[2297] As a plebiscitum.
[2298] “Desquamatur.” This is most probably the meaning of the word, though Beckmann observes “that it was undoubtedly a term of art, which cannot be further explained, because we are unacquainted with the operation to which it alludes.”—Vol II. p. 104. Bohn’s Edition.
[2299] “Funditur sulphure.” The meaning of these words is very doubtful. Beckmann proposes to read “offenditur,” but he is not supported by any of the MSS. He has evidently mistaken the meaning of the whole passage.
[2300] Probably because it was too calcareous, Beckmann thinks.
[2301] See B. iv. c. 3, and B. xxxvi. c. [59].
[2302] Plate powder; from “argentum,” “silver.” See B. xvii. c. 4.
[2303] Whitening, or chalk washed and prepared, is still used for this purpose.
[2304] The goal for the chariots.
[2305] This reading is restored by Sillig from the Bamberg MS., but no particulars are known relative to the person alluded to; unless, indeed, as Sillig suspects to be the case, he is identical with Publius Syrus, the writer of mimes, mentioned in B. viii. c. 77.
[2306] Supposed by some to have been the Manilius who was author of the poem called “Astronomica,” still in existence. It is more probable, however, that he was the father of the poet, or perhaps the grandfather; as it is clear from a passage in Suetonius, that Staberius Eros taught at Rome during the civil wars of Sylla, while the poem must have been written, in part at least, after the death of Augustus.