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In ancient Roman religion, a lucus (, plural lucī) is a sacred grove.
Lucus was one of four Latin words meaning in general "forest, woodland, grove" (along with nemus, silva, and saltus), but unlike the others it was primarily used as a religious designation, meaning "sacred grove".Paul Roche, Lucan: De Bello Civili, Book 1 (Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 296. Servius defines the lucus as "a large number of trees with a religious significance," as distinguished from the silva, a natural forest, and a nemus, an arboretum that is not consecrated.Servius, note to Aeneid 1.310, arborum multitudo cum religione; Jörg Rüpke, Religion of the Romans (Polity Press, 2007, originally published in German 2001), p. 275, noting that he finds the distinction "artificial." A saltus usually implied a wilderness area with varied topographical features.
A lucus was a cultivated place, more like a wooded park than a forest, and might contain an aedes, a building that housed the image of a god, or other landscaped features that facilitated or gave rise to ritual.Rüpke, Religion of the Romans, pp. 177–178. It has been conjectured,Rüpke, Religion of the Romans, p. 178. for instance, that the Lupercal, referred to as a "cave", was a small lucus with an artificial grotto, since archaeology has uncovered no natural cave in the area.
Apuleius records that "when pious travelers happen to pass by a sacred grove (lucus) or a cult place on their way, they are used to make a vow (votum), or a fruit offering, or to sit down for a while."Apuleius, Florides 1.1.
Whether thou be god or goddess (si deus, si dea) to whom this grove is dedicated, as it is thy right to receive a sacrifice of a pig for the thinning of this sacred grove, and to this intent, whether I or one at my bidding do it, may it be rightly done. To this end, in offering this pig to thee I humbly beg that thou wilt be gracious and merciful to me, to my house and household, and to my children. Wilt thou deign to receive this pig which I offer thee to this end.Cato, On Agriculture 139, Loeb Classical Library translation (1934), Bill Thayer's edition at LacusCurtius: Si deus, si dea es, quoium illud sacrum est, uti tibi ius est porco piaculo facere illiusce sacri coercendi ergo harumque rerum ergo, sive ego sive quis iussu meo fecerit, uti id recte factum siet, eius rei ergo te hoc porco piaculo inmolando bonas preces precor, uti sies volens propitius mihi domo familiaeque meae liberisque meis; harumce rerum ergo macte hoc porco piaculo inmolando esto; Robert E.A. Palmer, The Archaic Community of the Romans (Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 106, connects this ritual to the Lucaria and the clearing of sacred groves in general.
The word piaculum is repeated three times in the prayer, emphasizing that the sacrifice of the pig is not a freewill offering, but something owed to the deity by right (ius). The piaculum compensates the deity for a transgression or offense, and differs from a regular sacrifice offered in the hope of procuring favor in return (do ut des).Cyril Bailey, Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome (University of California, 1932), p. 91.
It is tempting, but misleading, to read ecology principles into ritualized agriculture; for the early Romans, respect was the partner of fear in their regard for the divine forces in nature, and the open invocation with which this prayer begins is a contractual "out" or hedge.J. Donald Hughes, The Mediterranean: An Environmental History (ABC-Clio, 2005), p. 208. The piaculum was a guarantee that the action of clearing was valid.Nicole Belayche, "Religious Actors in Daily Life: Practices and Related Beliefs," in A Companion to Roman Religion, p. 286. Thoreau nonetheless made admiring reference to Cato's prayer in Walden: "I would that our farmers when they cut down a forest felt some of that awe which old Romans did when they came to thin, or let in the light to, a consecrated grove (lucum conlucare)."Henry David Thoreau, Walden p. 235 in the edition of Bill McKibben (Beacon Press, 1997, 2004).
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