5. Suprema means the last part of the day; it is from superrimum. This time, the Twelve Tables say, is sunset; but afterwards the Plaetorian Law declares that this time also should be ‘last’ at which the praetor in the Comitium has announced to the people the suprema ‘end of the session.’ In line with this, crepuscudum ‘dusk’ is said from creperum ‘obscure’; this word they took from the Sabines, from whom come those who were named Crepusci, from Amiternum, who had been born at that time of day, just like the Lucii, who were those born at dawn (prima luce) in the Reatine country. Crepusculum means doubtful: from this doubtful matters are called creperae ‘obscure,’ because dusk is a time when to many it is doubtful whether it is even yet day or is already night.
6. Nox ‘night’ is called nox, because, as Pacuvius says, All will be stiff with frost unless the sun break in, because it nocet ‘harms’; unless it is because in Greek night is νύξ. When the first star has come out (the Greeks call it Hesperus, and our people call it Vesperugo, as Plautus does:
The evening star sets not, nor yet the Pleiades), this time is by the Greeks called ἑσπέρα, and vesper ‘evening’ in Latin; just as, because the same star before sunrise is called iubar ‘dawn-star,’ because it is iubata ‘maned,’ Pacuvius’s herdsman says:
When morning-star appears and night has run her course.
And Ennius’s Ajax says:
I see light in the sky — can it be dawn?
7. The time between dusk and dawn is called the nox intempesta ‘dead of night, as in the Brutus of Cassius, in the speech of Lucretia:
By dead of night he came unto our home.
Aelius used to say that intempesta means the period when it is not a time for activity, which others have called the concubium ‘general rest,’ because practically all persons then cubabant ’ere lying down’; others, from the fact that silebatur ‘silence was observed,’ have called it the silentium ‘still’ of the night, the time which Plautus likewise calls the conticinium ‘general silence’: for he writes:
We’ll see, I want it done. At general-silence time come back.
8. There is a second motion of the sun, differing from that of the sky, in that the motion is from bruma ‘winter’s day’ to solstitium ‘solstice.’ Bruma is so named, because then the day is brevissimus ‘shortest’: the solstitium, because on that day the sol ‘sun’ seems sistere ‘to halt,’ on which it is nearest to us. When the sun has arrived midway between the bruma and the solstitium, it is called the aequinoctium ‘equinox,’ because the day becomes aequus ‘equal’ to the nox ‘night.’ The time from the bruma until the sun returns to the bruma, is called an annus ‘year,’ because just as little circles are anuli ‘rings,’ so big circuits were called ani, whence comes annus ‘year.’
9. The first part of this time is the hiems ‘winter,’ so called because then there are many imbres ‘showers’; hence hibernacula ‘winter encampment,’ hibernum ‘winter time’; or because then everybody’s breath which is breathed out is visible, hiems is from hiatus ‘open mouth.’ The second season is the ver ‘spring,’ so called because then the virgulta ‘bushes’ begin virere ‘to become green’ and the time of year begins vertere ‘to turn or change’ itself; unless it is because the Ionians say ἦρ for spring. The third season is the aestas ‘summer,’ from aestus ‘heat’; from this, aestivum ‘summer pasture’; unless perhaps it is from the Greek αἴθεσθαι, ‘to blaze.’ The fourth is the autumnus ‘autumn,’ named from augere ‘to increase’ the possessions of men and the gathered fruits, as if auctumnus.
10. As the year is named from the motion of the sun, so the month is named from the motion of the moon, until after departing from the sun she returns again to him. Because the moon was in Greek formerly called μήνη, whence their μῆνες ‘months’ — from this word we named the menses ‘months.’ From menses is named the intermestris ‘day between the months,’ because they thought that between the last day of the preceding expiring month and the new moon there was a day, which with more care the Athenians called the ‘old and new,’ because on that day the very last of the old moon and the first beginnings of the new moon can both be seen.
