Editing Roman triumph (section)

===Banquets, games, and entertainments===
In most triumphs, the general funded any post-procession banquets from his share of the loot. There were feasts for the people and separate, much richer feasts for the elite; some went on for most of the night. [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus|Dionysius]] offers a contrast to the lavish triumphal banquets of his time by giving Romulus's triumph the most primitive possible "banquet" – ordinary Romans setting up food-tables as a "welcome home", and the returning troops taking swigs and bites as they marched by. He recreates the first Republican triumphal banquet along the same lines.<ref>Beard, pp. 258–259; cf Livy's "soldiers feasting as they went" at the triumph of [[Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus|Cincinnatus]] (458 BCE).</ref> [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] claims that his aunt earned 20,000 [[Sestertius|sesterces]] by supplying 5,000 [[Thrush (bird)|thrushes]] for [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius|Caecilius Metellus]]'s triumph of 71 BCE.<ref>Beard, p. 49.</ref>

Some triumphs included [[ludi]] as fulfillment of the general's vow to a god or goddess, made before battle or during its heat, in return for their help in securing victory.<ref>Beard, pp. 263–264.</ref> In the Republic, they were paid for by the triumphing general. [[Marcus Fulvius Nobilior (consul 189 BC)|Marcus Fulvius Nobilior]] vowed ''ludi'' in return for victory over the [[Aetolian League]] and paid for ten days of games at his triumph.