Custode rerum Caesare non furor Non ira, quae procudit enses Et miseras inimicat urbes. Non, qui profundum Danubium bibunt, Non Seres infidive Persae, Non Tanaïn prope flumen orti. Nosque et profestis lucibus et sacris Inter iocosi munera Liberi Cum prole matronisque nostris, Troiamque et Anchisen et almae 20 25 30 K INTRODUCTION TO THE CARMEN SECULARE. AMONG the antiquarian and religious revivals of Augustus, Suetonius (Aug. 31) mentions the 'Ludi Seculares'; Dio (54. 18) fixes the date to the consulship of C. Furnius and C. Silanus, B.C. 17, but beyond this and the fact that it professed to be their fifth celebration, he tells us nothing. No full account of them is found earlier than Censorinus (de Die Natali, c. 5 'de Seculo'), the writer on astrology in the second half of the 3rd century, who is supplemented by Zosimus (2. 5), the historian, in the middle of the 5th century. Tacitus (Ann. II. II) mentions their repetition in the reign of Claudius, A.D. 46, but declines to describe them, on the ground that he has already given in the Histories (in one of the Books now lost) a particular account of their celebration under Domitian, on which occasion he had had the fullest cognizance of their details, as being himself one of the 'quindecimviri' and a praetor. The games of which they professed to be the revival went under the Republic by the name of Tarentini (or Terentini) and Taurii, the former name being connected by all writers with the 'stagna Tarenti' or 'Terenti,' a spot at the north edge of the Campus Martius, near the river, once a swamp, and probably a warm spring (see Burn's Rome and the Campagna, p. 300), the locality of some of the ceremonies even in Augustus' celebration; the latter variously derived,-by Servius (on Virg. Aen. 2. 140), from the 'taureae,' or sterile cows which were sacrificed. Their origin according to some of the authorities, according to others their second celebration, was ascribed to Val. Publicola. All agree that they had only been celebrated four times before the age of Augustus. There is no trace of the name 'Seculares' before that date, and what is said of the different celebrations goes to show that they were called forth by special emergencies, not by any recurrence of epochs. Still, there would seem to have been some tradition of such recurrence to justify Augustus' revival. On the dates of the celebrations Censorinus' authorities differed. The length of the 'seculum' itself was diversely given at 110, as by Horace, and 100 years, as by Val. Antias, Livy, and Varro, whom Censorinus quotes. The historical performances are at varying periods, but all with some reference to an intended secular date. Merivale writes, ‘The emperor Claudius repeated the games in the year A.U. C. 800, disregarding those of Augustus as irregular. Claudius was disregarded in his turn by Domitian, who renewed the celebration in 841, anticipating in his impatience, by six years, the period prescribed by Augustus. To the Augustan computation Severus conformed precisely, and repeated the solemnity in 957, after two intervals of 110 years each. Philippus, however, returned once more to the precedent of Claudius in the year of the City 1000. This was the last celebration.' The occasion of Augustus' revival or institution of these games was the close of what may be considered the first decade of the empire, the renewal to him (though professedly only for five years more), at his own request, of the 'imperium,' which in B.C. 27 he had, apparently with difficulty, been persuaded to accept for ten years. The 'quindecimviri' (see on v. 70, and cp. Virg. Aen. 6. 