Page:Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto volume 2 Haines 1920.djvu/297

 the much too mean and vulgar expressions brought by Laberius into use in Latin."

4. Then Postumius Festus, turning to a Latin grammarian, a friend of Fronto's, said, "Apollinaris has told us that nani is a Greek word. Will you inform us whether, as commonly used of mules and small horses, it is a Latin word, and in what author it is found?"

5. And the grammarian, a man without a doubt exceptionally versed in the writings of the ancients, said, "If I am not guilty of criminal presumption in saying, with Apollinaris present, what I think of any Greek or Latin word, I venture, Festus, in answer to your question to say that this word is Latin and is found written in the poems of Helvius Cinna, no mean or unlearned poet," and he recited his actual verses, which, as they happened to stick in my memory, I have added:

Now swiftly past Cisalpine willow-thickets My phaeton and pair of jennets whirled me.

About 153 A.D.

Just as you rebuilt Rhodes. Whatever Gods there 281

