This was also the time when military work would be coming to an end. In early times there were of course no lengthy campaigns; and such fighting as there was, the object of which would be to destroy your enemies’ crops and harvest, would as a rule be over in August. Even in later times, when campaigns were longer, the same would usually be the case; and the performance of vows made by the generals in the field, and also their vacation of office, would naturally fall in this month. We find, in fact, that the ludi which occupied so large a number of September days, had their origin in the performance of the _vota_ of kings or consuls after the close of the wars[933]; and we have evidence that the Ides of September was the day on which the earliest consuls laid down their office[934]. There was, in fact, every opportunity for a lengthened time of ease; the people were at leisure and in good temper after harvest and victory; even the horses which took part in the games were home from war service or resting from their labours on the farm[935].
It is not strictly within the scope of this work to describe the ludi Romani, which in their fully organized form were of comparatively late date; but their close connexion with the cult of Jupiter affords an opportunity for some remarks on that most imposing of all the Roman worships.
The ludi Romani came in course of time, as has been said above, to extend from the 5th to the 19th; they spread out in fact on each side of the Ides[936], the day on which took place the ‘epulum Jovis’ in the Capitoline temple. As this day was also the _dies natalis_ of the same temple, and that on which the nail was driven into the wall of the cella Jovis[937], we have a very close connexion between the ludi and the cult of Jupiter. The link is to be found in the fact that in the _ludi votivi_, which were developed into ludi Romani, the vows were made and paid to the supreme god of the State[938]. We have from a later time the formula of such a vow preserved by Livy[939]. ‘Si duellum quod cum rege Antiocho sumi populus iussit id ex sententia senatus populique Romani confectum erit, tum tibi, Iuppiter, populus Romanus ludos magnos dies decem continuos faciet, donaque ad omnia pulvinaria dabuntur de pecunia, quantam senatus decreverit: quisquis magistratus eos ludos quando ubique faxit, hi ludi recte facti donaque data recte sunto.’