January 13th | Fastorum Liber Primus: Ianuarius
E • EID • NP | Idibus | I.587-616, Ovid addresses Augustus and his relatives.
Idibus in magni castus Iovis aede sacerdos
semimaris flammis viscera libat ovis;
redditaque est omnis populo provincia nostro,
et tuus Augusto nomine dictus avus. 590
perlege dispositas generosa per atria ceras:
contigerunt nulli nomina tanta viro.
Africa victorem de se vocat, alter Isauras
aut Cretum domitas testificatur opes;
hunc Numidae faciunt, illum Messana superbum, 595
ille Numantina traxit ab urbe notam,
et mortem et nomen Druso Germania fecit—
me miserum, virtus quam brevis illa fuit!
si petat a victis, tot sumet nomina Caesar,
quot numero gentes maximus orbis habet. 600
ex uno quidam celebres aut torquis adempti
aut corvi titulos auxiliaris habent.
Magne, tuum nomen rerum est mensura tuarum:
sed qui te vicit, nomine maior erat.
nec gradus est supra Fabios cognominis ullus: 605
illa domus meritis Maxima dicta suis.
sed tamen humanis celebrantur honoribus omnes:
hic socium summo cum Iove nomen habet.
sancta vocant augusta patres, augusta vocantur
templa sacerdotum rite dicata manu; 610
huius et augurium dependet origine verbi,
et quodcumque sua Iuppiter auget ope.
augeat imperium nostri ducis, augeat annos,
protegat et vestras querna corona fores,
auspicibusque deis tanti cognominis heres 615
omine suscipiat, quo pater, orbis onus.
587 On the Ides the chaste priest1 offers in the flames the bowels of a gelded ram in the temple of great Jove. On that day, too, every province was restored to our people, and thy grandsire received the title of Augustus. Peruse the legends graved on waxen images ranged round noble halls; titles so lofty never were bestowed on man before. Africa named her conqueror after herself; another by his style attests Isaurian or Cretan power subdued: one gloried in Numidians laid low, another in Messana, while from the city of Numantia yet a third drew his renown. To Germany did Drusus2 owe his title and his death: woe’s me! that all that goodness should be so short-lived! Did Caesar take his titles from the vanquished, then must he assume as many names as there are tribes in the whole world. Some have earned fame from single enemies, taking their names either from a necklace won or from a raven confederate in the fight.3 Pompey, thy name of Great is the measure of thy deeds, but he who conquered thee was greater still in name. No surname can rank above that which the Fabii bear: for their services their family was called the Greatest.4 But yet the honours bestowed on all of these are human: Augustus alone bears a name that ranks with Jove supreme. Holy things are by the fathers called august: the epithet august is applied to temples that have been duly dedicated by priestly hands: from the same root come augury and all such augmentation as Jupiter grants by his power. May he augment our prince’s empire and augment his years, and may an oaken crown5 protect your doors. Under the auspices of the gods may the same omens, which attended the sire, wait upon the heir of so great a surname, when he takes upon himself the burden of the world.
The Flamen Dialis, who was subject to many ceremonial rules.
Son of Livia by her first husband, Tiberius Claudius Nero, and brother of the Emperor Tiberius. He died 9 B.C., of a fall from his horse, aged 31.
T. Manlius Torquatus, 361 B.C.; M. Valerius Corvus or Covinus, 349 B.C.
The title came from Q. Fabius Maximus, 304 B.C.
It was voted to Augustus in perpetuum, in token of his care for his people; and hung up in his palace: “For saving the life of citizens,” see Monumentum Ancyranum, vi. 3 n., in Velleius Paterculus (Loeb Classical Library), p. 399.
NOTE: The following day, January 14 is commonly accepted as Mark Antony’s birthday, celebration of which was prohibited and the day marked “vitiosus” (i.e. faulty, corrupt) by decree of the Senate (EX. S. C.), likely at the behest of Augustus. Thus: F EN | DIES • VITIOS • EX • S • C (see January Schedule & Calendar)