flamen

flāmen, inis, n.: a blowing; blast, gale, breeze, wind, 4.241. (flō, blow)

flāmen (also ‡ FILAMEN, Inscr. Grut. 227, 6), mis, m. [same root with fla-gro, q. v.; lit., he who burns, sc. offerings, Corss. Ausspr. 1, 84, 146; cf. 2, 86 note; Momms. Röm. Gesch. 1, 155; and Curt. Gr. Etym. p. 301],

• a priest of one particular deity, a flamen (acc. to a false etym. of Varr. and Fest., v. infra, so called from the fillet which he wore around his head). Festus enumerates from the highest flamen, that of Jupiter, to the lowest, that of Pomona, fifteen of these priests; in the times of the emperors, the deified emperors and other deified persons also had their separate flamens assigned to them: flamines, quod in Latio capite velato erant semper, ac caput cinctum habebant filo, flamines dicti. Horum singuli cognomina habent ab eo deo, quoi sacra faciunt, Varr. L. L. 5, § 84 Müll.: flamen Dialis dictus, quod filo assidue velatur, indeque appellatur flamen, quasi filamen, Paul. ex Fest. p. 87, 15 Müll.; cf. also Serv. Verg. A. 8, 664: maximae dignationis Flamen Dialis est inter quindecim flamines, et cum ceteri discrimina majestatis suae habeant, minimi habetur Pomonalis, quod Pomona levissimo fructui agrorum praesidit pomis, Fest. p. 154, 27 sq.; cf. Müll. Comm. ad h. l. p. 385, b: DIVIS ALIIS ALII SACERDOTES, OMNIBVS PONTIFICES, SINGVLIS FLAMINES SVNTO, Cic. Leg. 2, 8, 20: (Numa) flaminem Jovi assiduum sacerdotem creavit ... huic duos flamines adjecit, Marti unum, alterum Quirino, Liv. 1, 20, 2; cf. Cic. Rep. 2, 14; Aug. Civ. D. 2, 15; cf. also: est ergo flamen, ut Jovi, ut Marti, ut Quirino, sic divo Julio M. Antonius, etc., Cic. Phil. 2, 43, 110: Tiberius flamines sibi decerni prohibuit, Suet. Tib. 26; v. Gell. 10, 15: FLAMEN D. AVGVSTI, Inscr. Orell. 311; 488; cf. AVGVSTALIS, ib. 643; 2366: DIVI CLAVDII, ib. 2218; 3651: PERPETVVS NERONIS AVG., ib. 2219: SALVTIS AVGVSTAE, ib. 1171: ROMAE, ib. 2183: flaminem prodere, Cic. Mil. 10, 27: inaugurare flaminem, Liv. 27, 8, 4.

flāmen, ĭnis, n. [flo], = πνεῦμα, a blowing, blast, esp. of wind (poet., most freq. in the plur.; cf.: ventus, flatus, flabra, spiritus, aura).

• I Lit.: cur Berecynthiae Cessant flamina tibiae? Hor. C. 3, 19, 19; Nemes. Ecl. 1, 16: aquilo suo cum flamine, Enn. ap. Macr. S. 6, 2 (Ann. v. 424 ed. Vahl.): Borea, surdas flamine tunde fores, Ov. Am. 1, 6, 54: venti, Lucr. 1, 290: Cauri, id. 6, 135; cf. Verg. A. 10, 97.—
• II Transf., concr., a gale, breeze, wind: ferunt sua flamina classem, Verg. A. 5, 832; Ov. F. 3, 599: flamina conticuere, jacet sine fluctibus aequor, Val. Fl. 3, 732.

