| DECREE
OF THE SENATE ON THE BACCHANALIA ( 186 BC ) |
| ( Weston in Thatcher, The ideas that have influenced civilization.., III, Manchester, 1901, pp. 76-77 ). |
| « Quintus
Marcius the son of Lucius, and Spurius Postumius, consulted the senate
on the Nones of October (7th), at the temple of the Bellonae. Marcus
Claudius, son of Marcus, Lucius Valerias, son of Publius, and Quintus
Minucius, son of Gaius, were the committee for drawing up the report. |
Regarding
the Bacchanalia it was resolved to give the following directions to
those who are in alliance with us. |
No
one of them is to possess a place where the festivals of Bacchus are
celebrated : if there are any who claim that it is necessary for
them to have such a place, they are to come to Rome to the praetor urbanus,
and the senate is to decide on those matters, when their claims have
been heard, provided that not less than 100 senators are present when
the affair is discussed. No man is to be a Bacchantian, neither a Roman
citizen, nor one of the Latin name, nor any of our allies unless they
come to the praetor urbanus, and he in accordance with the opinion of
the senate expressed when not less than 100 senators are present at
the discussion, shall have given leave. Carried. |
No
man is to be a priest ; no one, either man or woman, is to be an
officer (to manage the temporal affairs of the organization) ;
nor is anyone of them to have charge of a common treasury ; no
one shall appoint either man or woman to be master or to act as master ;
henceforth they shall not form conspiracies among themselves, stir up
any disorder, make mutual promises or agreements, or interchange pledges ;
no one shall observe the sacred rites either in public or private or
outside the city, unless he comes to the praetor urbanus, and he, in
accordance with the opinion of the senate, expressed when no less that
100 senators are present at the discussion, shall have given leave.
Carried. |
No
one in a company of more than five persons altogether, men and women,
shall observe the sacred rites, nor in that company shall there be present
more than two men or three women, unless in accordance with the opinion
of the praetor urbanus and the senate as written above. |
See
that you declare it in the assembly (contio) for not less than
three market days ; that you may know the opinion of the senate
this was their judgment : if there are any who have acted contrary
to what was written above, they have decided that a proceeding for a
capital offense should be instituted against them ; the senate
has justly decreed that you should inscribe this on a brazen tablet,
and that you should order it to be placed where it can be easiest read ;
see to it that the revelries of Bacchus, if there be any, except in
case there be concerned in the matter something sacred, as was written
above, be disbanded within ten days after this letter shall be delivered
to you. |
In
the Teuranian field. » |