Psalm 42:10. ↩
Psalm 96:4, 5. ↩
Originally the spectators had to stand, and now (according to Livy, Ep. XLVIII.) the old custom was restored. ↩
Psalm 94:4. ↩
2 Timothy 3:7. ↩
“Pluvia defit, causa Christiani.” Similar accusations and similar replies may be seen in the celebrated passage of Tertullian’s Apologeticus ch. 40, and in the eloquent exordium of Arnobius, Contra Gentes. ↩
Augustine is supposed to refer to Symmachus, who similarly accused the Christians in his address to the Emperor Valentinianus in the year 384. At Augustine’s request, Paulus Orosius wrote his history in confutation of Symmachus’ charges. ↩
Tertullian (Apologeticus ch. 24) mentions Coelestis as specially worshipped in Africa. Augustine mentions her again in the 26th chapter of this book, and in other parts of his works. ↩
Berecynthia is one of the many names of Rhea or Cybele. Livy (XXIX. 11) relates that the image of Cybele was brought to Rome the day before the ides of April, which was accordingly dedicated as her feast-day. The image, it seems, had to be washed in the stream Almon, a tributary of the Tiber, before being placed in the temple of Victory; and each year, as the festival returned, the washing was repeated with much pomp at the same spot. Hence Lucan’s line (I. 600), “Et lotam parvo revocant Almone Cybelen,” and the elegant verses of Ovid, Fasti IV. 337 et seq. ↩
“Fercula,” dishes, or courses. ↩
See Cicero, De Natura Deorum II. 24. ↩
Proverbs 6:26. ↩
Fugalia. Vives is uncertain to what feast Augustine refers. Censorinus understands him to refer to a feast celebrating the expulsion of the kings from Rome. This feast, however (celebrated on the 24th February), was commonly called “Regifugium.” ↩
Persius, Satires III. 66–72. ↩
“Galli,” the castrated priests of Cybele, who were named after the river Gallus, in Phrygia, the water of which was supposed to intoxicate or madden those who drank it. According to Vitruvius (VIII. 3), there was a similar fountain in Paphlagonia. Apuleius (Golden Ass, VIII.) gives a graphic and humorous description of the dress, dancing, and imposture of these priests; mentioning, among other things, that they lashed themselves with whips and cut themselves with knives till the ground was wet with blood. ↩
Persius, Satires III. 37. ↩
Terence Eunuchus III. 5. 36; and cf. the similar allusion in Aristophanes Clouds, 1033–4. It may be added that the argument of this chapter was largely used by the wiser of the heathen themselves. Dionysius of Halicarnassus (II. 20) and Seneca (De Brevitate Vitae ch. XVI.) make the very same complaint; and it will be remembered that his adoption of this reasoning was one of the grounds on which Euripides was suspected of atheism. ↩
This sentence recalls Augustine’s own experience as a boy, which he bewails in his Confessions. ↩
Labeo, a jurist of the time of Augustus, learned in law and antiquities, and the author of several works much prized by his own and some succeeding ages. The two articles in Smith’s Dictionary on Antistius and Cornelius Labeo should be read. ↩
“Lectisternia,” feasts in which the images of the gods were laid on pillows in the streets, and all kinds of food set before them. ↩
According to Livy (VII. 2), theatrical exhibitions were introduced in the year 392 AUC. Before that time, he says, there had only been the games of the circus. The Romans sent to Etruria for players, who were called “histriones,” “hister” being the Tuscan word for a player. Other particulars are added by Livy. ↩
See the Republic, book III. ↩
Compare Tertullian, De Spectaculis ch. 22. ↩
The Egyptian gods represented with dogs’ heads, called by Lucan (VIII. 832) semicanes deos. ↩
The Fever had, according to Vives, three altars in Rome. See Cicero, De Natura Deorum III. 25, and Aelian, Varia Historia XII. 11. ↩
Cicero, De Republica, V. Compare the third Tusculanae Disputationes c. II. ↩
In the year AUC 299, three ambassadors were sent from Rome to Athens to copy Solon’s laws, and acquire information about the institutions of Greece. On their return the Decemviri were appointed to draw up a code; and finally, after some tragic interruptions, the celebrated Twelve Tables were accepted as the fundamental statutes of Roman law (fons universi publici privatique juris). These were graven on brass, and hung up for public information. Livy, III. 31–34. ↩
Possibly he refers to Plautus’ Persa, IV. 4. 11–14. ↩
Sallust, De Conjuratione Catilinae IX. Compare the similar saying of Tacitus regarding the chastity of the Germans: “Plusque ibi boni mores valent, quam alibi bonae leges” (Germania XIX.). ↩
The same collocation of words is used by Cicero with reference to the well-known mode of renewing the appetite in use among the Romans.
