Why do they not marry wives in the month of May?

Solution. Is this the reason, that because May is between April and June,—concerning which months they have an opinion that that is sacred to Venus, this to Juno, both of them being nuptial Gods,—they either take an opportunity a little before May, or tarry till it be over? Or is it that in this month they offer the greatest expiatory sacrifice, now casting the images of men from a bridge into the river, and formerly men themselves? Moreover, it is by law required that the Flaminica, the reputed priestess of Juno, should be most sourly sullen during the time, and neither wash nor trim up herself. Or is it because many of the Latins in this month offer oblations unto the dead? And therefore perhaps they worship Mercury in this month, which from Maia derives its name? Or, as some say, is May derived from elder age (maior) and Juno from younger (iunior)? For youth is more suitable to matrimony, as Euripides hath said, age the Cyprian queen must ever shun, And Venus from old men in scorn doth run.

Therefore they marry not in May, but tarry till June, which is presently after May.

Why do they part the hair of women when they are married with the point of a spear?

Solution. What if it be a significant ceremony, showing that they took their first wives in marriage by force of arms and war? Or is it that they may instruct them that they are to dwell with husbands that are soldiers and warriors, and that they should put on such ornamental attire as is not luxurious or lascivious, but plain? So Lycurgus commanded that all the gates and tops of houses should be built with saw and hatchet, and no other sort of workmen’s instrument should be used about them; yea, he rejected all gayety and superfluity. Or doth this action parabolically intimate divorce, as that marriage can be dissolved only by the sword? Or is it that most of these nuptial ceremonies relate to Juno? For a spear is decreed sacred to Juno, and most of her statues are supported by a spear, and she is surnamed Quiritis, and a spear of old was called quiris, wherefore they surname Mars Quirinus?

Why do they call the money that is laid out upon the public plays lucar?

Solution. Is it because there are many groves consecrated to the Gods about the city, which they call luci, and the revenue of these they expend upon the said plays?

Why do they call the Quirinalia the Feast of Fools?

Solution. Was it because they set apart that day for those that were unacquainted with their own curiae, as Juba saith? Or was it for them that did not sacrifice with their tribes, as the rest did, in the Fornicalia, by reason of business or long journeys or ignorance, so that it was allowed to them to solemnize that feast upon this day?

What is the reason that, when there is a sacrifice to Hercules, they mention no other God and no dog appears within the enclosure, as Varro saith?

Solution. Is the reason of their naming no other God, because they are of opinion that Hercules was but a half God? And, as some say, Evander built an altar to him and brought him a sacrifice, whilst he was yet here among men. And of all creatures he had most enmity to a dog, for this creature always held him hard to it, as (lid Cerberus; and that which most of all prejudiced him was that, when Oeonus, the son of Licymnius, was slain for a dog’s sake by the Hippocoontidae, he was necessitated to take up the cudgels, and lost many of his friends and his brother Iphicles.