Untitled

35
writers, however, which I expect to prove to be only apparent: 9
the sacrifice of a capra to Vediovis (Gell. V, 12, 12) ; of an agna
to Jupiter at the auspicatio vindemiae (Varra L. L. VI. 16) ;10
and of the ovis 1duris to Jupiter. As the proof for my position
on the first two is bound up with that for my position on the
third, which is the real subject of the present dissertation, I shall
proceed at once to a discussion of the ovis 1duris.
Four places have survived in Roman literature that pertain to
the victim of the Ides, namely, those of Ovid, above quoted, and
two prose passages, one in Paulus Diaconus ll and one in Macrobius.
'2 Paulus says:
"Idulis ovis dicebatur quae omnibus Idibus Iovi mactabatur".
The words in Macrobius are:
"Sunt qui aestiment Idus ab ove Iduli dictas, quam hoc nomine
vocant Tusci et omnibus Idibus Iovi immolatur a flamine".
Let it be noted that the relative pronoun modifying ovis in
both instances is feminine. Therefore, these two passages, with
that of Varro just cited on the agna of the auspicatio vindemiae,
taken in connection with grandior agna in Fasti I, 56, would
seem to constitute rather a strong argument in favor of the
offering of female victims to Jupiter, especially of a female sheep
on the Ides.
• Krause, p. 20 sqq., contends that these exceptions are merely apparent,
but his arguments are in the main superficial, and he does not
seem to me to offer convincing proof. He fails to produce any testimony
that the aglla of the auspicatio vindemiae was male, except (p. 15) to draw
the inference from Paulus, p. 6, that agna was of common gender and
to conclude (p. 22) in contradiction of this hypothesis that Varro (L. L.
VI, 16) had made a mistake. As regards the avis Idulis (pp. 11-12), he
makes the assertion that ancient and modern writers wrongly agree that it
was female, and thus leaves out of account Ovid's positive statement that
the victim was a vervex, which Krause quotes but otherwise ignores; he is
chiefly concerned with proving that the animal was the a1·ies rather than
the vervex or castrated male. Altogether there is need of a thorough investigation
to establish the nature of this sacrifice.
10 UN am aliquot locis vindemiae primum ab sacerdotibus publice fiebant,
ut Romae etiam nunc; nam f1amen Dialis auspicatur vindemiam et ut
iussit vinum legere agna Iovi facit, inter cuius exta caesa et proiecta flam en
t porus vinum legit."
11 p. 104.
M I, 15, 16.