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[71] Henry raises a question about the meaning of ‘ore favete,’ which he thinks has been wrongly interpreted of silence. But a reference to Forc. ‘faveo,’ where the matter is fully treated, will show that the common interpretation is substantially right. The point was that none but good words should be uttered before a sacrifice, and the spectators in consequence either repeated what the priest said or did not speak at all. It may be worth while to extract in extenso two of the most important passages which Forc. quotes. The first is from Ov. M. 15. 677 foll.:— “Et Deus en, Deus en, linguisque animisque favete,
Quisquis ades, dixit. Sis, o pulcherrime, visus
Utiliter, populosque iuves tua sacra colentis.
Quisquis adest, iussum venerantur numen, et omnes
Verba sacerdotis referunt geminata, piumque
Aeneadae praestant et mente et voce favorem.
”

The other is from Pliny 28. 2, “Vidimus certis precationibus obsecrasse magistratus, et ne quid verborum praetereatur aut praeposterum dicatur, de scripto praeire aliquem, rursusque alium custodem dari qui attendat, alium vero praeponi qui faveri linguis iubeat, tibicinem canere, ne quid aliud exaudiatur.” On certain occasions the same proclamation was made with an opposite though parallel object, that people should abstain from good words: see Forc. Here the injunction means that the sacred rites are going to begin. Comp. the use of ‘faventes’ 1. 735., 8. 173, where it would seem from the context that good words are intended rather than silence, the term being perhaps understood liberally on festive occasions. ‘Cingite tempora’ Med., Pal., ‘tempora cingite’ Rom. Putting on wreaths was part of the ceremonial: comp. 7. 135., 8. 274.

John Conington. P. Vergili Maronis opera. P. Vergili Maronis Opera. The works of Virgil, with a Commentary by John Conington, M.A. Late Corpus Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford. London. Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane. 1876.

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