POPLIFU´GIA
POPLIFU´GIA or
POPULIFU´GIA, the day of the people's flight, was
celebrated on the 5th of July, according to Varro (
L. L.
6.18), in commemoration of the flight of the Romans, when the inhabitants of
Ficuleae and Fidenae appeared in arms against them, shortly after the
burning of the city by the Gauls; the traditional victory of the Romans,
which followed, was commemorated on the 7th of July (called the
Nonae Caprotinae as a feast of Juno Caprotina), and
on the next day was the
Vitulatio, supposed to
mark the thank-offering of the pontifices for the event. Macrobius (
Macr. 3.2), who wrongly places the Poplifugia on
the nones, says that it commemorated a flight before the Tuscans, while
Dionysius (
2.76) refers its origin to
the flight of the people when Romulus disappeared
[p. 2.464]from the earth. (Marquardt,
Staatsverw. 3.325.)
[
W.S] [
G.E.M]
