Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 57

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[57]

Question 57.

What is the reason that, when the women do sacrifice to Rumina, they pour forth milk plentifully on the sacrifices, but offer no wine?

Solution. Is it because the Latins call a breast ruma, and that tree (as they say) is called ruminalis under which the she-wolf drew forth her breast to Romulus? And as we call those women that bring up children with milk from the breast breast-women, so did Rumina—who was a wet nurse, a dry nurse, and a rearer of children—not permit wine, as being hurtful to the infants.

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

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

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).) — 57 focus

[57] διὰ τί τῇ Ῥουμίνῃ θύουσαι γάλα κατασπένδουσι τῶν ἱερῶν, οἶνον δʼ οὐ προσφέρουσιν;

ἢ ῥοῦμαν Λατῖνοι τὴν θηλὴν καλοῦσι, καὶ Ῥουμινᾶλιν ¹ ὀνομασθῆναι λέγουσιν, παρʼ ὅσον ἡ λύκαινα τῷ Ῥωμύλῳ τὴν θηλὴν παρέσχεν; ὥσπερ 278d οὖν ἡμεῖς τὰς τρεφούσας τὰ παιδία γάλακτι θηλονὰς ² ἀπὸ τῆς θηλῆς καλοῦμεν, οὕτως ἡ Ῥουμῖνα θηλώ τις ³ οὖσα καὶ τιθήνη καὶ κουροτρόφος οὐ προσίεται τὸν ἄκρατον ὡς βλαβερὸν ὄντα τοῖς νηπίοις.

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 57 focus

[57] διὰ τί τῇ Ῥουμίνᾳ θύουσαι γάλα κατασπένδουσι 25 τῶν ἱερῶν, οἶνον δʼ οὐ προσφέρουσιν; ἦ ῥοῦμαν Λατῖνοι τὴν θηλὴν καλοῦσι, καὶ Ῥουμινᾶλιν ¹ ὀνομασθῆναι λέγουσιν, παρʼ ὅσον ἡ λύκαινα τῷ Ῥωμύλῳ τὴν θηλὴν παρέσχεν· ὥσπερ οὖν ἡμεῖς 278d τὰς τρεφούσας τὰ παιδία γάλακτι θηλονὰς ² ἀπὸ τῆς θηλῆς καλοῦμεν, οὕτως ἡ Ῥουμῖνα θηλώ τις ³ οὖσα καὶ τιθήνη καὶ κουροτρόφος οὐ προσίεται τὸν ἄκρατον ὡς βλαβερὸν ὄντα τοῖς νηπίοις; 5

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).) — 57 focus

[57] Why do the women that sacrifice to Rumina pour milk over the offerings, but make no oblation of wine in the ceremony?

Is it because the Latins call the teat ruma, and assert that Ruminalis¹ acquired its name inasmuch as the she-wolf offered its teat to Romulus? Therefore, as we call wet-nurses thelonai from thele (teat), even so Rumina is she that gives suck, the nurse and nurturer of children: she does not, therefore, welcome pure wine, since it is harmful for babes.

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 57

ed. William W. Goodwin

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Question 57.

Current edition Perseus

Stable identifiers