supplicatio

supplĭcātĭo (subpl-), ōnis, f. [supplico]; in relig. lang.,

• a public prayer or supplication, a religious solemnity in consequence of certain (fortunate or unfortunate) public events; a day set apart for prayer, either by way of thanksgiving or of religious humiliation, genuflection (cf. obsecratio): atque etiam supplicatio diis immortalibus pro singulari eorum merito meo nomine decreta est, etc., Cic. Cat. 3, 6, 15: praetor urbanus supplicationes per dies quinquaginta ad omnia pulvinaria constituat, id. Phil. 14, 14, 37; so, decreta ad omnia pulvinaria, id. Cat. 3, 10, 23: quorum (prodigiorum) averruncandorum causā supplicationes in biduum senatus decrevit, Liv. 10, 23, 1; 5, 23, 4: supplicationem habere, id. 10, 47, 7; 31, 9, 6: fuit, id. 37, 3, 5.—Sometimes such a supplicatio was decreed in honor of a victorious general to precede his triumph: cui uni togato supplicationem senatus decreverit, Cic. Sull. 30, 85: ex litteris Caesaris dierum viginti supplicatio a senatu decreta est, Caes. B. G. 4, 38 fin.; 7, 90 fin.; Cic. Prov. Cons. 11, 27; id. Pis. 3, 6; Cato ap. Cic. Fam. 15, 5, 2: dies quindecim supplicatio decreta est, Caes. B. G. 2, 35: supplicatio diem unum Romae, alterum in Capenati agro indicta est, Liv. 27, 4, 15: diem unum supplicatio fuit ob, etc., id. 41, 28, 1: in quatriduum supplicationes decernere, id. 5, 23, 3; 37, 47, 4; Suet. Caes. 24 fin. al.

supplicātio, ōnis, f. (supplico), I) die öffentliche Demütigung vor Gott, die feierliche Verehrung der Götter durch Gebete u. Opfer, bei glücklichen oder unglücklichen Staatsereignissen, das Dankfest, der Buß- od. Bettag, das Buß- und Betfest, supplicatio omnibus diis (für alle G.), quorum pulvinaria Romae essent, indicta est, Liv.: ad omnia pulvinaria supplicationem decernere, Cic.: supplicationem decernere dis immortalibus pro singulari eorum merito alcis nomine (um jmds. willen), Cic.: decernere supplicationes mortuo, Cic., ei uni togato, Cic.: quindecim dies (auf 14 Tage) od. dierum viginti supplicationem decernere, Caes.: supplicationem per triduum ad omnia pulvinaria habere, Liv.: in quadriduum supplicationes decernere, Liv.: ob recitationem supplicationem decernere, Suet.: decernere eo nomine (um deswillen) supplicationes, Tac.: prodigiorum averruncandorum causā supplicationes in biduum decernere, Liv.: supplicationes per dies quinquaginta ad omnia pulvinaria constituere, Cic.: supplicationes habere, Liv.: unum diem Aesculapio supplicationem habere, Liv.: in Crustumino unum diem ipso loco supplicatio fuit, Liv.: supplicatio quoque earum religionum causā fuit, quibus diis decemviri ex libris ut fieret ediderunt, Liv.: Romae dierum viginti supplicatio redditur, wird zum Danke dargebracht, Caes.: quid in gratulationibus supplicationibusque nisi excellentiorem ornatum adiciunt? Liv. – II) die demütige, unbedingte Ergebung, Amm. 17, 13, 21.

supplicatio [LL] 1 (petitionary) prayer. jejunii ac ~onum dies Bede HE IV 14 p. 233; [duram emulationem] non fletus emolliunt, non flectit ~o J. Ford Serm. 106. 8; s1218 Christiani ‥ hoc viso ad ~onem se prosternunt Wend. II 232; in tribunali [divini] ‥ sorciatur sincera, supplex, et intenta ~o E. Thrip. SS II 14; c1504 ut indulgenciam quam optaverunt piis ~onibus consequantur StatOx 314. 2 request, entreaty. b (formal) petition. frequenti ~one rogatus ut monachum indueret Osb. V. Dunst. 12; ad ~onem tam comitis quam nunciorum ‥ versus Limericum vexilla convertit Gir. EH II 12; 1204 ad suplicacionem instantem venerabilis ‥ archiepiscopi R. eum ‥ duximus absolvendum Pat 37b; s1227 non ‥ oportet ut devotioni vestre multis ~onibus insistamus Wend. II 327; exulto quod meis ~onibus acquiescis Ockham Dial. prol.; per frequentatas uxoris sue ~ones Eul. Hist. III 28.  b 1307 nos igitur ~oni predicti clerici nostri in hac parte benignius annuentes AncPet 237/11813; 1315 ~oni predicte ‥ annuentes ordinavimus ‥ Arch. Ox. I 344; c1335 deprecamur ut ~ones nostras apostolice sanctitati directas ‥ dignetur vestra sublimitas ‥ promovere FormOx 94; certiorari volentes si ‥ ~oni predicte annuere valeamus Reg. Brev. Orig. f. 252; 1519 cedulam papiream formam reclamationis sive ~onis ‥ continentem Form. S. Andr. I 218; 1559 beneficium ad praesentationem, seu ~onem, aut nominationem regiam spectans Conc. Scot. II 166.

