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previous: 1‑24 This webpage reproduces a portion of Roman Questions by Plutarch published in Vol. IV of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1936 The text is in the public domain. This text has not yet been proofread. If you find a mistake though, please let me know! next: 45‑72

(Vol. IV) Plutarch, Moralia

 p41  Roman Questions

(Part 2 of 5 on this website)

25 269e Why do they reckon the day that follows the Kalends, the Nones, or the Ides as unsuitable for leaving home or for travel?

Is it, as most authorities think and as Livy​47 records, that on the day after the Ides of Quintilis, which they now call July, the military tribunes led out the army, and were vanquished in battle by the Gauls at the river Allia and lost the City? But when the day after the Ides had come to be regarded as ill-omened, did superstition, as is its wont, extend the custom  p43 further, and involve in the same circumspection the day after the Nones and the day after the Kalends?

fOr does this contain many irrational assumptions? For it was on a different day that they were defeated in battle,​48 a day which they call Alliensis from the river, and make a dread day of expiation;​49 and although they have many ill-omened days, they do not observe them under the same names​50 in each month, but each in the month in which it occurs; and it is thus quite incredible that the superstition should have attached itself simply to all the days that follow immediately after the Nones or the Kalends.

Consider the following analogy: just as they have dedicated the first month to the gods of Olympus, and the second, in which they perform certain rites of purification and sacrifice to the departed, to the gods of the lower world, 270so also in regard to the days of the month they have established three as festive and holy days, as I have stated,​51 which are, as it were, fundamental and sovereign days; but the days which follow immediately they have dedicated to the spirits and the dead, and have come to regard them as ill-omened and unsuitable for business. In fact, the Greeks worship the gods on the day of the new moon; the next day they have duly assigned to the heroes and spirits, and the second bowl of wine is mixed in honour of the heroes and heroines.​52 And speaking generally, time is a sort of number; and the beginning of number is divine, for it is the monad. But after it is the dyad, antagonistic to the beginning number, and the first of the even numbers. bThe even numbers are imperfect, incomplete,  p45 and indeterminate, just as the odd numbers are determinate, completing, and perfect.​53 Wherefore, in like manner, the Nones succeed the Kalends at an interval of five days and the Ides succeed the Nones at an interval of nine days. For the odd numbers define the beginnings but even numbers, since they occur after the beginnings, have no position nor power; therefore on these days they do not begin any business or travel.

Or has also the saying of Themistocles​54 some foundation in reason? For once upon a time, said he, the Day-After had an altercation with the Feast-Day on the ground that the Feast-Day had much labour and toil, whereas she herself provided the opportunity of enjoying in leisure and quiet all the things prepared for the festival. To this the Feast-Day replied c"You are quite right; but if I had not been, you would not be!" This story Themistocles related to the Athenian generals who succeeded him, to show that they would have been nowhere, if he himself had not saved the city.

Since, therefore, all travel and all business of importance needs provision and preparation, and since in ancient days the Romans, at the time of festivals, made no provision or plan for anything, save only that they were engaged in the service of their gods and busied themselves with this only, just as even to this day the priests cause such a proclamation to be made in advance as they proceed on their way to sacrifice; so it was only natural that they did not set out on a journey immediately after their festivals, nor did they transact any business, for they were  p47 unprepared; dbut that day they always spent at home making their plans and preparations.

Or is it even as men now, who have offered their prayers and oblations, are wont to tarry and sit a while in the temples,​55 and so they would not let busy days succeed holy days immediately, but made some pause and breathing-space between, since business brings with it much that is distasteful and undesired?

26 1   Why do women in mourning wear white robes and white head-dresses?

Do they do this, as men say the Magi do, arraying themselves against Hades and the powers of darkness, and making themselves like unto Light and Brightness?

Or is it that, just as they clothe the body of the dead in white, ethey think it proper that the relatives should also wear this colour? They adorn the body thus since they cannot so adorn the soul; and they wish to send forth the soul bright and pure, since it is now set free after having fought the good fight in all its manifold forms.

Or are plainness and simplicity most becoming on these occasions? Of the dyed garments, some reflect expense, others over-elaboration; for we may say no less with reference to black than to purple: f"These be cheating garments, these be cheating colours."​56 That which is naturally black is dyed not through art, but by nature; and when it is  p49 combined with a dark colour, it is over­powered.​57 Only white,​58 therefore, is pure, unmixed, and uncontaminated by dye, nor can it be imitated; wherefore it is most appropriate for the dead at burial. For he who is dead has become something simple, unmixed, and pure, once he has been released from the body, which is indeed to be compared with a stain made by dyeing. In Argos, as Socrates​59 says, persons in mourning wear white garments washed in water.

