1 Cases could not be tried because of the absence of one or both parties to suits. The remedy adopted was the proclamation of a iustitium for thirty days: this suspended all ordinary public and private business.
2 B.C. 186
3 Such punishments were inflicted by virtue of patria potestas.
4 Their antiquity was their guarantee that they antedated the abuse of the Bacchus worship and were free from its bad features. In any case the Romans were inclined to respect venerable age.
5 B.C. 186
6 The last clauses prevent a definite organization of the cult. The decree, however, legalizes traditional rites in honour of Bacchus and necessary individual acts of worship.
[9] We are fortunate in possessing an inscription (CIL. I. 196), containing, in the form of a letter addressed to the Teurani, a federated state of Bruttium, the substance of the senate's decisions (the celebrated Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus). In general the statements of Livy agree with the inscription, although the evidence of language gives no indication that Livy saw the inscription.
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