01-18-2018, 06:43 PM
To-day is the Nones of January (NONIS IANVARII), in modern reckoning the fifth of January.
The calendar of Polemius Silvius possesses in one manuscript the note COMITALIS. It is possibly a corruption of DIES COMITIALIS, but as the FASTI PRAENESTINI notes to-day as a DIES FASTVS, we might consider that it could be a corruption of COMPITALES, i.e. to-day is held a third day of Compitalian games. This is certainly the interpretation of Warde Fowler.
As we find in Cato's DE AGRICVLTVRA, particular devotion ought to be paid to the Lares on the Kalends, Ides and Nones:
[Of the wife of the VILICVS or overseer]: ''On the Kalends, Ides, and Nones, and whenever a holy day comes, she must hang a garland over the hearth, and on those days pray to the household gods as the opportunity offers.'' It is assumed in Cato's text that the devotion of the humble vilica is subsidiary to the proper rituals performed by the paterfamilias, indeed, the overseer is cautioned to restrain his wife from presumptuous piety and infringement on the proper worship of the father of the household. This is quite in keeping with the legal character of the Roman religion, its characteristics being austerity and lack of emotionalism -- summed up in the principle DO VT DES: I give [to the gods] in order that thou [the gods] mayest give unto me.
What rituals were, we may ask, done in honour of the Lares? In the fifth satire of Juvenal, we find the offering of wreaths, of incense and of flowers. Christian edicts against the worship of the gods explicitly forbid ''libation of undiluted wine'', ''a pinch of incense'', ''a lighted candle'' and ''hang[ing] a garland of flowers'' (Flower's The Dancing Lares). All of these, then are proper offerings to the Lares.
The calendar of Polemius Silvius possesses in one manuscript the note COMITALIS. It is possibly a corruption of DIES COMITIALIS, but as the FASTI PRAENESTINI notes to-day as a DIES FASTVS, we might consider that it could be a corruption of COMPITALES, i.e. to-day is held a third day of Compitalian games. This is certainly the interpretation of Warde Fowler.
As we find in Cato's DE AGRICVLTVRA, particular devotion ought to be paid to the Lares on the Kalends, Ides and Nones:
[Of the wife of the VILICVS or overseer]: ''On the Kalends, Ides, and Nones, and whenever a holy day comes, she must hang a garland over the hearth, and on those days pray to the household gods as the opportunity offers.'' It is assumed in Cato's text that the devotion of the humble vilica is subsidiary to the proper rituals performed by the paterfamilias, indeed, the overseer is cautioned to restrain his wife from presumptuous piety and infringement on the proper worship of the father of the household. This is quite in keeping with the legal character of the Roman religion, its characteristics being austerity and lack of emotionalism -- summed up in the principle DO VT DES: I give [to the gods] in order that thou [the gods] mayest give unto me.
What rituals were, we may ask, done in honour of the Lares? In the fifth satire of Juvenal, we find the offering of wreaths, of incense and of flowers. Christian edicts against the worship of the gods explicitly forbid ''libation of undiluted wine'', ''a pinch of incense'', ''a lighted candle'' and ''hang[ing] a garland of flowers'' (Flower's The Dancing Lares). All of these, then are proper offerings to the Lares.
Patrick J. Gray
'' Now. Close your eyes. It's but a short step to the boat, a short pull across the river.''
''And then?''
''And then, I promise you, you'll dream a different story altogether''
From ''I, Claudius'', by J. Pulman after R. Graves.
'' Now. Close your eyes. It's but a short step to the boat, a short pull across the river.''
''And then?''
''And then, I promise you, you'll dream a different story altogether''
From ''I, Claudius'', by J. Pulman after R. Graves.
