Editing Aius Locutius

{{Short description|Roman deity}}
[[File:Evariste-Vital Luminais - Gaulois en vue de Rome.jpg|thumb|Artistic interpretation of the Gauls approaching Rome by Evariste-Vital Luminous.|right|261x261px]]

'''Aius Locutius''' ({{langx|la|āius locūtius}}, spoken affirmation), or '''Aius Loquens''' ({{langx|la|āius loquens}}, speaking affirmation), was a [[Roman mythology|Roman]] [[List of Roman deities|deity]] or [[numen]] associated with the [[Battle of the Allia|Gallic invasions]] of Rome during the early 4th century BC.

According to [[Roman mythology|legend]], a Roman [[plebs|plebeian]] named M. Caedicius heard a supernatural, nocturnal voice that issued from [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta's]] sacred grove,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Turfa |first=Jean MacIntosh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5g3h5G16EkC |title=The Etruscan World |date=2014-11-13 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-05530-2 |language=en}}</ref> at the base of the [[Palatine hill]]. It warned him of an imminent Gaulish attack, recommended that the walls of Rome be fortified and instructed him to pass these messages on to the [[tribune of the plebs]], but because of the messenger's humble station, the message was ignored.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Driediger-Murphy |first1=Lindsay Gayle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zx6yDwAAQBAJ |title=Ancient Divination and Experience |last2=Eidinow |first2=Esther |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-884454-9 |pages=90 |language=en}}</ref> In consequence, the Gauls entered and burned the city (c. 390&nbsp;BC).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Francesca |first=Vio, Rohr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JUhkEAAAQBAJ |title=Powerful Matrons: New political actors in the Late Roman Republic |date=2022 |publisher=Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza |isbn=978-84-1340-452-3 |pages=47 |language=en}}</ref> Once the Gauls were repelled, the Senate built a temple and altar (known as ''Ara Aius Locutius'' or ''Ara Saepta'') to propitiate the unknown deity who had offered the warning.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=William|title=A Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography|date=1904|publisher=John Murray|location=London|page=40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYQcdGKV9psC&pg=PA40}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Platner |first=Samuel Ball |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYqFBwAAQBAJ |title=A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome |date=2015-05-21 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-08324-9 |language=en}}</ref> This was said to have been set up where Caedicius had heard the divine voice. Later Roman historians disputed its exact location and no trace remains of the temple or altar; the latter has been historically misidentified with the Palatine altar inscribed ''[[si deus si dea]]'' ("whether god or goddess"), in cautious dedication to some unknown deity.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Richardson|first1=L.|title=A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome|date=1992|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore|page=[https://archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich/page/5 5]|url=https://archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich|url-access=registration|isbn=9780801843006}}</ref><ref>Alvar, Jaime, “Matériaux Pour L'étude De La Formule Sive Deus, Sive Dea.” ''Numen'', vol. 32, no. 2, 1985, pp. 236–273, [[JSTOR]], [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3269812]</ref>

In the broad context of official [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman religion]], Aius Locutius is exceptional. Officially, the gods might speak through the cryptic writings and utterances of specialised [[oracles]], or through a complex system of signs in answer to the specific questions of State [[augurs]]. They might also grant signs of fortune to their most favoured protégés, or speak privately to them in dreams. Aius Locutius gave clear, urgent instructions of great importance to the State, in a voice "clearer than human", but in everyday Latin, to an ordinary plebeian passer-by. Thereafter, according to [[Cicero]], "having acquired a temple, an altar, and a name, 'Speaker' never spoke again".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ando|first1=Clifford|title=The Matter of the Gods: Religion and the Roman Empire|date=2008|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|page=125|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vmQkvj9qdXkC&dq=locutius&pg=PA125|isbn=9780520250833}} Author's paraphrasis of Cicero, ''De divinatione'', 2.69.</ref> As a trained augur, Cicero was obliged to successfully identify and expiate any prodigies, including such "divine noise" that might signal imminent disaster or divine discontent. Beard (2012) places Aius Locutius at the "extraordinary limit" of such sounds, for the unequivocal clarity of the warning, and the consequences of its rejection by Roman authorities; a god "defined by his voice alone".<ref>[[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]], "Cicero's 'Response of the haruspices' and the Voice of the Gods", pp. 28-29 in ''The Journal of Roman Studies'', Vol. 102 (2012), pp. 20-39, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, available at [[JSTOR]] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41724964] (subscription required)</ref>

The epithet ''Locutius'' was also used to invoke one of the [[List of Roman birth and childhood deities|deities concerned with child development]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rüpke|first1=Jörg|title=Religion in Republican Rome: Rationalization and Ritual Change|date=2002|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia|page=182}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Roman religion}}

[[Category:Roman gods]]