11. A five-year period was called a lustrum, from luere ‘to set free,’ that is, solvere ‘to release,’ because in every fifth year the taxes and the voluntary tribute payments were completely discharged, through the activity of the censors. A seclum ‘century’ was what they called the space of one hundred years, named from senex ‘old man,’ because they thought this the longest stretch of life for senescendi ‘aging’ men. Aevum ‘eternity,’ from an aetas ‘period’ of all the years (from this comes aeviternum, which has become aeternum ‘eternal’): which the Greeks call an αἰών — Chrysippus says that this is <ἀ>ε<ὶ> ὄν ‘always existing.’ From this Plautus says:
All time is not enough for thorough learning, and from this the poets say:
The everlasting temples of the sky.
12. To the division made by nature there have been added the civic names for the days. First I shall give those which have been instituted for the sake of the gods, then those instituted for the sake of men. The dies Agonales ‘days of the Agonia,’on which the high-priest sacrifices a ram in the Regia, were named from agon for this reason, because the helper at the sacrifice asks “agone?” ‘Shall I do my work?’: unless it is from the Greek, where ay ἄγων means princeps ‘leader,’ from the fact that the sacrificing is done by a leader of the state and the leader of the flock is sacrificed. The Carmentalia are so named because at that time there are sacrifices and a festival of Carmentis.
13. The Lupercalia was so named because the Luperci make sacrifice in the Lupercal. When the High-priest announces the monthly festivals on the Nones of February, he calls the day of the Lupercalia februatus: for februm is the name which the Sabines give to a purification, and this word is not unknown in our sacrifices; for a goat hide, with a thong of which the young women are flogged at the Lupercalia, the ancients called a februs, and the Lupercalia was called also Februatio ‘Festival of Purification,’ as I have shown in the Books of the Antiquities. Quirinalia ‘Festival of Quirinus,’ from Quirinus, because it is a festival to that god and also of those men who did not get a holiday on their own Furnacalia ‘Bakers’ Festival.’ The Feralia ‘Festival of the Dead,’ from inferi ‘the dead below’ and ferre ‘to bear,’ because at that time they ferunt ‘bear’ viands to the tomb of those to whom it is a duty to offer ancestor-worship there. The Terminalia ‘Festival of Terminus,’ because this day is set as the last day of the year; for the twelfth month was February, and when the extra month is inserted the last five days are taken off the twelfth month. The Ecurria ‘Horse-Race,’ from the equorum cursus ‘running of horses’; for on that day they currunt ‘run’ races in the sports on the Campus Martius.
14. The Liber alia ‘Festival of Liber,’ because on that day old women wearing ivy-wreaths on their heads sit in all parts of the town, as priestesses of Liber, with cakes and a brazier, on which they offer up the cakes on behalf of any purchaser. In the books of the Salii who have the added name Agonenses, this day is for this reason, perhaps, called rather the Agonia. The Quinquatrus: this day, though one only, is from a misunderstanding of the name observed as if there were five days in it. Just as the sixth day after the Ides is in similar fashion called the Sexatrus by the people of Tusculum, and the seventh day after is the Septimatrus, so this day was named here, in that the fifth day after the Ides was the Quinquatrus. The Tubulustrium ‘Purification of the Trumpets’ is named from the fact that on this day the tubae ‘trumpets’ used in the ceremonies lustrantur ‘are purified’ in Shoemakers’ Hall.
15. The Megalesia ‘Festival of the Great Mother’ is so called from the Greeks, because by direction of the Sibylline Books the Great Mother was brought from King Attalus, from Pergama; there near the city-wall was the Megalesion, that is, the temple of this goddess, whence she was brought to Rome. The Fordicidia was named from fordae cows: a f
orda cow is one that is carrying an unborn calf; because on this day several pregnant cows are officially and publicly sacrificed in the curiae, the festival was called the Fordicidia from fordae caedendae ‘the pregnant (cows) which were to be slaughtered.’ The Palilia ‘Festival of Pales’ was named from Pales, because it is a holiday in her honour, like the Cerialia, named from Ceres.
