Such a rite may very well be indicated by the following sentence of Varro[723]—the only one which gives us any solid information on the question: _Aliquot huius diei vestigia fugae in sacris apparent, de quibus rebus antiquitatum libri plura referunt_. It seems not unreasonable to guess that the rite was one of those in which the priest, or in this case, as it would seem, the people also, fled from the spot after the sacrifice had been concluded. As the slayer of the ox at the Athenian Bouphonia (which curiously enough took place just at this same time of year) fled as one guilty of blood, so it may possibly have been that priest and people at Rome fled after some similar sacrifice, and for the same reason[724]. Or it may have been that they fled from the victim as a scapegoat which was destined to carry away from the city some pollution or pestilence. It is interesting to find at Iguvium in Umbria some ‘vestigia fugae,’ not of the people, indeed, but of victims, at a _lustratio populi_ which seems to have had some object of this kind[725]. Heifers were put to flight, then caught and killed, apparently in order to carry off evils from the city[726], as well as to represent and secure the defeat of its enemies. Such performances seem especially apt to occur at sickly seasons[727]; and as the unhealthy season began at Rome in July[728], it is just possible that the Poplifugia was a ceremony of this class. NON. QUINCT. (JULY 7). N. This day does not appear as a festival in the old calendars; but the late one of Silvius[729] notes it as _Ancillarum Feriae_, or Feast of Handmaids, and adds the explanatory story which is found also in Plutarch and Macrobius[730]. The victorious Fidenates having demanded the surrender of the wives of the Romans, the latter made over to them their _ancillae_, dressed in their mistresses’ robes, by the advice of a certain Philotis, or Tutula[731], one of the handmaids. Ausonius alludes to the custom that gave rise to the story: Festa Caprotinis memorabo celebria Nonis Cum stola matronis dempta teget famulas[732]. Plutarch also tells us that on this day the _ancillae_ not only wore the matron’s dress, but had license for what may be described as a game of romps; they beat each other, threw stones at each other, and scoffed at the passers by[733].