All hints are useful in Roman antiquities, and something may yet be made
of this. But it cannot be accepted until we are sure of the history and
descent of this symbol in the representations of Fortuna; it is far from
impossible that the wheel or globe may in this case have nothing more to
do with the sun than the rudder which always accompanies it. In any case
it can hardly be doubted that it is not of Italian origin; it is found,
e. g. also in the cult of Nemesis, who, like Tyche, Eilithyia, and
Leucothea, is probably responsible for much variation and confusion in
the worship of Italian female deities[696]. As to the other fact adduced
by Gaidoz, viz. the date of the festival, it is certainly striking, and
must be given its full weight. It is surprising that Prof. Max Müller
has made no use of it. But we must be on our guard. It is remarkable
that we find in the Roman calendars no other evidence that the Romans
attached the same importance to the summer solstice as some other
peoples; the Roman summer festivals are concerned, in accordance with
the true Italian spirit, much more with the operations of man in dealing
with nature than with the phenomena of nature taken by themselves. It is
perhaps better to avoid a hasty conclusion that this festival of Fors
Fortuna was on the 24th because the 24th was the end of the solstice,
and rather to allow the equal probability that it was fixed then because
harvest was going on. Columella seems to be alluding to it in the
following lines[697]:
Sed cum maturis flavebit messis aristis
Allia cum cepis, cereale papaver anetho
Iungite, dumque virent, nexos deferte maniplos,
Et celebres Fortis Fortunae dicite laudes
Mercibus exactis, hilaresque recurrite in hortos.
The power of Fortuna as a deity of chance would be as important for the
perils of harvest as for those of childbirth; and it is in this
connexion that the Italians understood the meaning of that cornucopia
which is perhaps her most constant symbol in art[698].
Lastly, there is a formidable question, which may easily lead the unwary
into endless complications, and on which I shall only touch very
briefly. How are we to explain the legendary connexion between the cult
of Fortuna and Servius Tullius? That king, the so-called second founder
of Rome, was said, as we have seen, to have erected more than one
sanctuary to Fortuna, and was even believed to have had illicit dealings
with the goddess herself[699]. The dedication-day of Fors Fortuna was
said to have been selected by him, and, as Ovid describes it, was a
festival of the poorer kind of people, who thus kept up the custom
initiated by the popular friend of the plebs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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