Ancīle and Ancy̆le, a sacred shield, which, according to the Roman authors, fell from heaven in the reign of Numa, when the Roman people laboured under a pestilence. Upon the preservation of this shield depended the fate of the Roman empire, and therefore Numa ordered 11 of the same size and form to be made, that if ever any attempt was made to carry them away, the plunderer might find it difficult to distinguish the true one. They were made with such exactness, that the king promised Veterius Mamurius, the artist, whatever reward he desired. See: [Mamurius]. They were kept in the temple of Vesta, and an order of priests was chosen to watch over their safety. These priests were called Salii, and were 12 in number; they carried, every year on the 1st of March, the shields in a solemn procession round the walls of Rome, dancing and singing praises to the god Mars. This sacred festival continued three days, during which every important business was stopped. It was deemed unfortunate to be married on those days, or to undertake any expedition; and Tacitus, bk. 1, Histories, has attributed the unsuccessful campaign of the emperor Otho against Vitellius to his leaving Rome during the celebration of the Ancyliorum festum. These two verses of Ovid explain the origin of the word Ancyle, which is applied to these shields:
Idque ancyle vocat, quod ab omni parte recisum est,
Quemque notes oculis, angulus omnis abest.
Fasti, bk. 3, li. 377, &c.
Varro, de Lingua Latina, bk. 5, ch. 6.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 1, ch. 1.—Juvenal, satire 2, li. 124.—Plutarch, Numa.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 664.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 2.—Livy, bk. 1, ch. 20.
Ancon and Ancōna, a town of Picenum, built by the Sicilians, with a harbour in the form of a crescent or elbow (ἀγχων), on the shores of the Adriatic. Near this place is the famous chapel of Loretto, supposed by monkish historians to have been brought through the air by angels, August 10, A.D. 1291, from Judæa, where it was a cottage, inhabited by the virgin Mary. The reputed sanctity of the place has often brought 100,000 pilgrims in one day to Loretto. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 13.—Lucan, bk. 2, li. 402.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 437.
Ancus Martius, the fourth king of Rome, was grandson to Numa by his daughter. He waged a successful war against the Latins, Veientes, Fidenates, Volsci, and Sabines, and joined mount Janiculum to the city by a bridge, and inclosed mount Martius and the Aventine within the walls of the city. He extended the confines of the Roman territories to the sea, where he built the town of Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber. He inherited the valour of Romulus with the moderation of Numa. He died B.C. 616, after a reign of 24 years, and was succeeded by Tarquin the elder. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 3, ch. 9.—Livy, bk. 1, ch. 32, &c.—Florus, bk. 1, ch. 4.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 815.
Ancȳræ, a town of Sicily.——A town of Phrygia. Pausanias, bk. 1.
Anda, a city of Africa. Polybius.
Andabătæ, certain gladiators who fought blindfolded, whence the proverb, Andabatarum more, to denote rash and inconsiderate measures. Cicero, bk. 6, Letters to his Friends, ltr. 10.