Since the Etruscan origin of Servius Tullius has been placed beyond a
doubt by the discovery of the famous tomb at Vulci, with the paintings
of Cales Vibenna released from his bonds by Mastarna[700], which has
thus confirmed the Etruscan tradition of the identity of Mastarna and
Servius preserved by the emperor Claudius in his famous speech[701], it
would seem that we may consider it as highly probable that if Servius
did really institute the cult of Fortuna at Rome, that cult came with
him from Etruria. This by no means compels us to look on Fortuna as an
Etruscan deity only; but it seems to be a fact that there was an
Etruscan goddess who was recognized by the Romans as the equivalent of
their Fortuna[702]. This was Nortia, a great deity at Volsinii, as is
fully proved by the remains found there[703]; and we may note that the
city was near to and in close alliance with Vulci, where the tomb was
found containing the paintings just alluded to. Seianus, a native of
Volsinii[704], was supposed to be under the protection of this deity,
and, as we have already seen, to possess an ancient statue of her.
In her temple a nail was driven every year as in the temple of Jupiter
Capitolinus[705], and hence some have concluded that she was a goddess
of time. It cannot, however, be regarded as certain whether this
nail-driving was originally symbolical only, or at all, of time; it may
quite as well remind us of the famous Fortuna of Antium and the ‘clavos
trabales’ of Horace’s Ode[706]. However this may be, it is a fair guess,
though it must be made with hesitation, that the Fortuna of Servius was
the equivalent of this Nortia, to whom the Roman plebs gave a name with
which they were in some way already familiar. Mastarna continued to
worship his native deity after he was settled in Rome; and the plebs
continued to revere her, not because of his luck, which was indeed
imperfect, but simply because she was his protectress[707]. If we try to
get beyond this we lose our footing; and even this is only conjecture,
though based upon evidence which is not entirely without weight.
Footnote 505:
What can be said for this view may be read in Roscher’s article in
_Lex._ s. v. Iuno, p. 575, note.
Footnote 506:
Roscher’s treatment of Juno Moneta (_Lex._ s. v. Iuno, 593) seems to
me pure fancy; this writer is apt to twist his facts and his
inferences to suit a prepossession—in this case the notion of a ἱερὸς
γάμος of Jupiter and Juno.
Footnote 507:
Liv. 7. 28; Ovid, _Fasti_, 6. 183; Macrob. 1. 12. 30.
Footnote 508:
On this point see Lewis, _Credibility of Early Roman Hist._ vol. ii.
345.
Footnote 509:
Dionys., 13. 7, says, Χῆνες ἱεροὶ περὶ τὸν νεὼν τῆς Ἥρας; but this is
no evidence for an early _temple_ of Juno Moneta.
Footnote 510:
Apparently she was fond of such birds: crows also were ‘in tutela
Iunonis’ at a certain spot north of the Tiber (Paul. 64), and at
Lanuvium (Preller, i. 283).
Footnote 511:
Liv. 6. 20.
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