[681] As to some other particulars connected with this usage, see the end of B. xxviii. c. 7.
[682] And yet, as Hardouin remarks, before his time, when Scipio was besieging Carthage, the bodies of the Roman tribunes, when selected for burial by Hasdrubal, were distinguished by their rings of gold. The object of Marius, no doubt, was to ingratiate himself with the upper classes.
[683] A.U.C. 651.
[684] Known as the “anulus pronubus,” or “engaged ring,” according to Dalechamps.
[685] “Codicillos.” Il. B. vi. l. 168.
[686] See B. xiii. c. 21.
[687] Od. B. viii. ll. 424, 443, 447.
[688] See the Iliad, B. iii. and B. vii. l. 175, et seq.
[689] His meaning is, that although κληρὸι were used, lots or balls made of earth, we do not read that the impressions on them were made by the aid of signet-rings.
[690] “Fabricæ deûm.” He alludes to the forge of Vulcan, described in the Eighteenth Book of the Iliad, l. 400, et seq.