27 1   Why do they regard all the city wall as inviolable and sacred, 271but not the gates?

Is it, as Varro has written, because the wall must be considered sacred that men may fight and die with enthusiasm in its defence? It was under such circumstances, it seems, that Romulus killed his brother because he was attempting to leap across a place that was inviolable and sacred, and to make it traversable and profane.

But it was impossible to consecrate the gates, for through them they carry out many other objectionable things and also dead bodies.​60 Wherefore the original founders of a city yoke a bull and a cow, and mark out with a plough all the land on which they intend to build;​61 and when they are engaged in tracing​62 the circuit of the walls, as they measure off the space intended for gates, bthey lift up the ploughshare and thus carry the plough across,  p51 since they hold that all the land that is ploughed is to be kept sacred and inviolable.

28 1   Why do they tell children, whenever they would swear by Hercules, not to do so under a roof, and bid them go out into the open air?63

Is it, as some relate, because they believe that Hercules had no pleasure in staying in the house, but rejoiced in a life in the open air and a bed under the stars?

Or is it rather because Hercules is not one of the native gods, but a foreigner from afar? For neither do they swear under a roof by Bacchus, since he also is a foreign god if he is from Nysa.

cOr is this but said in jest to the children, and what is done is really a check upon over-readiness and hastiness to swear, as Favorinus stated? For what is done following, as it were, upon preparation produces delay and allows deliberation. Yet one might urge against Favorinus the fact that this custom is not common, but peculiar to Hercules, as may be seen from the legend about him: for it is recorded that he was so circumspect regarding an oath that he swore but once and for Phyleus, the son of Augeas, alone. Wherefore they say that the prophetic priestess also brought up against the Spartans all the oaths they had sworn, saying that it would be better and much more to be desired if they would keep them!64

d 29 1   Why do they not allow the bride to cross the threshold of her home herself, but those who are escorting her lift her over?65

 p53  Is it because they carried off by force also the first Roman brides and bore them in in this manner, and the women did not enter of their own accord?

Or do they wish it to appear that it is under constraint and not of their own desire that they enter a dwelling where they are about to lose their virginity?

Or is it a token that the woman may not go forth of her own accord and abandon her home if she be not constrained, just as it was under constraint that she entered it? So likewise among us in Boeotia they burn the axle of the bridal carriage before the door, signifying that the bride must remain, since her means of departure has been destroyed.

30 1   Why do they, as they conduct the bride to her home, bid her say, e"Where you are Gaius, there am I Gaia"?66

Is her entrance into the house upon fixed terms, as it were, at once to share everything and to control jointly the household, and is the meaning, then, "Wherever you are lord and master, there am I lady and mistress"? These names are in common use also in other connexions, just as jurists speak of Gaius Seius and Lucius Titius,​67 and philosophers of Dion and Theon.​68

Or do they use these names because of Gaia Caecilia,​69 consort of one of Tarquin's sons, a fair and virtuous woman, whose statue in bronze stands in the temple of Sanctus?​70 And both her sandals and her spindle were, in ancient days, dedicated there as tokens of her love of home and of her industry respectively.

 p55  31 f Why is the far-famed "Talassio"​71 sung at the marriage ceremony?72

Is it derived from talasia (spinning)? For they call the wool-basket (talaros) talasus. When they lead in the bride, they spread a fleece beneath her; she herself brings with her a distaff and her spindle, and wreaths her husband's door with wool.

Or is the statement of the historians true? They relate that there was a certain young man, brilliant in military achievements and valuable in other ways, whose name was Talasius; and when the Romans were carrying off the daughters of the Sabines who had come to see the games, 272a maiden of particularly beautiful appearance was being carried off for him by some plebeian retainers of his. To protect their enterprise and to prevent anyone from approaching and trying to wrest the maiden from them, they shouted continually that she was being brought as a wife for Talasius (Talasio). Since, therefore, everyone honoured Talasius, they followed along and provided escort, joining in the good wishes and acclamations. Wherefore since Talasius's marriage was happy, bthey became accustomed to invoke Talasius in other marriages also, even as the Greeks invoke Hymen.

