First, that during the three days, June
1-3, the courthouses shall be closed, and justice shall not be
administered. Second, that ladies who are wearing mourning shall lay
aside that sign of grief for this occasion. The date of the manifesto
is March 24.

Upon the receipt of this document the Quindecemviri meet and pass
several resolutions: that the rules regarding the ceremonies shall be
made known to the public by advertisement (_albo propositae_); that the
mornings of May 26, 27, and 28, shall be set apart for the
_distributio suffimentorum_, in which the Quindecemviri were wont to
distribute among the citizens torches, sulphur and bitumen, for
purification; and the mornings of May 29, 30, and 31, for the _frugum
acceptio_, or distribution of wheat, barley, and beans. To avoid
overcrowding, four centres of distribution are named, and each of them
is placed under the supervision of four members of the college, making
a total of sixteen delegates. The places indicated in the programme
are the platform of the Capitolium, the area in front of the Temple of
Jupiter Tonans, the Portico of the Danaids on the Palatine, and the
Temple of Diana on the Aventine.

On May 23 the Senate meets in the Septa Julia--the ruins of which
still exist, under the Palazzo Doria and the church of S. Maria in Via
Lata--and passes two resolutions. Horace's hymn, vv. 17-20, alludes to
the first: "O Goddess, whether you choose the title of Lucina or of
Genitalis, multiply our offspring, and prosper the decree of the
Senate in relation to the giving of women in wedlock, and the
matrimonial laws." Among the penalties imposed on men and women who
remained single between the ages of twenty and fifty years, was the
prohibition against attending public festivities and ceremonies of
state. The Senate, considering the extraordinary case of the _Ludi
Saeculares_, which none among the living had seen or would ever see
again, removes this prohibition. The second resolution provides for
the erection of two commemorative pillars, one of bronze, the other of
marble, upon which the official report of the celebration shall be
engraved. The bronze pillar is probably lost forever, but the marble
one is that recovered on the banks of the Tiber, September 20, 1890,
the inscription on which I am endeavoring to explain.

The celebration in the strict sense of the word began at the second
hour of the night of May 31. Sacrifices were offered to the Fates, on
altars