Non. Mart.
March 7 in Ancient Rome
Nones of March: the temple of Veiovis
The young Jupiter with no thunderbolt
festivalRepublic & Empire (annual)
Roman calendar date
Ovid records that the temple of Veiovis, a youthful Jupiter without thunderbolts, was consecrated on the Nones of March between the two groves of the Capitol.
Background
The Capitol had two summits, and in the hollow between them lay a spot Romans called "between the two groves". Ovid links it to Rome's origins: there, he says, Romulus walled a grove and declared that anyone who took refuge in it would be safe, an asylum that drew outcasts to the new city. "From how tenuous a beginning the Romans sprang!" he remarks.
On the Nones of March, according to Ovid, the temple of Veiovis there was consecrated, and the day was free of public meetings. Even Romans were unsure who Veiovis was. Ovid explains him as the young Jupiter: his statue showed a youthful face and a hand holding no thunderbolt, because Jupiter only took up lightning after the Giants attacked heaven. Beside him stood a she-goat, recalling the goat that nursed the infant god in Crete. Ovid even offers an etymology, comparing farmers' words for stunted grain, to suggest "little Jupiter" per Ovid; ancient etymologies are often guesses.
The temple was not lost to legend. Remains of a temple identified as that of Veiovis, with a large cult statue, were found beneath the later Tabularium on the Capitoline modern archaeology, so visitors can still stand close to this obscure god's home.
Ancient source: Ovid, Fasti 3.429–448 · Reference
Sources
Read moreDeath of Antoninus Pius: "Equanimity"
Death of Antoninus Pius: "Equanimity"
An emperor’s last word: equanimity
deathAD 161
Julian date · ≈ Mar 6 on our calendar
Antoninus Pius died at his estate at Lorium, giving the palace guard the watchword "equanimity" and handing the state to Marcus Aurelius.
signum tribuno aequanimitatis dedit
He gave the tribune the watchword "equanimity".
Marcus Aurelius
Background
Antoninus Pius ruled for about twenty-three years, one of the longest and calmest reigns in Roman history. He never led a major campaign in person and seldom left Italy; the Historia Augusta says he thought an emperor's travelling entourage was a heavy burden on the provinces per the Historia Augusta, a late and sometimes unreliable collection of biographies. He had adopted Marcus Aurelius at Hadrian's request and married his daughter Faustina to him.
The same biography gives a homely account of his death. At dinner he ate Alpine cheese too greedily, vomited in the night and developed a fever the next day. On the third day, feeling worse, he commended the state and his daughter to Marcus in the presence of the praetorian prefects, and ordered that the golden statue of Fortune kept in the emperor's bedroom be moved to Marcus' room. To the officer of the guard he gave the day's watchword, aequanimitas, "equanimity", then turned over as if to sleep and died at Lorium. In his fever, it adds, he talked only of the state and of kings he was angry with.
The transfer of power was peaceful, a rarity. Marcus at once made Lucius Verus his co-emperor.
Ancient source: Historia Augusta, Antoninus Pius 12.4–7 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 14°/5°C (57°/41°F) · rain 32% of days
Rome in MarchMarch, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and…
Columella
North-east wind. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Columella calls March the best time for pruning vines and the first digging of vineyards; spring crops like millet were readied per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Legal and public business resumed in full after winter. At the Liberalia (17 Mar.) many boys put on the plain toga of manhood and were enrolled as adult citizens, with a family procession to the Forum per Ovid, Fasti 3.771–88.
Senate & politics
From c. 222 to 153 BC the consuls entered office on the Ides of March; Livy records it for 217 BC, and the starting year is a modern reconstruction per Livy 22.1.4. From 153 BC they took office on the Kalends of January per Livy, Per. 47. Caesar was killed at a Senate meeting on the Ides of March 44 BC per Suetonius, Velleius.
Military
The month of Mars opened the campaign season. The Salii carried the sacred shields, and the Tubilustrium (23 Mar.) purified the war trumpets per Varro and Ovid.
Festivals & religion
Matronalia (1 Mar.), Liberalia (17 Mar.), when boys often took the man's toga, and the Quinquatrus of Minerva (19–23 Mar.), a holiday for craftsmen, teachers and doctors per Ovid, Fasti 3.
Daily life
March, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and sailing. The Salii, Mars' leaping priests, danced through the city. On the Kalends (Matronalia), married women received gifts and in turn served a meal to the household's enslaved people per Macrobius 1.12.7; Ovid, Fasti 3. Columella treats March as prime time for pruning vines and digging per Columella 11.2.
For soldiers, the campaign season began; for traders, sea routes reopened and grain ships from Egypt and Africa could sail again, easing city food supplies.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 3 · Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12 · Livy 22.1.4 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 47 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 116 (Latin) · Suetonius, Divus Iulius 80–81 (Latin) · Velleius Paterculus 2.56 (Latin)
All days in March →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Quod sis esse velis nihilque malis.
“Wish to be what you are, and prefer nothing else.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.47 · translation ours (literal)
