iii. U. C. 694 Varr. U. C. 693 Cap. U. C. 691 Polyb. B. C. 60. L. Afranius Q. Cæcilius Metellus Celer. Irregular Calendar, Cycle vii. 5. 354 days. Kalendæ Januariæ February 18 B. C. 60 Among the prodigies mentioned in Obsequens one is this: Die toto ante sereno circa horam undecimam nox se intendit; deinde restitutus fulgorn: the natural inference from which appears to be that there was an eclipse of the sun, late in the day, but not so late as sunset: which made itself perceptible in this manner. : The chapter is headed Q. Metello L. Afranio Coss; and these were consuls U. C. 694 of Varro B. C. 60. There was a solar eclipse this year, March 16 4.45 P. M. Paris; which would answer to the description in the present instance, if that might be assumed as more properly its time for the meridian of Rome: and consequently at this season of the year, (only seven days before the equinox,) as coinciding with the eleventh hour of the day in kairic time for the same latitude. The Roman date of this eclipse would be January 27 Roman, only 26 days later than the ingress of the official year. There was a similar eclipse March 27 4.15 P. M. Paris, (iii Kal. Feb.) B. C. 61; which might have been equally suitable to the description in Obsequens, but would have belonged to the preceding consular year. If the phenomenon in question was actually the effect of an eclipse at the time, it proves that the consular ingress, i. e. the Kalends of January, whether U. C. 693 or U. C. 694, were earlier than the month of March at least, whether B. C. 61 or B. C. 60; as by our calendar they are seen to have been. ¤ cxxiii. DISSERTATION XIII. On the Verification of the Irregular Roman Calendar. Cycle i. CHAPTER I. SECTION I. On the succession of Pontifices Maximi at Rome. THE superintendance and administration of the calendar at Rome appear to have been committed from the first to the college of Pontiffs. Preliminary therefore to that part of our work on which we are about to enter, viz. the Verification of the Irregular Calendar of our Fasti, cycle by cycle, as long as it was actually in use, we think it desirable to institute a brief survey of the order, succession, and names of the heads or presidents of this college; whose proper title was that of Pontifices Maximi*: as far at least as it can be collected, * Maximus Pontifex dictus, says Festus, xi. 233. 1, quod maximus rerum quæ ad sacra et religiones pertinent judex sit: vindexque contumacia privatorum magistratuumque. Again, xi. 242. 6: Minorum Pontificum maximus dicitur qui primus in id collegium venit. item minimus qui novissimus. Again, xiii. 313.9: Ordo sacerdotum æstimatur deorum... maximus quisque. maximus videtur Rex, deinde Dialis, post hunc Martialis, quarto loco Quirinalis, quinto Pontifex maximus. itaque in conviviis solus Rex supra omnes accubat: sed Dialis supra Martialem et Quirinalem: Martialis supra proximum: omnes dein supra Pontificem. Rex quia potentissimus: Dialis quia universi mundi sacerdos qui appellatur Dius: Martialis quod Mars conditoris urbis parens: Quirinalis socio imperii Romani Curibus adscito Quirino: Pontifex maximus quod judex atque arbiter habetur rerum divinarum humanarumque. These distinctions appear to have concerned only the question of pre from the time of Numa downwards, by means of the very imperfect and incomplete data which are at present available for any such purpose. SECTION II.-On the etymon or derivation of the name of Pontifex. The official name and designation of Pontifex are derived by the Roman grammarians either from posse and facere, or from pons and facere; the former implying the power or right, entailed by the office upon its possessors, of performing the various duties and services of religion in general; the latter one duty or service in particular, as expressly incumbent on the Pontiffs: viz. that of constructing and of keeping in repair a certain bridge, which is usually explained to have been the Pons Sublicius over the Tiber. Questionable as this latter definition of the name might appear at first sight, it is certainly the more agreeable to etymology of the two; and in all probability it is the truth. Pontifices, says Varroo, ut Q. Scævola Pontifex Maximus dicebat, a posse et facere. Pontifices ego a ponte arbitror. nam ab iis Sublicius est factus primum, et restitutus sæpe, cum ideo sacra et uls et cis Tiberim non mediocri ritu fiant —Οὗτοι κατὰ μὲν τὴν αὐτῶν διάλεκτον, ἀφ' ἑνὸς τῶν ἔργων ἃ πράττουσιν ἐπισκευάζοντες τὴν ξυλίνην γέφυραν, ποντίφικες προσaуoрeúοvταιР. And according to Servius this explanation of the name was as old among the Romans as the Carmina Saliaria: Ex qua etiam caussa Pontifices a ponte sublicio qui cedence among these several offices and their proper representatives; and it is probable that even these are to be resolved into the comparative antiquity of the offices themselves. That of the Pontifex maximus was probably the youngest of all; that of the Rex (sacrorum or sacrificulus) the oldest; having been originally a part of that of the kings. It is a mistake of Festus to represent the office of the Flamen Quirinalis as borrowed from Cures; and not as expressly instituted by Numa, for the service of Romulus, under the name of Quirinus. This Flamen was certainly younger than either of the other two; and probably the Flamen Martialis was so than the Flamen Dialis. The latter at least must take precedence of the former, because Dius or Jupiter must take precedence of Mars. • De Lingua Latina, iv. 24. P Dionysius, ii. 73: cf. iii. 45: v. 24. Plutarch, Numa, ix. Festus, xvii. 537. 