday in the world above. 8 Isidore of Seville 8. 100; 10. 139.

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M A C R O B I U S : THE SATURNALIA

in the sense "not good," as, for example, in such expressions as immanis belua [a monstrous beast] or immane facinus [an abominable deed] and in all other like phrases.· [14] Then comes the period "from morning to midday" (meridiem), that is to say to the middle of the day (medium diei); after midday comes the time called "the day's decline", and then "the end of the day," namely, the very last time of day [for legal business]—just as in the Twelve Tables we read: "Let sunset end proceedings." 10 [15] "Evening" (vespera) follows, a word borrowed from the Greeks, who speak of έσπέρα, from Hesperus, the evening star; and it is for this reason too that Italy is called "Hesperia," because it lies toward the setting sun. Afterward come the divisions "first torchlight," "bedtime," and "the dead of night"— this last being the period unsuitable for the transaction of any business. These are the divisions of the civil day observed at Rome. [16] It follows therefore that the beginning of the Saturnalia (Saturnaliorum) will be midnight in the night which is about to come (noctu futura), although it is customary not to begin the festivities until tomorrow (die crastini). ' V a r r ò (De lingua Latina 6. 2. 4) refers to an adjective mânus, used in early Latin with the meaning " g o o d " ; and probably it is f r o m this adjective that the name Manes was given, as a euphemism, to the spirits of the dead. 10

VVarmington, III, 430.

CHAPTER 4 [ ι ] Hereupon all praised Caecina Albinus for a memory which might well be likened to a storehouse of ancient lore. And then Praetextatus, seeing Avienus whispering to Furius Albinus, said: Come, Avienus, what have you been confiding to Albinus, as something which you would not wish the rest of us to hear? [2] I am much impressed, replied Avienus, by the authority with which Caecina has spoken, and I am aware that such profound learning cannot be mistaken. Nevertheless, the expressions noctu futura and die crastini which he has used in preference to the regular forms futura nocte and die crostino struck my ear as strange. [3] For noctu is not a noun but an adverb; and, moreover, futura as a declinable word cannot agree with an adverb: surely, too, noctu is related to nocte as diu is to die. Again die and crastini are not in the same case, and yet in such an expression only identity of case enables declinable words to be joined. And then I wish to know what is the difference between the forms Saturnaliorum and Saturnaliicm and why we should prefer to use the former. [4] Caecina smiled but did not reply, and Symmachus then asked Servius for his opinion. In a company such as this, said Servius, a company of men whose learning no less than their noble birth commands respect, my place should be to learn rather than to teach. Nevertheless, I shall comply with your wishes, sir, and do as you bid, explaining first the declension of the word Saturnalia and afterwards the origins of those other expressions which are old-fashioned rather than new. [5] T o say Saturnalium is to follow the rule: for declinable words with a dative plural ending in -bus never have more syllables in the genitive plural than in the dative, but the genitive has either the same number of syllables as the

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dative (for example: momlibus, monilium·, sedilibus, sedilium) or one syllable less (for example: carminibus, carminum; liminibus, Irminum)·, and therefore, given Saturnalibus, Saturnalittm rather than Saturnaliorum is the regular form of the genitive. [6] But those w h o say Saturnaliorum have the support of distinguished authorities; for Sallust, in the third book of his Histories, speaks of Bacchanaliorum; and Masurius in the second book of his Calendar says: " T h e day of the W i n e Festival (Vinaliorum) is sacred to Jupiter and not, as some suppose, to Venus." [7] Moreover, to summon the grammarians as witnesses, Verrius Flaccus in his little book entitled Saturn says: " T h e days of the Saturnalia (Saturnaliorum) are regarded as festivals by the Greeks also"; and again, in the same work: "I think that I have written a clear account of the arrangement of the Saturnalia (Saturnaliorum)." So, too, Julius Modestus in his treatise On Rest Days speaks of "the rest days of the Saturnalia (Saturnaliorum)," and in the same book says: "Andas relates that Numa Pompilius was the founder of the Agonalia (.Agonaliorum)." [8] But you will say that the question is whether there are any grounds to support the usage of these authorities. T o be sure, there are; and, since it is not unfitting that a grammarian should be confronted with points of grammatical analogy, which are after all his business, I shall try to discover, b y inference, what it is that has led these men to turn aside from the regular form of the word and to say Saturnaliorum rather than Saturnalium. [9] In the first place, then, I think that they wished to mark the difference between these names, which are names of festivals and are neuter in gender and have no singular number, and names which are declined in the singular as well as in the plural; for such words as Compitalia, Bacchanalia, Agonalia, Vinalia, and the others like them are names of festivals and are not used in the singular; or, if you do use the singular form, it will have a different meaning unless you add "festum," and say Bacchanale festum, Agonale festum, and so on—the word Bacchanale or Agonale being now not a substantive but an adjective, or what is called in Greek an "epithet." [ 10] T h e y were minded, therefore, to use a distinctive form for the genitive in order to show by this method of declension that the word was the name of a festival. And they knew also that not

BOOK I, CHAPTER 4

4'

infrequently some declinable words with a dative plural ending in -bus have a genitive plural in -rum (for example: domibus, domorum·, duobus, duorum·, ambobus, amborum). [ 11 ] So too with the word viridia: when it is used as an epithet, the genitive ends in -um (thus viridia prata has viridiitm pratorum) ; but when we wish to indicate the essential greenness of a place we say viridiorum, as for example in the phrase "the beautiful appearance of the verdure {viridiorum)," for viridia is then used as a substantive and not as an adjective. [12] However, such was the freedom with which the old writers used the genitive in -rum that Asinius Pollio frequently employs the form vectigaliorum, although the singular vectigal is found no less often than the plural vectigalia; and although we read: "And in his left hand held the sacred shield (ancile)," 1 we nevertheless come across the form anciliorum for the genitive plural. [13] We must therefore ask ourselves if it is absolutely true to say that this form of the genitive is confined to names of festivals or if the truth is rather that the old writers took pleasure in variety. For you see that we find other words than those which stand for the names of festivals declined in this way, as is clear from the reference that I have made to the existence of such forms as viridiorum, vectigaliorum, and anciliorum. [14] What is more, I find even the names of festivals declined according to rule in old writers; for Varrò says that the day of the Feralia (Feralium) takes its name from the practice of carrying (ferendis) dishes of food to the tombs—he did not say Feraliorum—nná elsewhere he uses the form Floralium, not Floraliorum, in a passage referring not to the Floral Games (Ludi Florales) but to the festival of the Floralia itself. [15] Masurius, too, in the second Book of his Calendar says: "The day of the festival of Liber (Liberalium) is called by the pontiffs the day of the "Sacrifice in Honor of Mars"; and again, in the same book, he says: "That night and the day which immediately follows it, which is the day of the Festival of the Groves," using the form Lucarium, not Lucariorum (just as many authors have said Liberalium, not Liberaliorum). [16] We must conclude, therefore, that the old writers allowed 1

Vergil, Aeneid. 7. 188.

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themselves freedom to vary inflections and would say, for example, both exanimos and exanimes, inermos and inermes, hilaros and hilares; so that it is certainly permissible to say both Satumalium and Saturnaliorum, the former having the support of the grammatical rule as well as of precedent, the latter relying on precedent alone—although the precedents are many. [17] As for the rest of the words which struck our friend Avienus as strange, we have the evidence of old writers to defend their use. Ennius—unless someone thinks that the more polished elegance of our age requires one to reject him—has combined the words noctu and concubia in the following lines: And on that night, at the time of sleep (qua ... noctu ... concubia), the Gauls by stealth attacked the citadel's topmost walls, surprised the sentries, and cut them down.2 [18] And in this passage it should be observed that the poet has not only said noctu concubia, but he has used the expression qua noctu as well. This was in the seventh Book of the Annals; in the third Book the same usage appeared more clearly still, in the line: This night (hac noctu) the fate of all Etruria will hang by a thread.® Claudius Quadrigarius, too, in the third Book of his Annals writes: "The Senate, however, met by night (de no et e), but it was late at night (noctu multa) that they broke up and went home." [ 19] Nor is it irrelevant, I think, at this point to remind you also that in the Twelve Tables the decemvirs, clean contrary to the accepted usage, said nox for noctu. The words are as follows: If a theft shall have been committed at night (nox), and one shall have killed him (im) [the thief], let him be held to have been lawfully killed.4 And here it should be noted further that the word used for "him"—for the accusative case of is—is not e um but im. [20] Again, our learned friend has the authority of the old writers to support his use of the expression diecrastini; for it was their custom to say sometimes diequinti and sometimes diequinte, joining the words together to serve as an adverb,5 as is clear from 1

Warmington, Warmington, * Warmington, s Aulus Gellius s

I, 92. I, 56. III, 482. 10. 24.

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the fact that the second syllable of the double word is short, although the "e" of die is long by nature when the word stands alone. [ 21 ] I have said that the last syllable of this adverbial expression was sometimes written -e and sometimes -i, for it was generally the custom of the old writers to end with either letter indifferently, writing, for example, praefiscine and praefiscini, or proclive and proclivi. [22] And here I am reminded of that line of Pomponius, in the Atellan farce entitled Maevia, which runs: For three days now I have eaten nothing: on the fourth day (diequarte) I shall die of hunger. [Ribbeck, II, 284] [23] In the same way diepristine was used with the meaning die pristino [on the day before], although we now transpose the component parts and use the word pridie, as though to say pristino die. [24] I do not deny that we find die quarto in our reading of the old authors, but this expression is used with reference to something which has happened in the past and not to something in the future; for that most learned man, Gnaeus Marius, in his Mimiambs, instead of saying as we do nudius quartus for "four days ago," says die quarto in the lines: It was lately, four days ago, as I recall, and he certainly broke the only pitcher in the house. [Baehrens, p. 282] The distinction then will be this: that we say die quarto when we are referring to the past, but diequarte with reference to the future. [25] However, I would not have you think that I have overlooked the expression diecrastini, and here is an example of such usage from the second Book of the Histories of Caelius: "If I might have the cavalry now and you are prepared to follow me with the rest of the army, on the fifth day (diequinti), I shall have dinner ready for you on the Capitol at Rome." [26] Your Caelius, remarked Symmachus, took both the story and the expression diequinti from the Origins of Marcus Cato, who wrote: "And so the commander of the cavalry gave the Carthaginian general this advice: 'Send the cavalry with me to Rome and on the fifth day (diequinti) dinner shall be ready for you on the Capitol.' 6 [27] And I think, added Praetextatus, some further proof of the old usage is to be found in the words with which the praetor, 6 The reference is to the advice given to Hannibal by Maharbal, to march on Rome after the battle of Cannae (Livy 22. 51).

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in accordance with the custom of our ancestors, regularly proclaims the rest day called the Compitalia. The words are these: "On the ninth day (dienoni) the Roman People, the Quintes, will celebrate the Compitalia."

CHAPTER 5 [ i ] Curius, Fabricius, and Coruncanius of old, said Avienus, looking at Servius, and that famous triple band of brothers, too, the Horatii, who belong to a still earlier age, talked clearly and intelligibly with their fellows, using the language of their own day and not that of the Aurunci or Sicani or Pelasgi, who men say were the first inhabitants of Italy. But you, Servius, might as well be conversing now with Evander's mother, in seeking to recall for our use words which became obsolete many generations ago; and, what is more, you have summoned in support of this medley of expressions a number of distinguished persons whose memories were stocked with the fruits of their constant reading. [2] You, my friends, all proclaim that you find pleasure in antiquity because of the honesty, sobriety, and moderation of those times. Very well then; let us show in our lives the manners of the past but speak in the language of our own day. For I always remember and take to heart what Gaius Caesar, that man of outstanding genius and wisdom, wrote in the first Book of his treatise On Grammatical Analogy: "I should avoid," he said, "a rare and unusual word as I would a rock." 1 [3] After all, continued Avienus, there is a thousand of such words (mille verborum talium est) which, although they were used frequently, on good authority, long ago, have by later ages been, as it were, discharged from service and discarded.' I could give plenty of instances of these words now, were not the approach

1

Aulus Gellius 1. 10; John of Salisbury 8. 10 (748c). For examples of such use by Macrobius of the genitive case after mille, see below: 5. 14. 7 (mille talium vocabulorum) and j. 16. 7 (mille sententiarwm talium). 2

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of night a warning that we must presently be going our several ways. [4] Hush, pray, said Praetextatus with characteristic earnestness, let us not so far forget ourselves as to do harm to the respect that is due to antiquity, the mother of the arts. Indeed you go far to betray your love for what is old in your attempt to dissemble that love, for your expression "There is a thousand of words" has an odor of antiquity about it. [5] It is true that Cicero in his speech on behalf of Milo* has left us this passage: "Before Clodius's estate, that estate on which, thanks to those extravagant basements, fully a thousand of able-bodied men was employed"—not "were employed," the usual reading in the inferior manuscripts—and in his sixth Philippic 4 he says: " W h o was ever found in that Janus 5 who would credit Lucius Antonius with a thousand of sesterces?" And it is true that Varrò too, a contemporary of Cicero, in the seventeenth Book of his Human Antiquities has written: "It is more than a thousand and one hundred of years." Nevertheless in using this construction Cicero and Varrò have only relied on the authority of their predecessors, [6] for Quadrigarius in the third Book of his Annals wrote: "There a thousand of men is killed," and Lucilius in the third Book of his Satires has the line: From gate to harbor is a thousand [of paces], six thence to Salernum.' [7] Indeed, in another passage Lucilius has even declined mille, for in the fifteenth Book he says: N o jolting Campanian steed, although it has beaten this horse in a run of a thousand of paces, or two thousand (Titilli passum atque duobus), will keep up with him over a longer distance but will look as if he were going the other way 7 and likewise in the ninth Book he says: 3

Pro Milone 20. J3. See also Aulus Gellius 1. 16. 6. 5. .5. 5 Cicero is referring to the viedius [middle] I anus as the place, in or near the Forum, where banking and monevlending business was carricd 011 at Rome. References are found, e.g., in Cicero, Horace, and Livv, to three ¡arti (smmmis, médius, and imus). These are generally held to have been square archways, or "thoroughfares" (transitiones perviae), with rooms above, but they may have been three parts of a continuous arcade. 6 Warmington, III, 38. 7 YVarmington, III, 162. 4

BOOK I , CHAPTER 5

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You with but one thousand of sesterces (milli nurnmum) can gain a hundred [thousand].8 [8] In saying milli passum for mille passibus and milli nummum for mille nummis Lucilius has shown clearly that mille is a noun, is used in the singular number, has an ablative case, and that its plural is milia. [9] For mille does not stand for the Greek χίλια but for χιλιάς, and just as one can say one χιλιάς and two χιλιάδες, so the old writers, following a definite and regular principle, used to say unum mille and duo milia* [10] But tell me, Avienus, continued Praetextatus, when it comes to voting on the use of words, would you disfranchise those learned men whom Cicero and Varrò were proud to imitate, and would you thrust them from the bridge 10 as though they were old men in their sixties? [ 1 1 ] Well, he added, we might go on to say more about this, did not the lateness of the hour require us to part—although I am as sorrv to see you go as you are to go. But what are your wishes for tomorrow? Most people spend the day in games of backgammon and draughts. I suggest, however, that we spend it from early morning until dinnertime in such sober conversation as that in which we have been engaged. And at dinner, too, instead of indulging in heavy drinking and lavish dishes, I suggest that we pass the time decently in learned inquiries and in exchange of information from our place at table.11 [12] If we do so, we shall find the rest days more productive of good than all our workaday business; for we shall not, as the saying goes, just be allowing our minds to unbend—Musonius, you know, says loosening (remitiere) your mind is like losing (amittere) it—but the charm of pleasant and improving talk will afford our minds a measure of soothing relaxap

AVarmington, III, 112. » Aulus Gellius 1. 16. 8. 10 The "bridges" (pontes) were the narrow gangways leading from the enclosures in which the tribes or centuries assembled to vote up to the tribunal of the presiding magistrate (cf. Cicero De legibus 3. 17. 38). There was, however, a popular belief that, of old, men over sixty years of age used to be thrown from a bridge into the Tiber and drowned, whence the proverb sexagenarios de ponte and the application of the term depontam to men in their sixties. 11 Or: "in exchanging accounts of what we have read (ex lecto)."

4

8

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tion. 11 If such is your pleasure, you will win the warmest approval of my household gods by meeting here. [ 1 3 ] N o one, replied Symmachus, at any rate no one who regards himself as a not unworthy member of this company, will refuse to accept the proposed meeting or its president. But, to complete the party, I move that we invite these others to join us and dine with us: Flavianus, who has proved that he has surpassed that admirable man Venustus, his father, by the distinction of his character and the dignity of his life no less than by the abundance and depth of his learning; and with him Postumianus, who adds to the renown of the bar by the high reputation of his pleading, and Eustathius, a man so proficient in every branch of philosophy as by himself to take for us the place of those three gifted philosophers who were the boast of our predecessors. [14] And here I refer, of course, to those famous men whom the Athenians once sent as envoys to the Senate, to seek the remission of a fine of some five hundred talents which had been imposed on their city for the sack of Oropus. 13 [15] They were the philosophers Carneades of the Academy, Diogenes the Stoic, and Critolaus the Peripatetic, each of whom, we are told, lectured separately before a large crowd in the most frequented parts of Rome to display his ability. [16] The eloquence of Carneades is said to have been forcible and vehement, that of Critolaus adroit and well-turned, that of Diogenes restrained and sober; nevertheless, when they appeared before the Senate, they engaged the senator Caelius14 to act as an interpreter. But our friend Eustathius, who has studied the doctrines of every schoolchoosing to follow those that are most susceptible of proof—and combines in himself all the styles of speech that those Greeks displayed, is so competent to act among us as his own interpreter that it would be impossible to say in which tongue he would discourse with the greater ease and elegance—in Greek or in Latin. [17] The proposal made by Quintus Aurelius, to invite the companions suggested, met with general approval; and, this decision reached, the guests, all taking leave of Praetextatus first and then of each other, returned to their several homes. 11

"

14

Aulus Gellius 18. 1. 1. Aulus Gellius 6. 14. See also Nettleship, Lectures G . Acilius? See Aulus Gellius 6. 14.

and Essays, p. jo.

CHAPTER 6 [ ι ] On the next day, as they had agreed the day before, all came early in the morning to the house of Vettius Praetextatus, who was waiting for them in the library. [2] This, said he as he received them, I see will be a famous day for me; for you are here, and those whom we decided to ask to be of our company have also promised to come—all except Postumianus, who felt that he ought rather to be getting up his briefs. But when he declined the invitation, I asked the rhetorician Eusebius in his place, a shining example of the learning and eloquence of Greece. And I have suggested to all that they should give us the pleasure of their company from daybreak; since no public business would properly be carried on today, a day on which you certainly will not see anybody wearing formal dress, whether civil dress or military (togatus,1 trabeatus, paludatus, praetextatus) . [3] You refer, Praetextatus, to the words used to describe different kinds of dress, said Avienus, interrupting, as was his way, and you mention a name which Rome and I revere—your own. It occurs to me therefore to ask a question which will not, I think, seem absurd; for, since neither the toga nor the trabea nor the paludamentum has given rise to the formation of a proper name, why, pray, has the usage of old times led to such occurrence only in the case of the praetexta; or else what is the origin of your name? [4] While Avienus was speaking, in came Flavianus and Eustathius, a pair well known for their friendship, and shortly afterward Eusebius. Their arrival added to the life of the gathering, and after an exchange of greetings they sat down, asking, as they did so, what the discussion on which they had chanced was about. [5] You have come in the nick of time, said Vettius, for I was looking for some1

Cf. Martial 6. 14.

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one to take m y part. Our friend Avienus is raising the question of my name and is demanding to know its origin—for all the world as if proof of parentage were required of it. N o one bears the name "Togatus" or "Trabeatus or "Paludatus," and so he asks us for an explanation w h y "Praetextatus" is used as a proper name. [6] T h e temple door at Delphi bore the inscription " K n o w T h y s e l f , " and this is also a maxim of one of the Seven Sages. W h a t an ignoramus then I must be thought to be, if I am ignorant of m y own name! And so I must now tell of its origin and how I come to bear it. [7] Tullus Hostilius, the third king of the Romans, was the first to introduce the use at Rome of the curule chair, lictors, and the toga picta* and toga praetexta: it was after his conquest of the Etruscans, f o r whose magistrates they were the insignia of office. A t that time children used not to wear the praetexta3 because, as the other attributes which I have mentioned, the dress marked the holding of a public office. [8] Afterward, however, Tarquinius Priscus (son of the Corinthian exile, Demaratus) who, some say, was called Lucumo—he was third 4 after Hostilius and the fifth 4 after Romulus to reign at Rome—celebrated a triumph over the Sabines; and, since in that war his son, a lad of fourteen years, had killed one of the enemy with his own hand, he made a public speech in the boy's honor and presented him with an amulet (bulla) of gold and a purple-bordered toga praetexta, to show b y rewards indicative of manliness and office that the lad had displayed a courage beyond his years. [9] F o r just as the toga praetexta was worn by a magistrate, so it was the custom f o r a victorious general to wear on his breast at his triumph an amulet containing charms believed to be of the greatest potency against the evil eye. [ 10] This then is the origin of the custom b y which boys of noble birth came to wear the praetexta and the bulla as a presage of, and a prayer for, manliness like that of him who first received these rewards while yet a boy. [ 1 1 ] According to other authorities, when that same Priscus with the shrewdness of a farseeing ruler was organizing the citizens in * Originally the garb of royalty, later the embroidered toga worn by a victorious commander at his triumph (purple, embroidered with gold and interwoven with golden stars; see Appian Romana Historia 8.6Ó; Suetonius Nero 25). s Girls as well as boys wore the praetexta in childhood. See Propertius 4. h . 33. See also Fowler, Essays, p. 42. 4 Reckoned inclusively.

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classes, he considered that the dress of the free-born boys was also a matter of first importance. And he therefore ordained that boys of patrician birth should wear a golden bulla with a purple-bordered toga, provided that their fathers had held a curule office, [ 1 2 ] the rest of these boys being allowed the use of the praetexta only, such use being subject to a provision that their fathers had served in the cavalry as prescribed by law. Sons of freedmen, however, had no right to the praetexta·, still less had resident aliens, since these last had no relationship with the citizens of Rome. [ 1 3 ] But afterward the right to wear the praetexta was granted to the sons of freedmen also, for the following reason which Marcus Laelius, the augur, relates. He says that during the second Punic W a r , in consequence of a number of portents, the duumvirs [recte decemvirs], 5 pursuant to a decree of the Senate, consulted the Sibylline Books and, after inspection of the books, proclaimed a day of public prayer to be held on the Capitol and the provision of a feast f o r the gods from the proceeds of a collection of alms to which freedwomen with the right to wear the long robe« were also permitted to contribute. [ 1 4 ] Prayers were offered b y boys, both free-born and sons of freedmen, and a hymn was sung by maidens who had both parents living. Subsequently, sons of freedmen, too, provided that they had been born of lawfully wedded mothers, were allowed to wear the toga praetexta, but in place of the honor of a golden amulet they wore a bulla of leather round their necks. [ 1 5 ] Verrius Flaccus tells of a reply received from an oracle to the effect that a plague raging at Rome was due to the fact that men were "looking down on the gods." 7 T h e reply caused dismay in the city, f o r it was not understood. But on the day of the Games in the Circus a boy happened to be looking down on the procession from an upper room and told his father the order in which he had seen the sacred and secret objects arranged in the c o f f e r on the car. T h e father reported the incident to the Senate, and they resolved that the route along which the procession passed should be screened. So the plague ceased; and the boy who had solved the riddle of the oracle received the right to wear the toga praetexta as a reward. 5

See ι. 17. 29, below. C f . L i v y 22. 1 and 27. 37. See also Fraenkel, Horace, 380 n. 6 T h e "long robe" w a s a mark of a w o m a n of g o o d character; c f . H o r a c e Satires 1. 2. 29. 7 C f . Aristophanes Nubes 226.

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[ 16] Learned antiquaries relate that at the time of the rape of the Sabine women, one (named Hersilia) was carried off clinging to her daughter and was given by Romulus to be the wife of a certain Hostus, a man of outstanding valor who had come from Latium to the place of refuge set up by Romulus at Rome. She was the first of the Sabine women to give birth to a child, a son, to whom, as the first to be born in a foreign land (in bostico), she gave the name of Hostus Hostilius. Romulus, too, honored the boy with a golden bulla and the distinction of the praetexta·, for the story goes that, when Romulus called the Sabine women together to console them for their capture, he promised to confer a signal honor on the child whose mother was the first to bear a citizen of his city of Rome. [17] Some believe that free-born boys were allowed to wear the heart-shaped figure of the bulla on the breast, in order that the sight of this figure might remind them that excellence of heart was needed to make them men; and that the further gift of the toga praetexta was made to the end that the blush of the purple might teach them to order their lives with a modesty befitting their free birth. [ 18] I have spoken of the origin of the praetexta, and I have also given the reasons for supposing that it was granted as a badge of childhood. I must now briefly explain how it came about that the name for this kind of dress passed into use as a proper name.8 [19] It was formerly the custom for Senators, when they went to the House, to be accompanied by sons who were still wearing the praetexta. One day, when the discussion of a matter of considerable importance had been adjourned to the morrow, it was resolved that no one should refer to the subject of the debate until a decision had been reached. [20] The mother of a young Papirius, who had been with his father in the Senate, asked her son what business had come before the House, but the boy replied that the business was secret and might not be mentioned. This made the woman all the more eager to hear about it, for the secrecy of the matter and the boy's silence provoked her curiosity, and she therefore questioned him more closely and more urgently. [21] Then, because of his mother's insistence, the boy had recourse to a neat and humorous falsehood: the question debated was, he said, whether the advantage 8

Aulus Gellius 1. 23.

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and interest of the state would be better served by one man having two wives or one woman two husbands. [22] On hearing this, the woman was filled with alarm and hurriedly left the house to carry the news to the other wives. Next day the matrons of Rome flocked in great crowds to the Senate, begging with tears and entreaties that one woman should be married to two men rather than two women to one man. [23] T h e Senators, as they entered the House, were amazed at the unrestrained behavior of the women and were at a loss to know the meaning of their demand, for such a mad and unseemly departure from the natural modesty of the sex seemed to presage some disaster, and they were disquieted. [24] But the general dismay was relieved when the young Papirius stepped forward and told the House all that had happened—what his mother had insisted on hearing and his own fictitious reply. [25] The Senate warmly commended the lad's loyalty and ingenuity but resolved that in the future boys should not be admitted to the House with their fathers, an exception being made in favor of the young Papirius alone, who was honored subsequently by decree with the surname "Praetextatus," for the discretion he had shown, in silence and in speech, while still of age to wear the praetexta. [26] This surname afterwards remained in our family as the family name. The Scipios, continued Vettius, got their name just because a Cornelius was given the surname "Scipio" [a staff] for acting as a staff to guide his blind father (another Cornelius), and from him this name passed as a surname to his descendants. So too with your friend Messala, Avienus: he derives his name from the surname which Valerius Maximus received after his capture of the famous city of Messana in Sicily. [27] And there is nothing surprising in the fact that surnames become family names, since the opposite also happens and surnames have been formed from family names— Aemilianus, for example, from Aemilius and Servilianus from Servilius. [28] Messala and Scipio, interposed Eusebius, received their surnames, as you say, the former for valor and the latter for filial piety, but what of Scropha and Asina? Tell us, please, the origin of these surnames, for they belong to men of no ordinary worth; and yet the names would seem to suggest an insult rather than a compliment.

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[29] These names, replied Praetextatus, are neither complimentary nor insulting in their origin; they are the result of chance circumstances. The Cornelii were given the surname "Asina" because a head of the Cornelian clan—buying some land or marrying a daughter—being required to produce the usual guarantors, brought a she-ass (asina) with a load of money to the Forum as a tangible security in their place. [30] As for Tremellius, he got the surname "Scropha" from the following incident. He was at his country estate with his children and household when his slaves stole and killed a sow (scropha) which was wandering away from a neighbor's land. The neighbor summoned guards and surrounded the other's whole estate, to prevent any possible removal of the animal, and then called on the master to return it to him. But Tremellius had heard from his bailiff what had happened, and so he put the dead body of the sow under some rugs on which his wife was lying and invited the neighbor to make a search. When they came to the bedroom, Tremellius swore that there was no sow in his house, "Except," said he, pointing to the bed, "the one lying in those rugs." And for this humorous oath he was given the surname Scropha.

CHAPTER 7 [ ι ] While Praetextatus was recounting these anecdotes, one of the slaves, whose duty it was to admit callers, announced that Evangelus was at the door and with him Disarms, who at that time was regarded as the most distinguished of the medical profession at Rome. [2] Frowns on the faces of most of those present made it clear that they found the appearance of Evangelus disturbing and unpleasant, according ill with a quiet gathering; for he was an impudent fellow with a bitter wit and a shamelessly mordant tongue, who cared nothing for the dislike which his provocative language, directed against friend and foe alike, used to stir up against him everywhere. Praetextatus, however, with the unruffled kindliness which he showed to all alike, gave orders to admit the visitors and sent to meet them. [3] Horus too, who had been just behind, came in with them, a man whose mind matched his body in strength, for after countless victories as a boxer he had taken up the study of philosophy and, as a follower of Antisthenes, Crates, and Diogenes himself, was of no little repute among the Cynics. [4] Finding himself in the presence of a large and distinguished company who rose as he entered, Evangelus said: Is it just chance that has brought all these gentlemen to your house, Praetextatus, or have you met deliberately to consider some matter of importance which called for the absence of witnesses? If that is so—and I think it is—I shall go away rather than meddle with your secrets; for I shall be glad to keep clear of them, although, as ill luck will have it, I have blundered upon them. [5] Vettius, who for all his unfailing forbearance, serenity, and strength of character was somewhat put out by this impudent question, replied: [6] If you had given a thought to the conspicuous integrity of these men, or to me, you would not suppose that we

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were sharing any secret which could not be disclosed to you or, for that matter, to all the world. For I have not forgotten—and I am sure that all here know well—that hallowed precept of philosophy: "Speak with your fellow men as though in the hearing of the gods and with the gods as though in the hearing of your fellow men." 1 The second half of this precept forbids us to ask anything of the gods, if it were unbecoming to admit to our fellows the wish to have it. [7] But as a matter of fact we have met in honor of the sacred rest days, and it is our intention to avoid idleness and to put the leisure afforded by them to good use by spending the whole day in learned conversation, to which each of us is to contribute his share. [8] For if, during the celebration of a sacred festival, no religious ordinance forbids us to scour a watercourse, and if the laws of gods and men allow us to dip our sheep then to keep them healthy,2 surely we may be held to show respect for religion if we devote to the hallowed study of literature days that are appointed to be kept holy. [9] But since, by the grace of some god, you and your companions, Evangelus, have also come to be of our company, let us prevail upon you all, if it is your pleasure, to pass the day with us and share our talk and our table. In making this request I feel sure that I have the concurrence of all present here today. [10] T o be sure, replied Evangelus, it is not considered bad form to turn up uninvited at a discussion, but to gate-crash a dinner party prepared for others3 is mentioned with disapproval by Homer,4 although the offender then was a brother, and, if a great king received only one Menelaus, beware lest it be thought unduly presumptuous on your part to have three. [ n ] Then all supported Praetextatus and begged and in a friendly manner invited the new arrivals to join them, addressing themselves most often and most pressingly to Evangelus, but without overlooking those who had come in with him. [ 12 ] I take it, said Evangelus, mollified by the unanimity of the request, I take it that you are all acquainted with the book by Varrò—one of his Menippean satires—called You Never Can Tell 1 Cf. Seneca Epistnlae 10. j . - Cf. ι. 16. 1 : and 3. 3. 10-12. 3 John of Salisbury 8. 7 (73id). 4 Iliad ;. 408; cf. Plato Symposium

174c.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 7

57

What the Evening Has in Store for You? In it he lays down the rule that the number of diners should not be less than the number of the Graces nor more than the number of the Muses.5 But here, not counting the master of the feast, I see that there are as many of you as there are Muses.* So why seek to add to a perfect number? [13] Your presence will confer this benefit on us, replied Vettius, that our full member will then equal that of the Muses and the Graces together; and it is meet that the Graces attend a feast in honor of the chief of all the gods. When all were seated, Horas turning to Avienus, with whom he was on the most friendly terms, said: [14] In this worship of Saturn, whom you call the chief of the gods, your ceremonies differ from those of that most devout of people, the Egyptians; for they had admitted neither Saturn nor Serapis himself to the secret places of their temples until after the death of Alexander of Macedon, when pressure by their despotic rulers the Ptolemies compelled them to accept the cult of these gods, after the manner of the inhabitants of Alexandria, who used to hold them in special reverence. [15] Nevertheless, in obeying the royal command, the Egyptians were careful not altogether to violate their religious observances; for the law of their religion required them to propitiate the gods with prayers and incense only, never with the blood of beasts, whereas it was the custom to sacrifice victims to these two newcomers. They therefore placed the temples of Saturn and Serapis outside a city's boundary, in order that they might worship them with the blood of the appointed sacrifice without defiling the city's temples by the killing of beasts. That is why no town in Egypt has admitted a shrine of either of these two gods within its walls. [16] And I hear that you have accepted one of them with reservation and indeed with reluctance, although you worship the other, Saturn, with greater honors than are paid to any of the rest of the gods. If, then, there is nothing to prevent my knowing it, please let me hear why this is so. [17] All here are equally competent and learned, Avienus replied and added (with intent to leave it to Praetextatus to answer the question asked) : but Vettius has special knowledge of everything 5

Aulus GeLlius 13. 1 1 ; John of Salisbury 8. 10 (748c). • The nine present include Praetextatus.

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that relates to religious ceremonies and he can tell you the origin of the reverence paid to Saturn and reveal the reason for the customary festival. Praetextatus at first tried to refer the question to the others but yielded to a general demand that he should deal with it himself, [ 18 ] and, as silence fell, he began as follows: T h e laws of religion, he said, allow me to disclose the origin of the festival of the Saturnalia so far as the account of its origin is a matter of mythology or is made known to all by the physicists. But of the secret nature of the deity I may not treat, for it is not permissible even at the sacred rites themselves to tell of the hidden principles which flow from the fountain of pure truth, and whoever attains to knowledge of them is bidden to keep such knowledge locked in his breast. Our friend Horus, then, may join with me in a survey of the origin of all that may properly be made known. [19] According to Hyginus, who has followed Protarchus of Tralles, Janus ruled over the country now called Italy, and he and Cameses, who was also a native of it, held the land in joint sovereignty, the country being called Camesene and the town Janiculum. [20] Later the kingdom passed to Janus alone. Janus is believed to have had two faces and so could see before him and behind his back—a reference, no doubt, to the foresight and shrewdness of the king, as one who not only knew the past but would also foresee the future, just as Antevorta and Postvorta are worshipped at Rome as deities most fittingly associated with divination.7 [21] When Saturn arrived by ship, Janus received him here as his guest and learned from him the art of husbandry, thereby improving a mode of life which, before men understood how to make use of the fruits of the earth, had been brutish and rude; and he rewarded Saturn by sharing his kingdom with him. [22] Janus was also the first to strike coins of bronze, and in this too he showed his high regard for Saturn; for on one side of a coin he stamped the image of his own head but on the other side a ship, that posterity might preserve the remembrance of Saturn, whose coming had

7

On the functions and nature of Janus see the review by E. Gierstad of L. A. Holland's Janus and the Bridge in Journal of Roman Studies, LUI (1963), 229.

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been by ship. And that the bronze coinage was so marked is evident even today from the game of chance in which boys throw pennies in the air, calling "heads" or "ships," for the game bears witness to the old usage. [23] Janus and Saturn reigned together in harmony and built two neighboring towns by their joint endeavors, as is clear not only from the line in Vergil which runs: This fortress town the name Janiculum, that Saturnia, bore [Aeneid. 8. 358] but also from the fact that later generations dedicated two successive months to these personages, December having in it the festival of Saturn and January embodying the name of Janus. [24] It was during their reign that Saturn suddenly disappeared, and Janus then devised means to add to his honors. First he gave the name Saturnia to all the land which acknowledged his rule; and then he built an altar, instituting rites as to a god and calling these rites the Saturnalia—a fact which goes to show how very much older the festival is than the city of Rome. And it was because Saturn had improved the conditions of life that, by order of Janus, religious honors were paid to him, as his effigy indicates, which received the additional attribute of a sickle, the symbol of harvest. [25] Saturn is credited with the invention of the art of grafting, with the cultivation of fruit trees, and with instructing men in everything that belongs to the fertilizing of the fields. Furthermore, at Cyrene his worshipers, when they offer sacrifice to him, crown themselves with fresh figs and present each other with cakes, for they hold that he discovered honey and fruits. Moreover, at Rome men call him "Sterculius," as having been the first to fertilize the fields with dung (stercus). [26] His reign is said to have been a time of great happiness, both on account of the universal plenty that then prevailed and because as yet there was no division into bond and free—as one may gather from the complete license enjoyed by slaves at the Saturnalia. [27] Another tradition accounts for the Saturnalia as follows. Hercules is said to have left men behind him in Italy, either (as certain authorities hold) because he was angry with them for neglecting to watch over his herds or (as some suppose), deliberately, to protect his altar and temple from attacks. Harassed by brigands, these men occupied a high hill and called themselves

6o

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Saturnians, f r o m the name which the hill too used previously to bear, and, conscious of the protection afforded to them b y the name of Saturn and b y the awe which the god inspired, they are said to have instituted the Saturnalia, to the end that the very observance of the festival thus proclaimed might bring the uncouth minds of their neighbors to show a greater respect f o r the worship of the god. [28] I am aware too of the account given b y V a r r ò of the origin of the Saturnalia. T h e Pelasgians, he says, when they were driven from their homes, made f o r various lands, but most of them flocked to Dodona and, doubtful where to settle, consulted the oracle. T h e y received this reply: " G o y e in search of the land of the Sicels and the Aborigines, a land, sacred to Saturn, even Cotyle, where floateth an island. Mingle with these people and then send a tenth to Phoebus and o f f e r heads to Hades and a man to the Father." 8 Such was the response which they received, and after many wanderings they came to Latium, where in the lake of Cutilia they found a floating· island, [29] f o r there was a large expanse of turf—perhaps solidified mud or perhaps an accumulation of marsh land with brushwood and trees forming a luxuriant wood—and it was drifting through the water by the movement of the waves in such a way as to win credence even for the tale of Delos, the island which, for all its lofty hills and wide plains, used to journey through the seas from place to place. [30] T h e discovery of this marvel showed the Pelasgians that here was the home foretold for them. And, after having driven out the Sicilian inhabitants, they took possession of the land, dedicating a tenth of the spoil to Apollo, in accordance with the response given b y the oracle, and raising a little shrine to Dis and an altar to Saturn, whose festival they named the Saturnalia. [ 3 1 ] F o r many years they thought to propitiate Dis with human heads and Saturn with the sacrifice of men, since the oracle had bidden them: " O f f e r heads to Hades and a man (φώτο) to the Father." But later, the story goes, Hercules, returning through Italy with the herds of Geryon, persuaded their descendants to replace these unholy sacrifices with others of good omen, by offering to Dis little masks cleverly fashioned to represent the human face, instead of human heads, and by honoring the altars of 8 Dionysius of Halicarnassus Antiquitates Epistulae 8. 20. ' Reading enantem.

Ro?muae

1. 15 and

19; Pliny

BOOK I , CHAPTER 7

6l

Saturn with lighted candles instead of with the blood of a man; for the word φώτα means "lights" as well as "a man." [32] This is the origin of the custom of sending round wax tapers during the Saturnalia, although others think that the practice is derived simplv from the fact that it was in the reign of Saturn that we made our way, as though to the light, from a rude and gloomy existence to a knowledge of the liberal arts. [33] I should add, however, that I have found it written that, since many through greed made the Saturnalia an excuse to solicit and demand gifts from their clients, a practice which bore heavily on those of more slender means, one Publicius, a tribune, proposed to the people that no one should send anything but wax tapers to one richer than himself. [34] I find, Praetextatus, interposed Albinus Caecina, a substituted sacrifice, such as that which you have just mentioned, made in later rimes at the rites of the Compitalia, when games used to be held at crossroads throughout the city, that is to say, on the restoration of these games by Tarquinius Superbus, in honor of the Lares and of Mania, in accordance with an oracle of Apollo. For that oracle ordained that offering should be made " f o r heads with heads," [35] and for some time the ritual required the sacrifice of boys to the goddess Mania, the mother of the Lares, to insure the safety of the family. But after the expulsion of Tarquinius, Junius Brutus, as consul, determined to change the nature of the sacrificial rite. By his order heads of garlic and poppies were used at the rite, so that the oracle was obeyed, in so far as it had prescribed "heads," and a criminal and unholy sacrifice was discarded.10 It also became the practice to avert any peril that threatened a particular family bv hanging up woolen 1 1 images before the door of the house. As for the games themselves, they were customarily called "Compitalia" from the crossroads (compita) at which they were held. But I interrupted you. Pray go on. [36] You have referred, said Praetextatus, to a parallel instance of a change for the better in the ritual of a sacrifice. The point is well taken and well timed. But from the reasons adduced touching 10 C f . the storv told b y O v i d (Fasti 3. 339), h o w N u m a cheated Jupiter of a human sacrifice. See also Plutarch Nimia 15. S o too V u l c a n accepted an o f f e r i n g of fish in the place of human victims (piscicuii pro animis hurnanis) ; Festus, p. 276. 11 Reading laneae. C f . Festus, p. 273: pilae et effigies viriles et muliebres ex lana Conpitalibus suspendebantur in conpitis.

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the origin of the Saturnalia it appears that the festival is of greater antiquity than the city of Rome, for in fact Lucius Accius 11 in his Annals says that its regular observance began in Greece before the foundation of Rome. [37] Here are the lines: In most of Greece, and above all at Athens, men celebrate in honor of Saturn a festival which they always call the festival of Cronos. The day is kept a holiday, and in country and in town all usually hold joyful feasts, at which each man waits on his own slaves. And so it is with us. Thus from Greece that custom has been handed down, and slaves dine with their masters at that time. 11

Warmington, II, 590.

CHAPTER 8 [ ι ] We must now say a few words about the temple of Saturn itself. I find it recorded that Tullus Hostilius, after two triumphs over the Albans and a third over the Sabines, consecrated a shrine to Saturn in fulfillment of a vow and that the festival of the Saturnalia was then first instituted at Rome; although Varrò in his sixth book,1 which deals with sacred buildings, writes that King Lucius Tarquinius contracted for the building of a temple of Saturn in the Forum, but that it was the dictator Titus Larcius who dedicated it during the Saturnalia. I am aware too that in the writings of Gellius2 we are told that a temple of Saturn was built by decree of the Senate and that Lucius Furius, a military tribune, was put in charge of the work. [2 ] The god also has an altar in front of the Senaculum, and the rites are performed there with head uncovered, in conformity with the Greek use, because it is thought that such was the original practice, first of the Pelasgians and afterwards of Hercules. [3] The Romans made the temple of Saturn the public treasury; because it is said that, while the god lived in Italy, no theft was committed within his borders; or else because, under him, nobody held any private property, but It was impious to mark out the ground or part the field with boundary stone; men garnered for the common store, [Vergil Georgia 1. 126] so that the common wealth of the people would properly be placed 1

Presumably of his Antiquitates rerum divinarvm. Gnaeus Gellius, a contemporary of the Gracchi and the author of a history of Rome. 2

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in the temple of the god under whose rule all men had all things in common. [4] N o r must I omit to mention the horn-blowing Tritons placed on the gable of the temple of Saturn, to show that from the time of this commemoration of the god up to our o w n day history is, as it were, to be seen b y our eyes and heard b y our ears; whereas before that time it was unheard, unseen, and unknown, as witness the Tritons' tails, buried in the ground and hidden from view. [5] Saturn, too, is represented with his feet tied together, and, although Verrius Flaccus says that he does not k n o w the reason, m y reading of Apollodorus suggests an explanation. Apollodorus says that throughout the year Saturn is bound w i t h a bond of w o o l but is set free on the day of his festival, that is to say, in this present month of December. A n d he finds in this practice the origin of the proverb " T h e gods have feet of wool"—the story in fact signifying the g r o w t h to full life, in the tenth month, of the seed w h i c h has been kept alive in the w o m b and which, until it issues into the light of day, is confined in nature's gentle bonds. [6] Moreover, Saturn, as Cronus, is identified with T i m e (χρόνος). For just as the mythographers in their fables give divergent accounts of the god, so the physicists to some extent recall a true picture of him. T h u s it is said that Saturn, having cut off the privy parts of his father, Heaven, threw them into the sea and that from them Venus was born and received the name Aphrodite from the foam [άφρός] out of w h i c h she was formed—[7] a m y t h from which w e are meant to understand that, while chaos lasted, times and seasons did not exist, since time has fixed measurements and those are determined b y the revolution of the heavens. Cronus then is held to be the son of Heaven, and he, as w e said a moment ago, is Time. 3 [8] And since the seeds of all things which were to be created after the heavens flowed from the heavens and since all the elements which could comprise the complete universe drew their origin from those seeds, it followed that, w h e n the universe had been provided with all its parts and members, then, at a fixed point in time, the process w h e r e b y seeds f r o m the heavens caused the elements of the universe to be conceived came to an end, inasmuch as the creation of those elements had now been completed. H o w e v e r , the power of generating an everlasting succession J

Cicero De natura deorum

2. 25. 64.

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of living creatures passed from the heavenly fluid to Venus, so that thereafter all things were created b y the intercourse of male and female. [9] It is the myth of his assault on his father that has also led our authorities to call the g o d Saturnus, deriving the name f r o m the G r e e k w o r d σάθη, w h i c h means the male member, as though to say "Sathunnus" ; and, since Satyrs are prone to lewdness, this name is thought to have the same derivation and to stand f o r "Sathuni." A s for the god's attribute of a sickle, 4 it is held b y some to indicate that time reaps, cuts o f f , and cuts short all things. [10] It is said that Saturn used to swallow his children 5 and vomit them forth again, a m y t h likewise pointing to an identification of the god with time, b y w h i c h all things in turn are created, destroyed, and brought to birth again. [ 11 ] His deposition b y his son indicates, simply, that as times g r o w old they are superseded b y the times that succeed them. His bonds point to the fact that all periods of time are b y an immutable law of nature interconnected, or else to the fact that [the stalks o f ] all the fruits of the field are made up of cord-like substances and knots alternately arranged. [12] A n d the legends w h i c h relate that his sickle fell to earth in Sicily w o u l d suggest that this land is of all lands the most fertile. 4 5

See Hesiod Theogony See Hesiod Theogony

173-200; Ausonius Eclogarium 459.

23. 36; Ovid Ibis 216.

CHAPTER 9 [ ι ] I have reminded you that Janus reigned in company with Saturn, and I have just set out the opinions which the mythographers and the physicists hold about Saturn. I shall now proceed to set forth also the theories propounded by each of these authorities about Janus. [2] The mythographers say that, when Janus was king, every man's house was sacred and inviolable and that for the protection thus afforded divine honors were decreed for him, the entrances into and exits from a house being dedicated to him in gratitude for his favor. [3] Xenon, too, relates in the first book of his Italian Antiquities that in Italy Janus was the first to build temples to the gods and to ordain religious ceremonies and that for this he was rewarded with the privilege of being for all time the first to be called on by name at a sacrifice. [4] Moreover, some think that he has received the epithet of "two-faced" because of his knowledge of the past and foreknowledge of the future. [5] The physicists on the other hand produce strong evidence for his divinity. For there are some who identify Janus with Apollo and Diana and maintain that he combines in himself the divine attributes of both. [6] Indeed, as Nigidius, too, relates, Apollo is worshiped among the Greeks under the name of "the God of the Door" (Thyraios), and they pay honors at altars to him before their doors, showing thereby that he has power over their going out and their coming in. Among the Greeks Apollo is also called Άγυιεύς "the Guardian of the Streets" (Aguieus), as presiding over the streets of a city (for in Greece the streets within a city's boundaries are called άγυιαί); and to Diana, as Trivia, is assigned the rule over all roads. [7] At Rome all doorways are under the charge of Janus, as is evident from his name which is the Latin

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equivalent of the Greek Thyraios; and he is represented as carrying a key and a rod, as the keeper of all doors and a guide on every road. [8] Nigidius declared that Apollo is Janus and that Diana is Jana, that is to say, Jana with the addition of the letter "D," which is often added to the letter "i" for the sake of euphony (as, for example, in such words as reditur, redhibetur, redintegratur, and the like). [9] Some are of the opinion that Janus represents the sun and that his two faces (geminus) suggest his lordship over each of the two heavenly gates, since the sun's rising opens and his setting closes the day. The fact that men call on the name Janus first when any god is worshiped is held to indicate that it is through him that access may be had to the god to whom the sacrifice is being made, and that it is as it were through his doors that he suffers the prayers of suppliants to pass to the gods. [10] Again, it is as marking his connection with the sun that an image of Janus commonly shows him expressing the number three hundred with his right hand and sixty-five with his left; 1 for these numbers point to the measure of a year, and it is a special function of the sun to determine this measure. [ 1 1 ] Others hold that Janus is the universe, that is to say, the heavens, and that the name is derived from eundo, since the universe is always in motion, wheeling in a circle and returning to itself at the point where it began. That is why Cornificius remarks, in the third book of his Derivations, "Qcero does not call the god 'Janus' but 'Eanus,' as though from eundo"* [12] And it is for this reason that the Phoenicians in their sacred rites have portrayed the god in the likeness of a serpent coiled and swallowing its own tail, as a visible image of the universe which feeds on itself and returns to itself again. [13] Thus, among us too, Janus looks toward the four quarters of the world, as for example in the statue brought from Falerii. And Gavius Bassus, in his book on the gods, says that figures of Janus have two faces, since he is the doorkeeper of both heaven and hell, and that the figures are quadriform, as though to show that his greatness embraces all the regions of the world. [14] Moreover, in the ancient songs of the Salii he is hymned as the god of gods; and Marcus Messala (who was the colleague of Gnaeus 1 1

See Pliny Historia naturalis 34. 16. 33. De natura deorvm 2. 27. 67.

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Domirius in the consulship and held the office of augur for fifty five years) begins a reference to Janus, as follows: " H e it is who fashions all things and guides them; he it is who in the compass of the heavens has joined together water and earth—the force which is naturally heavy and tends to fall downward to the depths below —with fire and air, which are light by nature and tend to soar to the boundless heights above; and it is this mighty power of the heavens that has united two opposing forces." [15] Again, in our sacred rites we invoke Janus as Janus Geminus, Janus Pater, Janus Junonius, Janus Consivius, Janus Quirinus, and Janus Patultius and Clusivius. [16] I have already explained why we call on the god as "Geminus"; we call on him as "Pater" as the god of gods; and as "Junonius" because the beginning not only of January but of all the months is his, and Juno has authority over all the Kalends—and so it is that Varrò in the fifth Book of his Antiquities of Religion writes that twelve altars, corresponding to the twelve months, are dedicated to Janus. He is called upon as "Consivius" from conserendo, as the patron of "sowing," that is to say, as the patron of the propagation of the human race, whose sowing and increase are of him; and he is invoked as "Quirinus," as the lord of battles, from the spear which the Sabines call curis. Finally, we invoke him as "Patultius and Clusivius" 4 because his doors are open (patent) in time of war and shut (clauduntur = cluduntur) in time of peace; and for this custom the following reason is given. [17] In the war which followed the capture of the Sabine maidens the enemy rushed to attack a certain gate (situated at the foot of the Viminal Hill and afterward, in consequence of what occurred, known as the gate of Janus) and the Romans hurried to shut it; but, after it had been shut, the gate then opened again of its own accord. This happened a second and yet a third time; and, since the gate could not be closed, a large body of armed men stood on guard before its threshold, while the fight went on fiercely elsewhere. Suddenly a rumor spread that our troops had been routed by Tatius. [18] Whereupon the men who were guarding the approach to the gate fled in terror, and the Sabines were just about to burst in through the open gate when (so the story goes) a great stream of water came gushing in a torrent through it from the temple of Janus, and ' Cf. Ovid Fasti 1. 129.

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large numbers of the enemy perished, either scalded by the boiling heat of the water or overwhelmed by its force and depth. It was therefore resolved to keep the doors of the temple of Janus open in time of war, as though to indicate that the god had gone forth to help the city. So much, then, for Janus.

CHAPTER

io

Γ ι ] But to return to our account of the Saturnalia. It was held to be an offense against religion to begin a war at the time of the Saturnalia, and to punish a criminal during the days of the festival called for an act of atonement. [2] Our ancestors restricted the Saturnalia to a single day, the fourteenth before the Kalends of January, but, after Gaius Caesar had added two days to December, the day on which the festival was held became the sixteenth before the Kalends of January, with the result that, since the exact day was not commonly known—some observing the addition which Caesar had made to the calendar and others following the old usage —the festival came to be regarded as lasting for more days than one. And yet in fact among the men of old time there were some who supposed that the Saturnalia lasted f o r seven days (if one may use the word "suppose" of something which has the support of competent authorities) ; [ 3 ] for Novius, that excellent writer of Atellan plays, says: " L o n g awaited they come, the seven days of the Saturnalia" [Ribbeck, II, 328]; and Mummius too, who, after Novius and Pomponius, restored the long-neglected Atellan to favor, says: "Of the many excellent institutions of our ancestors this is the best—that they made the seven days of the Saturnalia begin when the weather is coldest" [Ribbeck, II, 332]. [4] Mallius, however, says that the men who, as I have already related, had found protection in the name of Saturn and in the awe which he inspired, ordained a three-day festival in honor of the god, calling it the Saturnalia, and that it was on the authority of this belief that Augustus, in his laws f o r the administration of justice, ordered the three days to be kept as rest days. [5] Masurius and others believed that the Saturnalia were held on one day, the fourteenth day before the Kalends of January, and

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their opinion is corroborated by Fenestella when he says that the virgin Aemilia was condemned on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of January; for, had that day been a day on which the festival of the Saturnalia was being celebrated, she could not by any means have been called on to plead, [6] and he adds that "the day was the day which preceded the Saturnalia," and then goes on to say that "on the day after that, namely, the thirteenth day before the Kalends of January, the virgin Licinia was to plead," thereby making it clear that the thirteenth day too was not a festival. [ 7 ] On the twelfth day before the Kalends of January there is a rest day in honor of the goddess Angeronia, to whom the pontiffs offer sacrifice in the chapel of Volupia. According to Verrius Flaccus, this goddess is called Angeronia because, duly propitiated, she banishes anxiety (angores) and mental distress. [8] Masurius adds that an image of this goddess, with the mouth bound up and sealed,1 is placed on the altar of Volupia, because all who conceal their pain and care find, thanks to their endurance, great joy (voluptas) at last. [9] According to Julius Modestus, however, sacrifices are offered to Angeronia because, pursuant to the fulfillment of a vow, she delivered the Roman people from the disease known as the quinsy {angina). [10] T h e eleventh day before the Kalends of January is a rest day in honor of the Lares, for whom the praetor Aemilius Regillus in the war against Antiochus solemnly promised to provide a temple in the Campus Martius. [11] T h e tenth day before the Kalends is a rest day in honor of Jupiter, called the Larentinalia. I should like to say something of this day, and here are the beliefs generally held about it. [12] In the reign of Ancus, they say, a sacristan of the temple of Hercules, having nothing to do during the rest day challenged the god to a game of dice,2 throwing for both players himself, and the stake for which they played was a dinner and the company of a courtesan. [13] Hercules won, and so the sacristan shut up Acca Larentia 8 in the temple (she was the most notable courtesan of the Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 3. 5. 65. For Hercules and the t h r o w i n g of dice, see Pausanias 7. 5. 10 and Frazer's Pausanias, I V , 173. 3 Cf. Aulus Gellius 7. 7. 1

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time) and the dinner with her. Next day the woman let it be known that the god as a reward for her favors had bidden her take advantage of the first opportunity that came to her on her way home. [14] It so happened that, after she had left the temple, one Carutius, captivated by her beauty, accosted her, and in compliance with his wishes she married him. On her husband's death all his estate came into her hands, and, when she died, she named the Roman people her heir. [15] Ancus therefore had her buried in the Velabrum, the most frequented part of the city, and a yearly rite was instituted in her honor, at which sacrifice was offered by a priest to her departed spirit—the rest day being dedicated to Jupiter because it was believed of old that souls are given by him and are given back to him again after death. [16] Cato, however, says that Larentia, enriched by the profits of her profession, left lands known as the Turacian, Semurian, Lintirian, and Solinian1 lands to the Roman people after her death and was therefore deemed worthy of a splendid tomb and the honor of an annual service of remembrance. [17] But Macer, in the first Book of his Histories, maintains that Acca Larentia was the wife of Faustulus and the nurse of Romulus and Remus and that in the reign of Romulus she married a wealthy Etruscan named Carutius, succeeded to her husband's wealth as his heir, and afterward left it to her foster child Romulus, who dutifully appointed a memorial service and a festival in her honor. [18] One can infer, then, from all that has been said, that the Saturnalia lasted but one day and was held only on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of January; it was on this day alone that the shout of "Io Saturnalia" would be raised, in the temple of Saturn, at a riotous feast. Now, however, during the celebration of the Saturnalia, this day is allotted to the festival of the Opalia, although the day was first assigned to Saturn and Ops in common. [19] Men believed that the goddess Ops was the wife of Saturn and that both the Saturnalia and the Opalia are held in this month of December because the produce of the fields and orchards are thought to be the discovery of these two deities, who, when men have gathered in the fruits of the earth, are worshiped therefore as the givers of a more civilized life. [20] Some too are of the opinion Perhaps the ager Cicero Epistulae ad 4

Soloniiis to which Atticum 2. 3. 3.

reference is made in L i v y 8. 12. 2. C f .

