Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 48

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[48]

Question 48.

Wherefore did they, in the feasts called Consualia, put garlands on the horses and asses, and take these beasts off from all work?

Solution. Was it not because they celebrated that feast to Neptune the cavalier, who was called Consus, and the ass takes part and share with the horse in his rest from labor? Or was it that, after navigation came in and traffic by sea, there succeeded a kind of ease and leisure to the cattle in some kind or other?

Quaestiones Romanae. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Roman Questions (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chauncy, Isaac translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 48 focus

276c

διὰ τί τῇ τῶν Κωνσυαλίων ¹ ἑορτῇ καὶ τοὺς ἵππους καὶ τοὺς ὄνους στεφανοῦσι καὶ σχολάζειν ἐῶσι;

πότερον ὅτι Ποσειδῶνι μὲν ἄγουσιν Ἱππείῳ τὴν ἑορτήν, ὁ δʼ ὄνος τῷ ἵππῳ συναπολαύει καὶ συμμετέχει τῆς ἀδείας;

ἢ ὅτι, ναυτιλίας φανείσης καὶ κομιδῆς κατὰ θάλατταν, ὑπῆρξέ τις ἀμωσγέπως ῥᾳστώνη καὶ ἀνάπαυσις τοῖς ὑποζυγίοις;

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 48 focus

[48] διὰ τί τῇ τῶν Κωνσυαλίων ἑορτῇ καὶ τοὺς ἵππους καὶ τοὺς ὄνους στεφανοῦσι καὶ σχολάζειν ἐῶσι; πότερον ὅτι Ποσειδῶνι μὲν ἄγουσιν Ἱππείῳ τὴν ἑορτὴν, ὁ δʼ ὄνος τῷ ἵππῳ συναπολαύει καὶ συμμετέχει τῆς ἀδείας· ἢ ὅτι, ναυτιλίας φανείσης 20 καὶ κομιδῆς κατὰ θάλατταν, ὑπῆρξέ τις ἀμωσγέπως ῥᾳστώνη καὶ ἀνάπαυσις τοῖς ὑποζυγίοις;

Translations (1)

The Roman Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 48 focus

[48] Why is it that at the festival of the Consualia they place garlands on both the horses and the asses and allow them to rest?

Is it because they celebrate this festival in honour of Poseidon, god of horses,¹ and the ass enjoys a share in the horse’s exemption?

Or is it that since navigation and transport by sea have been discovered, pack animals have come to enjoy a certain measure of ease and rest?

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 48

ed. William W. Goodwin

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Question 48.

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