AUGŬRIUM

[ Augur . ] AUGUSTĀLES—(1) (sc. lud i , also called August ali a , sc. cert am in a , ludicra ), games celebrated in honour of August us, at Rome and in other parts of the Roman empire. After the battle of Actium, a quinquennial festival was instituted; and the birthday of August us, as well as that on which the victory was announced at Rome, were regarded as festival days. It was not, however, till B.C. 11 that the festival on the birthday of August us was formally established by a decree of the senate, and it is this festival which is usually meant when the August a les or August ali a are mentioned. It was celebrated iv. Id. Octobr. At the death of August us, this festival a umed a more solemn character, was added to the Fasti, and celebrated to his honour as a god. It was henceforth exhibited annually in the circus, at first by the tribunes of the plebs, at the commencement of the reign of Tiberius, but afterwards by the praetor peregrin us.—(2) The name of two cla es of priests, one at Rome and the other in the municipia. The August a les at Rome, properly called sodales August a les , were an order of priests instituted by Tiberius to attend to the worship of August us and the Julia gens. They were chosen by lot from among the principal persons of Rome, and were twenty-one in number, to which were added Tiberius, Drusus, Claudius, and Germanic us, as members of the imperial family. They were also called sacerdotes August a les , and sometimes simply August a les . The August a les in the municipia are supposed by most modern writers to have been a cla of priests selected by August us from the libertini to attend to the religions rites connected with the worship of the Lares, which that emperor was said to have put up in places where two or more ways met; but there are good reasons for thinking that they were instituted in imitation of the August a les at Rome, and for the same object, namely, to attend to the worship of August us. They formed a collegium and were appointed by the dec uri ones , or senate of the municipia. The six principal members of the college were called Seviri , a title which seems to have been imitated from the Seviri in the equestrian order at Rome.