XLIX.
Isdem temporibus deum aedis vetustate aut igni abolitas (igni abolitas: possibly destroyed or damaged by a fire set during a riot of freedmen protesting a new tax in 31 B.C.) coeptasque ab Augusto dedicavit, Libero Liberaeque et Cereri iuxta circum maximum, (Libero Liberaeque et Cereri iuxta circum maximum: these Latin deities correspond to Dionysus /Bacchus, Persephone, and their mother Demeter of Greek mythology. All three were associated with fertility, especially of the soil in the case of Ceres; Liber and Libera were identified with wine, freedom, and festivity. Their shrines stood under the same roof at the western end of the Circus Maximus, between the Tiber to the west and the Colosseum to the east.) quam A. Postumius dictator (A. Postumius dictator: he vowed to build the temple before the battle of lake Regillus in 496 B.C. against the Latin league headed by the ousted Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome.) voverat, eodemque in loco aedem Florae ab Lucio et Marco Publiciis aedilibus (aedem Florae ab Lucio et Marco Publiciis aedilibus: ‘the shrine to Flora, the goddess of flowers and plants, built by the aediles Lucius and Marcus Publicius [in about 240 B.C.]. Aediles were Roman magistrates whose rank was higher than questor, but lower than praetor.) constitutam, et Iano templum, quod apud forum holitorium C. Duilius struxerat, (Iano templum, quod apud forum holitorium C. Duilius struxerat: ‘the temple of Janus, which Gaius Duilius had erected near the vegetable market’; the market was located between the Capitoline hill and the Tiber, right next to Porta Carmentalis. There were other temples of Janus in Rome , the most famous being the one at the northeast end of the Forum. Gaius Duilius had won the first naval battle in Roman history against a Carthaginian fleet at Mylae, off the northern coast of Sicily, in 260 B.C., during the first Punic war. Janus was the god associated with arches and doorways as symbols of entrances and exits, thus of all beginnings and ends, be they of wars or of other public and private events. The first month of the year is named after him.) qui primus rem Romanam prospere mari gessit triumphumque navalem de Poenis meruit. Spei aedes (Spei aedes: ‘the shrine to Hope’, consecrated about 250 B.C. by Aulus Atilius Calatinus, twice consul and later dictator. The worship of abstract qualities was not limited to Hope, but extended to others, such as Liberty, Peace, Chastity, Concord.) a Germanico sacratur: hanc A. Atilius voverat eodem bello.