Noctes Atticae

A defence of some lines of Virgil, in which the grammarian Julius Hyginus alleged that there was a mistake; and also the meaning of lituus; and on the etymology of that word.

1. HERE, wielding his Quirinal augur-staff,
2. Girt with scant shift and bearing on his left
3. The sacred shield, Picus appeared enthroned.

In these verses [*](Aen. vii. 187.) Hyginus wrote [*](Frag. 5, Fun.) that Virgil was in error, alleging that he did not notice that the words ipse Quirinali lituo lacked something.

For,

said he,

if we have not observed that something is lacking, the sentence seems to read ' girt with staff and scant shift,' which,

says he,

is utterly absurd; for since the lituus is a short wand, curved at its thicker end, such as the augurs use, how on earth can one be looked upon as ' girt with a lituus? '

As a matter of fact, it was Hyginus himself who failed to notice that this expression, like very many others, contains an ellipsis. For example, when we say

Marcus Cicero, a man of great eloquence

and

Quintus Roscius, an actor of consummate grace,

neither of these phrases is full and complete, but to the hearer they seem full and complete. As Vergil wrote in another place: [*](Aen. v. 372.)

1. Victorious Butes of huge bulk,

that is, having huge bulk, and also in another passage: [*](Aen. v. 401.) Into the ring he hurled gauntlets of giant weight, and similarly: [*](Aen. iii. 618.)

1. A house of gore and cruel feasts, dark, huge within,

so then it would seem that the phrase in question ought to be interpreted as

Picus was with the Quirinal staff,

just as we say

the statue was with a large head,

and in fact est, erat and fuit are often omitted, with elegant effect and without any loss of meaning. [*](This explanation of Quirinali lituo as an ablative of quality is of course wrong; we simply have zeugma in subcinctus, equipped with and girt with.)

And since mention has been made of the lituus, I must not pass over a question which obviously may be asked, whether the augurs' lituus is called after the trumpet of the same name, or whether the

trumpet derived its name lituus from the augurs' staff; for both have the same form and both alike are curved. [*](The trumpet called lituits was slightly curved at the end, differing from the tuba, which was straight, and the spiral cornn. The augur's staff was like a crook with a short handle.) But if, as some think, the trumpet was called lituus from its sound, because of the Homeric expression li/gce bio/s, [*](Iliad iv. 125.)

1. The bow twanged,

it must be concluded that the augural staff was called litmus from its resemblance to the trumpet. And Virgil uses that word also as synonymous with tuba: [*](Aen. vi. 167.)

1. He even faced the fray
2. Conspicuous both with clarion (lituo) and with spear.

The story of Croesus dumb son, from the books of Herodotus.

THE son of king Croesus, when he was already old enough to speak, was dumb, and after lie had become a well-grown youth, he was still unable to utter a word. Hence he was for a long time regarded as mute and tongue-tied. When his father had been vanquished in a great war, the city in which he lived had been taken, and one of the enemy was rushing upon him with drawn sword, unaware that he was the king, then the young man opened his mouth in an attempt to cry out. And by that effort and the force of his breath he broke the impediment and the bond upon his tongue, and spoke plainly and clearly, shouting to the enemy not to kill king Croesus. Then the foeman withheld his sword, the king's life was saved, and from that

time on the youth began to speak. Herodotus in his Histories [*](i. 85. ) is the chronicler of that event, and the words which he says the son of Croesus first spoke are:

Man, do not kill Croesus.

But also an athlete of Samos—his name was Echeklous—although he had previously been speechless, is said to have begun to speak for a similar reason. For when in a sacred contest the casting of lots between the Samians and their opponents was not being done fairly, and he had noticed that a lot with a false name was being slipped in, he suddenly shouted in a loud voice to the man who was doing it that he saw what he was up to. And he too was freed from the check upon his speech and for all the remaining time of his life spoke without stammering or lack of clearness. [*](Valerius Maximus, i. 8. ext. 4 says: cum ei victoriae quam adeptus erat titulus et praemium eriperetur, indignatione accensus vocalis evasit. Just how he was cheated in the story told by Gellius is not clear, unless the lots were cast to determine which of the contestants should be matched together, and he was matched against an unsuitable opponent.)