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that Saturn and Ops represent heaven and earth, the name Saturn being derived from the word for growth from seed (satus), since such growth is the gift of heaven, and the name Ops being identified with earth, either because it is by her bounty (ops) that life is nourished or because the name comes from the toil (opus) which is needed to bring forth the fruits of trees and fields. [ 2 1 ] When men make prayer to Ops they sit and are careful to touch the earth, signifying thereby that the earth is the very mother of mortals and is to be approached as such. [22] Philochorus says that Cecrops was the first to build, in Attica, an altar to Saturn and Ops, worshiping these deities as Jupiter and Earth, and to ordain that, when crops and fruits had been garnered, the head of a household everywhere should eat thereof in company with the slaves with whom he had borne the toil of cultivating the land, for it was well pleasing to the god that honor should be paid to the slaves in consideration of their labor. And that is why we follow the practice of a foreign land and offer sacrifice to Saturn with the head uncovered. [23] I think that we have now given abundant proof that the festival of the Saturnalia used to be celebrated on only one day, the fourteenth before the Kalends of January, but that it was afterward prolonged to last three days: first, in consequence of the days which Caesar added to the month of December, and then in pursuance of an edict of Augustus which prescribed a series of three rest days for the Saturnalia. The festival therefore begins on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of January and ends on the fourteenth, which used to be the only day of its celebration.5 [24] However, the addition of the feast of the Sigillarla has extended the time of general excitement and religious rejoicing to seven days. 5

See notes by Watson and by How, in their editions of select letters of

Cicero, 011 secundis Satttrnalibus (Epistulae ad Atticuni 13. 52. 1).

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li

[1] Oh, said Evangelus, this is something that I cannot stand any longer: that our friend Praetextatus, to parade his learning and show how well he can talk, alike chose a moment ago to ascribe the practice of slaves taking meals with their masters to the cult of some god—as if, indeed, the gods would take any account of slaves or as if any sensible man would disgrace his house by keeping such low company in it—and is seeking now to refer to a religious rite the festival of the Sigillaria, the festival at which we amuse infants in arms with little masks of clay. He is regarded as a leading authority on matters of religion, and he makes that an excuse for bringing in the element of superstition. In fact, it would seem as if some divine law forbade us ever to disbelieve him. [2] All shuddered at these words, but Praetextatus only smiled and said: I am quite willing, Evangelus, for you to regard me as superstitious and unworthy of credence, if I fail to give reasons to prove to you that both my statements are true. Let us speak of the slaves first. Are you joking or in earnest when you suggest that there are human beings whom the immortal gods regard as beneath their divine care and providence? Or perhaps you refuse to reckon a slave a human being? Let me tell you, then, what deep resentment was felt in heaven at the punishment of a slave. [ 3 ] In the four hundred and seventy-fourth year after the foundation of Rome a certain Autronius Maximus, after flogging one of his slaves, had him fastened to a gibbet and led through the Circus before the beginning of the Games. 1 This conduct angered Jupiter, and he ordered a certain Annius in a dream to inform the Senate of his displeasure at the brutal act. [4] Annius, however, concealed the matter; whereupon his son died unexpectedly, and 1

Cf. Livy 2. 36; Cicero De divinatione 1. 26. 5J.

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after a second warning, which too was disregarded, the man himself suddenly became paralyzed. So at last, by the advice of his friends, he was carried to the Senate in a litter and told his tale. Hardly had he finished speaking when he was immediately restored to health and left the House on foot. [5] To propitiate Jupiter, therefore, a decree of the Senate and the Maenian Law added a day to those Games in the Circus, the day being called instauraticius, not (as some suppose) from the gibbet—σταυρός in Greek—but to mark the restoration of Annius to health, for according to Varrò the word instaurare is equivalent to instar novare, to renew. [6] You see, then, Evangelus, what grave concern the greatest of the gods felt for a slave. But how do you come to have this bitter and groundless contempt for slaves, as though they were not made of and nourished by the same elements as yourself, drawing the breath of life as you do, and that from the same first principle? [ 7 ] For reflect, I pray you, that those whom you call your chattels are born in the same way as you, enjoy the same sky, live like you, and die like you. "They are slaves," you say.8 No, they are human beings. You repeat, "They are slaves." Very well then, they are your fellow slaves, if you will but bear in mind that you are as much at the mercy of fortune as they are. You may live to see your slave a free man and he to see you a slave. How old was Hecuba when she became a slave? How old was Croesus? The mother of Darius? Diogenes? Plato himself? [8] And, after all, why do we shudder so at the word slavery? Of course a man may be a slave, but it was his destiny, and it may well be that, although he is a slave, his spirit is free. The fact that he is a slave will be to his prejudice only if I can point to someone who is not a slave. For one man is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to a desire for power; all men are slaves to hope and all to fear. Assuredly, no form of slavery is more shameful than that which is self-imposed; [9] and yet, while we spurn as a worthless wretch one bent beneath the yoke which fate has placed upon him, we refuse to tolerate any criticism of the yoke which we have put upon our own necks. [10] You will find among slaves one whom no bribe can tempt, and again you will find a master kissing the hands of another man's slaves in the hope of gain. I shall judge my fellow men, then, not by their lot in life but by their character, since a man's character is 2

Seneca Epittuiae 47; John of Salisbury 8. 12 (756J-757C).

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his gift to himself, but his status is assigned to him by chance. For just as a man is a fool who in buying a horse looks at its saddlecloth and bridle instead of at the animal's points, so the biggest of fools is the man who thinks that a fellow man should be judged by his clothing or by his rank (which is no more than a garment to clothe us). [ i r ] No, my good Evangelus, it is not only in the Forum and Senate House that you should seek a friend; look carefully, and you will find one in your home as well. All that you have to do is to show kindness and courtesy to the slave with whom you live, conversing with him and sometimes taking counsel with him as with a friend. Certainly it was that the master might never be the object of ill will nor the slave of insult that our ancestors called the master the father of the household and the slaves its members. [12] And so, take my advice; let your slaves feel respect for you rather than fear. Perhaps someone will say that I am now degrading the master and, so to speak, emancipating the slave, in asserting, as I have, that a slave should show respect rather than fear. But to think thus will be to forget that what is enough for the gods is not too little for the master. Moreover, an object of respect is also an object of affection, and affection cannot be coupled with fear. [ 1 3 ] What do you suppose was the origin of that oft-quoted and arrogant proverb which says that in every slave we possess we have an enemy? They are not our natural enemies, but we make them our enemies by the inordinate pride, insolence, and cruelty that we show toward them, when luxurious living makes us so prone to anger that to be crossed in anything leads to an outburst of violent rage. [14] For at home we assume the guise of passionate tyrants and seek to exercise over our slaves the full power permitted to us rather than to limit that power to what is fit and proper. And indeed, to say nothing of other kinds of cruelty, there are masters who, as they greedily gorge themselves with the abundance of their tables, refuse to allow the slaves who stand around them to move their lips even to speak, but every sound is checked with the rod. It may be accidental, but it does not escape the blows, and a cough, a sneeze, or a hiccup is punished with a severe thrashing. [15] That is why these slaves who may not speak before their master speak of him behind his back. But those who were free to speak not only

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in their master's presence but also with him, whose mouths were not, so to speak, sewn up, they were found ready to lay down their lives for their master and to bring on their own heads the danger which threatened him; they would speak at table, but under torture they would hold their tongues. [16] Would you have me review instances of the action of generous feelings in the heart of a slave? Hear, then, first, the story of Urbinus. He had been condemned to death and was in hiding on his estate at Reate, but the hiding place was betrayed. Whereupon one of his slaves, to represent him, put on his master's ring and garments, lay down in the bedroom into which the pursuers were forcing their way, offered his neck to the swords as the soldiers entered and received the blow intended for his master. Urbinus was afterward restored to his former position and then erected a monument to the slave, with an inscription to tell the story of his devotion. [ 1 7 ] Aesopus, a freedman of Demosthenes, who was privy to his late master's adultery with Julia, was f o r long put to the torture but steadfastly refused to betray his patron, until Demosthenes, convicted by the evidence of others who also knew the facts, himself confessed. [18] That you may not argue that it is easy for one man to keep a secret, take the case of Labienus. N o form of torture prevailed to make his freedmen reveal the place in which they had helped him to hide. And that none may say that the freedmen showed this loyalty out of gratitude for the gift of freedom rather than from any innate goodness of heart, let me tell you of generosity shown toward his master by a slave who had himself received punishment at that master's hand. [19] Antius Restio had been proscribed and was fleeing, alone and by night. But, while the other slaves were plundering the man's goods, one who had been put in irons and branded on the forehead was set free, after his master's condemnation, by a compassionate stranger. This slave went in search of his fugitive master, urged him to be of good courage—for he knew, he said, that it was not his master but his own fate that should be regarded as responsible for the outrage he had suffered—hid him, and ministered to his needs. [20] Later, when he saw that the pursuers were at hand, the slave killed an old man whom he chanced to meet, built a pyre, and threw the body on it. When the

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pyre was alight, he ran to meet the men who were looking for Restio, saying that he had avenged himself on the proscribed man and had inflicted on him far crueler treatment than he had himself received from him. The slave was believed, and Restio was saved.3 [ 2 1 ] Then there is the story of Caepio. He had been minded to kill Augustus, and, after the discovery of his crime and his subsequent condemnation, he was conveyed by a slave to the Tiber in a chest, taken to Ostia, and brought thence by night to his father's country house near Laurentum. Later, when the pair were shipwrecked at Cumae, the slave hid Caepio secretly at Naples; and, when captured by a centurion, neither bribes nor threats could induce him to betray his fugitive master. [22] When Asinius Pollio was seeking to compel the men of Padua to surrender their money and arms, they went into hiding to escape the harsh demand. A reward and their freedom were offered to any slaves who would betray their masters, but, as is well known, in no single instance was the bribe effective. [23] Let me now tell you a story to illustrate a display not only of fidelity but also of a kindly and fertile ingenuity in slaves. At the siege of Grumentum certain slaves left their mistress and went over to the enemy. When the town had fallen, these slaves, in accordance with an agreed plan, attacked their house and dragged the woman out with every appearance of threatening to wreak vengeance on her, crying out to all that met them that at last they had the chance to punish a cruel mistress. But after carrying their mistress away as though to kill her, they protected her with the greatest respect and loyalty. [24] You will find too a man of servile status displaying a greatness of heart that preferred death to disgrace. For Gaius Vettius, a Pelignian from Italica, when seized by his own troops for surrender to Pompey, was killed by his slave, who then took his own life rather than survive his master. [25] When Gaius Gracchus was fleeing from the Aventine, a slave named Euporus (or, as some say, Philocrates) refused to leave his side while any hope of safety remained and protected him in every way he could; but afterward, when his master was killed, he stabbed himself in the bowels and breathed his last over the body. [26] When Publius Scipio himself, the father of Africanus, was wounded in a battle with Hannibal » Cf. Martial 3. 21.

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and the rest of his men were deserting him, he was placed on a horse by a slave who single-handed brought him safely through to camp. [27] If it is a small matter to have shown devotion to a master while he was alive, what of the spirit shown too bv a slave who exacts retribution for a master after his death? For example, when king Seleucus had been killed by a friend, a slave of his became that friend's slave and avenged his former master by stabbing his murderer as he dined. [28] Again, I find combined in the person of a single slave two virtues which to a high degree give distinction also to men of noble birth—the ability to exercise sovereign power and the greatness of heart which can think lightly of such power. [29] For Anaxilaus of Messana, the founder of Messana in Sicily and the tyrant of Rhegium, was content to have entrusted to the care of his slave Micythus the children of tender age whom he was leaving behind him at his death. Micythus was conscientious in the performance of his duty as guardian of the children and ruled the city so mildly that the men of Rhegium did not disdain to be governed by a slave. Afterward, when the boys came of age, he handed over their property and the sovereignty of the state to them, and he himself, taking only a small sum of money for the journey, went away to Olympia where he lived to a peaceful old age. [30] There are many instructive examples too of public service rendered by men of servile status. Thus, in the [second] Punic War, when there was a shortage of citizens for enlistment in the army, slaves who undertook to fight in place of their masters were given the citizenship and called volunteers (volones), because their undertaking was voluntary. [ 3 1 ] Moreover, after the defeat at Cannae eight thousand slaves were bought to serve in the army; and, although it would have cost less to ransom the prisoners, the Romans in that emergency chose rather to entrust the defense of the state to slaves.4 And after the memorable and disastrous losses at the battle of Lake Trasimene, freedmen also were called on to take the oath for military service. [32] In the Social War twelve cohorts of freedmen were enlisted and served with evident and notable valor. W e know too that Gaius Caesar, when he was replacing casualties in his army, accepted 4

L i v y 22. 57.

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slaves from his friends and made use of their gallant services. And Caesar Augustus also enrolled several cohorts of freedmen in Germany and Illyricum and gave them the title of "volunteers" (voluntariae).

[33] You must not suppose that such practices were peculiar to Rome. For, when the tribes that live near the river Borysthenes were attacked by Zopyrion, they liberated slaves, enfranchised aliens, and abolished debts, and so were able to withstand the enemy. [34] At Sparta, when only fifteen hundred Lacedaemonians were left fit to bear arms, Cleomenes raised an army of nine thousand men from manumitted slaves. And the Athenians too, when the resources of the state were exhausted, freed slaves. [35] Nor should you conclude that examples of meritorious actions are confined to male slaves, for here is a story of a deed done by female slaves,6 which is no less memorable than those which I have recounted and as beneficial to the state as any service you would find rendered by any persons of noble birth. [36] It is common knowledge that the Nones of July is the Festival of the Handmaids, both the origin of and the reason for this celebration being well known, for on that day women, free and slaves together, offer sacrifice to Juno Caprotina under a wild fig tree, to commemorate the generous courage with which female slaves were inspired to save the honor of Rome. [37] The occasion was after the capture of the city by the Gauls, when (although the Gallic rising had been put down) the resources of Rome were at such low ebb that her neighbors were on the lookout for an opportunity to attack her. They made Postumius Livius, the chief magistrate of Fidenae, their leader, and he sent and bade the Senate of Rome, if they wished what was left of their city to survive, to hand over to him their married women and unmarried daughters. [38] The Senators hesitated in anxious debate, but a female slave named Tutela (or Philotis) promised that she and the rest of the maidservants would represent their mistresses and surrender in their place. They therefore assumed the dress of the matrons and their daughters and, followed by a company whose tears gave convincing evidence of grief, were delivered to the enemy. [39] In the camp—on the pretense that the day was celebrated as a feast day at Rome—they freely plied with wine the men to whom they had been allotted by 5

Fowler, Festivals, p. 177.

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Livius, and, when they had stupified them with drink, they sent a signal to the Romans from a wild fig tree near the camp. [40] A sudden attack bv the Romans was successful, and the Senate in gratitude ordered all the slaves to be manumitted, gave them dowries from the public funds, and allowed them to wear the style of dress which they had assumed. The day itself was named Nonae Caprotinae, after that wild fig tree (caprificus) from which the signal that led to the victory was received; and it was resolved that there should be a yearly festival and sacrifice, at which the juice of the wild fig tree should be offered in memory of the deed to which I have referred. [41] Nor is the intelligence of a slave unsuited to or incapable of the study of philosophy. Phaedo (one of the disciples of Socrates and so close a friend of both Socrates and Plato that the latter named after him his inspired book on the immortality of the soul) was a slave, although his person and his talents were those of a free man. Cebes, himself a follower of Socrates, is said to have bought him, at the latter's instigation, and to have had him trained in philosophy. Phaedo afterward won fame as a philosopher, and his discourses on Socrates, which show very great taste, are still read." [42] There were not a few other slaves, too, who afterward became distinguished philosophers, and among them the well-known Menippus whose books Marcus Varrò has sought to rival in the satires which he calls "Menippean," although others call them "Cynic." Furthermore, Pompylus, a slave of Theophrastus the Peripatetic, a slave of Zeno the Stoic called Perseus, and a slave of Epicurus whose name was Mys were philosophers of note who lived at that time. Diogenes the Cynic was also a slave, although he was in fact a free man who had been sold into slavery. [43] When Xeniades of Corinth, wishing to buy him, asked him whether he knew anything in the way of a trade, he replied: "I know how to govern free men (liberi)." Whereupon Xeniades, struck by this reply, bought him and set him free, and entrusted his children to him, with the words: "Take my children (liberi) and govern them." [44] As for the famous philosopher Epictetus, he is too fresh in our memories for the fact that he also was a slave to be reckoned among things forgotten and unknown. [45] And two verses of his, written of himself, are quoted, in which you may find the further • Aulus Gellius 2. 18. Cf. Athenaeus 11. 507c.

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hidden meaning that those whose lives are a struggle against sorrows of many kinds are not necessarily hated by the gods: Slave, poor as Irus, halting as I trod, I, Epictetus, was the friend of God. 7 [46] You now have a case made out, I think, to prove that the name of slave is not to be regarded with aversion and contempt, since even Jupiter has been moved to take thought for a slave; and it has been established that many slaves have shown themselves to be loyal, prudent, brave—and even philosophers. I must now deal briefly with the Sigillarla, for I would not have you think that I spoke of a matter calling for a smile rather than reverence. [47] Epicadus relates that Hercules after killing Geryon drove his herds in triumph through Italy and from a bridge (now known as the Sublician Bridge), which had been built for the occasion, cast into the river a number of human figures equal to the number of the comrades he had chanced to lose on his journey, his object being to ensure that these figures might be carried by the current to the sea and so, as it were, to restore to their ancestral homes the bodies of the dead.8 This is said to have been the origin of the practice, which has persisted, of including the making of such figures in a religious rite. [48] In my opinion, however, a truer account of the origin of this practice is that which, I remember, I recently recalled,· namely, that, when the Pelasgians learned, by a happier interpretation of the words, that "heads" meant heads of clay not heads of living men and came to understand that φωτός meant "of a light" as well as "of a man," they began to kindle wax tapers in honor of Saturn, in preference to their former ritual, and to carry little masks to the chapel of Dis, which adjoins the altar of Saturn, instead of human heads. [49] Thence arose the traditional custom of sending round wax tapers at the Saturnalia and of making and selling little figures of clay for men to offer to Saturn, on behalf of Dis, as an act of propitiation for themselves and their families. [50] So it is that the regular use of such articles of trade 7 Anthologia Graeca 7. 676. T r . H. Macnaghten, Verses Ancient and Modern (London, 1911). s Cf. Ovid Fasti 5. 650-60. • See above, 7. 31.

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begins at the Saturnalia and lasts f o r seven days. These days, in consequence, are only rest days (feriatos), not all of them are festivals. F o r w e have shown that the day in the middle, namely the thirteenth day before the Kalends of January, 1 0 was a day f o r legal business; and this has been attested b y other statements made b y those w h o have given a fuller account of the arrangement of the year, months, and days, and of the regulation of the calendar b y Gaius Caesar. 10

See above, 10. 6.

C H A P T E R i2 [ ι ] At this point Praetextatus thought to end his discourse, but Aurelius Symmachus interposed, saying: Please go on, for it is a pleasure to listen to you, and tell us also how the year is ordered,1 before you find yourself put to the trouble of having to answer questions, should any of the present company be ignorant of the old arrangement of the year or of the more exact rules by which that arrangement has subsequently been changed. Indeed, I suggest that by your reference to the addition of days to the month of December you have yourself encouraged your audience to look for information on this subject. Thereupon Praetextatus took up the thread of his exposition and continued as follows. [2] The Egyptians, 2 he said, are the only people who have always had an exact method of determining the measurement of the year. With other nations the methods varied; and, although the numbering might be different, all alike were in error. It will be enough, then, if I refer to the customs which obtained in a few countries. Thus, in Arcadia the year was arranged into three months; in Acarnania into six; and the rest of the Greeks reckoned that their own year properly consisted of three hundred and fiftyfour days. [3] With these variations it is not surprising that of old Rome too had its own year, arranged—on the authority of Romulus—in a series of ten months. The year used to begin in March and to consist of three hundred and four days: six months having thirty days each, namely, April, June, Sextilis, September, November, and 1 In connection with this subject reference should be made to Fowler, Festivals. See also Ovid's Fasti, Plutarch's Numa, and Bede De temporum ratione 11-13. ! C f . Herodotus 4.

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December; and four comprising thirtv-one days each, namely, March, Mav, Quintiiis and October; and today, too, in these four months the Nones fall on the seventh day, whereas in the rest of the months they fall on the fifth. [4] When the Nones fall on the seventh day of the month, the Kalends would return seventeen days after the Ides, but, when the Nones fell on the fifth day, the Kalends would begin again eighteen days after the Ides. [5] Such was the arrangement made by Romulus; and he dedicated the first month of the year to his father, Mars. That March was the first month of the year is shown most clearly by the fact that Quintiiis is the fifth month after it and that thereafter the months took their names from their numerical order. [6] Moreover, on the first day of March a new fire was kindled on the altars of Vesta, that the charge to keep a new fire alight might begin with the beginning of the year. At the beginning of March, too, new laurel wreaths replaced the old in the Royal Palace (Regia) and also in the meeting places of the Tribes and in the houses of the flamens; and in the same month people went to Anna Perenna to offer public and private sacrifices for prosperity throughout the year and for years to come. [7] In March schoolmasters were paid their dues for the year that had been completed; the Assemblies held their first meeting; the taxes were put out to farm; and matrons would wait on their slaves at dinner, just as the masters of the household did at the Saturnalia—the women by this compliment calling on the slaves at the beginning of the year to give ready obedience, the men rendering thanks for service done. [8] Romulus called the second month April, or "Aphril" as some suppose, who would spell the word with an aspirate, after the Greek word for the foam (αφρός) from which Venus is believed to have sprung. It is said that it was the intention of Romulus to name the first month after his father Mars and the second after Venus the mother of Aeneas and thus to make the beginnings of the year the special care of these deities, from whom Rome traced her origin—since today too in our sacred rites we call Mars our "father" and Venus our "mother." [9] But others suppose that Romulus showed a deeper understanding, or even acted under the sure guidance of divine providence, in so arranging the initial months as to assign the first to Mars, often the slayer of men—in the words of Homer, who knew the god's nature:

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Ares, blood-stained Ares, bane of men and sacker of cities [Iliad 5 . 3 1 ] and then to dedicate the second to Venus, as the goddess whose kindly influence was such as to appease the other's violence. [10] Certainly in the twelve signs of the Zodiac as well, each of w h i c h is held to be the appointed abode of an appointed deity, the first sign, the Ram, has been allotted to Mars and thereafter the next in order, the Bull, to Venus. [ 1 1 ] Again, the Scorpion, w h i c h is placed over against these t w o signs, is so divided as to be common to Mars and Venus. A n d in this division there is held to be evidence of a divine plan, f o r the hinder part of the Scorpion, w h i c h is armed with a sting as w i t h a p o w e r f u l dart, is the house of Mars, and the part in front, w h i c h the G r e e k s call "the Y o k e " and w e call "the Balance," belongs to Venus, w h o (as it w e r e with a y o k e of harmony) joins in marriage and unites in friendship. [12] Cingius, however, in the treatise on the calendar w h i c h he has left us, says that certain writers show their ignorance in supposing that the ancients named the month of April after Venus, since in the course of this month no festival, no notable sacrifice, w a s appointed in her honor b y our ancestors, nor are her praises sung, as are those of the other deities, even in the hymns of the Salii. [13] V a r r ò , too, agrees w i t h Gngius, stating that even in the time of the kings the name of Venus, in either its Latin or its Greek form, was u n k n o w n at Rome, so that the month of April could not have been named after her. [14] But, whereas before the vernal equinox the sky is generally dull and overcast, the sea closed to shipping, and the land itself covered with water, frost, or snow, and whereas in the spring, that is to say in the month of April, all the above become open (aperiantur), and the trees too, and everything else that the earth holds, begin to open out into buds, w e must understand that it is f r o m all these signs of opening that the month is deservedly called Aprilis, as though for Aperilis—]ust as at Athens the corresponding month is called Anthesterion, because everything is then in flower. 3 [15] Nevertheless, Verrius Flaccus admits that is was afterward ordained that matrons should o f f e r sacrifice to V e n u s on the day of the vernal equinox; 4 but, since the 3 In this month the Anthesteria, or "Festival of Flowers," was held at Athens. 4 See Fowler, Festivals, p. 67.

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reason for this practice is out of place here, I must refrain from discussing it. [16] Romulus gave May the third place, and there is a wide divergence of views among the authorities about the name of this month. Fulvius Nobilior, in the calendar which he deposited in the temple of Hercules "Leader of the Muses," says that Romulus, after dividing the people into "older" (maiores) and "younger" (juniores) — to the end that the former should protect the state by counsel and the latter by arms—honored each class by calling this month May (Maius) and the month that followed, June (Junius) .s [17] Some relate that this month was transferred to our calendar from the calendar of Tusculum, which still has a reference to a god corresponding to Jupiter and called Maius, the name, that is to say, being derived from his greatness and majesty. [ 18 ] Cingius thinks that the month takes its name from Maia, whom he calls the wife of Vulcan, and he points by way of proof to the fact that the priest of Vulcan offers sacrifice to this goddess on the Kalends of May; but Piso says that Vulcan's wife is called Maiesta not Maia. [19] Others maintain that it was Maia the mother of Mercury who gave her name to the month,· and they find the strongest proof of their theory in the fact that in this month all merchants sacrifice to Maia and Mercury together. [20] Some assert (and Cornelius Labeo agrees with them) that the Maia to whom sacrifice is offered in the month of May is the earth, and that Earth received the name Maia from its great size {magnitudine)—just as in the course of her rites Maia is also called the Great Mother—and they, further, infer the truth of this opinion of theirs from the practice of sacrificing to the goddess a pregnant sow, which is the victim properly offered to Earth. They say too that Mercury is associated with the goddess in the rites because a human being receives the power of utterance at birth by contact with the earth, and, as we know, Mercury is the god of utterance and speech. [21] Cornelius Labeo is the authority for the statement that it was on the Kalends of May that a temple was dedicated to Maia, as the Earth, under the name of the Good Goddess, and he affirms that it can be shown from the more secret ritual itself of the sacrifice that the Good Goddess and Earth are identical. He adds that in the books of the pontiffs this same goddess is invoked as the Good Goddess and as Fauna, Ops, » Bede De temporum rottone 12. 20. · Ibid., 12. 21.

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and Fatua—[22] as Good, because she is the source of all that is good for the maintenance of our life; as Fauna, because she is favorable (favet) to everything that serves the needs of living creatures; as Ops [help], because it is on her help that life depends; and as Fatua, from jando (speech), since, as we have just said, infants at birth cannot utter a sound until they have touched the earth. [23] There are those who say that this goddess has the power of Juno and for that reason bears a royal scepter in her left hand. Others believe that she is to be identified with Proserpine and say that sacrifice is made to her with a sow, because a sow devoured the crops which Ceres gave to mortals. Others again hold that she is "Hecate of the Nether World," and the Boeotians, that she is Semele. [24] It is said too that she was the daughter of Faunus and that she resisted the amorous advances of her father, who even beat her with a rod of myrtle because, although plied by him with wine, she did not yield to his desires. There is, however, a belief that her father changed himself into a serpent and had intercourse with his daughter under that guise. [25] In support of all these beliefs the following evidence is adduced: that it is a sacrilege for a myrtle rod to be found in her temple; that a vine is spread above her head, since it was on this that her father had chiefly relied in his attempt to seduce her; that it is not the custom to bring wine into her temple under its own name, but the vessel containing the wine is named a honey jar and the wine is called milk; and that there are serpents in her temple which, indifferent to their surroundings, neither cause nor feel fear. [26] Some identify the goddess with Medea, because herbs of all kinds are brought into her temple, from which the priestesses commonly make medicaments, and also because no man may enter the temple on account of the wrong suffered by Medea at the hands of her thankless husband Jason. [27] In Greece she is called the "Goddess of Women," and Varrò (who savs that she was the daughter of Faunus) adds that she was so modest that she never went outside the women's quarters, that her name was never heard in public, and that she never saw, or was seen by, a man—this being the reason why no man enters her temple. [28] And here too is the reason why in Italy women may not take part in the rites of Hercules. For, when Hercules was bringing the cattle of Geryon through Italy, a woman in reply to his request for water to quench his thirst said that she could not

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give him anv because the day was the feast of the Goddess of W o m e n and it was unlawful f o r a man to taste of anything that had been prepared f o r the goddess. Hercules therefore, when about to o f f e r sacrifice, solemnly banned the presence of women and ordered Potitius and Pinarius, w h o had the charge of his rites, not to allow any woman to be present at them. [29] Y o u see, then, how, having had occasion to consider the name Maia and having identified Maia with Earth and with the G o o d Goddess, w e have had to relate all that w e have ascertained about the latter. [30] J u n e 7 follows M a y , and the name of the month is derived either (as I have already said) from the name given to a section of the people or (as Cingius thinks) f r o m the fact that it was previously called Junonius in Latium and f o r long appeared under this name in the calendars of Aricia and Praeneste. Indeed, as Nisus says in his Commentaries on the Calendar, our ancestors f o r long continued to use this name f o r the month, but later certain letters dropped out and f r o m Junonius the month came to be called Junius. A n d certainly it was on the Kalends of J u n e that a temple was dedicated to J u n o Moneta. [ 3 1 ] Some have thought that the month of June takes its name f r o m Junius Brutus (Rome's first consul), because it was in this month, on the Kalends of June, that he sacrificed to the goddess Carna on the Caelian Hill, after the expulsion of Tarquín, in performance of a v o w . [321 Carna is believed to be the goddess concerned with the care of man's vital organs, and it is to her that one prays f o r the good preservation of the liver and heart and all the inward parts; and, since it was thanks to his heart that Brutus practiced the deception which w o n him a reputation f o r stupidity 8 and so enabled him to come f o r w a r d and reform the state, he honored with a temple the goddess w h o has the care of these vital organs. [ 3 3 ] Offerings are made to her of bean pottage and bacon, since these foods give strength to the b o d y ; and the Kalends of J u n e are commonly called the Kalends of the Beans, because in this month ripe beans are added to the sacrificial offerings. Ï34] J u l y follows—the month which, when March held the first place in the year, was called Quintiiis f r o m its numerical position in the order of the months as prescribed b y Romulus; and it kept this name even after the months of January and F e b r u a r y had been placed by N u m a before March, although it was then, clearly, no 7 8 Bede De temporum ratione 12. 23. Livy 1. 56.

go

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

longer the fifth month but the seventh. Subsequently, however, in pursuance of a law proposed by Marcus (son of Marcus) Antonius as consul, the month was called July in honor of the dictator Julius Caesar, because he was born on the twelfth day of this month. [35] August is the next month, and it used formerly to be called Sextilis, until its complimentary dedication to Augustus, pursuant to a decree of the Senate, of which the terms are as follows: "Whereas it is in the month of Sextilis that the Emperor Caesar Augustus has assumed his first consulate and has thrice· entered the city in triumph and that the legions have marched down from the Janiculum faithfully following his leadership; and whereas it is in this month that Egypt has been brought under the power of the Roman people and it is in this month that civil wars have been ended; and whereas for these reasons this month is and has been the happiest of months for this Empire: resolved that this month be called Augustus." Likewise, on the same grounds, a plebiscite was made on a motion put to the people by Sextus Pacuvius, a tribune. [36] The month of September keeps its original name. Domitian indeed had imposed on it the name of Germanicus and had given his own to October. [37] But, when it was resolved to erase an ill-omened name from every monument of bronze or stone that bore it, these months too were divested of the titles which a tyrant had compelled them to bear. All subsequent emperors were careful to avoid the unhappy consequences of an ill omen, and so the months from September to December retained their ancient names. [38] Such were the rules made by Romulus to measure the year. By his arrangement it was, as I have already said, a year of ten months and of three hundred and four days; the months being so disposed that four had thirty-one days each and six had thirty. [39] But, since this method of reckoning agreed neither with the course of the sun nor the phases of the moon, it sometimes happened that the cold season fell in the summer months and, on the other hand, the hot season in the winter months; and, on these occasions, as many days were allowed to pass unassigned to any named month as were needed to make the current month fit the season of the year and the appearance of the sky. • Augustus celebrated triumphs on August 6, 7, and 8, 19 B.C. for victories in Dalmatia, at Actium, and at Alexandria. Cf. Vergil Aeneid 8. 714; Horace Odes ι. 2.49; Suetonius Augustus 11 ; and Mommsen, Res Crestae d. Augusti, p. 9.

C H A P T E R 131 [ ι ] Romulus was succeeded by Numa. From such knowledge as he could acquire with only his natural genius to teach him—living, as he did, in an unkindly climate and in an age that was still uncivilized—or perhaps learning something from the practice of the Greeks, Numa added fifty days to the year, to enlarge it to three hundred and fifty-four days, the period which he believed to correspond with the completion of twelve circuits of the moon. [2] T o these fifty additional days he added six others, by taking one from each of the six months which had thirty days apiece, and the fifty-six days thus made available he divided equally to make two new months. [ 3 ] The first of those two months he named January and made it the first month of the year, as the month of the twofaced god who looks back to the year that is past and forward to the beginnings of the year to come. The second month he dedicated to Februus, the god who is believed to have charge over ceremonies of purification; for it was necessary that the city should be purified in the month in which Numa ordained the payment of due rites to the departed spirits. [4] Afterward the neighboring peoples followed Numa's arrangement and began to reckon their year with the same number of days and months as he, but with this single difference, that they made their months consist of twenty-nine and thirty days alternately. [5] A little later, in honor of the odd number 2 (a mystery which 1 1

See Bede De temporum

ratione

11.

C f . Vergil Eclogues 8. 75 and Ciris 373: numero deus impare gaudet. A belief that odd numbers (and usually the odd numbers up to nine) are " l u c k y " or in some other w a y significant is often found in folklore. T h e belief has been held to be based on the f a c t that an odd number cannot be divided into two equal parts.

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

nature had brought to light even before the time of Pythagoras) N u m a added a day to the year and assigned this day to January, in order that the principle of the odd number might be preserved and both the year and each month, with the sole exception of February, consist of an odd number of days. For, in a series of twelve months, if each month contained either an even or an odd number of days, the total number of days would be an even number, but to give one of the months an even number of days made the total of the number of days in the year an odd number. [6] A n d so it was ordained that January, April, June, Sextilis, September, November, and December should be months of twenty-nine days each, with the Nones falling on the fifth day of the month, and, in all of them, the day after the Ides being reckoned the seventeenth day before the next Kalends; [7] but March, M a y , Quintiiis, and October had thirty-one days, with the Nones falling on the seventh day of the month, and in each of these months too (as in the other seven months) the period after the Ides up to [and including] the f o l l o w ing Kalends comprising seventeen days. February alone kept its twenty-eight days, as though the shortness of the month and the even number of its days befitted the denizens of the world below. [8] In consequence of this division of the year b y N u m a Pompilius the Romans were now calculating the length of their o w n year, like the Greeks, b y the course of the moon. A n d so, like the Greeks, they had to provide an intercalary month. 3 [9] For, when the Greeks noticed that they had been careless in fixing the number of days in a year at three hundred and f i f t y - f o u r (since the sun takes three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days to complete its course through the zodiac, and it was therefore clear that their year was eleven and a quarter days too short) they devised a regular system of intercalation b y w h i c h they inserted ninety davs, arranged in three months of thirty days apiece, in each period of eight years. [10] T h e Greeks adopted this plan because it was troublesome and difficult to intercalate eleven and a quarter davs each year, and they therefore preferred to multiply this number b y eight and to insert the ninety days (which represent the product of eleven and a quarter days multiplied b y eight) distributed into three

3 C f . H e r o d o t u s 1. 3:. See also the note on Herodotus 2. 4 in the commentary b y H o w and W e l l s .

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months, as I have said. These days the Greeks used to call "supernumerary" and the months "intercalary." [ 1 1 ] T h e Romans resolved to follow this system too, but they were not successful, since they overlooked the fact that, as I have already reminded you, they had added one day to the Greek reckoning out of respect for the odd number, with the result that over the period of eight years there could be no conformity with the true position either in the number of the intercalated days or in their place in the calendar. [ 1 2 ] However, before the mistake was discovered, they calculated that in each period of eight years ninety days were to be reckoned as supernumerary, in accordance with the example of the Greeks, and they distributed these intercalary days b y means of four intercalations, of twenty-two and twentythree days alternately, every two years. But after every eighth year there was a surplus of eight intercalary days, the product of the single davs by which, as w e have said, the Roman reckoning of the length of their common year exceeded that of the Greeks. [ 1 3 ] When this error, too, was recognized, it was corrected as follows: in every third period of eight years sixty-six intercalary days were inserted, instead of ninety, to make up for the twenty-four days b y which the Roman reckoning had exceeded the Greek in that number of years. [ 1 4 ] Intercalation was always made in the month of February, as the last month of the year; 4 and here too the Romans followed the example of the Greeks, who also used to insert the supernumerary days in the last month of their year, as Glaucippus tells us, the author of an account of the sacred rites of the Athenians. But in one respect the Roman practice differed from the Greek, [ 1 5 ] for, whereas the Greeks inserted these days at the end of the last month of the year, the Romans made the intercalation not at the end of February but after the twenty-third day of that month, that is to sav, after the celebration of the festival of the Terminalia was over. T h e v made the five remaining days of Februar»' follow the intercalation, in accordance, I take it, with their old religious custom, namely, to ensure that March should in any case come immediately after February. [ 1 6 ] However, it often happened that the market days would fall sometimes on the first day of the year and sometimes on the Nones of a month; and, since either event 4

I.e., f o r the purpose of religious observances (see above 12. 5-7).

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was thought to be disastrous for the state, a means to prevent such coincidence was devised, as I shall explain later, after I have shown why the holding of a market on the first Kalends of the vear or on the Nones of any month used to be avoided. [17] Whenever the day with which a year began was a market day, the whole of that year was one of unhappy occurrences and full of sorrow; and the disturbance for which Lepidus was responsible strongly supports this belief.5 [18] As for the Nones, it was considered that a meeting of the whole population should be avoided on that day because the Roman people, even after the expulsion of the kings, paid particular honor to the Nones, which they believed to be the birthday of Servius Tullius. For, although the month of his birth was uncertain, it was generally agreed that he was born on the Nones, and noticeably large crowds used therefore to collect every month to celebrate that day; and, since those who had charge of the calendar were afraid that, if the whole population assembled for market on those days, regret for the monarchy might lead to an attempt at revolution, they took care that the Nones and market days should not coincide. [19] Hence it came about that the disposal of that extra day, which, as I have said, was added to the year, was left to the discretion of the superintendents of the calendar to insert it where they would, the only proviso being that the day should be placed in the middle [Wc] of the festival of the Terminalia, or of an intercalary month, in such a way as to ensure that a market day with its crowds should not fall on a day which was regarded with mistrust. And that is why certain of the old authorities have said that the Romans had not only an intercalary month but an intercalary day as well. [20] Different accounts are given of the beginning of the practice of intercalation. Licinius Macer attributes its origin to Romulus. Antias, in his second Book, maintains that it was the invention of Numa Pompilius and that the reason for it was connected with the celebration of religious rites. Junius says that the practice was begun by King Servius Tullius, who, according to Varrò, also instituted the market day. [21] Tuditanus, in the third Book of his Magistracies, records that the decemvirs who added two to the Ten Tables of the Law brought a bill relating to it before the people; 5 Probably a reference either to the anti-Sullan activity in 77 B.C. or to the proscriptions of 43 B.C.

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and Cassius writes that the same authorities were responsible for the practice. Fulvius, however, says that it was the work of the consul Manius Acilius in 562 a.u.c., just before the beginning of the Aetolian War, but Varrò traverses this statement with a reference to an ancient law (engraved on a bronze column by the consuls Lucius Pinarius and Furius) to which the intercalary month is ascribed. Such, then, are the accounts which have been given of the practice of intercalation.

CHAPTER

14

[ ι ] But, nevertheless, religious scruples at times led to the omission of all intercalation. And sometimes indeed the number of days in a year was increased or reduced through the influence of the priests, who deliberately lengthened or shortened the year in the interest of the tax collectors, with the result that a pretence of exactly observing the calendar in fact added to the confusion in it. [2] Subsequently, however, since there was thus no consistency in the marking of the times and seasons but all was still vague and uncertain, Gaius Caesar introduced a clearly defined arrangement of the calendar, with the help of a clerk named Marcus Flavius, who provided the dictator with a list of the several days so arranged that their order could be easily found and, that order once found, the position of each day would remain constant. [3] Caesar therefore began the new arrangement of the calendar b y using up all the days which could still have caused confusion, with the result that the last of the years of uncertainty was prolonged to one of four hundred and forty-three days. Then, copying the Egyptians—the only people who fully understood the principles of astronomyhe endeavored to arrange the year to conform to the duration of the course of the sun, which it takes three hundred and sixty-five days and a quarter to complete. [4] F o r just as the lunar cycle is the month, since the moon takes rather less than a month to make a circuit of the zodiac, so the solar cycle must be reckoned by the number of days which the sun takes to turn again to that sign of the zodiac from which it began its course. T h a t is w h y the common year is styled the "turning" year and is held to be the "great" year 1 (since the lunar cycle is thought of as the "short" year), [5] 1

C f . Macrobius Co?nmentary 2. 1 1 . 6-10; Ammianus Marcellinus 26. 1. 8; Isidore of Seville 5. 36. 3; Bede De temporum rations 36, Cicero De natura deorum 2. 20. 51.

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and Vergil has combined these two descriptions of the solar year in the line: Meanwhile the sun completes the turning of the great year. [Aeneid 3. 284] It is for this reason that Ateius Capito too thinks that the word "year" (annus) is to be explained as a circuit of time; namely, because of old an used to stand for "around," as, for example, where Cato in his Origins writes: "Let the plough be driven around the boundary," using an instead of circum·, or when we say ambire* for circumire. [6] Julius Caesar3 therefore added ten days to the old arrangement of the calendar, in order that the year might consist of the three hundred and sixty-five days which the sun takes to pass through the zodiac; and, to allow for the remaining quarter of a day, he ordained that the priest in charge of the months and days should insert one day every fourth year in that month, and in that part of it, in which of old an intercalary month used to be inserted, that is to say, immediately before the last five days of February. This intercalary day he ordered to be called bissextus [as doubling the sixth day before the Kalends of March]. [7] The arrangement to distribute the ten additional days to which I have referred was as follows: January, Sextilis, and December received two days each, and April, June, September, and November one each. No addition was made to the month of February, lest changes in connection with the worship of the gods below might result; and March, May, Quintiiis, and October remained as they had been of old, because they already had the full complement of thirty-one days apiece. [8] And, since Caesar made no change in these four months, they also have the Nones on the seventh day, as laid down by Numa. But in January, Sextilis, and December, the months to which Caesar added two days apiece, although after his reforms each for the first time had thirty-one days, nevertheless the Nones come on the fifth day and the Kalends that follow return on the nineteenth day after the Ides, because Caesar would not insert the additional days before either the Nones or the Ides for fear that an unprecedented postponement by two days (which would be the result of such 2 3

C f . Festus, p. 4: am praepositto loquelaris significai Bede De temporum ratione 12. 89.

circum.

9

8

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

change) might interfere with religious ceremonies appointed to be held on a day fixed in relation to the Nones or Ides. [9] N o r yet would he insert the additional days immediately after the Ides for fear of disturbing appointed rest days, but a place was not made for them in any month until the celebration of the rest days held in that month had been completed. Thus in January the allotted days to which w e refer were the fourth and third days before the Kalends of February; in April, the sixth day before the Kalends of M a y ; in June, the third day before the Kalends of J u l y ; in August, the fourth and third day before the Kalends of September; in September, the third day before the Kalends of October; in November, the third day before the Kalends of December; and in December, the fourth and third days before the Kalends of January. [ 1 0 ] Consequently, although, before this reform, in all the months to which days were added the Kalends of the following months returned on the seventeenth day after the Ides; afterward, as the result of the additions, the Kalends returned on the nineteenth day after the Ides in the months which received t w o days and on the eighteenth in the months which received one. [ 1 1 ] In each month, however, rest days kept their appointed places. F o r example, if the third day after the Ides was generally observed as a festival or a rest day and used formerly to be known as the sixteenth day before the following Kalends, even after the number of days in the month had been increased, the religious observance remained unchanged and the ceremony was still held on the third day after the Ides, although (in consequence of an increase in the number of days in the month) the day was no longer the sixteenth day before the following Kalends but the seventeenth, if one day had been added to the month, and the eighteenth, if two days had been added. [ 1 2 ] That is w h y Caesar inserted the new days, in each case, toward the end of the month, at a time when all the rest days in the month were found to be over. Moreover, he caused these additional days to be marked in the calendar as fasti, so as to make more time available f o r legal business; and he not only arranged that all these days should be such days of legal business but also that none should be a day on which an assembly might be held, his intention being that this increase in the number of the days should not add to a magistrate's power to exercise undue influence. [ 1 3 ] Caesar's regulation of the civil year to accord with this

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4

revised measurement was proclaimed publicly by edict, and the arrangement might have continued to stand had not the correction itself of the calendar led the priests to introduce a new error of their own; for they proceeded to insert the intercalary day, which represented the four quarter-days, at the beginning of each fourth year instead of at its end, although the intercalation ought to have been made at the end of each fourth year and before the beginning of the fifth. 5 [14] This error continued for thirty-six years, by which time twelve intercalary days had been inserted instead of the number actually due, namely, nine. But, when this error was at length recognized, it too was corrected, by an order of Augustus that twelve years should be allowed to pass without an intercalary day, since a sequence of twelve such years would account for those three days too many which, in the course of the thirty-six years, had been introduced by the premature action of the priests. [ 1 5 ] After that, one intercalary day, as ordered by Caesar, was to be inserted at the beginning of every fifth year,· and the whole of this arrangement of the calendar was to be engraved on a bronze tablet, to ensure that it should always be observed. 4 Reading armum... habitis ad limarti iimensiorúbus constitutum ... publicavit; et hue usque stare potuisset.... 5 I.e., the priests were intercalating every three years instead of every four (by our non-inclusive reckoning). • I.e., after every four years.

C H A P T E R ι 51 [ ι ] This insertion of an intercalary day at the beginning of every fifth year, said Horus, agrees with the practice which obtains in Egypt, the mother of the arts. But there the arrangement of the months seems to present no difficulty: all the months have thirty days each, and at the end of the twelve months (that is to say, after three hundred and sixty days) the remaining five days of a year are then duly inserted between August and September, with an addition at the end of every fourth year of the intercalary day which represents the four quarter-days. [2] A t Rome, however, there is no unbroken arithmetical progress straight through the month from its first day to its last; but after the Kalends you proceed to the Nones; then, I gather, you turn aside to what you call the Ides; and again after that—unless I am mistaken, and indeed it is what you have just said yourself—to the Kalends of the following month. [3] I should certainly be glad to know what all this means. A n d what is more, I cannot even hope to reach an understanding of the terms which you apply to the several days, when you call some of them fasti [business days] and others by various different names. I confess too that I do not know the meaning of your "market days," which you say are so exactly and cautiously observed. N o r do I see any reason to be ashamed of my ignorance, for I am a foreigner, and even a citizen of Rome would feel it no shame to be taught by you, Praetextatus. [4] M y dear Horus, replied Praetextatus, to my mind neither you, as an Egyptian, nor even we Romans need blush to ask questions which all our predecessors thought to be well worth asking. For the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides, and the many different rest days we keep, are matters which have occupied the attention 1 C f . Isidore of Seville 5. 33; Bede De temporum ratione 12 and 13.

BOOK I , CHAPTER

I5

ΙΟΙ

of countless authorities, and I propose therefore to sum up briefly what all of them have said in this connection. [ 51 When Romulus was organizing his kingdom with an understanding keen indeed but untrained, he reckoned the beginning of each month from the day on which the new moon had chanced to appear. [6] N o w the new moon does not always appear regularly on the same day of the month, but for definite reasons its reappearance sometimes comes more slowly and sometimes more quickly. Consequently, the preceding month had a greater number of days assigned to it when the moon reappeared more slowly and a smaller number of days when it reappeared more quickly; and it was chance that first decided the number of days which each month was to continue to have. That is how some months came to have thirty-one days and others twenty-nine. [7] Nevertheless it was resolved that in every month the Ides should be reckoned the ninth day after [and including] the Nones, and it was arranged that there should be a period of sixteen days between the Ides and the Kalends of the following month. That is w h y in the fuller month those two additional days fell between the Kalends of the month and its Nones, so that in some months the Nones were on the fifth day after the Kalends and in others on the seventh. [8] But Caesar, as I have already remarked, in order to safeguard dates which had been fixed for the performance of sacred rites, refused to change the arrangement of the Nones even in the months to which he added two days apiece; for his regard for religious observances led him to insert those days of his after all the rest days in the month had been held. [9] In early times, then, before the clerk Gnaeus Flavius (against the wishes of the Senate) had published a calendar there used to be assigned to a minor priest the duty of watching f o r the first appearance of the new moon and reporting its appearance to the high priest. [ 10] T h e two priests then offered a sacrifice, and afterward the minor priest, having called (calata) — that is, summoned— the common people to the Capitol at the ward Calabra (which is near the Cottage of Romulus), publicly proclaimed the number of days which would elapse between the Kalends and the Nones, making his proclamation by repeating the word καλώ five times if the Nones fell on the fifth day of the month, and seven times if they fell on the seventh day. [ 1 1 ] N o w καλώ is a Greek word

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meaning " I call," and so it was decided that the first of the days thus "called" should be named the "Kalends." F o r this reason too the ward at which the proclamation was made w a s given the name "Calabra," and a similar name [Calata] was given to the assembly, because all the people w e r e "called" to it. [ 1 2 ] T h e minor priest proclaimed aloud the number of davs which w o u l d elapse before the Nones because, after the new moon, the country people had to assemble in R o m e on the Nones, to hear f r o m the high priest the reasons f o r the rest days to be held, and to learn what sacrifices had to be offered during that month. [ 1 3 ] Some hold that the Nones are so called as marking the beginning of a new {novae) reckoning; or else because the period f r o m the Nones to the Ides is always reckoned [inclusively] as nine (noverrt) days, just as it was the custom among the Etruscans to have several " N o n e s , " since these people used to pay their respects to the king and to transact their private business every ninth day. [ 1 4 ] Moreover, as f o r the name "Ides," it is borrowed f r o m the Etruscans, w h o call the day "Itis," meaning b y the w o r d "Pledge of Jupiter." F o r since w e take Jupiter to be the author of light— and that is w h y the Salii in their chants sing of him as "Bringer of L i g h t " (Lucetius) and the Cretans call him " T h e D a y " (Δία) —the Romans also address him as "Father of the D a y " (Diespiter) . [ 1 5 ] A n d that day is rightly called "Pledge of J u p i t e r " on which the light does not end with the setting of the sun but even through the night moonlight prolongs the brightness of the dav, f o r the Ides always fall at the time of the full moon, that is to say, in the middle of the month. T o the dav therefore in which there is no darkness even at night men have given the Etruscan name of "Pledge of Jupiter"; and that is w h y ancicnt usage has ordained that all the Ides are to be kept as rest days sacred to Jupiter. 1 1 6 ] Others think that the Ides were called Vidus, from videndo [seeing], bccause the full moon is seen on that day; and that the letter " v " was afterward dropped, just as b v a contrary operation we have added a " v " to the G r e e k word f o r "to see," ϊδείν, and say videre. Again, some believe that the word " I d e s " comes from the G r e e k w o r d είδος, " f o r m , " because the shape of the moon is fully shown on that day; and there are those w h o hold that the dav is called after the "sheep of the Ides" (ididis), a name of Etruscan origin and given to the sheep whicli is sacrificed to Jupiter by a

BOOK I, CHAPTER I J

IO3

priest on the Ides of every month. [17] In our opinion, however, a truer explanation of the name is that we call the day which "divides" the month the "Ides"; for in the Etruscan language iduare means "to divide"; so that the word for "widow" (vidua) would seem either to be an emphatic form of idua, that is to say, "utterly divided" 2 or else to mean "divided from a husband" (vir). [18] As all the Ides are assigned to Jupiter, so all the Kalends are Juno's. W e have this on the authority of both Varrò and the priests. And, moreover, the Laurentines keep up this tradition in their ancestral observances, for from their ritual they have given the goddess a distinctive epithet, speaking of her as "Juno of the Kalends," and, further, they make prayer to this goddess on the Kalends of every month from March to December. [19] At Rome too, on all the Kalends, in addition to the offering made to Juno by the minor priest in the ward Calabra, the high priestess also (that is to say, the wife of the high priest) sacrifices a sow or a female lamb to Juno in the Royal Palace. And it is from this goddess that Janus derives the style Junonius, to which we have referred,3 for it appears that just as all places of entry are regarded as belonging to him so all the Kalends are assigned to Juno. [20] Indeed, since it was the custom of our ancestors to begin the month with the first appearance of the moon, they rightly assigned the Kalends to Juno, for they identified her with the moon. Or else the explanation is to be found in the fact that the moon travels through the air (and this is why the Greeks called the moon Artemis, that is to say, άερότομις, because she "cleaves the air"), and Juno is the ruler of the air, so that the beginning of a month, the Kalends, was properly dedicated to her. [21] I must not omit to mention that our ancestors held that marriages should not be joined on the Kalends, Nones, and Ides, since these days are under a religious ban and must therefore be avoided. With the exception of the Nones the days are in fact rest days, and atonement must be made for an act of violence done to anyone on such days. It would seem that in marriage an act of violence is done to a virgin, and the celebration of a marriage on a rest day is therefore eschewed. Varrò indeed relates that Verrius Flaccus, a high authority on pontifical law, used to say that, since 2

3

For such use of an intensifying particle ve- see 6. 8. 18, below.

ι. 9. IJ.

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

one might scour an old ditch on a rest day but might not dig a new one, it was more fitting for a widow than for a maid to be married on a rest day. [22] But some one will suggest: "If the day of the Nones is not a rest day, why is the celebration of a marriage on it prohibited?" Here too the explanation is clear. For on the first day of a marriage the bride is in retirement, but on the next day she must begin to assume authority in her husband's house and offer sacrifice. However, the day after Kalends, Nones, or Ides is, in each case, a day of ill omen;4 and so the day of the Nones was said to be a day unsuitable for marriages, in order that a bride might not enter on her privileges as a wife on the morrow of it, nor offer sacrifice on a day of ill omen—a day on which the divine law forbids the performance of a religious act. * Dies ater-, cf. Ovid Fasti I. j8, Varrò De Lingua Latiría 6. 29, Aulus Gellius j. 17; see also 1. 16. zi below.

CHAPTER

16

f i ] T h e sequence of our discourse [continued Praetextatus] has led us to mention certain specific days; and, since this too was a point raised by our friend Horus in the question which he put, a few words must be said about it. [ 2 ] Numa, having divided the year into months, went on to divide each month into days, all of which were known as "festivals" or "working days" or "half-festivals." T h e festivals are days dedicated to the gods; on the working days men may transact their private and public business; and the half-festivals are days shared between gods and men. [3] Thus on the festivals there are sacrifices and banquets in honor of the gods, public games and "rest days." T h e working days include "court days," "assembly days," "adjournment days," "appointed days," and "battle days." T h e halffestivals are not divided into other classes, but each is subdivided in such a w a y that at certain hours of the day judgment may be pronounced in a court of law and at certain other hours it mav not; f o r when the victim is being slain no legal business may be done, but in the interval between the slaying of the victim and the placing of the offering on the altar such business may be done, although it is again forbidden when the offering is being burned. W e must therefore speak at greater length of the division of days into festivals and working days. [4] T h e celebration of a religious festival consists of the offering of sacrifices to the gods or the marking of the day b y a ritual banquet or the holding of public games in honor of a god or the observance of rest days. [5] Public rest days are of four kinds: they are either "fixed," "movable," "extraordinary," or "market days." [6] In the fixed rest days all the people share; they are held on set and appointed days in set and appointed months; they are noted in

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the Calendar, and the observances are defined. Of such rest days the chief examples are the Agonalia, the Carmentalia, and the Lupercalia. Movable rest days are those which are proclaimed yearly b y the magistrates or the priests, to be held on days which may or may not be set days, such as, for example, the Feriae Latinae, the Feriae Semenrivae, the Paganalia, and the Compitalia. Extraordinary rest days are those which are promulgated by the consuls or the praetors by virtue of their discretionary powers. Market days are the concern of the villagers and country folk, who assemble on these days to attend to their private affairs and to market their wares. [7] Besides the public rest days there are those which belong exclusively to certain families, f o r example, to the Claudian, Aeinilian, Julian, or Cornelian families, and any rest day peculiar to a family which that family observes in accordance with its own domestic practice. [8] Rest days are kept also b y individuals, for example, on the occasion of a birthday, the fall of a thunderbolt, a funeral, or an act of atonement. Moreover, it was the custom of old that anyone who had mentioned by name the deities Salus, Semonia, Seia, Segetia, or Tutilina used to observe the day as a rest day. And, in the same w a y , whenever the wife of a flamen heard thunder, she kept a rest day until such time as she had appeased the gods. [9] The priests used to maintain that a rest day was desecrated if, after it had been duly promulgated and proclaimed, any work was done on it. Furthermore, the high priest and the flamens might not see work in progress on a rest day, and f o r this reason they would give public warning by a herald that nothing of the sort should be done. Neglect of this command was punished by a fine, [ 1 0 ] and it was said that one who had inadvertently done any work on such days had, in addition to the fine, to make atonement bv the sacrifice of a pig. For work done intentionally no atonement could be made, according to the pontiff Scaevola; but Umbro says that to have done work that concerns the gods or is connected with a religious ceremony, or any work of urgent and vital importance does not defile the doer. [ 1 1 ] Scaevola, in fact, when asked what might be done on a rest day replied that anything might be done which it would be harmful to have left undone. And so a head of a household who, on a rest day, collected his laborers and freed an

BOOK I , CHAPTER 1 6

WJ

ox from a pit into which it had fallen was not thought to have desecrated the day; nor was a man who propped up a broken roof beam to save it from a threatening collapse. [ 1 2 ] And that is w h y Vergil, who is an authority in every branch of learning, knowing that sheep are washed either to clean the wool or to cure mange, declared that a sheep might be dipped on a rest day, if the intention was to effect some cure, as appears from the line: T o dip the bleating flock into the health-giving stream 1 [Georgics

1. 2 7 2 ]

for the use of the adjective "health-giving" makes it clear that the action is permissible only if its aim is to prevent disease and if there is no ulterior motive of cleaning the wool to make a profit. [ 1 3 ) So much then f o r the festivals and the days connected with them, which are, I should add, called Jiefasti. W e shall now speak of the working days and those which they comprise, namely, the days known as "court days," "assembly days," "adjournment days," "appointed days," and "battle days." [ 14] Court days, or "days of utterance" (fasti), are the days on which the praetor may pronounce the three prescribed formulas: "I grant, I pronounce, I adjudge"; 2 and opposed to these days are the days on which these words may not be uttered (nefasti). Assembly days are the days on which a motion may be brought before the people in assembly. And, although on court days it is possible to plead in court but not possible to bring a motion before the people, on assembly days each process is permissible. Adjournment days are those on which it is permitted to order recognizances to be given f o r reappearance in court. Appointed days are those which are fixed for the hearing of an action with a foreigner, as Plautus has it in his Curculio [ 1. 1 . 5 ] : Even if it were 3 a day appointed and agreed for appearance in court against a foreigner. (In this passage the foreigner is called hostis, according to the old usage.) [ 1 5 ] As for battle days, I shall not treat of them as distinct from

1

C f . ι. 7. 8 and 3. 10-12. Do bonorum possessionevi; dico tus; addico id de quo ambigitur. 3 Macrobius reads intercessìt: the received text has intercedit. C f . Aulus Gellius 16. 4. 4. 2

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the "law days," 4 namely, the thirty consecutive days during which, after orders to the army to muster, a red flag is placed on the citadel, all battle days, however, being days on which it is lawful to seek restitution of property or to attack an enemv. [16] N o w when the Latiar, that is, the celebration of the Latin Festival, is proclaimed, and during the days of the Saturnalia, and also when the entrance to the underworld is open,5 religion forbids the joining of battle, [ 1 7 ] and for the following reasons: during the Latin Festival, because it was unfitting to begin a war at the time at which a truce was publicly concluded of old between the Roman people and the Latins; during the festival of Saturn, because his reign is believed to have been free from any tumult of war; and when the entrance to the underworld is open, this being a sacred occasion dedicated to Father Dis and Proserpine, and men deemed it better to go out to battle when the jaws of Pluto are shut, f 18] And that is why Varrò writes: "When the entrance to the underworld is open, it is as if the door of the grim, infernal deities were open. A religious ban therefore forbids us not only to engage in battle but to levy troops and march to war, to weigh anchor, and to marry a wife for the raising of children." [19] As regards the levying of troops, this was also avoided of old on days marked by association with some disaster. It was avoided too on rest days, for as Varrò writes in his work on Augurs: "Men may not be levied for the army on a rest day; if such a call-up has been made, an act of expiation is necessary." [20] Nevertheless, one must bear in mind that it was only if the Romans were themselves declaring war that they recognized the need to choose a permissible day of battle; when they were being attacked, the nature of the day did not debar them from defending themselves and the honor of Rome. For what room is there for regarding a religious observance, if one has no choice in the matter? [21] The days after the Kalends, Nones, and Ides were regarded by our ancestors as days to be avoided for any undertaking; and they would seem to have shown their condemnation of those days by giving them the ill-omened style of "black" days, although some people, as though to modify such expression of disapproval, have called the days "common" days [as being unlucky for all alike]. 4 5

lusti; c f . Aulus Gellius 20. 1. 43. Mundus patet; see F o w l e r , Essays,

p. 24.

