Veram huius sacri rationem inter veteres ii viderunt quorum sententiam ita refert Festus ‘equum hostiae loco Marti bellico deo sacrari’ (_de Feriis_, p. x). Footnote 1086: See under March 14 and 19. Footnote 1087: Wissowa thinks it was originally the 15th (Ides); but Mommsen dissents in his note on Oct. 15 (_C. I. L._ 332). It is the only feast-day in the calendar which is an _even_ number. Perhaps it was changed because of the popularity of the revels, &c., on the Ides. Footnote 1088: Charisius, p. 81; Marq. 435. Footnote 1089: This point of the parallel was first noticed by Wissowa, who, as just noted, believes the day of Equirria to have been in each case the Ides. Footnote 1090: An apt illustration of this aspect of Mars, in combination with the older primitive form of ritual, is supplied by the strange sacrifice by Julius Caesar of two mutinous soldiers, recorded by Dio Cassius, 43. 24. They were offered to Mars in the Campus Martius by the Flamen Martialis in the presence of the Pontifices, _and their heads were nailed up on the Regia_. (Hence Marq. infers that it was this flamen who sacrificed the October horse.) Caesar was in Rome in _October_ of the year to which D. C. attributes this deed, B.C. 46. Footnote 1091: _L. L._ 6. 62. Cp. Festus, 19 ‘Armilustrium festum erat apud Romanos, quo res divinas armati faciebant ac dum sacrificarent tubis canebant.’ See on March 19 and 23. Footnote 1092: Liv. 37. 33. 7. Cp. Polyb. 21. 10. 12. Footnote 1093: Marq. 437, note 1. The suggestion was Huschke’s, _Röm. Jahr_, 363. Footnote 1094: Charisius, pp. 81. 20 (Keil), for _lustratio_ in March. The word Armilustrium, used for this day, speaks for itself. Footnote 1095: _L. L._ 5. 153. Footnote 1096: We have a faint indication that they reached the _pons sublicius_, which was quite near to the Circus maximus. See Marq. 433, note 8. MENSIS NOVEMBER. Of all the months in the Roman year November is the least important from a religious point of view. It was the month of ploughing and sowing—not of holiday-time[1097]; then, as now, it was a quiet month, and in the calendars, with the exception of the ludi plebeii, not a festival appears of any importance. Later on, the worship of Isis gained a hold upon the month[1098], which remained open to intruders long after city-life had taken the place of November agricultural operations. The ludi plebeii, as a public festival, date from 220 B.C.; they took place in the Circus Flaminius, which was built in that year[1099]; they and the epulum Iovis (Nov. 13) are first mentioned by Livy four years later. The _epulum_ has already been discussed in connexion with the ludi Romani. The plebeian games were probably at first on a single day (Nov. 13), and were gradually extended, like the ludi Romani; finally, they lasted from Nov. 4 to Nov. 17[1100].