32 1   Why is it that in the month of May at the time of the full moon they throw into the river from the Pons Sublicius figures of men, calling the images thrown Argives?73

Is it because in ancient days the barbarians who  p57 lived in these parts used to destroy thus the Greeks whom they captured? But Hercules, who was much admired by them, put an end to their murder of strangers and taught them to throw figures into the river, in imitation of their superstitious custom. The men of old used to call all Greeks alike Argives; unless it be, indeed, since the Arcadians regarded the Argives also as their enemies because of their immediate proximity, that, cwhen Evander and his men​74 fled from Greece and settled there, they continued to preserve their ancient feud and enmity.

33 1   Why in ancient days did they never dine out without their sons, even when these were still but children?

Did Lycurgus introduce this custom also, and bring boys to the common meals that they might become accustomed to conduct themselves towards their pleasures, not in a brutish or disorderly way, but with discretion, since they had their elders as supervisors and spectators, as it were? No less important is the fact that the fathers themselves would also be more decorous and prudent in the presence of their sons; for "where the old are shameless," as Plato​75 remarks, "there the young also must needs be lost to all sense of shame."

34 1   Why is it that while the other Romans dmake libations and offerings to the dead in the month of February, Decimus Brutus, as Cicero​76 has recorded, used to do so in the month of December? This was  p59 the Brutus who invaded Lusitania, and was the first to visit those remote places, and cross the river Lethê with an army.77

Since most peoples are accustomed to make offerings to the dead at the close of the day and at the end of the month, is it not reasonable also to honour the dead in the last month​78 at the turn of the year? And December is the last month.

Or do these honours belong to deities beneath the earth, and is it the proper season to honour these deities when all the crops have attained econsummation?

Or is it most fitting to remember those below when men are stirring the earth at the beginning of seed-time?

Or is it because this month has been consecrated to Saturn by the Romans, and they regard Saturn as an infernal, not a celestial god?

Or is it that then their greatest festival, the Saturnalia, is set; and it is reputed to contain the most numerous social gatherings and enjoyments, and therefore Brutus deemed it proper to bestow upon the dead first-fruits, as it were, of this festival also?

Or is this statement, that Brutus alone sacrificed to the dead in this month, altogether a falsehood? For it is in December that they make offerings to Larentia and bring libations to her sepulchre.

35 1   And why do they thus fhonour Larentia who was at one time a courtesan?

They record that there was another Larentia, Acca,​79 the nurse of Romulus, whom they honour in  p61 the month of April. But they say that the surname of the courtesan Larentia was Fabula. She became famous for the following reason:​80 a certain keeper of the temple of Hercules enjoyed, it seems, considerable leisure and had the habit of spending the greater part of the day at draughts and dice; and one day, as it chanced, there was present no one of those who were wont to play with him and share the occasion of his leisure. So, in his boredom, he challenged the god to throw dice with him on fixed terms, as it were: if he should win, he was to obtain some service from the god; 273but if he should lose, he was to furnish a supper for the god at his own expense and provide a comely girl to spend the night with him. Thereupon he brought out the dice, and threw once for himself and once for the god, and lost. Abiding, therefore, by the terms of his challenge he prepared a somewhat sumptuous repast for the god and fetched Larentia, who openly practised the profession of courtesan. He feasted her, put her to bed in the temple, and, when he departed, locked the doors. The tale is told that the god visited her in the night, not in mortal wise, and bade her on the morrow go into the forum, band pay particular attention to the first man she met, and make him her friend. Larentia arose, therefore, and, going forth, met one of the wealthy men that were unwed and past their prime, whose name was Tarrutius. With this man she became acquainted, and while he lived she presided over his household, and when he died, she inherited his estate; and later, when she herself  p63 died, she left her property to the State; and for that reason she has these honours.

36 1   Why do they call one of the gates the Window, for this is what fenestra means; and why is the so‑called Chamber of Fortune beside it?81

Is it because King Servius, the luckiest of mortals, was reputed to have converse with Fortune, cwho visited him through a window?

Or is this but a fable, and is the true reason that when King Tarquinius Priscus died, his wife Tanaquil, a sensible and queenly woman, put her head out of a window and, addressing the citizens, persuaded them to appoint Servius king, and thus the place came to have this name?82

37 1   Why is it that of all the things dedicated to the gods it is the custom to allow only spoils of war to disintegrate with the passage of time, and not to move them beforehand​83 nor repair them?

Is it in order that men may believe that their repute deserts them at the same time with the obliteration of their early memorials, and may ever seek dto bring in some fresh reminder of valour?

