she may watch the cross roads where they are cut into three pathways; to me, too, it is given, in order that I may not lose time in the bending of my neck, to look two ways without moving my body." He had said thus far, and by his counenance acknowledged that he would not be difficult to be moved by me, if I wished to make further inquiries. I took courage, and, undismayed, gave thanks to the deity, and looking upon the ground, spoke a few words. "Say, now, I pray thee, why the new year begins with the frost of winter, which might better have been begun in the spring? Then all things are blooming, then is the youthful season of the year, and the young bud is swelling from the teeming shoot. Then the tree is covered with the newly formed leaves, the corn blade shoots from the seed to the surface of the ground; the birds, with their melodies, soothe the genial air, and the flocks gambol and disport in the meadows. Then is the sunshine refreshing; and the stranger swallow comes forth, and builds her fabric of clay beneath the lofty rafter. Then, too, is the field subjected to cultivation, and renewed by the plough. This, in justice, should have been called the opening of the year." I had made my inquiry in many words; he causing no delay by many, thus compressed his words into two lines. "The winter solstice" is the first day of the new, and the last of the old sun; Phoebus76 and the year take the same period for commencement." After these things I was wondering, and inquired why the first day was not exempt from the litigation of the courts." "Understand 74 73 73 The stranger swallow.]—Ver.157. The poet here refers to the martin or window swallow, which builds in the corner of windows, under roofs, or against rocky places, and returns year after year to the situation it has once adopted, only repairing its nest. It mixes earth and straw, and after moistening it with its mouth, sticks it against the wall as a foundation for its nest. At noon it ceases work, that the portion built may dry by next morning, and in about a fortnight its nest is completed. or 6 74 Subjected to cultivation.]-Ver. 159. Patitur,' literally suffers,' endures.' This term is appropriately used; for the ground, before this period, has been so hard, that it would not, literally speaking, suffer or endure cultivation. Now, however, the crumbling soil is ready to admit the plough and spade. 75 The winter solstice. ]-Ver. 163. Bruma.' The winter solstice is the time when the sun has completed his progress northward on the ecliptic, and begins to return. 76 Phoebus.]-Ver. 164. Phœbus, or the shining,' was one of the titles of Apollo, the god of the sun. * Litigation of the courts.]-Ver. 165. See Introduction. earliest the reason," says Janus; "I have assigned the very hours of the year for the transaction of business, lest the whole year might be spent in idleness from a bad precedent. For the same reason, each person takes a slight taste of his calling by doing something on that day, but does no more than merely give evidence of his ordinary employment.78 After that I asked, "Why, although I am propitiating the power of other gods, do I, O Janus, present the frankincense and the wine to thee, the first of all?" "That by means of me,79 who guard the threshold, thou mayst have," says he, access towards whatever deities thou mayst wish." "But why are congratulatory expressions uttered in thy calends, and why do we then give and receive in return good wishes?" Then the god, leaning on the staff which his right hand bore, answers, "Omens of the future are wont to be derived from beginnings. To the word first spoken, ye mortals, turn your timid ears and the augur observes the bird that is first seen by him. Then the temples and the ears of the gods 81 80 78 Evidence of his ordinary employment.]—Ver. 170. It was usual with the Romans for all classes of people in the calends of January, as an omen of future prosperity and industry, and not for lucre, to practise a little at their respective callings. The mechanic did some trifling job, the farmer a little work in the fields, and the pleader exercised his lungs a little in the forum. 79 By means of me.]-Ver. 173. Fabius Pictor, an ancient Roman historian, says that the reason was, because Janus first taught the Latins to use spelt, farra,' and wine in sacrifice. Macrobius says it was because he first erected temples to the gods in Italy. 80 Congratulatory expressions.]-Ver. 175. It was the Roman custom on the calends of January to express good wishes and anxious prayers for the safety of friends. Our practice of wishing each other a happy new year, and the French custom of making presents on that day, are, no doubt, derived from this origin. 