This is the only day to which we can ascribe, on the evidence of the calendars, the yearly rites of the _ara maxima_, and of the _aedes Herculis_ in the Forum boarium. These two shrines were close together; the former just at the entrance of the Circus maximus, the latter, as has been made clear by a long series of researches, a little to the north-east of it[806]. We are led to suppose that the two must have been closely connected in the cult, though we are not explicitly informed on the point. The _round_ temple indicates a very ancient worship, as in the case of the aedes Vestae, and the legends confirm this. The story of Hercules and Cacus, the foundation-legend of the cult, whatever be its origin, shows a priesthood of two ancient patrician families, the Potitii and Pinarii[807]. Appius Claudius, the censor of 312 B.C., is said to have bribed the Potitii, the chief celebrants, to hand over their duties to public slaves[808]; but in the yearly rites, consisting chiefly in the sacrifice of a heifer, these were presided over by the praetor urbanus, whose connexion with the cult is attested by inscriptions[809]. That there was at one time a reconstruction of the cult, especially in the direction of Greek usage, seems indeed probable; for the praetor wore a laurel wreath and sacrificed with his head uncovered after the Greek fashion[810]. But there is enough about it that was genuine Roman to prove that the foundation-legend had some of its roots in an ancient cult; e. g. at the sacred meal which followed the previous sacrifice in the evening, the worshippers did not lie down but sat, as was the most ancient practice both in Greece and Italy[811]. Women were excluded, which is in keeping with the Italian conception of Hercules as Genius, or the deity of masculine activity[812]. The sacrifice was followed by a meal on the remainder, which was perhaps an old practice in Italy, as in Greece. In this feature, as in two others, we have a very interesting parallel with this cult, which does not seem to have been noticed, in the prescription given by Cato for the invocation of Mars on behalf of the farmer’s cattle[813]. After prescribing the material of the offering to Mars Silvanus, he goes on as follows: ‘Eam rem divinam _vel servus, vel liber licebit faciat_. Ubi res divina facta erit, _statim ibidem consumito_. _Mulier ad eam rem divinam ne adsit_, neve videat quomodo fiat. Hoc votum in annos singulos, si voles, licebit vovere.’ Here we have the eating of the remainder[814], the exclusion of women, and the participation in the cult by slaves; the exclusion of women is very curious in this case, and seems to show that such a practice was not confined to worships of a sexual character. It is also worth noting that just as Cato’s formula invokes Mars Silvanus, so in Virgil’s description of the cult of the _ara maxima_[815], we find one special feature of Mars-worship, namely the presence of the _Salii_[816]. It is hardly