16. The Vinalia ‘Festival of the Wine,’ from vinum ‘wine’; this is a day sacred to Jupiter, not to Venus. This feast receives no slight attention in Latium: for in some places the vintages were started by the priests, on behalf of the state, as at Rome they are even now: for the special priest of Jupiter makes an official commencement of the vintage, and when he has given orders to gather the grapes, he sacrifices a lamb to Jupiter, and between the cutting out of the victim’s vitals and the offering of them to the god he himself first plucks a bunch of grapes. On the gates of Tusculum there is the inscription:
The new wine shall not be carried into the city until the Vinalia has been proclaimed. The Robigalia ‘Festival of Robigus’ was named from Robigus ‘God of Rust’; to this god sacrifice is made along the cornfields, that rust may not seize upon the standing com.
17. The Vestalia ‘Festival of Vesta,’ like the Vestal Virgins, from Vesta. The Ides of June are called the Lesser Quinquatrus, from the likeness to the Greater Quinquatrus, because the pipes-players take a holiday, and after roaming through the City, assemble at the Temple of Minerva. The day of Fors Fortuna ‘Chance Luck’ was named by King Servius Tullius, because he dedicated a sanctuary to Fors Fortuna beside the Tiber, outside the city Rome, in the month of June.
18. The Poplifugia ‘People’s Flight’ seems to have been named from the fact that on this day the people suddenly fled in noisy confusion: for this day is not much after the departure of the Gauls from the City, and the peoples who were then near the City, such as the Ficuleans and Fidenians and other neighbours, united against us. Several traces of this day’s flight appear in the sacrifices, of which the Books of the Antiquities give more information. The Nones of July are called the Caprotine Nones, because on this day, in Latium, the women offer sacrifice to Juno Caprotina, which they do under a caprificus ‘wild fig-tree’; they use a branch from the fig-tree. Why this was done, the bordered toga presented to them at the Games of Apollo enlightened the people.
19. The Neptunalia ‘Festival of Neptune,’ from Neptune; for it is the holiday of this god. The Furrinalia ‘Festival of Furrina,’ from Furrina, for this day is a state holiday for this goddess; honour was paid to her among the ancients, who instituted an annual sacrifice for her, and assigned to her a special priest, but now her name is barely known, and even that to only a few. The Portunalia ‘Festival of Portunus’ was named from Portunus, to whom, on this day, a temple was built at the portus ‘port’ on the Tiber, and a holiday instituted.
20. The nineteenth of August was called the Country Vinalia ‘Wine-Festival,’ because at that time a temple was dedicated to Venus and gardens were set apart for her, and then the kitchen-gardeners went on holiday. The Consualia ‘Festival of Consus’ was called from Consus, because then there was the state festival to that god, and in the Circus at his altar those games were enacted by the priests in which the Sabine maidens were carried off. The Volcanalia ‘Festival of Vulcan,’ from Vulcan, because then was his festival and because on that day the people, acting for themselves, drive their animals over a fire.
21. The day named Opeconsiva is called from Ops Consiva ‘Lady Bountiful the Planter,’ whose shrine is in the Regia; it is so restricted in size that no one may enter it except the Vestal Virgins and the state priest. “When he goes there, let him wear a white veil,” is the direction; this suffibulum ‘white veil’ is named as if sub-figabulum from suffigere ‘to fasten down.’ The Volturnalia ‘Festival of Volturnus,’ from the god Volturnus, whose feast takes place then. In the month of October, the Meditrinalia ‘Festival of Meditrina’ was named from mederi ‘to be healed,’ because Flaccus the special priest of Mars used to say that on this day it was the practice to pour an offering of new and old wine to the god, and to taste of the same, for the purpose of being healed; which many are accustomed to do even now, when they say:
Wine new and old I drink, of illness new and old I’m cured.
22. The Fontanalia ‘Festival of the Springs,’ from Fons ‘God of Springs,’ because that day is his holiday; on his account they then throw garlands into the springs and place them on the well-tops. The Armilustrium ‘Purification of the Arms,’ from the fact that armed men perform the ceremony in the Armilustrium, unless the place is rather named from the men; but as I said of them previously, this word comes from ludere ‘to play’ or from lustrum ‘purification,’ that is, because armed men went around ludentes ‘making sport’ with the sacred shields. The Saturnalia ‘Festival of Saturn’ was named from Saturn, because on this day was his festival, as on the second day thereafter the Opalia, the festival of Ops.
