[1229]. Symmachus, ep. 10. 35 ‘Ab exortu paene urbis Martiae strenarum usus adolevit, auctoritate Tatii regis, qui verbenas felicis arboris ex luco Strenuae anni novi auspices primus accepit.’
[1230]. Varro, L. L. 6. 25 ‘quotannis is dies concipitur’ (for the right reading of the rest of the passage see Mommsen, C. I. L. 305). Macrobius (1. 16. 6) reckons them as conceptivae, in the fourth century; Philoc. and Silv. may be representing a traditional date for a feast which was iure conceptivus. So Momms. Cp. Gell. 10. 24. 3, where the formula for fixing the date is given; and Cic. in Pis. 4. 8. It was the praetor (urbanus?) who in this case made the announcement.
[1231]. Cp. Philargyrius, Georg. 2. 382 ‘[compita] ubi pagani agrestes buccina convocati solent certa inire consilia’; no doubt discussion about agricultural matters.
[1232]. Cp. Ovid, Fasti, 1. 665, of the Paganalia: ‘Rusticus emeritum palo suspendat aratrum.’ (Cp. Tibull. ii. 1. 5.) Such features were perhaps common to all these rustic winter rejoicings.
[1233]. Grom. Vet. 302. 20 foll.
[1234]. For Greece see Farnell, Cults, ii. 561 and 598.
[1235]. Folklore in Northern India, i. 77.
[1236]. Marq. 203; Dion. Hal. 4. 14; Ovid, Fasti, 2. 615 and 5. 140. Wissowa (Myth. Lex. s. v. Lares, p. 1874) would limit them in origin to the pagi outside the septem montes, as the latter had their own sacra.
[1237]. Dion. Hal. 4. 14 οὐ τοὺς ἐλευθέρους ἀλλὰ τοὺς δούλους ἔταξε (i. e. Serv. Tull.) παρεῖναί τε καὶ συνιερουργεῖν, ὡς κεχαρισμένης τοῖς ἥρωσι τῆς τῶν θεραπόντων ὑπηρεσίας (Cic. pro Sestio, 15. 34).
[1238]. Marq. 204; Rushforth, Latin Historical Inscriptions, p. 59 foll.