You set bounds to peoples, cities, great kingdoms: without you every field would be disputed. You curry no favour: you aren't bribed with gold, guarding the land entrusted to you in good faith. If you'd once marked the bounds of Thyrean lands, three hundred men would not have died, nor Othryades' name be seen on the pile of weapons. O how he made his fatherland bleed! What happened when the new Capitol was built? The whole throng of gods yielded to Jupiter and made room: but as the ancients tell, Terminus remained in the shrine where he was found, and shares the temple with great Jupiter. Even now there's a small hole in the temple roof, so he can see nothing above him but stars. Since then, Terminus, you've not been free to wander: stay there, in the place where you've been put, and yield not an inch to your neighbour's prayers, lest you seem to set men above Jupiter: and whether they beat you with rakes, or ploughshares, call out: 'This is your field, and that is his!' The lands of other races have fixed boundaries: the extent of the City of Rome and the world is one.
Commentarius · Commentary
Ovid's Fasti, the Terminalia — the festival of the boundary stone. Neighbours from both sides garland it, offer grain and wine, and sing this.
Terminus is a god who literally is a stone and by his nature cannot move. The prayer is therefore built backwards: it is not a request but an order given to a god. "Stay in the position where you have been placed; and yield nothing to a neighbour's asking, lest you seem to have set a man above Jupiter." The god is being reminded of his duties.
Ovid also retells the famous episode here: when the Capitol was built, every god gave way to Jupiter, and Terminus alone refused to move. He was left inside the temple, and a hole was made in the roof so that nothing but the stars should stand above him. A god whose divinity consists entirely in not moving.
And the last line overturns everything: "the space of the Roman City and of the world is one and the same". The god of boundaries is set over a power that has none.
Fons · Source
AuthorOvid
WorkFasti
Section2.659-684
Periodearly 1st c. AD
OccasionTerminalia — song of praise to Terminus sung by neighbours at the boundary-stone after garlands, grain and wine offerings
