It is noticeable that this day was, according to Ovid[637], the
dedication of a temple of Fortuna, also _in foro boario_: but no
immediate connexion can be discovered between this deity and Mater
Matuta. This temple was remarkable as containing a wooden statue, veiled
in drapery, which was popularly believed to represent Servius
Tullius[638], of whose connexion with Fortuna we shall have more to say
further on. No one, however, really knew what the statue was; Varro and
Pliny[639] write of one of Fortuna herself which was heavily draped, and
may have been the one in this temple. Pliny says that the statue of
Fortuna was covered with the _togae praetextae_ of Servius Tullius,
which lasted intact down to the death of Seianus; and it is singular
that Seianus himself is said to have possessed a statue of Fortuna which
dated from the time of Servius[640], and which turned its face away from
him just before his fall. Seianus was of Etruscan descent, we may
remember; Servius Tullius, or Mastarna, was certainly Etruscan; and
among Etruscan deities we find certain shrouded gods[641]. These facts
seem to suggest that the statue (or statues, if we cannot refer all the
passages above quoted to one statue) came from Etruria, and was on that
account a mystery both to the learned and the ignorant at Rome. To us it
must also remain unexplained[642].
ID. IUN. (JUNE 13). NP.
FERIAE IOVI. (VEN.)
IOVI. (TUSC.)
To these notes in the calendars we may add a few lines from Ovid:
Idibus Invicto sunt data templa Iovi.
Et iam Quinquatrus iubeor narrare minores:
Nunc ades o coeptis, flava Minerva, meis.
Cur vagus incedit tota tibicen in urbe?
Quid sibi personae, quid stola longa volunt?
All Ides, as we have seen, were sacred to Jupiter; they are so noted in
the surviving calendars in May, June, August, September, October and
November, and were probably originally so noted in all the months[643].
On this day the _collegium_ or guild of the tibicines feasted in the
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus[644]. The temple referred to by Ovid of
Jupiter Invictus as having been dedicated on this day may possibly have
been one of two mentioned by Livy as dedicated on the Capitol in B.C.
192[645]; but the coincidence of a dedication-day with the Ides may
perhaps suggest a higher antiquity[646].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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