[62] It should be noticed that the name Calabria is now applied to the other peninsula of southern Italy, that which included the ancient Bruttium. The name was changed about the eleventh century of the Christian Era.
[63] A Patrician had at least three names: his own personal appellation, as Ca´ius, Marcus, or Lu´cius; the name of his clan, and the name of his family. Many Romans had a fourth name, derived from some personal peculiarity or memorable deed. Thus Pub´lius Corne´lius Scip´io Africa´nus belonged to the Cornelian gens, the Scipio family, and received a surname from his brilliant achievements in Africa. His clients bore the name Cornelius.
[64] The name of the City of the Seven Mountains had been given to Rome when within much narrower limits. The Septimontium included only the Palatine, Esquiline, and Cælian, which were divided into smaller peaks or eminences, seven in all.
[65] At a later period, when the Romans had become familiar with the literature of the Greeks, an attempt was made to unite the mythologies of the two nations. Some deities, like Apollo, were directly borrowed from the Greeks; in other cases, some resemblance of office or character caused the Greek and the Roman divinities to be considered the same. Thus Jupiter was identified with Zeus; Minerva, the thinking goddess—the Etruscan Menerfa—with Athena, etc. By order of the Delphic oracle or of the Sibylline Books, living serpents, sacred to Æsculapius, were brought from Epidaurus to Rome, to avert a pestilence, B. C. 293.
[66] For the probable form of this imprecation, [see note, p. 276].
[67] A jugerum was very nearly five-eighths of an acre.
[68] The form, which has been strictly preserved, may be of interest, as illustrating Roman ideas: “Thou Janus, thou Jupiter, thou Mara our father, thou Quirinus, thou Bellona; ye Lares, ye the nine gods, ye the gods of our fathers’ land, ye whose power disposes both of us and of our enemies, and ye also, gods of the dead, I pray you, I humbly beseech you … that ye would prosper the people of Rome and the Quirites with all might and victory, and that ye would visit the enemies of the people of Rome … with terror, dismay, and death. And according to these words which I have now spoken, so do I now, on the behalf of the commonwealth of the Roman people … on behalf of the army, both the legions and the foreign aids … devote the legions and the foreign aids of our enemies, along with myself, to the gods of the dead and to the grave.” It was deemed an impiety to ask for victory without making a sacrifice, for Nemesis avenged unmingled prosperity no less than crime.
[69] I. e., to march between two spears planted in the ground and surmounted by a third. Hence, our term “subjugation” = sub jugum ire.
[70] The Mamertines, “Children of Mars,” were a troop of Italian freebooters, formerly in the pay of Syracuse, but who had seized Messa´na and other fortresses in the north-east of Sicily, massacred the people, and made themselves independent.
[71] N. B. Not the great Hannibal, who was son of Hamilcar, and hero of the Second Punic War. “Punic” is only another form of the adjective Phœnician, but is applied especially to the people of Carthage.