4 Sublicium pontem. Lydus, De Mensibus, iii. 21. p. 41, 42. primus Tybri impositus est adpellatos tradunt: sicut Saliorum carmina loquunturq. It is to be considered that on one of its sides, and otherwise the most accessible, Rome had no defence but the Tiber; so that it must have been a point of much importance to the security of the city from the first that there should be no bridge over this river but one which could easily be taken down in time of war, and easily rebuilt in time of peace and therefore must be constructed of wood". But this consideration alone would not perhaps have been a sufficient reason for committing the care of this bridge exclusively to the pontiffs; nor without another, the fact of which we learn from Varro: viz. that certain sacra, (which it was their duty to perform both at the proper time and in the proper place,) could be performed only on the other side of the Tiber. A bridge being thus constantly wanted for the services of religion, and none being considered safe for political reasons but a bridge of wood; it is no wonder that the care of this bridge should have been delegated to the pontiffs from the first: and that they should even have taken their name from that one of their duties in particular*. SECTION III-On the institution of the College of Pontiffs; and on their number, and the mode of electing them. It seems to be agreed that the college of pontiffs was one of the foundations of Numa Pompiliuss. The number appointed by him at first, inclusive of the Pontifex Maximus, was fivet: and all these at first also were confined to the order of patricians. U. C. 454 Varro B. C. 300 by the Lex Ogulniau four were added to the number de plebe, so as to * In the course of time a stone bridge was built over the Tiber, instead of the Pons Sublicius; viz. in the censorship of a certain Æmilius: Plutarch, Numa, ix: i. e. Æmilius Scaurus; (cf. Auctor De Viris, Æmilius Scaurus: Juvenal, Sat. iv. 32 ;) by whom the Pons Milvius or Mulvius also was built. At this time Rome had nothing to fear from a sudden attack ab extra. 4 Ad Eneid, iii. 166. r Cf. Dionysius, ix. 68. Dionysius, ii. 73: iii. 36. Livy, i. 20: iv. 4 cf. xl. 29. Cicero, De Republica, ii: De Oratore, iii. 19, 73. Plutarch, Numa, ix. Valerius Max. i. i. 12 De Religione. Pliny, H. N. t Cicero, De Republica, ii. make the members of the college, inclusively of the Pontifex Maximus, nine in all. And it seems to have been understood that from this time forward, though four of the pontiffs must be de plebe, the Pontifex Maximus and the other four must be de patribus. The first Pontifex Maximus, who is known to have been de plebe, was Tib. Coruncanius; about thirty years later than the Lex Ogulnia. With respect to any subsequent augmentation of the numbers of the body, both the college of Pontiffs and that of Augurs received an accession of fifteen members at once, in the time of Sulla, B. C. 81 exeunte, or B. C. 80w; and one more was added to each of them, and to that of the Quindecimviri, by Julius Cæsar on his return to Rome B. C. 47x. And this seems to have been the last addition made to the Pontifical body in particular, so long as we are concerned with it for our proper purpose; that of the history of the administration of the calendar. As to the election of the members of this college, at first it was by the cooptatio, or cooption: i. e. the right of filling up the vacancies which occurred in the body was vested in the body itself. We read of no attempt to disturb this right or to transfer the election to the people before U. C. 609, Q. Fabius Maximus Aimilianus L. Hostilius Mancinus, B.C.145; when, as we learn from Cicero y, a proposition of that kind was brought forward by C. Licinius Crassus: though it did not succeed; the chief opposer of the motion having been Lælius himself, the principal speaker in this dialogue. Nor does it appear that this privilege of coopting the inferior members of the body was ever taken from the body itself. We may presume at least that, if the election of the Pontifex Maximus was still confined to it, that of the inferior members of the college could not have been transferred to the people. Now even that privilege was not taken from the college before the third consulship of Marius U. C. 651 B. C. 103, according to Velleius Paterculus, the second, U.C. 650 B. C. 104, according to Asconius; when Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, at that time tribune of the people, by a law w Livy, lxxxix. Cf. Servius, ad Æn. vi. 73. Auctor De Viris, Sulla. * Dio, xlii. 51: cf. 55. y De Amicitia, 25, 96. |