Consus, i, m. [perh. from condo],
a very ancient deity of Italy, a god of the earth and of agriculture, giver of fertility, presiding over counsels and secret plans : CONSVS. CONSILIO. MARS. DVELLO. LARES. COMITIO. POTENTES., old. inscr. in Tert. Spect. 5; cf. Serv. ad Verg. A. 8, 636; Ascon. Cic. Verr. 1, 10, 31; Mart. Cap. 1, § 54.—Hence Romulus consecrated to him the games instituted with the purpose of attracting the Sabine women, Liv. 1, 9, 6, where this deity is called Neptunus Equester; cf. also Serv. l. l. Aus. Idyl. 12 de deis. This festival, subsequently celebrated annually by the Romans, called Consŭālĭa , ium, n., fell on the 21st of August, and at this time the altar of the god, at the lower end of the Circus Maximus, was uncovered, though heaped with earth all the rest of the year, Ov. F. 3, 199 sq.; Varr. L. L. 6, § 20 Müll.; Liv. 1, 9, 6; Paul. ex Fest. p. 41, 15 Müll.; Tert. Spect. 5; Dict. of Antiq. s. v. Consualia.