EXCURSUS VII.

JUG. XXXVII. 1.

Elections for A. U. 643.

Ir has been already observed that, at this time, the consuls entered on their office on the Kalends of January, and that the ordinary time for their election was the preceding June or July. But, in the present instance, this rule seems to have been violated in a most unusual way, and, strange to say, not one of the writers on the Roman constitution has, to our knowledge, noticed it. Becker, the latest, and one of the best, even asserts as follows (Handbuch der Röm. Alter, II. i. 88): "But far less did the case ever occur that the consuls prolonged their period of office beyond the legal time," and (ib. 95) "for beyond a complete year assuredly no consulate ever lasted."

Albinus, we are told (xxxvi. 4), returned to Rome for the elections. This was probably in June. Two of the tribunes, it seems, had taken it into their heads to imitate C. Gracchus (Hist. of Rome, p. 303) and have themselves re-elected contrary to law. Irritated, it would appear, with the opposition which they encountered, they used their interceding power to prevent all the elections, and that for the rest of the year; for it was, at earliest, in the January of the following year that Aulus met with his defeat, and on the receipt of this intelligence the consul Aloinus consulted the senate on the subject, and then went out to resume the command in Africa. Now no elections could well have taken place before that time, for the tribune Mamilius, who then brought the affairs of Numidia before the people (xl. 1), was one of the tribunes of the preceding year; and Metellus and Silanus, the consuls of the next year, are (xliii. 1) termed designati, expressly after the time when Aulus made the treaty with Jugurtha, that is, after January. This is, therefore, a clear case of the extension of the consulate beyond the year.

The question now arises, by whom the consular elections were held. It could not have been by Minucius, the colleague of Albinus, for his province was Macedonia, where he was engaged in war with the tribes beyond Mt. Hæmus. If by Albinus himself before his departure, it would follow that, at that time, it was necessary that a period of some duration should elapse

between the election to the consulate and the entrance on office. It would, however, seem to be more probable that the elections were held by an interrex, as is supposed to have been the case in 600, when one consul was dead and the other absent in Spain. They could not have been held by a prætor or any inferior magistrate see Cic. ad Att. ix. 9, 3.

ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS

OF

HORACE.

Sat. i. 2, 125. The poet himself begins to speak here. 3, 127. The Greek and Latin terms are joined in the same way by Cæsar: tanta subito malacia ac tranquillitas extitit, Bell. Gall. iii. 15.

5, 10. By missæ pastum, unless Horace made a mistake, must be meant let to feed, not let to graze; for there could have been little or no grass in a place where the boats probably stopped every night. Barley, or other provender for the mule, may have been brought in the boat, and he was tied to the stone while he fed. As there are no stones lying about in the Pomptine Marshes, this one must have been put there for this or some other purpose. There may have been mile-stones along the canal, or the trackway may have run so close to the Appian Road that one of its mile-stones may have been used for the

36.

purpose.

As we have been the first to show that the prunæ batillum of Horace was the braciere (in Tuscan caldano), answering in some sort to our chafing-dish, and in use all round the Mediterranean, even in Turkey and Egypt, we will give the following additional proofs of the correctness of our views.

The form of the bracieri found in Pompeii is that of a trough with legs or on a stand: see Becker, Gallus, p. 211. Now Varro, when describing the various modes of cutting corn in Italy, says (R. R. i. 50), " Altero modo metunt ut in Piceno, ubi ligneum habent incurvum batillum, in quo sit extremo serrula ferrea. Hæc cum comprehendit fascem spicarum desecat, et stramenta stantia in segete relinquit, ut postea subsecentur." It is quite plain that this batillum must have been oblong so as to go over a breadth of the field equal to its own length, receiving the ears as they were cut off by the serrula. There was also an implement

264

ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF HORACE.

of the same form but longer, and propelled by an ox, used for this purpose in Gaul: see Virg. Terms of Husb. v. Messis. We infer from all this, that the form of the prune batillum was oblong, and that it was too large and too heavy to be carried before any one.

