Of all the months in the Roman year November is the least important from a religious point of view. It was the month of ploughing and sowing—not of holiday-time^[1097]; then, as now, it was a quiet month, and in the calendars, with the exception of the ludi plebeii, not a festival appears of any importance. Later on, the worship of Isis gained a hold upon the month^[1098], which remained open to intruders long after city-life had taken the place of November agricultural operations.

The ludi plebeii, as a public festival, date from 220 B.C.; they took place in the Circus Flaminius, which was built in that year^[1099]; they and the epulum Iovis (Nov. 13) are first mentioned by Livy four years later. The epulum has already been discussed in connexion with the ludi Romani. The plebeian games were probably at first on a single day (Nov. 13), and were gradually extended, like the ludi Romani; finally, they lasted from Nov. 4 to Nov. 17^[1100].

The 8th was one of the three days on which the mundus was open: see under Oct. 5.

Id. Nov. (Nov. 13). NP.

FERONIAE IN CAMPO^[1101]. (ARV., a later addition to the original.)

FORTUNAE PRIMIGENIAE IN COLLE. (ARV., a later addition to the original.)

This is the only mention we have of Feronia in Rome. She was a goddess of renown in Latium and central Italy, but never made her mark at Rome, as did others of her kind—Diana, Fortuna, Ceres, Flora—all of whom appear there with plebeian associations about them, as not belonging to the earliest patrician community^[1102]. It is curious to find this Feronia too in the calendar only in the middle of the ludi plebeii, and probably on the day which was the original nucleus of the games. We may either date the cult from the establishment of the ludi or guess that it was there before them, and was subsequently eclipsed by the cult of Jupiter.

The latter is perhaps the more probable conjecture; for the little that we know of the cult elsewhere points to a possible origin of the games which has not, so far as I know, been noticed. They took place, be it remembered, in the Circus Flaminius, which was in the Campus Martius; where also was this cult of Feronia. Now the most famous shrine of Feronia in Italy, that of Trebula Mutusca, was the centre of a great fair or market held on the feast-days of the goddess^[1103], and on the whole her attributes seem to be those of a deity of fertility and plenty^[1104]. Is it impossible that she had also some share in a fair in the Campus Martius long before the establishment of the ludi?

The connexion of Feronia with the plebs seems suggested not only by her position in the calendar, but by the devotion of libertini^[1105]. In the year 217 B.C. the Roman freedwomen collected a sum of money as a gift to Feronia^[1106]; though this offering need not be taken as destined for the Roman goddess, but rather for her of Soracte, to whom first-fruits and other gifts were frequently offered. The temple of Feronia at Terracina was specially devoted to the manumission of slaves, of which the process, as described by Servius, presents at least one feature of special interest^[1107]. Manumissions would take place on public occasions, such as markets, when the necessary authorities and witnesses were to be easily found, and the temple of the market-goddess was at hand; and this may be the original point of relation between this cult and the Roman plebs, which was beyond doubt by the third century B.C. largely composed of descendants of manumitted slaves.

The conjunction of Feronia on this day with Fortuna Primigenia (in colle) is curious, as both were goddesses of Praeneste, where Feronia in legend was the mother of Erulus, a daemon with threefold body and soul, who had to be killed three times by Evander^[1108]. The date of the introduction of this cult of Fortuna at Rome is 204 B.C.^[1109]