BOOK I, CHAPTER

16

T h e reason for this belief is given b y G e l l i u s ' in the fifteenth Book of his Armais and by Cassius Hemina in the second Book of his Histories. [22 J In 363 A.u.c. the military tribunes Virginius, Manlius, Aemilius, Postumius, and their colleagues discussed in the Senate the reason for the many disasters which had befallen the state within the space of a f e w years; and b y order of the senators the soothsayer Lucius Aquinius was summoned to the House to be questioned on matters relating to religious observances. [23] He replied that a military tribune, Quintus Sulpicius, when about to attack the Gauls at the Allia, had offered sacrifice, f o r success in battle, on the morrow of the Ides of Quintiiis. 7 A t the Cremerà too, he said, and on many other occasions and in many other places, defeat in battle had followed the offering of a sacrifice on the morrow of such a day of observance. [24] Whereupon the Senate ordered the question of these religious observances to be referred to the college of pontiffs, w h o declared that the morrow of all Kalends, Nones, and Ides were to be regarded as "black" days; so that these days were neither days on which battle might be offered, nor davs free from religious restrictions, 8 nor days on which assemblies of the people might be held. [25] It is also said, by the pontiff Fabius Maximus Servilianus, in his twelfth Book, that a sacrifice in honor of a deceased relative ought not to be offered on a "black" day, because in such sacrifices prayer must also be made first to Janus and Jupiter, and on such a day the names of these gods should not be uttered. [26] T h e fourth day before the Kalends, Nones, or Ides is also as a rule avoided as a day of ill omen, and the question is often asked whether there is any religious tradition to account for this practice. But the only written authority that w e have found on the point is a statement by Quintus Claudius, in the fifth Book of his Aimais, that the overwhelming disaster of the battle of Cannae occurred on the fourth day before the Nones of Sextilis. [27] Varrò, however, remarks that in military matters it is of no consequence at all whether a dav be fastus or nefastus but that this distinction is concerned only with the acts of private persons. [28] I have said that market days are rest days, but the statement 6 7

G n a e u s G e l l i u s . See n o t e t o 1. 8. :. A u l u s G e l l i u s 5. 17; c f . L i v y 6. 1.

8

Puri.

I IO

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

may be disputed on the following grounds. Titus, writing of rest days, did not count market days among them, but called market days only "customary"® days. Again, Julius Modestus declares that, when the augur Messala asked the pontiffs whether the Roman market days and Nones were to be included among the rest days, they replied that in their opinion market days were not rest days. And Trebatius too, in the first Book of his Religious Observances, says that on a market day a magistrate is empowered to manumit a slave and to grant leave to bring an action at law. [29J On the other hand, however, Julius Caesar, in the sixteenth Book of his treatise on Auspices, says that a public meeting cannot be convened —that is, a matter cannot be referred to the people—on a market day, and so an assembly of the Roman people cannot be held on these days. Cornelius Labeo too, in the first Book of his Calendar, declares that market days are rest days. [30] A careful reader will find the explanation of this difference of opinion in the works of Granius Licinianus, in his second Book, where he says that market days are rest days sacred to Jupiter, since it is the custom for the wife of the flamen [of Jupiter] to sacrifice a ram to that god in the Royal Palace on every market day, but that the Hortensian Law made market days court days, in order that the country people, who used to come to Rome to market, might have an opportunity to settle their legal disputes; for the praetor might not pronounce the prescribed words on a day which was nefastus. [ 31J Those then who say that market days are rest days have the ancient usage to protect them from a charge of inexactitude, but the opinion expressed by those who hold the opposite view is also true, if they are taking into account only the time that has elapsed since the passing of the law to which I have referred. [32] The first establishment of the market day is attributed to Romulus, who, it is said, after sharing his royal power with Titus Tatius and after instituting certain sacrifices and associations, also prescribed the observance of those days. And this is what Tuditanus maintains; [33] but Cassius [Hemina] says that they were a device of Servius Tullius, designed to enable country folk to meet in Rome and arrange matters that concerned both town and country. Geminus says that it was after the expulsion of the kings that a market 9

Sollennes.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 16

1II

day was first held, because most of the common people in memory of the late Servius Tullius used to o f f e r sacrifice in his honor on those days; and Varrò too agrees with this account. [34] However, according to Rutilius, the Romans instituted market days in order that the country people, after working for eight [recte seven] days in the fields, should leave their work there on the ninth [recte eighth] day and come to Rome to sell their wares and to get information about the laws; and also that there might be a larger concourse of the people to hear the popular and senatorial decrees which might be brought before them, for matters published for a period of three market days 1 0 would readily come to the knowledge of one and all. [35] T h a t too was the origin of the custom of promulgating a law f o r a period of three market days, and also of the practice by which candidates for office used to come to the assembly of the people on a market day and take their stand on raised ground, that they might be seen clearly b y everyone present. But all these usages fell more and more into neglect and eventually disappeared, when with the growth in numbers of the people the assemblies were well attended even in the period between two market days. 1 1 [36] There is also a Roman goddess called Nundina, and she takes her name from the ninth day after the birth of a child. This day is called "the day of purification," because on it an infant is purified and given a name: the day being f o r boys the ninth day after birth and f o r girls the eighth. 12 [37] I have now given, I think, a full account of the arrangement of the year and the months, and in this explanation our friend Horus has the answer to his question about the names of the days and the observances connected with them. He is a man of keen intelligence, our friend from the Nile, and belongs to a people who are masters of the science of numbers. And so f o r my part I should 10 Trinundino die: this would be a period of seventeen days, the first, ninth, and seventeenth being nundinae. But it is arguable that trinundino die means after a period of three weeks, i.e., twenty-four days (see note to Episttdae ad Familiares 16. 12. 3 in How's edition of Cicero's letters). 11 Internundinimi: a period of eight days, the eighth (reckoned from the last nundina) being the market day. The days were marked in the calendar by the letters A to H. 12 Dies lustricus. See Festus, p. 107: Ittstrici dies infantium appellantur, puellarum octavus puerorum nonus, quia his lustrantur atque eis nomina imponuntur.

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M A C R O B I L S : THE SATURNALIA

like to know if he finds anything in our Roman order and arrangement to provoke a smile, or if he would agree that the Etruscan Tiber too has drawn something from the learning of his native land. [38] N o one, interposed Eustathius, and certainly not Horus, who is a man of dignity and distinction—no one, in my opinion, could be so inept a judge as to fail to commend the arrangement of the Roman year, which has been corrected, as the saying is, to the fineness of a close-cut fingernail; and indeed one's regard f o r that arrangement has been enhanced by the retentive memory and eloquent words of its exponent. N o r is it a matter f o r surprise that our system has escaped the tooth of censure, since E g y p t was the authority f o r its latest reform. [39] F o r it was from Egyptian science that Julius Caesar drew his knowledge of the movements of the stars, a subject on which he has left some learned books; and it was from the Egyptian practice too that he borrowed the idea of increasing the length of the year to correspond to the complete course of the sun. [40] T h e old inhabitants of Latium, having no communication with E g y p t , could not in their time learn anything from that country, and they therefore followed the custom of the Greeks in reckoning the days of the month, counting the days backward—the numeration beginning with a higher number and decreasing, to end at last with a lower number; [ 4 1 ] for we speak of the tenth day, then of the ninth, after that of the eighth day, and so on, just as the Athenians used to speak of the tenth dav and the ninth day of the waning month. [42] Homer too, when he savs: As one month wanes and the next begins [Odyssey 14. 162; 19. 307] means b y "waning" that division of a month which, in the reckoning of its days, gradually wanes and ends with the name of the month that is to follow, and by "beginning" the first numerical division of that following month which will succeed the waning portion of its predecessor. [43] And so it is that vour Roman Homer, the poet of Mantua, knowing that an end to which one moves may be said to stand fixed, writes: F o r each man his appointed day stands fixed [Aeneid 10. 467] meaning that a man's last day stands fixed, as the day to which, after passing through all the rest, he is at length to come. [44] The same poet, renowned as much for his sense of reverence as for his learning, aware that the Romans of old ordered the arrangement

BOOK I , CHAPTER 1 6

I I3

of the year by the course of the moon and their successors by the course of the sun, showed his respect for the view of each age in the lines: You, who guide the passage of the gliding year through the heavens, Liber and kindly Ceres [Georgics 1.5] for by this invocation he points to both the moon and the sun as the guides of the year.

CHAPTER

17

[ ι ] Hereupon Avienus, addressing Vettius Praetextatus, said: I have asked myself earnestly and often how it is that we worship the sun sometimes as Apollo, sometimes as Liber, and at other times under a number of other different styles. And since, b y the will of Heaven, you are the leading authority on all matters that have to do with religion, I beg you to go on and explain to me w h y one name should cover such a variety of other names. [2] Y o u must bear in mind, replied Vettius, that the company of poets in their stories about the gods usually borrow the elements of these stories from the secret places of philosophy; certainly it is not empty superstition but divine reason that makes them relate almost all the gods—at any rate the celestial gods—to the sun. [3] F o r if the sun, as men of old believed, "guides and directs the rest of the heavenly lights" 1 and alone presides over the planets in their courses, and if the movements of the planets themselves have power, as some think, to determine or (as it is agreed that Plotinus held) to foretell the sequence of human destinies, then we have to admit that the sun, as directing the powers that direct our affairs, is the author of all that goes on around us. [4] And just as Vergil's words " W h a t divine power had been offended?" 8 although spoken of Juno alone, show that the various activities of a single deity are to be regarded as equivalent to as many various divinities, so the diverse powers of the sun have given names to as many gods. And this is the origin of the maxim proclaimed by the leading philosophers: that the Whole is One. [5] T o that power of the sun, then, which presides over prophec y and healing men have given the name Apollo; and that power 1

Cicero, De re publica 6. 17.

* Aeneid 1. 8.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 17

"5

from which comes speech has received the name Mercury; and, since speech is the expression of inward thoughts, this god is appropriately called Hermes, from the Greek word έρμηνεύειν, to put into words. [6] Again, there is a power of the sun which has charge over the fruits of the orchard and an activity too with charge over the fruits of the field. Such is the origin of the names of the rest of the gods who are associated with the sun on a principle which is certain but mysterious. And since so great a mystery should be supported by something more than a bare statement, let us consult the old authorities for each of these names. [ 7 ] Many explanations have been given which associate the name of Apollo with the sun, and I shall proceed to discuss them in turn. Thus Plato 3 writes that the sun is called Apollo because he hurls forth (άποπάλλειν) his rays. Chrysippus says that the first letter of the name has a negative force 4 and that he is called Apollo as not being one of the many (πολλών) paltry properties of fire; or because he is one and not many (πολλοί); for in Latin too the sun is called sol because he alone (solus) possesses such brilliance. [8] Speusippus finds the explanation of the name Apollo in the fact that the power of the sun is the product of many (άπό πολλών) fires; Cleanthes in the fact that the sun rises in different (άπ' άλλων) places in the skv at different times. [9] And Cornificius thinks that the sun gets the name Apollo because he reruns his course through the heavens (άναπολεΐν), that is to say, because after passing in his rapid course through the compass of the heavens—by the Greeks called πόλος—he returns to the place of his rising. Others hold that the sun is called Apollo as destructive (άπολλύντα) of life; for it kills and destroys living creatures when it sends a pestilence among them in time of immoderate heat, [10] as Euripides says, in his Phaethon:5 O Sun, of the golden light, how hast thou destroyed me; wherefore man's meaning is clear when he calls thee Apollo and Archilochus likewise, in the lines: > But see Plato Cratylus * I.e., alpha privative.

5

405-6.

Fragment 781. 11 (Nauck).

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Lord Apollo, do thou also make known the guilty and destroy them, as thou dost with thy destroying power.* [ 11 ] And then, men consumed by a fever are said to be "smitten b y Apollo" and "smitten by the sun"; and, since the moon's effects are similar to those of the sun, both to help and to harm, women suffering from certain diseases are described as "smitten by the moon" and "smitten by Artemis." [ 1 2 ] This is w h y statues of Apollo are equipped with a bow and arrows, the arrows being understood to represent the force of the sun's rays—as Homer says, of Apollo: But then he launched his sharp arrow at the men, and smote. [Iliad ι. 51] [ 1 3 ] T h e sun also gives saving health to all, f o r its kindly warmth is believed to bring health to everything that has breath. But since it is constantly a source of health and sends pestilence more rarely, statues of Apollo represent the god with the Graces in his right hand and a bow and arrows in his left, because his hand is slower to harm and swifter to save. [ 14] Power to heal is attributed to Apollo because the heat of the sun, if it is temperate, puts to flight all diseases; for he is thought to be so named as the god who drives away (άπελαύνοντα) diseases, as if the name were "Apello." [ 1 5 ] And this interpretation has made the Greek form of the name agree with a Latin form of it [Apello] ; so that w e did not need to change the name of the god, but you may understand Apollo to be the god who drives away (apellentem) ills—the god whom at Athens men call "the Warder-off of Ills." Moreover, at Lindus the god is worshiped as Apollo "the G o d of Pestilence," a name which was given to him for putting an end to a pestilence; and our own ritual preserves the same belief in the association of the god with health and healing, for the Vestal Virgins call upon him as "Apollo Medicus" and "Apollo Faean." [16] Since, then, the two—it being, on the one temperate, but, on the pestilence by its darting

chief activities of this star, the sun, are hand, helpful to mortal life when its heat is other hand, sometimes sending a deadly rays—men use two names to mark at the

• Edmonds, Elegy and Iambus, II, 110.

BOOK I , CHAPTER

17

same time, each by its particular form, each of these two activities; for they call the god Ί ή ι ο ς and Παιάν. And these names fit each activity, for in the one context Ί ή ι ο ς is derived from ίάσθαι, to heal, and Παιάν from παύειν, to make to cease (that is, to make distress to cease) ; but in the other context the style Ί ή ι ο ς is derived from ίέναι, to launch, (as in Homer's phrase, "launching his sharp arr o w " ) and Παιάν from παίειν, to smite. [ 1 7 ] Indeed it is customary in a prayer for health to pronounce the words ίή (with an eta) Παιάν, meaning "Heal, O God of Healing"; but to say ίε (with an epsilon and with a rough breathing on the first letter) Παιάν, when invoking a curse on a person, the words then being equivalent to "Launch thine arrow and smite." These latter words are the words which Latona is said to have used when she was exhorting Apollo to assail the attacking Python with arrows 7 (the physicists' explanation of this story shall be given in its proper place); [ 1 8 ] and it is said that the Delphic oracle sanctioned this expression, ΐε Παιάν, when the Athenians were seeking the aid of the god against the Amazons in the reign of Theseus; for, as they were about to enter upon the war, the god bade them call on him with these very words and exhort him to be himself their helper. [ 19] Apollodorus, writing in the fourteenth Book of his treatise On the Gods, calls the sun Ί ή ι ο ς and says that Apollo gets this name from the sun's moving (ΐεσθαι) and going (ίέναι) rapidly through its circuit; [20] but Timotheus says: 8 O Sun, thou who dost strike the eternal vault of heaven with thy bright rays, send against the enemy a far-darting arrow from thv bowstring. O send forth thine arrow, thou that dost smite. [ 2 1 ] T h e same god, as having charge over all that brings health, is called "Source of Healing" (Οϋλιος); in the words of Homer: Health (οΰλε) and joy be thine.® [Odyssey 24. 402] Leandrius too writes that the Milesians offer sacrifice for their health and safety to Apollo Ουλιος; and Pherecydes relates that Theseus, on his w a y to Crete to face the Minotaur, made a v o w to ' C f . Athenaeus i j . joid. 8 Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, III, 306. " ΟΟλιος normally means "baneful," and Macrobius might have referred here also to the contradictory functions of Apollo.

I 18

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

Apollo Οϋλιος and to Artemis Ουλια for his safe return. [22] It is not surprising that men pay honor to the god's twofold activities under different names, for we find other gods, too, with double powers and double names, contrary in meaning but relating to the same object. Neptune, for example, is sometimes called the Earth Shaker and at other times the Stablisher [of the Earth]; and Mercury likewise both awakens and lulls to sleep the minds or eyes of men—in the words of Homer: 10 He took up his wand, wherewith he casts a spell on the eyes of men, [of whomsoever he will; and others again he likewise wakens out of sleep]. [Iliad 24. 343] [23] Thus it is that we worship Apollo, the sun, sometimes under names which signify health and sometimes under names which signify pestilence, although, nevertheless, the pestilence which he sends on the wicked indicates clearly that the god is the defender of the righteous. [24] Hence the remarkable reverence paid to Apollo Libystinus at Pachynus, a cape in Sicily; for when the Libyans had brought their fleet to the cape and were about to invade the island, Apollo (who is worshiped at Pachynus) at the prayer of the inhabitants of the place sent a pestilence on the enemy which suddenly destroyed almost all of them, and so the god received the name of Libystinus. [25] Our own annals also contain a similar example of the very present power of this same god. For when, at the oracular behest of the soothsayer Marcius and the Sibylline oracle, games in honor of Apollo were being celebrated at Rome, the enemy suddenly appeared; whereupon the people rushed to arms and went to meet them, and at that moment a cloud of arrows was seen to fall upon the enemy and put them to flight; so that the Romans returned victorious to the games of the god who had saved them. It is clear from this story that it was a battle and not, as some think, a plague that led to the institution of these games. [26] The reason for this latter opinion is the fact that at the time of these games the sun in our country shines immediately overhead, for the Crab is in the summer tropic, and, while the sun is on its way through this part of the heaven, its bright rays illuminate our temperate zone, not from afar but falling directly downward from above. Some therefore have thought that the pur10

C f . Vergil Aene'td 4. 242.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 17

II9

pose of the Games of Apollo is to appease the god of heat at that particular time. [27] I find, however, in the written authorities that these games were instituted to commemorate a victory and not, as some annalists say, to ensure good health. For the games were first instituted in the Punic War, after consultation of the Sibylline Books and on the advice of Cornelius Rufus, the decemvir, who accordingly received the name of Sibylla, afterward corrupted to Sylla—a name which he was the first to bear. [28] The story goes that, when two rolls of the oracles of the soothsayer Marcius were brought into the Senate, the following prophecy was found in them: "Romans, if ye would drive from your land the enemy, the plague which comes from peoples afar, I advise that games be vowed to Apollo, to be celebrated joyfully in his honor every year. Over the celebration of these games let the praetor preside who shall have the administration of supreme justice to the People and the Commons. Let ten men offer sacrifice with victims according to the Greek use. If this shall be rightly done by you, ye shall be glad for evermore and the State shall become more prosperous; for this god shall destroy your foes who are eating up your fields undisturbed."11 [29] One day was devoted to religious ceremonies of atonement in accordance with the oracle, and then it was decreed by the Senate that ten men should consult the Sibylline Books with a view to obtaining more information touching the celebration of the Games to Apollo and the right performance of the religious ceremonies. Learning that what had been found in the books confirmed the oracle, the Senators resolved that games should be vowed and celebrated to Apollo and that twelve thousand bronze asses and two full-grown victims be given to the praetor for the purpose. The ten men were ordered to offer sacrifice after the Greek use with the following victims: to Apollo, a bull and two white she-goats, all with horns gilded, and to Latona, a cow with horns gilded; and the people were bidden to wear garlands as they watched the games in the Circus. [30] This is the most authentic account of the origin of the Apollinarian Games. N o w let us consider the other names of the god, to show that he is to be identified with the sun. [31] He is given the name Loxias, because (in the words of Oenopides) he moves obliquely (λοξόν) in his circular course from 11

L i v y 2j. 12. F o r the carmen see Baehrens, p. 294.

I 20

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

his setting to his rising; or because (as Cleanthes writes) he moves in spirals and these are oblique—that is to say, because his path is winding; or because, since he is to the south of us and w e are to the north of him, his rays strike us obliquely. [32] H e is given the name "Delius," because by the light that he sheds he makes all things clear (δήλα) nnd visible. [33] H e is called "Phoebus," according to Cornificius, because of the regularity and force with which he moves (φοιτδν ßiqt). But the general opinion is that this epithet is derived from the clearness and brightness of his appearance. [ 34] So too he is called "Phanes," because he gives light (φαίνειν). And "Phaneos," that is, "coming new (φαίνεται νέος) to our eyes," since the sun renews itself each day; and this is w h y Vergil uses the phrase "when the morning is n e w . " 1 2 [35] T h e inhabitants of Camirus, 13 who inhabit an island sacred to the sun, sacrifice to Apollo "the Ever-begotten and Ever-begetting" (Άειγενέτης), because the sun always comes into being at its rising and is itself the source of all life by its gifts of fertilization, warmth, growth, nourishment, and increase. [36] There are several explanations of the style " L y c i a n Apollo." Antipater the Stoic writes that Apollo has received the name " L y c i u s " because all things become bright (λευκαίνεσθαι) in the light of the sun. Cleanthes observes that he is so called because with his rays he carries off moisture as wolves (λύκοι) carry off sheep. [37] T h e Greeks of old called the first light, which precedes sunrise, λύκη from the adjective λευκός ["light" or "bright"]; and today too this time is known as λυκόφως. [38] It is the time to which Homer refers in the line: When it was not yet dawn, but still the twilight (άμφιλύκη) of night [Iliad 7. 433] and he also says: Make thy prayer to Apollo, the Father of Light (Λυκηγενέϊ), renowed for the bow [Iliad 4. 101] meaning by the epithet: "to him w h o begets the light," that is, "to him who by his rising creates light"; f o r from the brightness of the " Georgia 3. 325. 13

Reading Caviirenses here as in 45 below.

1

&

&

J

1

light is born. [39] And here, too, as with very many other words the Romans seem to have borrowed from the Greek and to havi formed their word for light (lux) from λύκη. Again, in very ancient times the Greeks used to call the yeai "the path of light" (λυκάβας), as measured and passed ove: (βαινόμενον) by 1 4 the light (λύκος), that is to say, by the sun. [40] From the city of Lycopolis in the Thebaid comes evidenc« that the sun is also called λύκος, with the meaning " w o l f " ; foi Apollo and the wolf are worshiped there with equal reverence, th< object of veneration in each case being the sun, because the wolf like the sun, carries off and devours everything and commonl) overcomes the darkness of the night by the keenness of his vision [41 ] There are some too who think that wolves themselves (λύκοι get their name from λύκη, first light, because that is just the tim< that these beasts wait for as the best time to carry off the sheej which, after a hungry night, are driven at dawn from their fold; to pasture. [42 ] Apollo has been called "Father of the People," not as worshiped according to the particular religious usage of a single ract or state but as the generating cause of all things, since the sun, b) drying up moisture, is the universal cause of generation—in th< words of Orpheus: Having the mind and wise counsel of a father and it is for this reason that we also call Janus "Father" and worship the sun under that name. [43] Apollo has been called "the God of Shepherds," not from having served as a shepherd and (as the story goes) from having fed the flocks of King Admetus, but because the sun feeds all that the earth brings forth, [44] so that men sing of him as the feeder not of a single kind of stock but of all kinds. And thus it is that in Homer, for example, Neptune addresses him thus: Phoebus, thou didst herd kine of shambling gait and crooked horns [Iliad 21. 448] and again, in the same poet, the god appears as feeding mares, in the lines: 14

Reading ύπό.

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Apollo of the silver bow reared them in Peraea, two mares, bearing terror of battle to the foe. [Iliad 2. 766] [45] Moreover, there are temples to Apollo, as Feeder of Sheep, at Camirus, with the title, Guardian of Flocks; and at Naxos, with the title, Patron of Shepherds; and he is worshiped also as the God with the Lamb's Fleece. Again, at Lesbos he is worshiped as the God of the Glen; and he has many styles in divers cities, all pointing to his function as a "god who feeds"; so that he is recognized to be the overseer of all flocks and herds and in very truth to feed them. [46] Apollo "Eleleus" 1 5 is so called from his wheeling movement (έλίττεσθαι) round the earth, since the sun seems, as it were, to roll round the earth in an unending orbit—as Euripides says: O Sun, wheeling thy flaming chariot with its swift steeds [Phoenissae

3]

or else because he goes round as a vast mass (συναλισθέντος) of fire—in the words of Empedocles: 1β Since, massed (άναλισθείς) into a ball, he travels around the great expanse of heaven. Plato," also deriving the epithet from the word which means to "mass," or "collect," explains it as indicating that the sun at its rising collects men and gathers them together. [47] The name "Golden-haired" is given to Apollo on account of the brightness of the sun's rays, which are commonly called its "golden locks"; and for this reason the god is also styled "Unshorn," because the sun's rays can never be severed from the source of the light. He is likewise " G o d of the Silver Bow," because the sun as it rises has, at the extreme edge of its orb, the shape of a bow, in appearance white as silver, and from this bow the sun's rays flash forth like arrows. [48] He is called "Smintheus" from the fiery heat with which the sun runs (ζέων θεϊ) ; "Karneios" because the sun seems to burn and yet to be renewed (καιόμενος : νέος), or because, although all that burns is consumed, the sun glows with his own heat and ls This epithet is usually applied to Dionysus and refers to the cries of the Bacchanals. See Ovid Metamorphoses 4. 15. 16 Fragment Β 41 (Diels). " Cratylus 409a, where Socrates suggests that the derivation of ήλιος would be clearer if the Doric form, δλιος, were used.

BOOK I , CHAPTER

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'23

yet remains forever new. And likewise he is called Apollo "Killaios" because he moves to the left (κινήσεις λαιάς ποιεί), since for us his course is always from the south.18 [49] He is Apollo "Thymbraios," the Rain-maker, as the god who sends the rain (δμβρους 9είς); and Apollo "Philesios," because the light of the rising sun is lovely and we greet it with reverence and love. [50] As for the epithet "Pythian," as applied to Apollo, in the opinion of the physicists the derivation is not from "inquiry" (πεΰσις)—that is to say, not from the consulting of oracles—but from a word which means "to make rotten" (πύθειν = σήπειν), a process which is always the result of great heat. [51] It is for this reason, then, that they consider that the god is called "Pythian," although Greek mythologists say that the name was given to him after the slaying of the serpent [Python]. Nevertheless the myth is not inconsistent with the true understanding of a secret of nature, as will appear if one runs through the series of events which comprise the tale of the birth of Apollo. And this is what, a short time ago, I promised to do. [52] When Latona was about to give birth to Apollo and Diana, Juno is said to have sought to hinder her confinement. However, the story goes that, when at length the divine children had been born, a serpent, called Python, attacked their cradle and the infant Apollo killed the monster with arrows. [53] Natural science shows that this myth is to be understood as follows. At first all was chaos; but, afterward, from a confused and amorphous mass there began to emerge into light the shapes of things and the elements. The earth was still moist in substance and tottering on a soft and unstable foundation, but it is believed that, as the heat of the heavens gradually increased in strength and fiery seeds flowed down from it into the earth, these two stars—the sun and the moon—were born, the sun being carried up by a mighty force of heat to the parts above, but the moon (weighed down by a kind of warmth peculiar to its nature, and moister, and as it were of the feminine sex) occupying the parts below—as if the sun consisted of the substance of a father and the moon of the substance of a mother. 18

I.e., looking westward, and so following the course of the sun.

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[54] N o w by Latona the physicists understand the earth, and this earth was f o r long opposed by Juno (to prevent the birth of the deities of which w e have spoken)—Juno being, that is to say, the air, which at that time was still moist and heavy and was standing in the w a y of the heavens to prevent the brightness of the two lights (the sun and the moon) from shining through the dense moist air as though after a process of childbirth. [55] But the perseverance of the divine providence, which is believed to have aided the birth, prevailed; and so, in corroboration of the myth, there is in the island of Delos a temple of Providence, called the temple of Athena "Forethought," and appropriate rites are celebrated in it. [56] Moreover, Apollo and Diana are said to have been born on an island because they seem to us to rise out of the sea; and this island is called Delos because the rising and, as it were, the birth of these two lights make all things clear and visible (δήλα). [57] T h e following is the natural explanation of the killing of the serpent, as given in the writings of Antipater the Stoic. Vapor rising from the still moist earth moved rapidly in spirals to the parts above and, after it had become heated, rolled back thence, like a deadly serpent, to the parts below, where it infected all things with the potency of the corruption which only heat and moisture can generate. T h e density and darkness of the vapor veiled the very sun and seemed as it were to take away its light; but at length the vapor was dissipated, dried up, and destroyed by the divine heat of the sun's rays falling upon it like arrows, and this gave rise to the mvth of the killing of a serpent by Apollo. [58] There is yet another explanation of the destruction of the serpent; for, although the sun's course never leaves the line of the ecliptic, nevertheless b y giving to the winds definite changes of direction, now upward and now downward, it imparts to its journey a suggestion of the sinuous movement of a serpent—[59] so that Euripides writes: 1 9 T h e fire-born serpent leads the w a y for the four changing seasons, yoking its car rich in fruit, in a concord of wealth. When, therefore, the sun—thus styled a serpent—had put an end to his course through the sky, it used to be said of him that he had 19

Fragment 957 (Nauck).

BOOK I, CHAPTER

17

"put an end" to the serpent, and thence arose the myth of the slaying of a serpent. [60] The reference to the arrows of the sun simply indicates the emission of its rays. These rays are seen to be longest at the time when the sun is putting an end to its yearly course at the summer solstice (it being then at its highest point in the sky and the days at their longest) ; and so the sun-god is called "Far-darter" as "shooting his rays from afar," that is to say, continually sending down rays to the earth from the most distant and highest point. [61] N o more need have been said about the epithet "Pythian," did not the following explanation of the name also present itself to our notice. For, when the sun in the sign of Cancer brings the summer solstice and ends his course which is marked by the longest day (thence to begin a return course toward the shortening days), he is then called "Pythius" as hastening to his end (πύματον θέων), that is to say, as "running the last lap." [62] And the same name is appropriate when the sun, again entering Capricorn, is seen to have completed the course which ends with the shortest day; so that on the completion of his yearly span in either sign Apollo is said to have put and end to the serpent, or, in other words, to have put an end to his serpentine journey. This is the opinion expressed by Cornificius in his Derivations. [63] Moreover, of these two signs, Cancer and Capricorn, which are known as the Gates of the Sun, each is so called because, just as the crab is a creature that goes backward and sideways, so on the same principle the sun always begins its sideways, backward path when it is in that sign. And again, just as it appears to be the habit of the goat at pasture always to make for high ground as it feeds, 20 so too the sun in Capricorn begins to make its way back from the lowest point in the sky to its height. [64] Men call Apollo "the T w i n G o d " (Διδυμαΐος) 21 because he presents a twin form of his own divinity, by himself giving light and shape to the moon, for, as a twofold star giving light from a single source, he illumines the periods of day and night. And this 20 Cf. Manilius 5. 139: (capellae) ... ulterius pascentes tendere gaitdent; Aeschylus Supplices 691: πρόνομα βοτά and Tucker's note. C f . 1. 21. 26 and 1. 22. 6 below. 21 Of Didyma (Branchidae) ? C f . 5. 21. 12 for a reference to rites of Zeus at Didyma, and j . 22. 14 f o r the connection of Apollo with Zeus.

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too is the reason w h y the Romans worship the sun under the name and form of Janus, with the style of the Didymaean Apollo. [65] Apollo is called "Delphian" as making clear things that are invisible (δηλοδν άφανί|), that is, because the brightness of his light makes clear what is dark; or, in the opinion of Numenius, because the god is, as it were, one and alone; for, according to Numenius, δέλφος in the language of ancient Greece meant "a single one," and this, he says, is w h y the Greek word for a brother is άδελφός, as though to say, "one who is no longer a single one." [66] Furthermore, the inhabitants of Hierapolis, who are Assyrians by race, embody all the activities and powers of the sun in the form of a single, bearded statue which they call Apollo. [67] Its face is represented with a long pointed beard; the statue has a tall basket on its head and it is protected by a breastplate; the right hand holds upright a spear on which is a little figure of Victory; the left hand offers the likeness of a flower; and a gorgonlike cloak with a fringe of serpents hangs from the top of the shoulders and covers the back. By the side of the statue are representations of eagles in flight. Before its feet is an image of a woman, with female figures on her right and left encircled by the sinuous coils of a serpent. [68] T h e downward-pointing beard represents the rays which shoot from above to the earth. T h e golden basket rising high above the head denotes the height of heaven, whence the essence of the sun is believed to come. By the evidence of the spear and breastplate a representation of Mars is added, and Mars (as I shall go on to explain) is to be identified with the sun. T h e figure of Victory bears witness to the universal sovereignty of the sun. The likeness of a flower represents the flowering of all that the god sows and engenders and fosters, nourishes and ripens. [69] T h e likeness of a woman is a representation of the earth, to which the sun gives light from above; and in like manner the two female figures on each side represent matter and nature, which together serve the earth. T h e representation of a serpent points to the serpentine course of the sun. T h e eagles, by the great speed and height of their flight, indicate the great height of the sun. [70] T h e statute has also a gorgonlike vesture, because Minerva, to whom we know this vesture belongs, is a power of the sun; for w e have it on the testimony of Porphyrius that Minerva is

BOOK I , CHAPTER

17

«7

the power of the sun which gives a right judgment to the minds of men, and that is why this goddess is said to have been born from the head of Jupiter, or, in other words, to have issued from the highest part of the heavens, whence the sun derives its origin.

CHAPTER

ι8

[ ι ] What we have said of Apollo may be taken to apply to Liber also. Certainly Aristotle, writing in his Inquiries into the Ν attire of the Divine, states that Apollo and Liber Pater are one and the same god, and among the many proofs of this statement he says also that the Ligyreans in Thrace have a shrine dedicated to Liber from which oracles are given. In this shrine the soothsayers drink large draughts of wine before delivering their prophecies, just as in the temple of Apollo at Claros water is drunk before the oracles are pronounced. [2] Moreover, among the Spartans, at the celebration of the rites in honor of Apollo called the Hyacinthia, garlands of ivy are worn, as in the worship of Bacchus. [ 3 ] Likewise the Boeotians, although they speak of Mount Parnassus as sacred to Apollo, nevertheless pay honor there both to the Delphic oracle and to the caves of Bacchus as dedicated to a single god, so that both Apollo and Liber Pater are worshiped on the same mountain. [4] This is confirmed by Varrò and Granius Flaccus; and this too is what Euripides tells us in the lines: Dionysus equipped with thyrsus and clad in skins of fawns leaps dancing down Parnassus among the pines.1 [5] It is on Mount Parnassus that a festival of Bacchus is held every other year, at which, it is said, many bands of Satyrs are seen and their characteristic voices are frequently heard, and likewise the clashing of cymbals often strikes men's ears. [6] And—that no one may suppose Parnassus to be sacred to two different gods—the following line from the Licymnius of Euripides also indicates that Apollo and Liber are one and the same god: 2 ' Fragment 752 (Nauck); Aristophanes Ranae Fragment 480 (Nauck).

1

1211.

BOOK I, CHAPTER l8

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L o r d Bacchus, L o v e r of the Laurel, Apollo the Healer, making sweet music on the lyre and Aeschylus writes to the same e f f e c t : ' Apollo, the ivy-crowned, the Bacchic god, the Seer. [7] I first maintained that A p o l l o is to be indentified with the sun, and I afterward explained that Liber Pater is himself Apollo; and so there can be no doubt but that the sun and Liber Pater are to be regarded as manifestations of the same deity. Nevertheless the point shall be established distinctly b y y e t clearer proofs. [8] In the performance of sacred rites a mysterious rule of religion ordains that the sun shall be called Apollo when it is in the upper hemisphere, that is to say, b y day, and be held to be Dionysus, or Liber Pater, when it is in the lower hemisphere, that is to say, at night. [9] Likewise, statues of Liber Pater represent him sometimes as a child and sometimes as a y o u n g man; again, as a man with a beard and also as an old man, as f o r example the statue of the god which the Greeks call Bassareus 4 and Briseus, 5 and that which in Campania the Neapolitans worship under the name Hebon. [ 1 0 ] These differences in age have reference to the sun, f o r at the winter solstice the sun would seem to be a little child, like that which the E g y p tians bring forth from a shrine on an appointed day, since the day is then at its shortest and the god is accordingly shown as a tiny infant.® A f t e r w a r d , however, as the days g o on and lengthen, the sun at the spring equinox acquires strength in a w a y comparable to growth to adolescence, and so the god is given the appearance of a young man. Subsequently, he is represented in full maturity, with a beard, at the summer solstice, when the sun's g r o w t h is completed. A f t e r that, the days shorten, as though with the approach of his old age—hence the fourth of the figures b y w h i c h the god is portrayed. [ r ι ] Again, w e learn that in T h r a c e the sun is identified with Liber, who, as appears from the writings of Alexander, is worshiped there, under the name of Sebadius, with a splendid ritual. A n d on the hill of Zilmissus a temple has been dedicated to him, round in 3

Fragment 341 (Nauck). "Clothed in a fox-skin"; see Horace Carmina 1. 18. 11. 5 See Persius 1. 76, where the epithet Brisaeus ("Bacchanalian") is applied to Accius, for the extravagance of his tragic diction. • See S. Weinstock, " A New Greek Calendar and Festivals of the Sun," Journal of Roman Studies, X X X V I I I (1948), 42. 4

'3°

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

shape and with an opening in the middle of the roof. The round shape of the temple represents the appearance of this star, and the admission of light at the top of the roof symbolizes the fact that the sun, by sending in its light from the highest part of the heavens, illumines the whole world and that at its rising all things become visible. [ 1 2 ] Orpheus too intended the following passage to be understood to refer to the sun: Melting the divine ether which aforetime was without motion, he [the Creator] brought up and displayed a most beautiful sight to the Gods; him, whom men now call by the names of Phanes and Dionysus and the lord Eubouleus and Antauges seen afar (for on earth some men give him one name and some another). He was the first to come forth into light, and he was called Dionysus, because he wheels (δινεϊται) throughout the boundless length of Olympus; but with change he took another name, having titles manifold to fit each change according to the seasons of changing time. [ 1 3 ] Orpheus here has called the sun "Phanes" (φανερός), from its light and enlightening, for the sun sees all and is seen by all. The name Dionysus is derived, as the soothsayer himself says, from the fact that the sun wheels round in an orbit. [14] Cleanthes writes that the name Dionysus is derived from the Greek verb meaning "to complete" (διανύσαι), because the sun in its daily course from its rising to its setting, making the day and the night, completes the circuit of the heavens. [15] For the physicists Dionysus is "the mind of Zeus" (νιος νοϋς), since they hold that the sun is the mind of the universe, and by the universe they mean the heavens— which they call Jupiter—and that is why Aratus, when about to speak of the heavens, says: From Zeus be our beginnings. [Phaenomena 1 ] [16] The Romans call the sun Liber, because he is free (liber) to wander—as Naevius 7 puts it: Here where the wandering sun flings loose his fiery reins and drives nearer to the earth. [ 1 7 ] The Orphic verses, too, by calling the sun "Eubouleus," indicate that he is the patron of "good counsel"; for, if counsel is the 7

Laevius? See Ellis' note on Catullus 64. 271; and cf. 6. 5. 10 below.

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18

offspring of the mind and if, in the opinion of our authorities, the sun is the mind of the universe from which the first beginning of intelligence is diffused among mankind, then the sun is rightly believed to preside over good counsel. [ 18] In the line: T h e sun, which men also call b y name Dionysus Orpheus manifestly declares that Liber is the sun, and the meaning here is certainly quite clear; but the following line from the same poet is more difficult: One Zeus, one Hades, one Sun, one Dionysus. [ 1 9 ] T h e warrant for this last line rests on an oracle of Apollo of Claros, wherein yet another name is given to the sun; which is called, within the space of the same sacred verses b y several names, including that of Iao. 8 For when Apollo of Claros was asked who among the gods was to be regarded as the god called Iao, he replied: [20] Those who have learned the mysteries should hide the unsearchable secrets, but, if the understanding is small and the mind weak, then ponder this: that Iao is the supreme god of all gods; in winter, Hades; at spring's beginning, Zeus; the Sun in summer; and in autumn, the splendid Iao. [ 2 1 ] F o r the meaning of this oracle and f o r the explanation, of the deity and his name, which identifies Iao with Liber Pater and the sun, our authority is Cornelius Labeo in his book entitled On the Oracle of Apollo of Claros. [22] Again, Orpheus, pointing out that Liber and the sun are one and the same god, writes as follows of the ornaments and vestments worn b y Liber at the ceremonies performed in his honor: All these things duly perform right early, having arrayed the body of the god with his apparel, in imitation of the renowed sun. First, then, to represent the fiery rays cast about him a crimson robe, like to fire. Moreover, above it fasten on the right shoulder a broad, dappled skin of a fawn, the manyspotted hide of the beast, to represent the sparkling stars and the sacred skv. Then, over the fawn-skin cast a golden belt, all-gleaming, that he wear it around his breast, a mighty sign of the sun, when straightway he leaps up, shining, from the boundaries of earth and smites with his golden rays the stream of Ocean; and unspeakably great is his light, and mingled with 8

Perhaps a form of Jah; cf. Diodorus Siculus 1. 94.

MACROBIL'S: THE SATURNALIA

dew the light gleams at it wheels in eddies in a circle before the god. and as a belt below his measureless breast is seen the encircling Ocean, a great wonder to behold. [23] Hence Vergil, too, knowing that Liber Pater is the sun and Ceres the moon, (the one by its gentle warmth at night," the other by its heat by day) together control the richness of the soil and the ripening of the crops, says: [You, bright splendors of the World, most glorious, who guide the passage of the gliding year through the heavens, Liber and kindly Ceres] as surely as by your bounty the earth exchanged the Chaonian acorn for the rich ear of corn. [Georgics 1.5] [24] And later, the same poet has shown by an example taken from everyday life that the earth derives fertility from the sun, in the passage which begins: Often, too, it is good to burn the barren fields 10 [Georgics 1. 84-93] for if, by man's invention, the application of fire is helpful in so many ways, how great then is the help to be ascribed to the heavenly heat of the sun? • But see 7. 16. 17-32 below. 10 See j. ι. 14, below.

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[ ι ] What we have said of Liber Pater goes to identify Mars with the sun, for we commonly associate Liber with Mars, suggesting thereby that they are one god. That is why Bacchus is called "Warlike," one of the names which properly belong to Mars. [2] Moreover, in a statue of Liber Pater worshiped by the Lacedaemonians the distinguishing emblem is not a thyrsus but a spear; and indeed the thyrsus which Liber carries is in fact a veiled weapon, its point being hidden by the encircling ivy, thus showing that any impulse to war should be restrained by the bonds, as it were, of patience, since it is the nature of ivy to bind and to restrain. Again, wine is the gift of Liber Pater and the heat engendered by wine often drives men on to madness and to battle. [3] The affinity, then, between the heat of wine and the heat of battle has led us to regard Mars and Liber as one and the same god. The Romans certainly pay reverence to each deity under the style of "Father," calling the one Liber Pater and the other Marspiter or Mars Pater. [4] And the fact that they have declared Liber Pater to be the founder of the triumph is a further proof that he is the Lord of Battles. Since, then, Liber Pater is to be identified with the sun, and Mars with Liber Pater, without doubt Mars is the sun. [5] And there is the further consideration that the Accitani, a people of Spain, worship with the greatest respect a statue of Mars which is adorned with rays, calling it Neton. [6] N o w a natural explanation unquestionably requires that the gods from whom springs the heat of heaven should differ in their names rather than in their real essence. And to the glowing heat by which the spirit is kindled and roused, sometimes to anger, sometimes to deeds of valor, and sometimes (in excess) to a temporary madness —and these are the causes which give birth to wars—to this property

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men have given the name of Mars; the poet Homer too has expressed the violent might of the god, under the likeness of fire, in the line: In his fury he was as Ares brandishing his spear, or as a destroying fire [Iliad 15. 605] so that, in short, one must maintain that the activity of the sun which fires the spirits and inflames the blood is called Mars. [7] T o prove that Mercury is the sun we have the support of our previous exposition, for the identification of Apollo with Mercury is clear from the fact that among many peoples the star Mercury is called Apollo and that, as Apollo presides over the Muses,1 so speech, a function of the Muses, is bestowed by Mercury. [8] There are many further proofs, too, that Mercury is held to represent the sun. In the first place there is the fact that statues of Mercury are adorned with wings, a symbol of the swift movement of the sun; [9] for since we believe Mercury to rule over the mind and understand his name [Hermes] to be derived from the Greek word which means "to interpret" (έρμηνεύειν),2 and since the sun is the mind of the universe—and nothing is swifter than the thoughts of the mind (just as Homer says, "swift as a bird or a thought") '—that is why Mercury is equipped with wings, as though possessing the very nature of the sun. [10] Then a yet clearer statement of this proof comes from the Egyptians, for they give wings to their statues of the sun itself. These statues differ in color, one kind being dark and the other bright in appearance. The bright they call the sun "above" and the dark the sun "below," describing the sun as "below" when it is on its course in the lower hemisphere, that is to say, in the winter signs, and as "above" when it is moving round the summer sector of the zodiac. [ 1 1 ] A story of the same kind is told of Mercury, but in different words, for Mercury is thought to be the servant and messenger who passes between the gods above and the gods below. [12] Mercury is also known as Argiphontes, not because he slew Argus—who is said to have had a number of eyes all round his head and to have been ordered by Juno to keep watch over her rival, the 1 2 3

Macrobius Commentary 2. 3. 3. C f . Plato Cratylus 407e and 1. 17. 5 above. Odyssey 7. 36.

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daughter of Inachus, after she had been changed into the likeness of a cow—but because in this myth Argus is the sky, stippled with shining stars which have the appearance of being, as it were, the eyes of heaven. [ 1 3 ] And indeed men came to call the sky Argus 4 from its brightness and the speed of its movement, and it seems to keep watch from above over the earth, which in the hieroglyphic letters of the Egyptians is represented by a cow. T h e expanse of the sky, therefore, with its ornament of bright stars, is thought to have been killed by Mercury when, with the coming of the day, the sun dims the stars and takes them from the sight of men and thus seems to kill them by the power of its light. [ 1 4 ] Statues of Mercury, too, commonly have the form of a square block, the only features being the head and the male member erect, this figure indicating that the sun is the head of the universe and the father of the world and that the whole power of the sun lies not in the services, so to speak, of the several limbs but in the mind alone, which has its seat in the head. [ 1 5 ] T h e block is made with four sides f o r the same reason that the four-stringed lyre also is believed to be an attribute of Mercury, the number four symbolizing either the four quarters of the world or the four seasons of the year or the arrangement of the zodiac into two equinoxes and two solstices—just as in the seven strings of Apollo's lyre we may see a reference to the movements of the seven celestial spheres, which nature has placed under the control of the sun. [ 1 6 ] Another clear proof that it is the sun that w e worship under the name of Mercury is the caduceus, which the Egyptians have designed as the sacred staff of Mercury. It shows a pair of serpents, male and female, intertwined; the middle parts of the serpents' coils are joined together as in a knot, called the knot of Hercules; their upper parts are bent into a circle and complete the circle as they meet in a kiss; below the knot their tails rejoin the staff at the point at which it is held, and at that point appear the wings with which they are provided. [ 1 7 ] T h e Egyptians also maintain that the attributes of the caduceus illustrate the generation, or "genesis" as it is called, of mankind; for they say that four deities are present to preside over a man's birth: his Genius, Fortune, Love, and Necessity. B y the first two they understand the sun and the moon; f o r 4

I.e., άργός, "bright," and, in the phrase πόδας άργοί, "swift."

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the sun, as the source of the breath of life and of heat and of light, is the creator and the guardian of a man's life and is therefore believed to be the Genius, or god, of a newborn child; the moon is Fortune, since she has charge of the body, and the body is at the mercy of the fickleness of change; the kiss of the serpents is the symbol of Love; and the knot is the symbol of Necessity. [18] W h y wings are added has already been explained, and of the abovementioned attributes the coiled bodies of the serpents have been specially chosen, as illustrating the serpentine course of each of the two stars.

C H A P T E R 20 [ ι ] The association of a serpent with the statues of Aesculapius and Salus points to the relation of these deities with the nature of the sun and the moon, for Aesculapius is the healthful power which comes from the essence of the sun to give help to mortal minds and bodies, and Salus is the activity proper to the nature of the moon, which aids the bodies of living creatures and strengthens them by its health-giving disposition. [2] Statues of Aesculapius and Salus, then, have figures of serpents in attendance because these two deities enable human bodies, as it were, to slough off the skin of weakness and to recover the bloom of their former strength, just as serpents each year shed the skin of old age and renew their youth. And it is for this reason that the sun itself too is represented in the form of a serpent, because in its passage from the lowest point of its course to its height it always seems, as it were, to pass from the depth of old age and return to the vigor of youth. [3] Moreover, since a serpent is called draco from the Greek word meaning "to see" (δέρκειν), the form of the name also explains why a serpent is one of the chief attributes which symbolize the sun, for with its keen and watchful eyesight the serpent is said to resemble the nature of the sun and for that reason to be entrusted with the charge of protecting temples, shrines, oracles, and treasuries. [4] The identity of Aesculapius with Apollo is proved not only bv the fact that he is believed to be Apollo's son, but also by reason of the power of prophecy which too is attributed to him. Thus Apollodorus in his work On the Gods writes that Aesculapius presides over divination and augury. [5] And there is nothing surprising here, since the skills of medicine and divination are closely

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allied, for a doctor knows in advance what will be helpful or unhelpful in the body; just as Hippocrates says that a doctor should be able to describe his patient's present, past, and future state—or [in Vergil's words] : T o have knowledge of all things that are, or that have been, or that thereafter at their coming shall follow [Georgics 4. 3931 and this agrees with the prophet's art which [as Homer has it] knows: The things that are and that shall be and that have been aforetime.1 [Iliad ι. 70] [6] As for Hercules, he does not differ in essence from the sun, for he is that power of the sun which gives to the human race a valor after the likeness of that of the gods. And one must not suppose that Alcmena's son, born at Thebes in Boeotia, was the only one, or even the first one, to be called Hercules.8 On the contrary, he had many predecessors and was the last to be deemed worthy of the honor of the name, having earned by his outstanding endurance the right to bear the style of the patron god of valor. [7] Besides, there is a religious cult of Hercules at Tyre too, although it is the Egyptians who worship him with the greatest reverence and respect and also from time out of mind (and yet recorded time with them is very long) pay homage to him as one who has no beginning in time. [8] Hercules is also believed to have slain the Giants in defense of heaven, and he is thus the symbol of divine valor. As for the Giants, we must understand them to have been an impious breed of men who refused to recognize the existence of the gods and so were thought to have wished to drive them from their seat in heaven. [9] The serpents' coils at the end of the Giants' feet 3 are a sign of their lack of upright and noble thought and of the downward tendency of the whole way and tenor of their life; and it was the sun that exacted the due penalty from them by the destructive power of its heat. [10] That Hercules is indeed the sun is clear from his very name, for the derivation of his Greek name "Heracles" is obviously Ήρας κλέος, the "Pride of the Air"—and what, pray, is the pride 1

C f . Hesiod Tkeogony 38. Cicero De natura deorum 3. 16. 42. C f . 3. 12. 6 below. ' C f . Ovid Fasti 5. 37: mille manus Ulis dedit et pro cntribus angue s.

8

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I39

of the air but the light of the sun, since, when the sun sets, the air is hidden in deep darkness? [ 11 ] Furthermore, the manifold forms of religious observances practiced b y the Egyptians argue the manifold powers of the god and point to Hercules as the sun "which is in all and through all." [ 1 2 ] Another proof of this identification, and that no light proof, is provided by an event which occurred in another land. For when Theron, king of Hither Spain, was driven by a mad desire to capture the temple of Hercules [at Gades] and fitted out a fleet, the men of Gades sailed out to meet him with their ships of war. Battle was joined, and the issue of the fight was still undecided when the king's ships suddenly took to flight and at the same time burst into flames without warning and were consumed. T h e very f e w enemy survivors, who were taken prisoners, said that they had seen lions standing on the prows of the ships of Gades and that of a sudden their own ships had been set on fire b y a discharge of rays like those which are represented surrounding the head of the sun. [ 1 3 ] In the city on the borders of E g y p t which boasts Alexander of Macedón as its founder, Sarapis and Isis are worshiped with a reverence that is almost fanatical. Evidence that the sun, under the name of Sarapis, is the object of all this reverence is either the basket set on the head of the god or the figure of a three-headed creature placed by his statue. T h e middle head of this figure, which is also the largest, represents a lion's; [ 14] on the right a dog raises its head with a gentle and fawning air; and on the left the neck ends in the head of a ravening wolf. All three beasts are joined together b y the coils of a serpent whose head returns to the god's right hand which keeps the monster in check. [ 1 5 ] T h e lion's head, then, is a symbol of time present, which, midway between the past and the future, has the strength and ardor of immediate action; time past is represented by the head of the w o l f , because the memory of things that are over and done is swiftly borne away; so too the likeness of a fawning dog indicates the issue of time to come, the object of our hopes, which are uncertain but flatter us. And indeed times and seasons are surely the servants of the power that creates them. As f o r the emblem of a basket on the head of the statue, this is a symbol of the height and a sign of the capacious power of the sun, f o r all earthly things return to the sun, carried thither b y the heat which it sends forth.

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[16] N o w let me remind you of the words of an oracle touching the sun, or Sarapis. When Sarapis, whom the Egyptians have declared to be the greatest of the Gods, was asked by Nicocreon, king of the Cypriots, which of the gods he was held to be, he satisfied the king's religious scruples with the following lines: [ 1 7 ] Learn that the nature of my godhead is such as I may tell thee: the firmament of heaven is my head; my belly the sea; the earth my feet; my ears are in the air; and the bright light of the sun is my far-flashing eye. 4 [ 1 8 ] From these lines it is clear that the nature of Sarapis and of the sun is one and indivisible. Isis is worshiped together with Sarapis; f o r Isis is the earth, or the world of nature, that lies beneath the sun; and so the whole body of the goddess is thickly covered with a series of breasts, because everything that exists draws its sustenance and nourishment from the earth or world of nature. 4 The Oxford Book of Greek 1930), No. 482.

