40 Hutton Webster 



calendars they are marked nefasti, indicating that at such times 

 all political and judicial business must be suspended. They were 

 days when the gods demanded the service of men by visits to the 

 temples, by prayers and sacrifices. Hence the feriae formed 

 holidays when even slaves enjoyed a cessation from toil. We 

 may assume with confidence, however, that the ferial days were 

 not established as a boon to the laborer. The regulations en- 

 forced at such times indicate how, in Roman belief, it was essen- 

 tial that the sanctity of the season should not be polluted by un- 

 seemly activity. The re.v sacrorum and flainincs were not 

 allowed even to see any work being done during the celebration 

 of the feriae ; hence, when they went out, heralds preceded them 

 to enjoin the people from working in their presence. An acci- 

 dental neglect of such admonitions was punished with a fine and 

 atonement was made by the sacrifice of a pig. An intentional 

 disobedience constituted a crime beyond the power of atonement. 

 In the later centuries of the Republic the growing spirit of 

 rationalism began to raise questions as to what kinds of work 

 might properly be done on the public feriae. One pontifif de- 

 clared that it was no violation of them for a person to do any 

 work which had reference to the gods or the ofifering of sacrifices 

 — ad deos pertiiiens sacrorumz'c caiisa}*^ All labor was likewise 

 allowable which was necessary to supply the urgent wants of life. 

 The pontiff Scaevola held that any work might be done if suffer- 

 ing and injury were caused by its neglect or delay — liect quod 

 praeterniissiiiii noceret}'' Consequently, should a man's ox fall 

 into a pit he might employ workmen to lift it out without polluting 

 the feriae. Vergil, writing when this rationalistic movement had 

 culminated, declares that " even on holy days some work is per- 

 mitted by the laws of God and man. The strictest worshipper 

 has never scrupled to drain the fields, plant a hedge to protect a 

 crop, set snares for birds, fire the brambles, or wash his bleating 



were not calendarized, but were determined by the phases of the moon 

 (Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnairc dcs aiitiquitcs grecqucs et roinaines, 

 iii. 174). 



" Macrobius, SatitniaJia, i. 16, 10. 



" Idem, i. 16, 11. 



40 



