Lupercālia

, a yearly festival observed at Rome the 15th of February, in honour of the god Pan. It was usual first to sacrifice two goats and a dog, and to touch with a bloody knife the foreheads of two illustrious youths, who always were obliged to smile while they were touched. The blood was wiped away with soft wool dipped in milk. After this the skins of the victims were cut into thongs, with which whips were made for the youths. With these whips the youths ran about the streets all naked except the middle, and whipped freely all those whom they met. Women in particular were fond of receiving the lashes, as they superstitiously believed that they removed barrenne , and eased the pains of child-birth. This excursion in the streets of Rome was performed by naked youths, because Pan is always represented naked, and a goat was sacrificed because that deity was supposed to have the feet of a goat. A dog was added, as a nece ary and useful guardian of the sheepfold. This festival, as Plutarch mentions, was first instituted by the Romans in honour of the she-wolf which suckled Romulus and Remus. This opinion is controverted by others, and Livy, with Dionysius of Halicarna us, observes that they were introduced into Italy by Evander. The name seems to be borrowed from the Greek name of Pan, Lycæus , from λυκος , a wolf ; not only because these ceremonies were like the Lycæan festivals observed in Arcadia, but because Pan, as god of shepherds, protected the sheep from the rapacity of the wolves. The priests who officiated at the Lupercalia were called Luperci . August us forbade any person above the age of 14 to appear naked or to run about the streets during the Lupercalia. Cicero, in his Philippics, reproaches Antony for having disgraced the dignity of the consulship by running naked, and armed with a whip, about the streets. It was during the celebration of these festivals that Antony offered a crown to Julius Cæsar, which the indignation of the populace obliged him to refuse. Ovid , Fasti , bk. 2 , li. 427 .— Varro , de Lingua Latina , bk. 5 , ch. 3 .