MENS, AEDES
(templum, Varro) :
a temple on the Capitol, probably within
the area Capitolina, vowed by the praetor, T. Otacilius Crassus, in 217 B.C.
after the defeat at Lake Trasimene, according to the instructions of
the Sibylline books (
Liv. xxii. 9. 10, 10. 10; Ov.
Fast. vi. 241-246), at the
same time with the temple of Venus Erucina. In 215 both temples were
dedicated by duoviri appointed for the purpose, that of Venus by
Fabius Maximus, and that of Mens by Otacilius (
Liv. xxiii. 31. 9, 32. 20).
The two temples were separated by an open drain (
Liv. xxiii. 31. 9:
uno
canali discretae; cf. Serv.
Georg. iv. 265). The temple of Mens
seems to have been restored by M. Aemilius Scaurus, consul in 115 B.C.,
either at that time (WR 313 ;
RE i. 587) or after his campaign against
the Cimbri in 107 (Cic. de nat. deor. ii. 61 ; Plut. de fort. Rom. 5: (
ἱερὸν ἱδρύσατο τπ τῆς Μέντις καλουμένης Γνώμης ἄν νομίζοιτο Σκαῦρος Αἰμίλιος, περὶ τὰ Κιμβρικὰ τοῖς χπόϝοις γεγονώς;10 (interpolated)
ἔστι δὲ καὶ Γνώμης ἣ νὴ Δία Εὐβουλίας νεὼς ἣν Μέντεμ καλοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο Σκαῦρος Αἰμίλιος ... καθιέρωσεν). The day of dedication was
8th June (Ov.
Fast. vi. 247-248; Fasti Tusc. Ven. Maff. CIL i². p. 216,
221, 222, 319. See
Jord. i. 2. 42;
Gilb. iii. 100, 398-399;
Rosch.
ii. 2798-2799).