1. flāmen, minis, m. (aus *flād(s)men zu gotisch blotan, verehren), der Priester einer bestimmten einzelnen Gottheit, der Eigenpriester, der Flamen. Es gab flamines maiores u. fl. minores, von denen die ersten aus patrizischem, die zweiten aus plebejischem Geschlechte gewählt wurden. Zur erstern Klasse gehörten der fl. Dialis (des Jupiter), Martialis (des Mars) u. Quirinalis (des Romulus); der flamines minores gab es gew. zwölf in Rom (fl. Vulcani, Florae, Carmentae, Pomonae usw.). Der vornehmste aller flamines war der flamen Dialis, der viele Vorrechte genoß (Begleitung eines Liktors, sella curulis, toga praetexta), aber sich auch viele Einschränkungen gefallen lassen mußte (er durfte kein Pferd besteigen, keinen mit Edelsteinen gefaßten Ring tragen, keinen Eid ablegen, nicht über Nacht aus der Stadt bleiben). Von seiner Gattin (der flaminica, w. s.) durfte er sich nicht trennen; starb sie, so mußte er sein Amt niederlegen. Vgl. übh. Gell. 10, 15. – flaminem capere, Liv., prodere, Cic.: flaminem inaugurare, Liv.: Papicio flamen propter mortem flaminicae flamonio abiit, Trogi fr. – ➳ Die Alten glaubten, flamen sei synkopiertes filamen von filum (weil diese Priester einen wollenen Faden um die Priestermütze oder um das Haupt tragen mußten), s. Varro LL. 5, 84. Prisc. 4, 17. Paul. ex Fest. 87, 15. Serv. Verg. Aen. 8, 664.

2. flāmen, minis, n. (flo) = πνεῦμα, I) das Blasen, Wehen des Windes, fl. sudum, Varro fr.: flamina venti, Lucr.: Borea, surdas flamine tunde fores, Ov. – II) meton.: A) der Wind, hibernum, Acc. fr.: ingens, Ov.: ferunt sua flamina classem, Verg. – B) (wie πνεύματα αὐλῶν) flamina tibiae, die auf der Flöte hervorgebrachten Hauche, die Flötentöne, Hor. carm. 3, 19, 19. – m. subj. Genet., dissona flamina Mopsi, Calp. ecl. 8, 15.

1 flamen [CL] , priest of Jupiter, one of the Roman flamines. b (pagan) priest. c (Christian) bishop. hic quoque destruxit Belis dilubra nefandi / flaminibus scelerum mortis discrimina passis Aldh. VirgV 352; ~en, id est sacerdos delubri Id. PR 116; †flumen [l. flamen] Dialis, sacerdos Jovis GlC F 242; ~en, i. pontifex vel sacerdos gentilium ‥ GlH F 402; dicimus etiam hic ~en pro sacerdote Jovis, et inde hic flamineus, -ei, i. preminister sacrorum, et hec flaminica, -e, i. sacerdotissa unde Macrobius [Macrob. Sat. III 8. 7] ‥ et hoc flaminium, -nii, i. sacerdotium Osb. Glouc. Deriv. 209; ~en, sacerdos Jovis qui et dialis et lupercus et edilis et creppus dicitur Ib. 240 (cf. ib. 139); 1340 paganorum enim principes templorum et idolorum suorum pontificibus, quos ~ines appellant, non modicum honorem exhibuerunt (Stratford) Conc. II 663b (= Birchington Arch. Cant. 28); in Roma tria tantum templa fuerunt que ~ines habuerunt, i. e. pontifices idolorum, sic dicti quasi filamines a filo quod ligabant sibi in capite [cf. Isid. Etym. VII 12. 18–19] Higd. I 24 p. 216.  b G. Mon. IV 19; Gerv. Tilb. II 3 (v. archiflamen a); tres archiflamines abrogari et ad eorundem sedes tres archiepiscopos, ad sedes vero xxv ~inum xxv episcopos promoveri Elmh. Cant. 134.  c Aldh. VirgP 32 (v. flagitiosus a); 9‥ ~inibus, biscopum , 10‥ ~inibus, episcopis WW; in campo secus viam ubi ~en occubuit crux erecta est, que usque hodie crux episcopi nuncupatur Ord. Vit. V 3 p. 309.

