February 27th | Fastorum Liber Secundus: Februarius
B • EQUIR • NP | III Kal. | II.857-862, Ovid acknowledges the first set of yearly horse races in honor of Mars.
Iamque duae restant noctes de mense secundo,
Marsque citos iunctis curribus urget equos:
ex vero positum permansit Equirria nomen,
quae deus in Campo prospicit ipse suo. 860
iure venis, Gradive: locum tua tempora poscunt,
signatusque tuo nomine mensis adest.
856 And now two nights of the second month are left, and Mars urges on the swift steeds yoked to his chariot. The day has kept the appropriate name of Equirria (“horse-races”) derived from the races which the god himself beholds in his own plain. Thou Marching God (Gradivus), in thine own right thou comest. Thy season demands a place in my song, and the month marked by the name is at hand.