[262] Liv. xxxix. 29.
[263] Bücher Die Aufstände der unfreien Arbeiter p. 34. Cf. Soltau in Kulturgesch. des klass. Altertums p. 326.
[264] Oros. v. 9 Diodor. xxxiv. 2. 19.
[265] Mahaffy l.c.
[266] Cf. Bücher op. cit. p. 79.
[267] Diod. xxxiv. 2. 27. For the large number of Roman proprietors in Sicily see Florus ii. 7 (iii. 19) 3—(Sicilia) terra frugum ferax et quodam modo suburbana provincia latifundis civium Romanorum tenebatur.
[268] Diod. xxxiv. 2. 32. 36.
[269] Diod. l.c.
[270] Diod. xxxiv. 2. 31. This may have been true of the time of which we are speaking; for the influence of the Roman residents in Sicily on the administration of the island must always have been great. But Diodorus assigns an incorrect reason when he states that the Roman knights of Sicily were judges of the governors of the provinces. This is true only of the period preceding the second servile war.
[271] Historians profess to tell the mechanism by which this device was secured. A spark of fire was placed with inflammable material in a hollow nut or some similar small object, which was perforated. The receptacle was placed in the mouth, and judicious breathing did the rest. See Diodorus xxxiv, 2. 7; Floras ii. 7 (iii. 19).