Quodque pice adstrinxit, quod acu traiecit ahena, Vina quoque instillat. Vini quodcumque relictum est, 45 50 21. LEMVRIA. FAS. V. 419. THE second festival in honour of departed spirits was the Lemuria,' celebrated on the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May. A description is here given of the nocturnal spells which had for their object the expulsion of unquiet ghosts from the dwellings of the living; an attempt, not very successful, is then made to discover the etymology of the word, and some of the superstitions connected with this period are enumerated. INC ubi protulerit formosa ter Hesperus ora, HING Ter dederint Phoebo sidera victa locum; Ritus erit veteris, nocturna Lemuria, sacri; Inferias tacitas Manibus illa dabunt. Annus erat brevior; nec adhuc pia februa norant: Iam tamen exstincto cineri sua dona ferebant: Mensis erat Maius, maiorum nomine dictus, Qui partem prisci nunc quoque moris habet. Ille memor veteris ritus timidusque Deorum, 5 ΤΟ 15 Terque manus puras fontana perluit unda; Vertitur, et nigras accipit ore fabas. Aversusque iacit: sed dum iacit, Haec ego mitto; Rursus aquam tangit, Temesaeaque concrepat aera: Cum dixit novies, Manes exite paterni, Respicit, et pure sacra peracta putat. Dicta sit unde dies, quae nominis extet origo, Mox etiam Lemures animas dixere silentum; Hic verbi sensus, vis ea vocis erat. Nec viduae taedis eadem, nec virginis apta Sed tamen haec tria sunt ab eodem tempore festa TERMINVS. 20 25 30 35 FAS. II. 639. 22. THE ‘Terminalia,' in honour of Terminus, god of boundaries, was a festival celebrated on VII. Kal. Mart. The origin and the nature of the worship of this deity is described by Dionysius, when treating of the institutions of Numa, A. R. 2. 74: In order that every one might be contented with his own, and not covet what belonged to others, he laid down laws for fixing the boundaries of property. For having ordered each one to draw a line round his own possessions, and to set up stones upon the limits, he consecrated these stones to Jupiter Terminalis (ôpíov Alòs), and commanded all, upon a fixed day every year, to meet together1 on the spot where they were erected and offer sacrifices to them, and established the festival of the god of boundaries as one of the most honoured solemnities. This the Romans call 'Terminalia,' the word being borrowed from the Greek with the change of a single letter2. If any one should conceal or remove the landmarks, it was enacted that the person guilty of such deed should be devoted to the god, so that any one might kill him with impunity as sacrilegious. These institutions were not confined to the possession of individuals only, but extended also to what belonged to the state, in order that the gods of boundaries might separate the territory of the Romans from that of neighbouring tribes, and public from private property. These ordinances the Romans observe in our own days, both from religious motives and as a memorial of the olden time. For they consider the 'Termini' as gods, and offer sacrifices to them; nothing, however, that has life, for it is considered unholy to shed blood on these stones, but cakes of flour and other first-fruits of the earth.' With regard to the bloodless sacrifices, although such appears to have been the custom in early ages3, yet it certainly had fallen into disuse before the time of Dionysius, as we see from lines 17, 18 of the present Extract, and also from Hor. Epod. 2. 59, 'Vel agna festis caesa Terminalibus.' It would appear also from the above account, that Jupiter was the guardian of boundaries with the epithet 'Terminalis,' but that from the practice of offering sacrifices at the stones used for landmarks, these came to be considered in the popular creed as the emblems of a distinct deity. There is a passage in Lactantius also worth quoting: Quid, qui 1 He means, of course, that those who had a common boundary were to meet at this landmark. 2 Termen,' an old form of Terminus' (Varro L. L. 5. 4), differs by one letter only from the Greek τέρμων. 3 See Plutarch, Num. c. 16, and Quaest. Rom. c. 15. * De Falsa Religione, I. 20. lapidem colunt informem, atque rudem, cui nomen est Terminus?. Et huic ergo publice supplicatur, quasi custodi finium Deo: qui non tantum lapis, sed etiam stipes interdum est. Quid de iis dicam, qui colunt talia? nisi ipsos potissimum lapides, ac stipites esse?' TOX ubi transierit, solito celebretur honore, Nox Separat indicio qui Deus arva suo. Stipes ab antiquis, sic quoque numen habes: Nulla tibi ambitio est: nullo corrumperis auro: Si tu signasses olim Thyreatida terram, Quid, nova cum fierent Capitolia? nempe Deorum Qua positus fueris in statione, mane. Est via, quae populum Laurentes ducit in agros, 30 35 40 45 23. ROBIGO. FAS. IV. 901. THE festival of the 'Robigalia' was celebrated on VII. Kal. Mai. (25th April), in order to propitiate the deity Robigus or Rubigus, to whose influence the mildew or smut in corn was attributed. We find Robigo addressed also as a female, but this word seems to mean properly the disease itself, while Robigus is the power which causes it, unless indeed we suppose Robigus and Robigo to have been a married pair, according to the fashion of the Italian deities. The term is thus explained by Servius in his note on Virg. G. 1. 151, Mox et frumentis labor additus, ut mala culmos 'Robigo autem genus est vitii, quo culmi pereunt, quod a rusticanis calamitas dicitur. Hoc autem genus vitii ex nebula nasci solet, cum |