2 flamen [CL] 1 blast of wind. b blowing of air (from bellows or sim.; partly fig.). prosperis ventorum ~inibus Aldh. VirgP 59; validi ~inis procella (De Locis Sanctis) Bede HE V 17; †flamma [l. flamina], blaed GlC F 228; laterna ‥ tam lucida ardebat nullis ventorum ~inibus impedita Asser Alf. 104; ~en ‥ est ventus vel domus vel follis flabri vel latium GlH F 402; prosperum ~en ad navigandum Ord. Vit. XIII 19 p. 53; conflages, -gum, i. loca ventosa in quibus multa confluunt ~ina [cf. Paul. Fest. 40M] Osb. Glouc. Deriv. 209; in medio sistunt libratam flamina nubem, / que solis radiis splendida facta micat Neckam DS I 325.  b GlH F 402 (v. 1a supra); ignem jubet apponi, qui nullis ~inibus nullisve fomentis domui potuit inherere Map NC I 30 f. 23; ut scintilla flamine / paulum enutritur Garl. Poems 6. 19; celestis aurifex fornaci virginis / ‥ / et follem adhibens divini flaminis Walt. Wimb. Carm. 180 (cf. (v. 3 infra)). 2 breath; b (of life). victor opimus, / flammea qui pressit latronis flamina Caci Aldh. VirgV 1344.  b quamdiu aura aetherea et vitali ~ine vesceretur Aldh. VirgP 53; efflavit flamen in auras Id. VirgV 2425; 995 (12c) quamdiu hujus aevi incolatum vitali ~ine rotabilique meatu percurrere cernitur CD 692. 3 the Holy Spirit; b (w. ref. to baptism). magna Patri et Proli cum Flamine gratia dicam Bonif. Carm. 2. 38; ut cecinit lyrico psalmista carmine plenus / Flamine divino Mir. Nin. 12; 985 (12c) in Patris ac Prolis Sanctique ~inis onomate CD 650; in Patris et Nati necnon et Flaminis Almi / nomine Frith. 491; sit gloriae nitor Patri, / sit Filio lux et jugis, / sit procedenti Flamini / ab his venustas luminis Wulf. Poems 164; sicut hic a solio certamina conspicit alto, / omne quod hic gerimus Flamine sicque Deus De lib. arb. 94; conregnante Salvatori nostro cum paterna Majestate et Almi ~inis societate Byrht. V. Ecgwini 394; ut si quis in terrenis ‥ conquiniscit spiritu superno suffragante ~ine surgat V. Neot. A 3; Grecos in Sancto Flamine cecos V. Anselmi Epit. 99; cum Patre cumque Sacro regnat jam Flamine Natus Nig. Laur. 40ra; vidit enim [Lucifer] signi lumen de lumine, verbum / de Patre; vidit item Sacrum procedere Flamen / ex utroque Vinsauf PN 1442; aspiret vobis †Fluminis aura Sacri Garl. Hon. Vit. 42; quem peperit virgo genitum de Flamine Sacro Gower VP 316.  b omnes adulti catholici et asserentes se habere propositum baptizandi, vel pro baptizatis baptismo ~inis se gerunt (tanquam baptizati) judicio ecclesie sunt subjecti Ockham Dial. 436 (recte 438); s1404 baptisma ad aurem dextram non flumine sed flamine ostendunt Ad. Usk 93. 4 (fig., w. ref, to fire), or (?) , or f. l. [angeli] vestibus coccineis sive igneis sunt vestiti quia lumine divine cognitionis, et divine dilectionis flamine [? l. flamma] sunt amicti Bart. Angl. 11 4; s1382 noluit [papa] Angligenam licet heresis defensorem, ignis ~ine [? l. flamma] consumere Knighton II 173.

1 flāmĕn, (10) ĭnis, m. (sync. de filamen, dʼaprès Varro L. 5, 84 ; Prisc. Gramm. 4, 17 ; P. Fest. 87, 15 ), flamine [prêtre, v. not^t dialis ] : Cic. Phil. 2, 110.

