Haec di condiderunt, haec di quoque moenia servant:
Vix timeat, salvo Caesare, Roma Iovem.
Propertius, III. (IV.) xi. (x.) 63-68.
63 Curtius . . . lacunis, in allusion to the spot called Lacus Curtius (marked by a circular pavement) in the Forum which served as a memorial (monimenta) of his heroic sacrifice. Livy, vii. 6.
lacuna (cf. lacus) = a hole, pool, chasm.
65 semita (sed + meo = go + aside) = a path, road. Cocles, apparently, gave his name to the street running up from the bridge which he ‘kept so well.’—Ramsay.
66 cui, i.e. M. Valerius Corvus, the hero of Mt. Gaurus. See p. 91.
67-68 i.e. with Caesar (Augustus) safe, Rome has none to fear, nay, scarce Jove himself. Flattery can go no further than this!
[B.] The Dream of the Consuls on the Eve of Battle.
Illud etiam somnium et magnae admirationis et clari exitus, quod eadem nocte duo consules P. Decius Mus et T. Manlius Torquatus Latino bello gravi ac periculoso non procul a Vesuvi montis radicibus 10 positis castris viderunt. Utrique enim quaedam per quietem species praedixit ex altera acie imperatorem, ex altera exercitum dis Manibus matrique Terrae deberi; utrius autem dux copias hostium superque eas sese ipsum devovisset, victricem abituram. Id 15 luce proxima consulibus sacrificio vel expiaturis, si posset averti, vel, si certum deorum etiam monitu visum foret, exsecuturis, hostiarum exta somnio congruerunt, convenitque inter eos, cuius cornu prius laborare coepisset, ut is capite suo fata patriae lueret. 20 Quae neutro reformidante Decium depoposcerunt.