Or is it rather that, as time makes dim the memorials of their dissension with their enemies, it would be invidious and malicious to restore and renew them? Nor among the Greeks, either, do  p65 they that first erected a trophy of stone or of bronze​84 stand in good repute.

38 1   Why did Quintus Metellus,​85 when he became pontifex maximus, with his reputation for good sense in all other matters as well as in his statesman­ship, prevent divination from birds after the month Sextilis, which is now called August?

Is it that, even as we attend to such matters in the middle of the day or at dawn, or in the beginning of the month when the moon is waxing, and avoid the declining days and hours as unsuitable for business, eso likewise did Metellus regard the period of time after the first eight months as the evening or late afternoon, so to speak, of the year, since then it is declining and waning?

Or is it because we should observe birds when they are in their prime and in perfect condition? And this they are before the summer-time; but towards autumn some are weak and sickly, others but nestlings and not full-grown, and still others have vanished completely, migrating because of the time of year.

39 1   Why were men who were not regularly enlisted, but merely tarrying in the camp, not allowed to throw missiles at the enemy or to wound them?

This fact Cato the Elder​86 has made clear in one of his letters to his son, fin which he bids the young man to return home if he has completed his term of service and has been discharged; or, if he should  p67 stay over, to obtain permission from his general to wound or slay an enemy.

Is it because sheer necessity alone constitutes a warrant to kill a human being, and he who does so illegally and without the word of command is a murderer? For this reason Cyrus also praised Chrysantas​87 who, when he was about to kill an enemy, and had his weapon raised to strike, heard the recall sounded and let the man go without striking, believing that he was now prevented from so doing.

Or must he who grapples with the enemy and fights 274not be free from accountability nor go unscathed should he play the coward? For he does not help so much by hitting or wounding an enemy as he does harm by fleeing or retreating. He, therefore, who has been discharge from service is freed from military regulations; but he who asks leave to perform the offices of a soldier renders himself again accountable to the regulations and to his general.

40 1   Why is it not allowed the priest of Jupiter (Flamen Dialis) to anoint himself in the open air?88

Is it because it used not to be proper or decent for sons to strip in their father's sight, nor a son-in‑law in the presence of his father-in‑law, nor in ancient days did they bathe together?​89 bNow Jupiter is our father, and whatever is in the open air is in some way thought to be particularly in his sight.

Or, just as it is against divine ordinance to strip oneself in a shrine or a temple, so also did they scrupulously avoid the open air and the space beneath the  p69 heavens, since it was full of gods and spirits? Wherefore also we perform many necessary acts under a roof, hidden and concealed by our houses from the view of Divine powers.

Or are some regulations prescribed for the priest alone, while others are prescribed for all by the law through the priest? Wherefore also, in my country, to wear a garland, to wear the hair long, not to have any iron on one's person, and not to set foot within the boundaries of Phocis, are the special functions of an archon; cbut not to taste fruit before the autumnal equinox nor to prune a vine before the vernal equinox are prohibitions disclosed to practically all alike through the archon; for those are the proper seasons for each of these acts.

In the same way, then, it is apparently a special obligation of the Roman priest also not to use a horse nor to be absent from the city more than three nights​90 nor to lay aside the cap from which he derives the name of flamen.​91 dBut many other regulations are revealed to all through the priest, and one of them is the prohibition not to anoint oneself in the open air. For the Romans used to be very suspicious of rubbing down with oil, and even to‑day they believe that nothing has been so much to blame for the enslavement and effeminacy of the Greeks as their gymnasia and wrestling-schools, which engender much listless idleness and waste of time in their cities, as well as paederasty and the ruin of the bodies of  p71 the young men with regulated sleeping, walking, rhythmical movements, and strict diet; by these practices they have unconsciously lapsed from the practice of arms, and have become content to be termed nimble athletes and handsome wrestlers rather than excellent men-at‑arms and horsemen. eIt is hard work, at any rate, when men strip in the open air, to escape these consequences; but those who anoint themselves and care for their bodies in their own houses commit no offence.

41 1   Why did their ancient coinage have stamped on one side a double-faced likeness of Janus, on the other the stern or the prow of a ship?92

Is it, as many affirm, in honour of Saturn who crossed over to Italy in a ship?

