[596]. For the meanings of nefastus and religiosus see Introduction, p. 9; Marq. 291.
[597]. No doubt this was done, and the lines composed, in order to please Augustus and reflect the revival of the old religio.
[598]. Varro, L. L. 6. 32.
[599]. Vol. xiv, No. 28.
[600]. p. 53.
[601]. Marq. 250. In the Andaman Islands both sons and daughters take part in the work of maintaining the fires (Man’s Andaman Islands, quoted by Mr. Frazer, op. cit. p. 153).
[602]. See my article ‘Sacerdos’ in Dict. of Antiquities, ed. 2.
[603]. Vesta herself was originally simply the fire on the hearth (Frazer, op. cit. 152). Note that the flame was obtained afresh each year on March 1, even in historical times, by the primitive method of the friction of the wood of a ‘lucky’ tree (Festus, 106), or from the sun’s rays. We are not told which priest performed this rite.
[604]. Middleton, Rome in 1885, p. 181 foll.
[605]. This belief, and the nature of the treasures, are fully discussed by Marquardt, p. 251, with additions by Wissowa.