A piaculum is an expiatory sacrifice, or the victim used in the sacrifice; also, an act requiring expiation.Jörg Rüpke, Religion of the Romans (Polity Press, 2007, originally published in German 2001), p. 81 online. Because Roman religion was contractual (do ut des), a piaculum might be offered as a sort of advance payment; the Arval Brethren, for instance, offered a piaculum before entering their sacred grove with an iron implement, which was forbidden, as well as after.
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122 online. The Augustan historian Livy says P. Decius Mus is "like" a piaculum when he makes his vow to sacrifice himself in battle (see devotio).Livy 8.9.1–11.
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438 f.; L. Schmitz in W. Smith A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities London 1875 s. v. feriae; P. Catalano Contributi allo studio del diritto augurale Torino 1960 p. 352. Compare piaculum, an expiatory offering.
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The word piaculum is repeated three times in the prayer, emphasizing that the sacrifice of the pig is not a freewill offering, but something owed to the deity by right (ius). The piaculum compensates the deity for a transgression or offense, and differs from a regular sacrifice offered in the hope of procuring favor in return (do ut des).Cyril Bailey, Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome (University of California, 1932), p. 91. It is tempting, but misleading, to read ecological principles into ritualized agriculture; for the early Romans, respect was the partner of fear in their regard for the divine forces in nature, and the open invocation with which this prayer begins is a contractual "out" or hedge.
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If correct law and procedures had been followed, it could be assumed that the outcome was iustum, right or valid. The losing side had thus in effect committed perjury, and forfeited his sacramentum as a form of piaculum; the winner got his deposit back. The forfeited sacramentum was normally allotted by the state to the funding of sacra publica.
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Victima quae dextra cecidit victrice vocatur, Ovid, Fasti 1.335: ; hostibus a domitis hostia nomen habet ("the hostia gets its name from the 'hostiles' that have been defeated"), 1.336. The difference between the victima and hostia is elsewhere said to be a matter of size, with the victima larger (maior).Char. 403.38. See also piaculum and votum.
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Belayche, "Religious Actors in Daily Life," p. 286. Violations of pietas required a piaculum, expiatory rites.Belayche, "Religious Actors in Daily Life," p. 286. A temple to Pietas was vowed (votum) by Manius Acilius Glabrio at the Battle of Thermopylae in 191 BC.Livy 40.34.4; Fears, "The Theology of Victory at Rome," pp. 741–742, and "The Cult of Virtues," p. 835.
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The Acta Arvalia preserve the names of four "functional goddesses"Michael Lipka, Roman Gods: A Conceptual Approach (Brill, 2009), p. 69. that are otherwise unknown. They were to be invoked for a piaculum, a propitiation conducted in advance of destroying a tree. Their names, having the appearance of Latin gerundives, are Adolenda (in reference to burning the tree), Commolenda (reducing it to chips), Deferunda and Coinquenda (felling the tree).
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467 L. to affirm that both parties to the litigation were acting in good faith.George Mousourakis, A Legal History of Rome (Routledge, 2007), p. 33. If correct law and procedures had been followed, it could be assumed that the outcome was iustum, right or valid. The losing side had thus in effect committed perjury, and forfeited his sacramentum as a form of piaculum, an expiatory sacrifice; the winner got his deposit back.
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Pugliese Istituzioni di diritto romano-Sintesi p.11. (a piaculum or a sacrificium). However these were not the only sanctions in use: other included the confiscation of property and capital punishment, that was not administered on any sacral principle but on that of the retribution of an offense with an equal punishment. On the basis of the fragmentary condition of our information,For a presentation see: Leges regiae, Leges regiae e paricidas and Fontes Iuris Romani Antejustiniani.
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Demigods and heroes, who belonged to the heavens and the underworld, were sometimes given black-and-white victims. Robigo (or Robigus) was given red dogs and libations of red wine at the Robigalia for the protection of crops from blight and red mildew. A sacrifice might be made in thanksgiving or as an expiation of a sacrilege or potential sacrilege (piaculum);Jörg Rüpke, Religion of the Romans (Polity Press, 2007, originally published in German 2001), p. 81 online.
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In his book On Agriculture, Cato records a Roman ritual lucum conlucare, "to clear a clearing." The officiant is instructed to offer a pig as a piaculum, a propitiation or expiatory offering made in advance of the potential wrong committed against the grove through human agency.William Warde Fowler, The Religious Experience of the Roman People (London, 1922), p. 191. The following words are to be formulated (verba concipito) for the particular site: > Whether thou be god or goddess (si deus, si dea) to whom this grove is > dedicated, as it is thy right to receive a sacrifice of a pig for the > thinning of this sacred grove, and to this intent, whether I or one at my > bidding do it, may it be rightly done.
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