[787] Conjuge Fusci. Vid. ad ix., 117.
[788] Bascaudas. The Celtic word "Basgawd" is said to be the root of the English word "basket." Vid. Latham's English language, p. 98. These were probably vessels surrounded with basket or rush work. Mart., xiv., Ep. 99. "Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis; sed me jam mavolt dicere Roma suam."
[789] Olynthi. Philip of Macedon bribed Lasthenes and Eurycrates to betray Olynthus to him. Pliny (xxxiii., 5) says he used to sleep with a gold cup under his pillow. Once, when told that the route to a castle he was going to attack was impracticable, he asked whether "an ass laden with gold could not possibly reach it." Plut., Apophth., ii., p. 178.
"A store
Of precious cups, high chased in golden ore;
Cups that adorn'd the crafty Philip's state,
And bought his entrance at th' Olynthian gate." Hodgson.
[790] Digitis. Cf. xiv, 289, "Tabulâ distinguitur undâ." Ovid. Amor. ii. xi. 25, "Navita sollicitus qua ventos horret iniquos; Et prope tam letum quam prope cernit aquam."
"Trust to a little plank 'twixt death and thee,
And by four inches 'scape eternity." Hodgson.
[791] Ventre-lagenæ. "A gorbellied flagon." Shakspeare.
[792] Secures.
"His biscuit and his bread the sailor brings
On board: 'tis well. But hatchets are the things." Badh.
[793] Staminis albi. The "white" or "black" threads of the Parcæ were supposed to symbolize the good or bad fortune of the mortal whose yarn Clotho was spinning. Mart. iv. Ep. 73, "Ultima volventes oraba pensa sorores, Ut traherent parva stamina pulla morâ." VI. Ep. 58, "Si mihi lanificæ ducunt non pulla sorores Stamina." Hor. ii. Od. iii. 16, "Sororum fila trium patiuntur atra."