BONA DEA, the good goddess, a myste rious divinity of the Roman mythology, the wife or the daughter of Faunus. Her worship was secret, performed only by women; men were i even required to ignore her name. Her sanc tuary was in a cavern in the Aventine Hill, but her which occurred 1 May, was cele brated in a separate room in the dwelling of the consul who then had the fasces. No man was allowed to be present, and all male statues in the house were covered. The wine used at this festival was called milk, and the vessel in which it was kept, mellarium. After the sacrifices, bacchanalian dances were performed. Accord ing to Juvenal, licentious abominations marked these festivals. The snake was the symbol of the goddess, and this would point to her being considered as possessing a curative, medical power, and in her sanctuary various herbs were offered for sale. By the Greeks the Bona Dea was identified with Hecate, Semele and other divinities.
(°in good faith'), a technical legal expression, to which the law of Great Britain and this country Las annexed a cer tain idea. It is a term used in statutes in Eng land and in acts of the legislatures of all the United States, and signifies a thing done really, with a good faith, without fraud or deceit, or collusion or trust. The word °bona-fide' is restrictive, for a debt may be for a valuable consideration and yet not bona-fide. A debt must be bona-fide at the time of its commence ment or it can never become so afterward. If a contract be made with good faith, subsequent fraudulent acts will not vitiate it, although such acts may raise a presumption of antecedent fraud and thus become a means of proving the want of good faith in making the contract.