Cato omnibus in foro SPD
Salvete omnes!
Hodiernus dies est ante diem III Nones Octobris; haec dies comitialis est.
"M. Fabius Dorsuo and Ser. Sulpicius Camerinus were the next consuls.
A sudden raid by the Auruncans led to a war with that people. Fears
were entertained that more than one city was concerned in this, that
in fact it had been planned by the entire Latin League. To meet all
Latium in arms L. Furius Camillus was nominated Dictator; he appointed
Cnaeus Manlius Capitolinus Master of the Horse. As usual in great and
sudden alarms a suspension of all business was proclaimed and the
enlistment was made without any claims to exemption being allowed;
when it was completed the legions were marched as rapidly as possible
against the Auruncans. They showed the temper of marauders rather than
of soldiers, and the war was finished in the very first battle. But as
they had begun the war without any provocation and had shown no
reluctance to accept battle, the Dictator thought it his duty to
secure the help of the gods, and during the actual fighting he vowed a
temple to Juno Moneta. On his victorious return to Rome, he resigned
his Dictatorship to discharge his vow. The senate ordered two
commissioners to be appointed to carry out the construction of that
temple in a style commensurate with the greatness of the Roman people,
and a site was marked out in the Citadel where the house of M. Manlius
Capitolinus had stood. The consuls employed the Dictator's army in
war with the Volscians and took from them by a coup-de-main the city
of Sora.
The temple of Moneta was dedicated in the following year, when C.
Marcius Rutilus was consul for the third time and T. Manlius Torquatus
for the second. A portent followed close on the dedication similar to
the old portent on the Alban Mount; a shower of stones fell and night
seemed to stretch its curtain over the day. The citizens were filled
with dread at this supernatural occurrence, and after the Sibylline
Books had been consulted the senate decided upon the appointment of a
Dictator to arrange the ceremonial observances for the ap- pointed
days. P. Valerius Publicola was nominated and Q. Fabius Ambustus was
appointed Master of the Horse. It was arranged that not only the Roman
tribes but also the neighbour- ing populations should take part in the
public intercessions, and the order of the days which each was to
observe was definitely laid down. There were prosecutions this year
of moneylenders by the aediles, and heavy sentences are stated to have
been passed on them by the people. For some reason, which is not
recorded, matters reverted to an interregnum. As, however, it ended in
the election of two patrician consuls, this would appear to be the
reason why it was resorted to. The new consuls were M. Valerius Corvus
(for the third time) and A. Cornelius Cossus." - Livy, History of Rome
7.28
On this day the rite of mundus (Mania) was performed, in which an
effigy representing the sky was placed upside down in a pit and and
covered with a large stone called the lapis manalis. Three times a
year, including today, the stone was removed to alow the spirits of
the underworld access to the upper regions of the earth.
In Roman theology, it was believed that the entrances to the
Underworld were also very real locations, called the Mundus, and the
one in Rome was called the mundus Cereris (the exact location is no
longer known). This was a pit, which was capped off by a stone called
the Lapis Manalis except on three days of ill omen (August 24th,
October 5th, and November 8th). On these days, the lid was lifted to
expose the ostium orci, the Gate to Hades, and to release the manes,
spirits of the Roman dead. The collective di manes (divine dead) were
considered potent spirits that needed appeasing, and additional
holidays throughout the year were celebrated to appease them, usually
on odd numbered days of ill luck. Mania was the goddess of the
underworld, mother or caretaker to the lesser deities of the lares.
She was also revered on May 11th during this period, during which time
charms called mania (plural maniae) were placed on the doors of houses
(as a ward, perhaps) against this goddess, who had the characteristics
of a "boogey-man" in Roman lore:
"An ancient and formidable Italian, probably Etruscan, divinity of the lower world, is called the mother of the Manes or Lares. (Varro, de Ling. Lat. ix. 61; Arnob. adv. Gent. iii. 41; Macrob. Sat. i. 7.) The festival of the Compitalia was celebrated as a propitiation to Mania in common with the Lares, and, according to an ancient oracle that heads should be offered on behalf of heads, boys are said to have been sacrificed on behalf of the families to which they belonged. The consul Junius Brutus afterwards abolished the human sacrifices, and substituted garlic and the heads of poppies for them. Images of Mania were hung up at the house doors, with a view to avert all dangers. (Macrob. l.c.) As regards her being the mother of the Manes or Lares, the idea seems to have been that the souls of the departed on their arrival in the lower world became her children, and either there dwelt with her or ascended into the upper world as beneficent spirits. (Muller, Die Etrusk. iii. 4.) In later times the plural Maniae occurs as the designation of terrible, ugly, and deformed spectres, with which nurses used to frighten children. (Paul. Diac. p. 128; Festus, p. 129, ed. Muller.)" - Myth Index (
http://mythindex.com/)
Valete bene!
Cato
