February 21st | Fastorum Liber Secundus: Februarius
D • FERAL • F | IX Kal. | II.533-616, Ovid describes the rituals customary to the Feralia (also known as the Parentalia.)
Est honor et tumulis. Animas placate paternas
parvaque in exstructas munera ferte pyras.
parva petunt manes, pietas pro divite grata est 535
munere: non avidos Styx habet ima deos.
tegula porrectis satis est velata coronis
est sparsae fruges parcaque mica salis,
inque mero mollita Ceres violaeque solutae:
haec habeat media testa relicta via. 540
nec maiora veto, sed et his placabilis umbra est:
adde preces positis et sua verba focis.
hunc morem Aeneas, pietatis idoneus auctor,
attulit in terras, iuste Latine, tuas;
ille patris Genio sollemnia dona ferebat: 545
hinc populi ritus edidicere pios.
at quondam, dum longa gerunt pugnacibus armis
bella, Parentales deseruere dies.
non impune fuit; nam dicitur omine ab isto
Roma suburbanis incaluisse rogis. 550
vix equidem credo: bustis exisse feruntur
et tacitae questi tempore noctis avi,
perque vias Urbis latosque ululasse per agros
deformes animas, volgus inane, ferunt.
post ea praeteriti tumulis redduntur honores, 555
prodigiisque venit funeribusque modus.
dum tamen haec fiunt, viduae cessate puellae:
exspectet puros pinea taeda dies,
nec tibi, quae cupidae matura videbere matri,
comat virgineas hasta recurva comas. 560
conde tuas, Hymenaee, faces et ab ignibus atris
aufer! habent alias maesta sepulcra faces.
di quoque templorum foribus celentur opertis,
ture vacent arae stentque sine igne foci.
nunc animae tenues et corpora functa sepulcris 565
errant, nunc posito pascitur umbra cibo.
nec tamen haec ultra, quam tot de mense supersint
Luciferi, quot habent carmina nostra pedes.
hanc, quia iusta ferunt, dixere Feralia lucem;
ultima placandis manibus illa dies. 570
ecce anus in mediis residens annosa puellis
sacra facit Tacitae (nec tamen ipsa tacet),
et digitis tria tura tribus sub limine ponit,
qua brevis occultum mus sibi fecit iter;
tunc cantata ligat cum fusco licia plumbo 575
et septem nigras versat in ore fabas,
quodque pice adstrinxit, quod acu traiecit aena,
obsutum maenae torret in igne caput;
vina quoque instillat: vini quodcumque relictum est,
aut ipsa aut comites, plus tamen ipsa, bibit. 580
“hostiles linguas inimicaque vinximus ora”
dicit discedens ebriaque exit anus.
protinus a nobis, quae sit dea Muta, requires:
disce, per antiquos quae mihi nota senes.
Iuppiter immodico Iuturnae victus amore 585
multa tulit tanto non patienda deo:
illa modo in silvis inter coryleta latebat,
nunc in cognatas desiliebat aquas.
convocat hic nymphas, Latium quaecumque tenebant,
et iacit in medio talia verba choro: 590
“invidet ipsa sibi vitatque, quod expedit illi,
vestra soror summo concubuisse deo.
consulite ambobus; nam quae mea magna voluptas,
utilitas vestrae magna sororis erit.
vos illi in prima fugienti obsistite ripa, 595
ne sua fluminea corpora mergat aqua.”
dixerat: adnuerant nymphae Tiberinides omnes,
quaeque colunt thalamos, Ilia diva, tuos.
forte fuit nais, Lara nomine, prima sed illi
dicta bis antiquum syllaba nomen erat, 600
ex vitio positum. saepe illi dixerat Almo
“nata, tene linguam,” nec tamen illa tenet.
quae simul ac tetigit Iuturnae stagna sororis,
“effuge” ait “ripas”; dicta refertque Iovis.
illa etiam Iunonem adiit, miserataque nuptas 605
“naida Iuturnam vir tuus” inquit “amat.”
Iuppiter intumuit, quaque est non usa modeste,
eripit huic linguam Mercuriumque vocat:
“duc hanc ad manes; locus ille silentibus aptus.
nympha, sed infernae nympha paludis erit.” 610
iussa Iovis fiunt. accepit lucus euntes:
dicitur illa duci tum placuisse deo.
vim parat hic, voltu pro verbis illa precatur,
et frustra muto nititur ore loqui.
fitque gravis geminosque parit, qui compita servant 615
et vigilant nostra semper in urbe, Lares.