Verse, ed. by G . Murray and others (Oxford,

C H A P T E R zi [ ι ] That Adonis too is the sun will be clear beyond all doubt if we examine the religious practices of the Assyrians, among whom Venus Architis and Adonis were worshiped of old with the greatest reverence, as they are by the Phoenicians today. Physicists have given to the earth's upper hemisphere (part of which w e inhabit) the revered name of Venus, and they have called the earth's lower hemisphere Proserpine. [ 2 ] N o w six of the twelve signs of the zodiac are regarded as the upper signs and six as the lower, and so the Assyrians, or Phoenicians, represent the goddess Venus as going into mourning when the sun, in the course of its yearly progress through the series of the twelve signs, proceeds to enter the sector of the lower hemisphere. [3] For when the sun is among the lower signs, and therefore makes the days shorter, it is as if it had been carried off for a time by death and had been lost and had passed into the power of Proserpine, who, as we have said, is the deity that presides over the lower circle of the earth and the antipodes; so that Venus is believed to be in mourning then, just as Adonis is believed to have been restored to her when the sun, after passing completely through the six signs of the lower series, begins again to traverse the circle of our hemisphere, with brighter light and longer days. [4] In the story which thev tell of Adonis killed by a boar the animal is intended to represent winter, for the boar is an unkempt and rude creature delighting in damp, muddy, and frost-covered places and feeding on the acorn, which is especially a winter fruit. And so winter, as it were, inflicts a wound on the sun, for in winter we find the sun's light and heat ebbing, and it is an ebbing of light and heat that befalls all living creatures at death. f i ] On Mount Lebanon there is a statue of Venus. Her head is

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veiled, her expression sad, her cheek beneath her veil is resting on her left hand; and it is believed that as one looks upon the statue it sheds tears. This statue not only represents the mourning goddess of whom we have been speaking but is also a symbol of the earth in winter; for at that time the earth is veiled in clouds, deprived of the companionship of the sun, and benumbed, its springs of water (which are, as it were, its eyes) flowing more freely and the fields meanwhile stripped of their finery—a sorry sight. [6] But when the sun has come up from the lower parts of the earth and has crossed the boundary of the spring equinox, giving length to the day, then Venus is glad and fair to see, the fields are green with growing crops, the meadows with grass and the trees with leaves. That is why our ancestors dedicated the month of April to Venus. [7] In the same way the myths and religious ceremonies of the Phrygians, in spite of certain differences, give for our understanding a similar account of the Mother of the Gods and of Attis; [8] for the Mother of the Gods is beyond question to be regarded as the earth, and the impetuous strength and ardor of the lions which draw her car are properties of the sky which encloses and surrounds the air that carries the earth as in a car. [9] And to the sun, under the name of Attis, are given the emblems of a shepherd's pipe and a wand, the pipe indicating a series of uneven blasts (because the winds derive their properties and essential nature from the sun and do not blow with uniformity) and the wand declaring the power of the sun, which controls all things. [10] But that these ceremonies are to be regarded of referring chiefly to the sun can be inferred also from the fact that, by the usage of that people, on the eighth day before the Kalends of April, the "Descent" being ended and the symbolic mourning over, a period of rejoicing begins; and the day, as marking the time when the sun first makes the day longer than the night, is called the "Festival of J o y " (Hilaria). [ 1 1 ] In Egypt too, although the names of the deities are different, there is a similar religious ccremony, in which Isis mourns for Osiris; for it is no secret that Osiris is none other than the sun and Isis, as we have said, none other than the earth or world of nature, and the explanation which applies to the rites of Adonis and Attis is applicable also to the Egyptian rites, to account for the alternations of sorrow and joy which accompany in turn the phases of the year. [ 1 2 ] Moreover, to show that by Osiris is meant the

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sun, whenever the Egyptians wish to represent the god in their hieroglyphic letters they engrave a scepter and in it portray the representation of an eye. This is their sign f o r Osiris, and by it they indicate that this god is the sun, which with royal power looks down upon the world from on high. A n d indeed in ancient usage the sun is called the eye of Jupiter. [ 1 3 ] Among the Egyptians Apollo (and he is the sun) is called Horus—whence the name "hours" (horae) has been given to the twenty-four divisions which make up a day and a night and to the four seasons [ώραι] which together complete the cycle of the year. [ 14] It has also been a practice of the Egyptians, when they wish to dedicate a statue of the sun under its own name, to represent it with the head shaved except on the right side, where the hair is allowed to remain. T h e hair that is kept shows that the sun is never hidden from the world of nature, and the retention of the roots after the locks have been shorn indicates that it is an essential property of the sun, even when it is invisible to us, to reappear like those locks. [ 1 5 ] This same attribute of a half-shorn head is also a symbol of the time when the light is reduced and when the sun, as though shorn of its growth and with a mere stubble, so to speak, remaining, comes to the shortest day (which the men of old called the winter solstice, using the word bruma f o r winter, from the shortness of the day, as though to say "short d a y . " 1 But when the sun rises again f r o m its narrow retreat, it reaches out to the summer hemisphere, growing in strength as though b y a process of birth, and it is believed to have come then into its own realm. [ 1 6 ] That is w h y , among the signs of the zodiac, the Egyptians have dedicated an animal, the lion, in that part of the heavens where in its yearly course the sun's powerful heat is hottest. A n d the Sign of the Lion there they call " T h e House of the Sun," 2 because a lion seems to derive its essential qualities from the natural properties of the sun. [ 1 7 ] For, in the first place, the lion b y its energy and ardor surpasses other animals as the sun surpasses the rest of the stars. And then, just as a lion's strength is in its breast and in the front part of its body, but its hinder limbs are weaker, so the might 1 V a r r ò De lingua Latina 6. 8: bruma quod brevissimus tunc dies est\ Festus, p. 28: bruma a brevitate dierwm dicta; Isidore of Seville 5. 35. 6: bruma ... quasi βραχύς, id est brevis. - Aelian De natura animalium 12. 7.

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

of the sun grows more powerful from the first part of the day up to noon or from the first part of the year, that is from the spring, to summer; but afterward the sun grows weaker, as it declines to its setting (which would seem to be the hinder part of the day) or to the winter (the hinder part of the year). And the lion, too, always gazes with open fiery eyes, just as the sun regards the earth with the continuous and unwearied gaze of its open fiery eye. [ 18] Again, not only the Lion, but every one of the signs of the zodiac as well, may properly be related to natural attributes of the sun. T o begin with the Ram: the affinity here is well marked, for throughout the six winter months a ram lies on its left side and after the spring equinox on its right,» just as the sun too from that same time traverses the right [or summer] hemisphere and then, for the rest of the year, the left [or winter] hemisphere. [ 19] And that too is w h y Ammon, the god whom the Libyans identify with the setting sun, is represented by them as wearing a ram's horns, for a ram's strength lies chiefly in its horns, as the sun's strength lies in its rays; for among the Greeks also the animal is called κρίος, from the word κάρα [i.e., head].4 [20] As for the Bull, the religious practices of the Egyptians show in many ways its connection with the sun—that is to say, either because at Heliopolis high honors are paid to a bull dedicated, under the name of Mnevis, to the sun; or because in the city of Memphis the ox Apis is received as the sun; or because in the town of Hermunthis, in the splendid temple of Apollo there, they worship a bull called Bacis, which is dedicated to the sun and is remarkable for certain strange properties consistent with the nature of the sun, [21] for men affirm that this bull changes color hourly, and the thick bristles of its coat are said to grow in the direction opposite to the natural growth in all other beasts, so that the animal is thought to be, as it were, an image of the sun, whose movement is opposite to that of the heavens.5 [22] T h e Twins, who are believed to die and to come to life again in turn, surely represent the sun which, ever one and the same, now descends to the lowest parts of the world and now rises again to the highest. 5 4 s

Aelian De natura ammalium 10. 18. Recte κέρας, "horn"? See Macrobius Commentary 1. 18. 1.

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H5

[23] The sidelong movement of the Crab unquestionably illustrates the march of the sun, whose lot it is never to follow a straight path but always [in the words of Vergil]: That by which the system of the Signs might slant and turn. [Georgics i. 239] And we should note in particular that it is in the sign of the Crab that the sun begins to move sideways from the upper part of its course and now to make for the parts below. Of the Lion we have spoken already. [24] The Virgin, with an ear of corn in her hand, certainly represents that power of the sun which has the fruits of the earth in its care. And she is on that account regarded as a symbol of Justice, by which alone these fruits as they come to birth are preserved for the use of men. [25] The Scorpion—in its entirety, for this sign includes the Balance—presents a picture of the sun's nature. It is sluggish in winter but, when winter is past, by its own strength again erects its sting, its nature none the worse for the winter sluggishness. [26] The Archer is the lowest and last of all the houses of the zodiac. His upper parts therefore are those of a man, but he sinks to the form of a beast in his lower limbs, as though thrust down from the heights to the depths by his hinder parts. Nevertheless the arrow which he shoots shows that the sun's rays, even when the sun is on its way from the lowest part of its course, are the universal source of life. Capricorn, bringing the sun back from the lower to the upper parts of its course, seems to imitate the nature of the goat, the creature which, moving as it feeds from the lowest parts, always grazes on the high peaks of the rocks.· [27] The Water-Bearer indicates the essential force of the sun, for assuredly rain would not fall upon the earth unless the heat of the sun first drew the moisture up on high, to pour it down again in abundant showers. Placed at the end of the series of the signs of the zodiac are the Fishes. They are dedicated to the sun not, as with the rest of the signs, because their nature in any way represents the nature of the

' Cf. ι. 17. 63 above and 1. 22. 6 below.

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sun, but as illustrating its power, since the sun gives life not only to creatures of the air and of the land but also to those which, as though exiled from the sun and removed from its sight, have their being in the depths of the waters. For such is the sun's might that its penetrating rays quicken even what is hidden from its view.

CHAPTER 22 [ ι ] T o return to our discussion of the manifold power of the sun, Nemesis, which w e worship to keep us from pride, is none other than that power of the sun whose nature it is to make dark the things that are bright and withdraw them from our sight and to give light to things that are in darkness and bring them before our eyes. [2] T h e attributes with which Pan (or Inuus, as he is called) is represented enable those who are the better endowed with understanding to perceive that he himself is the sun. [ 3 ] T h e Arcadians in their worship of him call him "the Lord of the ΰλη meaning to indicate, not that he is the lord of the forest but the ruler of all material substance; and the power of this matter is the essential component of all bodies that exist, whether celestial bodies or bodies terrestrial. [4] T h e horns, then, and the long, hanging beard of Inuus are symbols of the nature of the light b y which the sun illumines the expanse of sky above and brings brightness to the parts that lie below, so that Homer says of the sun: Dawn rose, to bring light to immortals and to mortal men. [Iliad i l . 2; 19. 2; Odyssey 5. 2] And as f o r Pan's pipe and wand, we have explained their meaning already, in our discussion of the attributes of Attis. [5] T h e explanation of the attribute of goat's feet is to be found in the fact that matter, under the regulation of the sun, goes to the making of all substance and that after the divine bodies have been formed from it, it finally becomes the first principle of the earth. [6] A goat's feet were chosen to symbolize this ending because the goat 1

" Υ λ η meaning (a) "forest" and (b) "matter".

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is a creature of the earth but yet always moves upward as it feeds, 1 just as the sun, whether it is sending its rays down to earth from above is preparing to rise again, is seen to shine on the mountains. [7] Echo is believed to be the darling of Inuus and the object of his love—Echo beheld by no man's eyes but the symbol of the harmony of the heavens—and this harmony is dear to the sun as the ruler of all the spheres whence the harmony is born—a harmony, however, which can never be perceived by our senses. [8] And Saturn himself, the author of times and seasons (and therefore, by the change of a letter, called Κρόνος by the Greeks as though for χρόνος, time'), must assuredly be understood to be the sun; since there is handed down a regular succession of first principles, a succession separated by the multitude of times and seasons, made visible by light, bound together in an everlasting bond, and distinguished by our sense of sight, wherein we see everywhere the action of the sun. 1 1

C f . ι . 17. 63 a n d 1. 2 1 . 26 above. C f . ι . 8. 6 above.

C H A P T E R 23 [ ι ] Even Jupiter himself, the king of the gods, does not, it seems, rank higher than the sun, but there are clear signs that he and the sun are, in their nature, one and the same, for in the following lines of Homer, Yesterday Zeus went to Ocean, to the noble Ethiopians, for a banquet, and all the gods followed him, but on the twelfth he will return to Olympus [Iliad i. 423] [ 2 ] the name of Jupiter, according to Cornificius, is understood to stand for the sun, to which the water of Ocean serves, so to speak, a banquet. For, as Posidonius and Cleanthes affirm, the sun in its course does not leave the so-called "torrid" zone, because Ocean, which encircles and divides the earth, flows beneath that zone; and, moreover, it is well known, on the authority of all the physicists, that heat draws its sustenance from moisture. [3] Homer's words: "All the gods followed him," refer to the constellations which by the daily motion of the heavens are borne, together with the sun, to their settings and risings and are nourished by the same moisture as the sun. For the constellations and the stars are called "gods" because the word θεός is derived from θέειν, 1 that is "to run," since they are always in motion, or else from θεωρείσθαι, since they are the objects of "contemplation." [4] When the poet goes on to say: "On the twelfth he will return," by "twelfth" he is indicating not a number of days but the number of hours after which the heavenly bodies return to their rising in the upper hemisphere. [5] We are also to understand the following passage from Plato 2 1

2

Cratylus 3971i. Phaedrus 246e.

Plato

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to have the same meaning: " T h e great leader in heaven, Zeus, driving a winged chariot, goes first, setting all things in order and providing for them. H e is followed b y a host of gods and spirits, marshaled in eleven squadrons; and Hestia alone remains in the house of the gods." B y these words Plato wishes it to be understood that the sun, under the name of Jupiter, is the great leader in heaven, and the reference to the winged chariot indicates the speed of the sun's motion. [6] A n d since the sun, in whatever sign it happens to be, is supreme over all the signs and constellations and the gods that preside over the signs, it seems therefore to precede and lead all the gods, ordering and providing f o r all things; so that the rest of the gods, forming at it were its army, are held to be disposed among eleven of the signs, because the sun itself, in whatever sign it be, occupies the place of the twelfth. [7] Plato refers to spirits (daemones: δαίμονες) and gods, jointly b y name, either because gods are δαήμονες, s that is to say "gifted with knowledge of the future," or, as Posidonius writes in his w o r k On Heroes and Spirits, because their nature springs from and shares in the heavenly substance—this w o r d for spirits being then derived from δαιόμενος, w h i c h may mean either "burning" or "sharing." [8] T h e additional words: "Hestia alone remains in the house of the gods," mean that she (whom w e understand to be the earth) alone remains motionless within the house of the gods, that is to say, in the midst of the universe, as Euripides says: 4 A n d thee, O Mother Earth—and the W i s e among men call thee Hestia—as thou sittest in the ether. [9] T h e following lines from other sources serve to show how w e are to regard the relationship of the sun and Jupiter: T h e all-seeing and all-comprehending eye of Zeus [Hesiod Opera et dies 267] and O Sun, w h o dost watch over all things and hear all things. [Iliad 3. 277] From these lines it is clear that both Jupiter and the sun are to be regarded as the manifestation of a single power. s Cratylus 398b. Cf. Isidore of Seville 8. 11. 15: daemones a Graecis aiunt, quasi δαήμονας, id est peritos ac rerum scios. ' Fragment 938 (Nauck).

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[ 1 0 ] T h e Assyrians too, in a city called Heliopolis, 5 worship the sun with an elaborate ritual under the name of Jupiter, calling him " Z e u s of Heliopolis." T h e statue of the god was brought from the Egyptian town also called Heliopolis, when Senemur (who was perhaps the same as Senepos) was king of Egypt. It was taken to Assyria first (by Opias the ambassador of Delebor, king of the Assyrians, and b y Egyptian priests the chief of whom was Partemetis), and, after it had been f o r some time in Assyria, it was later moved to Heliopolis. [ 11 ] W h y this was done and how it came about that, after leaving Egypt, the statue has reached the place where it now is and is worshiped with Assyrian rather than with Egyptian rites I have omitted to mention, because the matter has no bearing on our present topic. [ 1 2 ] However, the identification of this god with Jupiter and with the sun is clear from the form of the ceremonial and from the appearance of the statue. T h e statue, a figure of gold in the likeness of a beardless man, presses forward with the right hand raised and holding a whip, after the manner of a charioteer; in the left hand are a thunderbolt and ears of corn; and all these attributes symbolize the conjoined power of Jupiter and the sun. [ 1 3 ] T h e temple is held in remarkable awe too as the seat of an oracle, such divination pointing to a faculty of Apollo, who is identified with the sun. For the statue of the god of Heliopolis is borne in a litter, as the images of the gods are carried in the procession at the Circensian Games, and the bearers are generally the leading men of the province. These men, with their heads shaved, and purified by a long period of abstinence, go as the spirit of the god moves them and carry the statue not of their own will but whithersoever the god directs them, just as at Antium we see the images of the two goddesses of Fortune move forward to give their oracles.· [ 1 4 ] T h e god is also consulted from a distance, by the sending of sealed letters, and he replies, in order, to the matters contained in the question put to him. So it was that the emperor Trajan, too, when he was about to march with his army from the province of Syria into Parthia, was urged by friends of the most steadfast piety, 5 Baalbec (Pliny Historia naturalis 5. 18. 80). See review of Ronzevalle's Jupiter Héliopolitain in Journal of Roman Studies, XXVIII, Pt. 1 (1938), 87. • Cf. Lucían De dea Syria 36. Martial (j. 1. 3) refers to the two goddesses of Fortune worshipped at Antium as the "soothsaying sisters."

M A C R O B I U S : THE SATURNALIA

who had had reliable experience of the power of the god, to consult him about the issue of the undertaking. With typically Roman prudence the emperor, by a preliminary test of the trustworthiness of the oracle, took steps to thwart the possibility of hidden human trickery, 7 and began by sending sealed tablets with a request for a written reply. [ 1 5 ] T o the surprise of the priests, who were, of course, unaware of the nature of the emperor's tablets, the god bade a sheet of papyrus be brought and ordered it to be sealed, without any writing on it, and dispatched. When Trajan received the document he was filled with astonishment, since the tablets which he had sent to the god also had had no writing on them; [ 1 6 ] and he then wrote and sealed other tablets, to ask whether he would return to Rome after the war was over. T h e god thereupon bade a centurion's vine branch be brought from among the dedicated offerings in the temple, broken in pieces, and the pieces wrapped in a napkin and sent thus to the emperor. When Trajan's bones were brought back to Rome after his death the meaning of the oracle's response was clear, for the emperor's remains resembled the pieces of the vine branch, and the vine branch itself [as a centurion's staff] indicated the time of the event which would befall [namely, in time of war]. [ 1 7 ] That the discourse may not wander too far afield, by mentioning all the gods by name, let me tell you what the Assyrians believe about the sovereignty of the sun. T o the god whom they revere as highest and greatest of the gods they have given the name of Adad, a name which, being interpreted, means "One One." [ 1 8 ] Him, then, they worship as the most powerful god, but they associate with him a goddess called Adargatis, 8 and to these two deities, by whom they understand the sun and the earth, they ascribe full power over all things. And, instead of using a number of names to express the power shared by these deities in all its forms, they indicate the manifold pre-eminence of this twofold godhead b y the attributes which each deity bears. [19] These attributes of themselves tell of the nature of the sun; for the statue of Adad is distinguished by rays which point downward, to show that the might of heaven is in the rays which pour down from the 7 8

For an example of such trickery, see Lucían Alexander 19-21. C f . Pliny Historia naturalis 5. 19. 81; and for Adad 37. 71. 186.

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sun to the earth, but the statue of Adargatis is distinguished b y rays which point upward, to show that everything that the earth brings forth owes its birth to the power of the rays sent from above. [20] Under the statue of Adargatis are figures of lions, to indicate that the goddess represents the earth, on the same principle as that bv which the Phrygians have represented the Mother of the Gods, that is to say, the earth, in a car drawn by lions. [ 2 1 ] Finally, the theologians point out that the sovereignty of the sun answers to the sum of all the powers that be, and this is shown by the short prayer which they use in their ritual, saying: O Sun, Ruler of all, Spirit of the world, Might of the world, Light of the world. [22] And in the following verses Orpheus too bears witness to the all-embracing nature of the sun: Hear, O T h o u who dost, wheeling afar, ever make the turning circle of thy rays to revolve in its heavenly orbits, bright Zeus Dionysus, Father of sea, Father of land, Sun, source of all life, all-gleaming with thy golden light.

C H A P T E R 24 [ ι ] As Praetextatus ended his discourse, the company for a while regarded him in wide-eyed wonder and amazement. Then one of the guests began to praise his memory, another his learning, and all his knowledge of the observances of religion; for he alone, they declared, knew the secrets of the nature of godhead, he alone had the intelligence to apprehend the divine and the ability to expound it. [2] But Evangelus interrupted, saying: I am certainly full of admiration for a capacity to understand the powers of all those mighty deities, but to call on our poet of Mantua to corroborate every statement in a theological exposition would seem to suggest partiality rather than a reasoned judgment. [3] For my part, should I not take it that Vergil was imitating some other poet when he referred to the sun and moon as "Liber and kindly Ceres," hearing the names so used but not knowing why? [4] Unless, perhaps, just as the Greeks are immoderate in their praise of all that is Greek, we too would turn even our poets into philosophers, although Cicero himself, who maintained that he was as devoted to philosophy as to oratory, cannot discuss the nature of the gods or fate, or divination, without impairing his reputation as an orator, by his unmethodical treatment of these subjects. [5] Cicero, replied Symmachus, is proof against your criticism, Evangelus, but we shall consider him later.1 At present we are concerned with Vergil, and I should be glad if you would tell us whether, in your judgment, his works are fit only for the instruction of schoolboys, or whether you would admit that their contents can serve higher ends; for it seems to me that for you Vergil's verse 1 Perhaps an indication that the Saturnalia was written before the Commentary.

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is, still, what it was for the rest of us in boyhood, when our masters would read it to us and we would recite it to them. [6] I should rather put it this way, Symmachus, said Evangelus. When we were boys we had an uncritical admiration for Vergil, because our masters, as well as the inexperience of our youth, did not allow us to see his faults. That he had faults no one can honestly deny. In fact he admitted as much himself, for on his deathbed he bequeathed his Aeneid to the flames; and why should he have done this unless he was anxious to keep from posterity something which he knew would damage his reputation? [7] And how right he was! For he was ashamed to think what the verdict on him would be, if any should come to read of a goddess begging from her only husband—and that a husband by whom, as well she knew, she had not had a child—a gift of arms for her son, or if countless other passages should come to light in which the poet had offended against good taste—whether by his use of Greek and outlandish expressions or by the faulty arrangement of his work. [8] All shuddered as they heard these words, and Symmachus retorted: Vergil's renown, Evangelus, is such that no one can add to it by praise or detract from it by disparagement. And, as for your carping criticisms, anyone from the lowest ranks of the grammarians can answer them, so that there is no need to put our friend Servius, who, to my mind, surpasses the teachers of former times in learning, to the trouble of rebutting such charges. But since, outstanding poet though he is, his poetic skill displeases you, tell me whether his rhetorical powers meet with your approval, for they are very great. [9] Evangelus at first smiled but then replied: True indeed! All that remains for you people to do now is to proclaim Vergil an orator as well. And I am not surprised, for not so long ago you were canvassing his promotion to a place among the philosophers. [10] If, in your opinion, said Symmachus, Vergil should be regarded as having no thought for anything but poetry (although you go so far as to grudge him the name of poet), listen to what he has himself to say about the many kinds of learning which his work entailed. For there is a letter® of his, addressed to Augustus, which begins with these words: [ 1 1 ] "I am getting many letters 1

Perhaps a reply to the letters from Augustus to which Suetonius refers in his life of Vergil (31).

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from y o u " (and goes on) "as f o r my Aeneas, if I now had anything worthy of y o u r attention, I should gladly send it; but the subject on which I have embarked is so vast that I think I must have been almost mad to have entered upon it; all the more so since, as you know, there are other and much more important studies which claim from me a share in the w o r k . " [ 1 2 ] W h a t Vergil says here is consistent with that wealth of material which almost all the literary critics carelessly pass by with (as the proverb says) "dusty feet" 3 —as though a grammarian were permitted to understand nothing beyond the meanings of words. Thus those fine fellows have set hard and fast bounds to their science, like the tracts fixed and defined by the augurs; and, if anyone were to dare to overstep these prescribed limits, he would have to be deemed guilty of as heinous an offense as if he had peered into the temple from which all males are banned.4 [ 1 3 ] But we, who claim to have a finer taste, shall not suffer the secret places of this sacred poem to remain concealed, but w e shall examine the approaches to its hidden meanings and throw open its inmost shrine f o r the worship of the learned. [ 1 4 ] I should be sorry to seem to be anxious to undertake the whole work single-handed, and I propose therefore only to point out the most forcible of the rhetorical devices and conceits that are to be found in Vergil's work, 5 leaving Eusebius, that most eloquent of orators, to deal with Vergil's skill in oratory, a theme which—thanks to his learning, and experience as a teacher—he will handle better than I. As f o r the rest of you here, I would earnestly beg that each of you contribute, as it were to a common feast, anything that he may have noted as particularly striking about the poet's genius. [ 1 5 ] These words aroused great, and general, enthusiasm, each of the company wishing to hear the others and overlooking the fact that he too would himself be called on to make a like contribution. Mutual encouragement led to ready and willing assent, and, turning to Praetextatus, all begged him to give his opinion first, to be followed b y the rest in the order in which they happened to be sitting.6 3

C f . Aulus Gellius 1. 9. 8 and 17. 5. 14. T h e temple of the Bona Dea. 5 In the last part (now lost) of B o o k 4. See 5. 1. 1. 6 F o r the customary arrangement of the conversation at a convtviwn Cicero De senectute 14. 46. C f . 7. 1 1 . 1, below. 4

see

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[ 1 6 ] Of all the high qualities f o r which V e r g i l is praised, said V e t ri us, m v constant reading of his poems leads me, f o r m y part, to admire the great learning with which he has observed the rules of the pontifical law in many different parts of his w o r k . One might well suppose that he had made a special study of this law, and if m y discourse does not prove unequal to so l o f t y a topic, I undertake to show that our Vergil may fairly be regarded as a Pontifex Maximus.' [ 1 7 ] Flavianus w a s the next to speak. I find in our poet, he said, such knowledge of augural law 8 that, even if he w e r e unskilled in all other branches of learning, the exhibition of this knowledge alone would win him high esteem. [ 1 8 ] I, added Eustathius, should give the highest praise to his use of G r e e k models 9 —a cautious use and one which may even have the appearance of being accidental, since he sometimes skillfully conceals the debt, although at other times he imitates openly—did I not admire even more his knowledge of astronomy and of the whole field of philosophy, 8 and the sparing and restrained w a y in which he makes occasional, and everywhere praiseworthy, use of this knowledge in his poems. [ 1 9 ] Furius Albinus was placed on the other side of Praetextatus, and next to him Caecina. Both spoke highly of the w a y in which Vergil strove to profit by the w o r k of earlier writers, Furius referring to lines and passages, 10 Caecina to single w o r d s . 1 1 [20] Avienus said: I shall not take it upon myself to dare to praise any single virtue in Vergil's w o r k , but I shall listen to what the rest of y o u have to say, and, if any remark of yours or anything in m y long reading of the poet suggests an observation, I shall make it, as the occasion f o r it m a y arise. But bear in mind that it is to our friend Servius that w e must go f o r an explanation of anv obscurity, since of all literary critics he is far the greatest. 12 [ 2 1 ] T h e s e proposals were unanimously accepted, and Praetextatus, seeing that all w e r e looking toward him, said: Philosophy, the 7

Book 3. ι-ι 2; cf. Sainte-Beuve, Étude sur Virgile, Chap. 4. The discourse of Flavianus on Vergil's knowledge of augural law and that of Eustathius on Vergil's knowledge of astronomy and philosophy have not survived. Quintilian (1. 4. 4) insists that a knowledge of astronomy and philosophy is necessary for the understanding of poetry. ' Book j. 2-22. 10 Book 6. 1-3. 1 1 Book 6. 4-5. 12 Book 6. 6-9. 8

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discipline of disciplines, is the gods' unequaled gift to man. It must therefore have the honor of being our first topic. 1 ' Let Eustathius remember, then, that all other discourses give place to his and that he is to open the discussion. You, Flavianus, will follow him. I shall find it refreshing to listen to the two of you, and some respite from talking will enable me to recover strength to speak. [22] Meanwhile the head slave (whose duty it was to burn incense before the household gods, to arrange f o r the provision of food, and to direct the tasks of the domestic servants) had come to inform his master that the household staff had finished the customary yearly feast; [23] f o r in houses where religious usages are observed it is the practice at the Saturnalia to compliment the slaves by first providing f o r them a dinner prepared as though f o r the master, and it is not until this meal is over that the table is spread again f o r the head of the household. And so it was that the chief servant entered to announce the hour of dinner and to summon the masters to it. [24] Then, said Praetextatus, our friend Vergil must be kept for a more suitable time of day, and let us devote a fresh morning to a systematic examination of his poetry. N o w the hour reminds us that my table is to have the honor of your company. But Eustathius, and after him Nicomachus, must not forget that at tomorrow's discussion the duty of speaking first is reserved for them. [25] M y meeting with you all, added Flavianus, is in accordance with the ruling which w e have already approved, that my household gods are to have the privilege and pleasure of entertaining this distinguished gathering tomorrow. All agreed, and they went in to dinner in high spirits, recalling to one another with approval the topics which they had debated together. 13

John of Salisbury 8. 9 (74id).

the SAtuRnAliA · Book 2 [After-dinner conversation of the first day, at the house of Praetextatus]

CHAPTER ι [ ι ] When dinner was now over and the diners, having eaten sparingly of a modest number of dishes, were growing merry, though the cups were small, Avienus said: In similar lines and with the change of but a few words Vergil has well and shrewdly hit off the difference between a riotous and a sober meal. For of the din which attends the splendor and magnificence of a royal banquet he writes: When first there came a lull in the feast [Aeneid i. 723] but, when his heroes sit down to a simple repast, he makes no reference to a lull, because there had been no previous clamor, and says instead: When hunger had been banished by the feast [Aeneid 1. 216] [2 ] This dinner of ours has combined the moderation of the heroic age with the good taste of our own; it is sober yet elegant, carefully planned without being lavish. And for all Plato's eloquence I have no hesitation in comparing it with—nay, in preferring it to— Agathon's banquet, [ 3 ] for our host is no whit inferior to Socrates in character and is at the same time more influential in public life than the philosopher; and, as for the rest of you, my friends, your practice of all the virtues is too well known for anyone to regard you as comparable with any comic poet or with Alcibiades (a man whose courage was directed to criminal ends) or with any other in that large company. [4] Hush! said Praetextatus. Respect, I beg you, the honored name of Socrates, although you can say what you like about the rest of the guests at that banquet, for these distinguished friends of

ι6ο

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ours would by general consent be regarded as superior to them. But tell me, Avienus, what have you in mind in making this comparison? [5I Just this, said he, that, in spite of their high brows, one of those people was prepared to call for the admission of a lute player, that a girl artificially made up to enhance her charms might beguile their philosophic conversation with pleasant tunes and suggestive dances. [6] T h e purpose on that occasion was to celebrate Agathon's success in the theater; but we, f o r our part, are failing to introduce any pleasurable relaxation in doing honor to the god whose festival this is. And yet I am well aware that none of you sees anv particular merit in wearing a sad and gloomy countenance, nor do you greatly admire the man Crassus, w h o (as Cicero tells us, on the authority of Lucilius), laughed but once in all his life. 1 [7] Praetextatus replied that his household gods were not accustomed to take any pleasure in a cabaret show and that such a show would ill become so serious a gathering. But Symmachus rejoined: [8] " A t the Saturnalia, best of days," 2 as the poet of Verona says, I take it that w e should neither imitate the Stoics and repel pleasure as a foe nor follow the Epicureans and make pleasure the highest good. Let us then make humor without impropriety our aim; and, unless I am mistaken, I think I have found out how to do this. I suggest that w e relate to one another a selection of the jests of famous men of old—there are a number of books of these bons mots 3 — [9] and let such literary delights and learned badinage take the place of the improper and indecent jokes which the mummer and buffoon hide under a veil of seemliness and decency. [ 1 0 ] Our ancestors regarded a jest as something worth taking care and thought over; and I should like to begin b y reminding you that two of the lords of language in those old days, the comic poet Plautus and the orator Cicero, were both outstanding for their witty jests. [ 1 1 ] Plautus indeed was so famous on this account that after his death comedies of uncertain authorship were attributed to him simply by reason of the wealth of jokes which they contained. 4 [ 1 2 ] W h a t Cicero could do as a wit 5 is well known to anyone who has at least taken the trouble to read the collection which his freed1

De fimbus 5. 30. 92. See also Warmington, III, 422. Catullus 14. 15. People greeted each other then with the words: Bona Saturnalia. See R . Ellis, Comme?itary on Cattdlus (2d ed., Oxford, 1889), p. 53. s For reference to such books see Plautus Stichus, 400, and Persa, 394. 4 5 Cf. Aulus Gellius 3. 3. See Quintilian 6. 3. 5. 2

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man made of his jests—books, b y the w a y , which some ascribe to Cicero himself. W e all know, too, that his enemies used to refer to Cicero as "that consular buffoon," an expression actually used by Vatinius in his own speech. [ 1 3 ] A n d indeed, were it not tedious to do so, I should remind you myself of the causes in which a jest enabled him to defend the guiltiest of clients with success—how, for example, when he was defending Lucius Flaccus, accused of extortion, a well-timed witticism procured an acquittal on charges which had been clearly proved. T h e particular joke does not appear in the text of the speech, but I came across it in a book b y Furius Bibaculus, and it is one of his celebrated sayings. [ 1 4 ] M y use of the term "sayings" (dicta) is not accidental but deliberate, since it is the expression used b y our predecessors to describe such jokes. And Cicero, too, bears me out; f o r in the second Book of his letters to Cornelius Nepos he says: " A n d so, although every spoken word would have been properly described as a 'saying,' it was the custom with us to confine the use of the word to a witty, brief, and pointed remark." There you have what Cicero says: Novius and Pomponius, however, not infrequently call jokes "mots" (dicteria). [ 1 5 ] T h e famous Marcus Cato, the Censor, also used to make clever jokes. And so, even if the jests w e make were our own, w e could rely on the precedent set by these men to shield us from criticism; but, since w e are proposing to repeat sayings of bygone times, w e certainly have a sound defense in the high position of the men who made them. If, then, the suggestion meets with your approval, let us jog our memories for such sayings and repeat, each in turn, what comes to mind. 6 [16] All approved of the innocent merriment proposed, and they urged Praetextatus to begin and thus give them a lead by his example. 6

Macrobius may also have drawn on the lneptiae or Joci of Melissus (Suetonius De grammaticis 21).

CHAPTER 2 [ ι ] I propose, said Praetextatus, to tell you of a saying of one of our country's enemies and, since we defeated him, to recall the story is to celebrate anew the triumph of our arms. [2] Hannibal of Carthage made this most witty jest, when he was living in exile at the court of king Antiochus. Here it is. Antiochus was holding a review, on some open ground, to display the huge forces which he had mustered f o r w a r against the Roman people, and the troops were marching past, gleaming with accoutrements of silver and gold. Chariots, too, fitted with scythes were brought on to the field, elephants with towers on their backs, and cavalry with glittering reins, housings, neck chains, and trappings. Glorying in the sight of his large and well-equipped army, the king then turned to Hannibal and said: " D o you think that all these will do f o r the Romans?" [3] T h e Carthaginian, in mockery of the king's troops, who for all their costly equipment were cowardly and unwarlike, replied: "Yes, I think they will certainly do f o r the Romans—although the Romans can do with quite a lot." There could not have been a neater or more pungent remark. T h e king's question had referred, of course, to the size of his armv, and he had asked if it could be regarded as a match f o r the Romans, but Hannibal's reply referred to the bootv it would provide. 1 [4] Flavianus followed. In the days of old, he said, there used to be a sacrifice known as " F o r the road," and it was the custom at it for everything left over from the sacrificial feast to be burned. Hence the point of a jest of Cato's. For, when a certain Albidius, after devouring all his property, finally lost b y fire the house which was all that remained to him of his possessions, Cato observed 1

Aulus Gellius j. j.

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that it was a "Sacrifice for the road," since the man had burned what he could not have devoured. [5] It was then the turn of Symmachus. When Caesar, he said, was selling by auction the property of certain citizens, Servilia (the mother of Marcus Brutus) bought a valuable estate quite cheaply and so became the victim of a jest of Cicero's, who said: "Of course you will the better understand Servilia's bargain if you realize that a third was knocked off the purchase price of the estate" (tertia deducía).* For Servilia had a daughter, Junia Tertia (the wife of Gaius Cassius), whose favors—as well as her mother's—the dictator was then enjoying. In fact rumors and jokes about the profligacy of the elderly adulterer were rife at that time in Rome and gave people some amusement in their troubles. [6] After Symmachus had spoken, Caecina Albinus said: Plancus happened to be in court as counsel for a friend and, wishing to discredit a hostile witness, whom he knew to be a cobbler, asked him how he made his living. The man neatly replied: "Grinding gall" (gallant subigo), for cobblers make such use of gallnuts for their work, and by the double entendre' cleverly turned the question so as to charge Plancus with adultery, for stories were going round of his association with one Maevia Galla, a married woman. [7] Furius Albinus followed. After the rout at Mutina, he said, people were asking what Antonius was doing, and the story went that an acquaintance of his replied: "What dogs do in E g y p t drinking and running away"; since it is well known that in those parts dogs drink as they run, for fear of being caught by a crocodile.4 [8] Eustathius spoke next. Mucius, he said, was the most illnatured of men; and so, finding him looking even gloomier than usual, Publius remarked: "Either Mucius has been unlucky, or someone else has been lucky." [9] Sulla's son Faustus, said Avienus, hearing that his sister was having an affair with two lovers at the same time—with Fulvius (a fuller's son) and Pompeius surnamed Macula [a stain]—declared: 2

Cf. Suetonius Divus lidius 50. The play upon the two meanings of dedite ere—"to deduct" and "to conduct a bride to her husband"—can hardly be kept in English. 3 The pun depends on an indecent use of the verb subigere. For the use of galls in dressing leather, see Pliny Historia naturalis 16. 9. 26. 4 Cf. Pliny Historia Naturalis 8. 61. 148. Antony was a notorious drunkard.

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" I am surprised to find mv sister with a stain, seeing that she has the services of a fuller." [ 10] Then Evangelus said: Servilius Geminus happened to be dining at the house of Lucius Mallius, who was held to be the best portrait painter in Rome and, noticing how misshapen his host's sons were, observed: " Y o u r modeling, Mallius, does not come up to your painting." "Naturally," replied Mallius, " f o r the modeling is done in the dark but the painting by daylight." [ 1 1 ] Demosthenes, said Eusebius, who was the next to speak, attracted b y the fame of Lais, whose beauty at that time was the wonder of Greece, went to enjoy her vaunted favors himself. But, when he heard that her company for a single night would cost him half a talent, he went away, saying: " I find that too high a price to pay for what I should regret." [ 1 2 ] It was now the turn of Servius to take part in these exchanges, but his modersty kept him silent. If, said Evangelus, your refusal to repeat such jests is intended to protect a reputation f o r propriety, you are in effect charging all the rest of us with impropriety. H o w like a schoolmaster! But unless you, and Disarius and Horns too, are content to follow the example of Praetextatus and the rest of us, your assumption of superiority will certainly incur the reproach of arrogance. [ 1 3 ] Thereupon Servius, seeing that it would be less embarrassing to speak than to remain silent, plucked up courage to tell a similar tale. Marcus Otacilius Pitholaus, he said, on the occasion of the consulship of Caninius Revilus which lasted only one dav remarked: " W e used to have Priests of the D a y but now we have consuls of a day (diales) .5 [14] Disarius did not wait to be upbraided f o r remaining silent but said . . . ,e [ 1 5 ] And he was followed b y Horus. M y contribution, he said, is a couplet which the famous Plato amused himself by composing in his youth, at the time when he used also to practice writing tragedies. It runs as follows: M y soul was on my lips as I was kissing Agathon. Poor soul! She came hoping to cross over to him.7 5 The point of the jest is the punning refercncc to the Priest of Jupiter (or Diespiter, i.e., "Father of the Day"; (see Aulus Gellius 5. 12), who was known as the Flamen Dialis, and to the connection of the word Dialis with dies, "day." Cf. 7. 3. 10, below. * The story is lost. 7 Anthologia Graeca 5. 78.

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[16] These anecdotes gave rise to merriment, and there was polite laughter as all the company discussed the tales, with their flavor of a bygone gaiety, which each had told. Then Symmachus said: As for those verses of Plato's it is hard to say which is the more remarkable, the charm or the conciseness of expression. I remember having read a Latin version—it is of course longer than the original, since the resources of our language are usually held to be smaller and more restricted than those of the Greek tongue—and this, I think, is how it goes: [17] While with parted lips I was kissing my love and drawing his sweet fragant breath from his open mouth, my poor, my lovesick, wounded soul rushed to my lips as it strove to find a way to pass8 between my open mouth and my love's soft lips. Then, had the kiss been, even for a little while, prolonged, my soul, smitten with love's fire, would have passed through and left me; and (a marvel this!) I should be dead—but alive within my love.® 8

Reading (with Baehrens) ut transiliret. • Aulus Gellius 19. 11; Morel, p. 139; Baehrens, p. 37 j.

CHAPTER 3 [ ι ] But I am surprised, continued Symmachus, that none of you have said anything of Cicero's jests, f o r here, as in everything else, he had the readiest of tongues. If it is your pleasure, then, I shall play the part of the mouthpiece of an oracle and repeat as many of his sayings as I can remember. All were eager to hear him and he began as follows. [2] W h e n he was dining at the house of Damasippus, his host produced a very ordinary wine, saying, " T r y this Falernian; it is f o r t y years old." " Y o u n g for its age," replied Cicero. 1 [ 3 ] Seeing his son-in-law Lentulus (who was a very short man) wearing a long sword, he said: " W h o has buckled m y son-in-law to that sword?" [4] He did not spare even his brother Quintus but was just as sarcastic about him, f o r on seeing, in the province which Quintus had governed, a half-length portrait of him, painted as usual on a shield and very much larger than life, he remarked (since Quintus was a small man): " W i t h my brother it would seem that the half is greater than the whole." [ 5 ] T h e consulship of Vatinius which lasted for only a f e w days gave Cicero an opportunity for some humorous sayings which had wide currency. "Vatinius's term of office," he said, "has presented a remarkable portent, for in his consulship there has been neither winter, spring, summer, nor autumn." And again, when Vatinius complained that Cicero had found it too much trouble to come to see him in his sickness, he replied: "It was m y intention to come while you were consul, but night overtook me." 4 Cicero, however, was thought to be getting his own back here and to have had in 1

C f . Athenacus 13. 584c. * See 7. 3. 10, below.

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mind the retort made by Vatinius to his boast that he had returned f r o m exile borne in triumph on the shoulders of the people: " H o w , then, did y o u get those varicose veins in y o u r legs?"* [6] Caninius Revilus, as Servius has already reminded us, was consul f o r only a single day and mounted the rostrum to assume o f f i c e and at the same time to relinquish it. Cicero therefore, w h o welcomed every chance to make a humorous remark, referred to him slightingly as "a notional consul" and said later of him: " H e has at any rate done this: he has obliged us to ask in whose consulship he was consul," adding, " W e have a wide-awake consul in Caninius, f o r while in o f f i c e he never slept a w i n k . " 4 [ 7 ] Pompey found Cicero's witticisms tiresome, and the f o l lowing sayings of Cicero were current: " I know whom to avoid, but I do not know w h o m to f o l l o w . " Again, when he had come to join Pompey, to those w h o were saying that he was late in coming he retorted: "Late? N o t at all, f o r I see nothing ready here y e t . " [8] A f t e r w a r d , when Pompey asked him where his son-in-law, Dolabella, was, he replied: " W i t h y o u r [former] father-in-law." 5 A n d when Pompey had given Roman citizenship to a deserter [ f r o m Caesar], Cicero's comment was: " T h a t was handsome of the man; he promises the Gauls a citizenship to which they have no right, and yet he can't restore our own city to us." A n d so it was thought that Pompey was justified in saying of Cicero: " I wish to goodness he would g o over to the enemy. H e would then learn to fear us." [9] Cicero showed his teeth at Caesar too. In the first place, when (after Caesar's victory) he was asked how he had come to choose the w r o n g side, he replied: " T h e w a y he wore his toga took me in"; the point of the jest being that Caesar used to wear his toga in such a w a y that an edge hung loose in an effeminate manner as he walked, so that Sulla would seem to have foreseen the future when he said to Pompey: " I bid y o u beware of that ill-girt l a d . " · [ 1 0 ] Then, when Laberius toward the end of the Games received f r o m Caesar the honor of the gold ring of knighthood and went ® Cf. Quintilian 11. 3. 143 and Sidonius Epistulae 5. 5. 4 See 7. 3. 10, below. Pompey had married Caesar's daughter Julia, and her untimely death in 54 B.C. went far to break the bond between the two men. • Cf. Suetonius Divus lulius 45. 8

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straightaway to the fourteen rows 7 to watch the scene from thereonly to find that the knights had felt themselves affronted by the degradation of one of their order and his offhand restoration—as he was passing Cicero, in his search for a seat, the latter said to him: "I should have been glad to have you beside me were I not already pressed for room"; meaning by these words to snub the man and at the same time to make fun of the new Senate, whose numbers had been unduly increased by Caesar. Here, however, Cicero got as good as he gave, for Laberius replied: " I am surprised that you of all people should be pressed for room, seeing that you make a habit of sitting on two seats at once," thus reproaching Cicero with the fickleness of which that excellent and loyal citizen was unfairly accused. [ 11 ] There was another occasion on which Cicero openly jeered at the readiness with which Caesar admitted new members to the Senate; for, asked by his host Publius Mallius to procure the office of decurión 8 for his stepson, he said in the presence of a large company: "Senatorial rank? Well, at Rome he shall certainly have it, if you so wish; but at Pompeii it isn't easy." [12] And indeed his biting wit went even further; for, greeted by a certain Andron from Laodicea, he asked what had brought him to Rome and, hearing that the man had come as an envoy to Caesar to beg freedom for his city, he made open reference to the servile state of Rome by saying, in Greek, "If you are successful, put in a word for us too." [ 1 3 ] The vigor of his sarcasm could go beyond mere jesting and express his deep feelings, as, for example, in his letter to Caius Cassius,· one of the men who murdered the dictator, in which he said: " I could wish you had asked me to your dinner on the Ides of

' Cf. Suetonius Divus lulius 39. By the Lex Roscia theatralis of 67 B.C. the first fourteen rows of seats in the theater, immediately behind the orchestra (where the senators sat), were reserved for the équités. See also 7. 3. 8, below. Cf. Seneca Controversiae 7. 3. 9. 8 A member of the legislative council (corresponding to the Roman Senate) of a provincial township, the inhabitants of which enjoyed a large measure of local self-government. For a discussion of the status of a municipium, see Aulus Gellius 16. 13 and John of Salisbury 3. 14 (509a). • Epistulae ad Familiares 12. 4; John of Salisbury 3. 14 (509b).

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March. Nothing, I assure you, would have been left over. But, as things are, your leaving make me feel anxious." 10 And he also made some witty jokes about his son-in-law Piso and about Marcus Lepidus. [14] While Symmachus was still speaking and had, it seemed, something more to say, Avienus (as often happens in conversation at the dinner table) interrupted and said: Augustus Caesar was any man's equal in such readiness of wit, and perhaps even Cicero's. Some of his sayings have occured to me, and with your permission, my friends, I will repeat them. [ 1 5 ] Let Symmachus tell us, said Horus, what Cicero had to say about the two men he has just mentioned, and what you wish to tell us about Augustus will follow more appropriately then. [16] Avienus relapsed into silence, and Symmachus, resuming, said: Cicero, seeing his son-in-law Piso walking in a somewhat effeminate manner and his daughter striding more briskly along, said to her: "Walk like your husband." And again, after a speech by Marcus Lepidus in the Senate, he observed: "For my part, I should not have rated la pareille consonance11 (όμοιόπτωτον) so highly." But carry on, Avienus. I know you are dying to speak, and I should be sorry to detain you further. 10 The meaning is that, if Cicero had been in on the plot to murder Caesar, Antony too would have been killed. 11 The text is corrupt and the point obscure, but it would seem that Cicero is punning on the proper name Lepidus and the adjective lepidus, "neat and agreeable."

CHAPTER 4 [ ι ] Augustus Caesar, said Avienus, was fond of a joke, but he did not forget the respect due to his high rank, and he showed a proper regard f o r decency—he never stooped to buffoonery. [ 2 ] He had written a tragedy entitled Ajax but, dissatisfied with it, had rubbed it out. And, when the tragedian Lucius Varius asked him afterward how his Ajax was getting on, he replied: " H e has fallen on his sponge." 1 [3] T o a man who was nervously presenting a petition to him, now holding out his hand and now withdrawing it, he said: " D o y o u think you are handing a penny to an elephant?" 2 [4] When Pacuvius Taurus was asking him for a gift of money and added that it was common gossip that he had already received a considerable sum from him, Augustus replied: "Don't you believe it." [5] T o another, a prefect of cavalry who had been relieved of his command but nevertheless claimed a pension, saying that he made the request not f o r the sake of the money but that it might be thought that he had resigned his commission and had been adjudged worthy of the gift by the emperor, Augustus retorted: " T e l l everybody that you have had it. I shall not deny that I gave it." [6] His reply to Herennius, a young man of bad character whom he had ordered to be cashiered, was a well-known example of his humor; for, when the man begged f o r pardon, saying: " H o w am I to return home? What shall I say to my father?" Augustus answered: " T e l l vour father that you didn't find me to your liking."* 1

Suetonius Augustus 8j. Quintilian 6. 3. 59; cf. Suetonius Augustus (509c). 5 See Quintilian 6. 3. 64. 2

53 and John of Salisbury 3. 14

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[7] A man who had been struck b y a stone when on active service and had a noticeable and unsightly scar on his forehead, was bragging loudly of his exploits and received this gentle rebuke from Augustus: " N e v e r look round when you are running a w a y . " [8] T o an ugly hunchback named Galba, who was pleading in court before him and kept on saying: "If y o u have any fault to find, correct me," he said: " I can o f f e r you advice, but I certainly can't correct you." [9] Since many of those who were prosecuted b y Severus Cassius got o f f , but the architect of the Forum of Augustus kept putting off the completion of the work, the emperor jestingly remarked: " I could wish that Cassius would prosecute my Forum too—and get it off my hands." f 10] A certain Vettius had ploughed up a memorial to his father, whereupon Augustus remarked: "This is indeed cultivating your father's memory." [ 1 1 ] When he heard that Herod king of the J e w s had ordered boys in Syria under the age of two years to be put to death and that the king's son was among those killed, he said: "I'd rather be Herod's pig than Herod's son." [ 1 2 ] Again, knowing that his friend Maecenas wrote in a loose, effeminate, and languishing style, he would often affect a similar style in the letters which he wrote to him; and, in contrast to the restrained language of his other writings, an intimate letter to Maecenas contained, by w a y of a joke, a flood of such expressions as these: "Good-by, my ebony of Medullia, ivory from Etruria, silphium of Aretium, diamond of the Adriatic, pearl from the Tiber, Cilnian emerald, jasper of the Iguvians, Porsenna's beryl, Italy's carbuncle—in short, you charmer of unfaithful wives." 4 [ 1 3 ] He hardly ever refused to accept hospitality; and, having been entertained to a very frugal and, so to speak, everyday dinner, he just whispered in his host's ear, as he was saying good-by after the poor and ill-appointed meal: " I didn't think I was so close a friend of yours."

4

The reference to pearl, emerald, jasper, and beryl suggests that Augustus is here making fun of some lines, addressed by Maecenas to Horace, in which these jewels are named. The lines are preserved in Isidore of Seville 19. 32. 6. See also Morel, p. 101.

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[ 14] H e once had reason to complain that some cloth of T y n a n purple which he had ordered was too dark. "Hold it up higher," said the tailor, "and look at it from below." This provoked the witty retort: " H a v e I to walk on my roof garden before people at Rome can say that I am well dressed?" [ 1 5 ] He once had occasion too to complain of the forgetfulness of the servant whose duty it was to tell him the names of the persons he met; and so, when the servant asked him whether he had any orders for the Forum, he replied: "Yes, take these letters of introduction; for you know no one there." [ 1 6 ] As a young man he neatly made fun of one Vatinius w h o had become crippled by gout but nevertheless wished it to be thought that he had got rid of the complaint. T h e man was boasting that he could walk a mile; " I can well believe it," said Augustus, "the days are getting somewhat longer." [ 1 7 ] Hearing of the enormous debts, amounting to more than twenty million sesterces, which a certain Roman knight had successfully concealed while he lived, he gave orders that the man's pillow should be bought for him at the sale by auction of the estate, explaining to those who expressed surprise at his order: " T h e pillow must certainly be conducive to sleep, if that man in spite of all his debts could have slept on it." [ 18 ] I must not omit to mention his commendation of Cato. He happened to visit a house in which Cato had lived, and, when Strabo to flatter Augustus spoke slightingly of Cato's obstinacy, he replied: " T o seek to keep the established constitution unchanged argues a good citizen and a good man." And he meant what he said, for in thus praising Cato he also in his own interest discouraged any attempt to change the form of government. [ 19] I always think more of his acceptance of jests made against him than of the jests which he made himself—for the ability to take a joke against oneself is more creditable than a ready wit—especially since he bore with composure some sharp remarks that went even beyond a joke. [20] An unkind quip made by a man from one of the provinces is well known. In appearance he closely resembled the emperor, and on his coming to Rome the likeness attracted general attention. Augustus sent for the man and on seeing him said: "Tell me, young man, was your mother ever in R o m e ? " " N o , " replied the other and,

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not content to leave it at that, added: "But my father was—often." 5 [ 2 1 ] During the triumvirate Augustus wrote some lampoons on Pollio, but Pollio only observed: "For my part I am saying nothing in reply; for it is asking for trouble to write against a man who can write you o f f . " s [22] A certain Curtius, a Roman knight given to good living, was dining with Augustus and, when a skinny thrush was placed before him, asked whether he might let it go (mittere). "Of course you may," said his host. Whereupon Curtius at once "let it go"— through a window. 5 [23] After Augustus, unasked, had paid the debts of a certain senator who was a friend of his (they came to four million sesterces) the only thanks he got was a letter saying: "But you have given me nothing for myself." [24] Whenever he undertook some public works his freedman Licinius used to advance large sums of money, and on one occasion this Licinius, following his usual practice, gave the emperor a promissory draft for a hundred thousand sesterces. N o w in this draft a part of the line drawn over the written sign which represented the amount of the advance extended beyond the writing, thus leaving an empty space below the line,· and Augustus took the opportunity to add to the former entry a second C, with his own hand, carefully filling up the empty space and copying his freedman's handwriting. 7 In this way he doubled the sum contributed. Licinius pretended not to have noticed the addition made to the draft, but afterward, when some other work had been begun, he gently reproached the emperor for what he had done, by presenting him with a draft similarly written and saying as he did so: " T o w a r d the cost of the new work, Sire, I advance—whatever sum you think fit." [25] A s censor, too, Augustus showed a remarkable tolerance which won him high praise. A Roman knight was being reprimanded by him on the ground that he had squandered his property but was able to show publicly that he had in fact increased it. T h e next charge brought against him was failure to comply with the

• John of Salisbury 3. 14 (510a). • I.e., H SC . ' I.e., HSCÜ.

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marriage laws. 8 T o this he replied that he had a w i f e and three children and then added: " I suggest, Sire, that in future, when you have occasion to inquire into the affairs of respectable persons, the inquiry be entrusted to respectable persons." [26] There is, moreover, the story of the soldier from whom he tolerated language which was not only blunt but recklessly rude. While he was staying at a certain country house he spent restless nights, his sleep being broken b y the frequent hooting of an owl. He therefore gave orders f o r the bird to be caught, and a soldier who happened to be an expert fowler brought it to him. T h e man expected to receive a handsome reward, but the emperor only complimented him and ordered him to be given a thousand sesterces. Whereupon the fellow had the audacity to say: "I'd sooner let it live," and let the bird go. It is surely remarkable that Augustus took no offense at this insolence but allowed the soldier to go away unpunished.· [27] A n old soldier w h o found himself in danger of losing an action at law in which he was the defendant accosted the Emperor in a public place with a request that he would appear for him in court. Augustus at once chose one of his suite to act as counsel and introduced the litigant to him. But the soldier, stripping his sleeve and showing his scars, shouted at the top of his voice: " W h e n you were in danger at Actium, I didn't look for a substitute but I fought f o r you in person." T h e emperor blushed, and, fearing to be thought both haughty and ungrateful, appeared in court on the man's behalf. 10 [28] He presented the musicians of the slave dealer Toronius Flaccus with a quantity of corn as a reward f o r the pleasure which they had given him at dinner, although he had shown his appreciation of other such entertainments b v generous gifts of monev. And when, some time later, he asked Toronius to allow them to play again at dinner, the latter excused himself by saying: " T h e y are busy at the mill." [29] Among those w h o welcomed him on his return in state from his victory at Actium was a man with a raven which he had taught to say: "Greetings to Caesar, our victorious commander." 8

Laws to check the prevalence of celibacy. • Cf. John of Salisbury 3. 14 (5091/). 10 Cf. John of Salisbury 3. 14 (510a).

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Augustus was charmed by this compliment and gave the man twenty thousand sesterces f o r the bird. But the bird's trainer had a partner, and, when none of this large sum of money had come his way, he told the Emperor that the man had another raven and suggested that he should be made to produce it as well. T h e bird was produced and repeated the words which it had been taught to say: thev were: "Greetings to Antony, our victorious commander." Augustus, however, instead of being at all angry, simply told the first man to share the money with his mate. [30] He was greeted in a similar w a y b y a parrot, and he ordered that bird to be bought, and a magpie too, which he fancied for the same trick. These examples encouraged a poor cobbler to try to train a raven to repeat a like form of greeting, but the bird remained dumb, and the man, ruined b y the cost incurred, used often to say to it: "Nothing to show f o r the trouble and expense." One day, however, the raven began to repeat its lesson, and Augustus as he was passing heard the greeting. " I get enough of such greetings at home," he replied. But the bird also recalled the words of his master's customary lament and added: "Nothing to show f o r the trouble and expense." This made the Emperor laugh, and he ordered the bird to be bought, giving more f o r it than he had given for anv of the others. 11 [ 3 1 ] As he went down from his residence on the Palatine, a seedy-looking Greek used to o f f e r him a complimentary epigram. This the man did on many occasions without success, and Augustus, seeing him about to do it again, wrote a short epigram in Greek with his own hand and sent it to the fellow as he drew near. T h e Greek read it and praised it, expressing admiration both in words and by his looks. Then, coming up to the imperial chair, he put his hand in a shabby purse and drew out a f e w pence, to give them to the emperor, saying as he did so: " I swear b y thy G o o d Fortune, Augustus, if I had more, I should give you more." There was laughter all round, and Augustus, summoning his steward, ordered him to pay out a hundred thousand sesterces to the Greek. 11

For references to talking birds and to ways of training them to talk, see Pliny Historia naturalis 10. 58-59. 117-120.

CHAPTER 5 [ ι ] Shall I, continued Avienus, go on to tell you of some of the sayings of his daughter Julia? If you won't think me too talkative, I should like to begin with a f e w remarks which throw light on her character, unless, of course, some one of you has something less trivial and more instructive to tell us. All encouraged him to go on, and this is how he began. [2] Julia was thirty-eight and had reached a time of life which, had she been sensible enough, she would have regarded as bordering on old age, but she habitually misused the kindness of her own good fortune and her father's indulgence. Nevertheless, she had a love of letters and a considerable store of learning—not hard to come by in her home—and to these qualities were added a gentle humanity and a kindly disposition, all of which won for her a high regard; although those who were aware of her faults were astonished at the contradiction which her qualities implied. [3] Again and again her father had referred to the extravagance of her dress and the notoriety of her companions and had urged her in language at once tender and grave to show more restraint. But at the same time the sight of his many grandchildren and their likeness to their father, Agrippa, forbade him for very shame's sake to entertain any doubts about his daughter's virtue. [4] And so he flattered himself that her high spirits, even if they gave the impression of a wanton, were in fact blameless, and he ventured to regard her as a latter-day Claudia. 1 Thus it was that he once observed, when talking among some friends, that he had two spoiled daughters to put up with—Rome and Julia. 1

See Ovid Fasti 4. 305-44. Under cover of this story of Claudia Ovid defends the character of Julia, about whom scandal was current when he wrote it (so Hallam in his edition of the Fasti).

