Ab urbe condita

In order, therefore, that wars might be not only conducted but also proclaimed with some formality, he wrote down the law, as taken from the ancient nation of the Aequicoli, under which the Fetials act down to this day when seeking redress for injuries. The procedure is as follows: —

The ambassador binds his head in a woollen fillet. When he has reached the frontiers of the nation from whom satisfaction is demanded, he says, “Hear, 0 Jupiter! Hear ye confines”-naming the particular nation whose they are —“Hear, 0 Justice! I am the public herald of the Roman People rightly and duly authorised do I come; let confidence be placed in my words.”

Then he recites the terms of the demands and calls Jupiter to witness: “If I am demanding the surrender of those men or those goods, contrary to justice and religion, suffer me nevermore to enjoy my native land.”

He repeats these words as he crosses the frontier, he repeats them to whoever happens to be the first person he meets, he repeats them as he enters the gates and again on entering the forum, with some slight changes in the wording of the formula.

If what he demands are not surrendered at the expiration of thirty-three days-for that is the fixed period of grace-he declares war in the following terms: “Hear, 0 Jupiter, and thou Janus Quirinus, and all ye heavenly gods, and ye, gods of earth and of the lower world, hear me!