From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins: Sex and Category in Roman Religion (34 page)

67 Cic.,
Leg.,
2.12.29; Ov.,
Fast.,
6.283
et seq.;
Plut.,
Num.,
9.5; Dion. Hal.,
Ant. Rom.,
2.66

68 Cic.,
Font.,
21; Dionysius of Halicarnassus says it was poten- tially the most powerful signifier of the possibility that a Vestal might have been unchaste. Dion. Hal.,
Ant. Rom.,
2.67. How- ever, the story of Aemilia indicates that it did not necessarily signify such an event.

69 Livy, 28.11.6
–
7; Plut.,
Num.,
10.4. Festus, p. 94. L.

70 Ov.,
Fast.,
6.295
–
298.

1. See the discussion on pp. 15
   et seq.
   

2. The stories are very similar. For Romulus see Plut.,
   Rom.,
   2.3
   et seq.;
   for Servius, Plut.,
   de Fort. Rom.,
   10; Ov.,
   Fast.,
   6.629
   et seq.
   

3. Paul.,
   Dig.,
   48.1.2; see also Livy, 25.4; Cic.,
   Caecin.,
   100; Sall.,
   

   Cat.,
   51.
   

4. Plut.,
   Num.,
   13.2; see also Prop., 4.4, where the duties of a Vestal are poetically represented in terms of fetching water. Dum
   é
   zil 1970:319.
   

5. Ov.,
   Fast.,
   3.259
   et seq.
   

76 Ov.,
Fast.,
3.143
–
144; Macrob.,
Sat.,
1.12.6.

77 See p. 148.

1. See Dion. Hal.,
   Ant. Rom.,
   2.67.5.
   

2. See Cornell 1981:29
   et seq.
   with references.
   

3. See Cic.,
   Rep.,
   2.31.53:
   ne quis magistratus civem Romanum adversus provocationem necaret neve verberaret.
   Cf.
   ibid.,
   54, which suggests that the
   ius provocationis
   was, in fact, older than the Valerian Law. See also Dion. Hal.,
   Ant. Rom.,
   5.19.4, which suggests that the
   ius
   could be invoked in the case of lesser penal- ties as well. Note that Mommsen believed that women had no right to
   provocatio
   . Mommsen 1899:143, 475. But there is no direct evidence as to this.
   

81 See p. 131.

1. It appears that the powers the
   pontifices
   had over the Vestals, in the matter of both trial and execution, were unique. Alan Wat- son writes of the usual powers of the college,
   ‘
   No action was taken by the pontiffs on their responsum. It was declaratory only, to set out the proper conduct of men and gods, and it was not followed by execution of judgement. Nor could it be. It was not normally part of the college of Pontiffs
   ’
   function to examine the facts. They responded only to the terms of the facts proposed to them.
   ’
   Watson 1992:6.
   

2. See note 39, p. 183.
   

84 Livy, 26.27.14;
ibid.,
5.52.7. See also Cic.,
Phil.,
11.10.24.

85 See Plut.,
Num.,
9.8; Ov.,
Fast.,
6.417
et seq.;
Dionysius of Hali- carnassus says that both the Vestals and the
pontifex maximus
had access to the palladium. Dion. Hal.,
Ant. Rom.,
2.66. Ovid seems to suggest that it was only men, including the
pontifex maximus,
that were forbidden to see or touch the object. Ov.,
op. cit.,
6.4.17
et seq.
There was a tradition that in 241 BC L.Caecilius Metellus, the
pontifex maximus,
was struck blind when he rescued the holy objects from a fire that engulfed the
aedes Vestae
. Pliny,
H.N.,
7.43.139
et seq.
Ovid mentions the rescue but not the blinding, Ov.,
op. cit.,
6.4.17
et seq.
Dum
é
zil points out that the story of Metellus
’
blinding must be apoc-

ryphal because he was elected dictator in 224. Dum
é
zil 1970:325.