2 flāmĕn, (12) ĭnis, n. (flo), souffle : flamina tibiæ Hor. O. 3, 19, 19, modulations de la flûte || vent, brise : Virg. En. 5, 832.

flamen , inis. n.
吹。風。

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flamen , inis. m.
各神之和尙。

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flāmen (1) inis, m

• 2 FLAG-, a priest(of one deity), flamen: divis singulis flamines sunto: flaminem Iovi creavit, L.: Martialis: flaminem prodere: inaugurare, L.

flāmen (2) inis, n

• flo, a blowing, blast, breeze, wind, gale: Berecynthiae tibiae, H.: ramis sine flamine motis, O.: ferunt sua flamina classem, V.: ingens, O.

FLAMEN

FLAMENthe name for any Roman priest who was devoted to the service of one particular god (DIVISQUE ALIIS ALII SACERDOTES, OMNIBUS PONTIFICES, SINGULIS FLAMINES SUNTO, Cic. de Leg. 2.8, § 20), and who received a distinguishing epithet from the deity to whom he ministered (Horum, sc. flaminum, singuli cognomina habent ab eo Deo quoi sacra faciunt, Varr. L. L. 5.84). The ancients derived the word from filum, as if filamen, from the peculiarity of their head-dress (Varr. l. c.; Fest. Epit. 87; Serv. ad Aen. 8.664, 10.270; Dionys. 2.64) or from pilleus (Plut. Num. 7). The real derivation, it is tolerably certain, is from flare in a transitive sense, to blow up a fire; the flamen was always a sacrificing priest. The office is called flaminium in the MSS. and editions of Cicero and Livy; inscriptions, and the Medicean MS. of Tacitus (Tac. Ann. 4.16), give flamonium, undoubtedly the more correct form; rarely flaminatus (Inscrr.).

The most dignified flamens were those attached to Diiovis, Mars, and Quirinus, the Dialis, Martialis, and Quirinalis. The two first are said by Plutarch (l. c.) to have been established by Romulus; but the greater number of authorities agree in referring the institution of the whole three, in common with all other matters connected with state religion, to Numa (Liv. 1.20; Dionys. 2.64ff.). The number was eventually increased to fifteen (Fest. p. 154 b): the three original flamens were always chosen from among the patricians, and styled Majores (Gaius, 1.112); the rest from the plebeians, with the epithet Minores (Fest. Epit. p. 151). Two rude lines of Ennius (ap. Varr. L. L. 7.44) preserve the names of six of these, appointed, says the poet, by Numa,-- Volturnalem, Palatualem, Furrinalem,Floralemque, Falacrem et Pomonalem fecitHic idem.....to which we may add the Flamen Volcanalis (Varr. L. L. 5.84), the Flamen Portunalis (Fest. p. 217 a), and the Flamen Carmentalis (Cic. Brut. 14, § 56). We find mention of the Virbialis, Laurentialis, Lavinalis and Lucullaris, which would raise the number of names to sixteen; but there is nothing to prove that these four were Roman and not merely provincial priests. The most distinguished of all the flamens was the Dialis; the lowest in rank the Pomonalis (Fest. p. 154 b).

Towards the end of the Republic the Lesser Flamens seem not to have been fully kept up; there is no record of the mode of their election, and some of the names were almost forgotten (Varr. L. L. 6.19). Of the flamens in general we are told that their characteristic dress was the apex [APEX], the laena [LAENA], and a laurel wreath; that they were inaugurated (it does not follow that they were appointed) at the Comitia Calata (Gell. 15.27; COMITIAp. 504 b); and that they were at all times subject to the authority of the Pontifex Maximus, against whom, however, they sometimes appealed to the people (Liv. Epit. xix., 37.51; Val. Max.). The office was understood to last for life; but a flamen might be compelled to resign (flamonio abire) for a breach of duty, or even on account of the occurrence of an ill-omened accident while discharging his functions (Liv. 26.23; Val. Max. l. c. § 4). The three Greater Flamens were all, it is probable, elected like the Dialis, respecting whose appointment we have the fullest details; though in other respects they led a much less ceremonious life. When a vacancy occurred, three persons of patrician descent, whose parents had been married by the rite of confarreatio [MATRIMONIUM], were nominated by the college of pontiffs, and one of these chosen and solemnly installed by the Pontifex Maximus (Tac. Ann. 4.16; Liv. 27.8, cf. 29.38; Val. Max.); he was not allowed to refuse, and the word capere applied to this act seems to indicate that he was regarded as a prisoner of the god, forcibly impressed for his service. From that time forward he was emancipated from the control of his father, and became sui juris (Gaius, 1.130; Ulpian, Fragm. 10.5; Tac. Ann. l. c.).

