[119]. Mr. Frazer is careful to point out in a note that Lydus only mentions the name Mamurius. But as we know that Mamurius was called Veturius in the Salian hymn, and as Veturius may perhaps mean old, it is inferred that the skin-clad man was ‘the old Mars.’ The argument is shaky; its only strength lies in the Slavonic and other parallels.
[120]. Lydus is thought to have made a mistake in attributing it to the 15th (Ides); if so, he may have confused other matters in this curious note. But he is certainly explicit enough here (4. 36), and refers to the usual sacrifice to Jupiter on the Ides, and to ‘public prayers for the salubrity of the coming year,’ which we may be sure would be on the Ides, and not on a day of even number. I do not feel at all sure that Lydus was wrong as to the date, the more so as the Ides of May (which month has a certain parallelism with March) is the date of another curious ceremony of this primitive type, that of the Argei.
[121]. This was first noticed by Grimm (Teutonic Mythology, Eng. Trans., vol. ii. 764 foll.). Since then Mannhardt (Baumkultus, 410 foll.) and Mr. Frazer (G. B. i. 257 foll. and 264 foll.) have worked it out and explained it (see especially i. 275). It is generally believed that Death, or whatever be the name applied to the human being or figure expelled in these rites, signifies the extinct spirit of vegetation of the past year. I agree with Mr. Frazer, as against Usener and Roscher (Lex. s. v. Mars), that it is not any abstract conception of the year, or at least was not such originally.
[122]. This fusion of two apparently different ideas in a single ceremony has previously been explained by Mr. Frazer, pp. 205 foll. On p. 210 he notices the curious and well-authenticated rite of driving out hunger at Chaeronea (Plutarch, Quaest. Conviv. 6. 8), which would offer an interesting parallel to the Roman, if we could but be sure of the details of the latter. Another from Delphi (Plut. Quaest. Graec. 12, mentioned by Usener, does not seem to me conclusive); but that of the ‘man in cowhide’ from the Highlands (G. B.. ii. 145) is singularly like the Roman rite as Lydus describes it, and took place on New Year’s eve.
[124]. I am the more disposed to suspect Lydus’ account, as in the same sentence he mentions a sacrifice which is conducted by priests of the Magna Mater Idaea: ἱεράτευον δὲ καὶ ταῦρον ἑξέτη ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν ἀγρῶν ἡγουμένου τοῦ ἀρχιερέως καὶ τῶν κανηφόρων τῆς μητρόχου· ἤγετο δὲ καὶ ἄνθρωπος κ.τ.λ. For the difficulties of this passage, and suggested emendations, see Mommsen, C. I. L. 312, note on Id. Mart; Marq. 394, note 5. What confusion of cults may not have taken place, either in Lydus’ mind or in actual fact?
[125]. Both these notes are additamenta: Anna does not appear in the large letters of the Numan calendar. We cannot, however, infer from this that her festival was not an ancient one; for, as Wissowa points out, the same is the case with the very primitive rite of the ‘October horse’ (de Feriis, xii). The day is only marked EID in Maff. Vat., the two calendars in which this part of the month is preserved; i. e. the usual sacrifice to Jupiter on the Ides was indicated (cp. Lydus, 4. 36), and the Ides fixed for the 15th. The additional notes, according to Wissowa, were for the use of the priests; but, considering the popular character of the festival, I am inclined to doubt this rule holding good in the present instance.
[126]. Ovid, Fasti, 3. 523 foll.
[127]. ‘Via Flaminia ad lapidem primum’ (Vat.): this would be near the present Porta del Popolo, and close to the river.
[128]. See Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 240, for the jovial character of some primitive forms of religion, and the absence of a sense of sin.