The Roman Questions (40-44)

Why is it not allowed the priest of Jupiter (Flamen Dialis) to anoint himself in the open air?[*]

Is it because it used not to be proper or decent for sons to strip in their father’s sight, nor a son-in-law in the presence of his father-in-law, nor in ancient days did they bathe together?[*] Now Jupiter is our father, and whatever is in the open air is in some way thought to be particularly in his sight.

Or, just as it is against divine ordinance to strip oneself in a shrine or a temple, so also did they scrupulously avoid the open air and the space beneath the

heavens, since it was full of gods and spirits? Wherefore also we perform many necessary acts under a roof, hidden and concealed by our houses from the view of Divine powers.

Or are some regulations prescribed for the priest alone, while others are prescribed for all by the law through the priest? Wherefore also, in my country, to wear a garland, to wear the hair long, not to have any iron on one’s person, and not to set foot within the boundaries of Phocis, are the special functions of an archon: but not to taste fruit before the autumnal equinox nor to prune a vine before the vernal equinox are prohibitions disclosed to practically all alike through the archon: for those are the proper seasons for each of these acts.

In the same way, then, it is apparently a special obligation of the Roman priest also not to use a horse nor to be absent from the city more than three nights[*] nor to lay aside the cap from which he derives the name of flamen.[*] But many other regulations are revealed to all through the priest, and one of them is the prohibition not to anoint oneself in the open air. For the Romans used to be very suspicious of rubbing down with oil, and even to-day they believe that nothing has been so much to blame for the enslavement and effeminacy of the Greeks as their gymnasia and wrestling - schools, which engender much listless idleness and waste of time in their cities, as well as paederasty and the ruin of the bodies of

the young men with regulated sleeping, walking, rhythmical movements, and strict diet; by these practices they have unconsciously lapsed from the practice of arms, and have become content to be termed nimble athletes and handsome wrestlers rather than excellent men-at-arms and horsemen. It is hard work, at any rate, when men strip in the open air, to escape these consequences: but those who anoint themselves and care for their bodies in their own houses commit no offence.

Why did their ancient coinage have stamped on one side a double-faced likeness of Janus, on the other the stern or the prow of a ship?[*]

Is it, as many affirm, in honour of Saturn who crossed over to Italy in a ship?

Or, since this might be said of many, inasmuch as Janus, Evander, and Aeneas all landed in Italy after a voyage by sea, one might rather conjecture thus: some things are excellent for States, others are necessary; and of the excellent things good government is the chief, and of the necessary things facility of provision. Since, therefore, Janus established for them an ordered government by civilizing their life, and since the river, which was navigable and permitted transportation both from the sea and from the land, provided them with an abundance of necessities, the coinage came to have as its symbol the twofold form of the lawgiver, as has been stated,[*] because of the change he wrought, and the vessel as symbol of the river.

They also used another kind of coinage, stamped

with the figures of a bull, a ram, and a boar,[*] because their prosperity came mostly from their live stock, and from these they also derived their affluence. This is the reason why many of the names of the ancient families are such as the Suillii, Bubulci, Porcii,[*] as Fenestella[*] has stated.

Why do they use the temple of Saturn as the public treasury and also as a place of storage for records of contracts?[*]

Is it because the opinion and tradition prevailed that when Saturn was king there was no greed or injustice among men, but good faith and justice?

Or is it because the god was the discoverer of crops and the pioneer in husbandry? For this is what his sickle signifies and not as Antimachus,[*] following Hesiod,[*] has written:

Here with sickle in hand was wrought the form of rough Cronus

Maiming his sire at his side, who is Uranus, offspring of Acmon.

Now abundant harvests and their disposal are what give rise to a monetary system: therefore they make the god who is the cause of their good fortune its guardian also. Testimony to support this may be found in the fact that the markets held every eight days and called nundinae [*] are considered sacred to Saturn, for it was the superabundance of the harvest that initiated buying and selling.

Or is this a matter of ancient history, and was Valerius Publicola the first to make the temple of Saturn the treasury, when the kings had been overthrown, because he believed that the place was well-protected, in plain sight, and hard to attack secretly?

Why do the ambassadors to Rome, from whatever country they come, proceed to the temple of Saturn, and register with the prefects of the treasury?

Is it because Saturn was a foreigner, and consequently takes pleasure in foreigners, or is the solution of this question also to be found in history? For it seems that in early days the treasurers[*] used to send gifts to the ambassadors, which were called lautia, and they cared for the ambassadors when they were sick, and buried them at public expense if they died: but now, owing to the great number of embassies that come, this expensive practice has been discontinued: yet there still remains the preliminary meeting with the prefects of the treasury in the guise of registration.

Why may not the priest of Jupiter (Flamen Dialis) take an oath?[*]

Is it because an oath is a kind of test to prove that men are free-born, and neither the body nor the soul of the priest must be subjected to any test?

Or is it because it is unreasonable to distrust in trivial affairs him who is entrusted with holy matters of the greatest importance?

Or is it because every oath concludes with a curse

on perjury, and a curse is an ill-omened and gloomy thing? This is the reason why priests may not even invoke curses upon others. At any rate the priestess at Athens who was unwilling to curse Alcibiades at the people’s bidding won general approval, for she declared that she had been made a priestess of prayer, not of cursing.[*]

Or is it because the danger of perjury is a public danger if an impious and perjured man leads in prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the State?