There is a passage in Lactantius also worth quoting 1, 'Quid, qui lapidem colunt informem, atque rudem, cui nomen est Terminus?.... Et huic ergo publice supplicatur, quasi custodi finium Deo: qui non tantum lapis, sed etiam stipes interdum est. Quid de iis dicam, qui colunt talia? nisi ipsos potissimum lapides, ac stipites esse?' 3, 4. Compare Tibullus 1. 1, II 'Nam veneror, seu stipes habet desertus in agris, 4. Sic quoque. Even thus, although represented by an emblem so humble, by a stock or a stone, thou dost possess the power of a god. 5, 6. Te duo, i.e. the two proprietors of adjoining lands pay homage to thee, each on his own side crowning thee with a garland, each presenting thee with a cake. 'Bina' here, as frequently even in prose, is equivalent to 'duo.' 6. Liba. The 'libum' was a cake much used in sacrifices, the ingredients of which were cheese, wheaten flour, and an egg. Cato R. R. 75 gives the receipt— 'Libum hoc modo facito. Casei P. II. bene disterat in mortario: ubi bene distriverit, farinae siligineae libram, aut si voles tenerius esse, selibram similaginis solum eodem indito, permiscetoque cum caseo bene: ovum I. addito, et una permisceto bene. Inde panem facito. Folia subdito: in foco caldo sub testu coquito leniter.' These 'Liba' were called rpia by the Greeks. Curto testu, 'in a potsherd.' The epithet 'curtus' is frequently applied to cracked or broken pottery, e. g. Juvenal, S. 3. 270 'Respice nunc alia ac diversa pericula noctis, and Martial, 3. 82, 3 'Curtaque Ledae sobrius bibat testa.' The form testu, from the nominative 'testus,' is found here and elsewhere in the best MSS., and is recognised by the 1 De falsa religione 1. 20. Q old grammarians. Nonius Marcellus notices also 'testum' in the neuter gender. 9. Minuit. Cuts down the wood into small billets. 10. Et solida, &c. He forces stakes into the ground to serve as support for the pile which he is building up. Pugnat expresses the effort required to thrust them firmly into the hard 'solida' earth. II. Irritat, 'stimulates.' He endeavours to kindle the heap into a blaze with fragments of dry bark. Compare Met. 8.641 'Inde foco tepidum cinerem dimovit, et ignes Suscitat hesternos: foliisque et cortice sicco 12. Canistra, or Canistri (these words are not found in the singular), signify baskets either for domestic purposes, or for containing the sacred utensils used in sacrifices, e. g. Juv. S. 5. 74 'Vin' tu consuetis, audax conviva, canistris Impleri, panisque tui novisse colorem ?' where 'bread-baskets' are meant. 13, 14. Compare this couplet with Tibullus 1. 10, 23 Atque aliquis voti compos liba ipse ferebat, Postque comes purum filia parva favum.' 15. Libantur. See note on 37. 2. 16. Candida turba. Clothed in pure white raiment, such as was worn on holidays, or by those engaged in the service of the gods. Linguis favent, 'observe a solemn silence.' The priest, before commencing a sacrifice, commanded the crowd to be silent, that no ill-omened sound might fall upon his ear and disturb the holy rite. Compare Hor. Od. 3. I 'Odi profanum vulgus, et arceo:= Favete linguis; carmina non prius Audita Musarum sacerdos = Virginibus puerisque canto.' And so Prop. 4. 6, 1 'Sacra facit vates; sint ora faventia sacris.' Lastly, Senec. Vit. Beat. 26 6 Quotiens mentio sacra literarum intervenerit, favete linguis. Hoc verbum non, ut plerique existimant, a favore trahitur: sed imperatur silentium, ut rite peragi possit sacrum, nulle voce mala obstrepente.' expression was εὐφημεῖτε. The corresponding Greek 23. Ambitio, from 'ambire,' properly signifies the act of going round a constituency to solicit their votes, and hence all the feelings which stimulate a candidate, and all the artifices which he or his friends employ to gain the end. Thus it is used in the sense of 'partizanship,' 'undue favour,' 'partiality,' as in the passage before us, and also in Tacit. Hist. I. I 'Sed ambitionem scriptoris facile adverseris: obtrectatio et livor pronis auribus audiuntur.' 25-28. The story here alluded to is to be found in Herodotus 1. 82. 27. Lectus. If this be the true reading, it refers to a circumstance not noticed by Herodotus. 'Nimirum Othryades, Lacedaemoniorum dux, de Argivis victor, sed letalem in modum vulneratus, priusquam animam exhalaret, tropaeo clipei hostilis inscripsit, digitis cruore oblitis, karà 'Apyeiwv Οθρυάδης καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι. Rem narrant plurimi ex antiquis, Herodotus, Plutarchus, Strabo, Pausanias, Maximus Tyrius, Stobaeus, Suidas, Valerius Maximus, alii' Heinsius. 29-32. Livy 1. 55 will serve as a commentary upon these lines. The legend is repeated by Lactantius in the passage, a portion of which was quoted in the introduction to this Extract, and also by Servius in his note on Virg. Ae. 9. 