ites a long prayer,
in which the farmer first begs forgiveness for any unwitting sins he
may have committed against the rustic deities, such as trespassing on
their groves or sheltering his flocks beneath their altar, and then
prays for the aversion of disease and the prosperity of crops, flocks,
and herds. 'Thus must the goddess be won, this prayer say four times
turning to the sunrise, and wash thy hands in the running stream. Then
set the rustic bowl upon the table in place of the wine-bowl, and drink
the snowy milk and dark must, and soon through the heaps of crackling
straw leap in swift course with eager limbs.' All the worshippers then
set to leaping through the blazing fires, even the flocks and herds
were driven through, and general hilarity reigned. Many points of
detail might be noticed, such as that in the urban counterpart of the
festival, which Ovid carefully distinguishes from the country
celebrations, the fire was sprinkled with the ashes from the calves of
the Fordicidia and the blood of Mars' October horse--another link
between Mars and agriculture. But it is most interesting to note the
double character of the ceremony--as a purification of man and beast on
the one hand, and on the other a prayer for the prosperity of the
season to come. Three special festivals remain in April. At the Vinalia
(_priora_) of the 23rd, the wine-skins of the previous year were opened
and the wine tasted, and, we may suppose, supplication was made for
the vintage to come, the festival being dedicated to the sky-god,
Iuppiter. At the Robigalia of the 25th the offering of a dog was made
for the aversion of mildew (_robigo_), to Robigus (who looks like a
developed eponymous deity) at the fifth milestone on the Via
Claudia--the ancient boundary of Roman territory. The Floralia of the
28th does not occur in the old Calendars, probably because it was a
moveable feast (_feriae conceptivae_), but it is an unmistakeable
petition to the _numen_ Flora for the blossoming of the season's
flowers.

May was a month of more critical importance for the welfare of the
crops, and therefore its festivals were mostly of a more sombre
character. The 9th, 11th, and 13th were the days set apart for the
Lemuria, the aversion of the hostile spirits of the dead, of which we
have already spoken, and a similarly gloomy character probably attached
to the Agonia of Vediovis on the 21st. But of far the greatest interest
is the moveable feast of the Amba