DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13855#0418
VER SACRUM.
410
VESTALES.
and this circumstance would lead persons to
suspect it in cases when there was no real
ground for the suspicion. At Athens the
Phakmacon Geaphe was brought against
poisoners. At Home the first legislative
enactment especially directed against poi-
soning was a law of the dictator Sulla—Lex
Cornelia de Sicariis et Veneficis—passed in
b. c. 82, which continued in force, with some
alterations, to the latest times. It con-
tained provisions against all who made,
bought, sold, possessed, or gave poison for
the purpose of poisoning. 'J,'lie punishment
fixed by this law was the intcrdictio aquae et
ignis.
VER SACRUM (eros Upov). It was a
custom among the early Italian nations,
especially among the Sabines, in times of
great danger and distress, to vow to the deity
the sacrifice of everything born in the next
spring, that is, between the first of March
and the last day of April, if the calamity
under which they were labouring should be
removed. This sacrifice in the early times
comprehended both men and domestic ani-
mals, and there is little doubt that in many
cases the vow was really carried into effect.
But in later times it was thought cruel to
sacrifice so many infants, and accordingly
the following expedient was adopted. The
children were allowed to grow up, and in the
spring of their twentieth or twenty-first year
they were with covered faces driven across
the frontier of their native country, where-
upon they went whithersoever fortune or
the deity might lead them. Many a colony
had been founded by persons driven out in
this manner; and the Mamertines in Sicily
were the descendants of such devoted per-
sons. In the two historical instances in
which the Romans vowed a ver sacrum,
that is, after the battle of lake Trasimenus
and at the close of the second Punic war, the
vow was confined to domestic animals.
VERBENA. [Sagmixa.]
VERBENA1UUS. [Fetialis.]
VERNA. [Servcs.]
VERSURA. [Fenus.]
VERU, VERUTUML [Hasta.]
VESPAE, VESPILLONES. [Fuxus.p. 188.]
VESTALES, the virgin priestesses of Vesta,
who ministered in her temple and watched
the eternal fire. Their existence at Alba
Longa is connected with the earliest Roman
traditions, for Silvia the mother of Romulus
was a member of the sisterhood ; their esta-
blishment in the city, in common with
almost all other matters connected with state
religion, is generally ascribed to Numa, who
selected four, two from the Titienses and two
from the Ramnes; and two more were sub-
sequently added from the Luceres, by Tar-
quinius Priscus according to one authority,
by Servius Tullius according to another.
This number of six remained unchanged to
the latest times. They were originally
chosen (capere is the technical word) by the
king, and during the republic and empire by
the pontifex maximus. It was necessary
that the maiden should not be under six nor
above ten years of age, perfect in all her
limbs, in the full enjoyment of all her senses,
patrima et matrima [Patrimi], the daughter
of free and frecborn parents who had never
been in slavery, who followed no dishon-
ourable occupation, and whose home was in
Italy. The Lex Papia ordained that when a
vacancy occurred the pontifex maximus
should name at his discretion twenty quali-
fied damsels, one of whom was publicly (in
condone) fixed upon by lot, an exemption
being granted in favour of such as had a
sister already a vestal, and of the daughters
of certain priests of a high class. The above
law appears to have been enacted in con-
sequence of the unwillingness of fathers to
resign all control over a child, and this re-
luctance was manifested so strongly in later
times, that in the age of Augustus Ubcrtinae
were declared eligible. The casting of lots
moreover does not seem to have been prac-
tised if any respectable person came forward
voluntarily, and offered a daughter who ful-
filled the necessary conditions. As soon as
the election was concluded, the pontifex
maximus took the girl by the hand and ad-
dressed her in a solemn form. After this was
pronounced she was led away to the atrium
of Vesta, and lived thenceforward within the
sacred precincts, under the special superin-
tendence and control of the pontifical college.
The period of service lasted for thirty years.
During the first ten the priestess was en-
gaged in learning her mysterious duties, be-
ing termed diseipula, during the next ten in
performing them, during the last ten in
giving instructions to the novices, and so
long as she was thus employed she was bound
by a solemn vow of chastity. But after the
time specified was completed, she might, if
she thought fit, throw off the emblems of her
office, unconsecrate herself (exaugwrare), re-
turn to the world, and even enter into the
marriage state. Few however availed them-
selves of these privileges; those who did
were said to have lived in sorrow and re-
morse (as might indeed have been expected
from the habits they had formed) ; hence
such a proceeding was considered ominous,
and the priestesses for the most part died, as
they had lived, in the service of the goddess.