Or, since this might be said of many, inasmuch as Janus, Evander, and Aeneas all landed in Italy after a voyage by sea, one might rather conjecture thus: some things are excellent for States, others are necessary; fand of the excellent things good government is the chief, and of the necessary things facility of provision. Since, therefore, Janus established for them an ordered government by civilizing their life, and since the river, which was navigable and permitted transportation both from the sea and from the land, provided them with an abundance of necessities, the coinage came to have as its symbol the twofold form of the lawgiver, as has been stated,​93 because of the change he wrought, and the vessel as the symbol of the river.

They also used another kind of coinage, stamped  p73 with the figures of a bull, a ram, and a boar,​94 because their prosperity came mostly from their live stock, and from these they also derived their affluence. This is the reason why many of the names of the ancient families are such as 275the Suillii, Bubulci, Porcii,​95 as Fenestella​96 has stated.

42 1   Why do they use the temple of Saturn as the public treasury and also as a place of storage for records of contracts?97

Is it because the opinion and tradition prevailed that when Saturn was king there was no greed or injustice among men, but good faith and justice?

Or is it because the god was the discoverer of crops and the pioneer in husbandry? For this is what his sickle signifies and not as Antimachus,​98 following Hesiod,​99 has written:

Now abundant harvests and their disposal are what give rise to a monetary system; btherefore they make the god who is the cause of their good fortune its guardian also. Testimony to support this may be found in the fact that the markets held every eight days and called nundinae​100 are considered sacred to  p75 Saturn, for it was the superabundance of the harvest that initiated buying and selling.

Or is this a matter of ancient history, and was Valerius Publicola the first to make the temple of Saturn the treasury, when the kings had been overthrown, because he believed that the place was well-protected, in plain sight, and hard to attack secretly?

43 1   Why do the ambassadors to Rome, from whatever country they come, proceed to the temple of Saturn, cand register with the prefects of the treasury?

Is it because Saturn was a foreigner, and consequently takes pleasure in foreigners, or is the solution of this question also to be found in history? For it seems that in early days the treasurers​101 used to send gifts to the ambassadors, which were called lautia, and they cared for the ambassadors when they were sick, and buried them at public expense if they died; but now, owing to the great number of embassies that come, this expensive practice has been discontinued; yet there still remains the preliminary meeting with the prefects of the treasury in the guise of registration.

44 1   Why may not the priest of Jupiter (Flamen Dialis) take an oath?102

Is it because an oath is a kind of test to prove that men are free-born, and neither the body nor the soul of the priest must be subjected to any test?

dOr is it because it is unreasonable to distrust in trivial affairs him who is entrusted with holy matters of the greatest importance?

Or is it because every oath concludes with a curse  p77 on perjury, and a curse is an ill-omened and gloomy thing? This is the reason why priests may not even invoke curses upon others. At any rate the priestess at Athens who was unwilling to curse Alcibiades at the people's bidding won general approval, for she declared that she had been made a priestess of prayer, not of cursing.​103

Or is it because the danger of perjury is a public danger if an impious and perjured man leads in prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the State?

---

The Editor's Notes:

47 Livy, V.37; and VI.1.11.

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48 The traditional date of the battle was July 18, 390 B.C.

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49 Cf. Life of Camillus, chap. xix.8 (138D).

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50 As the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides have the same names in every month.

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51 269B, supra.

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52 That is, the spirits of the men and women of the Heroic (p43)Age who dwelt after death in the Isles of the Blest or in Hades.

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53 Cf. 264A, supra, also Moralia, 374A, 387F, 429A, 1002A, 1012E.

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54 Cf. 320F, infra; Life of Themistocles, xviii (121B). The context of 345C, infra, makes it very probable that (p45)the essay De Gloria Atheniensium began with this favourite story of Plutarch's.

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55 Cf. Life of Numa, xiv (69E-70A); Propertius II.28.45‑46; see also Lewy in Philologus, LXXXIV p378.

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56 Apparently a misquotation of Herodotus, III.22.1: otherwise misquoted in Moralia, 646B and 863E. Cf. also Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, I.X.48.6 (p344 Potter).

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57 This apparently means: Naturally black wool may be dyed purple or any other strong dark colour. It is possible, however, that Plutarch wrote κέκραται (and so several MSS.): "it is modified when combined with a dark colour."

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58 Cf. Plato, Republic, 729D-E.

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59 Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. IV.498.

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60 Cf. Moralia, 518B.

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61 Cf. Varro, De Lingua Latina, V.143, Res Rusticae, II.1.9; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, I.88; Ovid, Fasti, IV.819 ff.

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62 Cf. Life of Romulus, xi (23D).

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63 Cf. Varro, De Lingua Latina, V.66.

