[89]. Jordan, Krit. Beiträge, p. 203 foll.
[90]. Cato, R. R. 143.
[91]. Liv. 1. 20. Cp. 9. 40, where the chosen Samnite warriors wore tunicae versicolores. In each case the dress is a religious one, of the same character as that of the triumphator, and would have its ultimate origin in the war-paint of savages, which probably also has a religious signification. The trabea was the old short cavalry coat.
[92]. See Marq. 432, and Dict. of Antiq. s. v. Salii for details.
[93]. Fest. 131. The fragments may be seen in Wordsworth’s Fragments and Specimens of Early Latin, pp. 564 foll. In the chief fragment the name of Janus seems almost certainly to occur (cf. Lydus, 4. 2); and in another Lucetius (= Iupiter?). Juno and Minerva are also mentioned. See Dict. of Antiq. s. v. Salii. It is curious that Mars is more prominent in the song of the Arval Brothers.
[94]. Liv. 5. 52. 7.
[95]. Dionysius, 2. 71.
[96]. Usener in Rhein. Mus. xxx. 218; Roscher, Lex. s. v. Mars 2419, can only quote two very vague and doubtful passages from late writers in support of the view that the shields were symbols of the months; Lydus 4. 2. who says that the Salii sang in praise of Janus, κατὰ τὸν τῶν Ἰταλικῶν μηνῶν ἀριθμόν; and Liber glossarum, Cod. Vat. Palat. 1773 f. 40 v.: Ancilia: scuta unius anni.
[97]. For the evidence on this point, and others connected with the Salii, I must refer the reader to Mr. G. E. Marindin’s excellent article ‘Salii’ in the new edition of Smith’s Dict. of Antiquities, the most complete and at the same time sensible account that has appeared in recent years. (The article ‘Ancilia’ in the new edition of Pauly’s Real-Encycl. is disappointing.) Dionysius, Varro, and Plutarch are all at one about the shape of the shields, and Mr. Marindin is quite right in insisting that Ovid does not contradict them. (See the passages quoted in the article.) The coins of Licinius Stolo and of Antoninus Pius (Cohen, Méd. Cons. plate xxiv. 9, 10, and Méd. Imp. ii, no. 467) give the same peculiar shape. The bronze of Domitian, A.D. 88 (Cohen, Méd. Imp. i. plate xvii), and the coins of Sanquinius, B.C. 16 (both issued in connexion with ludi saeculares), on which are figures supposed to be Salii with round shields, have certainly been misinterpreted (e. g. in Marq. 431). See note at end of this work.
[98]. Jordan, in Commentationes in hon. Momms. p. 365. There could not b feriae on this day, as it was a dies fastus.