Note 613 — MENSIS IUNIUS.
Reading edition
Penus means, in the first instance, food. Cic. Nat. Deorum, 2. 68 ‘Est omne quo vescuntur homines penus.’ Hence it came to mean the store-closet in the centre of the house, of which the Penates were the guardian spirits. Its sacred character is indicated in a passage of Columella (R. R. 12. 4; and see my paper on the toga praetexta of Roman children, in Classical Review, Oct. 1896).