86 Dion. Hal.,
Ant. Rom.,
2.66; Plut.,
Num.,
9.8;
ibid., Cam.,
20.3.

87 Dion. Hal.,
Ant. Rom.,
2.66;
ibid.,
1.69; Plut.,
Cam.,
20.5.

88 Livy, 5.52.

89 Dion. Hal.,
Ant. Rom.,
24.2.; Festus, p. 124 L; Tib., 1.5.14.

90
Immolare est mola, id est farre molito et sale hostiam persper- sam sacrare.
Festus, p. 97 L.

91 Pliny,
H.N.,
31.41.89.

92 Pliny,
H.N.,
18.2.7; Plut.,
Num.,
14.

1. Cazanove 1987. Cazanove cites three factors as evidence for what he calls
   ‘
   the ritual incapacity of Roman women
   ’
   . These are the ancient prohibition against Roman matrons drinking undi- luted wine
   (temetum);
   the belief that they were not allowed to grind corn; and the fact that they were not allowed to butcher meat. Since wine, ground corn in the form of
   mola salsa
   and animal sacrifice were essential elements in sacrifice, he con- cludes that women were excluded from sacrifice. There is no direct evidence that women could not sacrifice. On the contrary, we have many references to women sacrificing. An important one comes from Varro:
   Romam ritu sacrificium feminae cum faciunt, capita velant
   —‘
   According to Roman rites, when women perform sacrifice, they veil their heads
   ’
   , Varro,
   Ling.,
   

   5.29.130. Prostitutes who touched the altar of Juno sacrificed to her a lamb, and widows who remarried before the required ten- month period of mourning was over sacrificed a pregnant cow. Cazanove
   ’
   s explanation is that neither prostitute nor widow were in
   patria potestas
   and they were therefore exempt from the prohibition. But a prostitute could well be in
   patria potestas,
   as could a widow who had married
   sine manu
   and whose father was still alive. Likewise, a wife married
   sine manu
   was free of
   patria potestas
   if her father had died. The
   flaminica Dialis
   and the
   Regina Sacrorum
   also offered animal sacrifice. Also, the pro- hibition against drinking wine applied only to matrons who comprised only one ritual category of women. Note also that consumption of wine was not a part of sacrifice. Wine was used in libation and there is no evidence that women were not allowed to pour libations. Also, wine is used in all female festi- vals, for example that of Bona Dea. As for butchering meat, the sacrificial animal was killed by a special functionary, the
   popa,
   and never by the sacrificer himself. So women would have been
   

   at no disadvantage in this regard. Finally, sacrifice was not lim- ited to blood sacrifice. In sum, there is no evidence to support an argument that women were excluded from Roman sacrifice.
   

2. Exesto, extra esto. Sic enim lictor in quibusdam sacris clamita- bat: hostis, vinctus, mulier, virgo exesto.
   Festus, p. 72 L. This passage of Festus has also been taken as evidence
   —
   by Scheid following Cazanove
   —
   suggestive of the fact that women in gen- eral were excluded from all sacrifice. However, this would make women the ritual equivalents of foreigners and prisoners in chains; again an absurd proposition given the evidence for the wide participation of women in state ritual. Also Festus is explicit on the point that the formula was not a general one:
   —
   lictor
   in quibusdam sacris
   clamitabat
   —
   If women were excluded from
   certain sacrifices
   the implication must surely be that there were others in which women could participate.
   

3. The preparation of
   mola salsa
   also involved the ritual use of fire and water. Numa, who instituted the use of
   mola salsa
   in sacri- fice, also decreed that the spelt
   —
   far
   —
   had to be toasted before it was ground to make the
   mola
   . Otherwise it would not be fit to offer the gods. Pliny,
   H.N.,
   18.2.7. Thus preparation of the grain required the use of fire. The preparation of the brine for- malized the use of water in that only water from a natural source might be used:
   aquam
   …
   praeterquam per fistulas venit, addunt.
   Festus, p. 152 L.
   

4. See p. 46, with note 141.
   

97 Ov.,
Fast.,
4.637
–
640;
ibid.,
4.731
–
734.

1. See pp. 40
   et seq.
   

2. Varro,
   ap.
   Gell.,
   N.A.,
   14.7.7; Serv.,
   Aen.,
   7.153. For the antiq- uity of the temple see Ov.,
   Fast.,
   6.257
   et seq.;
   Dion. Hal.,
   Ant. Rom.,
   2.65
   –
   66; Plut.,
   Num.,
   11. See also Platner-Ashby,
   s.v.
   ‘
   Vesta Aedes
   ’
   .
   

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