Ovid, Fasti, iii. 729-742, H.
1 toga libera (or virilis), the man’s dress of unornamented white wool. Lībera (līber), free from the restraints of boyhood.
2 lucifero = lit. morning-star. Here poet. for die.
5 consul, e.g. Cincinnatus, who was called to be Dictator.
8 sed . . . honor, i.e. in ‘the good old days’ worship, not amusement, was the chief object of the visit to Rome.
3-8 Ovid says one reason why the toga libera was assumed at the Liberalia (the Feast of Bacchus—the vintage, festival) was because it was the most crowded festival of the year.
References. Livy, iii. 26-28. Ihne, vol. i. cap. v.
THE DECEMVIRATE. THE TWELVE TABLES, 451-449 B.C.
Iam redierant legati cum Atticis legibus. Eo intentius instabant tribuni, ut tandem scribendarum legum initium fieret. Placet creari decemviros sine provocatione, et ne quis eo anno alius magistratus esset . . . Tum legibus condendis opera dabatur; 5 ingentique hominum expectatione propositis decem tabulis populum ad contionem advocaverunt et, quod bonum, faustum felixque rei publicae, ipsis liberisque eorum esset, ire et legere leges propositas iussere. Se, quantum decem hominum ingeniis provideri 10 potuerit, omnibus, summis infimisque, iura aequasse; plus pollere multorum ingenia consiliaque. Versarent in animis secum unamquamque rem, agitarent deinde sermonibus atque in medium, quid in quaque re plus minusve esset, conferrent. . . . Cum ad 15 rumores hominum de unoquoque legum capite editos satis correctae viderentur, centuriatis comitiis decem tabularum leges perlatae sunt, qui nunc quoque in hoc immenso aliarum super alias acervatarum legum cumulo, fons omnis publici privatique 20 est iuris.