The Dialis enjoyed many peculiar honours, counterbalanced by the most burdensome restrictions in the whole compass even of Roman ceremonial religion. A long catalogue of the latter has been compiled by Aulus Gellius (Gell. 10.15) from the works of Fabius Pictor and Masurius Sabinus, while Plutarch, in his Roman Questions(Nos. 44, 50, 109-113), endeavours to explain their import. The object was evidently to make him, in a literal sense, Jovi adsiduum sacerdotem; to compel constant attention to the duties of the priesthood, and to leave no temptation to neglect them. Other priests were obliged to be equally careful when engaged in performing sacred rites ; but the Dialis was always on parade, and always in full dress. He had a right to the toga praetexta, the sella curulis, and to a seat in the senate by virtue of his office; but in early times he was altogether precluded from seeking any civil magistracy, and at a later period the restriction was only partially relaxed. He might not mount upon horseback, nor even touch a horse, nor look upon an army marshalled (classem procinctam, Gell. l. c.) without the pomoerium; was not allowed to swear an oath (Liv. 31.50; Fest. Epit. p. 104), nor to be out of the city for a single night (Liv. 5.52): a regulation so far modified in imperial times, that an absence of two nights was allowed, not more than twice a year, and with the consent of the Pontifex Maximus (Tac. Ann. 2.58, 71). Thus it was impossible for him to undertake the government of a province, and he was seldom elected to the consulship. His right of sitting in the senate, even, had long fallen into abeyance, when it was revived by the claim of C. Valerius Flaccus in B.C. 209 (Liv. 27.8; compare 1.20). In other respects his privileges were curiously mixed up with the corresponding restrictions: in both we can trace the working of the same principles. As every day was a holiday with him (cotidie feriatus est, Gell.) he was not allowed either to work himself or to see others working. Whenever he went out, he wore the special apex called albogalerus, with an olive-branch twined with white wool (filum) attached to its point (apiculum); the laena, a thick woollen praetexta, woven by the hands of his wife; in one hand he carried a sacrificial knife [SECESPITA], in the other a wand called commetacula, with which he kept the people at a distance. For the same purpose he was preceded by a lictor and by criers called praeciae or praeclamitatores, at whose bidding every one laid aside his work. As emblematic of the divine freedom, he could neither look upon, touch, nor name anything suggestive of bonds or imprisonment: hence he had no knots on any part of his attire, which was fastened instead with clasps (fibulae); his ring had to be split so as not to completely encircle his finger (anulo . .. pervio et casso, Gell. l. c.); he was forbidden to name ivy, on account of its binding properties, or to walk along a path over-canopied by vines, for a similar reason. [These last two prohibitions are wrongly explained by Plutarch: he was under no restrictions as to the use of wine.] If one in bonds took refuge in his house, the chains were immediately struck off, conveyed through the impluvium to the roof, and thence cast down into the street; if a criminal on his way to punishment met him (as was also the case with the Vestals), he could neither be scourged nor executed on that day. None but a free man might out his hair; his beard might only be trimmed with a knife of bronze, the ancient and more sacred metal; the clippings of his hair, and the parings of his nails, were buried beneath a felix arbor. All day long he could not take off his head-dress out of doors (his doing so in the house was a concession in later times); nor strip off his tunic, that he might not be exposed sub oculis Jovis. No one might sleep in his bed, the legs of which were smeared with fine clay; a box containing sacrificial cakes (capsula cum strue a<*>que ferto, Gell.) always stood beside it. The clay on the feet of the bed has been ingeniously explained by Mr. J. G. Frazer; it was an accommodation of an old rule which required him to sleep on the ground (Class. Rev. 2.322). Again, he was forbidden to touch or name anything unclean or suggestive of uncleanness, such as a dead body or a bustum [FUNUS], though he was not preyented from attending a funeral; a dog, a she-goat (because liable to epilepsy [!], Plut. Q. R. 111), beans (because sacred to the dead, Fest. Epit. p. 87; LEMURIA), raw flesh, or fermented dough (fermentata farina, Gell.), because fermentation implies corruption. To cooked meat or leavened bread when baked there was, it seems, no objection.

