Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/672

 NOTES TO THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER Note 370, page igg. TlTUS Tatius was the legendary king of the Sabines. His forces were so strong that Romulus was driven back to the Saturnian Hill, which had previously been fortified and which became the site of the Capitol. The familiar story is to the effect that Tarpeia (daughter to the cap- tain of the fortress), being dazzled by the Sabines' golden bracelets, promised to betray the hill to them if they would give her the ornaments on their left arms. Accordingly she admitted the enemy at night, but when she claimed her reward, they threw down upon her the shields that they wore on the left arm, and thus crushed her to death. Her infamy is preserved in the name of the neighbouring Tarpeian Rock, from which traitors were flung down. Note 371, page 199. There is said to be no historical mention of any Roman temple to Venus Armata. Castiglione may have had in mind a passage in the " Christian Cicero " (Lactantius Firmianus, who wrote about 300 A.D.), record- ing the dedication by the Spartans of a temple and statue to the Armed Venus in memory of their women's brave repulse of a sudden attack by the Messenians during the absence of the Spartan army. Note 372, page 199. Calna (bald) was one of the Roman Venus's most ancient epithets, under which she had two temples near the Capitol. Of the several explanations of this appellation, Castiglione seems to refer to the one which interprets it as the memorial of the Roman women's heroism in cutting off their hair to make bow-strings for the men during a siege by the Gauls. Note 373, page 200. In his life of Camillus (died 365 B.C.), Plutarch gives a legendary account of the origin of the Handmaidens' Festival. At a time when the Romans were ill prepared for war, the Latins sent to demand of them a number of free-born maidens in marriage. This was suspected as a trick to obtain hostages, but no method of foiling it was devised until Tutula, a slave girl, advised the magistrates to send her to the Latin camp along with some of the most beautiful handmaidens in rich attire. This was done, and at night, when her companions had stolen away the enemies' weapons, Tutula displayed a signal torch agreed on with the Romans, who at once sallied forth, easily captured the Latin camp, and put most of the enemy to the sword. Note 374, page 200. The Romans are said to have wearied of Cicero's self- praise for his suppression of the Cataline conspiracy (63 B.C.). The woman in question was a Roman patrician, Fulvia by name, who was the mistress of one of the conspirators and divulged the plot to Cicero. Note 375, page 200. This Demetrius (II) was grandson to the Demetrius I already mentioned (see note 136), and ruled over Macedonia from about 239 to about 229 B.C. His son, Philip V (237-179 B.C.), joined Hannibal in a war against Rome, which finally ended in the downfall of the Macedonian mon- archy and the captivity of his son and successor Perseus (167 B.C.). The incident mentioned in the text is narrated by Plutarch in his work on "Women's 392