|
Servius mentions the toga
trabea, which was woven in purple and
saffron stripes, and worn by augurs.
The Fetiales were college of Roman
priests who acted as the guardians of the public faith, It
appears that when early Romans felt themselves aggrieved by a
neighbouring city, four fetiales were deputized to seek
redress. In turn, they elected one of their number to act as
their representative. This person, called pater patratus
populi Romani, wore a fillet of
white wool around his head, together with a wreath of sacred
herbs gathered within the inclosure of the Capitoline hill
(verbenae, sagmina).
According to Pliny, the twelve Arval
Bretheren, fratres arvales, wore, as badge of
office, a chaplet of ears of corn
(spicea corona) fastened on their heads with
a white band.
There were more restrictive modes of
dress and behaviour for those priests devoted to the worship
of one god: the Flamen Dialis for Jove, the
Flamen Martialis for Mars, and the Flamen
Quirinalis for Romulus. (There were a host of minor
flamines, but these were the most important, the
flamines maior, and they were always chosen from the ranks of
patricians.)
Their characteristic dress was the
apex (a conical cap), the laena and a laurel wreath.
The name, according to Varro and Festus, was derived from the
band of white wool (filum, filamen, flaxmen) which was wrapped round
the apex, and which they wore, without the apex, when
the heat was oppressive.
Cicero has this to say about the
Flamen Dialis, the most
important of the flamines maior:
A great many ceremonies are imposed
upon the Flamen Dialis,
and also many restraints, about which we read in the books On
The Public Priesthoods and also in Book I of Fabius Pictor's
work. Among them I recall the following:
I) It is forbidden the Flamen
Dialis to ride a horse;
II) It is likewise forbidden him to
view the classes arrayed outside the pomerium [the sacred
boundary of Rome], i.e., armed and in battle order —
hence only rarely is the Flamen Dialis made a
Consul, since the conduct of wars is entrusted to the
Consuls;
III It is likewise forbidden for him ever to take an oath by
Jupiter;
IV Iit is likewise forbidden for him to wear a ring, unless
it is cut through and empty;
V It is also forbidden to carry out
fire from the flaminia, i.e., the Flamen
Dialis' house, except for a sacral
purpose;
VI if a prisoner in chains enters the house he must be
released and the chains must be carried up through the opening
in the roof above the atrium or living room onto the roof
tiles and dropped down from there into the street;
VII He must have no knot in his head gear or in his girdle
or in any other part of his attire;
VIII If anyone is being led away to be flogged and falls at
his feet as a suppliant, it is forbidden to flog him that
day;
IX The hair of the Flamen Dialis
is not to be cut, except
by a freeman;
X It is customary for the Flamen
neither to touch nor
even to name a female goat, or raw meat, ivy, or beans;
XI He must not walk under a trellis for vines;
XII The feet of the bed on which he lies must have a thin
coating of clay, and he must not be away from this bed for
three successive nights, nor is it lawful for anyone else to
sleep in this bed;
XIII At the foot of his bed there must be a box containing a
little pile of sacrificial cakes;
XIV The nail trimmings and hair of the
Dialis must be
buried in the ground beneath a healthy tree;
XV Every day is a holy day for the
Dialis;
XVI He must not go outdoors without a head-covering —
this is now allowed indoors, but only recently by decree of the
pontiffs, as Masurius Sabinus has stated; it is also said that
some of the other ceremonies have been remitted and
cancelled;
XVII It is not lawful for him to touch bread made with
yeast;
XVIII His underwear cannot be taken off except in covered
places, lest he appear nude under the open sky, which is the
same as under the eye of Jove;
XIX No one else outranks him in the
seating at a banquet except the Rex Sacrorum;
XX If he loses his wife, he must resign his office;
XXI His marriage cannot be dissolved except by death;
XXII He never enters a burying ground, he never touches a
corpse — he is, however, permitted to attend a funeral.
Almost the same ceremonial rules
belong to the Flaminica Dialis, his wife. They say
that she observes certain other and different ones, for
example, that she wears a dyed gown, and that she has a
twig from a fruitful tree tucked in her veil,
and that it is forbidden for her to ascend more than three
rungs of a ladder and even that when she goes to the Argei
Festival [when twenty-four puppets were thrown into the Tiber]
she must neither comb her head nor arrange her hair.
Source: Lacus Curtius: The Roman Religion, Articles of Smith's Dictionary:
Updated:
|
