The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

368 XVIII.xxxiii.2–xl Isidore of Seville
‘gouges’ (aurire) isone who ‘beats’ (ferire), as (Vergil,
Aen. 10.314):
He gouges (aurire, i.e. haurire, lit. “drink”) the open side.
2.Acharioteerisalsoadriver(agitator), that is, a whipper,
so called from ‘driving’ (agere). Further, charioteers
wear two colors, with which they make a display of their
idolatry, for the pagans dedicated the green to the earth
and the blue to the sky and sea.
xxxiv. The team of four (De quadrigis) 1.Ericthonius,
who ruled Athens, is said to have been the first to yoke
together four horses, for which Vergil is the authority,
saying (Geo. 3.113):
Ericthonius first dared to yoke a chariot and four horses,
and to stand as victor on swift wheels.
2. Hewas,asthelegends say, the son of Minerva and
Vulcan, born from the evidence of Vulcan’s lust spilled
on the earth, as a demonic portent, or rather as a devil
himself. He first dedicated the chariot to Juno. From
such a founder were ‘four-horse chariots’ (quadriga)
invented.
xxxv. The chariot (De curru) 1. Thechariot (currus)
takes its name from ‘racing’ (cursus), or because it is
seen to have [many] wheels – thence also a ‘two-wheeled
wagon’ (carrus), as if it were currus. Thequadriga (i.e.
achariot with a team of four) formerly had a double
and unbroken tongue, which linked all the horses with
asingleyoke. 2. Cleisthenes of Sicyon was first to yoke
only the middle pair of horses, and to connect to them
the other two on each side with a single band. These
outer two the Greeks call and the Latins call
‘trace-horses’ (funarius), from the kind of band (cf. funis,
“rope”) with which they were formely linked.
xxxvi. The horses with which we race (De equis quibus
currimus) 1. Thequadriga, biga, triga, and seiuga
(i.e. four-, two-, three-, and six-horse chariots) are
named from the number of horses and the word ‘yoke’
(iugum). The quadriga is dedicated to the sun, the biga
to the moon, the triga to the underworld, the seiuga
to Jupiter, and the horse-vaulters (desultor) toLucifer
and Hesperus. They associate the quadriga with the sun
because the year rolls through four seasons: spring, summer,
autumn, and winter. 2. Thebiga with the moon,
because it travels on a twin course with the sun, or
because it is visible both by day and by night – for they
yoke together one black horse and one white. The triga
is consecrated to the infernal gods because they draw
people to themselves in each of three ages – that is,
infancy, youth, and old age. The seiuga, the largest chariot,
races for Jupiter, because they think him the greatest
of their gods. 3. Furthermore, they say that chariots
race on wheels (rota) either because the world whirls
by with the speed of its circle, or because of the sun,
which wheels (rotare) inacircular orbit, as Ennius says
(Annals 558):
Thence the shining wheel (rota) cleared the sky with its
rays.
xxxvii. The seven laps (De septem spatiis) Chariots
run seven laps (spatium), with reference to the courses
of the seven planets by which they say the world is
controlled, or tothecourse of the seven stages of life;
when these stages have been completed, the end of life is
reached. The end of these laps is the goal line (creta), that
is, judgment (cf. cernere,ppl. cretus,“decide, judge”).
xxxviii. The riders (De equitibus) They say the riders
(eques)racealone because each person traverses and
completes the course of this life alone, one following
another at different times, but through one path of mortality
up to its own turning-post of death.
xxxix. Horse-vaulters (De desultoribus) Horsevaulters
(desultores) are so called because formerly as
each one came to the end of the course he would ‘leap
down’ (desilire) and run, or because he would ‘vault
across’ (transilire)fromonehorsetoanother.
xl. Foot racers (De peditibus) People speak of ‘foot
racers’ (pedes) since they run on foot (pes, gen.pedis),
because one makes a footrace toward one’s death.
Because of this they run from the higher side to the
lower, that is, from the direction of sunrise to sunset,
because mortals rise up and then fall. They race naked
because in a similar way no remains survive for a person
in this world. They run a straight course because there
is no distance between life and death. But they contrive
these explanations in their effort to excuse their empty
beliefs and sacrilege.