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[ 5 ] She came one day into her father's presence wearing a somewhat immodest dress. Augustus was shocked but said nothing. On the next day, to his delight, she wore a different kind of dress and greeted him with studied demureness. Although the day before he had repressed his feelings, he was now unable to contain his pleasure and said: "This dress is much more becoming in the daughter of Augustus." But Julia had an excuse ready and replied: "Yes, for today I am dressed to meet my father's eyes; yesterday it was for my husband's." [6] Here is another well-known saying of hers. At a display of gladiators the contrast between Livia's suite and Julia's had caught the eye, for the former was attended by a number of grown-up men of distinction but the latter was seated surrounded by young people of the fast set. Her father sent Julia a letter of advice, bidding her mark the difference between the behavior of the two chief ladies of Rome, to which she wrote this neat reply: "These friends of mine will be old men too, when I am old." [7] Her hair began to go gray at an early age, and she used secretly to pull the gray hairs out. One day her maids were surprised by the unexpected arrival of her father, who pretended not to see the gray hairs on her women's dresses and talked for some time on other matters. Then, turning the conversation to the subject of age, he asked her whether she would prefer eventually to be gray or bald. She replied that for her part she would rather be gray. " W h y , then," said her father, thus rebuking her deceit, "are these women of yours in such a hurry to make you bald?" [8] Moreover, to a seriousminded friend who was seeking to persuade her that she would be better advised to order her life to conform to her father's simple tastes she replied: "He forgets that he is Caesar, but I remember that I am Caesar's daughter." [9] T o certain persons who knew of her infidelities and were expressing surprise at her children's likeness to her husband Agrippa, since she was so free with her favors, she said: "Passengers are never allowed on board until the hold is full"—[io] a saying not unlike one ascribed to Populia (daughter of Marcus), who, to someone asking in surprise why it was that among the lower animals the female sought to mate with the male only when she wished to conceive, replied: "Becausc they are the lower animals."

CHAPTER 6 f ι ] Let me turn back now from stories of women to stories of men and from risqué jests to seemly humor. T h e lawyer Cascellius had a reputation f o r a remarkably outspoken wit, and here is one of his best known quips. Vatinius had been stoned b y the populace at a gladiatorial show which he was giving, and so he prevailed on the aediles to make a proclamation forbidding the throwing of anything but fruit into the arena. N o w it so happened that Cascellius at that time was asked b y a client to advise whether a fircone was a fruit or not, and his reply was: "If y o u propose to throw one at Vatinius, it is." [2] Then there is the story that, when a merchant asked him how to split a ship with a partner, he replied: "If you split the ship, it will be neither yours nor y o u r partner's." [3] A jest that went the rounds was one directed b y Marcus Lollius at the distinguished speaker Galba, who (as I have already remarked) was hampered b y a bodily deformity: "Galba's intellectual ability is ill housed." [4I T h e same Galba was the victim of a crueler sneer from Orbilius the schoolmaster, when the latter had come into court to give evidence against a defendant. Galba, seeking to disconcert the witness, pretended to be unaware of his profession and asked him: "What's vour j o b ? " T h e reply was: "Currying hunchbacks in the sun." 1 [ 5 ] T o others who used to play at ball with him Gaius Caesar had made a gift of a hundred thousand sesterces, but Lucius Caecilius got only f i f t y thousand. " W h a t is the meaning of this?" said Caecilius, " D o I play with only one hand?" 1

Cf. Suetonius De gramniaticis

9.

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[6] When Publius Clodius told Decimus Laberius that he was angry with him for refusing to produce a mime for him at his request, Laberius said: "What of it? All that you can do is to give me a return passage to Dyrrachium"—a mocking allusion to Gcero's exile.

CHAPTER 7 [ ι ] Reference has been made to Laberius by Aurelius Symmachus a short time ago, and now by me (said Avienus). If, then, I relate some of his sayings and some of those of Publilius, I shall succeed, I think, in suggesting the holiday spirit which the presentation of a mime promises to arouse, without actually introducing the wanton performance at our dinner party. [ 2 ] Laberius was a Roman knight, a blunt and outspoken man, whom Caesar for a fee of five hundred thousand sesterces invited to appear on the stage and act in person in the mimes which it was his practice to write. But an invitation, or indeed a request, if it comes from one whose power is supreme, is in effect compulsion; and so it is that Laberius in a prologue bears witness to the constraint put upon him by Caesar, in these lines: 1 [ 3 ] The Goddess of Necessity—from the shock of whose unexpected course many have sought to escape, and few successfully—to what depths has she thrust me down, now all but at the ending of my life? I, whom no soliciting, no bribe, no threat, no violence, no influence, could ever have moved from my rank when I was young, see how easily I am made to fall from my place now, in my old age, by a man of high position; for all that his thought was kind, and gentle, calm, and flattering his speech. For how could I, mere mortal, have been suffered to say no to him to whom the gods themselves could nought deny? For twice thirty years I have lived without reproach and left my household gods today a Roman knight; I shall return home—a mime. In very truth, today I have lived a day too long. Fortune, who dost ever lack restraint, in good and ill 1

Ribbeck, II, 359. See also Aulus Gellius 8. i j .

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alike, if it was thy pleasure to make renown in letters the means to destroy the full-blown flower of my good name, why didst thou not bend me, to my ruin, when I might yet be bent, when my limbs were lusty and strong, and I might have pleased the people, and even such a man as he is? Dost thou cast me down now? And to what end? What am I to bring to the stage? A handsome face? A dignified presence? A brave spirit? A pleasant-sounding voice? No! As the twining ivy strangles the strength of the tree, old age and the embrace of the years destroy me. Like a tomb, I have a name and nothing more. [4] In the course of his acting too, he continually would take his revenge, however he could. Dressed as Syrus, whom he represented as flogged by whips and beating a hasty retreat, he would cry: On, Citizens of Rome, we lose our liberty 2 and shortly afterward came the line: Many he needs must fear whom many fear.8 [5] And at those last words the audience as one man turned and looked at Caesar, thus indicating that this scathing gibe was an attack on his despotism. It was for this reason that Caesar transferred his patronage to Publilius. [6] This Publilius was by birth a Syrian, and as a boy he had been brought to his master's patron, whose favor he won as much by his wit and intelligence as by his good looks. For the patron one day happened to see a slave of his who suffered from dropsy lying on the ground and angrily asked what the fellow was doing in the sun: "Warming the water," replied Publilius. On another occasion, when various answers were being given to a question asked in jest at dinner— what was meant by the expression "troublesome idleness,"4 Publilius said: "Gout in the feet." [7] And for these and other witty remarks he was given his freedom and a careful education. When he came to compose mimes, he began his career as an actor in the towns of Italy, where he won remarkable popularity, and, coming from there to Rome during games given 2

Ribbeck, II, 361. Ibid. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 14 (7726). Molestimi otium: perhaps Catullus 5 1 . 1 3 (otiitm, Catulle, tibi molestumrt) was being discussed. 3

4

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bv Caesar, he challenged all the playwrights of the time to a competition on themes proposed by each in turn to suit the occasion. All accepted the challenge, and all were defeated by him, among them Laberius. [8] Whereupon Caesar pleasantly remarked: In spite of my support, Laberius, Syrus has beaten you and straightaway gave Publilius the palm, presenting Laberius with the gold ring of knighthood and five hundred thousand sesterces. Then, as Laberius withdrew, Publilius said to him: I pray you support from your seat in the stalls the man you opposed when you wrote for the stage. [9] In the first public contest that followed, Laberius introduced the following lines into a new mime: 5 All cannot always be first; when you have reached the highest rank of fame, you will find it hard to keep your place and you will fall more quickly than you could climb. I have had my day and fallen, and my successor too will fall; for there are no rights of property in popularity. [10] A number of neat maxims of Publilius are current, all of them very well suited to the general circumstances of life. Here are just a few which occur to me; they are in the form of single lines: · [ 1 1 ] A gift worthily bestowed is a gift to the giver. What can't be changed must be borne, not blamed. One who is allowed more than is fair wants more than he is allowed. On a journey the merry talk of a companion is as good as a lift. Thrift is unpleasant, but it is well spoken of. The tears of an heir are a mask to hide a grin. Patience too often abused turns to anger. You cannot fairly blame Neptune if you suffer shipwreck twice. Too much wrangling and the truth is lost sight of. A quick refusal of a request is half a kindness done.

» Ribbeck, II, 361. • Aulus Gellius 17. 14. See also Duff, Minor Latin Poets. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 14 (jjib).

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Treat a man as friend, but remember that he may one day be a foe. T o put up with an old wrong may be to invite a new one. You never defeat danger by refusing to face danger. [ 1 2 ] Having once begun to talk about the stage, I must not omit to mention Pylades, a famous actor in the time of Augustus, and his pupil Hylas, who proceeded under his instruction to become his equal and his rival. [ 1 3 ] On the question of the respective merits of these two actors popular opinion was divided. Hylas one day was performing a dramatic dance the closing theme of which was The Great Agamemnon, and by his gestures he represented his subject as a man of mighty stature. This was more than Pylades could stand, and from his seat in the pit he shouted: " Y o u are making him merely tall, not great." [14] T h e populace then made Pylades perform the same dance himself, and, when he came to the point at which he had found fault with the other's performance, he gave the representation of a man deep in thought, on the ground that nothing became a great commander better than to take thought f o r all. [ 1 5 ] On another occasion, when Hylas was dancing Oedipus, Pylades criticized him f o r moving with more assurance than a blind man could have shown, by calling out: " Y o u are using your eyes." [16] Once, when Pylades had come on to dance Hercules the Madman, some of the spectators thought that he was not keeping to action suited to the stage. Whereupon he took off his mask and turned on his critics with the words: "Fools, my dancing is intended to represent a madman." 7 [ 1 7 ] It was in this play too, the Hercules Furens, that he shot arrows at the spectators. And when, in the course of playing the same part in a command performance at a banquet given by Augustus, he bent his bow and discharged arrows, the Emperor showed no annoyance at receiving the same treatment from the actor as had the populace of Rome. [ i 8 ] He was said to have introduced a new and elegant style of dancing in place of the clumsy fashion popular in the time of 7

C f . Lucían Of Pantomime, 83.

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our ancestors, and, when asked by Augustus what contribution he had made to the art of dancing, he replied, in the words of Homer: The sound of flutes and pipes, and the voices of men. [Iliad 10. 13] [19] Moreover, when the popular disturbances caused by the rivalry between him and Hylas brought on him the displeasure of Augustus, he retorted: "And you, Sire, are ungrateful, for you would do well to let the populace busy themselves with our affairs."

CHAPTER 8 [ ι ] While all were praising Avienus for his fertile memory and pleasant wit—since his discourse had delighted the company—a servant brought in the dessert. [2] Varrò, said Flavianus, in that agreeable Menippean satire of his called You Never Can Tell What the Evening Has in Store for You, banned sweet cakes from the second course, but I take it that many disagree with him in this. However, please give us his actual words, Caecina, if, thanks to that remarkably retentive memory of yours, they have stuck there. [3] The passage of Varrò which you bid me quote, replied Albinus, runs something like this:1 "Those sweetmeats (bellaria) are sweetest which are not made sweet with honey, since sweet cakes make an untrustworthy alliance with one's digestion." But, as a matter of fact, the term bellaria covers every kind of dessert, for this was the name given by our ancestors to what the Greeks called "sweet cakes" (πέμματα) or "sweetmeats" (τραγήματα); indeed in the older comedies you will find the word applied to the sweeter kinds of wine as well, and they are referred to as "Liber's sweetmeats" (Liberi bellaria). [4] Come, cried Evangelus, before it is time for us to leave the table, let us fill every glass. Thus we shall be following the authority of Plato's ruling, for he held that the firing of a man's mind and body with wine served as a kind of tinder to kindle his intelligence and powers.2 [5] What! replied Eustathius, do you suppose that Plato advocated the indiscriminate drinking of wine? Is it not truer to say that he did not disapprove of the pleasanter and more generous 1 1

Au]us Gellius 13. 11. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 7 (734J). Aulus Gellius 15. 2. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 10 (•jqyb-c).

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

incitement which, under the control of some temperate arbiter, so to speak, or ruler of the feast, accompanies small draughts? This is what—in the first and second books of his work On the Laws3—he decides is not without its use for men. [6] For, in his opinion, periods of relaxation spent, with moderation and decency, in drinking refreshed and restored the spirits for a return to the duties of a sober life; and, after being gently made merrier men became the better able to renew their efforts. And at the same time he held that any deep-seated faults of inclination or desirefaults such as otherwise, through shame or shyness, a man would conceal—were all disclosed without grave risk by the candor which wine induces and became more amenable to correction and cure. [7] In the same passage Plato also says that one should not seek to avoid such opportunities to practice resistance to the power of wine and that no man has ever been thought, with even reasonable certainty, to be wholly self-restrained and sober, unless his life has been tested by exposure to the actual dangers of going astray amidst the allurements of sensual pleasures. [8] For when all the pleasurable attractions of a banquet are unknown to a man and when he is wholly without experience of them, then, if perhaps inclination has led him, or chance has brought him, or necessity has compelled him, to participate in such pleasures, he presently falls a victim to their charms and his mind and resolution give way. [9] W e must therefore meet the adversary and, as though in battle, come to grips with such pleasures and with that license which wine may provoke—to win protection against them, not by fleeing or absenting ourselves from them but by strength of mind and a firm self-control, preserving our sobriety and restraint by moderation in use, and at the same time (by warming and refreshing our spirits) washing away, as it were, any chilly gloominess or tongue-tied bashfulness that we may feel. [10] W e have been speaking of pleasures, and Aristotle teaches us what pleasures we should be on our guard against. For man has five senses, called in Greek αισθήσεις, namely, touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing, and they are, it seems, the channels 3 Plato Leges 637, 641, 652, 666, and 6 7 1 . Sec also A . E. T a y l o r ' s translation, Introduction, pp. xxiii and x x i v .

BOOK Ζ, CHAPTER 8

through which he seeks pleasure of mind or body. 4 [ 11 ] Immoderate pleasure derived from any of these senses is base and blameworthy, but excessive pleasure derived from taste and touch (two pleasures which are as alike as twins) is, in the opinion of philosophers, of all things the most disgraceful. Those who yielded to these two pleasures were, above all other men, called by the Greeks άκρατεις or άκόλαστοι, terms which import the gravest of faults; and such men are described by us as "incontinent" or "intemperate." [ 1 2 ] N o w these two pleasures, the pleasure of taste and the pleasure of touch, that is to say, indulgence in food and drink and indulgence in sexual intercourse, are the only pleasures which we find common to man and the lower animals, so that whoever is the slave of these animal pleasures is regarded as ranking with the brutes and beasts. The other pleasures, that is, those which proceed from the other three senses, are peculiar to man alone. [ 1 3 ] T o let you know what the celebrated and renowned philosopher Aristotle thinks of these disreputable pleasures, I shall quote his words on the subject.5 [14] W h y are men called incontinent if they indulge to excess in the pleasure of touch or of taste? For those who are intemperate in sexual intercourse are such, and so too are those who are intemperate in the enjoyment of eating and drinking. In the enjoyment of eating and drinking the pleasure is partly in the tongue and partly in the throat (and that is why Philoxenos used to pray to have a throat as long as a crane's). Or is it because we share the pleasures derived from these two senses with all other living creatures—and being so shared submission to them is disgraceful—that we straightway censure and call incontinent and intemperate the man who is a slave to them, because he is a slave to the worst pleasures? And, although there are five senses, living creatures other than man feel pleasure in only the two we have mentioned, and in the other senses they either feel no pleasure at all or the pleasure they feel is incidental. [ 1 5 ] Who, then, having any human decency, would take de4 5

Aulus Gellius 19. 2. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 8 (738d). Froblemata 28. 7. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 8 (738d).

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

light in these two pleasures—the pleasure of sexual intercourse and the pleasure of eating and drinking—which man shares with the pig and the ass? [ 16] Socrates, indeed, used to say that many men wish to live in order to eat and drink, but that he drank and ate in order to live. And Hippocrates, a man of almost more than human knowledge, used to hold of sexual intercourse that it partook of the nature of that hideous disease which we call the "assembly disease";· for his actual words are handed down: "Coition" (he said) "is a mild attack of epilepsy." 7 [The rest of the proceedings of the first day are missing.] * Morbus comitialis (epilepsy), so called because its occurrence on the day of the comitia put an end to proceedings. 7 Cf. Democritus Β 32 (Diels).

the SAtußmliA · Book 3 [The third Book contains all that remains of the conversation at the house of Nicomachus Flavianus (i. 24. 25) on the second day of the Saturnalia. The beginning of the book has been lost and there is a gap between Chapters 12 and 13. Chapters 1 to 12 are part of the discourse by Praetextatus on Vergil's knowledge of pontifical law, to which reference is made in 1. 24. 16, Eustathius having previously spoken of Vergil's knowledge of astronomy and philosophy (1. 24. 18 and 21; and 5. 2. 1) and Flavianus of Vergil's knowledge of augural law (1. 24. 17; and 1. 24. 21). The after-dinner conversation of the second day follows Chapter 12, but it is clear from the reference in section 16 of Chapter 13 to some earlier remarks made by Horus that the beginning of this conversation has also been lost.]

CHAPTER ι [ 1 ] [Aeneas,] knowing that he had been defiled by all that bloodshed, says: Father, take in thy hand the sacred vessels and our country's household gods, since for me, coming fresh from such fierce fighting and so much bloodshed, it would be a sin to handle them until I have purified myself by washing in a running stream. [Aeneid 2. 717] [2] After the burial of his nurse Caieta, too, the landfall which Aeneas wishes to make, in preference to any other, is the place where The lovely stream of the Tiber rushes forth into the sea [Aeneid 7. 30] to the end that, forthwith, on the very threshold of Italy he mav \vash in running water and so in perfect purity pray

IÇO

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T o Jupiter and the Phrygian Mother in order due. [Aeneid 7. 139] [3] Again, note that he goes by ship, by w a v of the Tiber, to visit Evander; for, since he was to find him sacrificing to Hercules, he would thus have been purified and able to take part in the rites which his host was celebrating. [4] And this is w h y Juno too, for her part, complained not so much that Aeneas had succeeded in reaching Italy against her will but rather that he had won. T h e longed-for channel of the Tiber [Aeneid 7. 303] for she knew that, purified by this river, he could duly offer sacrifice even to her—and even prayers would have been unwelcome to her from him. [ 5 ] W e have indicated Vergil's exact observance of the method of purification proper to the worship of the gods above. Let us see now whether the poet has also shown a like observance of the customary practice proper to the worship of the gods below. [6] It is well known that, when sacrifice is to be made to the gods above, purification is effected by ablution of the body, but aspersion alone is deemed to be enough when an acceptable offering is to be made to the gods of the lower world. And so it is that in connection with worship of the gods above Aeneas uses the words: Until I have purified myself by washing in a running stream. [Aeneid 2. 719] [7] But, on the other hand, when Dido is preparing to sacrifice to the gods bclows, she says: Dear nurse, fetch me Anna my sister hither; bid her hasten to sprinkle her body with water from a stream. [Aeneid 4. 634] And elsewhere, of Dido, the poet writes: Waters too she had sprinkled, feigned to be from the fount of Avernus. [Aeneid 4. 512] [8] Moreover, when Vergil tells of the funeral rites of Misenus, he says: [Corynaeus] too, carrying pure water, thrice encircled his comrades, sprinkling them with a light dew. [Aeneid 6. 229]

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And so also, when he represents Aeneas as about to dedicate the golden bough to Proserpine in the nether world, the poet tells how: Aeneas gains the entrance and sprinkles his body with fresh water. [Aeneid 6. 635]

CHAPTER 2 [ ι ] Our poet so habitually uses the proper word that such exactitude of observance ceases to be a ground for praising him, but it is worth noting that this propriety of usage is nowhere more in evidence than in his use of words that relate to religious rites or to sacrifices. [2] I shall refer first to a word which misleads very many. In the line I will place (porriciam) the entrails as an offering on the salt waves [Aeneid 5. 237] note that the word is not proiciam, as some would read, who suppose that Vergil said that the entrails were to be "cast forth" because the words "on the waves" follow. Certainly not; [ 3 ] for we learn from the teaching of the soothsayers and the precepts of the pontiffs that this word, porricere, is regularly used of those who offer a sacrifice. Veranius, for example, has commented thus on the word, with reference to a passage from the first book of Fabius Pictor: "Let the entrails be placed as an offering (porriciunto), let them be given to the gods, on altar or place of offering or hearth or wherever the entrails should be so given." [4] In connection with a sacrifice, then, the appropriate word is porricere, "to place as an offering," not proicere, "to cast forth"; and, since Veranius has said: "On place of offering or hearth or wherever the entrails should be given," the sea is to be taken to be "the place of offering and hearth" when a sacrifice is offered to the gods of the sea. [5] For, as you will remember, the whole passage runs as follows: Ye gods who rule the sea, over whose waters I pass, gladly will I set before •vour altars on this shore a snow-white bull,1

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if ye will bind me to my vow; and I will place the entrails as an offering on the salt waves and pour forth flowing wine. [Aeneid 5. 235] From this passage, then, it is clear that the entrails could properly be said to have been "placed as an offering" (porrici)— not "cast forth" (protei)— on the sea. [6] When, in the passage which I have just quoted, Vergil says: "I will set before your altars a snow-white bull, if ye bind me to my vow," the phrase "bind me to my vow" (voti reus) is a phrase proper to religious ceremonies; for one who binds himself to the supernatural powers by the making of a vow is said to be thus answerable for his vow, and one who at length, having obtained his request, pays his promised vow is said to have been "condemned" (damnatus) to fulfill it. But there is no need for me to enlarge on this point, since our learned friend Eustathius has dealt with it fully a short time ago.1 [7] The depth of our poet's knowledge is often revealed by a single word, which the unlearned would suppose to be a chance expression. Thus we read in many places that it is impossible to make an acceptable offering to the gods by prayer alone but that he who makes prayer to the gods must also lay hold of the altar with his hands. [8] That is why Varrò, in the fifth Book of his Religious Antiquities, says that the word for altars (arae) was originally asae, since those who were offering a sacrifice had to lay hold of them, and it is obvious that it is by the handles (ansae) that vessels are usually held. It was by the change of a letter then— a change like that by which the Valesii and Fusii of former times have become the Valerii and Furii of today—that we began to speak of arae.2 [9] Vergil has brought all this out in the lines: As with such words he prayed, clasping the altars, the Almighty heard him [Aeneid 4. 219] for the point of the additional phrase lies in the fact that the suppliant was heard not simply because he was praying but because he was also clasping the altars. So, too, in the line:

1 In the earlier part of the book, n o w lost. * Intervocalic " s " in Latin became " r " b y the process called "rhotacism."

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With such words he was praying and clasping the altars [Aeneid 6. 124] and again in the line: I touch the altars, the fires that burn between us, and the mediating powers, I adjure [Aeneid 6. 124] the poet indicates, by his reference to the laying hold of the altars, that herein lies the significance of the word (arae). [10] And indeed the depth of Vergil's knowledge was matched by the charm of his genius, for he expressed the meaning of some ancient words which he knew to have particular reference to religious ritual in such a way that, although the sound of the expression was different, the connotation was preserved. [ 1 1 ] For example, in Fabius Pictor (in the first Book of his Pontifical Law) we come across the word vitulari.3 Commenting on the meaning of this word, Titius said: "Vitulari is to use the voice to express joy"; and Varrò in the fifteenth Book of his Religious Antiquities says: "Inasmuch as the pontiff in certain sacred rites is wont to utter a joyful chant (vitulari), and this is what the Greeks call 'chanting a paean' (παίανίζειν). " [12] Vergil's learning and taste, however, expressed this complicated explanation in a few words, thus: Chanting in chorus a joyful paean (laetumque choro paeana canentes) [Aeneid 6. 657] for if vitulari means "to use the voice to express joy" and if to do this is "to chant a paean," then the expression "to chant a joyful paean" has preserved the full meaning of the word vitulari [ 1 3 ] Let us pause a little longer over this word. Hyllus, in his book On the Gods, says that the goddess of joy is called Vitula·, [14] and Piso says that Vitula is the name given to Victory, the alleged proof being the fact that on the day after the Nones of July the people of Rome, who had been routed by the Etruscans on the day before—which is the reason why that day is called Populifugia, or "Rout of the People"—were successful, and to commemorate the victory there are certain prescribed sacrifices

3

The word is found in Naevius (Warmington, II, 126), Ennius (Warmington, I, 238), Plautus (Persa 254) and Varrò (De lingua Latina VII. 107). 4 The word vitulari could not be used in hexameter verse.

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5

and a vitulatio. [ 1 5 ] Some suppose that the name of the goddess (Vitula) is understood to indicate that she has power to sustain life (vita)·, and so sacrifices are said to be offered to her for the fruits of the earth, since it is by these fruits that human life is sustained. And how do we come to understand this? Because in saying: When I offer sacrifice with a heifer (vitula) for the fruits of the earth, come yourself [Eclogues 3. 77] Vergil is using the word vitula to suggest vitulatio, the term which denotes (as I have already explained) a sacrifice made as an indication of joy. [16] But we must remember to read vitula (the ablative case)8—"when I offer sacrifice with a heifer for the fruits of the earth, that is to say, when I perform the rite, not with a sheep or with a she-goat, but with a heifer; for what Vergil is saying is "when I shall have sacrificed a heifer (vitulam) for the fruits of the earth," and this is equivalent to saying "when I shall have performed the rite with a heifer." 7 [17] That Vergil invested Aeneas with the dignity of a pontiff is shown by the very word used for the recital of his hero's woes. For to the pontiffs was given the authority to record events on tablets, and these records, as compiled by the chief pontiffs (a po?itificibus maximis), are known as the "chief records" (Annales Maximi). That is why the poet puts into the mouth of Aeneas the words: And if there is leisure for thee to hear the records (annales) of such great woes. [Aeneid 1. 373] 5 See Fowler, Festivals, p. 179. See also Nettleship, Essays in Latin Literature, p. 298. • There was also a reading vitulam. ' The word vitula would convey the accessory suggestion, "and with a cry of joy" (vitulatione).

CHAPTER 3 [ ι ] Among the decrees of the pontiffs we meet the terms sacer, profanus, sanctus, and religiosus, and we often have occasion to ask what each means. W e must inquire therefore whether Vergil has used these terms in accordance with their definitions and has, as usual, observed the proper signification of each.1 [2] According to Trebatius, in the first Book of his work On Matters of Religion, the term sacer [sacred or holy] is applied to everything that is associated with the gods; and, with this definition in mind, Vergil, when he used the word, almost always added a reference to the gods concerned, thus: I was performing the sacred rites of my mother, the daughter of Dione, and of the other gods [Aeneid 3. 19] so too: The sacred rites of Stygian Jove which, duly begun, I was preparing [Aeneid 4. 638] and: T o thee, even to thee, most mighty Juno, he sacrifices with sacred rites. [Aeneid 8. 84] [ 3 ] As for the term profanus, there is almost universal agreement that it is applied to something which is outside the service of a hallowed place, being, moreover, as it were, unassociated with the hallowed place (porro a fano) and its cult. The poet gave an example of this meaning of the word when, speaking of a grove and of the entrance to the world below (each being a "holy" place), he said: 1

F o r legal definitions of the terms sacer, sanctus and religiosus

3-8 (Justinian Institutiones

1. 7 - 1 0 ) . See also F o w l e r , Essays,

7-24.

see G a i u s 2.

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"Away, away, unhallowed ones," cries the prophetess, "and withdraw from all the grove." [Aeneid 6. 258] [4] And there is a further point, for Trebatius says that the term is properly applied to something which is converted from a religious or sacred use to serve the needs, and become the property, of men, a meaning very clearly preserved by the poet when he says: "Pity me, Faunus, I pray," he said, "and thou most kindly Earth, keep fast the steel, if I have always held your service hallowed, even as the followers of Aeneas, in other wise, have profaned it by war" [Aeneid 12. 777] for Vergil had just described how The Trojans had destroyed the holy tree trunk, careless of its sanctity [ Aeneid 12. 770] and in this way he showed that a thing which—although originally holy—had been made to serve the common use of man is properly described as "profaned." [5] As regards the word sanctus, Trebatius in the tenth Book of his work On Matters of Religion says that it is sometimes synnonymous with sacer or with religiosus, but that at other times its meaning differs from the meaning of either of these two words. [6] It is in this second sense that Vergil uses the word in the line: A stainless (sancta) spirit will I go down to you, and guiltless of that reproach [Aeneid 12. 648] for the spirit of Turnus was not connected with anything sacer or religiosus, but the poet sought to represent it as stainless, that is to say, unsullied, the meaning which he also gives the word in the line: And thou, my stainless spouse, happy in thy death [Aeneid 11. 158] lines in which Evander paid homage to the unsullied chastity of his wife. 2 And that, too, is why laws are said to be sanctae, because they should not need to be, as it were, sullied by the imposition of a penal sanction. 2 See A . R. Burn, The Romans in Britain (Oxford, 1932), p. 165, f o r a tombstone at Carvoran (Northumberland) inscribed: coniugi sanctissimae quae z-ixit amis xxxiii sine ulla macula (CIL V I I , 1 1 1 3 ) .

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[7] As an example of the former of the two definitions of the term sanctus, which makes it equivalent to sacer or religiosus, consider the passage which begins: For lo! a flickering cone of flame seemed to shed a gleam from the crown of the head of lulus and, shortly after, goes on: But we in startled fear make trembling haste to shake out the flame from the hair and to quench with water the sacred fire (sanctos ignes). [Aeneid 2. 682] For in this passage the divine origin of the fire will require us to take the epithet sanctus applied to it as having the same meaning as sacer. And so, too, when Vergil says: And thou, most holy (sanctissima) prophetess, with thy foreknowledge of things to come [Aeneid 6. 65] he is in fact addressing the sibyl as sacra, because she is a prophetess and inspired by a god, and a priestess. [8] It remains for us to consult Vergil about his use of the word religiosus.3 Servius Sulpicius has told us that the word religio implies the removal and withdrawal of something from us by reason of some inherent sanctity, as if the word religio were derived from relinquere, in the sense of "to leave alone," as caerimonia [a holy dread] is from car ere [to be cut off from]. [9] In conformity with this definition Vergil says: Near the cool stream of Caere is a vast grove, held sacred far and wide by the reverence (religione) of our fathers and then, to bring out the proper sense of the word religio, he has added: Hollow hills on all sides shut it in, and a forest of black pines surrounds it so that the grove was certainly withdrawn from communion with men; and to show that it was not only by reason of the difficulty of access that the place was "left alone," the poet has gone on to refer to its sanctity as well: Tradition tells that the old Pelasgians consecrated the grove to Silvanus, the god of fields and flocks. [Aeneid 8. 597] [10] According to Pompeius Festus the term religiosi is applied to those whose duty it is to decide what things should be done and what left undone. That is why Vergil says: 3

C f . A u l u s G e l l ius 4. 9.

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T o clear out a watercourse no religious ban forbids [Georgics i. 269] and by "clear out" (deducere) he means "scour" {detergere), for on holy days it is permissible to scour old and choked-up channels but not to dig new ones. [ 1 1 ] Here, in passing, we should also note the following point which the poet himself has made, as though casually, by the force of a single word. For there are as a rule two reasons for dipping sheep—either to cure mange or to clean the wool—and so the pontifical law provides that on holy days sheep may not be dipped for the latter reason, although it is permissible to dip them on such days, if the aim is to effect a cure—[12] that being the reason why Vergil has included sheep dipping in a list of tasks permitted on holy days, in the line: T o dip the bleating flock in the health-giving stream [Georgics 1. 272] for had he said simply "to dip the bleating flock in the stream," he would be making no distinction between what is permitted and what is forbidden, but by adding the epithet "health-giving" he has indicated the grounds on which the dipping is allowed.4 4

C f . ι . 7. 8 a n d 1. 16. 12, above.

CHAPTER 4 [ ι ] It is also a duty of the pontiffs to make known the names which properly belong to sacred places. Let us ask, then, what particular meaning they give to delubrum [shrine], and how Vergil has used the word. [2] In the eighth Book of his Religious Antiquities Varrò says that some regard as a delubrum an open space outside a temple and devoted to the service of a god (as, for example, the place consecrated to Jupiter Stator in the Flaminian Circus) but that others apply the term to the place in which a statue of a god has been dedicated, adding that, just as the object which held a candle (candela) would be called a candelabrum, so the place which housed a god (deus) would be called a delubrum. [3] From these statements of Varro's we may understand that, according to his usual custom, his preference was for the definition which he mentioned last and that a delubrum has come to be so called from the dedication of a statue of a god. [4] Vergil, nevertheless, has been careful to use the word in both senses, for —to take the latter explanation first—whenever he has occasion to use the word delubrum, he has taken care to bring in the actual names of deities or to refer to things associated with deities. Thus he says: But the pair of serpents glide away in flight to the topmost shrines adding, so as then to mention the statue of the deity by name: And make for the citadel of cruel Tritonis, and hide beneath the feet of the goddess and under the circle of her shield. [Aeneid 2. 225] And so too he says:

BOOK 3 , CHAPTER 4

20I

We, poor fools, for that was our last day, adorn the shrines of the gods. [Aeneid 2. 248] [5] But the poet has not overlooked Varro's first suggestion, namely, that the word refers to an open space outside a temple, for example in the line: First they approach the shrines and seek to obtain grace at every altar [Aeneid 4. 56] and after that comes the line: or in the presence of the gods she moves (spatiatur) beside the rich altars [Aeneid 4. 62] where, clearly, the word spatiatur suggests movement in a wide open space (spatium), and the further reference to altars shows that this open space was a place devoted to the service of the gods. Thus Vergil, as is his custom and as though accidentally, brings out in full the hidden meanings of the word. [6] Again, there are found in Vergil's work careful and exact references to the penates, who are peculiarly the gods of the Roman people. Nigidius in the nineteenth Book of his treatise On the Gods raises the question whether the penates are not the Apollo and Neptune of the Trojans, the gods who are said to have built the walls of Troy and whether they were not brought to Italy by Aeneas. The same view about the penates is held by Cornelius Labeo too, and Vergil is following it, when he says: So saying he slew at the altars the offerings due; to Neptune a bull, and a bull, fair Apollo, to thee. [Aeneid 3. 118] [7] Varrò, in the second Book of his Antiquities of Man, relates that the penates were brought by Dardanus from Samothrace to Phrygia and by Aeneas from Phrygia to Italy, but he does not tell us in that book who the penates are. [8] However, some who delve more diligently for truth have said that the penates are the gods to whom we owe the breath within us (penitus) and by whom we possess our bodies and our power of thought: namely, Jupiter (the middle ether), Juno (the lowest air and the earth) and Minerva (the highest part of the ether); and by way of proof they state that Tarquinius the son of Demaratus of Corinth, after initiation into the religious mysteries of

202

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Samothrace, brought all these above-named deities together into one temple, under one roof. [9] Cassius Hemina says that the gods of Samothrace and the Roman penates who are identified with them are properly styled (in Greek) Great (μεγάλοι) Gods, Good (χρηστοί) Gods, and Mighty (δυνατοί) Gods. Our poet, knowing this, says: W i t h my comrades and my son and with the penates, even the Great Gods [Aeneid 3. 12] thus expressing the Greek style μεγάλοι. [10] Furthermore, in a reference to one of the above-named deities Vergil preserves all three of these Greek names, thus making clear beyond all doubt what he wishes to teach us about the whole of this belief; for when he says: Great is Juno: make first your prayer to her divinity [Aeneid 3. 437] he has given her the style μεγάλη ; when he says: Let Bacchus who gives joy be present, and the Good G o d dess, Juno [Aeneid 1. 734] she is χρηστή; and when he says: And [Juno], the mighty queen [Aeneid 3. 438] she is δυνατή. [ 11 ] Vergil has applied this last epithet, "mighty," to Vesta, too, w h o is manifestly one of the penates, or certainly associated with them (so much so, that consuls and praetors, or dictators, when they enter on office, sacrifice at Lavinium to the penates and to Vesta together). [12] And the poet, after saying by the mouth of Hector, T r o y entrusts to thee the objects of her worship and her penates has then added: W i t h these words he brings forth in his hands from the inmost sanctuary the image of mighty Vesta, wearing her fillets, and the undying fire. [Aeneid 2. 293] [13] Moreover, Hyginus in his book Concerning the penates has given this further information: that the penates are called in Greek "Gods of the Fatherland" (πατρώοι). This style also Vergil has not left unrecognized, for he makes Anchises say:

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Gods of my country (putrii), preserve my house, preserve my grandchild [Aeneid z. 702] and elsewhere the poet speaks of Our country's penates. [Aeneid 2. 717]

CHAPTER 5 [ ι ] Vergil shows that he is as careful and accurate in his accounts of sacrificial practice as he is in theological knowledge, for his poetry contains references to each of the two kinds of sacrificial victims which Trebatius mentions in his exposition of the subject in the first Book of his work On Matters of Religion: namely, victims which serve to discover the will of a god by the state of their entrails,1 and victims of which only the life {anima) is consecrated to a god, the latter kind being in consequence called by the soothsayers "animales." [2] In the first place, then, the following lines refer to the kind of victim which reveals the will of heaven by means of its entrails: She slays ewes duly chosen [Aeneid 4. 57] and then: Gazing eagerly into the opened breasts of the beasts, she consults the entrails yet quivering with life. [Aeneid 4. 63] [3] As an example of the second kind of victims, which is called animalis because only its anima is consecrated to a god, Vergil makes the victorious Entellus slay a bull as a sacrifice to Eryx; and to explain fully the nature of the offering of a life he has used the actual word anima, in the line: This is a better life that I duly pay to thee, Eryx, in place of the death of Dares. [Aeneid 5. 483] Furthermore, to mark that a vow had been publicly made, Vergil uses the word persolvo (that is to say, the word properly used in connection with the fulfillment of a vow); and, to show 1 Hostiae consxdtatoriae.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 5

205

that it is to a god that the vow has been paid, he has marked the offering up of the anima by saying: Down sinks the bull, and, lifeless {exanimis), it lies quivering on the ground. [Aeneid 5. 481] [4] We should consider too whether there is not a reference to the hostia animalis in the following passage as well: With the blood of a maiden slain ye appeased the winds when first ye came, O Greeks, to the shores of Troy; with blood must your return be sought; and to be favorable the sacrifice demands an Argive live (anima litandum) [Aeneid 2. 116] for the poet has used the words anima, thus indicating the kind of victim, and litare, which means to appease a deity by an acceptable sacrifice. [5] Among sacrificial victims, whether only the life is offered to a god or whether the purpose of the sacrifice is to ascertain a god's will, there are some which are known as iniuges, that is to say, beasts which have never been tamed or accustomed to bear the yoke (iugum) ; and these too our poet has in mind when he says: Now it were better to slay in sacrifice seven bullocks from an untamed herd, and as many ewes duly chosen [Aeneid 6. 38] and to bring out more clearly that the victims are iniuges he has written [in another passage]: And as many bullocks with necks untamed. [Georgics 4. 540 and 551] [6] Again, the word eximius, used in connection with sacrifices, is not a mere poetical epithet but a technical term employed by the priests; for Veranius in his Questions Touching the Procedure of the Pontiffs tells us that those victims are said to be eximiae which are such as to be chosen (eximantur) from a herd and marked out for sacrifice, or such as to be selected, by reason of their choice (eximia) beauty, as fit for offering to the divine powers. Hence the line which runs: Pick four choice bulls of peerless beauty of body [Georgics 4. 538] in which the poet by calling the bulls "choice" has shown that

206

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

they are being "chosen" from the herd and, by his reference to this "peerless beauty of body" has pointed to the reason for this selection as an offering. [7] According to Pompeius Festus the victim which a religious rite requires to be led round the fields (arva) by those who are offering a sacrifice for the fruits of the earth is called ambarvalis. There is a reference to this sacrifice in the Bucolics, when Vergil, speaking of the deification of Daphnis, says: These honors shall ever be thine, both when we pay our accustomed vows to the Nymphs and when we go in procession round the fields [Eclogues 5. 74] for lustrare here means to go round in a ceremonial procession, and the origin of the name given to the victim is clearly derived from this procession round the fields (ambiendis arvis). So, too, in the first Book of the Georgics we find the line: And for good luck let the victim thrice encircle the young crops. [Georgics 1. 345] [8] It has always been the practice at a sacrifice to remove any victim that struggled violently on being led to the altar and showed reluctance to approach it, on the ground that such an offering was deemed to be unwelcome to the god. If, however, the victim stood quietly at the altar, the offering was held to be acceptable to the deity; and that is why Vergil says: And led by the horn the he-goat consecrated to the God shall stand at the altar [Georgics 2. 395] and, elsewhere: I will make a bullock with gilded forehead to stand before the altar. [Aeneid 9. 627] [9] So convinced was Vergil that the whole duty of man toward the gods consists in the offering of sacrifices to them that he has called Mezentius a "despiser of the gods" 1 on account of his refusal to offer sacrifices. For the man was not so described (as Asper thinks) because he showed a lack of respect for the gods by his disregard of his duty to his fellow men, otherwise the poet would have been much more likely to have spoken thus of Busiris, to whom (though crueler far than Mezentius) he thought it enough 1

Aeneid

7. 648.

BOOK 3 , CHAPTER 5

207

to apply the term "unpraised."s [10] But the true reason for this epithet, which so strongly suggests arrogance, will be found by a careful reader in the first Book of Cato's Origins, where the writer says that Mezentius ordered the Rutulians to offer to him the first fruits which it was their custom to offer to the gods and that all the Latins, from fear of receiving a like command, prayed to Jupiter, saying: "If it is more to thy mind that we make these offerings to thee rather than to Mezentius, grant us the victory." [ 1 1 ] It is, then, because he had claimed for himself honors that belonged to the gods that Mezentius has deservedly been called by Vergil a "despiser of the gods." Hence, too, the scornful language of Aeneas, speaking in duty bound and as if a priest: These are the spoils and first fruits taken from a haughty king [Aeneid n . 15] for he used with reference to the spoils taken from Mezentius the words—first fruits—that recalled the arrogance for which the man had paid the penalty. ' Georgia 3. j (see 6. 7. 16, below).

CHAPTER 6 [ ι ] We cannot but wonder at the learning which Vergil shows in connection both with our own religious rites and with those of other countries. It is, for example, not without reason that no victim was slain by Aeneas on his arrival at Delos and that it was only when he was leaving the island that he sacrificed to Apollo and to Neptune; [2] for it is well known, as Cloatius Verus explains in the second Book of his Word Lists, that there is at Delos an altar at which the god is worshiped only with a ritual prayer, and no victim is slain. The words of Cloatius run as follows: " A t Delos there is an altar to Apollo the Father (Γενέτωρ); at it no living creature is sacrificed and they say that Pythagoras reverenced it as undefiled." [3] It is at this altar of Apollo the Father, then, that Aeneas worships, for the poet represents him entering the temple as a pontiff and straightway beginning his prayer, without any preliminary sacrifice. And to bring out more clearly that the god is "The Father," Vergil makes Aeneas say: Grant, Father, an omen. [Aeneid 3. 89] [4] But when Aeneas afterward 1 sacrifices a bull to Apollo and to Neptune, we understand that the rite is performed at quite another altar, for in the former passage the god is called, simply, "Father" (and rightly, since that is his proper style there) but below he is addressed by his common name, "Apollo." [5] Varrò, too, makes mention of this altar, for in his work Catus: On the Brmging-up of Childreti2 he says: "The nurse would perform all these rites with an offering of sacred boughs and to the sound of trumpets, but—as 1 1

Aeneid 3. 119. Cf. Aulus Gellius 4. 19.

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at the altar of Apollo the Father (Genetivus), at Delos—without the sacrifice of a victim." [6] In the same passage Vergil has spoken of the temple as built "of ancient stone,"* and I think we should certainly ask why he has done so. Velius Longus says: "This is an example of the transferred epithet, for what the poet means to say is that the temple is ancient," and many other commentators have followed him, but such reference to the age of the temple is somewhat pointless. [7] Epaphus, however, a man of wide reading, says, in his seventeenth Book, that once upon a time the temple at Delphi, which had hitherto been regarded with religious reverence, and unviolated, was plundered and burned; and he goes on to relate that, although many towns in the neighborhood of Corinth, and some nearby islands, were engulfed by an earthquake, Delos never suffered any such disaster, before or since, but the stones of its buildings remained intact. [8] Thucydides, too, in the Third [recte Second] book of his History has the same thing to tell of Delos.4 It is not surprising, then, that Vergil, when indicating the abiding security which the island enjoyed under the protection of its sanctity, says that the lasting durability of the stone (that is to say, of the island) has for him added to the awe which the place inspired. [9] Just as Vergil observed the proper style of Apollo the Father, by addressing him as "Pater," so he has shown the same care with regard to Hercules, by calling him "Victor," in the line: "This," said he, "is the threshold which the victor Hercules stooped to pass." [Aeneid 8. 362] [10] Varrò in the fourth Book of his Religious Antiquities holds that Hercules is called "Victor" because he was victorious over every kind of living creature. Now there are two temples of Hercules the Victor at Rome (one by the Three Arch Gate and the other in the Cattle Market), [ 1 1 ] and Masurius Sabinus in the second Book of his Memorabilia gives a different explanation of the origin of the name. "Marcus Octavius Herrenus," he says, "in his early youth was a flute player but afterward, mistrusting his skill, became a successful merchant and dedicated a tenth of his profits to Hercules. Later, in the course of a voyage at sea, which 3

Aeneid * 2. 8.

3. 84.

2 IO

MACROBILS: THE SATURNALIA

he was making on a like understanding with the god, he was attacked by pirates but defended himself most gallantly and came off victorious. He was warned, however, by Hercules in a dream that he owed his preservation to the god, and he therefore acquired a site from the magistrates and consecrated a temple to Hercules, with a statue bearing an inscription 'The Victor,' thus applying to the god a title intended both to recall the ancient victories of Hercules and to commemorate the recent event which led to the erection of the new shrine at Rome." [12] Earlier in the same passage of Vergil is the line: And the Pinarian house, the guardian of the rites of Hercules. [Aeneid 8. 270] T h e line is not without point; for some say that the Ara Maxima was saved by the Pinarii when it was in danger of being burned by a fire that broke out in the neighborhood, and that this is w h y Vergil has described the Pinarian house as the guardian of these rites. [13] Asper, however, says that Vergil is marking the distinction between this family and the Potitii, who for a bribe from Appius Claudius handed over the rites to public slaves. [14] But Veranius in his Questions Touching the Trocedure of the Pojitiffs, in the book which deals with religious solemnities, says that because the Pinarii came very late to a sacrificial banquet—when the meal had been eaten and the banqueters were already washing their hands—Hercules gave orders that in future neither they nor their descendants should taste of the tithe to be assigned to him but should come to the ceremony only to serve and not to share in the feast; and that it is for this reason that the Pinarii are called the guardians of the rites, in the sense that they are servants (ministri) at them.5 [15] This, too, is the sense in which Vergil has used the word custos in the line: But all the while Trivia's sentinel (custos), Opis, sits on the hills [Aeneid 11. 836J where unless, herself which 5

the word implies that Opis is Trivia's attendant (ministra) ; perhaps, Vergil has called her custos because she has kept aloof and apart from the rites of the goddess, a meaning he gives to the word elsewhere, when he says:

Cf. L i v y ι, 7. See also Conington's note on Aeneid

8. 270.

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2II

And let Priapus of the Hellespont, the guardian (custos) against thieves and birds, with his willow pruning hook, keep and protect them [Georgics 4. n o ] for here, clearly, the poet means by custos the one who keeps away birds and thieves. [16] In the following passage: With these words he orders the repast, and the cups that had been removed, to be replaced, and himself arranges the warriors on the grassy seat [Aeneid 8. 175] the use of the word "seat" is not without its special significance; for the practice proper to the rites of Hercules is to eat the sacrificial meal sitting, not reclining, and Cornelius Balbus in the eighteenth Book of his hiterpretations says that it was the practice not to hold a lectisternium [at which the image of a god would be represented reclining on a couch] at the Ara Maxima. [ 1 7 ] It is also the regular observance at that place for all to offer sacrifice with the head bare, to the end that in the temple of Hercules no one should imitate the garb of the god, who is represented there with his head veiled. Varrò says that this observance is a Greek custom, because either Hercules himself or those who were left behind by him and built the Ara Maxima sacrificed with the head bare after the Greek usage. And Gavius Bassus adds that this observance is accounted for by the fact that the Ara Maxima was set up before the arrival in Italy of Aeneas, who introduced the practice of veiling the head.· * See Aeneid 3. 405. Cf. H. J. Rose, The Roman Questions of Plutarch (Oxford, 1924), pp. 31, 173-74.

CHAPTER 7 [ ι ] There are passages too in Vergil which the ordinary reader passes over carelessly, although they have a depth of hidden meaning. Thus, when he was speaking of Pollio's child, the poet introduced a reference to Augustus in the lines: But of himself the ram in the meadows shall change the color of his fleece, now for sweetly-blushing purple, now for yellow saffron [Eclogues 4. 43 ] [ 2 ] For it is handed down in the books of the Etruscans that, if a ram present an unusual color, it is an omen of general prosperity for the ruler. And in this connection you must know that there is a volume of Tarquitius, copied from an Etruscan Book of Portents, which contains these words: " A sheep or a ram with purple or golden markings presages for the leader of a class and of a race the greatest prosperity and an access of wealth; the race prolongs its generations in splendor and brings them greater happiness." Such then was the happy lot which the poet, in passing, foretells for the emperor in those lines. [3] And here too we may mark what deep significance Vergil can give to single words borrowed from a religious rite: The Fates laid their hands [on Halaesus] and doomed him to fall by the weapons of Evander [Aeneid 10. 419] for whatever has been devoted to the gods is said to be sacer [doomed]; but, since a life cannot pass to the gods unless it has been set free from the burden of the body and since this can be effected only by death, Vergil fittingly represents Halaesus as sacrcttus, because he is about to meet his death. [4] And in this line the poet has used language proper to both the human and the divine law; for by his reference to the laying on of hands (maims iniectio) he indicated, so to speak, a claim to property under the

BOOK 3 , CHAPTER 7

civil law (mancipium), and by his use of a word suggesting devotion to a god he complied fully with the practice of the divine law. [5] It seems appropriate at this point to refer to the position of human beings declared by the laws to be devoted {sacri) to certain gods; for I am well aware that some persons find it surprising that, although it is an offense against the laws of religion to lay violent hands on all other devoted objects, a man so devoted may lawfully be killed. The reason is this. [6] The men of old allowed no animal, thus devoted, to remain within their borders, but they used to drive it away to the precincts of the gods to whom it was devoted; but, on the other hand, they held that the lives of human beings, thus devoted, (called by the Greeks Ζανες 1 ) were a debt due to the gods. [7] Consequently, just as they did not hesitate to drive away a devoted animal which could not be actually dispatched by them to the gods, so—holding that a human life thus devoted could be dispatched to heaven—they resolved that such lives should go there as soon as possible by being separated from their bodies. [8] Trebatius, too, discusses this custom in the ninth Book of his work On Matters of Religion, but, not to be tedious, I have refrained from citing his actual words; for, if any one wishes to read them, the reference which I have given to the author and the number of the roll will give him the particulars he needs. 1 Macrobius may perhaps have had in mind the statues at Olympia known as Ζάνες. According to Pausanias (5. 21. 2) these were images of Zeus made from fines imposed on athletes who had broken the rules of the Games.

CHAPTER 8 [ ι ] W e sometimes impair the worth of a passage which illustrates the wide range of Vergil's knowledge by a wrong reading. Thus there are some who (where Aeneas is telling of his escape from T r o y under the guidance of his mother, Venus) read: I depart and under the guidance of the goddess [Venus] make my way through fire and foe [Aeneid 2. 632] although the poet said ducente deo [under the god's guidance] not ducente dea and showed thereby how great was his learning; [2] for according to Aterianus 1 we should read, too, in a poem of Calvus: "Venus the powerful god" (not "goddess"). Moreover, there is in Cyprus a bearded statue of the goddess with female clothing but with male attributes, so that it would seem that the deity is both male and female. [3] Aristophanes also calls her "Aphroditus"; and in Laevinus the descriptive adjective is in the masculine gender, when he says: "Therefore worshiping Venus the giver of life (ahnum), whether the deity is female or male—even as is the life-giving deity that shines bv night." Philochorus, too, in his Atthis says that Venus is the moon and that men offer sacrifice to the moon dressed as women, and women dressed as men, because the moon is thought to be both male and female. [4] Here, too, is a line which indicates Vergil's knowledge of matters that relate to religion: The bird fell dead, and left its life among the stars of the sky [Aeneid 5. 517] for Hyginus in his book On the Nature and Attributes of the Gods, speaking of the constellations and stars, said that it was fitting to sacrifice birds to them. Our poet's learning is evident, then, from 1

See Nettleship. "The Ancient Commentators on Virgil" (Conington's Virgil, I); and Baehrens, p. 321.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 8

his statement that the life of the bird remained with the deities to whom it had been given as an acceptable offering. [5] Even a name which could have been introduced casually is not allowed to lose its peculiar significance; as, for example, when Vergil writes: He called her by the name of her mother Casmilla, partly changing it to Camilla [Aeneid 11. 542] [6] for Statius Tullianus in the first Book of his work On the Names of Things says that, according to Callimachus, the Etruscans call Mercury "Camillus" and mean by that name "the Attendant of the Gods." That is why (he adds) Vergil made Metabus call his daughter Camilla, because she was an attendant of Diana; [7] for Pacuvius too, speaking of Medea, said: Attendant (camilla) of the Gods of Heaven, long-awaited thou dost come. Welcome, friend. [Warmington, II, 256] Moreover, at Rome the boys and girls, of noble birth and under the age of puberty, who serve as attendants of the flamens and their wives are called camilli and camillae. [8] W e should also note the following passage as an example of the poet's regard for the exact meaning of a word: There was a custom in Hesperian Latium and the Alban cities in succession kept up the observance of it, as sacred; and Rome, mistress of the world, observes it today. [Aeneid 7. 601] [9] Varrò in his treatise On Customs says that the essence of a custom (mos) is a decision of the mind which is such as duly to become a regular practice, and Julius [recte Pompeius] F es tus 1 in the thirteenth Book of his work On the Meaning of Words says: " A custom is an institution of our fathers which has to do with the religious beliefs and rites of our ancestors." [ 10] Vergil, then, has followed both authorities. First, Varrò (who had said that the custom comes first and the practice follows it), for after the words "There was a custom" he has gone on to say, "and the Alban cities in succession kept up the observance of it" and "Rome, mistress of the world, observes it today," [ 1 1 ] thus indicating the continuity of the practice. And then, since Festus says that custom has to do with religious rites, Vergil has brought out this point as well by the addition of the word sacer, when he says: "And the Alban cities in succession kept up the observance of the custom, * Festus, pp. 146-47.

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as sacred." [ 1 2 ] He has made the custom, therefore, come first and the observance of the custom, that is to say, the practice, follow, and so he fulfilled Varro's definition. Next, by the addition of the word sacer, he showed further that, as Festus maintained, a custom is concerned with religious rites. [ 1 3 ] T h e same exactness is also to be found in the twelfth Book of the Aeneid, when Vergil says: I will add besides a custom and the forms of sacred rites [Aeneid 12. 836] words which show clearly that "custom" is identified with "forms of sacred rites." [14] But, what is more, the poet has also been historically correct in those lines which tell of "a custom in Hesperian Latium," for he has observed the sequence of the ruling powers, since the Latins were the first to rule there, then the Albans, and then the Romans. That is w h y he began b y saying, "There was a custom in Hesperian Latium," then went on to say, "and the Alban cities in succession kept up the observance of it as sacred," and after that added, "and Rome, mistress of the world, observes it today."

CHAPTER 9 [ ι ] Take the lines which run: Gone forth are all the gods by whose aid this realm once stood; and they have forsaken their shrines and altars. [Aeneid i. 351] The reference here is to a Roman custom of the greatest antiquity and to rites of the greatest secrecy. [2] For it is well known that every city is under the protection of some deity, and it is an established fact that it was the custom of the Romans (a secret custom and one that is unknown to many) by means of a prescribed formula to call forth the tutelary deities of an enemy city which they were besieging and now felt confident of being able to take; either because they believed that unless they did so the city could not be taken after all or rather because, were the capture possible, they held it to be an offense against the divine law to make prisoners of gods. [3] That is why the Romans, for their part, were careful to see to it that the tutelary god of the city of Rome and the Latin name of the city should not be known. [4] However, the name of the tutelary god of Rome is given in a number of books by old writers (although these writers do not agree among themselves what the name is), and so students of antiquity are acquainted with all the theories about it. For some have believed the tutelary deity to be Jupiter, others the moon; some have said that it is Angerona (who is represented with a finger to her lips as though enjoining silence) ; others again—and it seems to me that there are stronger grounds for believing them— that it is Ops Consivia. [5] But even the most learned of men do not know the name of the city, for the Romans took care that an enemy should not do to them what, as they well knew, they had

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often done to enemy cities and call forth the divine protector of Rome, if the name were revealed.1 [6] We must be careful to make a distinction which some have failed to make, who have erroneously supposed that a single formula is used both to call forth the gods from a city and to devote the city itself to destruction. I have found each of the two formulas in the fifth Book of the Secret World (Res Reconditae) of Sammonicus Serenus, who claimed to have come across them in a very old book by one Furius.* [7] The formula to call forth the gods of a besieged city runs as follows: " T o any god, to any goddess, under whose protection are the people and state of Carthage, and chiefly to thee who art charged with the protection of this city and people, I make prayer and do reverence and ask grace of you all, that ye abandon the people and state of Carthage, forsake their places, temples, shrines, and city, and depart therefrom; [8] and that upon that people and state ye bring fear and terror and oblivion; that once put forth ye come to Rome, to me and to mine; and that our places, temples, shrines, and city may be more acceptable and pleasing to you; and that ye take me and the Roman people and my soldiers under your charge; that we may know and understand the same. If ye shall so have done, I vow to you temples and solemn games." [9] With those words victims are to be sacrificed, and the import of the entrails examined to see if they indicate a fulfillment of the above. Cities and armies, on the other hand, are thus devoted to destruction after the protecting deities have been called forth, but only dictators and supreme commanders have the power to use the formula. It runs as follows: [10] "Father Dis, Veiovis, and ye spirits of the world below, or by what other name ye should be called, do all of you fill with panic and fear and terror that city of Carthage and the army whereof it is my purpose now to speak, and those who shall bear arms and weapons against our legions and army; take away and deprive of the light of day that army, those enemies, those people, their cities and lands, and those who dwell in these places and parts, fields and cities; and the army of the enemy, the cities and fields of those of whom it is my purpose now to speak; hold devoted and doomed those cities 1

1

See Plutarch

Quaestiones Romame ái.