In our note we said, that Aufidius might have been sitting in his hall of justice, where the travellers visited him. But we have since recollected, that even at Rome the prætor held his court in the open air in the Forum. The usage could hardly have been different at Fundi, and possibly as Aufidius sat on his tribunal in the market, he may have had a prune batillum beside him, which unusual circumstance may have caused the merriment of the travellers as they rode by; for as it is only twelve miles from Anxur, there is no reason to suppose that they stopped at Fundi.

91. The note is on the text as usually pointed. We fell into the same error in our note on Virg. Geor. ii. 136.

6, 22. Orelli is wrong in saying that the Italian starsi ne' suoi panni illustrates this place. The place of the Promessi Sposi to which he refers is mettersi nei miei panni," put yourself in my place." Non star ne' panni (or capir nella pelle) is, not to be able to contain one's self. Like our, jump out of one's skin -for joy.

66

8, 36. The note on this place is confirmed by the following passage of Cicero (Phil. ix. 7), " Utique locum sepulchro in campo Esquilino C. Pansa consul, seu quo alio in loco videatur, pedes triginta quoquoversus adsignet, quo Ser. Sulpicius inferatur." It was probably only the public burial-ground that Mæcenas took for his gardens.

cornix

38. In proof of our assertion that corvus is crow, raven, we may add, that the ravens may often be seen, on the coast of Ireland, engaged as Virgil (Geor. i. 389) describes the

cornix.

ii. 1, 48. For other examples see Zumpt, § 761. Perhaps for Turius we should read Thorius, a known name.

2, 60. The repotia continued down to late times in Italy. "Già costumavasi, e forse ancora in alcuni luoghi si costuma, che le spose, dopo essere state dieci o dodici giorni in casa lo sposo, se ne tornino alla casa paterna per starvi qualche giorno e questo si dice Far la ritornata," Minucci sul Malmant. Racquist. C. xii. st. 43.

123. Noctem .... solemnibus epulis ludicram, Tac.

ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF HORACE.

265

Ann. i. 50; so also Xenophon (Conv. 1) terms an epulæ a Taidia. Chiappe di fichi, in preceding note, is "fig-buttocks." 3. 119. Virg. Geor. iv. 243, seq. The blatta is our black-beetle (see Plin. xi. 28), which is lucifuga, and destroys garments, etc. We have never heard of its entering beehives; but we have known all the sweet wines in a cellar to be drunk by the beetles which ate through the corks of the bottles for the purpose, and did not touch any of the other wines. The tinea, ons, is the grub or larva of the moth; it is also the book-worm whose origin is different.

217. Interdicto can be only a subst. here, as the part. is never used with a person.

274. The Casina is a better example.

4, 18.

The Romans used gallina as we do fowl. In this place it seems to answer to our barn-door fowl, which Catius intimates might be used in a case of emergency, and as being rather old might be a little tough; for the flesh of young animals, if cooked before it is let to grow cold, is always tender. It was probably only its head and neck that were plunged into the mulse in order to make it swallow some of it.

ii. 2.

6, 64. Satis is here i. q. bene: see on Sall. Cat.

Ep. i. 1, 6. See on Sall. Jug. lxxxv. 10 It was probably the Forum, not an amphitheatre (though that of Statilius Taurus was built at the time), that Horace had in his mind; for this had always been the place of the gladiatorial shows: Cic. Phil. ix. 7; Sext. 58, 59. From this last it appears that on these occasions the Forum, was surrounded by railings or barriers (cancellis), behind which were probably seats as in a theatre: Ov. Am. iii. 2, 64. -2, 7. Barbaria, we need hardly say, is a dative. Our error arose from inattention, as in Virg. Geor. iii. 81.

5, 6. Arcesso is sometimes to fetch or bring with one. Senex in Ephesum hinc ibit aurum arcessere, Plaut. Bac.ii. 3, 130 : comp. Cic. pro Cæl. 8; Phil. vi. 2.

15, 36. See on Sall. Jug. lxxxv. 10.

Excursus I. p. 321, l. 3. Add ubi.

II. p. 323. An id joco dixisti? Equidem serio ac vero ratus (sc. sum)," Plaut. Amph. iii. 3, 9, is also an ellipse of the first person, the verb. subst., but it may be explained the same way as Rud. ii. 4, 29.

III. p. 327. Müller, in the Addenda to his Varro,

N