The Roman Questions (34-37)

Why is it that while the other Romans make libations and offerings to the dead in the month of February, Decimus Brutus, as Cicero[*] has recorded, used to do so in the month of December? This was

the Brutus who invaded Lusitania, and was the first to visit those remote places, and cross the river Lethê with an army.[*]

Since most peoples are accustomed to make offerings to the dead at the close of the day and at the end of the month, is it not reasonable also to honour the dead in the last month[*] at the turn of the year? And December is the last month.

Or do these honours belong to deities beneath the earth, and is it the proper season to honour these deities when all the crops have attained consummation?

Or is it most fitting to remember those below when men are stirring the earth at the beginning of seed-time?

Or is it because this month has been consecrated to Saturn by the Romans, and they regard Saturn as an infernal, not a celestial god?

Or is it that then their greatest festival, the Saturnalia, is set: and it is reputed to contain the most numerous social gatherings and enjoyments, and therefore Brutus deemed it proper to bestow upon the dead first-fruits, as it were, of this festival also?

Or is this statement, that Brutus alone sacrificed to the dead in this month, altogether a falsehood? For it is in December that they make offerings to Larentia and bring libations to her sepulchre.

And why do they thus honour Larentia who was at one time a courtesan?

They record that there was another Larentia, Acca,[*] the nurse of Romulus, whom they honour in

the month of April. But they say that the surname of the courtesan Larentia was Fabula. She became famous for the following reason[*]: a certain keeper of the temple of Hercules enjoyed, it seems, considerable leisure and had the habit of spending the greater part of the day at draughts and dice: and one day, as it chanced, there was present no one of those who were wont to play with him and share the occupation of his leisure. So, in his boredom, he challenged the god to throw dice with him on fixed terms, as it were: if he should win, he was to obtain some service from the god: but if he should lose, he was to furnish a supper for the god at his own expense and provide a comely girl to spend the night with him. Thereupon he brought out the dice, and threw once for himself and once for the god, and lost. Abiding, therefore, by the terms of his challenge he prepared a somewhat sumptuous repast for the god and fetched Larentia, who openly practised the profession of courtesan. He feasted her, put her to bed in the temple, and, when he departed, locked the doors. The tale is told that the god visited her in the night, not in mortal wise, and bade her on the morrow go into the forum, and pay particular attention to the first man she met, and make him her friend. Larentia arose, therefore, and, going forth, met one of the wealthy men that were unwed and past their prime, whose name was Tarrutius. With this man she became acquainted, and while he lived she presided over his household, and when he died, she inherited his estate: and later, when she herself died, she left her property to the State: and for that reason she has these honours.

Why do they call one of the gates the Window, for this is what fenestra means: and why is the so-called Chamber of Fortune beside it?[*]

Is it because King Servius, the luckiest of mortals, was reputed to have converse with Fortune, who visited him through a window?

Or is this but a fable, and is the true reason that when King Tarquinius Priscus died, his wife Tanaquil, a sensible and a queenly woman, put her head out of a window and, addressing the citizens, persuaded them to appoint Servius king, and thus the place came to have this name?[*]

Why is it that of all the things dedicated to the gods it is the custom to allow only spoils of war to disintegrate with the passage of time, and not to move them beforehand[*] nor repair them?

Is it in order that men may believe that their repute deserts them at the same time with the obliteration of their early memorials, and may ever seek to bring in some fresh reminder of valour?

Or is it rather that, as time makes dim the memorials of their dissension with their enemies, it would be invidious and malicious to restore and renew them? Nor among the Greeks, either, do

they that first erected a trophy of stone or of bronze[*] stand in good repute.