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πράξας τῇ σελήνῃ τὴν πρώτην τῆς τρίτης ἡμέρας ὥραν ἀναθήσεις, κἂν οὕτω καὶ διὰ τῶν λοιπῶν πορεύῃ, τὸν προσήκοντα ἑαυτῇ θεὸν ἑκάστη ἡμέρα λήψεται.
Horace, Sat. II, 3, 288–292 has the following:
mater ait pueri menses iam quinque cubantis
'frigida si puerum quartana reliquerit, illo
mane die, quo tu indicis ielunia, nudus
in Tiberi stabit.'
('Jupiter, who givest and removest heavy trouble,' says the mother of the child who has lain on a sick bed for five months, 'if the chill quartan ague leave my child, on that morning on which thou enjoinest a fast, he shall stand naked in the Tiber.')
This passage in which Horace is satirising superstition as a form of madness is sometimes supposed to shew week usage, on the authority of the commentator Porphyrio, who gives as an explanation of 'illo die' 'dies Iovis,' meaning no doubt Thursday. The fact that Thursday was a Jewish fast-day might be adduced as an additional argument; and it seems to be true that we know of no regular 'ieiunia Iovis' in these times, as there were 'ieiunia Cereris.'
Nevertheless the idea does not seem to me to have any real foundation, for: (1) Though Porphyrio's date is vague, he certainly lived at a time when the name of 'Jupiter's day' had come into general use and it was not unnatural that he should interpret the phrase in this way. If we knew that he got the interpretation from any of the earliest commentators, the case would of course be different. (2) Horace is clearly not thinking of Jewish superstitions such as he satirises elsewhere. This is shewn by the address to Jupiter in line 288, and a few lines further down he speaks of the mother as actuated by 'fear of the Gods.' (3) On the other hand