Bona

A New Latin Dictionary by Charlton T. Lewis Ph.D. and Charles Short, LL. D.

Bŏna Dea (Dīva),

the good goddess , worshipped by the women of Rome as the goddess of chastity and fertility. No man was permitted to enter her temple; but in later times it became the resort of unchaste women, and the scene of license, Macr. S. 1, 12, 21 sqq.; Ov. A. A. 3, 244; cf. also id. ib. 3, 637; Juv. 2, 84 sq.; 6, 314. Clodius invaded this sanctuary, and is hence called by Cicero the priest of the Bona Dea, Cic. Att. 2, 4, 2; id. Har. Resp. 17, 37.

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