pr. Id. Feb.
February 12 in Ancient Rome
Edict of Unity against the Donatists
religionAD 405
Julian date · ≈ Feb 13 on our calendar
Honorius decreed that there be 'one catholic worship' and outlawed the Donatists of North Africa, banning rebaptism and threatening those who stirred up crowds.
Honorius
Background
For nearly a century the churches of North Africa had been split. The Donatists held that clergy who had handed over scriptures during Diocletian's persecution had lost their sacraments, and they rebaptised converts from the rival Catholic church. In many African towns the Donatists were the majority, and violence came from both sides, including bands of rural militants called circumcellions.
In February 405, after Catholic bishops led by Augustine and Aurelius of Carthage appealed for help, Honorius issued this edict at Ravenna: no one was to revive the Manichaeans or Donatists; there was to be "one catholic worship, one salvation"; and those who formed seditious crowds were warned of sharper measures. Related laws classed the Donatists as heretics and banned rebaptism.
Enforcement was uneven, and the conflict dragged on. A conference at Carthage in 411 ruled against the Donatists, and harsher penalties followed, including fines and the confiscation of churches, falling on ordinary believers, tenant farmers and slaves as well as clergy.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 16.5.38; 16.6.3–5 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/3°C (54°/37°F) · rain 26% of days
Rome in FebruaryFebruary was Rome's month of purification and of the dead.
Fields & crops
The west wind (Favonius) brought the first signs of spring around 7 February per Columella 11.2: vines were pruned, trees grafted, and meadows cleared and manured.
Courts & law
February was when the Senate traditionally heard foreign embassies late Republic, per the lex Gabinia and Cicero's letters. Ordinary law courts kept sitting except on festival days.
Senate & politics
As the last month of the old year, February was used for the intercalary month when the pre-Julian calendar needed correcting, inserted after the Terminalia (23 Feb.), a source of political manipulation pre-Julian.
Military
Still the closed season; armies prepared for spring, recruits trained, and supplies were gathered at frontier bases.
Festivals & religion
The month's name comes from februa, means of purification. The Lupercalia (15 Feb.), the Parentalia for the family dead (13–21 Feb.) ending with the Feralia, the Caristia family reunion (22 Feb.) and the Terminalia for boundary stones (23 Feb.) filled it per Ovid, Fasti 2.
Daily life
February was Rome's month of purification and of the dead. During the Parentalia (13–21 February) families brought simple offerings—wreaths, grain, salt, bread soaked in wine, violets—to their ancestors' tombs per Ovid, Fasti 2.533–42. Death was close: perhaps a quarter or more of infants died in their first year, and tombstones for young children are common modern demographic estimate; disputed in detail.
On farms Columella says the west wind (Favonius) starts about 7 February, signalling pruning, grafting and the first spring work per Columella 11.2. The Lupercalia (15 February) saw young men run through the streets striking women with goatskin strips, believed to help fertility and childbirth per Ovid and Plutarch.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 2 · Columella 11.2
All days in February →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Sunt bona, sunt quaedam mediocria, sunt mala plura quae legis hic.
“Some are good, some middling, more are bad, of what you read here.”
Martial, Epigrams 1.16 · translation ours (literal)
