1484. Fasti, 2. 685 foll. He is probably following Varro and common opinion, which latter Verrius refers to (Paul. 279) ‘Regifugium sacrum dicebant, quo die rex Tarquinius fugerit e Roma.’ The word dicebant seems to show that this was not Verrius’ own opinion.
1485. C. I. L. i. 289. This gloss is no doubt the equivalent in Festus to that of Paulus just quoted; but the leading word Regifugium is lost. I have only quoted so much as is needed for our purpose. For other completions of the gloss see Müller, Festus, l. c, and Huschke, Röm. Jahr, p. 166.
1486. If this gloss really refers to Feb. 24, the presence of the Salii is difficult to account for, as their period of activity begins in March. Frazer in an interesting note (G. B. ii. 210) suggests that the use of the Salii was to drive away evil demons; if the Regifugium was a solemn piaculum, and the victim a scapegoat, this explanation might serve for Feb. 24.
1487. Röm. Jahr, 166 foll.
1488. L. L. 6. 31, where Hirschfeld has conjectured ‘litat ad comitium’ for the MS. ‘dicat.’
1489. Aglaophamus, 676.
1490. Mannhardt, Myth. Forsch. 58 foll.; Frazer, Golden Bough, ii. 35 foll.; Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, 286 foll. Cp. Lang, Myth, Ritual and Religion, ii. 233 foll. See also Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, i. 88 foll., who agrees in the main with Robertson Smith.
1491. Frazer, l. c.
1492. Aelian, N. A. 12. 34.
1493. Relig. der Römer, ii. 35. Cp. Gilbert, i. 343, note. The presence of the Salii (see above, p. 328), if a fact, would be in favour of this explanation.
1494. Röm. Jahr, 199.
1496. Myth. Forsch. 170 foll.; Baumkultus, 382 foll.
1497. This, though with impossible combinations, is what Huschke does (199, note 53). Feb. 27 is the Roman, March 14 the Quirinal Equirria, in his view. That the Quirinalia falls in February may perhaps give some support to the view.
1499. i. 361.
1500. So Ovid, on Feb. 26, writes (2. 853);
This would be early now for central Italy; but Columella, 11. 2, gives Feb. 23 as the date.
1501. Fasti, 2. 857 foll.
1502. Tertullian, de Praescriptionibus Haereticorum, 40.
1503. Collected by Aust in his work de Aedibus sacris, pp. 4 foll.
1504. Aust, op. cit., p. 14, note 1.
1506. Aust, op. cit., p. 15, note 1.
1507. See especially the speech of the consul Postumius in Livy 39. 15.
1508. See a paper by the author in Classical Review, vol. vii. p. 193 foll.
1509. Note for example the way in which Horace has contrived to introduce in combination the ideas of the fertility of crops and herbs, of marriage and the increase of population, of public morality and prosperity.
1510. It gives me pleasure to quote this passage from Roman Society in the last century of the Western Empire (p. 63) by my old friend Professor Dill.
1511. Aen. 5. 235.
1512. See Nettleship, Essays in Latin Literature, pp. 103, 104.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
Typographical errors were silently corrected.