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64 Cf. Moralia, 229B and the note (Vol. III p372).

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65 Cf. Life of Romulus, xv (26D-E).

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66 "Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia."

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67 "John Doe and Richard Roe."

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68 Cf. Moralia, 1061C.

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69 Probably not the same as Tanaquil, wife of Tarquinius Priscus; but cf. Pliny, Natural History, VIII.48 (194).

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70 We should probably emend to Sancus; the same mistake is made in the MSS. of Propertius, IV.9.71‑74, where see the excellent note of Barber and Butler.

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71 The traditional Roman spelling seems to be with -ss-.

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72 Cf. Life of Romulus, xv (26C), Life of Pompey, iv (620F); Livy, I.9.12.

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73 Cf. 285A, infra, and Ovid, Fasti, V.621 ff.; Varro, De Lingua Latina, V.45; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, I.38.2‑3. Plutarch means the Argei, the origin and meaning of which is a mystery (see V. Rose's edition, pp98 ff.).

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74 Who were Arcadians; cf. Virgil, Aeneid, VIII.52‑151.

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75 Laws, 729C; also cited or referred to Moralia, 14B, 71B, 144F.

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76 De Legibus, II.21.54.

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77 136 B.C. Cf. Appian, Spanish Wars (72), 74; and Florus, Epitome, II.17.12.

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78 That is, according to Brutus's reckoning. For the common people February continued to be the month of the (p59)Parentalia, and February was once the last month (cf. 268B, supra).

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79 Cf. W. F. Otto, Wiener Studien, XXXV.62 ff.

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80 Cf. Life of Romulus, chap. v (19F ff.); Macrobius, Saturnalia, I.10.11‑17; Augustine, De Civitate Dei, VI.7; Tertullian, Ad Nationes, II.10.

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81 Cf. 322F, infra; Ovid, Fasti, VI.569 ff.

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82 Cf. 323D, infra; Livy, I.41.

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83 That is, to move them away before they fell to pieces; for the ancients used to clear out their temples periodically.

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84 As did the Boeotians after Leuctra; Cicero, De Inventione, II.23 (69); cf. Diodorus, XIII.24.5‑6. Of course this means substituting for the impromptu suit of armour, set on a stake, a permanent replica; but memorials of (p65)battles had been popular for many years before this time. Cf. Moralia, 401C-D.

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85 Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius, consul 80 B.C.

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86 Cf. Cicero, De Officiis, I.11 (37).

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87 Cf. Xenophon, Cyropedia, IV.1.3; and the note on Moralia, 236E (Vol. III, p420).

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88 Cf. Aulus Gellius, X.15.

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89 Cf. Cicero, De Oratore, II.55 (224), with Wilkins's note.

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90 Livy, V.52.13, says "not even one night." Cf. also Tacitus, Annals, III.58 and 71.

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91 Cf. Life of Numa, chap. vii (64C); Life of Marcellus, chap. v (300C); Varro, De Lingua Latina, V.84; Festus, (p69)s.v. Flamen Dialis; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, II.64.2. Varro's etymology is "Flamen quasi filamen"; Plutarch must have pronounced φλάμεν "ph(i)lamen," with "ph" a true aspirate as in "uphill," else there would be no justification for the alternative derivation from pileus (Numa, vii).

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92 Cf. Athenaeus, 692E; Ovid, Fasti, I.229 ff.; Pliny, Natural History, XXXIII.3 (45); Macrobius, Saturnalia, I.7.21‑22.

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93 269A, supra.

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94 Is Plutarch thinking of the suovetaurilia? Mr E. T. Newell, President of the American Numismatic Society, has been kind enough to inform me that no early Roman coinage bears these symbols.

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95 Cf. Life of Publicola, chap. xi (103B); Varro, quoted by Nonius Marcellus, p189.21 (ed. Müller).

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96 Peter, Frag. Hist. Rom. p272, Annales, Frag. 5.

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97 Cf. Life of Publicola, chap. xii (103C).

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98 Kinkel, Epicorum Graec. Frag. p287, Antimachus, Frag. 35.

❦

99 Theogony, 160 ff.; cf. Apollonius Rhodius, IV.984‑986.

❦

100 That is, the ninth day, by the Roman inclusive system of reckoning (cf. Macrobius, Saturnalia, I.16.34).

❦

101 Presumably the quaestores aerarii.

❦

102 Cf. Livy, XXXI.50; Aulus Gellius, X.15.

❦

103 Cf. Life of Alcibiades, xxii (202F).

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