81 The augur.]-Ver. 180. The augur, or diviner by birds, derived his name from avis,' a 'bird,' and' gero,' to 'carry,' or from some unknown Etrurian origin. According to Plutarch, in his life of Romulus, they were anciently called 'auspices,' and are supposed to have been three in number, one for each tribe. They were confirmed in their office by Numa, and a fourth was afterwards added, probably by Servius Tullius, when he divided the city into four tribes. They derived the signa,' or 'tokens of futurity,' from five sources-celestial phenomena, (such as thunder and lightning),—the singing and flight of birds, the quantity eaten by the sacred chickens,-quadrupeds,—and from extraordinary accidents and casualties, called 'diræ, or dira.' Among the birds which gave omens by the voice, 'oscines,' were the raven, the crow, the cock, the owl, &c. Those giving omens by flight, præpetes,' were the eagle, vulture, &c. 6 82 are open, no tongue utters unheeded prayers, and all that is said has its due weight." Janus had concluded, and I made no long silence, but with my words followed close on his last accents. "What means, "said I, "the palmdate, and the shrivelled dried fig, and the white honey given as a present, in the snow-white jar?" 3 "A fair omen," said he, "is the reason, that the like grateful flavour may attend upon our transactions, and that the year may in sweetness go through the course which it has begun." "I see," said I, "why sweets are given as presents: add the meaning of the little coin also given, that no part of thy festival may be imperfectly understood by me." He smiled and said, "Oh! how little are the habits of thy own times known to thee, who canst suppose that honey is sweeter than the acquisition of money. Scarcely did I see any one, even when Saturn reigned, to whose spirit gain was not sweet. 85 84 With 82 Given as a present.]-Ver. 186. These new year's gifts were cailed 'strenæ.' They consisted of fruit, occasionally covered with gold-leaf, honey, and sometimes a trifling piece of coin. The fig derived its name 'carica,' from Caria, now Anatolia, in Asia Minor. 83 In the snow-white jar.]-Ver. 186. The best honey was white, and was especially given on this day in a white jar, as bearing the best omen. Honey was more frequently yellow, and the cadus,' or jar, of red earthenware, according to Martial, i. 56. 10. Pliny tells us that a white cadus' was sometimes made from a kind of whitish stone. Gower renders these lines, 'What means dry figs and palm-fruit I wot not, 91 The little coin.]-Ver. 189. The 'stips' was a trifling coin of the smallest value, given frequently to beggars, and sent as a new year's present, merely by way of good omen, and not for any intrinsic value. The nominative 'stips' does not occur in any of the Latin classics. According to Suetonius, book v. ch. 42, Augustus condescended to take new year's gifts, and to receive the 'stips,' and in such quantities that his new year's presents must have been not only of good omen, but of great value. 'He proclaimed that he too at the beginning of the year would receive new year's gifts (strenæ), and stood in the vestibule of the temples on the calends of January, to receive the coin (stipes), which a crowd of all classes showered before him from their hands and laps.' Queen Elizabeth and James the First, and others of our sovereigns, expected a new year's gift (generally a piece of plate) from each member of the nobility, and gave a present in return, though the balance of gain was generally on the side of the sovereign. 85 When Saturn reigned.]—Ver. 193. Saturn, the god of Time, was the son of Uranus and Terra, or Vesta. When dethroned by his son 87 time, increased that love of acquiring, which is now at its height, and has scarcely a further point to which it can proceed. Wealth now is more valued than in the years of the olden time, while the people still were poor, while Rome was but newly built, while a little cottage received Quirinus, the begotten of Mars, and the sedge of the stream afforded him a scanty couch. In those times scarcely could Jupiter stand at full length in his narrow temple, and in his right hand was a thunderbolt of clay.88 Then used they to adorn the capitol with boughs, which now they adorn with gems; 89 and the senator himself used to tend his own sheep. Nor was it then reckoned a disgrace to have enjoyed undisturbed slumber on the bed of straw, and to have heaped the hay as a pillow under one's head. The consul used tc give laws to the people, the plough being but just laid aside, and the possession of a small ingot of silver was deemed a crime.90 But after the Fortune of this place Jupiter, he fled into Italy, and gave name to Latium, because he was concealed there, from 'lateo,' to lie hid. Janus, who was the king of Etruria at the time, received him hospitably, and Saturn afterwards reigned on the Latian side of the Tiber. Under Saturn was the golden age, which, as Janus here tells us, was not entirely proof against the charms of lucre. 