Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

LUPERCI.

LUSTRUM.

of the land, and that of touching persons a
purification of men, for the words by which
this act is designated are februare and lus-
trare. The goatskin itself was called feb-
natm, the festive day dies februata, the
month in which it occurred Februarius, and
the god himself Frbruus. The festival of the
Lupercalia, though it necessarily lost its origi-
nal import at the time when the Romans were
no longer a nation of shepherds, was yet
always observed in commemoration of the
founders of the city. M. Antonius, in his
consulship, was one of the Luperci, and not
only ran with them half naked and covered
with pieces of goatskin through the city, but
even addressed the people in the forum in
this rude attire.

LUPERCI, the priests of the god Lupercus.
They formed a college, the members of which
were originally youths of patrician families,
and which was said to have been instituted
by Romulus and Remus. The college was di-
vided into two classes, the one called Fabii
or Fabiani, and the other Quinctilii or Quinc-
tiliani. The office was not for life, but how
long it lasted is not known. Julius Caesar
added to the two classes of the college a
third with the name of Julii or Juliani, and
made Antonius their high-priest. He also
assigned to them certain revenues [uectiyalia)
which were afterwards withdrawn from
them.

LUPUS FERREUS, the iron wolf used by
the besieged in repelling the attacks of the
besiegers, and especially in seizing the bat-
tering-ram and diverting its blows.

LUSTPvATIO (ica#apa-is) was originally a
purification by ablution in water. But the
lustrations of which we possess direct know-
ledge are always connected with sacrifices
and other religious rites, and consisted in
the sprinkling of water by means of a branch
of laurel or olive, and at Rome sometimes by
means of the aspergillum, and in the burning
of certain materials, the smoke of which was
thought to have a purifying effect. When-
ever sacrifices were offered, it seems to have
been customary to carry them around the
person or thing to be purified. Lustrations
were made in ancient Greece, and probably
at Rome also, by private individuals when
they had polluted themselves by any criminal
action. "Whole cities and states also some-
times underwent purifications to expiate the
crime or crimes committed by a member of
the community. The most celebrated purifi-
cation of this kind was that of Athens, per-
formed by Epimenides of Crete, after the
Cylonian massacre. Purification also took
place when a sacred spot had been unhal-
lowed by profane use, as by burying dead

bodies in it, as was the case with the island
of Delos. The Romans performed lustrations
on many occasions, on which the Greeks did
not think of them; and the object of most
Roman lustrations was not to atone for the
commission of crime, but to obtain the bless-
ing of the gods upon the persons or things
which were lustrated. Thus fields were pu-
rified after the business of sowing was over,
and before the sickle was put to the corn.
[Arvales Fratres.] Sheep were purified
every year at the festival of the Palilia. All
Roman armies before they took the field were
lustrated ; and as the solemnity was probably
always connected with a review of the troops,
the word lustratio is also used in the sense
of the modern review. The establishment
of a new colony was always preceded by a
lustratio with solemn sacrifices. The city of
Rome itself, as well as other towns within its
dominion, always underwent a lustratio after
they had been visited by some great calamity,
such as civil bloodshed, awful prodigies, and
the like. A regular and general lustratio of
the whole Roman people took place after the
completion of every lustrum, when the censor
had finished his census and before he laid
down his office. This lustratio (also called
lustrum) was conducted by one of the censors,
and held with sacrifices called Suocetauriliu,
because the sacrifices consisted of a pig (or
ram), a sheep, and an ox. It took place in
the Campus Martius, where the people as-
sembled for the purpose. The sacrifices were
carried three times around the assembled
multitude.

LUSTRUM (from hio, Gr. Aovw) is pro-
perly speaking a lustration or purification,
and in particular the purification of the whole
Roman people performed by one of the cen-
sors in the Campus Martius, after the business
of the census was over. [Cexsvs ; Lustra-
tio.] As this purification took place only
once in five years, the word lustrum was also
used to designate the time between two lus-
tra. The first lustrum was performed in
B.C. 5CG, by king Servius, after he had com-
pleted his census, and it is said to have taken
place subsequently every five years, after the
census was over. The census might be held
without the lustrum, and indeed two cases
of this kind are recorded which happened in
B.C. 459 and 214. In these cases the lus-
trum was not performed on account of some-
great calamities which had befallen the re-
public. The time when the lustrum took
place has been very ingeniously defined by
Jsiebuhr. Six ancient Romulian years of 304
days each were, with the difference of one
day, equal to five solar years of 365 days
each, or the six ancient years made