Introduction | Fastorum Liber Secundus: Februarius
II.1-54, Ovid explains the etymology of "February."
Ianus habet finem. cum carmine crescit et annus:
alter ut hic mensis, sic liber alter eat.
nunc primum velis, elegi, maioribus itis:
exiguum, memini, nuper eratis opus.
ipse ego vos habui faciles in amore ministros, 5
cum lusit numeris prima iuventa suis.
idem sacra cano signataque tempora fastis:
ecquis ad haec illinc crederet esse viam?
haec mea milita est: ferimus quae possumus arma,
dextraque non omni munere nostra vacat. 10
si mihi non valido torquentur pila lacerto,
nec bellatoris terga premuntur equi,
nec galea tegimur nec acuto cingimur ense,
(his habilis telis quilibet esse potest),
at tua prosequimur studioso pectore, Caesar, 15
nomina, per titulos ingredimurque tuos.
ergo ades et placido paulum mea munera voltu
respice, pacando si quid ab hoste vacas.
februa Romani dixere piamina patres:
nunc quoque dant verbo plurima signa fidem. 20
pontifices ab rege petunt et flamine lanas,
quis veterum lingua februa nomen erat,
quaeque capit lictor domibus purgamina tersis
torrida cum mica farra, vocantur idem;
nomen idem ramo, qui caesus ab arbore pura 25
casta sacerdotum tempora fronde tegit.
ipse ego flaminicam poscentem februa vidi;
februa poscenti pinea virga data est.
denique quodcumque est, quo corpora nostra piantur,
hoc apud intonsos nomen habebat avos. 30
mensis ab his dictus, secta quia pelle Luperci
omne solum lustrant idque piamen habent,
aut quia placatis sunt tempora pura sepulcris,
tum cum ferales praeteriere dies.
omne nefas omnemque mali purgamina causam 35
credebant nostri tollere posse senes.
Graecia principium moris dedit: illa nocentis
impia lustratos ponere facta putat.
Actoriden Peleus, ipsum quoque Pelea Phoci
caede per Haemonias solvit Acastus aquas: 40
vectam frenatis per inane draconibus Aegeus
credulus inmerita Phasida fovit ope:
Amphiareïades Naupactoo Acheloo
“solve nefas” dixit, solvit et ille nefas.
a! nimium faciles, qui tristia crimina caedis 45
fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua!
sed tamen (antiqui ne nescius ordinis erres)
primus, ut est, Iani mensis et ante fuit;
qui sequitur Ianum, veteris fuit ultimus anni:
tu quoque sacrorum, Termine, finis eras. 50
primus enim Iani mensis, quia ianua prima est:
qui sacer est imis manibus, imus erat.
postmodo creduntur spatio distantia longo
tempora bis quini continuasse viri.
1 January is over. The year progresses with my song: even as this second month, so may my second book proceed.
3 My elegiacs, now for the first time ye do sail with ampler canvas spread: As I remember, up till now your theme was slender. Myself I found you pliant ministers of love, when in the morn of youth I toyed with verse. Myself now sing of sacred rites and of the seasons marked in the calendar: who could think that this could come of that? Herein is all my soldiership: I bear the only arms I can: my right hand is not all unserviceable. If I can neither hurl the javelin with brawny arm, nor bestride the back of war horse; if there is no helmet on my head, no sharp sword at my belt—at such weapons any man may be a master of fence—still do I rehearse with hearty zeal thy titles, Caesar,1 and pursue thy march of glory. Come, then, and if the conquest of the foe leaves thee a vacant hour, Ο cast a kindly glance upon my gift.
19 Our Roman fathers gave the name of februa to instruments of purification: even to this day there are many proofs that such was the meaning of the word. The pontiffs ask the King2 and the Flamen for woollen cloths, which in the tongue of the ancients had the name of februa. When houses are swept out, the toasted spelt and salt which the officer gets as means of cleansing are called by the same name. The same name is given to the bough, which, cut from a pure tree,3 wreathes with its leaves the holy brows of priests. I myself have seen the Flamen’s wife (Flaminica) begging for februa; at her request for februa a twig of pine was given her. In short, anything used to cleanse our bodies went by that name in the time of our unshorn forefathers. The month is called after these things, because the Luperci4 purify the whole ground with strips of hide, which are their instruments of cleansing, or because the season is pure when once peace-offerings have been made at the graves and the days devoted to the dead are past.5 Our sires believed that every sin and every cause of ill could be wiped out by rites or purgation. Greece set the example: she deems that the guilty can rid themselves of their crimes by being purified. Peleus cleansed Actorides,6 and Acastus cleansed Peleus himself from the blood of Phocus by the Haemonian waters. Wafted through the void by bridled dragons, the Phasian witch7 received a welcome, which she little deserved, at the hands of trusting Aegeus. The son of Amphiaraus8 said to Naupactian9 Achelous, “O rid me of my sin,” and the other did rid him of his sin. Fond fools alack! to fancy murder’s gruesome stain by river water could be washed away! But yet, lest you should err through ignorance of the ancient order, know that the month of Janus was of old the first, even as now it is; the month that follows January was the last of the old year.10 Thy worship too, Ο Terminus, formed the close of all the sacred rites. For the month of Janus came first because the door (janua) comes first; that month was nethermost which to the nether shades was consecrated. Afterwards the Decemvirs are believed to have joined together times which had been parted by a long interval.
Augustus. This passage is probably the original dedication of the Fasti.
The Rex Sacrorum.
Uncertain: perhaps the pine (28).
See below, l. 267.
See below, l. 533.
Patroclus, grandson of Actor.
Medea, named from Phasis, a river of Colchis. She went to Athens from Corinth in a flying chariot drawn by dragons.
Alcmaeon, who had slain his mother Eriphyle, for accepting the bribe of a necklace to persuade him to attack Thebes. He was purified by water from the Achelous.
A mistake: Naupactus was far from the Achelous.
Ovid seems to have supposed that in the old Roman year January was the first month and February the last, so that they were separated by the “long interval” of ten months; but the Decemvirs brought them together by making February to follow January immediately within the same year instead of immediately preceding it in the last year.