[20] Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
[21] Metamorphosis, xv. Translation by Mr. Welsted.
[22] Although there is little evidence to show that serpent-worship was indigenous in Rome, Fergusson holds that “such an embassy being sent on the occasion in question indicates a degree of faith on the part of the people which could only have arisen from previous familiarity.” Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 19.
[23] The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. ii.
[24] Livy, x, 47.
[25] Ibid., xxix, 11.
[26] In his Life of Publicola, Plutarch gives an interesting account of its origin. The sacrifice of corn and trees on a field belonging to the Tarquins, in the Campus Martius, had much to do with it. These being cast into the river, found lodgment at shallows where the island is, which favored alluvial accumulations. See also Livy, ii, 5.
[27] It is stated by Sir George Head that it is twelve hundred feet in length and four hundred in breadth. Rome—A Tour of Many Days, vol. iii, p. 106. London, 1849.
[28] A hospital established by Gregory XIII in 1581 and several residences are also on the island.
[29] God of fields and shepherds. The Temple of Æsculapius was the most ancient, having been dedicated A.U.C. 462.