supplĭcātĭō, (10) ōnis, f. (supplico), prières publiques, actions de grâces rendues aux dieux : diis immortalibus decreta est Cic. Cat. 3, 15, des actions de grâces aux dieux immortels furent décrétées ; supplicationes per dies quinquaginta ad omnia pulvinaria constituere Cic. Phil. 14, 37, faire célébrer des actions de grâces pendant cinquante jours dans tous les temples, cf. Liv. 40, 28, 9 ; dierum viginti supplicatio Cæs. G. 4, 38, 5, une fête dʼactions de grâces de vingt jours, cf. Cic. Prov. 27 ; dierum viginti supplicatio redditur Cæs. G. 7, 90, 8, en reconnaissance on célèbre une fête dʼactions de grâces de vingt jours || dies quindecim supplicatio decreta est Cæs. G. 2, 35, 4, une fête dʼactions de grâces fut décrétée pour une durée de quinze jours, cf. Liv. 27, 4, 15 ; 41, 28, 1 ; in quatriduum Liv. 5, 23, 3, pour quatre jours, cf. Liv. 37, 47, 4 || alicui supplicationem decernere Cic. Sulla 85, décréter des prières publiques en lʼhonneur de qqn, ou nomine alicujus Cic. Cat. 3, 15, au nom de qqn, cf. Cic. Prov. 27 ; Cat. 4, 5.

supplicatio , onis. f.
祈求。祈禱神。

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supplicātiō (subpl-) ōnis, f

• supplico, a public prayer, supplication, religious solemnity, day of prayer, day of humiliation, thanksgiving day, festival: supplicationes per dies quinquaginta constituere: supplicationes in biduum senatus decrevit, L.: dierum viginti supplicatio a senatu decreta est, a thanksgiving for victory, Cs.: supplicatio diem unum Romae indicta, L.

SUPPLICATIO

SUPPLICA´TIO, Areligious rite, or series of rites, decreed with two different objects: viz., 1, as a solemn act of thanksgiving to the gods on account of a victory or successful campaign; or 2, as an act of humiliation, on account of some calamity, actual or impending, such as pestilence or defeat, or oftener on account of the occurrence of prodigies and portents, which were supposed to threaten evil to the state.

When a supplicatio was decreed in the sense of a thanksgiving, the procedure was as follows:--The senate was consulted by a magistrate, and authorised the consuls to issue an edict fixing the number of days over which it should extend, and other necessary particulars, such as whether it should be confined to the city only, or should take place throughout the extent of the Tribus Rusticae also, or even in the allied Italian communities; and to what god or gods special adoration should be paid (cf£ Liv. 27.51, 34.42-Z2, 40.28-Z2, 45.3-Z2; Cic. Phil. 14.1. 4, 37, where the senatorial decree is given in full; in this last case in the absence of both consuls, as in many others, the edict is to issue from the Praetor urbanus). This method of procedure was continued even under the Empire (Mommsen, Staatsrecht, 3.2, 1061, note 6).

A supplicatio, in the sense of prayer and expiation, was also set on foot by senatorial decree; but in this case the magisterial edict (indictio) was based on the advice of a college of priests (cf. Mommsen, l. c.). In simple matters of expiation the senate would refer the question to the pontifices, who decreed the necessary simple piacula, according to old Roman custom (Liv. 24.44, 9; 30.38-Z2, 9), in the form of a novendiale sacrum or obsecratio (Marquardt, Staatsv. iii.3 260); but in difficult matters, as for example where the meaning of a portent is doubtful, they refer the question to the keepers of the Sibylline books [DECEMVIRI SACRIS FACIUNDIS ], who, after consulting the books, advise a supplicatio, sometimes with the addition of a fast (jejunium) or of a novendiale sacrum (Liv. 36.37). In one instance at least, Livy represents a supplicatio, in this case of one day only, as resulting from a decree of the PONTIFICES (Liv. 27.37; cf. 32.1, where he makes the haruspices take the place of the keepers of the Sibylline books). It does not therefore seem certain that in every instance an expiatory supplicatio was the result of an examination of the sacred books; but in the majority of cases it was so, and the ritual of the ceremony must be considered as closely bound up with the Greek forms of religious usage, introduced into Rome through the instrumentality of the books and their interpreters [see LIBRI SIBYLLINI ].

