[1425] Pondus. So Horace, i., Epist. xix., 42, "Nugis addere pondus."
[1426] Excutienda. Seneca, Ep. lxxii., 1, "Explicandus est animus, et quæcunque apud illum deposita sunt, subinde excuti debent."
[1427] Solidum crepet. Cf. iii., 21, "Sonet vitium percussa."
[1428] Sinuoso. Cf. Hamlet, "Give me that man that is not passion's slave, and I will wear him in my heart's core; ay, in my heart of heart, as I do thee, Horatio!" Act iii., sc. 2.
[1429] Custos. The Prætexta was intended, as the robes of the priests, to serve as a protection to the youths that wore it. The purple with which the toga was bordered was to remind them of the modesty which was becoming to their early years. It was laid aside by boys at the age of seventeen, and by girls when they were married. The assumption of the toga virilis took place with great solemnities before the images of the Lares, sometimes in the Capitol. It not unfrequently happened that the changing of the toga at the same time formed a bond of union between young men, which lasted unbroken for many years. Hor., i., Od. xxxvi., 9, "Memor Actæ non alio rege puertiæ Mutatæque simul togæ. "The Liberalia, on the 16th before the Kalends of April (i. e., March 17th), were the usual festival for this ceremony. Vid. Cic. ad Att., VI., i., 12. Ovid explains the reasons for the selection. Fast., iii., 771, seq.
[1430] Bulla. Vid. Juv., v., 164.
[1431] Succinctis. So Horace, A. P., 50, "Fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis." The Lares, being the original household deities, were regarded with singular affection, and were probably usually represented in the homely dress of the early ages of the republic. Perhaps, too, some superstitious feeling might tend to prevent any innovation in their costume. This method of wearing the toga, which consisted in twisting it over the left shoulder, so as to leave the right arm bare and free, was called the "Cinctus Gabinus" (cf. Ov., Fast., v., 101, 129), from the fact of its having been adopted at the sudden attack at Gabii, when they had not time to put on the sagum, but were forced to fight in the toga. Hence, in proclaiming war, the consul always appeared in this costume (Virg., Æn., vii., 612, "Ipse Quirinali trabeâ cinctuque Gabino Insignis reserat stridentia limina Consul"), and it was that in which Decius devoted himself. Liv., viii., 9; v., 46.
[1432] Umbo was the centre where all the folds of the toga met on the left shoulder; from this boss the lappet fell down and was tucked into the girdle, so as to form the sinus or fold which served as a pocket.
[1433] Fallere solers. "You showed so much skill and address in your endeavors to restore me to the right path, that I was, as it were, gradually and insensibly cheated into a reformation of my life."
[1434] Fœdere certo. Hor., ii., Ep. ii., 187, "Scit Genius, natale comes qui temperat astrum." ii., Od. xvii., 16, "Placitumque Parcis, Seu Libra seu me Scorpius adspicit formidolosus, pars violentior Natalis horæ seu tyrannus Hesperiæ Capricornus undæ Utrumque nostrum incredibili modo consentit astrum." Manil., iv., 549, "Felix æquato genitus sub pondere Libræ."