Fortuna Virilis, thus worshipped by the women when bathing, would seem
from Ovid to have been that Fortuna who gave women good luck in their
relations with men[197]. The custom of bathing in the men’s baths may
probably be taken as some kind of lustration, more especially as the
women were adorned with myrtle, which had purifying virtues[198]. How
old this curious custom was we cannot guess. Plutarch[199] mentions a
temple of this Fortuna dedicated by Servius Tullius; but there was a
strong tendency, as we shall see later on, to attribute all
Fortuna-cults to this king.
The Venus who eventually supplanted Fortuna is clearly Venus
Verticordia[200], whose earliest temple was founded in 114 B.C., in
obedience to an injunction of the Sibylline books, after the discovery
of incest on the part of three vestal virgins, ‘quo facilius virginum
mulierumque mens a libidine ad pudicitiam converteretur[201].’ Macrobius
insists that Venus had originally no share in the worship of this day or
month[202]; she must therefore have been introduced into it as a
foreigner. Robertson Smith[203] has shown some ground for the conjecture
that she was the Cyprian Aphrodite (herself identical with the Semitic
Astarte), who came to Rome by way of Sicily and Latium. For if Lydus can
be trusted, the Roman ceremony of April 1 was found also in Cyprus, on
the same day, with variations in detail. If that be so, the addition of
the name Verticordia is a curious example of the accretion of a Roman
cult-title expressive of domestic morality on a foreign deity of
questionable reputation[204].
PRID. NON. APR. (APRIL 4). C.
MATR[I] MAG[NAE]. (MAFF.)
LUDI MEGALESIACI. (PHILOC.)
Note in Praen.: LUDI M[ATRI] D[EUM] M[AGNAE] I[DAEAE]. MEGALESIA
VOCANTUR QUOD EA DEA MEGALE APPELLATUR. NOBILIUM MUTITATIONES CENARUM
SOLITAE SUNT FREQUENTER FIERI, QUOD MATER MAGNA EX LIBRIS SIBULLINIS
ARCESSITA LOCUM MUTAVIT EX PHRYGIA ROMAM.
The introduction of the Magna Mater Idaea into Rome can only be briefly
mentioned here, as being more important for the history of religion at
Rome than for that of the Roman religion. In B.C. 204, in accordance
with a Sibylline oracle which had previously prophesied that the
presence of this deity alone could drive the enemy out of Italy, the
sacred stone representing the goddess arrived at Rome from Pessinus in
Phrygia[205]. Attalus, King of Pergamus, had acquired this territory,
and now, as a faithful friend to Rome, consented to the transportation
of the stone, which was received at Rome with enthusiasm by an excited
and now hopeful people[206]. Scipio was about to leave with his army for
Africa; a fine harvest followed; Hannibal was forced to evacuate Italy
the next year; and the goddess did everything that was expected of
her[207].
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