533 Honour is paid, also, to the grave. Appease the souls of your fathers and bring small gifts to the tombs erected to them.1 Ghosts ask but little: they value piety more than a costly gift: no greedy gods are they who in the world below do haunt the banks of Styx. A tile wreathed with votive garlands, a sprinkling of corn, a few grains of salt, bread soaked in wine, and some loose violets, these are offerings enough: set these on a potsherd and leave it in the middle of the road. Not that I forbid larger offerings, but even these suffice to appease the shades: add prayers and the appropriate words at the hearths set up for the purpose. This custom was introduced into thy lands, righteous Latinus, by Aeneas, fit patron of piety. He to his father’s spirit solemn offerings brought; from him the peoples learned the pious rites. But once upon a time, waging long wars with martial arms, they did neglect the All Souls’ Days. The negligence was not unpunished; for tis said that from that ominous day Rome grew hot with the funeral fires that burned without the city. They say, though I can hardly think it, that the ancestral souls did issue from the tombs and make their moan in the hours of stilly night; and hideous ghosts, a shadowy throng, they say, did howl about the city streets and the wide fields. Afterwards the honours which had been omitted were again paid to the tombs, and so a limit was put to prodigies and funerals. But while these rites are being performed, ye ladies change not your widowed state; let the nuptial torch of pine wait till the days are pure. And O, thou damsel, who to thine eager mother shalt appear all ripe for marriage, let not the bent-back spear comb down thy maiden hair! O God of Marriage, hide thy torches, and from these sombre fires bear them away! Far other are the torches that light up the rueful grave. Screen, too, the gods by shutting up the temple doors; let no incense burn upon the altars, no fire upon the hearths. Now do the unsubstantial souls and buried dead wander about, now doth the ghost batten upon his dole. But this only lasts until there remain as many days of the month as there are feet in my couplets.2 That day they name the Feralia, because they carry (ferunt) to the dead their dues: it is the last day for propitiating the ghosts.
571 Lo, an old hag, seated among girls, performs rites in honour of Tacita3 (“the Silent Goddess”), but herself is not silent. With three fingers she puts three lumps of incense under the threshold, where the little mouse has made for herself a secret path. Then she binds enchanted threads together with dark lead, and mumbles seven black beans in her mouth; and she roasts in the fire the head of a small fish which she has sewed up, made fast with pitch, and pierced through and through with a bronze needle. She also drops wine on it, and the wine that is left over she or her companions drink, but she gets the larger share. Then as she goes off she says, “We have bound fast hostile tongues and unfriendly mouths.” So exit the old woman drunk.
583 At once you will ask of me, “Who is the goddess Muta (‘the Mute’)?” Hear what I learned from old men gone in years. Conquered by exceeding love of Juturna, Jupiter submitted to many things which so great a god ought not to bear. For now she would hide in the woods among the hazel-thickets, now she would leap down into her sister waters. The god called together all the nymphs who dwell in Latium, and thus in the midst of the troop he spake aloud: “Your sister is her own enemy, and shuns that union with the supreme god which is all for her good. Pray look to her interests and to mine, for what is a great pleasure to me will be a great boon to your sister. When she flees, stop her on the edge of the bank, lest she plunge into the water of the river.” He spake. Assent was given by all the nymphs of Tiber and by those who haunt, Ilia divine,4 thy wedding bowers. It chanced there was a Naiad nymph, Lara by name; but her old name was the first syllable repeated twice, and that was given her to mark her failing.5 Many a time Almo6 had said to her, “My daughter, hold thy tongue,” but hold it she did not. No sooner did she reach the pools of her sister Juturna than, “Fly the banks,” said she, and reported the words of Jupiter. She even visited Juno and, after expressing her pity for married dames, “Your husband,” quoth she, “is in love with the Naiad Juturna.” Jupiter fumed and wrenched from her the tongue she had used so indiscreetly. He also called for Mercury. “Take her to deadland,” said he, “that’s the place for mutes. A nymph she is, but a nymph of the infernal marsh she’ll be.” The orders of Jupiter were obeyed. On their way they came to a grove; then it was, they say, that she won the heart of her divine conductor. He would have used force; for want of words she pleaded with a look, and all in vain she strove to speak with her dumb lips. She went with child, and bore twins, who guard the cross-roads and ever keep watch in our city: they are the Lares.7
At the Feralia, or feasts in memory of the dead, offerings were made to them. The chief day was Feb. 21. Parentalia is also a name of the festival.
Eleven, as Ovid reckoned (Am. i. l. 27–30).
Or dea Muta (l. 583), whom Ovid identifies with the mother of the public Lares (l. 615). She averted evil words.
Mother of Romulus.
Lala, as if from λαλεῖν, “to prattle.”
God of the river, a tributary of the Tiber, and father of Lara.
The Lares Compitales or Praestites were the public guardians of the city. They were generally enshrined in pairs. They were specially worshipped at cross-roads, or compita. There was a yearly festival, the Compitalia.