21.3
Of the Parilia I have spoken before. Chapter xii. 1. As for the Lupercalia, judging by the time of its celebration, it would seem to be a feast of purification, for it is observed on the inauspicious days Dies nefasti. of the month of February, which name can be interpreted to mean purification, and the very day of the feast was anciently called Febrata. But the name of the festival has the meaning of the Greek Lycaea, or feast of wolves, which makes it seem of great antiquity and derived from the Arcadians in the following of Evander. Cf. Livy, 1. 5, 1-2.
21.4
Indeed, this meaning of the name is commonly accepted; for it can be connected with the she-wolf of story. And besides, we see that the LuperciPriests of Faunus, the Roman Pan. begin their course around the city at that point where Romulus is said to have been exposed. However, the actual ceremonies of the festival are such that the reason for the name is hard to guess. For the priests slaughter goats, and then, after two youths of noble birth have been brought to them, some of them touch their foreheads with a bloody knife, and others wipe the stain off at once with wool dipped in milk.