23. The Angeronalia, from Angerona, to whom a sacrifice is made in the Acculeian Curia and of whom this day is a state festival. The Larentine Festival, which certain writers call the Larentalia, was named from Acca Larentia, to whom our priests officially perform ancestor-worship on the sixth day after the Saturnalia, which day is from her called the Day of the Parentalia of Larentine Acca.
24. This sacrifice is made in the Velabrum, where it ends in New Street, as certain authorities say, at the tomb of Acca, because near there the priests make offering to the departed spirits of the slaves: both these places were outside the ancient city, not far from the Little Roman Gate, of which I spoke in the preceding book. Septimontium Day was named from these septem montes ‘seven hills,’ on which the City is set; it is a holiday not of the people generally, but only of those who live on the hills, as only those who are of some pagus ‘country district’ have a holiday at the Paganalia ‘Festival of the Country Districts.’
25. The fixed days are those of which I have spoken; now I shall speak of the annual festivals which are not fixed on a special day. The Compitalia is a day assigned to the Lares of the highways; therefore where the highways competunt ‘meet,’ sacrifice is then made at the compita ‘crossroads.’ This day is appointed every year. Likewise the Latinae Feriae ‘Latin Holiday’ is an appointed day, named from the peoples of Latium, who had equal right with the Romans to get a share of the meat at the sacrifices on the Alban Mount: from these Latin peoples it was called the Latin Holiday.
26. The Sementivae Feriae ‘Seed-time Holiday’ is that day which is set by the pontiffs; it was named from the sementis ‘seeding,’ because it is entered upon for the sake of the sowing. The Paganicae ‘Country-District Holiday’ was entered upon for the sake of this same agriculture, that the whole pagus ‘country-district’ might hold it in the fields, whence it was called Paganicae. There are also appointive holidays which are not annual, such as those which are set without a special name of their own, or with an obvious one, such as is the Novendialis ‘Ceremony of the Ninth Day.’
27. About these days this is enough; now let us see to the days which are instituted for the interests of men. The first days of the months are named the Kalendae, because on these days the Nones of this month calantur ‘are announced’ by the pontiffs on the Capitoline in Announcement Hall, whether they will be on the fifth or on the seventh, in this way: “Juno Covella, I announce thee on the fifth day” or “Juno Covella, I announce thee on the seventh day.”
28. The Nones are so called either because they are always the nonus ‘ninth’ day before the Ides, or because the Nones are called the novus ‘new’ month from the new moon, just as the Kalends of January are called the new year from the new sun; on the same day the people who were in the fields used to flock into the City to the King. Traces of this status are seen in the ceremonies held on the Nones, on the Citadel, because at that time the high-priest announces to the people the first monthly holidays which are to take place in that month. The Idus ‘Ides,’ from the f
act that the Etruscans called them the Itus, or rather because the Sabines call them the Idus.
29. The days next after the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides, were called atri ‘black,’ because on these days they might not start anything new. Dies fasti ‘righteous days, court days,’ on which the praetors are permitted fari ‘to say’ any and all words without sin. Comitiales ‘assembly days’ are so called because then it is the established law that the people should be in the Comitium to cast their votes — unless some holidays should have been proclaimed on account of which this is not permissible, such as the Compitalia and the Latin Holiday.
30. The opposite of these are called dies nefasti ‘unrighteous days,’ on which it is nefas ‘unrighteousness’ for the praetor to say do ‘I give,’ dico ‘I pronounce,’ addico ‘I assign’; therefore no action can be taken, for it is necessary to use some one of these words, when anything is settled in due legal form. But if at that time he has inadvertently uttered such a word and set somebody free, the person is none the less free, but with a bad omen in the proceeding, just as a magistrate elected in spite of an unfavourable omen is a magistrate just the same. The praetor who has made a legal decision at such a time, is freed of his sin by the sacrifice of an atonement victim, if he did it unintentionally; but if he made the pronouncement with a realization of what he was doing, Quintus Mucius said that he could not in any way atone for his sin, as one who had failed in his duty to God and country.
Delphi Complete Works of Varro Page 46