s, not abolishing any which either had been
wont to celebrate, but introducing several new ones, among which are the
Matronalia, instituted in honour of the women at the end of the war, and
that of the Carmentalia. It is thought by some that Carmenta is the
ruling destiny which presides over a man's birth, wherefore she is
worshipped by mothers. Others say that she was the wife of Evander the
Arcadian, a prophetess who used to chant oracles in verse, and hence
surnamed Carmenta (for the Romans call verses _carmina_); whereas it is
generally admitted that her right name was Nicostrate. Some explain the
name of Carmenta more plausibly as meaning that during her prophetic
frenzy she was bereft of intellect; for the Romans call to lack,
_carcre_; and mind, _mentem_.

We have spoken before of the feast of the Palilia. That of the
Lupercalia would seem, from the time of its celebration, to be a
ceremony of purification; for it is held during the ominous days of
February, a month whose name one might translate by Purification; and
that particular day was originally called Febrate. The name of this
feast in Greek signifies that of wolves, and it is thought, on this
account, to be very ancient, and derived from the Arcadians who came to
Italy with Evander. Still this is an open question, for the name may
have arisen from the she-wolf, as we see that the Luperci start to run
their course from the place where Romulus is said to have been exposed.
The circumstances of the ritual are such as to make it hard to
conjecture their meaning. They slaughter goats, and then two youths of
good family are brought to them. Then some with a bloody knife mark the
foreheads of the youths, and others at once wipe the blood away with
wool dipped in milk. The youths are expected to laugh when it is wiped
away. After this they cut the skins of the goats into strips and run
about naked, except a girdle round the middle, striking with the thongs
all whom they meet. Women in the prime of life do not avoid being
struck, as they believe that it assists them in childbirth and promotes
fertility. It is also a peculiarity of this festival that the Luperci
sacrifice a dog. One Bontes, who wrote an elegiac poem on the origin of
the Roman myths, says that when Romulus and his party had killed
Amulius, they ran back in their joy to the place where the she-wolf
suckled them when little, and that the feast is typical of this, and
that the young nobles run,