448 'Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum Accolet'....... Livy has preserved another tradition, according to which Iuventas, as well as Terminus, refused to quit her shrine in the Capitol, for in the speech of Camillus, 5. 54, we find 'Hic Capitolium est, ubi quondam capite humano invento responsum est, eo loco caput rerum summamque imperii fore: hic, quum augurato liberaretur Capitolium, Ïuventas Terminusque maximo gaudio patrum nostrorum moveri se non passi.' 33. Festus will explain this couplet. Terminus, quo loco colebatur, super eum foramen patebat in tecto, quod nefas esse putarent, Terminum intra tectum consistere.' The same observation is repeated nearly in the same words in the passages in Lactantius and Servius referred to above. 35. Post illud. 'Post illam constantium, qua in Capitolio constitisti' G. Levitas 'est eius, qui faciel sinit se moveri, facile cedit aliis'G. 41. Laurentes agros. In the geography of the six last books of the Aeneid, the 'Laurentes agri' comprehend the low sandy tract, where, to this day, the 'laurus' grows in great profusion, stretching along the coast south of the mouth of the Tiber; the principal town was Laurentum (Torre di Paterno), the royal abode of Latinus; the site first occupied and fortified by the Trojans was the 'Laurens Castrum.' Virg. Ae. 10. 635. See also Heyne, Excursus 3 on Aen. 7. 42. Dardanio duci. Aeneas. 43. Fibris. According to Varro, Festus, and the old grammarians, 'fibra' properly signifies the extremity of anything,' being the feminine of the obsolete adjective 'fiber,' equivalent to 'extremus.' In the discipline of the Haruspices, the 'fibrae' were the thread-like extremities of the entrails, and especially of the liver, 'caput iocinoris,' to which peculiar importance was attached in the art of divination. Hence 'fibra' is constantly used in reference to the omens derived from the entrails of victims, so Tibull. 1. 8, 3 'Nec mihi sunt sortes, nec conscia fibra deorum, Praecinit eventus nec mihi cantus avis,' and Virg. G. 1. 483, describing the portents which preceded the death of Caesar 'nec tempore eodem Tristibus aut extis fibrae apparere minaces Aut puteis manare cruor cessavit'... 'Fibra' is also used for entrails collectively, as Ov. Fast. 4. 935 'Tura focis, vinumque dedit, fibrasque bidentis,' and for the filaments of the roots of plants, as in Cic. Tuscul. 3.6 'Non solum ramos amputare miseriarum, sed omnes radicum fibras evellere.' 43, 44. Here was the ancient boundary of the Roman territory, according to Strabo 5. 3, 2 'Between the fifth and sixth milestones from Rome there is a place called Phestoi (photo). They point this out as having been the boundary of the Roman territory in the time of Romulus. Both there and in several other places which are considered boundaries, the priests to this day perform the sacrifice which they call Ambarvalia.' 23. ROBIGO. FAS. IV. 901. THE festival of the 'Robigalia' was celebrated on VII. Kal. Mai. (25th April), in order to propitiate the deity 'Robigus' or 'Rubigus,' to whose influence the mildew or smut in corn was attributed. We find 'Robigo' addressed also as a female, but this word seems to mean properly the disease itself, while 'Robigus' is the power which causes it, unless indeed we suppose 'Robigus' and 'Robigo' to have been a married pair, according to the fashion of the Italian deities. The term is thus explained by Servius in his note on Virg. G. 1. 151 'Mox et frumentis labor additus, ut mala culmos ..... 'Robigo autem genus est vitii, quo culmi pereunt, quod a rusticanis calamitas dicitur. Hoc autem genus vitii ex nebula nasci solet, cum nigrescunt et consumuntur frumenta. Inde et Robigus deus et sacra eius septimo Kalendas Maias Robigalia appellantur.' Varro in his treatise de Re Rustica 1. 1, includes 'Robigus' among the twelve 'Dii Consentes' who were worshipped by the husbandman. The passage is so important for the illustration of the old Latin rural superstitions, that it deserves to be consulted. See also Id. de Ling. Lat. 6. 3, and also Pliny H. N. 18. 29, which bears directly upon this and Extract 29 on the Floralia, p. 49. 2. According to Ovid, the commencement of Spring is on the V. Id. Feb. 'En etiam, si quis Borean horrere solebat, Gaudeat a Zephyris mollior aura venit. Quintus ab aequoreis nitidum iubar extulit undis Lucifer, et primi tempora veris eunt' Fast. 2. 147, and in the line before us, the VII. Kal. Mai. is fixed upon as the middle point. On the other hand, Columella 11.2, 15 and 36 'VII. Idus Feb. Callisto sidus occidit; Favonii spirare |