The fetial declaration of war

The formula of the fetial — the priest who declared war. Livy gives it as an ancient text going back to the regal period; the fetials still existed in his own day and performed the rite in earnest.

This is not a request. Ego vos testor — I call you to witness: a legal act, testimony under oath. The gods are summoned not to help but to attest a fact — that the other side has broken the law and made no restitution. A war is lawful only when this has been said aloud and entered in heaven.

All three tiers are convened at once: the heavenly, the earthly, the infernal. So complete a list is rare in Roman prayer; here it is needed so that no jurisdiction is left before which the case has not been filed.

Iane Quirine is a very rare title, scarcely found outside this formula. It links Janus with Quirinus and with the gates of his temple, which stood open in wartime: the god of the entrance is responsible for a war's being properly begun.