Lex Cassia of 194 B.C. - Senatorial decree concerning the Bacchanalia
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 12:44 pm
SENATUS CONSULTUM DE BACCHANALIBUS (Senatorial decree concerning the Bacchanalia)
Sponsors: Gaius Cassius Vecellinus
INASMUCH as the Bacchanalian cult is a threat to the People of Rome and the Quirites;
INASMUCH as the Bacchanalian cult has spread through Roman and Socii territory;
Be it enacted by the Senate of the Roman Republic in the Curia Hostilia assembled,
I. In the Roman and Socii territory no one is to possess a place where the festivals of Bacchus are celebrated; if there are any who claim that it is necessary for them to have such a place, they are to come to Rome to the praetor urbanus, and the senate is to decide on those matters, when their claims have been heard, provided that not less than 100 senators are present when the affair is discussed;
II. No man is to be a Bacchanalian, neither a Roman citizen, nor one of the Latin name, nor any of our allies unless they come to the praetor urbanus, and he in accordance with the opinion of the senate expressed when not less than 100 senators are present at the discussion, shall have given leave;
III. No man is to be a priest; no one, either man or woman, is to be an officer (to manage the temporal affairs of the organization); nor is anyone of them to have charge of a common treasury; no one shall appoint either man or woman to be master or to act as master; henceforth they shall not form conspiracies among themselves, stir up any disorder, make mutual promises or agreements, or interchange pledges; no one shall observe the sacred rites either in public or private or outside the city, unless he comes to the praetor urbanus, and he, in accordance with the opinion of the senate, expressed when no less than 100 senators are present at the discussion, shall have given leave.
IV. No one in a company of more than five persons altogether, men and women, shall observe the sacred rites, nor in that company shall there be present more than two men or three women, unless in accordance with the opinion of the praetor urbanus and the senate as written above.
V. See it declared to all towns and declared in an assembly (contio) for not less than three market days that the judgement of the Senate is as follows: if there are any who have acted contrary to what was written above, they have decided that a proceeding for a capital offense should be instituted against them; the Senate has justly decreed that you should inscribe this on a brazen tablet, and that you should order it to be placed where it can be easiest read; see to it that the revelries of Bacchus, if there be any, except in case there be concerned in the matter something sacred, as was written above, be disbanded within ten days after this letter shall be delivered to you.
VI. That Consul Gaius Cassius Vecellinus is tasked and empowered to make such measures as required to eradicate the Bacchanalian cult throughout Italia.
Written into the annals in the consular year 194BC of Gaius Cassius Vecellinus and Titus Furius Pavo.
Sponsors: Gaius Cassius Vecellinus
INASMUCH as the Bacchanalian cult is a threat to the People of Rome and the Quirites;
INASMUCH as the Bacchanalian cult has spread through Roman and Socii territory;
Be it enacted by the Senate of the Roman Republic in the Curia Hostilia assembled,
I. In the Roman and Socii territory no one is to possess a place where the festivals of Bacchus are celebrated; if there are any who claim that it is necessary for them to have such a place, they are to come to Rome to the praetor urbanus, and the senate is to decide on those matters, when their claims have been heard, provided that not less than 100 senators are present when the affair is discussed;
II. No man is to be a Bacchanalian, neither a Roman citizen, nor one of the Latin name, nor any of our allies unless they come to the praetor urbanus, and he in accordance with the opinion of the senate expressed when not less than 100 senators are present at the discussion, shall have given leave;
III. No man is to be a priest; no one, either man or woman, is to be an officer (to manage the temporal affairs of the organization); nor is anyone of them to have charge of a common treasury; no one shall appoint either man or woman to be master or to act as master; henceforth they shall not form conspiracies among themselves, stir up any disorder, make mutual promises or agreements, or interchange pledges; no one shall observe the sacred rites either in public or private or outside the city, unless he comes to the praetor urbanus, and he, in accordance with the opinion of the senate, expressed when no less than 100 senators are present at the discussion, shall have given leave.
IV. No one in a company of more than five persons altogether, men and women, shall observe the sacred rites, nor in that company shall there be present more than two men or three women, unless in accordance with the opinion of the praetor urbanus and the senate as written above.
V. See it declared to all towns and declared in an assembly (contio) for not less than three market days that the judgement of the Senate is as follows: if there are any who have acted contrary to what was written above, they have decided that a proceeding for a capital offense should be instituted against them; the Senate has justly decreed that you should inscribe this on a brazen tablet, and that you should order it to be placed where it can be easiest read; see to it that the revelries of Bacchus, if there be any, except in case there be concerned in the matter something sacred, as was written above, be disbanded within ten days after this letter shall be delivered to you.
VI. That Consul Gaius Cassius Vecellinus is tasked and empowered to make such measures as required to eradicate the Bacchanalian cult throughout Italia.
Written into the annals in the consular year 194BC of Gaius Cassius Vecellinus and Titus Furius Pavo.