See Fraenkel, Horace, p. 237.

BOOK 3 , CHAPTER Ç

and fields, the lives, of whatever age, of those people, in accordance with the terms whereby at any time enemies are most surely devoted; [ 11 ] and I for myself, by my honor and in virtue of my office, on behalf of the Roman people, our armies and legions, give and devote them in our place; so that ye allow me, and my honor and authority, our legions and army, who are herein engaged, to be well and safe. This if ye shall so have done that I may know, perceive, and understand the same, then, whoever shall have made this vow, wherever he shall have made it, let it have been rightly made with three black sheep. O Mother Earth, and thee, Jupiter, I call to witness." [ 1 2 ] When the speaker says "Earth," he touches the ground with his hands; when he says "Jupiter," he raises his hands to heaven; when he speaks of the taking of the vow, he touches his breast with his hands. [ 13 ] I have found in old historical works that the following towns were thus "devoted": Stonii, Fregellae, Gabii, Veii, and Fidenae, all in Italy; and also Carthage and Corinth, as well as many enemy armies and towns of Gauls, Spaniards, Africans, Moors, and other peoples of whom the ancient annals speak. [14] It was, then, just such a calling forth and departure of deities that Vergil had in mind, in the line: Gone forth are all the gods and they have forsaken their shrines and altars [Aeneid 2. 351] and it was to show that they were the tutelary gods of T r o y that he added: The gods, by whose aid this realm once stood. [Aeneid 2. 352] [15] In addition to thus referring to the practice of calling forth the gods the poet—to show the effect of the rite of "devotion" (in which, as we have said, the invocation is addressed specially to Jupiter)—he also says: Jupiter is cruel and has removed all to Argos. [Aeneid 2. 326] [16] May I hope, then, said Praetextatus, that I have made it clear to you all that to understand the depths of meaning in Vergil calls for a knowledge of both the divine and the civil law?

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[ ι ] Hereupon all the others were unanimous in asserting that Vergil and his interpreter, as men of learning, were equally matched. But Evangelus exclaimed that he had long since come to the end of his patience and could no longer hide his feelings nor refrain from disclosing the scars of ignorance on the body of Vergil's work. [2] I too, he said, have at times "slipped my hand from under the cane"; 1 I too have attended lectures on pontifical law and from what I know of this law I shall establish Vergil's ignorance of its teaching. [3] Is it likely that he would say: On the shore I was slaying a bull in sacrifice to the king of the gods of heaven [Aeneid 3. 2 1 ] if he knew that it was forbidden to sacrifice a bull to this god, or if he had learned what Ateius Capito has to say on the subject in the first Book of his work On the Law of Sacrifices, where you find the words: "And so it is not lawful to offer sacrifice to Jupiter with a bull, a boar, or a ram," [4] and, indeed, when Labeo (in his sixty-eighth Book) comes to the conclusion that a bull is sacrificed only to Neptune, Apollo and Mars? So you see that your pontiff-poet doesn't know what sacrifices should be made at what altars—something perfectly well known even to sacristans and clearly stated in the carefully compiled works of our ancestors. [ 5 ] You have only to consult Vergil, replied Praetextatus with a a smile, and he will tell you himself to which of the gods a bull is sacrificed: A bull to Neptune, a bull to thee, fair Apollo. [Aeneid 3. 119I [6] There, you see, you have Labeo's own words in the poet's own work. In short, just as this last passage displays Vergil's learning, so the former indicates his subtlety; for he shows that the sacrifice 1

Cf. Juvenal 1. i j .

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to which you have referred was not acceptable to Jupiter, and there follows in consequence: A portent horrible to tell of and astonishing to see. [Aeneid 3. 26] [ 7 ] Vergil, then, was looking forward to what was to come when he represented Aeneas as sacrificing a victim unsuited to the occasion. But he knew too that the mistake was not without remedy, for Ateius Capito (with whom you have confronted Vergil, as though in battle), after the words which you have quoted, has gone on to say: "If any, by chance, shall have sacrificed to Jupiter with a bull, let him offer a sacrifice of appeasement." What Aeneas did, then, was an act contrary to prescribed custom but not beyond the possibility of atonement, and in making him do it Vergil acted, not from ignorance, but to prepare the way for the portent that was to follow.

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[ ι ] If, retorted Evangelus, the breach of a rule is justified by the event, perhaps you will be good enough to tell me also what portent Vergil intended should follow when, contrary to all the usages of religion, he bade a libation of wine be made to Ceres, saying: For Ceres mix thou the honeycombs with milk and soft wine. [Georgia i. 344] [2] Plautus should have taught him that such libations are not made to Ceres, for in his Aulularia he says: "Are these people going to celebrate the marriage of Ceres, Strobilus?" "Why do you ask?" "Because I see no wine has been brought in." 1 [ 3 ] But this poet of yours—flamen, pontiff, and anything else you like— knows no more about libations than he does about sacrifices; and not to deviate everywhere into a comparable error on the subject of libations, he says in the eighth Book of the Aeneid: Joyfully they pour a libation on the table and pray to the gods [Aeneid 8. 279] although, by custom, the libation should have been poured not on the table but on the altar. [4] I will deal with your second point first, said Praetextatus. I admit that you have grounds for questioning the pouring of a libation on a table; and you would have added to the apparent difficulty, had you chosen to refer to Vergil's reference to a similar act by Dido in the line: 1

Plautus Aulularia 354. In line 354 Macrobius reads hi; but the received rext reads has (i.e. "Is this a marriage of Ceres that they are going to celebrate?"). In the next line Macrobius reads video, the received text intellego.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER I I

"3

She spoke and on the table poured an offering of flowing wine [Aeneid i. 736] [ 5 ] for even Tertius, in his long discourse on sacred rites, says that this passage seems to him to raise a difficult question and that he has found no explanation to satisfy the doubts which he feels about it. However, with my reading to instruct me, and I will tell you what I have discovered, for it is clearly declared in the Papirian legal code that a table which has been dedicated can serve the purposes of an altar. [6] The words are as follows: "As, for example, in the temple of Juno Populonia there is a sacred table." For in shrines some things are classed as implements and sacred furnishings, other things as ornaments. Things classed as implements are regarded as by way of being instruments—that is to say, they are the things which are always used in the offering of sacrifices, and of these a table on which are placed the meat, drink, and gifts for the gods is reckoned to be the most important. But shields, crowns, and similar votive offerings are classed as ornaments, for these are not dedicated at the same time as the temple is consecrated. The table, on the other hand, and the small altars are usually dedicated on the same day as the temple itself; so that a table dedicated at this rite mav be used in a temple as an altar and has the same sanctity as, for example, a sacred couch. [7] And so, then, the libation made at Evander's feast was made as prescribed by law; for it was made at the table which had been dedicated, together with the Ara Maxima, in accordance with customary religious usage; it was made, too, in a consecrated grove and in the course of the ceremonies at a sacred banquet. On the other hand, at Dido's banquet, which assuredly was no more than a royal feast, and not a religious occasion as well, the libation was made at a table designed for human use, in a banqueting hall and not in a temple; and, since Dido's libation was not a religious but a discretionary act, Vergil represented it as made by the queen alone, as one whose person was bound to the observance of no obligatory rites but was free and able to adopt what procedure she pleased. [8] Of Evander's libation, however, Vergil said: "All joyfully pour a libation on the table and pray to the gods," because he was telling of an act which, as he knew, was being performed in a prescribed manner by a whole company feasting together in a holy place and sitting at one consecrated table.

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[9] As for that other line to which you have referred—"For Ceres mix thou the honeycombs with milk and soft wine"—here your charge is unfounded and a few words will suffice for me to refute it. The poet is in fact seeking to combine learned subject matter with neatness of expression; and so, knowing that libations of honey wine are offered to Ceres, in adding the words "mix thou the honeycombs with soft wine," he is in effect saying that wine grows soft when it begins to be made into honey wine. [10] For he has called the wine "soft" in this passage, just as elsewhere he speaks of wine as "mellowed"; that is to say, in the line: Able to mellow the harsh flavor of the wine. [Georgics 4. 102] Moreover, it is well known, as you will agree, that on the twelfth day before the Kalends of January sacrifice is made to Hercules and Ceres with a gravid sow and with loaves of bread and with honey wine.

CHAPTER

i2

[ ι ] Upon my word, Praetextatus, said Evangelus, your reference to Hercules is to the point, since this poet of yours is doubly in error in the account he gives of the rites in honor of that god; for he says: Then the Salii, poplar sprays on their brows, stand round the kindled altars to sing [Aeneid 8. 285] since here he has assigned the Salii to Hercules, although ancient tradition has dedicated them only to the service of Mars; and he also speaks of poplar leaves, although at the Ara Maxima heads are crowned with laurel alone and with no other leaves. [2] We see, too, the City praetor wearing a laurel wreath on his head when he sacrifices to Hercules; and Terentius Varrò, in his satire The Thunderbolt, witnesses to the fact that our ancestors used to vow a tenth to Hercules and not let ten days pass "without holding a sacrificial banquet and sending the people home to bed after a free dinner, crowned with laurel." [3] Really? said Vettius, Doubly in error? For my part I maintain that Vergil is at fault on neither point. To take first the question of the kind of leaves: it is, of course, agreed that today those who offer sacrifices at the Ara Maxima wear wreaths of laurel, but this practice had its origin long after the foundation of Rome and dates from the time when the laurel first began to grow on the Aventine, as Varrò informs us in the second Book of his Antiquities of Man. [4] The laurel happened by chance to be close at hand and was picked from the adjoining hill for the use of those taking part in the sacred ceremonies. That is why Vergil was right, in looking back to those days before the founding of the city, to make

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Evander, when celebrating the rites at the Ara Maxima, use the poplar, which is certainly the tree "most dear to Alcides." 1 [ 5 ] As for the Salii, Vettius continued, in assigning them to Hercules Vergil shows the wealth and depth of his learning, for the pontiffs too identify Hercules with Mars. [6] And indeed this identification is supported by Varro's Menippean satire This Other Hercules, in which the author, speaking of Hercules One of Many 2 has shown that this god and Mars are one and the same. T h e star, too, which is known to all other peoples as the star of Mars is called by the Chaldeans the star of Hercules. [7] Furthermore, Octavius Hersennius, in his book entitled On the Rites of the Salii of Tibur, explains that the Salii were instituted for the service of Hercules and, after the taking of auspices, perform rites in his honor on certain fixed days. [8] Antonius Gnipho s also, a learned man whose lectures Cicero used to attend when his work in court was over, proves that the Salii were assigned to Hercules; the reference will be found in the roll in which the writer discusses the meaning of the word festra (a small opening in a shrine), a word which has been used by Ennius too.4 [9] Both of the alleged errors have, I believe, now been refuted by competent authorities and by sound arguments. If there are any other passages in Vergil which trouble us, let us declare them, so that, by bringing them together for our joint consideration, we may dispose of mistakes which will prove to be ours, not Vergil's. [10] But has it never occurred to you, Praetextatus, replied Evangelus, that Vergil is, as they say, "miles out of his course" in his account of Dido's marriage sacrifice? For first he says: She slays ewes duly chosen for sacrifice to Ceres the lawgiver, to Phoebus and to father Lvaeus and then, as though after waking up, he has added: Before all to Juno, for hers is the care of the marriage tie.5 [Aeneid 4. 57] 1

Eclogues 7. 61. Reading (with the MSS.) de Multo Hercule; edd.: de Invicto Hercule. See ι. 20. 6 above. ' Suetonius De grammaticis 7. 4 Warmmgton, I, $63. 5 See Nettleship, Essays in Latin Literature, p. 127. The reply of Praetextatus has been lost, and the beginning of the after-dinner conversation as well, as appears from the reference in 13. 16, below, to an earlier remark made by Horas. 1

C H A P T E R 13 [ ι ] Let me tell you, too, [said Caecina Albinus 1 ] what Marcus Varrò has to say in the third Book of his treatise On Agriculture, where he is speaking of the rearing of peacocks on a country estate: "Quintus Hortensius is said to have been the first to serve peacocks at an augural banquet, an act which was described at the time by respectable citizens as suggesting extravagance rather than a proper austerity; but many have been quick to follow the precedent and have so raised the price of these birds that their eggs are sold for five denarii apiece and the birds themselves easily fetch fifty." 2 [2] It is surely remarkable, and even shameful, for peacocks' eggs to be sold for five denarii each, since (so far from being cheaper today) there is now no market for them at all. [ 3 ] This was the Hortensius who used to irrigate his plane trees with wine,' and so diligently too that, in the course of a case in which he was engaged in court with Cicero, he earnestly begged the latter to agree to exchange the order of speaking, on the ground that he wished to leave for his country house at Tusculum on a matter of urgent importance—namely, personally to treat with wine a plane tree which he had planted there. [4] But, perhaps, to take Hortensius as a typical representative of his generation is not enough to establish my point, since the man was in other respects, on his own showing, a fop who regarded the orderly arrangement of his clothing as the one test of elegance. For 4 he was neat and careful in his dress and before going out he 1 Caecina is replying to some remark, now lost, by Horus on the luxury of the time. See section 16, below, and (for Horus' asceticism) 7. 13. 17. 2 Varrò De re rustica 3. 6. 3 Cf. Ovid Remedia Amoris 141: plat anus vino gaudet. See also Pliny Historia naturalis 12. 4. 8: docuimusque etiam arbores (sc. platanos) vina potare. 4 Cf. Aulus Gellius 1. j. See also John of Salisbury 8. 12 (j6oc-d).

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used to study his appearance in a looking glass to ensure that his toga sat well. 5 He would put it on before the glass in such a way that the folds, instead of falling casually into place, were deliberately and artistically gathered into a knot, and the upper part of the garment was so arranged as to mold itself, as it fell, to the shape of his body. [5] One day, when he was making his stately progress, carefully dressed for all to see, a colleague accidentally brushed against him in a narrow place and damaged the set of his toga. Whereupon he brought an action for insulting behavior, since the disarrangement of a single fold on his shoulder was to his mind a mortal affront. [6] So much then for Hortensius. I come now to the conquering heroes who overcame nations only to be overcome themselves by luxury. Of Gurges, who devoured his patrimony and so got his name, I shall say nothing, because the worthy and distinguished deeds of his later years atoned for his earlier faults. But I would refer to the depths of extravagance and pride to which Metellus Pius was brought by a series of successes; and, to be brief, here is what Sallust actually has to say about him: [7] " A year later Metellus returned in triumph to Further Spain, men and women flocking from all sides and thronging all the streets and roofs to see him. The quaestor, Gaius Urbinus, and others, knowing his tastes, used to invite him to a banquet and lavish attentions on him which went beyond anything customary at Rome or indeed anywhere else in the world. The house would be adorned with tapestries and with decorations of honor; a stage would be prepared for a display by actors; [8] and the floor too would be sprinkled with saffron and in other ways suggest a temple of great renown. Moreover, on his arrival he used to be greeted with incense, as if a god, and, as he took his place at table, an image of Victory, let down on a rope, would place a garland on his head to the accompaniment of noise contrived to resemble thunder. [9] Reclining at table he would usually wear the embroidered robe [of a general celebrating a triumph]; and the food would be of the most exquisite kinds, brought from all parts of the province and from beyond the seas as well, including many kinds of birds and beasts from Mauretania 8 For the becoming arrangement of the toga, see Quintilian 11. 3. 137-44. For a reference to the preparation of the garment for use, see Tertullian De pallio 5. ι.

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hitherto unknown. In this way he lost no small part of the high reputation which he had won, especially among the older men and men of upright character, who regarded such behavior as arrogant, intolerable, and unworthy of the imperial dignity of Rome." Such was the rebuke pronounced by Sallust, that austere critic and censor of another's extravagance. [10] You must understand that extravagant profusion was found among the highest dignitaries, for I would remind you of a pontifical banquet of early times, of which the following account is given in the fourth Register of the famous Metellus, chief pontiff: [ 1 1 ] "On the ninth day before the Kalends of September, the day on which Lentulus was installed as flamen of Mars, the house was decorated and couches of ivory were arranged in the banqueting room. On two of the couches the pontiffs took their places; namely, Quintus Catulus, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Decimus Silanus, Gaius Caesar . . . the Chief Priest (rex sacrorum), Publius Scaevola, Sextus . . . Quintus Cornelius, Publius Volumnius, Publius Albinovanus, and Lucius Julius Caesar (the augur who performed the ceremony of installation). On the third couch were the Vestal Virgins Popilia, Perpennia, Licinia, and Arruntia, Publicia (the wife of Lentulus the flamen), and Sempronia, his mother-in-law. [12] There were served,' for the preliminary service, sea urchins, unlimited raw oysters, scallops, cockles, thrushes on asparagus, fattened fowls, a dish of oysters and scallops, acorn fish (both black and white), then another service of cockles, mussels, sea nettles, figpeckers, haunches of venison and boar, fattened fowls cooked in pastry, more figpeckers, murex, and purple fish. For the main dishes were served sow's udders, boar's head, stewed fish, stewed sow's udders, ducks, boiled teal, hares, fattened fowls roasted, creamed wheat, and rolls of Picenum." [ 1 3 ] With a pontiff's table loaded with all those delicacies one would suppose that no charge of extravagance would thereafter any longer lie. But is it not enough to make one blush even to speak of the kinds of food indulged in? For [Gaius] Titius speaking in support of the Fannian Law reproached his contemporaries with serving at table a dish which they used to call the "Trojan pig," because the pig was full of other creatures shut up inside it, just 0

John of Salisbury 8. 7 (735c).

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as the famous Trojan Horse was full of armed men.7 [14] Such unrestrained gluttony gave rise also to a demand for cramming hares and evidence of this practice is to be found in the third Book of Varrò On Agriculture, where, speaking of hares, he says: "It has become the practice of late to cram them, the creatures being taken from the preserves, placed in hutches, and fattened by being kept in a confined space." 8 [ 1 5 ] And if anyone feels surprise at what Varrò has to say about the cramming of hares in those days, here is something which he would find more surprising still—the cramming of snails. It is referred to by Varrò in the same book, and, should one wish to read the actual words, I have shown him where to look for them.· [16] You must not suppose, my friends, that in all this I am saying that we are better than the men of old, or even worthy to be compared with them. I have simply been replying to the criticism which Horus made, for I maintain, what is indeed a fact, that those earlier generations took more thought for such pleasures than we do. 7

Cf. Athenaeus 4. 119b. See also Petronius Satyricon 40 and 49. Varrò De re rustica 3. 12; John of Salisbury 8. 7 (jióa-b). ' Varrò De re rustica 3. 14. Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 82. 173. 8

CHAPTER

14

[ ι J I am surprised, interposed Furius Albinus (whose knowledge of antiquity was not inferior to Caecina's), I am surprised that you have not referred to the extent to which those earlier generations used to draw on the resources of the sea for their plentiful supplies of food, since by so doing you would show how very modest our banquets are. I suggest, replied Caecina, that you proceed to give us the benefit of the results of your reading on this subject, since for things that relate to bygone days your memory is more than a match for anybody's. [2] We ought indeed (began Furius), if we are wise, always to feel respect for those bygone days, because it is to them that the generations belong of the men who won this empire for us by their blood and sweat—clear evidence this of a wealth of virtues. But it must be confessed that with all their abundant virtues those times had their faults as well, some of which have been corrected by the sober habits of our age. [3] I had intended to speak of the extravagance of that time in connection with the bounty of the sea, but, since a number of points suggest themselves for consideration in turn, to support my claim that our manners show an improvement on the manners of our predecessors, I propose to defer a discussion of fish—although I shall return to it—while I remind you of another form of self-indulgence from which we are free today. [4] You compare us unfavorably with the men of old, Horus, but, tell me, at whose dinner party do you remember having seen of late a woman or a man dancing? And yet among our predecessors even persons of distinction vied with one another in their enthu-

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

siasm f o r the dance. 1 F o r in the period between the [Second and T h i r d ] Punic wars (to go back to a time when moral standards w e r e of the highest) y o u will find that youths of good family, and indeed sons of senators, used to attend the dancing school and there learn to dance with castanets. [ 5 ] T h e r e is the further fact, though I do not press it, that even Roman matrons saw nothing unbecoming in dancing, but the most respectable of them w e n t in f o r it, provided only that it was not taken so seriously as to make professional excellence the aim. Y o u will remember, of course, what Sallust says of Sempronia, that "she played the lute and danced more gracefully than a respectable w o m a n need" *—words in which he censures the lady not because she knew how to dance but because she was such a v e r y good dancer. [6] H o w e v e r , w e certainly k n o w that the sons and—though I am shocked to say so— the unmarried daughters, too, of noble families regarded the practice of dancing as one of their necessary accomplishments, our evidence being the speech of Scipio Africanus Aemilianus against the judiciary law of Tiberius Gracchus. A n d this is what he says: [7] " T h e y are taught disreputable tricks. In the company of effeminate fellows, and carrying zither and lute, they g o to a school f o r actors, and there they learn to sing songs which our ancestors regarded as disgraceful in y o u n g people of good family. Girls and boys of good family go, I say, to a dancing school and mix with such effeminate persons. W h e n someone told me this I could not bring myself to believe that men of noble birth taught their children such lessons. But when I was taken to the dancing school, I saw, upon m y w o r d , more than f i f t y boys and girls in that school and among them—and this more than anything else made me grieve f o r the State—a b o y still wearing the amulet of a freeborn child, the son of a candidate f o r public o f f i c e , a b o y less' than twelve years old, dancing with castanets a dance which it would have been improper f o r a shameless little slave to dance." 4 [8] Y o u see how Africanus lamented the fact that he had seen the son of a candidate f o r o f f i c e dancing with castanets—the son of a man w h o m hopes and plans to win o f f i c e could not deter, 1 But cf. Cicero Pro Murena 6.13: "Hardly anyone dances unless he is drunk, or perhaps not quite right in the head." 2 Catilinae coniuratio 25. 2. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 12 (758fr). s Omitting non, as suggested by Nettleship (Lectures and Essays, p. 99 note). 4 John of Salisbury 8. 12 (758C-759J).

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even at the time when it was his duty to protect himself and his family from any breath of scandal, from doing a thing which, clearly, was not regarded as disgraceful. And, besides, there are earlier complaints that most of the nobility indulged in this shameful conduct. [9] Thus it is certainly true that Marcus Cato calls a not undistinguished senator, Caelius 5 by name, a loafer and a lampoonist, and goes on to charge him, in these words, with performing a step dance: "Getting off his gelding, the fellow performs a step dance and pours out a flood of cheap patter." And elsewhere he says of the same man: "What is more, he sings when so disposed, sometimes recites Greek verses, cracks jokes, varying the tone of his voice and performing a step dance"· [ 10] There you have Cato's own words, and, as you see, he regards even singing as something incompatible with dignity in a man. And yet others were so far from reckoning it an act to be ashamed of that the renowned Lucius Sulla is said to have been a very accomplished singer.7 [ 1 1 ] As for actors, we have the evidence of Cicero to show that they were not looked upon as being among the disreputable classes of society, since it is common knowledge that he was on such friendly terms with the actors Roscius and Aesopus that his professional skill was available to defend their interest and affairs, as is clear both from his letters and from many other sources. [ 1 2 ] For everyone will have read the speech in which Cicero rebukes the Roman populace for making a disturbance when Roscius was on the stage. And indeed it is generally well known that he used to match himself against Roscius to see which of the two could express the same idea in the greater number of ways, the one using a variety of gestures,8 the other the variety of phrases which his ready flow of words would supply—a practice which gave Roscius such a high opinion of his skill that he wrote a book to compare the art of the public speaker with the art of the actor. [ 1 3 ] This is the Roscius who was also a great friend of Lucius Sulla and was presented by the dictator with the gold ring of knighthood. Moreover, such was his popularity and fame that he received a daily 5

MSS: Caecilius. • John of Salisbury 8. 12. (758c). 7 John of Salisbury 8. 12 (758b). h Cf. Manilius j. 480 (of a pantomime): solusque per omnes\ibit turbam reddet in uno.

personas et

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salary of a thousand denarii· from the public funds, for himself alone apart from payments made to his company of players. [14] And as for Aesopus, we know that he bequeathed twenty million sesterces to his son from the proceeds of an equal professional skill.10 But why speak of actors, when Appius Claudius, who received the honor of a triumph and was until his old age one of the Salii, regarded as a ground for boasting the fact that he used to be a better dancer than any of his colleagues in the priesthood? [ 1 5 ] However, before leaving the subject of dancing I would add that three noble citizens of Rome, all contemporaries, not only went in for dancing, but—if you please!—acquired such skill as to brag of it. I refer to Gabinius, a man of consular rank and an enemy of Cicero, who openly reproached him with it; Marcus Caelius, whom Cicero defended, a man well known for his relations with the city mob; and Licinius Crassus, a son of the Crassus who was killed in Parthia. • Mommsen, History of Rome, Book V, Chap. 12. See also Pliny Historia naturalis 7. 39. 128. 10 John of Salisbury 8. 12 (759b-c).

CHAPTER

151

[ ι ] The reference to the Licinii prompts me to pass from a discussion of dancing in the days of old to consideration of the extravagant use then made of the spoils of the sea, since it is generally held that the family received the surname "Murena" from their inordinate love of lampreys—[2] a belief which Marcus Varrò shares, who says that the Licinii were given the name Murena just as Sergius was surnamed Orata on account of his passion for the fish called aurata [ 3 ] This is the Sergius Orata who was the first to go in for the shower bath,' the first to make oyster beds in the neighborhood of Baiae, and the first to adjudge the Lucrine oyster to have the best flavor. He was a contemporary of that eloquent speaker Lucius Crassus, of whose reputation as a man of authority and no trifler Cicero himself tells us. [4] And yet that same Crassus, although of censorial rank (for he held the office of censor together with Gnaeus Domitius) and although he was regarded as preeminently eloquent and a leading figure among the most distinguished citizens, nevertheless put on mourning when a lamprey died in a fishpond at his house,4 and grieved for it as though for a daughter. [5] The matter was no secret, for when his colleague Domitius reproached him with it in the Senate, as a disgraceful blot on his character, Crassus was not ashamed to admit what he had done and actually—

1

See Isidore of Seville 12. 6 (de piscibus). There was a popular tendency to pronounce "au" as " δ " : e.g., Claudius and Clodius; plaustrum and plostrum. Suetonius relates that Vespasian was told by an ex-consul named Florus to say plaustra instead of plostra and that he retoned by saluting the latter as "Flaurus" ( Vespasian 22). s Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 79. 168. 4 Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 81. 172. 2

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if you please!—censor though he was, gloried in it and avowed it to be an act of dutiful affection. [6] Marcus Varrò, in his treatise on Agriculture* relates that Marcus Cato (the man who later perished at Urica) sold for forty thousand sesterces the fish from a pond which he had inherited under the will of Lucullus—an incident which shows how full of valuable fish were the fishponds kept by those leading nobles of Rome, Lucullus, Philippus, and Hortensius, the men whom Cicero calls "the fish fanciers."· [ 7 ] Lampreys used to be brought to the fishponds at Rome from the Sicilian narrows, between Rhegium and Messana, for according to our spendthrift gluttons that is where the best are found, and indeed the best eels too. Both the lampreys and the eels that come from those parts are called "floaters" (πλωταί in Greek and flutae in Latin) because they swim upon the surface of the sea, where they are scorched by the sun and being thus unable any longer to turn to dive are easily caught. [8] You would find it boring where I to try to give a list of the many weighty authorities who have made famous the lampreys of the Sicilian narrows, and so I shall content myself with a reference to what Varrò has said in the book entitled Gallus, or, The Wonders of Nature: "In Sicily, too, floating lampreys are taken by hand, for they are so fat that they float upon the surface of the water." [9] But it is impossible to denv that the gluttony of those men of old was unrestrained or, as Caecilius puts is, "firmly entrenched," 7 since they went to such distant seas for the means to satisfy their extravagant tastes. [10] However, the lamprey, though brought from foreign parts, was not a rare fish at Rome, and my authority for this statement is Pliny, who says that Gaius Caesar, the dictator, when he feasted the people to mark his triumphs, had six thousand pounds weight of lampreys from Gavius Hirrius. This is the Hirrius whose country estate, although it was neither commodious nor extensive, was sold (as is well known) for four million sesterces, thanks to its fishponds.8 5

Varrò De re rustica 3. 2. 17. Cato, guardian of the testator's son. See also • Cicero Epistulae ad Atticttm 1. 19. 7 Ribbeck, II, 92. 8 Pliny Hysteria naturalis 9. 81. 171;

however, was not the heir; he was the Columella 8. 16. 5. 6; 1. 20. 3. cf. Varrò De re rustica 3. 17. 3.

CHAPTER

ιό

[ ι ] The sturgeon too, a fish bred by the sea for gluttons, did not escape the demands of the luxury of that age; and to make it clear that its name was famous at the time of the Second Punic War, let me remind you of what Plautus has said about it, by the mouth of the parasite in the play Baccaria: [2] Was ever mortal so amazingly lucky as I am now, for whose belly this dish is borne in with ceremony? Yes! here comes the sturgeon which, up to now, has been hiding in the sea—for me. And with the help of my hands and teeth I'll hide its side in my inside. [3] But we may perhaps underestimate the value of a poet's evidence, and so let Cicero be our authority and let him tell us in what high honor this fish was held in the days of Publius Scipio, the hero of Africa and Numantia. For in [a fragment of] his dialogue On Fate Cicero writes as follows: [4] "When Scipio, accompanied by Pontius, was at his house at Lavernium, it so happened that a sturgeon was brought to him, a fish which is held (they say) in the highest regard but is not often caught. Scipio thereupon invited one or two of his callers to dine and seemed to be about to invite more; but Pontius whispered in his ear: 'Be careful what you are about, Scipio; this sturgeon of yours is a fish for only a few.'" [ 5 ] I am well aware that the sturgeon was not highly prized in Trajan's time, and my authority is the elder Pliny, who says of this fish, in his Natural History. "It is now held in no esteem, and for my part I find this surprising, for it is a fish that is very rarely found." 1 [6] But this sparing use did not last long, for in the time of the Emperor Severus, who used to make a show of austerity, 1

Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 27. 60; John of Salisbury 8. 7 (733c-d).

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Sammonicus Serenus, a learned man of those days, writing to his emperor and referring to the fish began by quoting the words of Pliny which I have just mentioned and then went on to say himself: [7] "Pliny, as you know, lived to the time of Trajan, 2 and no doubt he is speaking the truth when he says that in his day the sturgeon was held in no esteem. But I have evidence to show that it was valued highly among the men of old, and I mention this particularly because I now see it coming into favor at banquets and, as it were, recovering its former rights. For when I am deemed worthy by you to be present at vour sacred board, I observe that the fish is brought to table by servants crowned with garlands and to the accompaniment of the flute. What Pliny has to say about the sturgeon's scales is confirmed by Nigidius Figulus, a man famous for his research into natural history, who in the fourth Book of his treatise On Animals posed the question: 'Why is it that in all other fish the scales face the tail, but in the sturgeon they face the other way' " [8] So says Sammonicus and, in praising his emperor's banquet, calls attention to a shameful feature of it, by revealing the respect in which the fish used to be held—being brought in by servants crowned with garlands and to the music of the flute, a ceremonial entry which suggested the worship of a god rather than the appearance of a tasty dish at table. [9] But we shall feel less surprise at the high price customarily placed on a sturgeon if we remember (what Sammonicus also relates) that Asinius Celer,' a man of consular rank, bought a single mullet for seven thousand sesterces. And in this connection we shall form a better estimate of the extravagance of that age, if we call to mind the elder Pliny's statement that it was difficult in his day to find a mullet that weighed more than two pounds,4 although today we see the mullet commonly weighing more than that, and yet we do not come across those ridiculous prices. [10] The gluttony of those days was not even content with supplies drawn from its own seas, for Optatus,5 commander of the Fleet, knowing that the wrasse is such a stranger· to Italian waters 2 Sammonicus confuses Pliny the elder (died A.D. 79) with his nephew, the younger Pliny. 3 Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 31. 67. * Ibid. 9. 30.64. s ibid. 9. 29.62. • Cf. Quintilian j. 10. 21.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 16

that we have not even a name for it in Latin, brought over an enormous number of them in ships fitted with tanks and deposited them here and there in the sea between Ostia and the coast of Campania—an astonishing and unprecedented example of fish being, as it were, sown in the sea as grain is sown in the earth. And then, as though the highest public interests were involved, this same man was careful to see to it that for five years anybody w h o had happened to catch a wrasse along with other fish should at once put it back into the sea safe and sound. [ 11 ] But w h y feel surprise that the gluttony of that age should be, so to speak, the prisoner and slave of the sea, when even a pike from the Tiber, or for that matter any fish from the Tiber, has been held in great—and indeed the greatest—esteem b y gluttons? [12] W h y these persons should have thought so, I do not know, but even Marcus Varrò shows that they did; for in a list of the best foodstuffs produced in Italy, and of the districts from which they come, he awards a prize to fish from the Tiber. And here are his actuals words, taken from the eleventh Book of his Antiquities of Man·.1 " A s regards foodstuffs, Campania produces the best corn, the Falernian district the best wine, the districts of Casinum the best oil, of Tusculum the best figs, of Tarentum the best honey, and the river Tiber the best fish." [13] In this passage Varrò is certainly speaking of all fish caught in the Tiber, but of these fish, as I have already said, the pike held the first place, and in particular pike caught between the two bridges. 8 [ 14] Among our many authorities for this is Gaius Titius, a contemporary of Lucilius, in his speech in support of the Fannian Law. I quote his words not only as evidence to support what I have said about pike caught between the two bridges but also because they will serve to throw light on the general standard of behavior at that time; for, describing how men of prodigal habits would go to the Forum full of drink, to act as judges, and the customary tone of their conversation on the way, he says: [15] " T h e y are devoted to gambling and spend their time at it drenched in scent and surrounded b y a crowd of harlots. A t the tenth hour they summon a slave to go to the John of Salisbury 8. 7 (73 ju). Probably the t w o bridges between w h i c h the cloaca maxima discharged into the T i b e r ; see section 17, below. For a different estimate of the merits of this fish see Juvenal j . 104-6. 7

8

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Place of Assembly and inquire what business has been transacted in the Forum: who have spoken for and who against a bill, and how many tribes have supported and how many have opposed it. A f t e r that they make their w a y to the Place of Assembly, in time to escape a charge of absence from duty, and being gorged with wine they fill all the urinals in the alleys as they go. [ 1 6 ] On arrival at the Place of Assembly they gloomily bid proceedings begin. T h e parties state their case, the judge calls the witnesses and retires himself to make water. W h e n he comes back, he says that he has heard everything, calls for the documentary evidence, and glances at what is written, although he can hardly keep his eyes open f o r the wine he has drunk. T h e y retire to consider a verdict, and then they say to one another: ' W h y should I be bothered with these silly people? W h y are w e not better employed in drinking mead mixed with Greek wine and eating a fat thrush and a fine fish—a genuine pike caught between the two b r i d g e s ? ' " There you have the actual words of Titius.' [ 1 7 ] Lucilius too, a pungent and forceful poet, shows that he knows this fish to have a remarkably good flavor, if caught between the t w o bridges, and he calls it the "scavenger" fish (cattilo), as a licker-up of leavings, because it would haunt the river banks in search of excrement. Properly, however, this name "scavenger" used to be given to the persons who, since they found themselves the last to come to a feast in honor of Hercules, would lick the plates (catilli). [ 1 8 ] T h e lines of Lucilius run as follows: 1 0 Moreover to give orders that what each man fancied be brought to table. One would be attracted b y sow's udders and a dish of fattened fowls; another by a scavenger fish from the Tiber, caught between the two bridges. • John of Salisbury 8. 7 (733c). See Mommsen, History of Rome, Book IV, Chap. h . 10 Warmington, III, 188.

CHAPTER

17

[ ι ] To seek to make a list of the many means ingeniously devised or studiously prepared to satisfy the gluttony of the men of those earlier days would be tedious, but such practices certainly account for the numerous laws brought before the people to regulate dinners and their cost.1 And by way of a beginning it was ordered that luncheons and dinners be eaten with open doors, to the end that observation by one's fellow citizens might, as evidence, set bounds to extravagance.* [2] The very first of these sumptuary laws to come before the people was the Orchian Law, proposed by Gaius Orchius,' a tribune of the plebs, pursuant to a motion in the Senate, in the third year after the appointment of Cato as censor. And, since the text of the law is long, I am not citing it in full; but its main provisions prescribed the permissible number of guests at a meal. [ 3 ] This is the law which was later the subject of speeches by Cato, in which he complained loudly that more guests were being invited to dinners than it allowed. A growing need for reform called for the authority of a new law, and twenty-two years after the Orchian Law the Fannian Law was enacted—A.u.c. 592, according to Gellius.4 [4] Of this law Sammonicus Serenus (I quote his words) says: "All classes, your Sacred Majesties, showed a remarkable unanimity when the Fannian Law was brought before the people. It was introduced not, as most other laws, by a praetor or tribune but by the consuls themselves on the recommendation and advice of all 1

Aulus Gellius 2. 24. John of Salisbury 8. 7 (73id). 3 In 181 B.C. See also John of Salisbury 8. 7 (731 a). * Gnaeus Gellius. See note to 1. 8. 1, above. 1

24Z

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good citizens, since extravagant dining was doing unbelievable harm to the State, and things had come to such a pass that the pleasures of the table were enough to induce many youths of good family to barter for them their virtue and their freedom, and many of the common people of Rome used to go to the Place of Assembly overcome with wine and deliberate on matters which concerned the public safety in a state of drunkenness." [5] T h e Fannian L a w was more severe than the Orchian in that the earlier law limited only the numbers dining and so allowed an individual to squander his own property in the company of a f e w friends, whereas the Fannian L a w went further and limited the permissible expenditure to one hundred asses, so that the poet Lucilius, with his usual wit, speaks of "Fannius and his miserable little hundred." 5 [6] Eighteen years later the Fannian L a w was followed b y the Didian Law, which had a twofold object. Its first and most important aim was to enact a sumptuary law which would be binding on the whole of Italy and not on Rome alone, for the Italians were holding that the Fannian L a w did not apply to them but only to citizens resident in Rome. T h e second aim was to make liable to the penalties of the law not only those who had exceeded the expenditure allowed for a luncheon or a dinner but those persons too who had been invited to the repast and had taken part in it. [7] After the Didian L a w Publius Licinius Crassus Dives introduced the Licinian Law.® T h e aristocratic party supported its proposal and approval with such enthusiasm that the Senate decreed that, after promulgation only and without awaiting confirmation after three market days, it should be universally observed as if it had already received the assent of the people. [8] This law f o r the most part, with but few changes, contained the same provisions as the Fannian Law, its purpose being to obtain the authority of a fresh law, since respect for the older law was beginning to lapse— which in fact is what happened even to the T w e l v e Tables, for, when their antiquity began to lead men to disregard them, their provisions were transferred to other laws which bore the proposers' names. [9] T o summarize the Licinian L a w , it enacted that Romans s Fanni centussis misellus. Warmington, III, 404. (Pliny Historia naturalis 10. 71. 139; Athenaeus 6. 274c.) • In 103 B.C.? See Warmington, III, 188.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 17

might consume only thirty asses' worth of food a head on the Kalends, Nones, and market days and that on other days, not thus excepted, no more should be provided and served than three pounds' weight of dried meat and one pound of salt fish, together with any produce of the earth, vine, or orchard.7 [10] I see the possible objection: Are we to suppose, then, that to restrict expenditure on meals by such legal enactments argues the sobriety of the age? It certainly does not, for the sumptuary laws were proposed by individuals with a view to correcting the faults of the State as a whole, and assuredly there would have been no need to propose the laws had not the citizens been leading bad and extravagant lives. T o quote an old adage: "Bad habits breed good laws." [11] The above-named laws were followed by the Cornelian Law, itself too a sumptuary law, which was proposed by Cornelius Sulla, as dictator. 8 It placed no check on rich banquets and set no limit to extravagant eating and drinking, but it lowered the prices of the foodstuffs. And good heavens! what foods they were, the choice and all but unheard of dainties, the fish and the titbits named in that law! And yet all that the law did was to make them cheaper. I should go so far as to say that its effect was simpiy this: by cheapening the price of these foods it encouraged the preparation of a lavish abundance of dishes and enabled even the less well-off to become the slaves of their appetite. [12] For, to be frank, that man is, to my mind, extravagant and prodigal beyond all others, at whose table such dishes are served, even if they cost him nothing. And it is clear that this age of ours is all the more disposed to practice complete self-restraint in this matter, since most of the delicacies included in the Sullan law as being generally well-known, are known to none of us even by name. [13] After Sulla's death Lepidus too, as consul, himself proposed a law to ration food, 9 and indeed Cato refers to sumptuary laws as "rationing" laws. Then, a few years later, another law came before the people on the motion of Antius Restio, which—excellent 7 For an amusing reference b y Cicero to the unhappy consequences of eating, at an augural banquet, certain vegetarian dishes which had been prepared to avoid contravening a sumptuary law then (57 B.C.) in force, see Epistitlae ad Familiares 7. 26. s In 81 B.C. See Aulus Gellius 2. 24. 11. 9 Probably the Aemilian L a w of 78 B.C.

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

as its provisions were and although it was never repealed—was nullified by a stubborn extravagance and the strength of the general addiction to such vices. Nevertheless it is worth while to remember that Restio, w h o introduced the law, is said never again to have dined out as long as he lived, f o r fear of witnessing contempt f o r a law which he had himself proposed f o r the public good. [ 1 4 ] I should include among these laws the sumptuary edict proposed b y Antony, later one of the Triumvirs, did I not consider it unfitting to count him among those w h o sought to check such expenditure, since what A n t o n y habitually spent on dining w a s surpassed only b y the value of the pearl which his w i f e Cleopatra swallowed. [ 1 5 ] T o his mind all the produce of sea, land, and even air existed but to appease his gluttony—all was subservient to his gullet and teeth—and it was as the slave of this gluttony that he wished to make an Egyptian kingdom of the empire of Rome. However, his w i f e Cleopatra disdained to be worsted even in extravagance b y the Romans, and she wagered him that she could dispose of ten million sesterces at a single meal. [ 1 6 ] It seemed incredible to Antony that she could do this, and he had no hesitation in accepting the wager; he was w o r t h y too of the stakeholder, Munatius Plancus, w h o was chosen to act as umpire in this honorable contest. On the morrow Cleopatra, to whet Antony's curiosity, provided a repast that was certainly magnificent but not such as to surprise him, f o r he would see that all the dishes came f r o m the supplies served every day. [ 1 7 ] T h e n the queen with a smile called f o r a drinking glass, poured in some vinegar, and hurriedly dropped into it a large pearl which she had taken from one of her ears. T h e pearl, as that jewel naturally will, quickly dissolved; she swallowed the draught, and so won the wager; f o r the pearl itself was beyond question worth ten million sesterces. Nevertheless she put up her hand and would have dealt in the same w a y with the pearl in her other ear, had not Munatius Plancus, as a truly strict arbiter, declared in time that Antony was the loser. [ 1 8 ] W e can judge how large that pearl was from the fact that the single one which was left was later brought to Rome, after the defeat of the queen and the capture of E g y p t , and was cut to make f r o m it two pearls which f o r their exceptional size were placed on the statue of Venus in the temple called the Pantheon. 10 10

Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 58. 119; John of Salisbury 8 7 (y^ic-d).

CHAPTER

ι8»

[ ι ] While Furius was still speaking the dessert for the second course was brought in, and this introduced a new topic of conversation; for Symmachus, handling some nuts, said: I should like to hear from you, Servius, the reasons for, or the origin of, the many different names given to nuts; or—to take apples (mala)—why it is that although so many fruits are called by this single term "apple," they nevertheless differ widely in their several names and flavors. But begin, please, with the nuts and tell us what it occurs to you to say about them, from a recollection of your wide reading. [2] That walnut in your hand, replied Servius, is thought by some to take its name, juglans, from juvare [to please], and glans [an acorn]. But Gavius Bassus in his book On the Meaning of Words says: [3] "The walnut tree is called jugla7is because the words stands for Jovis glans·, for, since that kind of tree bears a nut sweeter in taste than the acorn, the men of old (regarding its fruit as excellent and in appearance like an acorn, and the tree itself worthy of the god) called the nut 'Jove's acorn,' and this name (Jovis glans) has now, by contraction, become juglans." [4] Cloatius Verus, however, in his book On Borrowings from the Greeks says that the letter " D " has been lost, and that juglans is equivalent to Diuglans, that is to say, Διός βάλανος, acorn of Zeus, just as Theophrastus says: "Peculiar to mountainous country, and not growing on the plains, are the terebinth, the ilex, the phillyrea, the privet, and the walnut, which is also known as the 'acorn of Zeus.' " The Greeks also call this nut "the royal nut." [5] Here, continued Servius, we have the nut called "the nut of 1 In connection with chapters 18 to 20 reference may be made to Columella, to Pliny Historia naturalis 12-16, to Athenaeus 2 and 3, and to Isidore of Seville 17 and 20.

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Abella" or "the nut of Praeneste"—the name makes no difference— and it comes from the tree known as corylus [the hazel], the tree to which Vergil refers when he says: "[Nor] plant the hazel."4 Near the district of Praeneste is a tribe called the Carsitani, a name derived from the Greek word meaning nuts (this fact is mentioned by Varrò in his inquiry into words [Logistoricus] entitled Marius: On Fortune, and clearly we have here the reason why these nuts are known as "nuts of Praeneste." [6] There is also the following reference to this nut in the play by Naevius, called The Soothsayer:s "Who was at your house yesterday? " "Some friends from Praeneste and Lanuvium." "Both parties would have been properly entertained with their own particular fare; it would have been easy to give the latter a farrowed sow's paunch to eat and the former a helping of nuts." The Greeks, however, call this nut the Pontic nut, the fact being that in each country the nut takes its name from the locality in which it grows most abundantly. [7] The chestnut, to which Vergil refers when he says: "[I will gather] chestnuts too." 4 is known as the nut of Heraclea. And the learned Oppius in his book On Woodland Trees says: "This nut of Heraclea (called by some the chestnut) and the Pontic nut, and also the so-called royal walnuts, bud and blossom alike at the same times as the Greek nuts." [8] We must now say what we mean by the Greek nut (and with these words Servius took an almond from a dish and held it up for all to see). This is the Greek nut, and it is also called the almond; it is known as the nut of Thasos as well. My authority is Cloatius, for in the fourth Book of his Word Lists he says: "The Greek nut is the almond"; and Atta writes, in his Supplicatio: "Add the Greek nut and honeycomb, to taste." [9] The winter season grudges us the soft-shelled nut, but, since we are talking of nuts, we must not omit to mention it. Plautus, in [the fragment of] his Calceolus, refers to it as follows: 1

3 4

Georgia

1. 299.

Eclogues

1. j 2 .

Warmington, II, 80.

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18

He said that a soft-shelled nut tree overhangs the man's roof tiles. [ 10] He uses, you see, the name "soft-shelled" for the nut, but he does not describe it. It is, however, what is commonly called Persicum,5 and it is said to be the "soft-shelled" nut, of course, because it is softer than all other nuts. [ 11 ] On this point Sueius, a man of outstanding learning, is a fit authority, for in his idyl, The Compote (Moretum), writing of a gardener who is preparing such a dish, he represents him as including this fruit (pomum) among the ingredients:· [12] He mixes in berries of the nut,7 now here some royal fruits and some Persian—these in fact so named (it is said) because the men who once, with the mighty king Alexander the Great, brought fierce battles in war against the Persians, on their returning thence afterward planted this kind of tree in the dear land of Greece, giving new fruits to mortal men. And that no one chance to err through ignorance, be it known that this is the soft-shelled nut. [ 1 3 ] There is a nut called the "terentine" nut, and it is so soft that it can hardly be handled without breaking. You will find a reference to it in a book by Favorinus, who writes: "So too some speak of Tarentine sheep or nuts, but the correct form is 'terentine,' from the word teremis, which in the Sabine tongue means 'soft' (the word from which, according to Varrò in the first Book of his To Libo, the family of the Terentii derive their name)." Horace too may be thought to fall into the same fault in speaking of "soft Tarentum." 8 [14] As for the pine nut, it has given us these kernels, placed before us; and, as Plautus says in the Cistellaria [recte Curculio]: "He that would eat the kernel must first break the shell."· 5

Sc. pomum? Macrobius perhaps confuses the mix mollusco, which appears to have been a kind of almond (Pliny Historia naturalis 15. 24. 91), with the Persicum malum, the peach. But cf. 19. 1, below. (In Athenaeus too there is some confusion between the accounts given of the "Persian nut" and the "Persian apple.") • Fragment 1 (Morel). 7 Reading admiscet bacas nucís: haec nunc regia partim, / partim Persica (Merry). 8 Horace Satires 2. 4. 34. • Curculio 55. Macrobius reads núcleos: the received text has nuculeum.

CHAPTER

19

f 11 Since (Servius added) we see apples (mala) among the dessert, we must discuss their various kinds as a sequel to what we have said about nuts. Some writers on agriculture distinguish between nuts and apples as follows: they call a "nut" any fruit (pormim) in which an edible core has a hard covering outside, and an "apple" any fruit in which a hard core is surrounded by an edible outside. If we accept this definition, then the "Persian" fruit which the poet Sueius, whom we recently referred to, reckons among the nuts will have instead to be reckoned among the apples. [2] With this much by wav of preface we must now proceed to enumerate the kinds of apple so carefully listed by Cloatius in the fourth Book of his Word Lists, where he says: "The kinds of apple are: the apple of Ameria, the quince apple, the citron, the cuckoo apple,1 the preserving apple, the medlar, the must apple, the Matian apple, the globe apple, the Ogratian apple, the early'-ripening apple, the ragged apple, the Punic apple, the Persian apple, the Quirian apple, the prosimim, the red apple, the Scaudian apple, the wild apple, the sparrow apple, the Scantian apple, the tuber apple,2 and the Verían apple." [3] You see that Cloatius includes the "Persian apple" in his list of apples, and this fruit has kept the name of its country of origin although it has for long grown on our soil. The citron fruit of which Cloatius also speaks is a "Persian apple" too, according to Vergil who refers to it in the passage containing the lines:» 1 The coccymelum is in fact a damson plum; cf. Athcnaeus 2. 49d\ Isidore of Seville 17. 7. 10. * Reading tuber (cf. Columella 11. 2. 11 and Plinv Historia naturalis 15. 14.

47)· 3

Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 23. 56. ioj.

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249

[Media yields the tart juices and lingering taste] of that blessed apple than which no more sovereign remedy exists . . . [to come for aid and to drive black poisons from the limbs] [Georgics 2. 126] [4] and that you may all be quite sure that it is of the fruit of the citron tree that Vergil spoke, mark what Oppius says in his book On Woodland Trees: "Likewise the citron apple tree and the Persian apple tree, the one grows in Italy and the other in Media." And shortly after, speaking of the citron fruit, he says: "It has, moreover, a very strong scent, so that placed among clothing it destroys moths. It is also said to be an antidote to poisons, and crushed in wine it saves the lives of those who drink the draught by its powerful action as a purge. Citron apples grow in Persia at every season of the year, for some are picked early and others are ripening in the mean time." [5] Here you have the citron mentioned by name, and a reference to all the qualities which Vergil, although without specific mention of the name, has ascribed to it. And indeed Homer too, who calls the citron tree θύον, makes it clear that it is a fruit tree (ponrum) with a strong scent when he says: And afar was wafted the sweet fragrance of citron wood. [Odyssey 5. 60] Homer also indicates the practice referred too by Oppius, of placing citron among clothing, in the line: Having clothed him with fragrant, shining garments [Odyssey 5. 264] and that is how Naevius comes to speak of "citron-scented clothing" in his poem on the Punic War. 4 [6] N o w for the pears which we see before us. A large number of different kinds are distinguished by name, for Cloatius, whom I have already mentioned, describes their names thus: "the Anician pear, the gourd-shaped pear, the stringy pear, the cervisca, the pebbly pear, the Crustuminian pear, the Decimian pear, the little Greek pear, the Lollian pear, the pear of Lanuvium, the laurel pear, the Laterian pear, the myrrh pear, the Milesian pear, the myrtle pear, the Naevian pear, the globe pear, the Praecian pear, the red pear, the Signine pear, the Tullían pear, the Titian pear, 4

Warmington, II, 50.

MACROBIL'S: THE SATURNALIA

the thyme pear,5 the Turranian pear, the early-ripening pear, the warden pear, the late medlar pear, the late seedtime pear, the late Sextilian pear, the late Tarentine pear, and the late Valerian pear." 4

Reading

thymosum.

C H A P T E R 20 [ ι ] The dried figs too (continued Servius) suggest that we should make a list of the varieties of fig; and here, as for the other fruits, we again go to Cloatius for the information. He enumerates the different kinds, with his customary care, as follows: "the African fig, the white fig, the reed fig, the donkey fig, the black fig, the marsh fig, the Augustan fig, the fig that yields two crops, the Carian fig, the white and black Chalcidic fig, the white and black Chian fig, the white and black Calpurnian fig, the gourd-shaped fig, the hard-skinned fig, the fig of Herculaneum, the Livian fig, the Lydian fig, the small Lydian fig, the Marsic fig, the dark Numidian fig, the Pompeian fig, the early-ripening fig, and the black Tellanian fig." [2] You are to understand that the white fig tree is one of the trees of good omen, but that, on the other hand, the black fig tree is a tree of ill omen; and the authority for each of these statements is the teaching of the pontiffs. For Veranius in his treatise On the Formulas of the Pontiffs says: "The oak, the winter oak, the holm oak, the cork oak, the beech, the hazel, the service tree, the white fig, the pear, the apple, the vine, the plum, the cherry and the lotus tree are held to be trees of good omen." [ 3 ] And Tarquitius Priscus in his Omens from Trees says: "Trees which are under the protection of the gods below and of the Averting Deities are called trees of ill omen: they are the buckthorn, the red cornel, the fern, the black fig, and all that bear a black berry and black fruit, the whitebeam too, the wild pear, the holly, and the thorn and briar; and it is proper that order be given to burn with these anything monstrous and of ill omen." 1 1

For a reference to trees of ill omen, see Pliny Historia 108. Cf. also Catullus 3ó. 8.

naturalis 16. 4J.

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[4] Further, w e have found the f i g regarded b y good authorities as not a fruit (ponrum) but as something distinct f r o m a fruit. T h u s Afranius in The Chah has the line: Fruit (ponrum), vegetable, fig, grape. [Ribbeck, II, 241] Cicero too in the third Book of his w o r k On Domestic Economy writes: " H e neither plants a vine nor takes the trouble to tend a vine that has been planted; he has no olives, figs, or fruits (poma)." [5] Y o u must k n o w too that of all trees the f i g is the only one that does not blossom. Again, "milk" is the term properly used f o r the juice of figs. Figs w h i c h do not ripen are called grossi (the G r e e k s call them ολυνθοι) and there is a line b y [Gnaeus] Mattius w h i c h runs: In all those thousands of figs y o u will not find an unripe one (grossum) [Baehrens, p. 282] and shortly afterward he says: Y o u must g o to another f o r unripe figs oozing juice (lacte diffluos grossos). [Baehrens, p. 282] Postumius Albinus also in the first Book of his Annals says of Brutus: " F o r that reason he used to make himself out to be a brutish fool and w o u l d eat little unripe figs (grossulos) w i t h honey." [6] Here is a list of the different kinds of olives: "the A f r i c a n olive, the w a x - w h i t e 2 olive, the Aquilian olive, the olive of Alexandria, the Egyptian olive, the Culminian olive, the preserving olive, the Licinian olive, the oval olive, the wild olive, the pausian olive, the paulian olive, the shuttle-shaped olive, the Sallentine olive, the Sergian olive, and the Termutian olive." [7] A n d so too there are these different kinds of grapes: the "Aminean grape" (which takes its name, of course, from the region in w h i c h it grows, f o r the Aminei once lived in what is now the district of Falernum), "the donkey grape, the atrusca, the waxwhite, 3 the abena, the bee grape, the Apician grape, the cow's udder grape (which the G r e e k s call βούμασθος), the hard-skinned grape, the wild grape, the black psythian grape, the Maronian grape, the Mareotic grape, the Numentan grape, the precian grape, the Pramnian grape, the psythian grape, the pilleolata, the Rhodian

5 Reading albicera; cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 15. 6. 20. * Reading albicera.

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53

grape, the garland grape, the venucula, the variola, and the Lagean grape." [8] It was at this point that Praetextatus intervened and said: "I would gladly listen longer to our friend Servius, but it is time to retire to rest; and the hour reminds us that 'with tomorrow's light' 4 we are to have the pleasure of hearing what Symmachus has to say and to meet at his house." So the party broke up, and all went their several ways. * Vergil Aeveid 4. 130.

the SAtuRnaliA · Book 4 [The beginning and end of the fourth Book are missing. It would seem that Symmachus 1 is speaking here of Vergil's use of rhetorical devices, in fulfillment of his promise to point out the most forcible of these devices that are to be found in the poet's work (i. 24. 14). In the first of the surviving chapters the speaker illustrates the use of habitus, a description of outward appearance, as a means to express or evoke emotion.]

CHAPTER ι [ ι ] She is no more moved by his words than if she were a solid rock of flint or a crag of Marpessus. At length she sprang away, and (with hatred in her heart) fled back. [Aeneid 6. 470] So too emotion (pathos)* is expressed in this line: I stood aghast: my hair rose and my voice stuck in my throat. [Aeneid 2. 774] [ 2 ] There is also a complete picture of the sorry plight of Dares in the description here given of his appearance: But his trusty companions lead him away, with his tottering limbs trailing, with his head swaying from side to side, and with clots of blood pouring from his mouth [Aeneid 5. 468] and in a few words the poet indicates the dismay of those comrades as well: They are called back and receive the helmet and sword [Aeneid 5. 471] for they are represented as "called back," to show that they were reluctant to receive a gift so damaging to their sense of shame. 1 One MS (in a note) makes Eusebius the speaker. * Cf. Quintilian 6. 2. 20: "The Greek term πάθος which we correctly render 'emotion' (adjectus)." Both words may mean (a) an appeal to the emotions and (b) the actual emotion felt.

