#LatinForTheDay - 15 April

"Tertia post Veneris cum lux surrexerit Idus,
pontifices, forda sacra litate bove.
forda ferens bos est fecundaque, dicta ferendo:
hinc etiam fetus nomen habere putant."

Ovid Fasti 4.629-632

Image: Bas-relief from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius

'When the third day has dawned after the Ides of Venus,
Pristes, sacrifice a pregnant cow.
A cow with calf and one that is fruitful, so called from 'ferendo',
For they think that fetus has the name from this.'

This is Ovid's beginning to his description of the Fordicidia, a festival that honoured Tellus, the Goddess of the Earth. As such it is very much a fertility festival. For, as Ovid tells us...

"nunc gravidum pecus est, gravidae quoque semine
terrae:
Telluri plenae victima plena datur."

'Now the cattle are heavy with young, the ground too is full of seed;
To fruitful Earth now are fruitful victims given.'

(Fasti 4.635-636)

The extract at the head of this thread also serves as a good example of Ovid's interest in etymology, which frequently features in his descriptions of the Roman calendar.

#LatinForTheDay