unproblematically, took place in 249 bc, at the height of the First Punic War, and
in 146 bc, coinciding with the final stage of the wars against Carthage and Greece.
The underlying idea clearly was that of a historical marker and of an extended
lustrumor periodic occasion for purification; the regular Roman lustrum, which also
marked the election of the censors, was every five years. Accordingly, the ritual cen-
tered on the gods of the Underworld, Dis (Pluto) and Proserpina, who had to be
propitiated in various ways.
The changes that Augustus made were significant. Characteristically, they began
with the choice of an expert, Ateius Capito, to design the new format and, just as
characteristically, they aimed at widespread participation, as torches, sulfur, and asphalt
were distributed to the entire free population of Rome. As for the ritual itself, its
expiatory and retrospective function was complemented with a forward-looking ori-
entation: the festival marked both an end and a beginning. The war with the Parthians
had been settled, internal stability had returned, and the newly passed legislation on
family and moral life, along with the ongoing rebuilding of Rome, pointed to a promis-
ing future; this latter aspect is the central theme of the hymn Horace wrote for the
occasion (Carmen Saeculare). Accordingly, the Underworld gods disappeared from
the ritual altogether and were replaced with more beneficent deities: the Fates (Moirai),
goddesses of Childbirth (Eilithyai), and the Earth Mother (Terra Mater). The
sacrifices to them were still made at night, as they had been for Dis and Proserpina.
But, in line with the festival’s new dimension, there now were sacrifices on each day,
too: to Iuppiter Optimus Maximus, to Iuno Regina (both on the Capitoline), and
to Apollo at his new site on the Palatine. As can be seen from the names of some
of the deities, another characteristic of the festival, and of its ritual, is that it com-
bined both Latin and Greek elements and thus typified a major strand of Augustan
religion and culture.
Ever respectful of traditional customs, Augustus waited patiently for Lepidus,
his former fellow triumvir, to die before assuming the office of pontifex maximus
himself in 12 bc. Not that he was lacking earlier opportunities, as he does not fail
to point out in the Res Gestae. And he makes some other points as well (10.2):
I declined to be made pontifex maximusin the place of my colleague who was still alive,
when the people offered me this priesthood which my father had held. Some years later,
after the death of the man who had taken the opportunity of civil disturbance to seize
it for himself, I received this priesthood, and such a multitude of citizens poured in from
the whole of Italy to my election as has never been recorded at Rome before that time.It was the wish of the people, and not a small clique, that he become pontifex
maximus(a title, incidentally, taken over by the popes and abbreviated as P. M. in
their inscriptions). Julius Caesar had held that office and, as his heir, Augustus implies
that he was entitled. Indeed, all Roman emperors after Augustus automatically were
madepontifex maximusupon their accession. Lepidus, who is not even named, is
cast as a usurper, but Augustus abided by the legalities and did not push him out.
It made for an interesting situation. Lepidus was not an activist but lived in vir-
tual exile on the Bay of Naples. Augustus studiously avoided all situations that wouldContinuity and Change 77