OVATION (ovatio) was a lesser triumph allowed to Roman commanders for victories won without the effusion of much blood, or for defeating a mean and inconsiderable enemy. The show generally began at the Alban Mountain, whence the general with his retinue made his entry into the city on foot, with many flutes or pipes sounding in concert as he passed along, and wearing a garland of myrtle as a token of peace. The term ovation, according to Servius, is derived from ovis, a sheep, because on this occasion the conqueror sacrificed a sheep, as in a triumph he
Overall sacrificed a bull. Festus, however, derives it from ovo, "I exult," "I cry O!" while Dionysius maintains it to be a corruption of the Greek bacchanalian ovo. The senate, knights, and principal plebeians assisted at the procession, which concluded at the Capitol, where rams were sacrificed to Jupiter. The first ovation was granted to Publius Postumius Tubertus, for his victory over the Sabines in the 253d year of Rome. (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xv. 29.)