Flaminica was the name given to the wife of the Dialis. He was required to wed a virgin according to the ceremonies of confarreatio, which regulation also applied to the two other flamines majores (Serv. ad Aen. 4.104, 374; Gaius, 1.112); and he could not marry a second time. Hence, since her assistance was essential to many sacrifices, a divorce was not permitted, and if she died the Dialis was obliged to resign. Their children, if they had any, assisted them in their sacred duties; if not, their place was supplied by camilli and camillae, who were required to be patrimi et matrimi, and in early times to be the offspring of a confarreate marriage [CAMILLI]. The regulations imposed upon the flaminica were similar to those of her husband. In public, her dress consisted of a dyed robe (venenato operitur); her hair was plaited up with a purple band in a conical form [TUTULUS ]; and her head was covered with a veil (flammeum) and a rica, the nature of which is somewhat doubtful [RICA]. She likewise carried the secespita. She was prohibited from mounting a staircase consisting of more than three steps (the text of Aulus Gellius is uncertain, but the object must have been to prevent her ankles from being seen); and when she went to the argei [ARGEI], she neither combed nor arranged her hair. On each of the nundinae a ram was sacrificed to Jupiter in the regia by the flaminica (Macrob. 1.16).

Flaminia, according to Festus and A. gellius, was the house of the Dialis, from which it was unlawful to carry out fire except for sacred purposes. The name flaminia was also given, according to Festus, to a little or perhaps subordinate priestess (sacerdotula) who assisted the flaminica in her duties.

After the death of the flamen Merula, who was chosen consul suffectus on the expulsion of Cinna (Vellei. 2.20; Val. Max.), and who, upon the restoration of the Marian faction, shed his own blood in the sanctuary (B.C. 87), calling down curses on his enemies with his dying breath (Vellei. 2.22), the priesthood remained vacant until the consecration of Servius Maluginensis (B.C. 11) by Augustus, then Pontifex Maximus, Julius Caesar had indeed been nominated in his 17th year, but was never installed; and during the whole of the above period the duties of the office were discharged by the Pontifex Maximus. (Suet. Jul. 100.1, compared with Vellei. 2.43, and the Commentators. See also Suet. Aug. 31; Dio Cass.; Tac. Ann. 3.58.The lastquoted historian, if the text be correct, states that the interruption lasted for 72 years only.)

The municipal towns also had their flamens. Thus the celebrated affray between Milo and Clodius took place while the former was on his way to Lanuvium, of which he was then dictator, to declare the election of a flamen (ad flaminem prodendum, Cic. pro Mil. 10, § 27). After the deification of the emperors, flamens were appointed to offer sacrifices to them both in Rome and in the provinces. Julius Caesar accepted a flamen in his lifetime (Suet. Jul. 76; Cic. Phil. 2.4. 3, § 110); Augustus refused all divine honours within the borders of Italy, but after his death the flamen Augustalis appears (cf. AUGUSTALES). These flamines Divorum did not, as has been sometimes thought, form a collegium with the sodales, but stood in direct relations only with the Pontifex Maximus, i. e. with the emperor himself. We find flamens to emperors who had no sodales, as to Julius, Nerva (Plin. Paneg. 11), Trajan (flamen Ulpialis, C. I. L. 6.1383, Wilm. 1175); and the imperial flamens were required to be patricians, the sodales were not. The former were, in fact, mostly taken fromt he imperial family, e. g. the Gaesars Germanicus and Nero (Orelli, 660, 664), L. Silanus the victim of Claudius and Agrippina (C. I. G. 369), the younger Pertinax (Capitol. Pert. 15). In the case of Antoninus Pius, the flamen ex affinibus is clearly distinguished from the sodales ex amicissimis (Capitol. M. Ant. Phil. 7 extr.). We do not find flamens assigned to any but actual emperors, excluding other deified persons; nor to empresses, with the exception of the elder Faustina, who received more than one flaminica in her husband's lifetime (Capitol. Ant. Pi. 6). With the emperors the appointment of a flamen was the natural accompaniment of consecration; and it can only be accidental that no records are preserved of the flamens of such favourite emperors as Vespasian, Titus, and Alexander Severus. Inscriptions show that, following the analogy of the earlier flamens (Dialis, Martialis, Quirinalis, not Jovis, Martis, Quirini), the flamens of the empire were not called Julii, Augusti, Claudii, &c., but Juliani (Orell. 2242), Augustales (Orell. 2378), Claudiales (Wilmanns, 1174). (Compare Marquardt, Staatsverw. 3.313-319, 453-455; H. Dessau, de sodalibus et flaminibus Augustalibus, Berlin, 1877, and in Ephem. Epigr. 3.205 ff.; AUGUSTALESp. 258 b.)