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The following lines illustrate the same device: As he speaks all his face seems to shoot sparks and fire flashes from his eager eyes. [Aeneid 12. 101] [3] Such descriptions of outward appearance (habitus) are also used to express physical weakness and lassitude, as, for example, in the whole of Thucydides' description of the plague at Athens, and in Vergil's description of the plague-stricken horse: Fruitless were all his efforts; and, heedless of the herbage, the victor steed pines away [Georgics 3. 498] and: The ears droop and on them breaks out a fitful sweating, and that too, as death draws near, grows cold. [Georgics 3. 500] [4] A sense of shame, too, is among the emotions expressed by the description of outward appearance, for example, in the poet's description of Deiphobus: Cowering and seeking to hide the marks of his hideous punishment. [Aeneid 6. 498] [5] Grief, as well, is shown thus; as in the description of the mother of Euryalus: From her hands fell the shuttles, and unwound was her task; forth flies the unhappy woman [Aeneid 9. 476] and amazement, as in this description of Latinus: He keeps his face set downward in a steady gaze [Aeneid 7. 249] entreaty, as in this description of Venus: Sadder than her wont, her bright eyes brimming with tears [Aeneid 1. 228] and madness, as in the following description of the Sibyl: Suddenly her looks, her color, changed; disheveled, too, her hair. [Aeneid 6. 47]

CHAPTER 2 [ ι ] Let us consider now how the pattern of a speech expresses and evokes emotion; and first let us ask what are the rules of rhetoric for such a speech. Being concerned with emotion the speech should certainly seek to express and arouse either indignation or pity (the Greek terms are δείνωσις 1 and οίκτος respectively) ; and of these two emotions the prosecution is necessarily concerned with the one, the defense with the other. T o express and arouse indignation the opening of the speech must be abrupt, since a quiet opening would be ill fitted to its purpose. [2] And that is why Vergil makes Juno, in her indignation, begin a speech as follows: W h y dost thou compel me to break my deep silence? [Aeneid 10. 63] and in another passage to say: Am I to accept defeat and abandon mv purpose? [Aejieid 1. 37] and elsewhere: O hated race and Phrygian fates at odds with mine [Aeneid 7.293] and Dido too is made to exclaim: Shall I die unavenged? Yes, but still let me die [Aeneid 4. 659] and again: 0 God! (she cries.) Shall this man go? [Aeneid 4. 590] And Priam, addressing Pyrrhus, begins thus: Nay, for a crime such as this, he cries, and for deeds such as these, may the gods send thee due reward. [Aeneid 2. 535] 1 C f . Quintilian 6. 2. 24, where δείνωσις is defined as language which gives additional force to something unjust, harsh, or hateful.

BOOK 4 , CHAPTER 2

[3] Nor is it only the opening words that should follow the examples I have suggested, but, if possible, the speech as a whole should be calculated to express and arouse emotion, both by the brevity of the sentences and by the frequent changes of the figures employed, thus giving the impression that the speaker is, as it were, being borne to and fro amid surging waves of anger. [4] Let us take, then, a single speech in Vergil as an example.2 It begins with an exclamation: 0 hated race! Then follow a number of short questions: Did they fall on the Sigean plains? Could they, once captured, be held captive? Did the flames of Troy consume the Trojans? Then comes the figure "hyperbole": Through the midst of armies in battle array, and through the midst of flames, they have found a way. Then "irony": But, methinks, my divine powers lie spent at last, and flag; or I have sated my hatred and now desist. [5] After that Juno goes on to complain of the failure of her efforts: 1 deigned to follow them through the waves and to confront the exiles over all the sea. A second hyperbole follows: I have spent against the Trojans all the powers of sky and sea. And then a medley of complaints: What did the Syrtes avail me, or Scylla, or the vast depths of Charybdis? [6] T o heighten emotion Juno continues: Mars had power to destroy the monstrous race of the Lapithae using here the "argument from a lesser circumstance" (argumentum a minore), since Mars clearly is a lesser personage than Juno, who therefore savs, of herself: But I am Jove's mighty consort. Then, having marshaled her points, the goddess impetuously cries: Wretched I, who have turned myself to every shift and, instead of saying "I cannot destroy Aeneas," exclaims: - The speech which contains Juno's indignant complaint that all her attempts to destroy the Trojans have been made in vain (Aeneid 7. 293-322).

258

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I am worsted by Aeneas. [7] After that, the goddess affirms her determination to harm and (as befits a display of anger), though despairing of her power to accomplish her purpose in full, is content to impede her enemy: If heaven I cannot bend, then I will rouse hell to help me. I may not keep him from his kingdom in Latium—so be it—yet I may put off and delay that high fortune; yet I may utterly destroy the people of both those kings. [8] Finally, she ends—as the angry delight to do—with a curse: Trojan and Rutulian blood shall be your dowry, maiden and, using an argumentum a simili, wherein she introduces from the past a parallel to the present situation, she adds: Nor did Cisseus' daughter alone conceive a brand and bring forth flames in wedlock. [9] And so you see the many changes which Vergil has made in the pattern of this speech and what a variety of figures he has used, for anger, being "momentary madness,"* cannot speak in a single uniform strain. [10] Vergil also uses language calculated to excite pity. Turnus, for example, says to Juturna: Was it to see the cruel death of thy unhappy brother? [Aeneid 12. 636] and again, when his indignation swells as he remembers the friends who have fallen, fighting on his behalf, he cries: I have seen myself, before my very eves, Murranus fall, my name upon his lips. [Aeneid 12. 638] [ 1 1 ] And when he was seeking to arouse pity for his own lot, in the hope that his life might be spared in defeat, he addressed Aeneas thus: Thou art the victor, and the Ausonians have seen me stretch forth mv hands in defeat [Aeneid 12. 936] thus saying, in effect, " M y defeat has been seen bv those whom least of all I should have wished to see it." And Vergil has re' H o r a c e Epistles 1. 2. 62.

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presented others begging for life: for example, [Liger, who prays thus to Aeneas]: By thyself, and by thy parents who bred such a son in thee, [leave me my life] [Aeneid 10. 597] And there are similar passages.

CHAPTER 3 [ ι ] N o w let us speak of the way in which Vergil deals with emotion aroused by the depicting of age or bodily infirmity and by an allusion to the other circumstances which I shall proceed to mention. Our poet has neatly kept in mind this use of "pathos" and has evoked the emotion of pity from a reference to every age of man. For example, [2] to infancy: On the threshold's brink are the souls of infants, weeping [.Aeneid 6. 427] [3] to boyhood: Unhappy boy, and unequally matched with Achilles [Aeneid 1. 475] and: She held up the child lulus to his father [Aeneid 2. 674] (a passage in which pity is felt because the danger threatens lulus both as a little child and as a son); and: Wilt thou not see whether thy wife Creusa and the boy Ascanius still live? [Aeneid 2. 597] and again, in another passage: The plight of the little lulus [Aeneid 2. 563] [4] to youth: Youths laid on the pyre before their parents' eyes [Aeneid 6. 308; Georgics 4. 477] The young cheeks and the youthful form so wan [Aeneid 12.221] [5] to old age: Pity Daunus in his old age [Aeneid 12. 934] and: Hapless Aletes is led along, outworn with age [Ae?ieid 11. 85] and:

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He mars his gray hair with handfuls of dust. [Aeneid 10. 844] [6] The thought of a person's condition and circumstances (fortuna) moves sometimes to pity and sometimes to indignation. T o pity, for example, in this reference to Priam: Once by so many peoples and lands raised to the proud lordship of Asia [Aeneid 2. 556] and to Sinon: We also in some sort bore name and honor too [Aeneid 2. 89] and to Galaesus: Once the wealthiest man in the Ausonian fields. [Aeneid 7. 537] [7] On the other hand, the conditions and circumstances may move to indignation, as, for example, when Dido cries: And shall a foreigner have made mock of our realm? [Aeneid 4. 591] for—and it is a neat touch by the poet—Dido's contempt for Aeneas adds to her sense of the wrong he has done her) ; and when Amata says: These Trojan exiles—is Lavinia to be given in marriage to them? [Aeneid 7. 359] and when Numanus refers to: Twice-captured Phrygians. [Aeneid 9. 599] [8] Vergil has aroused the emotion of pity too, by depicting bodily infirmity, as, for example, in the lines (spoken by Anchises) : Long have I lived useless, since the Father of gods and King of men breathed on me with the wind of his thunderbolt, and touched me with his fire [Aeneid 2. 648] and, in another passage, of Deiphobus: His nostrils slit with a disfiguring wound [Aeneid 6. 497] and of Mezentius: He raises himself on his wounded thigh [Aeneid 10. 856] and of Pandarus: This way and that his head hung from either shoulder [Aeneid 9. 755] and of Larides: Your severed hand seeks blindly for you, its lord [Aeneid 10.395]

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and of Hector: Blackened with blood-stained dust, and his swollen feet pierced by thongs [Aeneid 2.272] [9] Often, too, it is a reference to the place that has moved a feeling of pity, as for example in the lines: All which time I drag out my life in the woods, among the lonely haunts and lairs of wild beasts [Aeneid 3. 646] and: I traverse the wastes of Libya [Aeneid 1. 384] and: But some of us shall go hence to parched Africa, some shall reach Scythia, and the chalk-rolling Oaxes [Eclogues 1.64] [10] And in this fine and concise description: Thrice had he dragged Hector around the walls of T r o y [Aeneid 1. 483] for the words "of T r o y " serve to remind us that these are the walls of Hector's native city, which he had defended in his own person and for which he had fought with success for the space of ten years. [ 1 1 ] The following lines also illustrate the use made of a reference to a place: We are exiles from our native land [Eclogues 1. 4] and: When I leave, in tears, the shores and havens of my native land [Aeneid 3. 10] and: In death he remembers the Argos he loved so well [Aeneid 10. 7821 and: Mimas has a stranger's grave on the Laurentian shore [Aeneid 10. 706] and: At Lyrnesus thy stately home; in Laurentian earth thy grave. [Aeneid 12. 547] [12] Moreover, it was to bring out the shamefulness of Agamemnon's murder that Vergil introduced a reference to the place: He fell by the hand of his accursed wife on his threshold's very edge [Aeneid 11. 267] and this line produces a like effect:

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It is within their native walls, with their sheltering homes around them, that they breathe out their lives [Aeneid 11. 882] [ 1 3 ] But more than anything else it is the sanctity of the place that stirs emotion. Thus Vergil, in his description of the murder of Orpheus, makes his death all the more pitiable because it occurred Amid the sacred rites of the gods and Bacchic revels by night [Georgics 4. 521] and in his picture of the overthrow of T r o y the poet says that the dead lie Among the houses and the hallowed thresholds of the gods [Aeneid 2. 365] [14] Note, too, how much the pity that we feel for the seizing and enslavement of Cassandra is due to the sacred nature of the place: See where she was being haled from the temple and shrine of Minerva [Aeneid 2. 403] and, elsewhere, Vergil says of Coroebus: He fell beside the altar of the Goddess Mighty in Battle [Aeneid 2. 425] [15] Again, Andromache, speaking of the death of Pyrrhus—to express the indignation which his murderer aroused—is made to say: He takes him off his guard and kills him by the altars in his father's house [Aeneid 3. 332] and it is to arouse indignation that Venus, complaining to Neptune that Aeneas is being harassed at sea by the wrath of Juno, says: It is in thy realm that she has dared to do this thing. [Aeneid 5. 792] [16] Vergil has made use of "time," too, as a means to evoke emotion; for example, he says, of the horses of Rhesus, that they were captured Before they had tasted fodder at T r o y or had drunk of the waters of Xanthus [Aeneid 1. 472] and Orpheus becomes an object of pity by reason of the length of his grief: Men say that, month after month, for seven whole months he wept. [Georgics 4. 507] Palinurus, too, is represented as saying: Dimly on the fourth dawn I saw the land of Italy afar. [Aeneid 6. 356]

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Achemenides says: Thrice now have the horns of the moon been filled with light [Aeneid 3. 645] and a similar effect is produced by the following line: Already the seventh summer now wheels its way since Troy fell. [Aeneid 5. 626]

CHAPTER 4 [ ι ] We often find in Vergil that emotion is aroused by the "cause" or circumstances of a particular incident; and indeed it is frequently the circumstances bringing a thing to pass which make the thing itself seem horrible or pitiable, as, for, example, in Qcero's attack on Verres, who used to require parents to beg leave of him, at a price, to bury the bodies of their sons killed in prison,1 for here more emotion is aroused by the antecedent cause than by the begging of leave or the demand for money. [2] And when Demosthenes complains that Midias has ruined a certain man,2 his reference to the circumstances heightens the feeling of resentment. "Midias," he says, "brought about the ruin of an arbitrator who had decided fairly between him and me." [ 3 ] And so Vergil, too, often made excellent use of this source of argument as a "place"* from which to evoke emotion. Thus, Galaesus (he tells us) is killed in battle. As an event occurring in time of war this of itself is not worth mentioning, but the poet went on to refer to the "cause" and to tell of the circumstances which led to the man's death: Killed, as he throws himself between the ranks to plead for peace. [Aeneid 7. 536] [4] In another passage he says: Antores falls, ill-fated man 1

Actio in Verrem secunda j. 45. 119. In Midiam 83-96. 3 For locus as the "place" from which arguments may be drawn, cf. Cicero De oratore ι. 13. 56 (Wilkins's note); De portinone oratoria 2. j ; Topica 7; and Quintilian 5. 10. 20. 2

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and then adds the circumstances of the man's death, which stir our pity: Laid low by a wound meant for another [Aeneid 10. 781J for the spear that killed him had been launched at another man. [5] When he sought to show how unjust was the murder of Palamedes he spoke of him as one Whom on a false information—for he was innocent—and on a monstrous charge, but because in fact he was opposing the war, the Pelasgi sent down to death. [Acneid 2. 83] [6] Again, Aeneas was well described as declaring the cause of his fear, to show how great that fear was: Fearing alike for my child by my side and my father on my shoulders. [Aeneid 2. 729] [7] Vergil, too, gives us the reason why Iapix chose to renounce the skills offered him, and live (as the poet says) "inglorious," the cause being: That he might put off the doom of his father, who was sick unto death. [Aeneid 12. 395] [8] The following line illustrates Vergil's use of the same device: T h y love for thy father betrays thee into recklessness [Aeneid 10. 812] for the "cause" of his action has made Lausus an object of pity even to his enemies. [9] And, when Aeneas bids his men bury the bodies of the slain, he declares that these are they Who with their blood have won this land to be our country. [Aeneid 11. 24] [10] Indignant anger, no less than pity, is indicated by a reference to an antecedent "cause," as in these lines [which refer to a bull defeated by a rival]: Making many a moan over his dishonor and the haughty victor's blows; then bemoaning, too, loves lost and unavenged. [G e orgies 3. 226] [ 1 1 ] And in the following examples the emotion flows from the cause and appears in the feeling of indignation which the words express:

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Does that pain which I know so well touch only the sons of Atreus; and may Mycenae alone have recourse to arms? [Aeneid 9. 138] and: But thou, O man of Alba, shouldest have kept thy word [Aeneid 8. 643] and in each of these lines: This man sold his native land for gold [Aeneid 6. 621] And they who were slain for loves adulterous [Aeneid 6. 612] And they who set aside no share of their riches for their kin. [Aeneid 6. 6 1 1 ] [12] T o evoke emotion Vergil has not neglected to use the two sources of argument (loci) which rhetoricians call the "argument from manner" (argumentum a modo) and the "argument from material means" (argumentum a materia). Thus, if I say, "he killed him openly" or "he killed him secretly," these are examples of "manner"; [13] but if I say "he killed him with a weapon" or "he killed him by poison," these are examples of "material means." Demosthenes stirs up indignation against Midias by reference to the manner of an insult, when he says that he was struck by a boot; and Cicero against Verres, when he charges him with having fastened a man naked to a statue.4 [14] Vergil no less clearly used the argumentum a modo to arouse emotion in the lines: He dragged him to the very altar, trembling, and slipping in the pool of blood shed by his son [Aeneid 2. 550] and: He plunged the sword up to the hilt in his side [Aeneid 2. 553] [ 1 5 ] and in all the passage which begins: A monstrous vulture with hooked beak, feeding on the imperishable liver [Aeneid 6. 597] and ends: 4

Actio in Verrem secunda 4. 40. 86.

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Over whose heads there hangs a black crag, ever like to slip, and even as a rock in act to fall. [Aeneid 6. 602] [16] Moreover, Vergil often uses the argumentum a modo to arouse pity; as, for example, when he says of Orpheus: The youth, torn limb from limb, they strewed far and wide through the fields [Georgics 4. 522] and in this line: The south wind overwhelmed them, engulfing in the sea both ship and crew [Aeneid 6. 336] and, again: Some roll a huge rock [Aeneid 6. 616] and: Nay more, he would even bind dead bodies to living men [Aeneid 8. 485] and in the description of the plague, in the Georgics, beginning: Nor was there one straight road to death [Georgics 3. 482] and throughout the rest of this descriptive passage. [17] An illustration of the use made by rhetoricians and orators of the argumentum a materia as a device to evoke emotion is Cicero's complaint that a man had been killed by being confined in a place filled with smoke from the burning of green wood.5 This is an instance of reference to the "material means," because Verres used the smoke as a means to kill (just as another might have used a sword and another, poison) ; and it is by reason of the means so used that the emotion aroused by this incident is very keen. Cicero employs the same device when he complains of the scourging of a Roman citizen,« [18] and you will find Vergil using it too, in the passage which begins: But the Almighty Father amid thick clouds hurled his bolt; no mere torches he, nor smoking pinewood flare [Aeneid 6. 592] where the poet has neatly derided the means used by Salmoneus and has indicated the wrath of Jupiter by a reference to the reality 6

Ibid. ι. 17. 4 j . • Ibid. 5. 54. 142.

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and violence of the means used by the god to express it. [19] W e have now recounted, one by one, devices which the rhetoricians prescribe to stir the emotions, and we have illustrated the use which Vergil has made of them. But sometimes, to heighten emotion, the poet uses two or more of those "sources of argument" together in the same passage. [20] Thus there is a reference both to "age" and to "place" when he makes Latinus say to Turnus: Pity thy aged father, whom now his native Ardea holds far from thee, in sorrow [Aeneid 1 2 . 4 3 ] [ 2 1 ] and to "means," to "outward appearance," and to "place" when he says of Cassandra: See how Priam's maiden daughter was being haled, with locks disheveled, from the temple and shrine of Minerva. [Aeneid 2. 403] [22] and in the passage which refers to the murder of Agamemnon mention is made of the king's country, his high position, the family tie, the place of the crime, and its cause: The Mycenaean chief, leader of the mighty Achaeans, fell, by the hand of his wife, on the threshold's very edge; and a paramour was master of conquered Asia. [Aeneid 1 1 . 266] [23] It is Vergil's practice, too, to evoke emotion by implication and, so to speak, by limiting his language, that is to say, instead of stating quite clearly what it is that moves to pity, he allows it to be inferred. For example, when Mezentius says: N o w is the wound driven deep [Aeneid 10. 850] w e are meant to understand that the real wound is the loss of his son. [24] And when he says again, later: This was the one way by which you could destroy me [Aeneid 10. 879] w e must, clearly, take the meaning to be that to lose his son is to perish himself. [25] Again, when Juturna, complaining that she is prevented from helping her brother, cries: Am I then immortal? [Aeneid 12. 882]

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the sequence of thought is that to live on in sorrow is not immortality. In these examples the poet makes his point neatly, by the effective use of what I have called a limitation of language, which leaves the full meaning of his words to be inferred.

C H A P T E R 51 [ ι ] To excite emotion the art of rhetoric includes also the use of the "sources of argument" known as "arguments to illustrate the case" (argumenta circa rem), and they are very well suited to stir the feelings. Of these the first is "argument from resemblance" (argumentum a simili), and it is of three kinds: example (exemplum), comparison (parabola), and descriptive likeness (imago) — the Greek terms being, respectively, παράδειγμα; παραβολή; and είκών. [2] The following lines illustrate Vergil's use of the argumentum ab exemplo: If Orpheus could summon from the dead the spirit of his bride, trusting in his Thracian lyre and its tuneful strings, if Pollux redeemed his brother by dying in his turn and so often treads and retreads the road of death—why should I speak of mighty Theseus, why of Alcides? 2 [Aeneid 6. 119] Everything in this passage moves to pity, for it seems unfair that Aeneas should be refused a boon which has been granted to others. [3] And note how Vergil heightens a feeling of indignation by saying: "If Opheus could summon from the dead the spirit of his bride," since here the circumstances—the "causes"—are not comparable. It was his wife's spirit that Orpheus sought, and he sought, too, to recall her from the dead; it was his father's spirit that Aeneas sought, but he sought only to see him among the dead. And with reference to Orpheus the "means" he used were spoken of slightingly, in the phrase "trusting in his Thracian lyre." [4] Then, in the lines "if Pollux redeemed his brother by dying in his turn 1

Cf. Quintilian 5. 11. The MSS add the line Antenor potuit mediis elapsus Achivis (Aeneid 242), but this is probably a gloss. 2

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and so often treads and retreads the road of death," Vergil was using the argumentum a modo, for to go often is something more than to go only once. And when Aeneas was made to break off and ask: " W h y should I speak of mighty Theseus, w h y of Alcides?" these personages are so notable that there was no question of belittling them and exalting himself, but Aeneas' claim is in truth that he shares in the distinction of those two heroes, since he was, as he goes on to say: Also descended from Jove most high. [Aeneid 6. 123] [5]Comparable, and expressive of indignation, is the passage in which Juno says: Had Pallas power to burn the Argive fleet? [Aeneid 1. 39] for in it the point is that to destroy a victorious fleet is something more than to destroy the remnants of the fleeing Trojans. And Juno went on to depreciate the "cause" of Pallas' action by adding For the fault and madness of one man, Ajax son of Oileus [Aeneid 1. 41] since it amounted to depreciation to speak of a "fault"—a term applied to something only slightly blamable—and that the fault of one man (and as such readily pardonable) and that man a madman (and as such not even blamable). [6] Consider another passage: Mars prevailed to destroy the monstrous race of the Lapithae [Aeneid 7. 304] where, you see, Juno makes the same point, in her reference to the destruction of a "race" and a "monstrous race" at that; and there follows another argumentum ab exemple·. T h e Father of the Gods himself gave up ancient Calydon to Diana's vengeance [Aeneid 7. 305] in which the word "ancient" suggests that greater honor was given to Diana by reason of the antiquity of the city, Juno then going on to depreciate the "cause" in each instance, by saying: Yet for what heinous crime did the Lapithae or Calydon merit such grievous punishment? [Aeneid 7. 307] [7] Vergil very often uses the argumentum a parabola, as better suited to a poet, when he seeks to arouse emotion by representing an object of pity or a display of anger. As illustrations of its use to represent an object of pity, take the lines:

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Even as the nightingale mourning under a poplar's shade [G e orgies 4. 5 1 1 ] and: Like a Thyad, stirred by the shaking of the sacred emblems [Aeneid 4. 301] and: Like to a flower plucked by a maiden's hand [Aeneid 11. 68] and there are many other instances of such use of the argumentum a parabola in which our poet has expressed the feeling of pity. [8] The following are illustrations of Vergil's use of this form of comparison to represent anger. And as when a wolf, prowling by some full sheepfold, howls at the pens [Aeneid 9. 59] and: As is the bellowing when a wounded bull has fled from the altar [Aeneid 2. 223] and any who cares to look for them will find many other similar examples. [9] As for imago, the third of the three varieties of the argumentum a simili, this too is a device well suited to stir the feelings. It is a vivid description either of a bodily form that is absent or of a purely imaginary object, [10] and Vergil has made neat use of each of the two kinds. T o take the former first, the following lines, which refer to Ascanius, will serve as an illustration: O thou who art the only likeness left to me of my Astyanax; such eyes, such hands, such looks were his! [Aeneid 3. 489] But, on the other hand, the poet is drawing on his imagination when he says (of Scylla) : Of whom the story still is told that her white waist is girt about with barking monsters. [Eclogues 6. 74] [ 1 1 ] Of these two examples of imago, the former excites pity, the latter horror, as, for instance, when elsewhere the poet says: And in rent robe Discord stalks, rejoicing, Bellona at her heels with blood-stained scourge in hand8 [Aeneid 8. 702] and in the whole of his description of Rumor [Aeneid 4. 173-97]. [12] Again, the emotional appeal of the following lines, too, is very powerful:

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Within, the unholy Spirit of Strife, high-seated on a pile of cruel arms, his hands bound behind his back with a hundred knots of bronze, roars horribly with blood-stained mouth. [Aeneid i. 294] ' C f . Baehrens, p. 359: Sanguineum quatiens dextra Bellona flagellum [aut] scissa gaudens vadit Discordia palla. See also Seneca De ira 1. 35. 6.

CHAPTER 6 [ ι ] Having spoken of the argumentum a simili, let us now say something of the poet's use of the argumentum a minore [the argument from a lesser circumstance] as a means to evoke emotion. It is certainly true that when a misfortune, great in itself, is afterward shown to be less than the misfortune which we wish to stress, the sense of pity aroused has, beyond doubt, no bounds. [2] As, for example, here: O maiden daughter of Priam, happy alone above others, though doomed to die at an enemy's tomb [for she did not endure any casting of lots]. [Aeneid 3. 321] In these lines Andromache, in calling Polyxena happy, has first made a comparison with herself, then she has used an argumentum a loco, referring to the place of Polyxena's death—"at an enemy's tomb," and an argumentum a modo, referring to the manner of her fate—"doomed to die"—no less sad a circumstance. We have to take it, therefore, that Polyxena, although doomed to die and at an enemy's tomb, was for all that less unhappy in her fate than Andromache, because she was spared the indignity of "any casting of lots." [3] There is a like example of this device in the lines, in which Aeneas compares his fate with the fate of those who fell at Troy, beginning O thrice and four times happy they [Aeneid 1. 94] and again, in the reference to Pasiphae, where Vergil says: The daughters of Proetus filled the fields with their feigned lowing and then adds, to show that their fate was less pitiable than hers: Yet no one of them pursued so shameful a union. [Eclogues 6. 48]

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[4] And here too use of the argumentum a minore evokes strong feeling: Nor did the seer Helenus, with all his bodings of ills, nor Calaeno, dread prophetess, foretell this grief to me [Aeneid 3. 712] for we understand from this passage that Aeneas held all he had suffered as of less account than his father's death. [5] Some have maintained that the argumentum a maiore [the argument from a greater circumstance] cannot heighten emotion, but Vergil has neatly introduced it into his description of the death of Dido, as follows: The heavens resound with loud wailings, even as if all Carthage or ancient T y r e were falling before the inrush of the foe [Aeneid 4. 669] for what he has said here is that the death of one woman caused no less grief than would have attended the destruction of a whole city —an unquestionably greater disaster. And Homer used the same device [in a reference to the grief felt for Hector's death]: As though all the beetling citadel of Ilium were burning utterly in fire. [Iliad 22. 410] [6] Yet another rhetorical source of argument to stir emotion is the argumentum praeter spem [the argument from an unforeseen circumstance], and of this, too, Vergil has made frequent use. For example, Venus, in her complaint to Jupiter of promises unexpectedly unfulfilled, is made to say: And yet I and my son are thy offspring, to whom with thy nod thou dost assign the heights of heaven [Aeneid 1. 250] and Dido, asking her sister to beg Aeneas to delay his going: If strength was mine to foresee this cruel blow, I shall have strength, too, sister, to bear it to the end [Aeneid 4. 419] [7] and Aeneas of Evander [who is unaware of the death of his son] : And now, perchance, utterly beguiled by an empty hope, he is even making prayers [Aeneid 11. 49] and Moeris, evicted from his farm: It has come to this, a thing that I never feared would happen, that a stranger, as owner of my little farm—yes, mine!—should say: "All this mine; be off, you former holders." [Eclogues 9. 2]

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[8] Nevertheless, I find that emotion may be aroused also by a reference to something that has been foreseen, as when Evander, over the body of his dead son, says: Well I knew how strong was the newborn pride in arms, how passing sweet the glory. [Aeneid 11. 154] [9] When emotion arises from an appeal to a like feeling, the figure of speech is known in rhetoric as "homoeopathy." Thus in Vergil, Turnus, appealing to Aeneas, says: Thou too dids't once have such a father in Anchises [Aeneid 12. 933] and of Ascanius, when Euryalus asked him to comfort his mother, if he falls, the poet says: The thought of his love for his own father touched him [Aeneid 9. 294] and again, after the death of Priam, Aeneas says: A picture of mv own dear father rose in my mind [Aeneid 2. 560] and Dido, to show her sympathy with the misfortunes of Aeneas, says: I too have been driven by fortune through many like toils. [Aeneid 1. 628] [10] Another source of argument to stir emotion is an address to an inanimate object or to a dumb animal, and orators often use it. Vergil has handled each kind well to produce an emotional appeal, as, for example, when Dido, recalling her association with Aeneas, says: O relics dear, while Fate and Heaven allowed [Aeneid 4. 651 ] or when Turnus says: And thou, most kindly Earth, keep fast the steel [Aeneid 12. 777] and elsewhere he says: Now, my spear, that never failed my call [Aeneid 12. 95] and in the address of Mezentius to his charger: Rhoebus, long—if to mortal creatures aught at all is long—long have we lived, you and I, and now that life is ended. [Aeneid 10. 861] [ 1 1 ] Yet, another rhetorical figure designed to evoke emotion is "hesitation" (addnbitatio: the Greek term is άπόρησις), for, when one is grieved or angry, one is frequently uncertain what to do.

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Thus Dido is represented as saying: But there! what shall I do? Am I now, scorned by Aeneas, once more to make trial of my former suitors? [Aeneid 4. 534] [12] and again, of Orpheus, the poet asks: What was he to do? Whither betake himself, twice robbed of his bride? [Georgics 4. 504] and, of Nisus: What is he to do? By what force of arms dare the rescue of his young comrade? [Aeneid 9. 399] and Anna, deeply moved, cries: What shall I first lament, left desolate? Didst thou scorn in death a sister's company? [Aeneid 4. 677] [ 1 3 ] A vivid description of a thing seen (adtestatio) is another rhetorical device to arouse emotion, and Vergil uses it thus: When Aeneas saw the pillowed head of Pallas and his face white as snow and the gaping wound in the smooth breast [Aeneid 11. 39] [14] and again: And blood filled his breast [Aeneid 10. 819] and: And, dying, writhes in his own blood [Aeneid 11. 669] and: He sees Eriphyle pointing to the wounds her cruel son had dealt her [Aeneid 6. 446] and: There were hanging the heads of men, death-pale and ghastly with decay [Aeneid 8. 197] and: Euryalus rolls to the ground in death, and the blood gushes over his fair limbs [Aeneid 9. 433] and: With my own eyes I saw it, when Polyphemus seized the bodies of two of our number. [Aeneid 3. 623] [15] Emotion is stirred by "hyperbole" or exaggeration (nimietas), and this figure is used to express either anger or pity. It expresses anger, for example, when we say: " H e should have died a thousand deaths," or, to take an illustration from Vergil: By death in any form I ought freely to have yielded up this guilty life. [Aeneid 10. 854]

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and the figure expresses pity in, for example, the line: Even lions of Africa mourned at thy death, Daphnis. [Eclogues 5. 27] [16] Moreover, such "exaggeration" is used to express the emotion of love, or a feeling of some other kind—love, for example, as when Thyrsis says to Galatea: May I seem more worthless to thee than seaweed on the shore, if today is not already longer to me than a whole year [Eclogues 7.43] and emotion of another sort, as when, on Turnus' threatening to burn the Trojan ships, a voice cries: Sooner shall Turnus have leave to fire the seas than these hallowed timbers [Aeneid 9. 1 1 5 ] and, again, when Latinus vows that no force shall make him break his word: Not though it should plunge the land into the sea. [Aeneid 12. 204] [17]Another figure which evokes emotion is "exclamation" (exclamatio: έκφώνησις in Greek). Here the poet sometimes speaks in his own person, and sometimes he puts the words into the mouth of one of the characters. [18] Examples of the poet speaking in his own person are: Alas, Mantua, too near neighbor to unhappy Cremona! [Eclogues 9. 28] and: Luckless man! Howe'er posterity shall regard the deed [Aeneid 6. 822] and: Love was your shame [Aeneid 10. 188] [19] and there are other similar instances. But, on the other hand, in the following lines the poet is speaking by the mouth of another: May the gods keep in store the like to fall on his own head and on his race [Aeneid 8. 484] and: Ye gods, with 1/ke requital visit the Greeks, as surely as with duteous lips I claim the vengeance due [Aeneid 6. 5291 and: Ye gods, rid earth of such a plague! [Aeneid 3. 620] [20] Opposed to "exclamation" is the figure aposiopesis (in Latin,

2 8ο

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taciturtiitas),1 and in it the conclusion of a thought is suppressed, for just as in the preceding figure we express what we have to say by means of an exclamation, so here the speaker breaks off into silence, suppressing something which is, nevertheless, perfectly clear to his audience. [ 2 1 ] This figure is particularly suitable to betoken anger. Thus Neptune says: Whom I—but it is better far to calm the troubled waves [Aeneid 1. 135] and Mnestheus: Nor do I strive to win; and yet—but let them win to whom thou, Neptune, hast appointed success [Aeneid 5. 194] and Turnus: And yet!—if aught of our wonted valor were with us still [Aeneid 11. 415] and again, in the Bucolics: We know who was with you while the he-goats looked askance, and in what shrine you were—but the easy nymphs laughed. [Eclogues 3. 8] [22] Furthermore, Sinon used this figure to appeal for pity: Until by the agency of Calchas—but why do I vainly recount this unhappy tale? [Aeneid 2. 100] [23] The figure "repetition" (repetitio), too, (the Greek term is έπαναφορά) gives rise to emotion. In it a number of phrases begin with the same words, and here are examples from Vergil: "Eurydice," cried the voice of itself and the death-cold tongue, " O hapless Eurydice," as life ebbed away. "Eurydice," the banks re-echoed all down the stream [Georgics 4.525] and: Of thee, dear wife, of thee he sang alone on the lonely shore, of thee at day's dawning, of thee as day declined [Georgics 4. 465] and again: For thee the grove of Angitia wept, for thee the glass-clear water of Fucinus, for thee the limpid lakes. [Aeneid 7. 759] [24] Another figure with an emotional appeal is a form of rebuke (έπιτίμησις or obiurgatio), in which a plea is countered with its own words, as Juno counters the appeal made by Venus to Jupiter: 1

In 6. 6. 15, b e l o w , the f i g u r e is called

tntermissio.

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Aeneas, thou sayest, is unaware and far a w a y ; unaware and far away, then, let him be. [Aeneid 10. 85; cf. 10. 25] [ T h e end of the Book is lost, but the opening w o r d s of the next Book suggest that the lost chapters contained the discourse of Eusebius on Vergil's skill in oratory, to w h i c h reference is made in ι. 24. 14.]

the SAtuRnalia · Book 5 CHAPTER I [ 1 ] After this Eusebius paused for a little while·, but in the mean time there was a murmur of talk among the rest of those present, and a general agreement to hold Vergil no less eminent as an orator than as a poet, so great was the knowledge he showed of oratory and so careful his regard for the rules of rhetoric. [2] Then, turning to Eusebius, Avienus said: Tell me, please, my learned friend—if we admit, as indeed we must, that Vergil was an orator—from which of the two would one who nowadays wished to become proficient in the art of oratory derive the greater profit: from Vergil or from Cicero? [3] I see what you are getting at, said Eusebius: I see your object —your attempt, I mean, to make me follow a line I certainly don't wish to take and draw a comparison between Vergil and Cicero. For your question, though modestly phrased, amounts really to asking which of the two is the more outstanding, since the one who is himself preeminent would necessarily afford the greater profit to a student. [4] But, there, I would have you relieve me of the need to enter upon so deep and difficult an undertaking, for it is "not for me to settle such a contest" 1 between those great men, nor should I presume to appear to have authority to make such a pronouncement about either of them. I shall venture to say only this: that Vergil's eloquence comprises many elements, takes many forms, and embraces every kind of style; in your fellow countryman, Cicero, you will observe that the tenor of his language is uniform, although his words flow forth like a copious torrent. [ 5 ] Now orators, naturally, do not conform to a single and uniform pattern of speaking; but this man has a freely flowing style, 1

Vergil Eclogues 3. 108.

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that man on the other hand uses language which is concise and terse; one man's speech is simple, dry, and restrained, and he likes to be, as it were, economical in his use of words; but another lets himself go in language which is rich, brilliant, and ornate. There are all these widely differing styles, and in Vergil alone do you find all of them united. [6] I should be glad, replied Avienui, if you would explain these differences of style to me more clearly and give names of persons, by way of illustration. [7] There are four 2 kinds of style, said Eusebius, the copious (copiosum), of which Cicero is master; the concise {breve), in which Sallust is supreme; the dry (siccum), a term applied to the style of Fronto; and the rich and ornate (pingue et floridum), formerly indulged in exuberantly by the younger Pliny and today by our friend Symmachus, who is second to none of the men of old in its use. But Vergil is the one writer in whom you will find all of these four kinds represented. For example, [8] for speech so concise that it would be impossible to pack more meaning into a few words, take the line: Et campos ubi Troia fuit [And the fields where Troy once was —and is no more], [Aeneid 3. 1 1 ] See how, in these very few words, Vergil has expressed the complete disappearance of a great city; he has not left so much as a ruin. [9] The following passages show him dealing with the same subject in his most copious style: The last day has come, and Troy's inevitable hour; we Trojans are no more; Ilium is no more and the mighty power of the Teucrians. Jupiter is cruel and has removed all to Argos; our city is in flames and the Greeks are masters of it [Aeneid 2. 324] and: [10] O my country, Ilium, home of the gods; and Dardanian walls renowned in war [Aeneid 2. 241] and again: Who could describe in words the carnage of that night, and tell of the many deaths; or who could find tears to match our 1

A more usual classification is under three heads: e.g., Auctor ad Herennittm 4. 8. 11; Quintilian 12. 10. j8; Aulus Gellius 4. 14. See also Nettleship, Lectures and Essays, p. 49.

MACROBILS: THE SATURNALIA

grief? An ancient city falls after many years of rule. [Aeneid 2. 361] Vergil's words gush out like a torrent from a spring; they are like the inflooding waves of the sea. [ 1 1 ] Now for an example of the style of speech known as "dry": Turnus, riding swiftly forward with twenty picked horsemen, had outstripped the slow-moving column and comes, unlooked for, to the city. A Thracian charger with white markings carries him; and his helmet is of gold, with a crimson crest. [Aeneid 9. 47] [12] Consider, too, how polished and ornate a comparable description can be, when such is the poet's pleasure: By chance Choreus, dedicated to Cybele and once her priest, was conspicuous afar in his shining Phrygian armor. He was spurring on a foaming charger whose covering was a skin with scales of bronze laid featherwise and buckled with gold; and the rider, bright with purple of foreign dye, shot Cretan arrows from a Lycian bow . . . embroidered with needlework his tunic and the barbaric coverings of his legs. [Aeneid 11. 768] [ 1 3 ] But these are isolated illustrations, taken from separate passages. You may wish, then, to see how Vergil actually blends these four styles and from completely diverse elements produces a beautifully balanced combination. Thus: [ 14] Often, too, it is good to burn barren fields and to consume the light stubble with crackling flames, whether thence the lands conceive some hidden strength and rich nourishment, or whether by the fire all that is faulty is baked out of them and useless moisture sweated awav, or else the heat of the fire unlocks more of the ways and blind pores, whereby juice may reach the tender crops, or hardens the more and binds the gaping veins, and so prevents the fine rains or the fierce power of the burning sun or the piercing cold of the north wind from harming the land. [Georgics 1. 84] [15] There you have language of a kind which you will find nowhere else, for it is neither hurriedly concise nor tastelessly copious nor meagrely dry nor luxuriantly rich. [16] There are, moreover, two kinds of language each of which reflects a different kind of character in the speaker. The one re-

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presents a nature which is mature and dignified; such was the style ascribed to Crassus,3 and Vergil uses it, for example, when Latinus is giving advice to Turnus, in the passage which begins: O gallant-hearted vouth, the more you surpass me in your proud valor, so much the more carefully is it right that I deliberate. [Aeneid 12. 19] [ 1 7 ] The other style represents, on the contrary, a fiery, spirited, and aggressive character. Such was the style that Antonius4 used, and you will not look for it in vain in Vergil. Take, for example, the lines: Not such were your words but a little while since. Now die; and let not brother forsake brother. [Aeneid 10. 599] [18] You see—do you not?—that the use of all these varied styles is a distinctive characteristic of Vergil's language. Indeed, I think that it was not without a kind of foreknowledge that he was preparing himself to serve as a model for all, that he intentionally blended his styles, acting with a prescience born of a disposition divine rather than mortal. And thus it was that with the universal mother, Nature, for his only guide he wove the pattern of his w o r k just as in music different sounds are combined to form a single harmony. [ 19] For in fact, if you look closely into the nature of the universe, you will find a striking resemblance between the handiwork of the divine craftsman and that of our poet. Thus, just as Vergil's language is perfectly adapted to every kind of character, being now concise, now copious, now dry, now ornate, and now a combination of all these qualities, sometimes flowing smoothly or at other times raging like a torrent; so it is with the earth itself, for here it is rich with crops and meadows, there rough with forests and crags, here you have dry sand, here, again, flowing streams, and parts lie open to the boundless sea. [20] I beg you to pardon me and not charge me with exaggeration in thus comparing Vergil with nature, for I think that I might fairly say that he has combined in his single self the diverse styles of the ten Attic orators, and yet not say enough.

3 4

C f . C i c e r o De oratore C f . Cicero De oratore

2. 45. 188 (see Wilkins's edition, p. 13). 3. 9. 32 (see Wilkins's edition, p. 17).

CHAPTER ζ [ ι ] An excellent comparison, said F.vangelus with a mocking smile, the divine craftsman and the rustic poet from Mantua, who— I would maintain—never read a word of the Greek orators you have mentioned. For how could a Venetian, born of peasant parents and reared amidst forests and scrub, have acquired even a smattering of Greek letters? [2] M y good Evangelus, retorted Eustathius, don't suppose f o r a moment that any Greek author, however eminent, drew as much from the resources of Greek learning as Vergil's skill and intelligence enabled him to acquire therefrom and embody in his work. For in addition to that ample store of philosophy and astronomy which has been the subject of our earlier discussions, 1 there are other and by no means inconsiderable borrowings from the Greek which he has introduced into his poems as though they naturally formed part of them.® [3] Pray tell us too, Eustathius, of these borrowings, said Praetextatus; so far as you can bring them to mind at such short notice. All seconded this request and called on Eustathius to expound the matter. [4] You are, perhaps, thinking (he began) that I shall speak of things that are common knowledge: for example, that in his pastoral poetrv Vergil has taken Theocritus f o r his model, and in his work on husbandry, Hesiod; and that in the Georgics he has drawn too on the Phaenomina of Aratus for the signs of bad and 1

In the first p a n of Book 3, now lost. Quid fecisset Vergilius, Latinorum poeta praecipuus, si Theocritum, Lucretium et Homeritm minime spoliasset? ... Quid Sallustius, Tullius, Boetius, Macrobius, Lactantius, Martianus, irmno tota cohors generaliter [fecissent], si Athenarum studia vel Graecorurn volumina non vidissent? (Richard of Bury, Philobiblon, Chap. 162). 1

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good weather: or that he has copied his account of the overthrow of Troy, with the tales of Sinon and the wooden horse and all the rest that goes to make up the second Book of his Aeneid, almost word for word from Pisander,' [5] a writer eminent among the poets of Greece for a work which, beginning with the marriage of Jupiter and Juno, has brought within the compass of a single sequence of events all the history of the world through the intervening ages down to its author's own day, bridging the divers gaps of time to form a single whole, and, among the other stories in it, telling in this way of the destruction of Troy—an example which Vergil has faithfully followed in fashioning his own narrative of the fall of Ilium. But this, and the like, as being no more than the commonplace themes of schoolboys, I propose to omit. [6] However, as for the Aeneid, it has, has it not? been borrowed from Homer: first the story of the wanderings, from the Odyssey, and then the account of the fighting, from the Iliad·, for the order of events made it necessary for Vergil, in his work, to change the original sequence, since in Homer the Trojan War comes first and then we have the wanderings of Ulysses on his return from Troy, whereas in Vergil the voyaging of Aeneas has preceded the subsequent war in Italy.4 [7] Again, when Homer, in the first Book of the Iliad, wished to represent Apollo as hostile to the Greeks, he ascribed this hostility to a wrong done to a priest of the god; but Vergil has brought together a number of reasons to account for Juno's enmity toward the Trojans. 5 [8] There is also another point—which I do not propose to stress, although it has not, I think, always been noticed —and that is the fact that in the first line of the Aeneid Vergil promises to bring from the land of Troy Aeneas, The man whose fate it was to come first, an exile, from the shores of Troy to Italy and the Lavinian coasts [Aeneid 1. 1] and vet, when he comes the opening of the storv, the poet represents the fleet of Aeneas as sailing not from T r o y but from Sicily: ' For Vergil and Pisander see Nettleship's excursus, at the end of Aeneid 2, in Conington's Virgil, II (4th ed.). * For a criticism of the view "that the Aeneid falls apart into two halves, the first, like the Odyssey, a romance of adventure, the second, like the Iliad, an cpic of w a r " see J . W . Mackail, Virgil and His Meaning to the World of Today (Boston, 1922), p. 98. 5 Aeneid 1. 12-28.

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Hardly out of sight of the land of Sicily they were cheerfully spreading their sails, seaward. [Aeneid i. 34] Such an arrangement is wholly in accord with the Homeric pattern; [9] for Homer, in his poem, avoids imitation of the historian's rule which requires a narrative to begin at the beginning and go straight on to the end, but, following the technique of poetry, he begins in the middle of the story and comes back to its beginning later. [10] Homer, therefore, does not begin the narrative of the wanderings of Ulysses with a description of that hero's departure from the shores of Troy, but first shows him sailing from the island of Calypso, and (speaking in person) brings him to Phacacia, where, at the banquet of King Alcinous, Ulysses himself tells how he came from Troy to Calypso; then, after the Phaeacian episode, the poet again takes up the tale and himself describes the voyage of Ulysses to Ithaca. [ 1 1 ] Vergil has followed Homer's example, for he represents Aeneas sailing from Sicily and describes the voyage which brings him to Libya, where, at Dido's banquet, the hero himself tells of his voyage from Troy to Sicily and sums up in a single line what the poet had already described at length: Departed hence, heaven drove me to your shores. [Aeneid 3. 715] [12] And again, after the African episode, the poet once more becomes the narrator and in his own person has described the passage of the fleet all the way to Italy: Meanwhile Aeneas with his fleet was now in mid-course over the sea, firm in his purpose. [Aeneid 5. 1] [13] In fact, all Vergil's poem is modeled on what you might call a mirrored reflection of Homer's. For example, Vergil's description of the storm is a marvellous imitation of Homer's (you have only to compare the two passages). We have Venus taking the place of Nausicaa, the daughter of Alcinous; and Dido for her part recalls the picture of Alcinous giving a banquet. [14] Scylla too and Charybdis and Circe are fittingly mentioned; and for the cattle of the sun Vergil gives us the fable of the Strophades Islands. For the consultation of the dead, in Homer, we have the descent of Aeneas to the world below in the company of the priestess. In the sixth Book of the Aeneid, Palinurus answers to Elpenor, the hostile Dido to the hostile Ajax, and the predictions of Anchises to the counsels of Tiresias. [15] Then, in the Aeneid, we have the battles

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of the Iliad and the wounds described with consummate skill; the double enumeration of the allies, and the making of the arms; there are the various contests at the funeral games; the making and breaking of a treaty between kings; and the reconnaissance by night. There is the embassy returning with a refusal from Diomedes, after the example of Achilles, and there is the lament for Pallas as there was for Patroclus. The quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon has its counterpart in the quarrel between Drances and Turnus, for in both quarrels one party was thinking of his own and the other of the common good.® The single combat between Aeneas and Turnus corresponds to that between Achilles and Hector; and captives are chosen for sacrifice in honor of the dead—in Homer for Patroclus, in Vergil for Pallas: Then he takes alive four youths, sons of Sulmo, and as many reared bv Ufens, to offer as victims to the shades of the dead. [Aeneid 10. 517] [16] And for Homer's Lycaon (who, overtaken in the rout, had recourse—and no wonder—to prayers for mercy, although Achilles in his grief for Patroclus refused to spare him) Vergil has shown us Magus in like case in the midst of the fighting: At Magus next, from afar, Aeneas had hurled a hostile spear [Aeneid 10. 521 ] and when he clasped the knees of Aeneas and prayed as a suppliant for his life, the other replied: Such barter in war, as thou wouldest have, Turnus hath already closed ere this, in the hour when he slew Pallas. [Aeneid 10. 532] [17] And the words with which Achilles reviles the corpse of Lycaon, beginning: N o w lie there . . . [Iliad 21. 122] are taken by Vergil and addressed to Tarquitius, in the passage which begins: N o w lie there, dread w a r r i o r . . . . 9

[Aeneid 10. 557]

See W . Warde Fowler, The Death of Turnus (Oxford, 1919), p. 42.

CHAPTER 3 [ ι ] Y o u would perhaps like me to quote actual lines of Homer which Vergil has translated almost word f o r word. M y memory isn't competent to recount them all, but I will bring to your notice as many as shall occur to me. [ 2 ] Thus Homer says: He brought the string to his breast and the iron head to the bow. [Iliad 4. 123] Y o u see here how the richer Greek language has expressed the whole action in a f e w words; whereas your poet has used a number of clauses to say the same thing, 1 in the passage which runs: She drew her bow far, until the curved ends met; and, her hands in line, she touched the iron point with her left and her breast with the bowstring in her right. [Aeneid 11. 860] [3] Again, Homer says: And no other land was in sight, but only sky and sea [Odyssey 1 2 . 4 0 3 ] and Vergil has: And now no more is any land in sight, but sky on all sides and, on all sides, sea. [Aeneid 3. 192] [4] Homer: Then the dark wave stood around them, arched like an overhanging mountain [Odyssey 1 1 . 243] Vergil: Around him stood the wave, arched like an overhanging mass. [Georgics 4. 361 ] [5] And of Tartarus Homer says: As far beneath Hades as heaven is from earth 1

C f . 2. 2. 16, above.

[Iliad 8. 16]

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and Vergil says: Tartarus yawns sheer downward and stretches through the darkness twice as far as is the skyward view to heavenly Olympus. [Aeneid 6. 578] [6] Homer: But when they had put off the desire for drink and for meat [Iliad ι. 469; 7. 323] Vergil: When hunger had been banished and desire for food allayed. [Aeneid 8. 184] [7] Homer: T o him the god granted part of his prayer and part he denied [Iliad 16. 250] Vergil: Phoebus heard and in his heart granted that part of the prayers should prosper, but part he scattered to the flying breezes. [Aeneid 11. 794] [8] Homer: Now indeed doth the mighty Aeneas rule among the Trojans, and his children's children who shall be born hereafter [Iliad 20. 307] Vergil: Here shall the house of Aeneas rule over all lands, and his children's children and those who shall be born of them. [Aeneid 3. 97] [9] Homer says: And then were the knees of Odysseus loosened and his heart melted. [Odyssey 5. 297] and in another passage: And Ajax felt cold fear at his brother's fall [Iliad 8. 330; 15. 436] but Vergil has combined Homer's two lines to make one: Forthwith the limbs of Aeneas were loosened by cold fear. [Aeneid 1. 92] [ 10] Homer: Lady Athene, Savior of the City, fair among goddesses, break now the spear of Diomedes and grant even that he fall prone before the Skaean Gates [Iliad 6. 305]

2Ç2

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

Vergil: Lady mighty in arms, present help in battle, Tritonian Maid, break with thy hand the Phrygian robber's spear; hurl him prone to the ground and lay him low before the very gates. [Aeneid 1 1 . 483] [ n ] Homer: She holds up her head in the heavens while she walks upon the earth [Iliad 4.443] Vergil: She plants her feet upon the earth and hides her head in the clouds. [Aeneid 4. 177; 10. 767] [12] Homer says of sleep: A sound sleep, very sweet, and near akin to death [Odyssey 13. 80] and Vergil has the line: Repose sweet and deep and very like to the stillness of death. [Aeneid 6. 522] [13] Homer: Verily by this staff, which shall never put forth leaves or shoots, since it has once and for all left its stem among the hills, nor shall it bloom again, for the bronze hath stripped it of leaves and bark; but now the sons of the Achaeans that minister judgment bear it in their hands, they who by the commandment of Zeus have the laws in their keeping [Iliad 1. 234] [14] Vergil: As this staff (for in his hand he chanced to be bearing a staff) shall never with light foliage put forth shoots for shade, now that once and for all hewn away from the bottom of its stem in the woods it has lost its parent and beneath the steel has shed its leaves and branches, aforetime a tree; but now a craftsman's hand has cased it in seemly bronze and given it to the fathers of Latium to bear. [Aeneid 12. 206] [ 1 5 ] But here (continued Eustathius) I propose, if you agree, to leave off quoting parallel passages to illustrate Vergil's translations from Homer, for too much of a monotonous recital may breed dislike of the subject, and I would have our talk turn to other topics no less well suited to the matters before us. [ 161 Do go on, I beg you, said Avienus, to examine all the pas-

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sages in which Vergil has drawn from Homer, for what could be more delightful than to hear how the two greatest of poets say the same thing? There are three things that are judged to be equally impossible: to rob Jupiter of his thunderbolt, Hercules of his club, and Homer of a line.2 And, even if it were possible to do these feats, who but Jupiter would fittingly launch the thunderbolt, who but Hercules wield the oaken club, and who but Homer sing the songs that Homer sang? And yet Vergil has so happily appropriated the words of the older poet as to make them seem to be his own. You will, then, meet the wishes of us all, if you will be so good as to let the present company share with you the knowledge of all that our poet has borrowed from yours. [17] Very well, said Eustathius, then give me a copy of Vergil,» for by looking at the several passages in it I shall the more easily call to mind the corresponding lines in Homer. And when, at a word from Symmachus, the required book had been brought from the library by a servant, he opened it at random and, glancing at the passage on which he had chanced, said: See, here you have a harbor migrating from Ithaca to Dido's city: [18] Vergil: In a deep inlet there is a place where an island forms a harbor with the barrier of its sides on which every wave from the deep breaks and divides itself into retreating ripples. On either side are huge cliffs, and twin crags tower menacingly to the sky, beneath whose peaks the sheltered waters, far and wide, are still. Then, too, there is a background of waving woods above, and a grove overhangs, gloomy with tangled shade. In front and below is a cave with beetling crags; within are fresh waters and seats of natural stone, a home of the Nymphs. Here no cables hold the weary ships, no anchor fastens them with hooked fang [Aeneid i. 159] [19] Homer: There is in the island of Ithaca a harbor of Phorcys, the old man of the sea, and therein are two steep, jutting headlands, sloping toward the harbor, which keep off the great wave raised by stormy winds outside; but, within, the well-benched 1

Cf. Suetonius Vita Vergili 46. See also the reference to Isidore of Seville 10. 44 in the note on 6. 2. 33, below. 5 Vergilianwn volumen. (See p. 295η ι.)

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ships ride without cable, when once they have come to the place of mooring. Now at the head of the harbor is a longleaved olive tree, and hard by it is a lovely cave, full of shadows, a sacred place of the Nymphs that are called Naiads. [Odyssey 13.96]

CHAPTER 4 [ ι ] Avienus then asked Eustathius, instead of remarking on passages taken here and there, to go through the Aeneid from the beginning, book by book. Whereupon the other turned back the leaves, with his hand to the end,1 and began as follows: [2] Vergil: Aeolus, on thee I call; for the Father of the gods and King of men hath granted thee power both to calm and to rouse the waves with the wind [Aeneid 1. 65] Homer: For the Son of Cronos made him keeper of the winds, both to lull and to rouse whatever wind he will. [Odyssey 10. 21 ] [3] Vergil: I have twice seven nymphs of surpassing beauty, of whom Deiopea is fairest of form; her will I unite with thee in abiding wedlock and will make her thine for ever [Aeneid 1. 71] Homer: But come, and I will give thee one of the younger of the Graces, to be wed and to be called thy wife. [Iliad 14. 267] [4] The description of the storm raised by Aeolus against Aeneas and the Trojan leader's lament for his lot are taken from Homer's description of the storm which Ulysses met and from his lament, Neptune taking the place of Aeolus. In each poem the passage is long and so I do not propose to quote the two passages in full,* for anyone who wishes to do so can read them for himself. They begin, in Vergil, with the line: 1 Manu retractis in caicem foliis. The book appears here to be a codex; in 3. 17, above, a roll. 2 The text reads non inserid: "I have not inserted them." Macrobius seems to have forgotten, for the moment, his imaginary dinner party and to be addressing his son.

