The annals of Tacitus

74 NOTES
manicus, they thought it was his form they saw....' recenti
memoria is sociative abl.
22. principe uiro. Cf. iii 6 noii eadem decora principibus
uiris et imperatori pupulo.
16
1. flamine Diali. Some extracts from Warde Fowler's Re-
ligious Experience of the Roman People will form a useful
commentary on some points in this chapter. He fi;ives a. Inng
list of tahnoR nr rlisahilitipH tn wliir-h tha J'fieat of Jupiter w as
even in historical times subjec t. He was forbidden to touch a
doR^ a goat^ raw meat, e tc., etc. He mi^ht not w alk under
a_vine (p M). The Flamen was a survival of those magician-
kings who make rain and do other useful things, but would lose
their power if thev were exposed to certain contingencies. The
number of possible contingencies increases till the unfortunat e
owner of the powers becomes powerless by virtue of the care so
painfully takpn nf hiii* (p 108).
Warde Fowler illustrates this by a ' most extraordinary story '
from Livy (xxvii 8). In 209 B.C. C. Valerius Flaccus, the black
sheep of a great family, was inaugurated against his will as
Flamen Dialis by the Poutifex Maximus, P. Licinius. Livy
expressly tells us that it was oh adnle&centiam neglegentem
luxiiriosamque ; and it is pretty plain that the step was sug-
gested by the relations to keep him out of mischief. For
the disabilities on this ancient priesthood were, as we have seen,
numerous and strict ; and among the restrictions laid on its
holder was one which forbade him to leave his house for a single
night (p. 342). The strange thing in the case of Flaccus is that
this office had such a wholesome disciplinary effect that the
libertine became a model youth, the admiration of his own and
other families (p. 343). See however note on line 13 (below).
2. roganda noua lege, 'a proposal of a change in the law.'
Tacitus not unfrequently speaks of the passing of leges. Cf.
lines 12 and 16. Their enactment by the comitia must have been
purely formal.
3. confarreatis parentibus, i.e. married according to the