The Pisan Decree
Some background on the decree itself is necessary; the inscription found at Pisa contains almost the entire text of the municipal decree, with a few lines missing in the middle where the stone is broken horizontally (thirty-seven lines survive).
The decree, following the normal pattern, begins with a heading (1-5) and the relatio (5-8), which states that the duumvir C. Canius Saturninus introduced to the council the topic of augmenting the honores for Lucius Caesar, “augur, consul designate, leader of the youth, patron of our colony.” Next, the body states the justification and motivation for the decree, beginning,Since the Senate of the Roman People, among the very many and very great other honors for Lucius Caesar augur, consul designate, the son of Caesar Augustus, father of the fatherland, chief pontiff, holding tribunician power for the twenty-fifth time, in accordance with the consensus of every class zealously. (9-12)
Unfortunately, a lacuna of around nine lines means that the precise language of the end of the motivation and the beginning of the actions approved at Pisa are lost. Following the lacuna, the decree picks up with the decisions of the council, mid-sentence. The decree directs (1) that the town purchase land for a public altar and precinct (ll. 13-16); (2) that inferiae be held annually at the altar (ll. 16-26); (3) that the altar and precinct be maintained at public expense and that a copy of this decree be displayed at the site (ll. 27-31); (4) that the rites should conform to any future instructions from Rome (ll. 31-33); and (5) that the princeps be informed of the town's actions (ll. 33-37).
The second directive, which is the focus of this paper, reads:
Annually at this altar on 20 August the magistrates or whoever has executive power should, veiled in black togas if they are legally and piously able to wear such clothing on that day, offer inferiae at public expense to Lucius's shades (inferias mittere); namely, a black bull and a black ram, adorned with dark ribbons, should be slaughtered for his divine shades; and these victims should be completely burnt at that place; and over them should be poured one jar each of milk, honey, and oil; and then finally the opportunity should be provided to anyone else who wishes to privately offer inferiae to his shades (privatim manibus inferias mittere), so long as no one offers more than one candle, torch, or wreath ([nive quis] amplius uno cereo unave face cornave mittat) and so long as the men who offered the animal sacrifice light the fire, dressed in the Gabine fashion, and watch over it.
utique aput | eam aram quod annis a(nte) d(iem) x[iii k(alendas) Sept(embres) p]ublice Manibus eius per magistratus eosue, qui ibi iure dicendo pr[ae]runt v, togis pullis amictos, (vac.
c. 6) | quibus eorum ius fasque erit eo die [eiu]s | uestis habendae, inferiae mit\tantur bosque et ouis atri infulis caerulis infulati Diis Manibus ei | mactentur eaeque hostiae eo loco adoleantur superque eas (vac. c. 6) | singulae urnae lactis v mellis olei fundantur ac tum demum facta | c[eteris] potestatem, siqui priuatim uelint Manibus eius inferias mitter[e] l[niue quis] amplius uno cereo unaue face coronaue mittat, dum ii qui iml[molauer]int cincti Cabino ritu struem lignorum succendant adque | [exi] nde {h}abeant; (for text, Lott 2012, 57-67)In short, the decree directs public officials to offer inferiae, in the form of animal sacrifices and libations to Lucius's manes, annually on 20 August, the anniversary of his death. As part of the ceremony, there is to be an opportunity for private citizens as well to offer small inferiae, a candle, torch, or wreath. These inferiae would have been offered for the first time on 20 August 3 CE.