[1637] Labosum for laboriosum.
[1638] Quartarius, "quia partem quartam questûs capiebant." "The mule-drivers were so called, because they received one fourth of the hire." Of course, as the animals were not their own, they were not very careful how they drove them; and hence might run foul of the cippi, which were either tomb-stones by the side of the road, or stones set to mark the boundaries of land. Cf. Juv., Sat. i., 171. Pers., i., 37. Hor., i., Sat. viii., 12.
[1639] Hor., i., Sat. vi., 105, "Mantica cui lumbos onere ulceret atque eques armos." Canterius (more correctly Cantherius), "a gelding."
[1640] The Promontory of Minerva, now P. di Campanella, is the southernmost extremity of the Bay of Naples, a short distance from the island of Capri.
[1641] The Portus Alburnus is the mouth of the river Silarus (now Selo), which separates Lucania from the district of the Picentini. The Mons Alburnus (now Alburno), from which it takes its name, stands near the junction of the Tanager (now Negro) with the Silarus. Virgil mentions this district as abounding in the gad-fly. Georg., iii., 146.
[1642] Palinurum (still called Capo Palinuro) is in Lucania, not far from the town of Velia, at the north of the Laus sinus, or Golfo di Policastra.
[1643] Messana, the ancient Zancle, still gives its name to the strait between it and Rhegium. The geological fact from which the latter derives its name (Rhegium, or ῥήγνυμι), is described, Virg., Æn., iii., 414, seq. Lipara (now Lipari) is the principal of the Æolian or Vulcanian Islands.
Phacelitis, from φάκελος, "a fagot." When Orestes made his escape with Pylades and Iphigenia from Taurica, he carried away with him the image of Artemis, inclosed for the purpose of concealment in a bundle of sticks. Hence her name, Phacelitis, or, according to the Latin form, Facelitis. This image he carried, according to one legend, to Aricia, near which was the grove of Diana Nemorensis; or, as others say, to Syracuse, where he built a temple and established her Cultus. Cf. Sil. Ital., xiv., 260.
[1644] Carchesium is, according to some, "the upper part of the Levantine sail," or "the lower part of the mast." Others explain it as "the cross-trees or tops of the mast, to which the sailors ascended to look out." Or it is "the hollow bowl-shaped top or truck of the mast, through which the halyards work." Hence its use as applied to a drinking-cup. (Virg., Georg., iv., 380. Athen., xi., c. 49. Müller's Archæol. of Art, § 299.) Catull., Pel. et Thet., 236. Liv., Andron. Fr. incert, 1, "Florem antlabant Liberi ex carchesiis."
[1645] Degrumor. Properly, "to mark out two lines crossing each other exactly at right angles." There was a point in the camp near the Prætorium, called Groma, at which four lines converged, which divided the camp into four equal portions.