Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/754

 734 ROMA, the Suburan Region, as second, &c." (" Den Namen Argeer leitet man ab von den AnfUhrern die mit dem Argiver Hercules nach Kom kamen, und sich in Saturnia niederliessen. Von diesen Stadttheilen findet t>ich zuerst verzeicbnct (niimlich in den Sacris Argeorum) die Suhuranische Region, als zweite, &c." {Beschr. i. 690, cf. p. 148.) But to say that the name of Argives was derived from other Argives can hardly be what the author intended. Besides, the sense is disjointed ; for the relative qiiis (wrongly translated " of these parts of the city ") cannot be made to refer to an antecedent that is separated from it by a long sentence. As the text stands, quis must necessarily refer to Argeos in the sentence immediately preceding. It might be thought that this sentence has been interpolated, since Varro called an Argive Argus, not Argivus. " Itaque diei- mus ' hie Argus ' cum homineindicimus ; cum oppidum, Graecanice 'hoc Argos,' cum Latine, ' Argei.' {L.L. is. §89, Mlill.) We see from this passage that the more ancient Latin name for the town of Argos was Argei {masc. plur.), and hence it might be inferred to be Livy's meaning that the chapels were called Ai-gos or Argoses, not Argives. But At-gei, in still more ancient Latin than that of Varro, was also the name for Argives as we find from a verse which he quotes from Ennius (vii. § 44): — " Libaque, fictores, Argeos et tutulatos ;" whence we are disposed to think that the name of Argives, however anomalous tjie usage may appear, was really applied to these chapels, just as a modern Italian calls a church S. Pietro or S. Paolo, and that the meaning of Varro in the second sentence of the passage quoted, is : " It is thought that these Argei (i. e. the sacraria so called) were named after the chiefs who came to Rome with the Argive Hercules ; " in which manner Varro would coincide with Livy in making these Argei places. How else, too, shall we explain Ovid {Fast. iii. 791) : — " Itur ad Argeos, qid sint sua pagina dicet ?" And in like manner Masurius Sabinus, quoted by Gellius (A''. ^. X. 15): "Atque etiam cum (Fla- minica) it ad Argeos." A passage in Paulus Dia- conus throws a gleam of light upon the matter ; though, with more grammatical nicety than know- ledge of antiquity, he has adopted, apparently from the Greek, a neuter form unknown to any other writer : " Argea loca appellantur Romae, quod in his sepulti essent quidam Argivorum illustres viri," (p. 19, Miill.) Hence it appears that these chapels were the (reputed) burial places of these Argive lieroes, and their viascuUne appellation thus gains still further probability. " E quis," &c. would mean, therefore, that the different Servian Regions were marked off and named according to these chapels. We have already remarked that though Varro mentions 27 of these chapels, he enumerates only 24. Hence Becker {Handb. p. 386), as well as Bunsen, are of opinion that the three odd ones were upon the Capitol. The only reason assigned for this conjecture is that the hill had three natural divisions — two heights with a depression between them. But if we have rightly explained Varro's meaning, it is impossible that the Capitol should have had any of these chapels. Bunsen, however, goes still further, and, connecting the chapels with the Argive men of straw which were annually precipitated into the Tiber, thinks that their number might have been 30, allotting the ROMA. remaining three to the ancient Capitol on tlie Qui- rinal, although Varro had already accounted for his usual number of six in that district. {Beschr. i. 149.) However, it is not at all improbable that the tradition of the Argive mannikins was cwmected with that of the chapels, since it may be inferred from the context of the passage in Varro, explaining the line of Ennius before quoted, that they were in- stituted by Numa. Thus the preceding line (§ 43), " mensas constituit ideraque ancilia," refers to Nu- ma's institutions, who is again alluded to in § 45, " eundem Pompilium ait fecisse flamines." In § 44 Varro describes the custom regarding the men of straw as follows : " Argei ab Argis ; Argei hunt e scirpeis, simulacra hominum xxiiii.; ea quotannis de ponte subheio a sacerdotibus publice deici solent in Tiberim." The origin of the custom is variously ex- plained; but the most probable account is that it was intended to commemorate the abolition by the Argives of human sacrifices once offered to Saturn, for which these men of straw were substituted. None of the MSS. of Varro, however, gives the number of 27 or 30 ; though the latter was introduced into the text by Aldus from the account of Dionysius (i. 38). Hence it would perhaps be more in accordance with the principles of sound criticism to reduce the num- ber of chapels given by Varro (v. § 45) from 27 to 24, instead of increasing them to 30 ; as they would then not only correspond with the number of these Argive mannikins, but also with that of the chapels which Varro separately enumerates. Septimontium. — JheSeptimonlium seems also to be in some degree connected with these Argive chapels and the Servian divisions of the city. The word Septi- montium had two meanings ; it signified both the com- plex of seven hills on which Rome stood, and a festival (Septimontiale sacrum. Suet. Dom. 4) celebrated in commemoration of the traditions connected with tliem. Now it is remarkable that Antistius Labeo, quoted by Festus (p. 348, ]IU11.) in his account of the places where this festival was celebrated, omits all mention of the Capitoline and Aventine, just as they seem to have been left out of Numa's town and the regions of Sei'vius subsequently formed according to it: "Sep- timontium, ut ait Antistius Labeo, hisce montibus feriae: Palatio, cui sacrificium quod fit, Palatuar dicitur. Veliae, cui item sacrificium Fagutali, Su- burae, Cermalo, Oppio Caelio monti, Cispio monti." There were Argive chapels at all these places, and hence a strong presumption that the festival of the Septimontium was founded by Numa, the author of most of the ancient Roman solemnities. That Labeo considered the places he enumerates to be hills is evident, not only as a direct inference from the term Septimontium itself, but also from his express words, " hisce montibus feriae," — "there are holidays on the hills here recited." Moreover, we know as a certainty that five of the places mentioned were hills, namely, the Palatium, Velia, Oppius, Cispius, and Caelius, — a strong presumption that the others aUo were heights. Yet Niebuhr (Ilist. i. 389), Bunsen, {Beschr. i. 685), and Becker {Handh. p. 124), assume that one or two of them were no hills at all. The places about which there can be any doubt are Fagutal and Germalus. Respecting Subura there can be no doubt at all ; it was certainly a valley. Now the Fagutal was a ridge of the Esquiline containing the Lucus F'agutalis. It was the residence of Tarquinius Superbus: "Esquiliis (habitavit) supra cliviun Pullium, ad Fagutalem lucum " (Solin. i. 25). But if the grove was above the clivus it umst