86 Quirinus.]-Ver. 199. This was a name of Romulus, as well as an epithet of Janus. According to Macrobius, in his Saturnalia, it was derived from the Sabine word curis,'' a spear,' and signified one skilled in the use of that weapon. 87 In his narrow temple.]-Ver. 201. Either the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, built by Romulus on the Capitol, which was not sixteen feet long, or that built by Numa. However, the sitting posture was frequently assigned to the god by the taste of the artist, and the reverential feelings of the worshippers, as an attitude of repose and majestic dignity, irrespectively of the limits of the temple. 88 A thunderbolt of clay.]-Ver. 202. Fictile,' of baked clay. In the early times the images of the gods were of baked clay. Tarquinius Priscus employed Etrurian artists to make a Jupiter of pottery for the Capitolium; and the four-horse chariot, which was placed on the Capitoline Temple when first built, was of baked clay. 89 They adorn with gems.]—Ver. 203. Augustus, at one time, presented sixteen thousand pounds weight of gold and jewels of an enormous value to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. 90 A crime.] Ver. 208. There was an ancient law which prohibited the possession by the same person of more than five pounds of silver. Fabricius, the censor, in the year A.U.c. 478, expelled from the senate Cornelius Rufinus, who had been dictator and twice consul, for baving ten pounds' weight of silver plate in his possession. 92 raised on high her head, and Rome reached with her height" to the gods above, both wealth increased and the maddening lust for wealth; and although men possess very much they still desire more. They struggle to acquire, in order that they may lavish; and then to obtain again that which they have lavished; and the very changes, from wealth to poverty, afford nourishment to their vices. So with those whose stomach has swelled with the suffusion of water, the more that water that has been drunk, the more is it thirsted for.93 Money now is the only thing prized; wealth" alone gives honours; wealth gives friendships: the poor man every where lies prostrate. But thou askest me why the omen of the small coin is deemed desirable, and why the ancient pieces of brass are welcome to our hands. In olden times they used to give pieces of brass; at the present day there is a better omen in gold, and the ancient coinage beaten out of the field, yields to the new. Us deities, too, though we approve of the temples of ancient fashion, golden ones please right well; that grandeur 91 Reached with her height.]—Ver. 209, 210. These two lines are thus translated by Gower : 'But when proud fate this place's head had reared, And Rome's top-gallant near the gods appeared.' 92 To obtain again.]-Ver. 213. This reminds us of the old proverb, which tells greedy people that 'they cannot both eat their cake and have it.' 93 Is thirsted for.]-Ver. 216. The common comparison of the state of the avaricious man to that of a person afflicted with the dropsy. 6 91 Money now is the only thing prized.]-Ver. 217. In pretio pretium est,' equivalent to our common expression, Money only makes the man.' 95 Wealth.]-Ver. 217. Census' literally means the valuation on oath of the present value of one's possessions for the purposes of taxation-in fact, the Roman return for the income-tax. Hence it came to signify the property itself. Perhaps it might be rendered by the reputation of wealth.' 96 Ancient pieces of brass.]-Ver. 220. The ancient pieces of brass were welcome to the hands of Romans, as commemorating the arrival o Saturn in Italy, by the prow of a ship on the reverse of the coin. These pieces were, doubtless, the large and heavy coins of copper, or rather, bronze, and hence termed the as or æs, which originally weighed 1 lb., but were gradually reduced till they scarcely exceeded 1oz. in weight. The ases of the early kings are supposed to have consisted merely of square ingots of bronze of 1 lb. weight without impress, and Servius Tullius is stated by Pliny, to have first placed the impress of an ox on them. In the early times of the republic, they were coined in a circular form, with the types alluded to by Ovid. The heaviest that have reached us are about 9 oz. in weight. These massive coins were distinguished by the Romans from the smaller and more modern money, by the title ara gravia, 'heavy |