Note 1334 — MENSIS FEBRUARIUS

This is very distinctly stated by Cicero (de Legibus, 1. 14. 40 ‘In deos impietatum nulla expiatio est’: cp. 2. 9. 22 ‘Sacrum commissum quod neque expiari poterit, impie commissum est’). Even the sailor in Horace’s ode (1. 28), whose duty does not seem exactly binding, is told, if he omits it, ‘teque piacula nulla resolvent.’ On the general question, cp. De Marchi, La Religione nella vita domestica, 246; and Marq. 257. The pontifex Scaevola ‘asseverabat prudentem expiari non posse’ (Macrob. 1. 16. 10). Ovid’s account (Fasti, 2. 35 foll.) is that of a layman and a modern, but not less interesting for that reason.