a.d. IV Kal. Iun.
May 29 in Ancient Rome
Constantius II leaves Rome after his famous visit
An emperor stunned by Rome
travelAD 357
Julian date · ≈ May 30 on our calendar
After thirty days in Rome, where he stood amazed before the Forum of Trajan, the emperor Constantius II left the city for the Danube frontier.
Constantius II
Background
By the fourth century, emperors rarely lived in Rome. They governed from frontier capitals such as Trier, Milan, Sirmium or Constantinople. Constantius II, son of Constantine, made a grand ceremonial visit to the old capital in 357, and Ammianus Marcellinus, a soldier-historian, described it in one of his most famous chapters.
Ammianus mocks the emperor's stiff dignity: in his carriage he looked straight ahead "as if he had been a statue", never turning his head, spitting or wiping his face. But Rome overwhelmed him. At the Rostra he gazed with "amazed awe" at the Forum; he addressed the senate and the people, enjoyed the races and the chatter of the crowd, and toured the seven hills. He admired the temple of Capitoline Jupiter, the baths "of the size of provinces", the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the theatre of Pompey. In the Forum of Trajan he stood "transfixed", and said he could at least copy Trajan's equestrian statue. The Persian prince Hormisdas replied that he would first need to build a stable as grand as this forum per Ammianus.
He decided to add an obelisk to the Circus Maximus. Then news of invasions on the Danube arrived, and he left on 29 May.
Ancient source: Ammianus Marcellinus 16.10.13–20 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 24°/14°C (75°/57°F) · rain 22% of days
Rome in MayLate spring was a time of hard field labour and fresh food: beans, greens and…
Fields & crops
Hay was cut, barley harvested in warm places, beans threshed, and vines and young crops weeded and hoed per Columella 11.2. Sheep were washed and sheared.
Courts & law
A busy legal season. Romans avoided marrying in May, which was considered unlucky, especially before the Ides per Ovid, Fasti 5.490.
Senate & politics
Senate and assemblies met normally. The temple of Mercury, dedicated on the Ides of May, was the seat of an early guild of merchants per Livy 2.27; on that day traders sprinkled their goods with water from his spring to wash away the month's lies per Ovid, Fasti 5.663–92.
Military
Full campaigning season: armies marched and supply convoys used good roads and calm seas.
Festivals & religion
Floralia ended on 3 May; the Lemuria (9, 11, 13 May) drove ghosts from the house at midnight with black beans; the Argei, rush puppets, were thrown into the Tiber on 14 or 15 May per Ovid, Fasti 5.
Daily life
Late spring was a time of hard field labour and fresh food: beans, greens and the first barley. Enslaved farm workers, often chained in the ergastulum on large estates, did the heaviest work per Columella 1.6–8, who advises on their supervision. In the city, the Floralia's games included mimes and, by tradition, performers who undressed at the crowd's demand per Valerius Maximus and Lactantius; hostile or late sources. Childbirth was a major risk for women at any season; inscriptions record many deaths of young mothers per surviving epitaphs.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 5 · Columella 1 and 11.2
All days in May →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Hoc est vivere bis, vita posse priore frui.
“To be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.23 · translation ours (literal)