The development of the rites of supplicatio in the course of Roman history cannot be traced with certainty. The elaborate ritual of the Lectisternia, which formed the chief part of an expiatory supplicatio, as well as (in later times at least) of those which were decreed as thanksgivings (Cic. Phil. 14.1. 4, 37), belonged to an age in which Greek deities and Greek worship had made their way into the Roman state [see LECTISTERNIA ]. All the prominent features of the Lectisternia were Greek: the reclining position of the images of the gods; the prostration of the worshippers, and the garlands they wore. Was there a purely Italian germ on which this foreign ritual had engrafted itself? Such a germ may perhaps be found in the Italian piaculum or expiatory sacrifice, which was capable of being extended in length and importance in the case of either periodical lustration or of alarming prodigia, and was often accompanied by processions and other rites, as we see it in the great ritual inscription of Iguvium (Tab. vi. Bücheler, Umbrica, pp. 42 foil.). Some even of the features of the lectisternia may possibly be traced to an Italian origin (Preller, Röm. Myth. i.3 150): Varro, e.g., tells us (ap. Serv. ad Aen. 10.76) that at the birth of a child a couch was spread in the atrium of the house for Picumnus and Pilumnus--deities whose antiquity is some guarantee for that of the practice; and in the domestic worship of the Lares it was customary to set apart for them a part of each meal, and to use wine, incense, and garlands (Marquardt, 3.128). Again, the obsecratio, which often formed a part of the general ritual of the supplicatio (as in Liv. 4.21, 5; 27.11-Z2), and which consisted of a formal prayer led by the priests and repeated by the people, in contradistinction to the prayers and prostrations of the Graecus ritus, where everyone prayed on his own behalf, betrays a genuine Italian character. But as the Greek spirit entered more and more into religious usage, not only the ordinary features of the lectisternia, but elaborate processions of singing virgins, and other such rites as are described in Liv. 27.37, were added to the ordinary ceremony of the supplicatio.

A susplicatio in early times lasted from one to five days (Liv. 3.63, 5; 5.23-Z2; 10.23-Z2; 21.8-Z2). Later on, in proportion as it lost the reality of its religious meaning, its length increased to ten, fifteen, twenty, and even fifty days; but in these cases it seems always to have been a ceremony of thanksgiving, and not of expiation. A supplication of ten days was first decreed in honour of Pompeius at the conclusion of the Mithridatic war (Cic. de Prov. Cons. 11, 27), and one of fifteen days after Caesar's victory over the Belgae, an honour which Caesar himself says had never been granted to anyone before (Caes. B. G. 2.35). Later a supplicatio of twenty days was decreed after his conquest of Vercingetorix (B. G. 7.90). From this time the senate seems to have frequently increased the length out of mere compliment to the general (Dio Cass.and 42; Cic. Phil. 14.1. 4, 37). In these cases it was of course impossible that all the days should be public holidays [FERIAE]; nor does it seem likely that at any period a supplicatio necessarily implied a holiday (Liv. 3.5; 40.28-Z2). A supplicatio was in the last age of the Republic usually regarded as a prelude to a triumph, but it was not always followed by one, as Cato reminds Cicero in a letter, after a supplicatio had been decreed in his honour during his proconsulship in Cilicia (Cic. ad Fam. 15.5). The same honour was conferred upon Cicero on account of his suppression of the conspiracy of Catiline; this being the first occasion on which it had been awarded to any one acting in a civil capacity [TOGATUS ], as he frequently takes occasion to mention (Cat. 3.6, 10; in Pis. 3, 6; Phil. 2.6, 13).

[W.W.F]

Supplicatio

The Roman fast day, or day of humiliation, celebrated originally in times of great distress, after the Sibylline Books had been duly consulted. The whole population, both of the towns and surrounding country, free-born and emancipated, men, women, and children, took part in the solemnity. The whole ceremony had a Greek rather than a Roman colour. From the Temple of Apollo, priests and laymen, crowned with wreaths of bay, marched in procession to the sound of singing and the notes of the lyre, visiting all the holy places, especially those where lectisternia were held. According to the rite introduced from the Oriental Greeks of Asia Minor, the Romans touched with their faces the threshold of the sanctuaries, prostrated themselves before the statues of the gods, clasping their knees and kissing their hands and feet. While the prayers were being said, incense and wine were offered, the prayers being rehearsed by the members of the collegium intrusted with the care of the Sibylline Books (see Sibyllae), and the performance of the holy rites prescribed by them. On such days the temples ordinarily closed to the public, or only accessible under certain restrictions, were, so far as practicable, thrown open to all. The thanksgivings decreed by the Senate after great victories were celebrated in a similar manner. These originally lasted only one day, but in the course of time were lengthened (e. g. for Pompey's victory over Mithridates, one of ten days; for Caesar's conquest of the Belgae, one of fifteen days; and for his defeat of Vercingetorix, one of twenty days), until, at the end of the Republic, they sometimes extended over forty or fifty days, and were often united with a public feasting of the people.