The senior sister was entitled Vestalis Maxi-
410
VESTALES.
and this circumstance would lead persons to
suspect it in cases when there was no real
ground for the suspicion. At Athens the
Phakmacon Geaphe was brought against
poisoners. At Home the first legislative
enactment especially directed against poi-
soning was a law of the dictator Sulla—Lex
Cornelia de Sicariis et Veneficis—passed in
b. c. 82, which continued in force, with some
alterations, to the latest times. It con-
tained provisions against all who made,
bought, sold, possessed, or gave poison for
the purpose of poisoning. 'J,'lie punishment
fixed by this law was the intcrdictio aquae et
ignis.
VER SACRUM (eros Upov). It was a
custom among the early Italian nations,
especially among the Sabines, in times of
great danger and distress, to vow to the deity
the sacrifice of everything born in the next
spring, that is, between the first of March
and the last day of April, if the calamity
under which they were labouring should be
removed. This sacrifice in the early times
comprehended both men and domestic ani-
mals, and there is little doubt that in many
cases the vow was really carried into effect.
But in later times it was thought cruel to
sacrifice so many infants, and accordingly
the following expedient was adopted. The
children were allowed to grow up, and in the
spring of their twentieth or twenty-first year
they were with covered faces driven across
the frontier of their native country, where-
upon they went whithersoever fortune or
the deity might lead them. Many a colony
had been founded by persons driven out in
this manner; and the Mamertines in Sicily
were the descendants of such devoted per-
sons. In the two historical instances in
which the Romans vowed a ver sacrum,
that is, after the battle of lake Trasimenus
and at the close of the second Punic war, the
vow was confined to domestic animals.
VERBENA. [Sagmixa.]
VERBENA1UUS. [Fetialis.]
VERNA. [Servcs.]
VERSURA. [Fenus.]
VERU, VERUTUML [Hasta.]
VESPAE, VESPILLONES. [Fuxus.p. 188.]
VESTALES, the virgin priestesses of Vesta,
who ministered in her temple and watched
the eternal fire. Their existence at Alba
Longa is connected with the earliest Roman
traditions, for Silvia the mother of Romulus
was a member of the sisterhood ; their esta-
blishment in the city, in common with
almost all other matters connected with state
religion, is generally ascribed to Numa, who
selected four, two from the Titienses and two
from the Ramnes; and two more were sub-
sequently added from the Luceres, by Tar-
quinius Priscus according to one authority,
by Servius Tullius according to another.
This number of six remained unchanged to
the latest times. They were originally
chosen (capere is the technical word) by the
king, and during the republic and empire by
the pontifex maximus. It was necessary
that the maiden should not be under six nor
above ten years of age, perfect in all her
limbs, in the full enjoyment of all her senses,
patrima et matrima [Patrimi], the daughter
of free and frecborn parents who had never
been in slavery, who followed no dishon-
ourable occupation, and whose home was in
Italy. The Lex Papia ordained that when a
vacancy occurred the pontifex maximus
should name at his discretion twenty quali-
fied damsels, one of whom was publicly (in
condone) fixed upon by lot, an exemption
being granted in favour of such as had a
sister already a vestal, and of the daughters
of certain priests of a high class. The above
law appears to have been enacted in con-
sequence of the unwillingness of fathers to
resign all control over a child, and this re-
luctance was manifested so strongly in later
times, that in the age of Augustus Ubcrtinae
were declared eligible. The casting of lots
moreover does not seem to have been prac-
tised if any respectable person came forward
voluntarily, and offered a daughter who ful-
filled the necessary conditions. As soon as
the election was concluded, the pontifex
maximus took the girl by the hand and ad-
dressed her in a solemn form. After this was
pronounced she was led away to the atrium
of Vesta, and lived thenceforward within the
sacred precincts, under the special superin-
tendence and control of the pontifical college.
The period of service lasted for thirty years.
During the first ten the priestess was en-
gaged in learning her mysterious duties, be-
ing termed diseipula, during the next ten in
performing them, during the last ten in
giving instructions to the novices, and so
long as she was thus employed she was bound
by a solemn vow of chastity. But after the
time specified was completed, she might, if
she thought fit, throw off the emblems of her
office, unconsecrate herself (exaugwrare), re-
turn to the world, and even enter into the
marriage state. Few however availed them-
selves of these privileges; those who did
were said to have lived in sorrow and re-
morse (as might indeed have been expected
from the habits they had formed) ; hence
such a proceeding was considered ominous,
and the priestesses for the most part died, as
they had lived, in the service of the goddess.
The senior sister was entitled Vestalis Maxi-