Book 4
6
But that a sow and certain victims are called praecidaneae, as I have said, is a matter of common knowledge; that some festivals are called praecidaneae is a fact I think that is not known to the general public. Therefore I have quoted a passage from the fifth book of the treatise which Ateius Capito compiled On Pontifical Law: Fr. 8, Huschke; 1, Bremer. Tiberius Coruncanius, the pontifex maximus, appointed feriae praecidaneae, or a preparatory festival, for a day of ill-omen. The college of pontiffs voted that there need be no religious scruple against celebrating the feriae praecidaneae on that day. So little is known about the feriae praecidaneae that it is not easy to tell whether this vote was for that occasion only (on that day ) or was general (on such a day ). Since Gellius, v. 17. 2, quotes Verrius Flaccus as saying that no sacrifice could properly be made on a dies ater, the former seems the more probable. In any case, the action of Coruncanius was evidently criticized, and his colleagues came to his rescue. Possibly preliminary sacrifices might be offered on such a day, or praecidaneae as applied to feriae may not have involved sacrifices. The statement in Smith's Dict. of Antiq. 3rd ed., ii. p. 839, that feriae praecidaneae were often dies atri, and were on certain occasions inaugurated by the chief pontiff, does not seem warranted by this passage, which is the only one in which the phrase occurs.
