[45] Fest. 285. 25; cf. Serv. in Aen. x. 202.
[46] There were curiae in Lanuvium, an old Latin town; CIL. xiv. 2120. Juno Curis, Cur(r)itis, Quiritis, goddess of the curiae, was worshipped in Tibur (Serv. in Aen. i. 17), and in Falerii (Tertul. Apol. 24; CIL. xi. 3100, 3125, 3126; cf. Holzapfel, Beitr. z. alt. Gesch. i. 247; Roscher, Lex. d. griech. u. röm. Myth. II. i. 596 f.). A connection between Cūris and cūria is not clear; Deecke, Falisker, 86.
[47] Aristotle, Politics, 1329, b 8, considers Italus, king of the Oenotrians, to have been author of the mess-associations (συσσίτια), adding that the institution was derived from the country of the Opici and the Chaonians. With the Opici he includes Latins as well as Ausonians; Dion. Hal. i. 72. 3. On the relation of these peoples to one another, see especially Pais, Anc. Italy, ch. i. Greek writers identify the curia with the phratry (Dion. Hal. ii. 7. 3 f.; Dio Cass. Frag. 4. 8), the ἑταιρεία, and the syssition (Dion. Hal. ii. 23. 3; Dio Cass. ibid.). Although the institutions designated by these four names show considerable variety of form and function, they are similar in general character and may have a common origin; Meyer, Gesch. d. Alt. ii. 514.
The myth which names the curiae after the Sabine women suggests that some of the curial names, and perhaps the curiae themselves, might be found among the Sabines. On Rapta and Titia however see p. 11, n. 7.
[48] Dion. Hal. ii. 7. 2; Dio Cass. Frag. 5. 8; Plut. Rom. 20; Fest. 174. 8; ep. 49; (Aurel. Vict.) Vir. Ill. ii. 12; Serv. in Aen. viii. 638; Pomponius, in Dig. i. 2. 2. 2.
Soltau, Altröm. Volksversamml. 47 f., entertains the peculiar idea that the curiae, invented to counteract the independent tendencies of the tribes, were not divisions of the tribes, the members of each curia being drawn from all three tribes. His view is contradicted by the sources and he admits that he cannot prove it.
St. Augustine, Enarr. in Psalm. 121. 7 (iv. 2. 1624 ed. Migne), and still later Paulus, the epitomator of Festus, 54, suppose that there were thirty-five curiae. Notwithstanding Hoffmann, Patr. u. pleb. Cur. 44 ff., the opinion of these late writers doubtless arose from an identification of the curiae with the tribes; cf. Kübler, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. iv. 1818.
[49] P. 11 f.
[50] The word is derived from *co-viria, “a dwelling together,” “an assembly,” by Pott, Etym. Forsch. ii. 373 f. (cf. Vaniček, Etym. Wörterb. d. lat. Spr. 160; Walde, Lat. etym. Wörterb. 161), who is followed by Schwegler, Röm. Gesch. i. 496, n. 8, 610, n. 4; Herzog, Röm. Staatsverf. i. 96. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. iii. 5, 90 and notes, gives the word the meaning “an association of citizens,” deriving it from quiris (cf. Abriss, 11), which he connects with κῦρος, κῦριος, as did Lange in 1853 (Kleine Schriften, i. 147). Afterward—Röm. Alt. i. (1876) 91—Lange expressed some doubt as to this connection. But the fact that curia applies to the house not only of the curiales, but also of the senate and of the Salii, as well as to various other buildings, seems to indicate that the meaning “house” is primary for the Latin language if not ultimately original. Corssen, who accepts this meaning, derives cu- from sku-, “to cover,” “to protect” (Ausspr. i. 353 f.; Vaniček, Griech.-lat. etym. Wörterb. 1116), cf. Old High Germ. hū-t, hū-s, Eng. “house.” Although Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. iii. 90, n. 2, protests against this explanation, it is accepted by Meyer, Gesch. d. Alt. ii. 511, Soltau, Altröm. Volksversamml. 52, and others. Far less probable is a connection with cura, curare, assumed by most ancient writers; cf. Varro, L. L. v. 155; vi. 46; Vit. pop. rom. in Non. Marc. 57; Fest. ep. 49; Pomponius, in Dig. i. 2. 2. 2; Dio Cass. Frag. 5. 8; Isid. Etym. xv. 2. 28. These sources have misled Genz, Patr. Rom, 32, into fruitless speculation on the functions of the curia.
[51] Tac. Ann. xii. 24.