a.d. IX Kal. Dec.
November 23 in Ancient Rome
Constantius II bans night-time sacrifices
religionAD 353
Julian date · ≈ Nov 24 on our calendar
Writing to the prefect of Rome, Constantius II abolished the nocturnal sacrifices that the usurper Magnentius had allowed.
Constantius II
Background
In 350 the general Magnentius overthrew the emperor Constans and ruled the West for three years. To win support from Rome's traditional aristocracy he seems to have allowed sacrifices at night, which earlier Christian emperors had banned because they were associated with magic and secret plotting the link to Magnentius' policy rests on this law alone.
After Magnentius' defeat and suicide in August 353, Constantius II wrote to the prefect of Rome on 23 November and cancelled that permission. The law is short: the night sacrifices allowed by Magnentius' authority were to be abolished, and the "nefarious licence" was to end.
For ordinary worshippers this mainly touched private and night-time rites, not the public cults of Rome, which still ran with state support. It is one step in a long series of laws that narrowed what non-Christians could legally do.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 16.10.5 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 15°/7°C (59°/45°F) · rain 37% of days
Rome in NovemberFor farmers, the weeks of ploughing and sowing were long and wet.
Fields & crops
Main sowing of wheat and beans; Columella marks winter's start around 10 November and advises finishing sowing by the Kalends of December per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
The Plebeian Games (4–17 Nov.) closed courts on many days; legal business resumed in late November late Republic.
Senate & politics
Elections for the next year's magistrates were sometimes delayed into autumn in troubled years; Cicero's First Catilinarian was delivered in November 63 BC.
Military
Sailing largely stopped from around 11 November per Vegetius, a late source; armies moved into winter quarters.
Festivals & religion
Ludi Plebeii with the Epulum Iovis on the Ides; in late antiquity the Isia of Isis (28 Oct.–1 Nov.) and the start of the Brumalia (24 Nov.) per the Chronography of 354.
Daily life
For farmers, the weeks of ploughing and sowing were long and wet. In Rome, the Plebeian Games brought free shows, but a holiday meant no pay for day labourers. With sea traffic stopped, city grain prices depended on what had been stored before winter.
The poor lived in crowded apartment blocks (insulae), where upper floors had no water or heating and braziers caused fires; Juvenal mocks the risk of collapse and fire satire, Juvenal 3.
Sources: Columella 11.2 · Chronography of 354 · Juvenal, Satire 3
All days in November →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Ille sapit quisquis, Postume, vixit heri.
“The wise man, Postumus, is whoever lived yesterday.”
Martial, Epigrams 5.58 · translation ours (literal)
