rvalia, the great lustration of the
fields, which took place towards the end of the month: the date of its
occurrence was no doubt fixed according to the state of the crops in
any given year. As the individual farmer purified his own fields for
the aversion of evil, so a solemn lustration of the boundaries of the
state was performed by special priests, known as the Arval brethren
(_fratres Arvales_). With ceremonial dancing (_tripudium_) they moved
along the boundary-marks and made the farmer's most complete offering
of the pig, sheep, and ox (_suovetaurilia_): the fruits of the last
year and the new harvest (_aridae et virides_) played a large part in
the ceremonial, and a solemn litany was recited for the aversion of
every kind of pest from the crops. In Virgil's account the prayer is
made to Ceres, and we know that in imperial times, when the Ambarvalia
became very closely connected with the worship of the imperial house,
the centre of the cult was the earth-goddess, Dea Dia; but in the
earliest account of the rustic ceremony which we possess in Cato, Mars
is addressed in the unmistakeable character of an agricultural deity.
'Father Mars, I pray and beseech thee that thou mayest be gracious and
favourable to me, to my home, and my household, for which cause I have
ordained that the offering of pig, sheep, and ox be carried round my
fields, my land, and my farm: that thou mayest avert, ward off, and
keep afar all disease, visible and invisible, all barrenness, waste,
misfortune, and ill weather: that thou mayest suffer our crops, our
corn, our vines and bushes to grow and come to prosperity: that thou
mayest preserve the shepherds and the flocks in safety, and grant
health and strength to me, to my home, and my household.' We have
perhaps here another rustic ceremony addressed in origin to all
_numina_, whom it might concern, and, as it were, specialising itself
from time to time in an appeal to one definite deity or another, but it
is also clear evidence of an early agricultural association of Mars.
The Ambarvalia is one of the most picturesque of the field ceremonies,
and a peculiarly beautiful and imaginative description of it may be
found in the first chapter of Pater's _Marius the Epicurean_.

In June and July the farmer was waiting for the completion of the
harvest, and the great state-festivals of the period are not
agricultural.

=2. Festivals of the Harvest.=--In August the farmer's hopes are at
last realis