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Thus he spoke and with the butt of his spear smote the hollow mountain [Aeneid i. 81] and in Homer, with the line: Thus he spake and gathered the clouds and troubled the sea. [Odyssey 5. 291] [5] [Eustathius then continued] Vergil: A t the gift of the first kindly light of day, Aeneas resolved to go forth and explore the strange land, to find out to what shores the wind has brought him, who possess the land—men or beasts—for he sees all unfilled, and then to bring back tidings to his companions [Aeneid 1. 306] Homer: But when now Dawn of the fair tresses had brought the full light of the third day, even then did I take my spear and sharp sword and from the ship went quickly up to a place of wide prospect, if haply I might see signs of the work of men and hear the sound of their speech. [Odyssey 10. 144] [6] Vergil: None of thy sisters have I heard or seen. O how am I to address thee, maiden? For thy countenance is not mortal, nor has thy voice the sound of human speech. O, surely, thou art a goddess, the sister of Phoebus, perhaps, or one of the race of Nymphs [Aeneid 1. 326] Homer: I implore thee, O queen. A r t thou, then, goddess or mortal? If indeed thou art a goddess, one of them that hold wide heaven, to Artemis, daughter of mighty Zeus, I liken thee most, in beauty and in stature and in form. [Odyssey 6. 149] [7] Vergil: O goddess, if, going back to their first beginning, I were to tell, and thou hadst leisure to hear, the record of our woes, sooner will Heaven's gates close and evening lay the day to rest [Aeneid 1. 372] Homer: W h o of mortal men could tell all that tale? N o t even if thou wert to abide here for five years, ay for six, and ask me of all the ills that the noble Achaeans suffered there. [Odyssey 3. 113]

BOOK 5 , CHAPTER 4

297

[8] Vergil: But, as they go, Venus covered them with a dark mist, and the goddess threw around them a thick mantle of cloud, that none might see or touch them or raise a barrier of delay or ask the [Aeneid 1. 4 1 1 ] cause of their coming Homer: And then Odysseus arose to go to the city; and Athene threw a thick mist around Odysseus, for the love she bare him, lest any of the lordly Phaeacians should meet him and ask him who [Odyssey 7. 14] he was, with taunting words. [9] Vergil: As on the banks of the Eurotas or along the ridges of Cynthus Diana plies the dance, in whose train a thousand mountain nymphs troop on either side; she wears her quiver on her shoulder and she stands forth above all the goddesses as she goes; and joy, beyond words, thrills Latona's heart; such was Dido, thus did she move rejoicing 5 [Aeneid i. 498] [10] Homer: And even as Artemis, the archer goddess, goes down the mountain, either along the ridges of lofty Taygetus or Erymanthus, taking her delight in the chase of boars and swift stags, and with her sport the nymphs of the countryside, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus (and Leto is glad at heart); and higher than all she holds her head and forehead, and right easily may she be known, but all are fair; even so she, that pure maiden, outshone her handmaids. [Odyssey 6. 102] [ 1 1 ] Vergil: Aeneas stood forth resplendent in the clear lifjht, his face and shoulders like to a god's. For his mother herself had breathed upon her son the grace of flowing locks and the radiant light of youth and a joyful glory in his eyes, such grace as the craftsman's hands lend to ivory or when silver or Parian marble is set in yellow gold [Aeneid 1. 588] [12] Homer: But the dame Eurynome bathed the lordly Odysseus within his own house and anointed him with olive oil and cast about him a goodly mantle and a doublet. And Athene shed great beauty ' For a criticism by Probus of Vergil's adaptation, see Aulus Gellius 9. 9.

298

MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

from his head and made him greater and more mighty to behold and down from his head made curling locks to flow, like to the hyacinth flower. And as when some skillful man lays a plating of gold upon silver, a man whom Hephaestus and Pallas Athene have taught all manner of craftsmanship, and full of grace is his handiwork, even so did Athene shed grace about his head and shoulders. [Odyssey 23. 153; cf. 6. 230] [ 1 3 ] Vergil: I whom you seek am here, even Trojan Aeneas, saved from the Libyan waves [Aeneid 1. 595] Homer: Home indeed am I here, myself; after many grievous sorrows have I come, in the twentieth year, to my native land. [Odyssey 21. 207]

CHAPTER 5 [ . ] Vergil All fell silent and kept their gaze fixed upon him [Aeneid 2. 1] Homer: So he spake, and they all were silent and held their peace. [Iliad 7. 92 ] [2] Vergil: Unspeakable, O queen, is the grief that you bid me renew, how the Greeks utterly destroyed the power of Troy and, to our sorrow, her realm [Aeneid 2. 3] Homer: It is hard, O queen to tell the whole story of my woes, for the gods of heaven have given me woes in plenty. [Odyssey 7. 241]. [3] Vergil: Some gaze in wonder at the fatal offering to the maiden Minerva and marvel at the huge size of the horse; and Thymoetes is the first to urge that it be brought within the walls and lodged in the citadel—whether through treachery or whether at last the doom of Troy was this way tending. But Capys and those whose minds had better counsel bid us either hurl into the sea this thing of Greek devising, a gift suspected, and put fire under it and burn it, or pierce and explore the hollow recesses of its womb. The wavering crowd is torn into opposing parties [Aeneid 2. 31] [4] Homer: So the horse stood there, and seated around it the people spoke many things, undecided; and three plans seemed good to them: either to cleave the hollow timber with pitiless bronze, or to drag it to the hilltop and hurl it from the rocks, or to leave it

3. 3Sl

23· 23· 23. 2 4· 24-

'9· 19. 19. 20. 20. 20.

2,'47 10-13,3/4 18,3/4 61-65,356 164-75, 33J> 226-29,3'· 2

18. 181,31s

20. 307-8,291 20. 403-5,

21. 111,28$

21. 168,426

OF

CITATIONS

757.30* 764. 850,30Í 339-45. 343.

Odyssey 1. 2 - 4 , 3 " 2. Ι Ο - I I , 3 / 3 2. 2 7 7 . 3 5 5 3· 7 2 - 7 4 . 3 " 3· " 3 " ' 6 , 2 ρ 6 3. 247-49. » 5 ' . - « ί 4· 4· 4. 5· 5· 555· 5.

·49-5°.3°·#

ut,

444

9· 9· 9· Ο.

288-94,337 372,334 528-30, 5 3 2 - 3 5 . 3 3 ' 21-22,

ο· ο. οι. ι. ι.

'44-47. ^ 2ΐο-ΐ3,3" 279.33? 6-7,33^ 9 - 1 0 , 303 66-78,3'0

ι. 204-8,308-9 ι. 2ο6-8,302 ι. 243-44. 2 9° ι. 308-16,337

ι. 2· 2· 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 3·

576-81, 3 ' 0 ·3-'5.3°Ρ 73-74.424 85-97.304 104-5,305 208-12, 324 236-43,304 403-4. ^ρο. 303 403-6, 307 Ι9.5'ί

21. 21. 22. 22. 22. 22. 22. 22. 22.

362-65,327 448,121 25-32,319 93-96,30/ 127-28,345 209,343 308-11,332 317-18,3/3 364-66,332

"·

373"74» 300

5· 4 9 0 . 3 3 0

3· 8ο,2Ç2

22. 23. 23. 23. 23. 23. 23. 23. 23. 23. 23.

410-11,276 15-16,32/ 114,30p 164,30p 220-21,307 358,308 368-69,334 380-81,333 560-62,307 618,303 685-86,30Í

6. 102-9,2Ρ7 6· 1 0 7 , 3 3 4 6· '49-52.2ptf 6. 2 1 8 - 1 9 , 5 0 ' 6. 226, $01

4· IÓ2,

242,444 1-2, 3 θ ί , 3 ' 7 2. ' 4 7 57-^2,33' 6ο, ¿ 4 ? 264,24? 270-74,3*5

5. 2 9 1 , 2 ρ ί 5· 2 9 7 . 2 9 '

7. 14-17. 7· 3 6 , ' 3 4 7- 2 4 1 - 4 2 , 2 ρ ρ 8· 3 5 ' . 355 8. 505-13. W - 3 0 0

3· 81-83,3-27

3· 96-104,293-94 5· 5· 9· 2θ. 2 1.

112

74.355 '26,303 3°7. 69,475 207-8, 298

23- 153-^2,291-98 24. 4 ° 2 . " 7

LUCRETIUS '· 7 . 4 ' 5

2. 4 ° ' . 3 Í 4

'·

3. 3· 3· 4· 4· 5· 5· 5· 5· 5· 5· 5·

>23,3Ρ4

'· 134-3 5 . 3 9 4

ι. 912-17,398 2· 24-33. 3?? 2. 2 8 , 4 ' 5 2. 144,3Í»

2 . 207,390 2. 2 1 4 , 3 5 » 2. 324, 390 2. 2· 2. 2.

3 2 9 - 3 ° . 4'·* 3S2"53.4'7 361-63,3W 367-68, 4 ' ί

70-72,40' 987.4'4 Ό34.393 38-39.3Í0 907-8.3Ρ3 33.3ΡΟ 213-17.405 294-95.4'4 432-36,443-45.403 443-44.4'3 446"48.403 455.403

5· 5· 5· 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6.

937-38.3Ρ7 945.3S7 "93-94.3Ρ7 154-55.4" 204-5,4'7 4 ° 5 . 3S3 874-75.4'-2 1138-40,3Ρ5 ιΐ45"50.4°ο 1178-79.4°' 1182-89,4°ο 1219-22,40/ 12 2 6 - 2 9 , 4 0 0

INDEX

OF

CITATIONS

VERGIL Eclogues ι. 4 , 2 6 2 ι. 64-65,262 2. 14,362 2. $2,246 3. 8-9, 280 3· 33. 4. 4. 4.

49. m 77. >95 108,282 10,426 43-44,212 46,5J2

44· 5. 5. 6.

57.3«-2 58-59.345 17-28,279 74-75, 20Í 4-5,^/5

6. 17.577 6. 31-37,403 6· 33.4'7 6. 35-36,4'3 6. 48-50, -275 6· 74-75. -273 6. 7$-η6,428 7· 7.4*3 7· 43. *75> 7· 6ι, 22Í 8· 63, 355) 39' 8. 85-88,402 9· 9· 9· ΙΟ. ίο. ίο.

2-4,27« 28,27p 4ΐ-42,4'* 11-12,4*5 52,3«' 69,3^5.355

Georgia '· 5-7. " 3 ι. 5-8. '3-2 '· 7-9. 3«3 ι. 11,36; '· '· ι. ι. ι. ι. ι. ι. ι.

53.355 75.4'7 84, ¡32 84-93. 2 %4 8$,411 100-4,374 118-19,404-5 126-27, «3 145-4¿.355

»· ι. I. ι. ι.

2 39.

'45 256,4/4 259-61,434 269-70, /ρρ 272, /07, /pi»

»· ι. Ι. ι. ι. ι. ι.

295> 345

308,4Π 344.22Ji224 345< 2 ο6 367,35» 387,346 437.3«-*

"· 2. ι. 2.

5°8» 391 3 6,426 JI,42« 59.

2· 2. 2. 2.

69,345 126-27,130,245» 246-47,3Í3-P4 299, -24«

2· 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. 2.

374.4'5 }8J,423 395. *>« 461-63,398 462,410 467-7*. 399 soo-1,397 506,392 510-11,40/

3. 4-5.4*9 3· 3· 3· 3· 3· 3· 3-

55.4'5 73-7*4*5 ΙΟ8-9,334 11 333 "5"ΐ7.402,43* 223,4'5 226-27,266

3· 3· 3· 3· 3· 3·

289-93.35»* 3 2 5. 39'"93. 3*3 449. 345 478-80,399 482, *«*

3· 3· 3· 3· 3· 3· 3·

498-99.255 5°°"'.-*55 500-2,400 5°3.400 505-8,400 5°9" , Ι .4θθ 5^0-22,399

3· 3· 3· 4·

5 2 9-3°. 397 546-47.40' 548-49.40' ιο-ιι,4'«

4· 4· 4· 4. 4. 4. 4. 4.

44.4" 5°.4*3 102, 224 110-11,211 136,42«* 151.370 179.3«' 238,427

4· 334-36, 338,3«' 4. 361,25» 4. 380-81,377 4· 393. ' 3 * 4- 4 6 ' , 3 « ' 4- 462.3«' 4· 463.3«' 4- 465-66. 2*0 4· 4· 4· 4· 4· 4· 4· 4·

472.390 477.-2«ο 479.430 5°4. 2 7 * 5°7.-2«3 5 " . *73 521,2«3 522,2«*

4· 525-27.-2*0 4- 538. 205 4- 54°.-205 4· 55'.-205 Aeneid ι. 1-3,2Í7 I. 8, Ζ/4 ι. 34-35. -2** ΐ· 37.-25« ι. 39-4°.-27-2 I. 41.-27-2 ΐ· 42.3*3 ι. 65-66,295 «· 7'"73.-2Ρ5 I. 8l,2pí I. 92, 2Ρ/ Ι· 94.-275 I- 105,4-23 ι. 135.-2*0,4-25 ΐ· 137.433 ι. 159-69. 2 93

INDEX

536 I. I.

198-203,324 10^,448

2.

OF

CITATIONS 3. 19, 1 9 6

161,361

1. 16s,

389

3. 2 1 , 2 2 0

ι. 216, ¡S9

2·

272-73.2Í2

3. 26, 2 2 /

1.

3· 4

3.

163,3*7

I.

2. 3 5 5 - 6 0 , 3OO-/

3· 3.

«75.55* 192-93,2510,303

1.

411-14,297

351-52,2/7,3*3

2. 3 6 1 - 6 3 ,

283-84

1. 4 3 0 - 3 6 , 3 2 3

1. 3 6 5 - 6 6 , 2Ä3

3.

199.39°

»· 4 7 2 _ 7 3 , 263 ι. 4 7 j , 2 6 0

2.

3.

221,4/j

379-82,30/

I. 4 8 3 , 2 6 2

2. 39°> 5 5 5 2. 4 0 3 - 4 , 2 6 3 , 2«S

3· 2 5 1 - 5 2 , 5 * · * 3. 2 6 8 - 6 9 , 3 0 3

I. 498-503,297

2. 4 1 6 - 1 8 , 4 0 4

I. J 0 0 , 3 6 1

2. 4 1 6 - 1 9 , 3 3 1 $

3· 284,5*7 3. } n - i i , 2 7 f

I.

501,334

2. 4 2 2 , 4 2 6

3. 3 3 2 , 2 6 3

ι.

J30,3*7

2. 4 2 5 - 2 6 . 2 Í 3

3. 4 2 0 - 3 2 , 3 0 3 - 4

'·

539.5Í"

2. 4 7 0 , 3 3 0

3. 4 3 7 , 2 0 2

' · 573. ι. 588-93,297

2· 4 7 « - 7 S . i < "

3. 4 3 8 , 2 0 2

2· 49 225i 2 2 ^ , 286, 462, 154-55, 4 7 9 , 480, 4 8 3 , 5 0 7 , 5 1 2 , 5 1 5 , 5 1 7 "evocatio," 2 1 7 - 1 8 exaggeration (hyperbole, nimietas), rhetorical figure, 2 5 7 , 2 7 8 - 7 9

547

exclamation (έκφώνησις), rhetorical figure, 2 5 7 , 2 7 9 exemplum (παράδειγμα), rhetorical figure, 2 7 1 - 7 2 exbnius, meaning of, 2 0 5 - 6 Fabius Gurges, 2 2 8 Fabius Maximus Servilianus, 1 0 9 Fabius Pictor, 1 9 2 , 1 9 4 Fabricius Luscinus, C., 4 5 Falernum, 2 3 9 , 2 5 2 , 4 9 0 Fannian L a w (sumptuary), 2 2 9 - 3 0 , 239, 241-42 fasti (business or court days, "days of utterance"), 9 8 , 1 0 0 , 1 0 5 , 1 0 7 , 1 0 9 , 110 Fatua, 88 Fauna, 8 7 - 8 8 Faustulus, 7 2 Faustus, son of L. Cornelius Sulla, 163-64 Favorinus, 2 4 7 fear, physical effects of, 4 8 8 February, 9 1 , 9 2 , 9 3 , 9 7 , 9 8 Februus, 9 1 Fenestella, 71 Feralia, festival, 4 1 feriae (rest days), 8 3 , 1 0 3 - 7 Feriae Latinac (Latiar), 1 0 6 , 1 0 8 Feriae Sementivae, 1 0 6 Festival of Joy (Hilaria), 1 4 2 Festival of the G r o v e s (Lucaria), 4 1 Festival of the Handmaids, 8 0 festivals, 4 0 - 4 4 , 5 8 - 6 2 , 7 1 - 7 2 , 8 0 , 1 0 5 - 8 , 1 2 8 , 1 4 2 ; see also under specific names of festivals, e.g., C o m p i talia; Saturnalia festra, 2 2 6 Festus, Pompeius, 1 9 8 , 206, 2 1 5 Fidenae, 80, 2 1 9 f i g trees, 2 5 1 - 5 2 figs, 5 9 , 2 5 1 - 5 2 Figulus, see Nigidius Figulus, P. figures, rhetorical, 2 5 6 - 5 9 , 2 7 1 - 8 1 , 4 2 1 - 3 0 ; see also under specific names of rhetorical figures, e.g., apostrophe; hyperbole fingers, 30, 6 7 , 4 9 8 - 9 9 fire, 4 6 5 , 5 1 6

54

8

GENERAL INDEX

fish, 235-40 passim·, see also under specific names of fish, e.g., pike, sturgeon fish ponds, 236 Flaccus, Granius, 128 Flaccus, L., 161 Flaccus, Q . Horatius, see Horace Flaccus, Verrius, see Verrius Flaccus Flaminian Circus, 200 Flavianus, Venestus, 48 Flavianus, Virius Nicomachus, 4, 6-7, 13-ii passim, 29, 48, 49, 157, i j 8 , 162, 185, 468 Flavius, Gnaeus, 101 Flavius, M., 96 Flavius Vespasianus, T . , 519 Floralia, festival, 41 food, 187-88, 228-40, 24J-J3, 456-67, 491-94, 496, 497-98, 507-11; see also sumptuary laws; and specific names of food, e.g., apples; fish; nuts Fortune (goddess), 135-36, 151 Fregellae, 219 Fronto, M . Cornelius, 283 Fulvius, a fuller's son, 163-64 Fulvius Nobilior, 87, 95 Furius, consul, 95 Furius, a writer, 218 Furius Albinus, see Albinus, Furius Furius Bibaculus, M., 161; (cited), 391, 393, 408, 413 Furius, L., 63 Gabii, 219 Gabinius, Α., 234 Gades, 139, 495 Gaius, jurist, 3771, 196η, j 2 i Galba, 171, 178 Galla, Maevia, 163 Gallus, C. Aelius, 435 gambling, 239 games, 47, 59, 71, 239 games, public, 41, 51, 75, 118-19, 1 5 1 Gargara, (Γάργαρα, large quantity), 375-76 Gargarus, 374-76 Gauls, 80 Gavius Bassus, 67, 211; (cited), Gavius Hirrius, 236

245

Gela, Sicily, 372 Gellius, Α., 2, 3, 2i, 23η, 28«, 35«, 42«, 45«, 46η, 47«, 48«, 52η, 57w, 71«, 81η, 104«, 107«, io8«, 109«, 15 6«, 162η, 164«, 1657z, 168«, 18072, 182«, 185«, 187η, 198«, 208«, 227«, 241«, 243«, 283η, 297«, 32671, 360«, 362η, 394«, 428«, 432«, 433«, 435«, 437". 438«, 4 8 7». 493». 494«» 49 8 ». 503η, 507« Gellius, Gnaeus, 63, 109, 241 G e minus, 110-11 Genius (god), 135-36 Germanicus (name of September), 90 G e r y o n , 60, 82, 88 Giants, the, 138 gibes and jokes, 159-79, 450-55 gilthead (aurata), fish, 235 glassmakers, 516 Glaucippus, 93 gluttony, 187-88, 228-30, 236-40, 461 Gnipho, Antonius, 226 G o o d G o d d e s (Bona D e a ) , 87-88,156« goldsmiths, 516 gout, 172, 181, 460 Gracchus, C . Sempronius, 78 Gracchus, Tiberius Sempronius, 232 grammar: accidence, 39-44 pasHm, 45-47, 361-62; syntax, 421-22, 432-33 grammarians, 33, 384, 437 Granius Flaccus, 128 Granius Licinianus, n o , 37on, grape juice, 474-75 grapes, 252-53 G r e a t Mother, the, 87 " G r e e k anthology," see Anthologia Graeca G r e e k calendar, 84, 92-93, 112 G r e e k language: compared with Latin, 165, 290; Vergil's use of, 361-62, 414-15 G r e e k religious practices, 63, 73, 119 Grumentum, siege of, 78 Gurges, Fabius, 228 habit, 480 habitus (outward appearance) description of, to evoke or express emotion, 254-55, 261, 269

GENERAL INDEX

Hades, 60-61, 131; see also Dis; Proserpine Hagetor, a Spartan, 379 hair, 472, 473, 480-81 half-festivals, 105 Handmaids, Festival of the, 80 Hannibal, 78, 162 hares, as food, 230 harmony of the heavens, 148 Haterianus (Aterianus), Julius, 214 "heads" or "ship«," a game of chance, 59 hearing, sense of, 186-87, 4®'· 482, 503 heat: bodily, 469, 472-74; effects of, 477-78, 496, 515-16 Heaven (Caelus), father of Saturn, 64-65 heavens, the, see universe, the Hecate of the Nether World, 88 Hecuba, 75 Helen, 443-44 Helike, in Achaia, 335η Heliopolis, 144, 151-J2 Hemina, Cassius, 95, 109, 110-11, 202 hen or egg, which existed first, 512-15 Heraclea, 381 Heracles (Hercules), $9-61, 82, 135, 293, 380-81 as Mars, 226 as the Sun, 138-39 cult of, 88-89, 138-39, 209-11, 224, 225-26 epithets of, 87, 209-10 Herennius, 170 Hermes, 115, 134 Hermogenes, a character in Xenophon's Symposium, 442-43 Hermunthis, Egypt, 144 Hernici, 365-66 Herod, king of the Jews, 171 Herodotus, 84η, gm, 495 Herrenus, M. Octavius, 209-10 Hersennius, Octavius, 226 Hersilia, a Sabine woman, 52 Hesiod, 286; Opera et dies (Works and Days) (cited), ijo, 355, 491; Theogony, 6$n, 138η Hesperia (Italy), 38, 387

549

Hestia (Vesta), 150 Hierapolis, Syria, 126 high priest (rex sacrorttm), 101, 103, 106, 229 high priestess, 103 Hilaria (Festival of Joy), 142 Hippocrates, 138; (cited), 188, 465 Hirrius, Gavius, 236 Homer, 9-10, 20-21; compared with Vergil, 286-348, 349-3 55, 407-9; for passages cited, see Index of Citations, 533-34; for passages containing variations from the received text, see Appendix C, 522-24 homoeopathy, rhetorical figure, 277 honey, 59, 185, 239, 475, 490-91 honey jars, 88 honey-wine (mead), 224, 240, 490 Horace [Q. Horatius Flaccus] (cited) : Epistles, 18«, 258 Epodes, 438η Odes, 90η, 359 Satires, 247, 490η horae (hours of the day), 143 Horatii, 45 Horatius Flaccus, Q., see Horace horizon, 504-5 horror (δείνωσις), 273-74 Hortensian Law, n o Hortensius, Q., 227-28, 236 Horas, 10, 11, 13, 55, 57, 100-1, 105, 111-12, 164, 230, 231-32, 472, 473, 497-501 passim Horas (Egyptian god), 143 hostia, see religion and ritual: sacrifices Hostia (Ostia), 78, 239, 500 Hostilius, Tullus, 50, 63 Hostius (cited), 408, 418 Hostus, 52 Hostus Hostilius, 52 hours of the day (horae), 143 household gods, see penates, the humor, see wit and humor hunger, 492, 497-98 Hyacinthia, festival, 128 Hyginus, see Julius Hyginus Hylas, actor, 183-84 Hyllus, 194

55°

GENERAL

H y m e t t u s , h o n e y o f , 490 hyperbole (nrmietas), rhetorical f i g u r e , 257, 278-79 Iao, 1 3 1 Ida, m o u n t a i n , 374-75 Ides, 8 j , 100-4 passim, 109 iduare, meaning of, 103 illaudatus ( u n p r a i s e d ) , V e r g i l ' s use o f , 207, 429, 430-31 imago ( ε ί κ ώ ν ) , rhetorical figure, 27". 273-74 inamabilis ( u n l o v a b l e ) , V e r g i l ' s use o f , 430 India, m e d i c a m e n t s f r o m , 466 i n d i g n a t i o n ( δ ε ί ν ω σ ι ς ) , 256-71 passim, 426 iniugis, m e a n i n g o f , 205 insidimi ( m i n c e m e a t ) , 476 instauraticius, meaning of, 75 i n t e r c a l a r y days, 9 2 - 1 0 0 passim intercisi dies (half-festivals), 105 intermissio (aposiopesis, taciturnitas), r h e t o r i c a l f i g u r e , 279-80, 42$ internundinum, 11 m Inuus ( P a n ) , 147-48, 383-84 I o n i a n S e a , 495 Iopas, D i d o ' s minstrel, 443 i r o n y , r h e t o r i c a l f i g u r e , 257 Isidore o f Seville, 23-24, 3 j n , 37η, 96n, ioow, 15072, 17172, 23571, 245«, 24872, 2937», 37772, 4057J, 41 572, 4377J, 49577, 49877, 499η Isis, 139-40, 142 Isocrates, 400-41, 521 Italica, 78 Italy, 38, 58, 66, 387 J a n a ( D i a n a ) , 67 J a n i c u l u m , hill, R o m e , 58, 59, 90 J a n u a r j ' , 59, 9 1 J a n u s ( E a n u s ) , 58-59, 66-69, 9 ' .

I0

3t

109, 125-26 J a n u s , a b u i l d i n g in R o m e , 4671 John

o f S a l i s b u r y , 24-25, 2772, 4572,

5677, 5772, 7572, 15872, 16872, 17on, 17372, 17472, 18172, 18272, 18571, 18772, 22772, 22972, 23071, 23272, 23372, 2347J, 237n, 239w, 24071, 24172, 24472, 35672,

INDEX 44072, 44172, 44471, 44672, 44872, 45072, 45272, 45472 j o k e s and gibes, 159-79, 45°-55 judges, c o n d u c t o f , 239-40 juglans ( w a l n u t ) , 245 J u l i a , daughter o f J u l i u s Caesar, 16772 J u l i a , daughter o f Augustus, 7 7 , 176-77 Julius A t e r i a n u s ( H a t e r i a n u s ) , 2 1 4 Julius Caesar, C., 79-80, 90, 236; anecdotes, 163, 167, 178, 180-82; and C i c e r o , 167-69, 4 5 1 ; and t h e c a l e n d a r , 83, 96-99, 1 0 1 , 1 1 2 On Grammatical Analogy (cited), 4Í Julius Caesar, L . , 229 Auspices, no Julius H y g i n u s , 58, 202, 2 1 4 - 1 5 , 366, 39472, 4 1 5 , 438 Julius Modestus, 40, 7 1 , n o J u l y , 89-90; o r i g i n a l l y Quintiiis, 85 J u n e , 87, 89 J u n i a T e r t i a , w i f e o f C . Cassius, Junius, historian, 9 4 J u n i u s B r u t u s , L . , 6 1 , 89, 252 J u n i u s Brutus, M . , 1 6 3 Juno: and Janus, 68, 103 and L a t o n a , 1 2 3 - 2 4 and Maia, 8 8 a n d the penates, 2 0 1 - 2 as the air, 103, 1 2 4 as the l o w e r air a n d earth, 2 0 1 - 2 as the m o o n , 1 0 3 epithets, 80, 89, 223 J u n o n i u s , 68, 89 J u p i t e r ( Z e u s ) , 2 1 7 , 293, 338-39 and A p o l l o , 384 and S a t u r n , 73 and the penates, 2 0 1 - 2 as Maius, a t T u s c u l u m , 87 as the middle air, 201 as the sun, 1 4 3 , 1 4 9 - 5 1 as the universe, 1 3 0 at Heliopolis, 1 5 1 - 5 2 c u l t o f , 102, 103, 109, n o , 220-21 epithets, 102, 12571, 200, 379 J u v e n a l , 22072, 23971, 45072, 5 1 9

GENERAL INDEX Kalends, 68, 85, 94, 100-2, Kalends of the Beans, 89 κρίος, meaning of, 144 Κρόνος (Cronus), 64 κύλιç(calix), 381

103-4, 109

454

Laelius, C., 29 Laelius, M., $1 Laevinus, 214 Laevius, 1307J, 418« Lais, 164 lamb, as sacrifice, 103 lampreys, 23J-36 Lanuvium, 37, 246, 249 Laodicea, 168 Larcius, T., 63 Larentia, Acca, 71-72 Larentinalia, festival, 71 Lares, 61, 71 laridum (bacon), 89, 489 Lattar (Feriae Latinae), 106, 108 Latin language, compared with Greek, i6j, 290 Latona, 117, 119, 123-24 laurel, 8j, 22J-26 Laurentines, 103 Laurentum, 78 Lavernium, 237 Lavinium, 202 "law" days, 108 laws: judiciary law of Tiberius Gracchus, 232; sumptuary laws, Twelve

Tables, 36-37, 42, 94-95, 242; see also under specific names of laws, e.g., Fannian Law Leandrius, 117 Lebanon, mountain, 141-42 Lentulus, Cornelius, 229 Lepidus, see M. Aemilius Lepidus Lesbos, 122 Libanius, 519 Liber, 128-34 Passim, 444

"Liber's sweetmeats" (sweet wine), I8J

Liberalia, festival of Liber, 41, 131-32

Labeo, see Cornelius Labeo Laberius, D., 167-68, 179, 180-82, 4ji; Ephebus (cited), 420 Labienus, 77 Lacedaemonians, (Spartans), 80, 128,

229-30, 239, 241-44; t h e

55 1

Libyans, 118, 144, 451 Licinia, vestal virgin, 71, 229 Licinian Law (sumptuary), 242-43 Licinianus, Granius, 110, 370η Licinii, 235 Licinius, a freedman of Augustus, "73 Licinius Cal vus, C., 214 Licinius Crass us, 160 Licinius Crassus, L., 235-36, 285, 406

Licinius Crassus, M., 234 Licinius Crassus Dives, P., 242 Licinius Lucullus, L., 236 Licinius Macer, C., 72, 94 lictors, 50 Ligyreans of Thrace, 128 Lindus, 116 Lintirian land, 72 lions: and Andargatis, 153 and Heracles (Hercules), 139 and Serapis, 139 and the Mother of the Gods, 142, '53 a n d the S u n ,

143-44

liquids, 494-96; see also water litare, meaning of, 205 literary critics, 156, 157, 428 litotes, examples of, 428-30 lituus, meaning of, 432-33 liver, the, function of, 458, 459, 482 Livia, 177 Livius, Postumius, 80 Livius Andronicus, (cited), 418 L i v y , 437J, 5 1 η , 72η, 74η, ηφι,

89n,

109n, 119n, non, 366η

locus, source of an argument, 265η, 267 Lollius, M., 178 Longinus, C. Cassius, 168-69 looking-glass images, 503 Love (god), 135-56 Lucaria (Festival of the Groves), 41 Lucetius, 102 Lucían, 15177, 15277, 1837z Lucilius, C., 47, 160, 240; (cited), 242, 439, Satires, 46-47, 240, 410, 414

GENERAL INDEX

Lucina, 516 Lucretius, for passages cited see Index of Citations, 534; for passages containing variations from the received text, see Appendix C, 524-25 Lucrine Lake, 235 Lucullus, L. Licinius, 236 Lucumo [L. Tarquinius Prise us], 50-51, 63, 201-2 Lupercalia, festival, 106 lustrare, meaning of, 206 lustricus dies, m η Lutatius Catulus, Q., 229 lux, derivation of, 120-21 Lycopolis, Egypt, 121 Lycurgus, Spartan lawgiver, 454 Maccius Plautus, T., see Plautus Macer, C. Licinius, 72, 94 Macrobius, 1; criticism of Vergil, 17-23; influence on writers, 23-25; Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, 23, 96η, 134«, '54"> 479". 48171, 499η, $o$n, 506n Maecenas, C. Cilnius, 171 Maenian Law, 75 Maevia Galla, 163 Maia, 87-89 Maiesta, 87 Maius (May), 87 Mallius, 70 Mallius, L., portrait painter, 164 Mallius, P., friend of Cicero, 168 mane, meaning of, 37-38 Manes (departed spirits), 37-38, 71. 9* Mania (goddess), 61 Manilius, Μ., 125η, 233η, 438η, Manlius, military tribune, 109 March, 84-85 Marcius, a soothsayer, 118, 119 Marcius Philippus, L., 236, 406 market days (nundinae), 93-94, 105, 109-11 marriage customs, 36-37, 103-4 marrow, 480, 482 Mars, 85, 220 and Heracles (Hercules), 225-26

and Liber, 133-34 and the sun, 126, 133-34 as Neton, 133 Sacrifice in Honor of, 41 Martial, 4971, 7872, 15iti, 519 masks, 60 Masurius Sabinus (cited), 40, 41, 70-71, 209-10 Matius (Mattius), Gnaeus, (cited), 43- 2S2 maturus, maturare, meaning of, 433-34 Mauritania, 228-29 May, 87-89 mead or honey-wine, 224, 240, 290 Medea, 88, 215, 359, 369 medical practice, 137-38, 457, 464, 466, 468-70, 475, 490-91, 509, 516, 517» 519 medicaments, 249, 466, 468-69, 475, 490-91 Memphis, 144 Menander, 386; (cited), 380 Menippus, 81 Menippean satires, see Varrò Mercury, 118, 134-36 and Apollo, 134 and Earth, 87 and the Sun, 114-15, '34-36 called Camillus, 215 Messala, origin of name, 53 Messala, M., consul and augur, 67-68, n o Messana, Sicily, 53, 79, 236 Metellus Pius, Caecilius, 228-29 meter, Vergil's use of, 344-45 metonymy, examples of, 422-23 Mezenrius, 206-7 Micythus, slave of Anaxilaus of Rhegium, 79 Milesians, 117 milk, 326 mincemeat (insidimi), 476 Minerva, 126-27, 201-2 Minotaur, 117 mirror-images, 503 Mnevis, 144 Modestus, Julius, 40, 71, n o months, Roman, 84-90, 91-113 passim

GENERAL INDEX

moon, the, 91, 96, 113, 135-36, 217, 383 and Artemis or Diana, 103, 516 and Ceres, 132 and Juno, 103 and Venus, 214 moonlight, effects of, 515-16 Mother, the Great, 87 Mother of the Gods, 142, 153 moths, 249 movements, bodily, 479 Mucius, 163 Mucius, Q., jurist, 36-37 Mulciber, 416 mullet, 238 Mummius (cited), 70 Munatius Plancus, 244 Murena, origin of the name, 235 Muses, the, 57, 443 and Apollo, 134 and Heracles (Hercules), 87 and Mercury, 134 Musonius, a philosopher, 47 mustard, 477 Mutina, battle of, 163 Mys, slave of Epicurus, 81 Mysia, 374, 37J Naevius, 130-31, 357W, 418»; (cited) : Punic War, 249, 405, 417, 418 The Soothsayer, 246 The Trojan Horse, 392 nails, human, 480-81 names and surnames, 49-50, 52-54, 228, 235 Naples, 31, 78, 129 Nausicaa, 501 Naxos, 122 Necessity (god), 135-36 nefasti dies, 107, 109 Nemesis, 147 Neptune (Poseidon), 118, 208, 220, 335; and the penates, 201 Neton, statue of Mars, 133 Nicander of Colophon, 383-84; (cited), 379 Nicocreon, king of Cyprus, 140 Nicomachus, see Flavianus, Virius Nicomachus

553

Nigidus Figulus, P., 66, 67, 201, 238, 433. 438 nimietas (hyperbole), rhetorical figure, 257, 278-79 Nisus, 89 Nonae Caprodnae, 81 Nones, 85, 93-94, 100-4 Passim, 109 Novius, playwright, 70, 161 Numa Pompilius, 40, 91-94 passim, ioj numbers, lucky and unlucky, 91η; reckoned by the fingers, 30, 67, 498-99 Numenius, 126 Nundina, h i nundinae (market days), 93-94, 105, 109-11 nuts, 245-48 obiurgatio (έπιτ(μησις), rhetorical figure, 280-81 Ocean, 149, 495 Octavius (Octavian), see Augustus Octavius Herrenus, M., 209-10 Octavius Hersennius, 226 October, 90 Oenopides, 119 οίκτος (pity), how evoked, 258-81 passim, 426 oil, of Casinum, 239; properties of, 491. 494 old age, characteristics of, 449, 470-71, 484-85. 497 olives, 252 olive wood, as fuel, 516 Olympia, 79 Opalia, festival, 72 Opias, envoy of Delebor, 151 Opis, 210, 382-83 Oppius, (cited) 246, 249 Ops. 72-73. 88, 217 Optatus, 238 oracles (com.) at Claros, 131 at Delphi, 117, 128 at Didyma, 125n, 379 at Dodona, 60, 364 at Heliopolis, 151-52 of Liber, in Thrace, 128

554

GENERAL INDEX

of Sarapis, in E g y p t , 140 of the Palici, in Sicily, 371, 373 Orata, Sergius, 235 oratory and writings, styles in, 282-83, 2&5, 442 Orbilius, schoolmaster, 178 Orchian L a w (sumptuary), 241 Oropus, sack of, 48 O r p h i c poems, 121, 130-31, 153 Osiris, 142-43 Ostia (Hostia), 78, 239, 500 Otacilius Pit hol aus. M., 164 outward appearance (habitus), description of, to evoke or express emotion, 254-55, 261, 169 O v i d , 61 n, 65«, 68n, 8272, 847», 104η, 12 272, 138η, 17671, 2 2J71, }26/Π, 4}¡n oysters, 235 Pachynus, Sicily, 118 Pacuvius (.cited): Medus, 21J, 391-92; Paulus, 419 Pacuvius, Sextus, 90 Pacuvius Taurus, 170 Padua, men of, 78 Paestum, bay of, 412 Paganalia, festival, 106 Palice, Sicily, 373 Paliceni, 373 Palicus (Palici), 370-73 pallor, cause of, 488 ρ alud amen tum, 49 Pan (Inuus), 147-48, 383-84 Pantheon, Rome, 244 Panyasis, poet, 381 Papirian Code, the, 223 Papirius Praetextatus, 52-53 parabola (παραβολή), rhetorical figure, 271, 272-73 παράδειγμα (exemplum), rhetorical figure, 271-72 Paralus, son of Pericles, 30 parenthesis, rhetorical figure, 425 Parmenides, 30 Parnassus, 128 Partemetis, Egyptian priest, 151 Parthenian sea, 495 Parthia, 151 Parthians, 440

patera (dish), meaning of, 378 πάθος (emotion), 254-81 passim Pausanias, 71η, 33571, 3647» Pausanias, a character in Plato's Symposium, 442 peacocks' eggs, 127 pears, 249-50 Pediocrates, 373 Pelasgians, 45, 60, 63, 82, 365-66 penates, the, 201-3; as household gods, 48, 158, 160 pepper, 477 Pericles, sons of, 30 Perpennia, vestal virgin, 229 Perseus, slave of Z e n o the Stoic, 81 "Persian apple," 248-49 Persius, 129η persolvere, meaning of, 204 Petronius, 23071

Phaedo, 81 Phaedrus, a character in Plato's Symposium, 442 Phemius, 443 Pherecydes, 117, 377, 381 Phidias, 338-39 Phileas (cited), 375 Philemon (cited), 378 Philippus, L . Marcius, 236, 406 Philochorus, 73, 214 Philocrates (Euporus), 78 philosophy, 157-58, 440-45, 509 Philotis (Tutela), 80 Philoxenus, 187 Phoenicians, 67, 141 Phrygia, 201 Phrygians, religious practices of, 142. 153 physicians, 519; see also Disarius; Erasistratus; medical practice physicists, 58, 64, 66, 123, 124, 130, 141, 149, 487 pietà toga, 50 Pictor, Fabius, 192, 194 pig, as sacrifice, 106; see also sow pig, " T r o j a n , " 229-30 pike, as f o o d , 239-40 Pinarii, 210 Pinarius, 89 Pinarius, L., 95 Pindar, 359-61

GENERAL INDEX Pisander, 287 Pisistratus, of Athens, 442 Piso, 87, 194-9$ Piso Frugi, C. Calpurnius, 169 Pitholaus, Μ. O tacili us, 164 pity (οίκτος), how evoked, 2j8-8i passim, 426 plagiarism, 385-86, j 20-21 Plancus, 163 plane trees, 227 Plato, 3, 29-30, 75, 81, 115, 122, 50472, 507, 509-11, 52:; epigram by, 164-65; on the use of wine, 185-86 Cratylus, 11572, 122η, 134η, 149η, 15071, 365η On the Laws, 186 Parmerúdes, 521 Phaedo, 81 Phaedrus (cited), 149-50 Symposium, 29, 56n, 159-60, 442-43 Plautus [T. Maccius Plautus], 160 19472; (cited) : 369 Amphitruo, 378 Aulldaria, 222 Baccaria, 237 Calceolus, 246-47 Curculio, 247 Persa, 16072, 1947z, Stic bus, 16072 pleasure, 160, 186-88, 430, 461, 466, 492-93 Pliny the Elder, 6772, 7171, 15172, 15272, 16371, 17572, 22772, 23072, 23471, 23572, 23672, 23772, 23872, 2427z, 2447z, 24572, 2477z, 24872, 2517», 25272, 37672, 40072, 41472, 46972, 47372, 47772, 48472, 49972, 51572, 519 Pliny the Younger, 6072, 238η, 283, 5'9 Plotinus, 114 Plutarch, 2187z, 455 Ν urna, 6m, 8472 Quaestiones Convivales, 16, 21872, 440Π, 4467z, 4487z, 45072, 4567z, 46272, 46872, 47272, 48972, 49772, 5077Z, 51272 poison, 249, 424 Polemon, geographer, 372

555

pollex (thumb), meaning of, 499 Pollio, Asinius, 41, 78, 173, 212 Pompeii, 168 Pompeáis Festus, 198, 206, 215 Pompeius Macula, 163-64 Pompeius Magnus, Gnaeus, 78, 167 Pompilius, Nuraa, 40, 91-94 passim, 105 Pomponius, 70, 161; (cited): The Kalends of March, 413 Maevia, 43 The Transalpine Gauls, 438 Pompvlus, slave of Theophrastus the Peripatetic, 81 pontes ("bridges"), 4772 pontiffs, duties of, 195 pontifical banquet, a, 229 pontifical law, 157 Pontius, friend of Scipio Africanus, 237 Pontus, 495-96 Popilia, vestal virgin, 229 Populia, daughter of Marcus, 177 Populifugia, (Rout of the People), festival, 194-95 Porcius Cato, see Cato Porphyrius, 126 porricere, meaning of, 192-93 portrait painting, 164, 166 Poseidon, see Neptune Posidonius, Stoic philosopher, 149, 150 Postumianus, 4, 30, 31-33, 48, 49 Postumi us, military tribune, 109 Postumius Albinus, Α., 28, 252 Postumius, Livius, 80 Postvorta, 58 Potitii, 210 Potitius, 89 Praeneste, 89, 246 praetexta toga, 49-52 Praetextatus, origin of the surname, 52-53 Praetextatus, Vettius Agorius, see Vettius Agorius Praetextatus priests, duties of, 101, 103, 106 Probus, Valerius, 29772, 383 profanus, meaning of, 196-97 proiectus, meaning of, 413-14 Propontis, 495

GENERAL INDEX

556 Proserpine, 88, 108, 141, 191 Protagoras, 30 Protarchus of Tralles, 58

proverbs, 47-48, 64, 112, 156, 181-83, 226, 243, 293, 355, 376, 430, 462

Publicia, wife of Cornelius Lentulus, 229 Publicius, a tribune, 61 Publilius Syrus, 180, 181-83 Publius, 163 Punic Wars, the, 51, 79, 119, 232, 2 37 Pylades, 183-84 Pythagoras, 92 Python, killed by Apollo, 117,

156, 254-81 passim,

123-25

Quadrigarius, Claudius, 42, 46, 109 questions, how to ask them, 446-49 Quinctius, L., praetor, 453 Quintilian, 1471, 15771, 16072, 16771, 17071, 22871, 23871, 2547J, 25671, 26571, 27172, 28371

Quintiiis (name of July), 85

ram, as sacrifice, n o , 220; color of fleece, 212; in the Zodiac, 86, 144 Reate, 77 recognition, theory of, 505-6 Regia (Royal Palace), Rome, 85, 103, n o

Regillus, Aemilius, 71 religio, religionis, meaning of, 196, 198-99

70-71, 209-10

213, 218-19, 368-69

epicene deities, 214 "evocatio," 217-18 gods identified with the sun, 114-53 passim purification rites, 189-91, 371, 372 rest days (feriae), 56, 83, 103-7 sacrifices, 4771, 60-61, 63, 71, 73, 82, 106, 119, 204-5, 2 °6t n i l

421-27

rhotacism, 19371 ring finger, 498 rings, 498-500 ritual, see religion and ritual Roman religious practices, see religion and ritual Rome, 52, 217-18; see also specific names of places in Rome, e.g., Aventine Hill; Capitol Romulus, 52, 72; and market days, 110; and the calendar, 84-90, 91, 94; Cottage of, 101 Roscian Law, 16871 Roscius Gallus, Q., 233-34 Rout of the People (Populifugia), festival, 194-95 Royal Palace (Regia), 85, 103, n o Rutilius, III Sabazius (Sebadius), 129-30 Sabines, 50, 52, 63, 68-69, 247> 370 Sabinus, Masurius (cited), 40, 41,

religion and ritual, 189-226 "devotio"

religiosus, meaning of, 196, 198-99 Remus, 72 repetition (έπαναφορά), rhetorical figure, 280, 345, 425 rest days (feriae), 56, 83, 103-7; s e e also market days Restio, Antius, 77-78, 243-44 Revilus, Caninius, 164, 167 rex sacrorum, see high priest Rhegium, 79, 236 rhetorical devices, Vergil's use of,

2I

5i

437; at Delos, 208; in Egypt, 57; see also specific names of animals, e.g., bull; lamb; sow taboos, 88-89, '56 temples, furnishings of, 222-23 Vergil's use of ritual terms, 192-99

sacer, meaning of, 196, 212-13, 215-16

Sacrifice in Honor of Mars, 41 sacrifices, see religion and ritual Salii, 67-68, 86, 102, 225, 226, 234 Sallust [C. Sallustius Crispus], 40, 283, 495; (cited), 228-29, 2 3 2 salt, 489-90 salt water (sea water), 495, 500-1 Salus (personified), 106, 137 Sammonicus, see Serenus, Sammonicus Samothrace, 201-2 sanctus, meaning of, 196, 197-98 Sappho (cited), 378

GENERAL INDEX Sarapis, 57, 139-40; see also Isis; w o l f Saturn, 57-73 and Janus, 58-59 and the Pelasgians, 60 as Cronus, 64, 148 as Jupiter, 73 as the heavens, 73 as the sun, 148 in Cyrene, 59 in Egypt, J7 in Greece, 61-62, 73 temple of, at R o m e , 63-64 Saturnalia, festival, 29, 39, 47, 58-63, 70-73, 82-83, 8J> ' J 8 Saturnia, 59 Satyrs, 6 j , 128 Scaevola, P., 106-7, 229 "scavenger," 240 schoolmasters, 85 Scipio, see Cornelius Scipio Scropha, origin of surname, 54 scyphus (goblet), meaning of, 377, 380, 381 Scythian sea, 495 seals, use o f , 499 seasons of the year, 143, 465 sea water (salt water), 495, 500-1 Sebadius (Sabazius), 129-30 Segetia, 106 Seia, 106 Seleucus, k i n g of Syria, 79 Semele, 88 Semonia, 106 Sempronia, w i f e of D . Junius Brutus, 232 Sempronia, mother-in-law of Cornelius Lentulus, 229 Sempronius Gracchus, C_, 78 Sempronius Gracchus, Tiberius, 232 Sempronius Tuditanus, 94, n o Semurian land, 72 Senaculum, R o m e , 63 Seneca, 27n, 56n, η$n, 168n, 27471, 44m, 520, 521 Senemur (Senepos), king of E g y p t ,

>5" sensation, 480-83 sense perception, as a source of knowledge, 505-6 September, 90

557

Serapis, see Sarapis Serenus, Sammonicus, 238; (cited), 241-42; The Secret World, 218 Sergius Orata, 235 serpent (draco), 88; as symbol, 67, 124, 135-36, 137, 138; see also Python Servilia, mother of M . Junius Brutus, .63 Servilius Geminus, 164 Servias, 4n, 9, 13-23 passim, 33, 39, 45, 'SS, '64, 245> 253» 4 2I > 4 2 8 · 4 2 9. 43 2 · 433. 43Í. 437. 438. 487. 488 Servius Tullius, 94, n o - 1 1 Severus, emperor, 237-38 Severus, Cassius, 171 Sextilis (month of August), 84, 90 Sextus, pontiff, 229 sheep, 102-3, 2 >9. H7. 437 sheep-dipping, 107, 156, 199 shower baths, 235 Sibylline Books, 51, 119 Sicani, 45 Sicily, 53, 65, 79, η 8 , 236, 370-73 Sidonius Apollinaris, 167η, 473" sight, sense of, 186-87, 4 8 ' · 4®2< 502-6 Sigillarla, festival, 73, 74, 82-83 Siianus, D., 229 Silenus, 380 singing, as an accomplishment, 233 Sisenna, L . Cornelius (cited), 414 slaves, treatment and behavior of, 62, 74-82, 85, 158 sleep, 469, 485 smell, sense of, 186-87, 4 8 1 ) 4β2> 5°3» 506 snails, as f o o d , 230 snake, see serpent snow and snow water, 493-94 Social W a r , the, 79 Socrates, 29, 30, 81, 159, 188, 442, 453, 461 sol (sun), 115 Soiinian land, 72 Sophocles (cited). The Root Cutters, 369; Tyro, 378 sow, as sacrifice, 87, 88, 103, 224 Spain, 133, 139, 228, 495 Spartans, see Lacedaemonians Speusippus, 115

55»

GENERAL INDEX

spleen, the, function o f , 459 spirits of the departed (manes), 37-38, 7*. 9 ' squalor, squalere, meaning of, 429, 431 stars, sacrifice to, 214-15 Statius Tullianus, 215 Sterculius, 59 stomach, 458-59, 468-69, 476, 482, 507-11 passim Stoics, 160 Stonii, 219 Strabo, 172 straw, as fuel, 516 sturgeon, 237-38 styles, in oratory and writing, 182-83, 285 Sublician Bridge, R o m e , 82 Sueius, 248; (cited), 392, 419-20; The Compote (Moretum), 247 Suetonius, 50n, 9on, 155n, 16171, 163η, '167«, i68tz, 17077, 1787J, 226η, 235», 29371, 32372, 35m, 43371, 45172, 519 Sulla, see Cornelius Sulla Sulpicius, Q . , 109 Sulpicius, Servius, 198 sumptuary laws, 229-30, 239, 241-44 sun, the, 67, 95, 113 and G r e e k and R o m a n deities, 114-153 passim and signs of the Z o d i a c , 125, 143-46 and the universe, 130, 135, 153 as source of life, 132, 135-36, 141, '53 surnames, see names sweets (belluria, dessert) 185, 245, 248 Svila [Sulla], origin of surname, 119 Symaethus, river in Sicily, 370-71 Symmachus, Q . Aurelius, 4, 5-6, 7-23 passim, 29, 33, 39, 43, 48, 84, 154, 155, 160, 163, 165, 169, 180, 245, 253, 283, 440, 441, 462, 472, 473-74 syncretism, 14, 114-53 Syria, 171 table, as altar, 222-23 Tables, the T w e l v e , 36-37, 42, 94-95, 242 table talk, 440-55 taboos, religious, 88-89, 106, 156

tacitttrmtas (aposiopesis), rhetorical figure, 279-80, 425 tactful conversation, 450-55 Tages, an Etruscan deity, 370 tamarisk w o o d , as fuel, 516 Tarentum, 239, 247, 250 Tarquinius Priscus, L . [ L u c u m o ] , 50-51, 63, 201-2 Tarquinius Superbus, L . [ T a r q u í n ] , 61, 89 Tarquitius Priscus (cited), 212; Omen from Trees, 251 Tarsus, Amphias of, 454 taste, sense of, 186, 481, 482, 503, 506 Tarius, T . , king of the Sabines, 68, 110 teeth, 480-81 temples, contents classified, 223 T e r e n c e [P. Terentius A f e r ] , 521 Terentius V a r r ò , M., see V a r r ò terenus, meaning of, 247 Terminalia, festival, 93 Tertia, Junia, w i f e of C . Cassius, 163 Tertius, on ritual, 223 Tertullian [ Q . Septimus Florens Tertullianus], 22872 Thalia, a Sicilian nymph, 370 Theocritus, 286 Theocritus of Chios, 452 Theophrastus, the Peripatetic, 81 θεός, meaning of, 149 T h e r o n , king of Hither Spain, 139 Thersander, 383 Theseus, 117-18 T h r e e A r c h Gate, Rome, 209 T h u c y d i d e s , 209, 255, 366n thirst, 492-93, 497-98 thumb (pollex), 499-500 thunder, taboos connected with, 106 thyrsus, 133, 444 Tiber, river, 239 T i b u r , 226 time (χρόνος), 64, 139, 148 Timotheus, lyric poet, 117, 383, 517 tithes, o f f e r e d to Apollo, 60, to Hercules, 209, 225 Titius, 194 Titius, C., 229, 239 Titus, n o toga, 49-52, 167, 228

GENERAL

559

De lingua Latina, 104η, 143η, 19471 Gallus, or, The Wonders of

T o r o n i u s F l a c c u s , 174 t o u c h , sense of, 186, 481, 482, 503, 506 trabea, 49 T r a j a n , 151-52, 237-38 T r a l l e s , 58

Nature, 236 Human Antiquities (Antiquities of Man), 35-36, 46 Marius: On Fortune, 246 M e n i p p e a n satires, 56-57, 81, 185,

T r a s i m e n e L a k e , b a t t l e o f t h e , 79 t r e a s u r y , public, 63-64 T r e b a t i u s , 110, 196, 197, 204, 213 trees, 251, 5 1 7 T r e m e l l i u s S c r o p h a , 54 trinundino die, 11 m T r i t o n s , 64 T r i v i a , 66, 210 T r o j a n H o r s e , t h e , 439 " T r o j a n p i g , " t h e , 229-30 T u d i t a n u s , Sempronius, 94, n o T u l l i a n u s , Statius, 215 T u l l i u s , Servius, 94, 110-11 T u l l i u s C i c e r o , N . , see C i c e r o T u l l i u s C i c e r o , Q . , 166 T u l l u s Hostilius, 50, 63 T u r a c i a n land, 72 T u s c a n sea, 495 T u s c u l u m , 87, 239 T u t e l a ( P h i l o t i s ) , 80 T u t i l i n a , 106

225, 126, 376 On Agriculture

(De re

rustica),

227, 230, 236Λ On Augurs, 108 On Customs, 215-16 Religious Antiquities, 68, 193, 194, 200, 209, 412 To Libo, 247 V a t i n i u s , P . , 161, 166-67, ' 7 2 > 178 V e i i , 219 V e l a b r u m , R o m e , 72 V e l i u s L o n g u s (cited), 209 V e n u s ( A p h r o d i t e ) , 214, 244; b i r t h o f , 64-65; c u l t o f , 85-87, 141-42 V e n u s t u s F l a v i a n u s , 48 V e r a n i u s , o n religious ritual, 192,

T w e l v e T a b l e s , the, see T a b l e s , t h e Twelve t w o bridges, the, i n R o m e , 239-40 T y r e , 138 U m b r i a n s , 35-36 U m b r o , 106 universe, t h e , 64-65, 67, 130, 152, 513 u n l o v a b l e ( i n a m a b i l i s ) , 430 unpraised (illaudatus), 207, 429, 430-31 U r b i n u s , 77 U r b i n u s , G , 228 V a l e r i u s Antias, 40, 94 V a l e r i u s M a x i m u s , 53 V a l e r i u s P r o b u s , 297n, 383 V a r i u s R u f u s , L . , 170; The Death

INDEX

of

Caesar (cited), 392, 402 V a r r ò [ M . T e r e n t i u s V a r r ò ] , 38η, 4i, 47, 6o, 63, 75, 86, 88, 94-95, 103-4, Io8> " i . 211, 235 Catus; On the Bringing Up of Children, 208-9

205, 210 Vergil : c r i t i c i s m o f , 17-23, 154-58 d e b t t o H o m e r , 286-357; t o o t h e r G r e e k w r i t e r s , 358-61, 368-76; t o earlier L a t i n authors, 385-409 diverse styles, 282-85 k n o w l e d g e , 107; o f augural law, 157, 189-226; o f religious ritual, 189-211; o f t h e r e c k o n i n g o f t h e y e a r , 112-13; o f t h e R o m a n civil d a y , 37; o f t h e rules o f r h e t o r i c , 254-81 language: constructions and epithets, 416-27; p e c u l i a r use o f L a t i n w o r d s , 4 1 0 - 1 4 ; use o f f i g u r e s , 254-81 passim, 421-27; use o f G r e e k w o r d s , inflexions, a n d names, 361-62, 414-15; use o f m e t e r , use o f , 344-45 O s e a n and P u n i c w o r d s , 415 passages cited, see I n d e x o f Citations, 535-39 for passages containing variations from the received text, see A p p e n d i x C , 525-28 for

56o

GENERAL INDEX

Verrius Flaccus, j i , 64, 71, 86, 103-4; (cited), 40 Vespasian, 235η, j i ç Vesta (Hesda), 8j, ijo, 202 Vestal Virgins, 70-71, 116, 229 vestibule (vestibular»), meaning of, 434-36 Vettius, 171 Vettius, C , a pelignian, 78 Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, 4-5, 6-15 passim, 29-30, 32, 33, 34, 39, 43. 4 58, 61, 74, 84, 100, 114, 154, 156, IJ7, ι$8, 159, 160, 161, 220, 222, 225, 226, 253, 286, 385, 428, 440, 456, 4J7, 461 vexare, meaning of, 429-30; Vergil's use of, 428 Vibo, bay of, 412 victims, sacrificial, see religion and ritual vidua, meaning of, 103 Viminal Hill, Rome, 68 Vinalia, festival, 40 vine twigs, as fuel, 516 vinegar, 470, 494-95 Vipsanius Agrippa, M., 176, 177 Virginius, military tribune, 109 vision, theories of, J02-6 Virala (goddess), 194-95 vituiari, vitulatio, meaning of, 194-95 volones (volunteers), meaning of, 79 Volumnius, P., 229 Volupia, 71 vomitoria, meaning of, 410-11 Vulcan, 87, 416 walnut (juglans), 245

water: properties of, 465, 478, 500, 502 ritual use, 128 sea water (salt water), 495, 500-1 snow water, 493-94 spring water, 477-78 wine, 185, 227 effects of drinking, 133, 185-86, 468-72 Falernian, 239, 490 medicinal use, 249, 468-69, 490-91 properties of, 468-70, 474-75, 477-78, 494-95 ritual use, 88, 128 storage of, 491-92 wine jars (honey jars), 88 wit and humor, 52-54, 159-61, 450-55 wolf, as symbol, 121, 139 women: and rites of Hercules, 88-89; physiology of, 470-74; voices of, 486 Women, the Goddess of, 88 working days, 105, 107 world, see universe, the wrasse, fish, 238-39 Xanthippus, son of Pericles, 30 Xenagoras (cited), 373 Xeniades of Corinth, 81 Xenon, 66 Xenophon, 442η Zeno the Stoic, 81 Zeus, see Jupiter Zilmissus, 129 zodiac, the 86, 92, 96, 125, 143-46 Zopyrion, 80