2

faid I," the paffage I enquire about comes from Ennius." He, wondering at a sentence fo foreign from poetry, declared that it was no where found in Ennius; I however repeated these lines from the eighth book of his Annals; for it happened that I remembered the paffage more particularly than any other lines:

1

Pellitum è medio fapientia, vi geritur res.
Spernitur orator bonus, horridus miles amatur.
Haud doctis dictis certantes fed maledictis,
Mifcent inter fefe inimicitias agitantes,

Non ex jure manum confertum, fed mage ferro
Rem repetunt, regnumque petunt, vadunt fo-
lidâ vi.

When I had repeated thefe lines from Ennius,

Now," faid the grammarian, "I believe you, and would have you credit me when I fay that Ennius learnt this not from his poetical ftudies, but from fome lawyer; and you may have them explained from the fame fource whence Ennius. learnt them." I took the advice of this master, when he recommended it to me to apply for that information from another, which he ought to have given me himfelf; and I have thought proper to infert in thefe commentaries, what I have learnt from lawyers and their books, because people who live in bufinefs, and in the world, ought not to be ignorant of the common terms which express a civil fuit at law. Manum conferere is applied to the fubject of difpute, whe

ther an estate or any thing else, when the opponents each took hand. This ceremony of fixing the hand together on the spot where the subject of difpute was, which took place in the prefence of the prætor, according to the laws of the Twelve Tables, whereon was written-" Si qui in jure manum conferunt;" if any fix the hand together according to law; but afterwards, when the boundaries of Italy were extended, the prætors being fully engaged in giving judgment and other business, were much troubled to superintend these causes where the fubject of difpute was distant, and it was decreed by a bye-law, contrary to the Twelve Tables, that the litigants fhould no longer fix the hand together in the prefence of the prætor, but that one should fummon the other, according to law, to fix the hand together upon the fubject in dispute. Vifiting together the difputed land, each took up from it a portion of land, this they produced in the prefence of the prætor, and plead for that clod as for the whole eftate. Ennius, therefore, willing to express that here was no legal dispute before the prætor, but the real violence and efforts of war, compared this fixing of the hand, and innocent conteft, which takes place betwixt the tongues and not the arms of men, with warlike and fanguinary violence.

CHAP. XI.

Meaning of the word SCULNA in Varro'.

PUB

UBLIUS LAVINIUS's book is not un-
worthy the attention of the curious; its title
is, "De Verbis fordidis." that which is vulgarly
called fculna (a mediator) fays he, is as it were
feculna, which people more attentive to elegance
call fequeftris. Each word is formed from fequor,
because either part follows the faith of him who is
chofen to prefide over them. Publius Lavinius
remarks, in the fame publication, that the word
fculna is ufed by Marcus Varro in that differta-
tion entitled "Catus." That which was left in
custody of a mediator was expreffed thus, with
an adverb, fequeftro, pofitive. Cato fays of Plo-
terus against Thermus;

Per deos immortales, nolite vos fequeftro ponere,

The reader will receive material illuftration on the fub-
ject of this chapter, by confulting the Adversaria of Barthius,
P. 1270.

INDE X.

N. B. The Figures preceded by a small n, refer to the Notes at the
bottom of the pages.

A.

Agnomen, what, i. 54, n. 11
Agrippa, fignification of, iii. 245

ABDERAME, the Moor, ftory Aius, the god, iii. 247

22, n. 2

Acroftic, antiquity of the, iii. 125,

n. 5

Actions, quality of, depends on cir-
cumstances, iii. 313.

Actors, ii. 68, n. 1.

111. 421

anecdote of oné, ii. 68

Adoption, cultom of, i. 331

Albinus, Aulus, ii. 291

Alcibiades, ftory of, iii. 173
Alexander, continence of, ii. 21
on the birth of, ii. 144,

n. 2.

iii. 9

iii. 9, n. I

his letter to his mother,

and Aristotle, letters be-

tween, 111. 423

Alfenus, ii. 13. ib. n. 1

Alum faid to prevent wood from
taking fire, iii. 134
Amaracus, i. xv, n. 16
Ambarvales, fratres, ii. 20
Ambiguity of words, ii. 300

Adultery, punishments of, ii. 258, Ammonius Saccas, i. 290, n. 2

259, n. 3

Adverbs, ii. 369, 371

Ediles, curule, i. 238, n. 1. 268,

n. 2. iii. 36

of the people, ii. 210, n. I
Editimus, meaning of, ii. 354
Elius, L. i. 144, n. 4. ii. 37, n. I
Cato, i. 236, n. 9
Emilius, 2. i. 200
Enigmas, ii. 345

curious custom refpect-
ing, at Athens, iii. 359, n. 1
fop, i. 172. ib. n. 1
Afranius the poet, ii. 219
Age, respect paid to, i. 128

diftinctions of, ii. 271

Analogy and anomaly in language,

i. 161