[W.R] [W.W]

Flamen

(from flare, one who blows or kindles the sacrificial fire; or from the root of flagro, to burn). The special priest of a special deity among the Romans ( De Leg. ii. 8). There were fifteen flamines—three higher ones (flamines maiores) of patrician rank: these were the flamen Dialis (of Iupiter), Martialis (of Mars), and Quirinalis (of Quirinus). The remaining twelve were flamines minores, plebeians, and attached to less important deities, as Vulcanus, Flora, Pomona, and Carmenta. Their office was for life, and they could be deprived of it only in certain cases. The emblem of their dignity was a white conical hat (apex) made out of the hide of a sacrificed animal, and having an olive branch and woollen thread at the top. This the flamines were obliged to wear always out of doors—indeed, the flamen Dialis had originally to wear it indoors as well. They were exempted from all the duties of civic life, and excluded at the same time from all participation in politics. In course of time they were allowed to hold urban offices, but even then they were forbidden to go out of Italy.

The flamen Dialis was originally not allowed to spend a night away from home; in later times, under the Empire, the pontifex could allow him to sleep out for two nights in the year. Indeed, the flamen Dialis, whose superior position among the flamens conferred upon him certain privileges, as the toga praetexta, the sella curulis, a seat in the Senate, and the services of a lictor, was in proportion obliged to submit to more restrictions than the rest. He, his wife, their children, and his house on the Palatine were dedicated to this god. He must be born of a marriage celebrated by confarreatio, and live himself in indissoluble marriage. If his wife died, he resigned his office. In the performance of his sacred functions he was assisted by his children as camilli. (See Camillus.) Every day was for him a holy day, so that he never appeared without the insignia of his office, the conical hat, the thick woollen toga praetexta woven by his wife, the sacrificial knife, and a rod to keep the people away from him. He was preceded by his lictor, and by heralds who called on the people to stop their work, as the flamen was not permitted to look upon any labour. He was not allowed to set eyes on an armed host; to mount, or even to touch, a horse; to touch a corpse, or grave, or a goat, or a dog, or raw meat, or anything unclean. He must not have near him or behold anything in the shape of a chain; consequently there must be no knots, but only clasps, on his raiment; the ring on his finger was broken, and any one who came into his house with chains must instantly be loosened. If he were guilty of any carelessness in the sacrifices, or if his hat fell from his head, he had to resign. His wife, the flaminica, was priestess of Iuno. She had, in like manner, to appear always in her insignia of office—a long woollen robe, with her hair woven with a purple fillet (tutulum) and arranged in pyramidal form, her head covered with a veil and a kerchief, and carrying a sacrificial knife. On certain days she was forbidden to comb her hair. The chief business of the flamines consisted in daily sacrifices; on certain special occasions they acted with the pontifices and the Vestal Virgins. The three superior flamines offered a sacrifice to Fides Publica at the Capitol on the Kalends of October, driving there in a two-horse chariot. During the imperial period flamines of the deified emperors were added to the others. See the illustration under Apex.