1 Earliest Rome

8. P R I E S T S A N D P R I E S T E S S E S
In the consulship of Lucius Caninius Gallus and Gaius Fufius Geminus
, 14 days before the Kalends of October .
(a similar inscription appears on the back face of the altar)
1. That is, the sixth year after the foundation of this cult. The inscription on the rear
includes the name of rhe ward ivicus) ro which these officials belong - 'the ward of Stata
Mater' (probably named after a statue of the goddess Stata Mater nearby).
2. These names appear inside a carved oak wreath — an allusion to the oak wreath that, by
senatorial decree, decorated Augustus' house.
8.6b The drunken Augustalis'
In the towns of Italy and the western provinces, there emerged in the early
Empire groups known as the Augustales, often consisting largely of ex-slaves,
men normally excluded from other forms of public office-holding in their
towns. Sometimes (as in this passage) they formed small associations of seviri
(six men); sometimes they were much larger organisations, of up to several
hundred members. Although some of these groups certainly had responsibility
for various aspects of cult of the emperors, it is a matter of debate how far they
should be seen as priests in any strict sense; they are probably best regarded as
'status groups', who may have had (but did not necessarily have) a religious role.
Here Petronius presents a fictional, satiric picture of a local sevir, arriving
late at a dinner party, already completely drunk. Such officials were not always
treated with solemn respect; they could be made figures of fun.
See further: Vol. 1, 357—8; Veyne (1961); for the literary 'construction' of
the priest's entry, Averil Cameron (1969); for the social status of local Italian
* seviri, D'Arms (1981) 126-48. See also 11.5c.
Petronius, Satyricon 65
In the middle of all this, a iictor 1
knocked at the dining-room door; and some reveller
came in dressed in white with a great crowd of followers. P was really scared by this lordly
entrance and assumed the chief magistrate had come to call. So I tried to get up and put
my bare feet on the ground. Agamemnon 3
laughed at my fright and said, 'Pull yourself
together, you idiot. Habinnas here is a sevir, a stone-mason too.'
Feeling better at this news, I went back to reclining and watched Habinnas' entrance
with absolute astonishment. Drunk long since, he'd got his hands on his wife's shoulders;
he was wearing a whole load of garlands and the perfume was streaming over his forehead
into his eyes.' 5
He put himself down in the place of honour and straightaway demanded
wine and warm water. Trimalchio, 5
delighted at all this fun and games, demanded a
bigger cup for himself and asked what kind of entertainment he'd had. 'Everything was
there, except you,' he said. 'The apple of my eye was here. All the same it was bloody
good. Scissa was holding the nine-day feast 6
for her poor little slave that she'd freed on his
deathbed. I guess she's got a right fuss on her hands with the taxman; because they reckon
208