EPULO´NES
EPULO´NES who were originally three in number
(
Tresviri Epulones), were first created in
B.C. 196, to attend to the Epulum Jovis (Valer. Max. 2.1.2;
Liv. 31.4;
Gel. 12.8）
and the banquets given in honour of the other gods; a duty which had
originally belonged to the Pontifices. (
Liv.
33.42;
Cic. de Orat. 3.19, 73;
de Harusp. Respons. 10, 21; Festus, s. v.
Epolonos.) Their number was afterwards increased to seven
(
Gel. 1.12;
Lucan
1.602), and they were called
Septemviri
Epulones. We often find
Septemvir Epulonum as an
honorary title in inscriptions (Wilmanns,
Inscript. 937,
1112, 1115, 1121, 1148, 1150, 1153, 1160, 1186, 1210, 1212). Once
viiviri Epulonum occurs (
Cal. Praen. Jan.
17). Julius Caesar added three more (
D. C.
43.51), but the title of the college seems always to have been
Septemviri.
The Epulones formed a collegium, and were one of the four great religious
corporations at Rome; the other three were those of the Pontifices, Augures,
and Quindecemviri. But, unlike the others, this was from the first open to
plebeians. (
D. C. 53.1,
58.12;
Plin. Ep. 10.3;
Marquardt,
Röm. Staatsverwaltung, 3.333.)
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