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nigrescunt et consumuntur frumenta. Inde et Robigus deus et sacra eius septimo Kalendas Maias Robigalia appellantur.'

Varro, in his treatise De Re Rustica 1. 1, includes Robigus among the twelve Dii Consentes' who were worshipped by the husbandman. The passage is so important for the illustration of the old Latin rural superstitions, that it deserves to be consulted. See also Id. De Ling. Lat. 6. 3, and also Pliny H. N. 18. 29, which bears directly upon this and Extract 29 on the Floralia, p. 75.

EX ubi quae restant luces Aprilis habebit;

SEX

In medio cursu tempora veris erunt.

Et frustra pecudem quaeres Athamantidos Helles :
Signaque dant imbres: exoriturque Canis.

Hac mihi Nomento Romam cum luce redirem,
Obstitit in media candida pompa via.
Flamen in antiquae lucum Robiginis ibat,
Exta canis flammis, exta daturus ovis.
Protinus accessi, ritus ne nescius essem,

Edidit haec Flamen verba, Quirine, tuus:
Aspera Robigo, parcas Cerealibus herbis,
Et tremat in summa leve cacumen humo.
Tu sata sideribus caeli nutrita secundi

Crescere, dum fiant falcibus apta, sinas.

Vis tua non levis est. Quae tu frumenta notasti,
Maestus in amissis illa colonus habet.

Nec venti tantum Cereri nocuere, nec imbres,

Nec sic marmoreo pallet adusta gelu; Quantum, si culmos Titan incalfacit udos,

Tum locus est irae, Diva timenda, tuae.

Parce, precor, scabrasque manus a messibus aufer;
Neve noce cultis: posse nocere sat est.
Nec teneras segetes, sed durum contere ferrum,
Quodque potest alios perdere, perde prior.

5

ΙΟ

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Vtilius gladios et tela nocentia carpes,
Nil opus est illis: otia mundus agit.

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Sarcula nunc, durusque bidens, et vomer aduncus,

Ruris opes niteant: inquinet arma situs. Conatusque aliquis vagina ducere ferrum, Adstrictum longa sentiat esse mora.

30

At tu ne viola Cererem; semperque colonus
Absenti possit solvere vota tibi.

Dixerat. A dextra villis mantele solutis,
Cumque meri patera turis acerra fuit.

Tura focis vinumque dedit, fibrasque bidentis,
Turpiaque obscaenae, vidimus, exta canis.

Tum mihi, Cur detur sacris nova victima, quaeris?
Quaesieram causam percipe, Flamen ait:
Est Canis, Icarium dicunt, quo sidere moto
Tosta sitit tellus, praecipiturque seges.

Pro cane sidereo canis hic imponitur arae:
Et, quare pereat, nil nisi nomen habet.

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40

24.

PALILIA.

FAS. IV. 721.

THIS Extract contains an account of the 'Palilia,' or festival of Pales, the deity of shepherds, which was celebrated on the 21st of April (XI. Kal. Mai.), the day upon which, according to tradition, the foundations of the eternal city were laid by Romulus, the 'Dies Natalis Vrbis Romae.' The following lines, combined with Tibullus 2. 5, 87, et seqq., afford full information with regard to the ceremonies observed, the object of which was the purification or lustration first of the flocks, and then of the shepherds themselves. Two points deserve attention.

1. Doubts exist as to the gender of Pales. Virgil, Tibullus, and Ovid speak of this divinity as a female, but with Varro1 and others2, Pales is a male god.

1 Servius on Virg. G. 3. I. 2 See Arnobius adv. Gent. lib. 3. 23, 40.

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2. The greatest confusion exists in ancient MSS. wherever this festival is mentioned, with regard to the orthography. 'Parilia' is found as often as 'Palilia,' and many of the old grammarians prefer the former, which is to be taken, according to some, ‘a partu pecoris,' according to others, a partu Iliae.' There can be little doubt, however, that the true shape is 'Palilia,' formed directly from 'Pales;' nothing is more common than the interchange of 1 and r in the pronunciation of words, and the corruption Parilia' having been once introduced, etymologists endeavoured to explain it by inventing a plausible derivation.

NOX abiit, oriturque Aurora. Palilia poscor:

Non poscor frustra; si favet alma Pales.

Alma Pales, faveas pastoria sacra canenti;
Prosequor officio si tua festa pio.

Certe ego de vitulo cinerem, stipulasque fabales,
Saepe tuli plena, februa casta, manu.

5

Certe ego transsilui positas ter in ordine flammas;
Vdaque roratas laurea misit aquas.
Mota Dea est; operique favet. Navalibus exit
Puppis habent ventos iam mea vela suos.
I, pete virginea, populus, suffimen ab ara;
Vesta dabit. Vestae munere purus eris.

