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Varro says the rural Vinalia fell on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of September, when a temple and gardens were dedicated to Venus and market gardeners took the day off.
Vinalia rustica dicuntur ante diem XIIII Kalendas Septembres, quod tum Veneri dedicata aedes et horti ei deae dicantur ac tum sunt feriati holitores.
The rural Vinalia are held on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of September, because then a temple was dedicated to Venus and gardens are consecrated to that goddess, and the market gardeners take a holiday.
Background
Wine was central to Roman life, and the grape harvest was surrounded by religious rules. Rome had two wine festivals called Vinalia: one in April, when the new wine was opened, and the "rural" Vinalia in August, as the grapes ripened toward the harvest.
Varro, writing in the first century BC, explains the August festival in a few lines per Varro. It was held on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of September, because on that day a temple was dedicated to Venus and gardens were consecrated to her, and the market gardeners took a holiday. Elsewhere he adds that the Vinalia belonged to Jupiter, not Venus, and describes how in Latium the grape harvest was officially started by priests. At Rome the flamen of Jupiter opened the harvest: he sacrificed a lamb to Jupiter and, between cutting and offering its entrails, was the first to pick grapes per Varro.
Varro also quotes an old rule written on the gates of Tusculum forbidding new wine to be brought into the city before the Vinalia were proclaimed. For farmers and vegetable growers around Rome, the day was a pause before the hard work of the vintage.
Ancient source: Varro, De lingua Latina 6.16, 6.20 · Reference
Augustus died at Nola on 19 August AD 14, in the same room as his father, after asking his friends whether he had played his part in life’s comedy well.
Obiit in cubiculo eodem, quo pater Octavius, duobus Sextis, Pompeio et Appuleio, cons. XIIII. Kal. Septemb. hora diei nona
He died in the same room as his father Octavius, in the consulship of the two Sextuses, Pompeius and Appuleius, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of September, at the ninth hour of the day.
Background
Augustus had ruled Rome for more than forty years when, in the summer of AD 14, he fell ill while travelling in Campania. He stopped at Nola, at the family house where his father Octavius had died long before.
Suetonius describes his last day per Suetonius. Augustus kept asking whether there was any disturbance in the town because of him. He called for a mirror, had his hair combed and his sagging cheeks set right. Then he asked the friends admitted to his room whether they thought he had played his part in the comedy of life well, and added in Greek the closing lines of a play: if it has all been good, give applause and send us off with joy. After dismissing them, he asked about the health of Drusus' daughter, then died suddenly in Livia's arms, saying: "Livia, live mindful of our marriage, and farewell." It was the easy death he had always wished for.
He died in the same room as his father, at the ninth hour, just thirty-five days short of his seventy-sixth birthday. Town councillors carried his body by night, to avoid the heat, from Nola to Bovillae, where the knights took it into Rome. The month already bore his name.
Ancient source: Suetonius, Augustus 99–100 · Reference
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 31°/20°C (88°/68°F) · rain 12% of days
Rome in AugustThe hottest weeks raised the risk of fire in the dense city, especially in…
Fields & crops
Columella marks autumn beginning around 12 August; straw and stubble were gathered, figs and early fruit picked, and vineyards readied for the vintage per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
A quieter legal month; many elite Romans were in the countryside. Under the empire, the imperial household's slaves and freedmen kept administration running.
Senate & politics
Renamed from Sextilis in 8 BC for Augustus, who had won his greatest successes in this month, including the capture of Alexandria in 30 BC per Macrobius 1.12.35.
Military
Armies stayed in the field; disease in hot camps was often as dangerous as battle modern view based on ancient accounts.
Festivals & religion
Portunalia (17 Aug.), Vinalia Rustica (19 Aug.), Consualia (21 Aug.), Vulcanalia (23 Aug.), when small fish were offered to Vulcan to ward off fire, and Opiconsivia (25 Aug.) per Varro and Festus. On the Ides, Diana's day, enslaved people had a holiday per Festus and Plutarch.
Daily life
The hottest weeks raised the risk of fire in the dense city, especially in timber-framed insulae; Augustus set up the vigiles, a fire brigade of freedmen, in AD 6 per Suetonius and Dio. Fevers peaked in late summer and early autumn; the sick poor relied on home remedies and shrines more than on doctors modern view.
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