[66] Ajasson thinks that this notion may possibly have been derived from the name, which not improbably was given to it from the spongy and oleaginous nature of the flesh.
[67] See B. iii. c. 16.
[68] Owing, perhaps, to the moisture of the atmosphere.
[69] We learn from Festus, that he prohibited the use also of the scarus, a fish with scales.
[70] “Ad pulvinaria.” Literally, “At the cushions;” in reference to the practice of placing the statues of the gods upon pillows at the Lectisternia, which were sacrifices in the nature of feasts, at which images of the gods were placed reclining on couches, with tables and food before them, as if they were really partaking of the things offered in sacrifice. Livy, B. v. c. 13. gives an account of a Lectisternium celebrated with great pomp, which he asserts to have been the first instance of the practice.
[71] In B. ix. c. 54.
[72] See B. iii. c. 11.
[73] Theophrastus reckons coral among the precious stones, and the Pseudo-Orpheus among the minerals. Pliny would seem to be at a loss whether to consider it as an animal or a vegetable. In reality it is the production of marine organized bodies of an arborescent habit, known as Corallina, with jointed stems, supported on a kind of root divided into branches, which are likewise jointed.
[74] Because κειρεῖται, it is “cut short” in the sea, a far-fetched derivation, apparently.
[75] Solinus informs us that Zoroaster attributed certain mysterious properties to coral.