【简译】维斯塔贞女（罗马宗教）

2022-09-28 09:11 作者:神尾智代 0人读过 | 我要投稿

Vestal Virgins (Latin: Vestales) were the priestesses of the Roman goddess of the hearth, Vesta, in the state religion of ancient Rome. At varying times there were four to six priestesses employed. They were the only full-time clergy (collegia) of a Roman deity which attests to the high regard in which the goddess was held. They tended the sacred fire in the shrine of Vesta in the Roman Forum and performed other rites associated with the goddess such as caring for the sacred objects in the shrine and inner sanctuary, preparing ritual food and officiating at public events during the yearly Vestalia, Vesta's feast days (June 7-15). They also ritually prepared the herbs sprinkled on sacrifices and made the bread (pane) which was offered on feast days such as March 1st, which was the Roman New Year.

维斯塔贞女（拉丁文：Vestales）是古罗马宗教中炉灶女神维斯塔的女祭司，平时有四到六名女祭司。她们是罗马神祗中唯一的全职神职人员（collegia），这证明了该女神受到人们的高度重视。维斯塔贞女负责照看罗马广场上维斯塔神殿中的圣火，并执行与女神有关的仪式，如照看神殿和内部圣所中的圣物、准备祭祀食物，并在每年的维斯塔节（6月7日至15日）期间主持公共活动。她们还在仪式上准备洒在祭品上的草药，并制作面包（pane），在节庆日（如3月1日，即罗马新年）提供给朝拜者。

The Roman writer Plutarch (45-120 CE) notes, "Some are of the opinion that these vestals had no other business than the preservation of [the sacred] fire; but others conceive that they were keepers of other divine secrets, concealed from all but themselves." Their duties required them to remain chaste and male clergy were not allowed to participate in the rites concerning Vesta and the Vestales. The Collegia of the Vestales, according to ancient writers such as Livy, was instituted during the reign of the second (possibly mythical) Roman king Numa Pompilius (717-673 BCE) and remained a sigificant part of Roman life until 394 CE when the Christian emperor Theodosius I decreed against pagan rituals, had the sacred fire put out, and dissolved the Vestales.

罗马作家普鲁塔克（公元45-120年）指出："有些人认为，这些女祭司除了保护[圣火]之外，没有其他事务；但其他人认为，她们是神圣秘密的守护者，除了她们自己之外，对所有人都隐瞒了。" 她们的职责要求其必须保持贞洁，男性神职人员不允许参与有关维斯塔和维斯塔的仪式。根据李维等古代作家的说法，维斯塔神殿是在第二任（可能是神话中的）罗马国王努玛·庞皮留斯（公元前717-673年）统治时期建立的，直到公元394年基督教皇帝狄奥多西一世下令反对异教仪式，将圣火扑灭，并解散了维斯塔神殿。

The virgins were chosen between the ages of six and ten years old by the chief priest and had to serve for 30 years (during which time they, of course, had to remain chaste). Once their 30 years of service was completed, they were free to marry, but very few did as it was considered unlucky since they had, essentially, been the brides of Vesta for most of their lives and were consecrated to the goddess. Plutarch writes,

The whole [of their] term being completed, it was lawful for them to marry, and leaving the sacred order, to choose any conditions of life that pleased them; but of this permission few, as they say, made use; and in cases where they did so, it was observed that their change was not a happy one, but accompanied ever after with regret and melancholy; so that the greater number, from religious fears and scruples, forebore, and continued to old age and death in the strict observance of a single life.

贞女们在六岁到十岁之间，由祭司长挑选，被选者必须服务30年（当然，在此期间她们必须保持贞洁）。一旦她们完成了30年的服务，她们就可以自由结婚，但很少有人这样做，因为这被认为是不吉利的，因为她们基本上是维斯塔的新娘，在她们生命的大部分时间里都被献给了女神。普鲁塔克写道：

她们的任期结束后，可以合法地结婚，并离开神圣的秩序，选择她们喜欢的生活环境；但正如她们所说，很少有人利用这一许可；在这样做的情况下，人们发现贞女们的变化并不快乐，而是一直伴随着遗憾和忧郁；因此，更多的人出于宗教恐惧和顾虑，放弃了结婚的想法，继续严格遵守单身生活，直至年老和死亡。

If a Vestal Virgin failed in her duties, she was severely beaten and the punishment for loss of virginity was being buried alive, though other, worse, punishments were sometimes given such as having molten lead poured down one's throat. Even so, the Vestal Virgins were honored by the community, had most of their needs provided for by temple tithes, and were free of many of the restrictions Roman women had to endure. It was, in fact, because they were so highly regarded that the punishment of breaking their vows was so severe. Plutarch writes, "If these vestals commit any minor fault, they are punishable by the high-priest only, who scourges the offender, sometimes with her clothes off, in a dark place, with a curtain drawn between; but she that has broken her vow is buried alive near the gate called Collina, where a little mound of earth stands." Most of the virgins on record kept their vows, however, and continued through time to honor their goddess Vesta, and the city and people of Rome, until the coming of Christianity.

如果维斯塔贞女没有履行职责，她就会遭到毒打，失去贞操的惩罚是被活埋，尽管有时会有其他更严重的惩罚，如将熔化的铅倒入喉咙。即便如此，维斯塔贞女还是受到了社会的尊重，她们的大部分日常需求由神庙的什一税提供，并且不受罗马妇女必须忍受的许多限制。事实上，正是因为她们受到如此高的重视，所以对违背誓言的惩罚才如此严厉。普鲁塔克写道："如果这些贞女犯了任何小错，只能由大祭司来惩罚，大祭司会在一个黑暗的地方鞭打她们，有时还会脱掉她的衣服；违背誓言的人会被活埋在一个叫科里纳的门附近，那里有一个小土堆。" 然而，记录在案的大多数贞女都遵守了誓言，并随着时间的推移继续纪念她们的维斯塔女神，直到基督教的到来。

The fall of the Roman Empire, it was argued, was caused by the acceptance of Christianity and the neglect of the old gods who had kept the city safe and prosperous for so long. Both St. Augustine and Orosius wrote in defense of this very accusation. The desecration of the temple of Vesta, and the disbanding of the Vestal Virgins, was seen by pagans as the height of ingratitude for the service the goddess had given the city over the centuries. A woman named Serena, the Christian niece of Theodosius I, is said to have desecrated Vesta's temple by taking the necklace from her statue and claiming it for her own. For this act she was cursed by one of the last remaining Vestal Virgins and was tormented by nightmares about her impending death. Whether she died young is not known, nor is the truth of the account verified, but the fact that it survives attests to the importance the Vestales played in the life of ancient Rome and what their loss meant to those of the city who did not place their faith in the new god of the Christians.

有人认为，罗马帝国的衰落是由于接受了基督教，忽视了长期以来维持城市安全和繁荣的旧神。圣奥古斯丁和奥罗西乌斯都为这一指责写了辩护词。亵渎维斯塔神庙和解散维斯塔贞女，被异教徒视为对该女神几个世纪以来给予该城市的服务忘恩负义的表现。一个叫塞雷娜的女人，狄奥多西一世的基督徒侄女，据说亵渎了维斯塔的神庙，从她的雕像上取下项链并据为己有。因为这一行为，她被最后剩下的一个维斯塔贞女诅咒，并被关于她即将死亡的噩梦所折磨。她是否英年早逝不得而知，这段记载的真实性也没有得到证实，但这一事实证明了维斯塔贞女在古罗马生活中的重要性，以及她们的离去对那些不相信基督教新神的城市人意味着什么。