Then, whilst I linger in this "vale of tears,"
What should I think upon, but God and thee!

THOMAS M----s.

* * * * *


ANCIENT ROMAN FESTIVALS

AUGUST.

(_For the Mirror._)


The _Portumnalia_ was a festival in honour of _Portumnus_, who was
supposed to preside over ports and havens, celebrated on the 17th of
August, in a very solemn and lugubrious manner, on the borders of the
Tiber.

The _Vinalia_ were festivals in honour of Jupiter and Venus. The first
was held on the 19th of August, and the second on the 1st of May. The
Vinalia of the 19th of August were called _Vinalia Rustica_, and were
instituted on occasion of the war of the Latins against Mezentius; in
the course of which war, that people vowed a libation to Jupiter of all
the wine in the succeeding vintage. On the same day likewise fell the
dedication of a temple to Venus; whence some authors have fallen into a
mistake, that these Vinalia were sacred to Venus.

The _Consuales Ludi_, or _Consualia_, were festivals at Rome in honour