LUDI PLEBEII were instituted probably in commemoration of the
reconciliation between the patricians and plebeians after the
first secession to the Mons Sacer, or, according to others, to the
Aventine. They were held on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of November, and
were conducted by the plebeian aediles.
LUDI SAECULARES. During the time of the republic these games were
called _ludi Tarentini_, _Terentini_, or _Taurii_, and it was
not till the time of Augustus that they bore the name of _ludi
saeculares_. The names _Tarenti_ or _Taurii_ are perhaps nothing but
different forms of the same word, and of the same root as Tarquinius.
There were various accounts respecting the origin of the games,
yet all agree in stating that they were celebrated for the purpose
of averting from the state some great calamity by which it had been
afflicted, and that they were held in honour of Dis and Proserpina.
From the time of the consul Valerius Publicola down to that of
Augustus, the Tarentine games were held only three times, and again
only on certain emergencies, and not at any fixed period, so that
we must conclude that their celebration was in no way connected
with certain cycles of time (_saecula_). Not long after Augustus
had assumed the supreme power in the republic, the quindecimviri
announced that according to their books _ludi saeculares_ ought to
be held, and at the same time tried to prove from history that in
former times they had not only been celebrated repeatedly, but almost
regularly once in every century. The festival, however, which was
now held, was in reality very different from the ancient Tarentine
games; for Dis and Proserpina, to whom formerly the festival belonged
exclusively, were now the last in the list of the divinities in
honour of whom the ludi saeculares were celebrated. The festival
took place in summer, and lasted for three days and three nights.
On the first day the games commenced in that part of the Campus
Martius, Which had belonged to the last Tarquin, from whom it derived
its name Tarentum, and sacrifices were offered to Jupiter, Juno,
Neptune, Minerva, Venus, Apollo, Mercury, Ceres, Vulcan, Mars, Diana,
Vesta, Hercules, Latona, the Parcae, and to Dis and Proserpina. The
solemnities began at the second hour of the night, and the emperor
opened them by the river side with the sacrifice of three lambs to
the Parcae upon three altars erected for the purpose, and which
were sprinkled with the blood of the victims. The lambs themselves
were burnt. A temporary scene like that of a theatre was erected in
the Tarentum, and illuminated with lights and fires. In this scene
festive hymns were sung by a chorus, and various other ceremonies,
together with theatrical performances, took place. During the morning
of the first day the people went to the Capitol to offer solemn
sacrifices to Jupiter; thence they returned to the Tarentum, to sing
choruses in honour of Apollo and Diana. On the second day the noblest
matrons, at an hour fixed by an oracle, assembled in the Capitol,
offered supplications, sang hymns to the gods, and also visited the
altar of Juno. The emperor and the quindecimviri offered sacrifices
which had been vowed before, to all the great divinities. On the
third day Greek and Latin choruses were sung in the sanctuary of
Apollo by three times nine boys and maidens of great beauty, whose
parents were still alive. The object of these hymns was to implore
the protection of the gods for all cities, towns, and officers
of the empire. One of these hymns was the _carmen saeculare_ by
Horace, which was especially composed for the occasion and adapted
to the circumstances of the time. During the whole of the three
days and nights, games of every description were carried on in all
the circuses and theatres, and sacrifices were offered in all the
temples. The first celebration of the ludi saeculares in the reign of
Augustus took place in the summer of B.C. 17.