Sanguis equi suffimen erit, vitulique favilla,

Tertia res, durae culmen inane fabae.

Pastor, oves saturas ad prima crepuscula lustra,
Vnda prius spargat, virgaque verrat humum.
Frondibus, et fixis decorentur ovilia ramis,

Et tegat ornatas longa corona fores.
Caerulei fiant vivo de sulfure fumi,
Tactaque fumanti sulfure balet ovis.

Vre maris rores, taedamque, herbasque Sabinas,
Et crepet in mediis laurus adusta focis.
Libaque de milio milii fiscella sequatur,
Rustica praecipue est hoc Dea laetà cibo.

IO

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Adde dapes mulctramque suas: dapibusque resectis, 25
Silvicolam tepido lacte precare Palen.
Consule, dic, pecori pariter pecorisque magistris,

Effugiat stabulis noxa repulsa meis.
Sive sacro pavi, sedive sub arbore sacra,

Pabulaque in bustis inscia carpsit ovis :
Seu nemus intravi vetitum, nostrisve fugatae
Sunt oculis Nymphae, semicaperve Deus:
Seu mea falx ramo lucum spoliavit opaco,
Vnde data est aegrae fiscina frondis ovi:
Da veniam culpae: nec, dum degrandinat, obsit
Agresti Fauno supposuisse pecus.

Nec noceat turbasse lacus. Ignoscite, Nymphae,
Mota quod obscuras ungula fecit aquas.
Tu, Dea, pro nobis Fontes fontanaque placa
Numina; tu sparsos per nemus omne Deos.
Nec Dryadas, nec nos videamus labra Dianae,
Nec Faunum, medio cum premit arva die.
Pelle procul morbos. Valeant hominesque gregesque,
Et valeant vigiles, provida turba, canes.
Neve minus multas redigam, quam mane fuerunt,
Neve gemam referens vellera rapta lupo.
Absit iniqua fames. Herbae, frondesque supersint,
Quaeque lavent artus, quaeque libantur, aquae.
Vbera plena premam. Referat mihi caseus aera,
Dentque viam liquido vimina rara sero.

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Sitque salax aries, conceptaque semina coniux
Reddat, et in stabulo multa sit agna meo.

Lanaque proveniat nullas laesura puellas,

Mollis, et ad teneras quamlibet apta manus.

Quae precor, eveniant: et nos faciamus ad annum

55

Pastorum Dominae grandia liba Pali.

His Dea placanda est; haec tu conversus ad ortus

Dic ter, et in vivo perlue rore manus. Tum licet, apposita, veluti cratere, camella,

25.

Lac niveum potes, purpureamque sapam. Moxque per ardentes stipulae crepitantis acervos Traiicias celeri strenua membra pede.

VEIOVIS.

бо

FAS. III. 429.

THE Nones of March were marked in the Calendar as the day on which the temple of Veiovis or Vedius was consecrated. It stood in the hollow between the Arx and the Capitolium, 'Inter duos lucos,' as the place was called, the site of the Asylum of Romulus. The nature of this god, and the meaning of his name, were alike matters of controversy in the Augustan age. Ovid observing that the particle 've,' in composition with certain words, signifies small,' concludes that Veiovis is 'Young Jove,' an opinion supported by the appearance of the statue which he describes.

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Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I. 15, when recounting the establishment of the Asylum, confesses his ignorance on this point: "The place between the Capitolium and the Arx, which is now called in the Roman language "Inter duos lucos,” (μelópiov dvoîv dpvμŵv,) (at that time it received its name from the existing state of things, for it was shadowed over by a thick wood on both sides, where it touched the eminences,) Romulus set apart as a sacred place of refuge for suppliants, and built a temple upon the spot, but to what god or genius it was dedicated, I cannot positively say.'

There is, moreover, a chapter in Aulus Gellius, 5. 12, which will serve as a commentary upon this Extract, although he maintains that 'Veiovis' means 'The destroyer:''Est aedes Veiovis Romae inter Arcem et Capitolium. Cum Iovem a iuvando nominassent, eum quoque contra deum, qui non iuvandi potestatem sed vim nocendi haberet, (nam deos quosdam, ut prodessent, celebrabant, quosdam ut ne obessent, placabant,) Veiovem appellaverunt, dempta atque detracta iuvandi facultate. Ve enim particula, quae in aliis atque aliis vocabulis variatim, duplicem significatum eundemque inter sese diversum capit. Nam et augendae rei et minuendae valet, sicut aliae particulae plurimae, propter quod accidit, ut quaedam

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