Feriae Latinae

Reading notes

• Ad Atticum 1.3 §1 would not bring victims up to the Alban Mount

  A joke: Atticus's grandmother is imagined dying partly from anxiety that the Latin communities would fail to perform the Feriae Latinae, the ancient festival of the Latin League celebrated on the Alban Mount, where each member town brought sacrificial victims. The consuls presided, and no major public business could proceed until it was held.

• Ad Familiares 8.6 §3 no senatorial decree except about the Latin Festival

  The Feriae Latinae, the movable festival of the Latin communities on the Alban Mount over which the consuls presided; the joke is that the consuls had passed nothing of substance, only the routine business of fixing the festival.

• Ad Quintum Fratrem 2.4 §2 Two days remain after the Latin Festival which are religiously kept

  The Feriae Latinae, the movable spring festival of the Latin towns on the Alban Mount, presided over by the consuls. On its days, and certain days following (dies religiosi), public business could not be transacted.

• On His Consulship §2 you too beheld, when on the Alban mount you purified

  The Feriae Latinae, the festival of the Latin League held each year on the Alban Mount, at which the presiding consul offered milk and sacrificed to Jupiter Latiaris. Cicero, consul in 63 BC, performed these rites; the lines that follow read the omens that attended them.

• On Divination §1.18 the Latin Festival

  The Feriae Latinae, an ancient movable festival of the Latin League held on the Alban Mount, at which the consuls offered sacrifice and milk to Jupiter Latiaris before taking up their commands.

• On the Nature of the Gods §1.15 the Latin Festival

  The Feriae Latinae, an ancient movable festival of the Latin League celebrated on the Alban Mount, on which public business was suspended. The leisure it afforded provides the dramatic occasion for the dialogue.

• For Gnaeus Plancius §23 Latin festival

  The Feriae Latinae, the ancient festival of the Latin League on the Alban Mount, at which each member community supplied a portion of meat for the common sacrifice. Cicero mocks the depopulation of old Latin towns like Bovillae, scarcely able now to send anyone to fetch their share.