Kal. Mart. (March 1). NP.
FERIAE MARTI. (PRAEN.)
N̄ MARTIS. (PHILOC.)
IUN[O]NI LUCINAE E[S]QUILIIS QUOD EO DIE AEDES EI [DEDICA]TA EST PER MATRONAS QUAM VOVERAT ALBI[NIA] ... VEL UXOR ... SI PUERUM ... [AT]QUE IPSA[M].... (PRAEN.)
This was the New Year’s day of the Roman religious calendar. From Macrobius[[62]] we learn that in his day the sacred fire of Vesta was now renewed, and fresh laurels fixed on the Regia, the Curiae, and the houses of the flamens; the custom therefore was kept up long after the first of March had ceased to be the civil New Year. Ovid alludes to the same rites, and adds the Aedes Vestae as also freshly decorated[[63]]:
Neu dubites, primae fuerint quin ante Kalendae
Martis, ad haec animum signa referre potes.
Laurea flaminibus quae toto perstitit anno
Tollitur, et frondes sunt in honore novae.
Ianua tunc regis posita viret arbore Phoebi;
Ante tuas fit idem, curia prisca, fores.
Vesta quoque ut folio niteat velata recenti,