73), the custodians of the Sibylline Books, found in them the requisite instructions. Ateius Capito, a great jurist and antiquary, was appointed to settle the ceremonies, and Horace to compose the hymn. Some doubt has been entertained whether this was to be performed in the temple of Apollo Palatinus on the third day of the festival (see below, extract from Zos. 1. 33), or during the sacrifices at the Tarentum on the first night (ib. 1. 21). Account of the Ceremonies, from Zosimus. Τοιοῦτος δέ τις ὁ τρόπος ἀναγέγραπται τῆς ἑορτῆς. Περιϊόντες οἱ κήρυκες εἰς τὴν ἑορτὴν συνιέναι πάντας ἐκέλευον ἐπὶ θέαν, ἣν οὔτε πρότερον εἶδον, οὔτε μετὰ ταῦτα θεάσονται. Κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὥραν τοῦ θέρους, πρὸ ἡμερῶν ὀλίγων τοῦ τὴν θεωρίαν ἀχθῆναι, ἐν τῷ Καπετωλίῳ καὶ ἐν τῷ νεῷ τῷ κατὰ τὸ Παλάτιον οἱ δεκαπέντε ἄνδρες ἐπὶ βήματος καθήμενοι τῷ δήμῳ διανέμουσι τὰ καθάρσια· ταῦτα δέ ἐστι δᾷδες καὶ θεῖον καὶ ἄσφαλτος· δοῦλοι δὲ τούτων οὐ μετέχουσιν, ἀλλὰ ἐλεύθεροι μόνοι. Συνελθόντος δὲ τοῦ δήμου παντὸς ἔν τε τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι τόποις καὶ ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς ̓Αρτέμιδος, ὃ ἐν τῷ ̓Αουεντίνῳ λόφῳ καθί δρυται, σῖτον καὶ κριθὴν ἕκαστος φέρει καὶ κύαμον. (Cp. Sibyll. ν. 27.) Καὶ ταῖς Μοίραις ἄγουσι παννυχίδας μετὰ σεμνότητος ἐν (ἐννέα Heyne) νυξίν. Ενστάντος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου τῆς ἑορτῆς, ἣν ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐν τῷ τοῦ "Αρεως ἐπιτελοῦσι πεδίῳ, καὶ ταῖς ἴσαις νυξί, καθιεροῦτο τὰ τελούμενα παρὰ τὴν ὄχθην τοῦ Θύμβριδος ἐν τῷ Τάραντι. Θύουσι δὲ θεοῖς, Διὶ καὶ Ηρᾳ καὶ ̓Απόλλωνι καὶ Λητοῖ καὶ ̓Αρτέμιδι, καὶ προσέτι γε Μοίραις καὶ Εἰλειθυίαις καὶ Δήμητρι καὶ "Αιδῃ καὶ Περσεφόνῃ. Τῇ δὲ πρώτῃ τῶν θεωριῶν νυκτὶ δευτέρας ὥρας ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ ἐπὶ τὴν ὄχθην τοῦ ποταμοῦ τριῶν παρασκευασθέν των βωμῶν τρεῖς ἄρνας θύει μετὰ τῶν δεκαπέντε ἀνδρῶν καὶ τοὺς βωμοὺς καθαιμάξας ὁλοκαυτοῖ τὰ θύματα. Κατασκευασθείσης δὲ σκηνῆς δίκην θεάτρου φῶτα ἀνάπτεται καὶ πυρά, καὶ ὕμνος ᾄδεται νεωστὶ πεποιημένος, θεωρίαι τε ἱεροπρεπεῖς ἄγονται. Κομίζονται δὲ οἱ ταῦτα ποιοῦντες μισθὸν τὰς ἀπαρχὰς τῶν καρπῶν, σίτου καὶ κριθῆς καὶ κυάμων· αὗται γάρ, ὡς εἴρηταί μοι, καὶ τῷ δήμῳ παντὶ διανέμονται. Τῇ δὲ μετὰ ταύτην ἡμέρᾳ εἰς τὸ Καπετώλιον ἀναβάντες κἀνταῦθα τὰς νενομισμένας θυσίας προσαγαγόντες, ἐντεῦθέν τε ἐπὶ τὸ κατεσκευασμένον θέατρον ἐλθόντες τὰς θεωρίας ἐπιτελοῦσιν ̓Απόλλωνι καὶ ̓Αρτέμιδι. Τῇ δὲ μετὰ ταύτην ἡμέρᾳ γυναῖκες ἐπίσημοι κατὰ τὴν ὥραν, ἣν ὁ χρησμὸς ὑπηγόρευσεν, εἰς τὸ Καπετώλιον συνελθοῦσαι λιτανεύουσι τὸν θεὸν καὶ ὑμνοῦσιν ὡς θέμις. Ημέρᾳ δὲ τρίτῃ ἐν τῷ κατὰ τὸ Παλάτιον ̓Απόλλωνος ἱερῷ τρὶς ἐννέα παῖδες ἐπιφανεῖς μετὰ παρθέ νων τοσούτων, οἳ πάντες ἀμφιθαλεῖς, ὅπερ ἐστίν, ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς γονεῖς ἔχοντες περιόντας, ὕμνους ᾄδουσι τῇ τε Ελλήνων καὶ Ῥωμαίων φωνῇ καὶ παιᾶνας, δι ̓ ὧν αἱ ὑπὸ ̔Ρωμαίοις σώζονται πόλεις ἄλλα τε κατὰ τὸν ὑφηγημένον παρὰ τοῦ θείου τρόπον ἐπράττετο, ὧν ἐπιτελουμένων διέμεινεν ἡ ἀρχὴ Ρωμαίων ἀλώβητος. ̔Ως ἂν δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀληθῆ ταῦτα εἶναι πιστεύσωμεν, αὐτὸν παραθήσομαι τὸν Σιβύλλης χρησμόν, ἤδη πρὸ ἡμῶν παρ' ἑτέρων ἀνενηγμένον· ̓Αλλ ̓ ὁπόταν μήκιστος ἵκῃ χρόνος ἀνθρώποισι Ἡμέριος πέλεται θυέων τρόπος· ὡς δὲ καὶ αὕτως 5 IO 15 20 25 30 |