Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

394
Virbius as Dianus
Accepting the aquatic traits noted by Helbig, I contended that
fish-forms were not inappropriate to a companion of Artemis and
that Virbius might turn out to be a river-god rather than a tree-
spirit. In 1905' I was still disposed to think that Virbius in Italy,
if not also in Greece^, was a stream-god. But I urged that the
Janiform bust from Nemi identified him with Diana's consort
Dianus or lanus^ a god incarnate in the rex Nemorensis. Prof.
F. Granger in 1907^ threw fresh light on the problem by remarking
that the two ends of the moustache upon the bearded face are formed
of oak-leaves, that the foliage round the necks of both figures is
clearly to be explained as oak-leaves, and that the alleged fins are not
fins at all, but merely conventionalised leafage. Hence he enquires
'whether the double bust may stand for Virbius- Hippolytus as
a wood-spirit, perhaps the king of the wood.' The younger face
with its barbaric type might represent the ruffian assailant ; the
older face, anxious and wrinkled, might portray the king-priest
haunted by the dread of sudden attacks. In 1908^ Sir James Frazer,
after examining the cast of the herm at Nottingham, admitted
' that, whether accidentally or not, the modelling of the moustache on
one side of the face does resemble an oak leaf,' but raised doubts
with regard to the rest of the foliage. He concluded as follows
' Thus the identification of the leaves on the bust as oak-leaves, and with it
my theory of the priest as a personification of the oak, remains uncertain. I will
only add that Miss Darwin's proposal to identify as leaves of some sort the
^ Folk- Lore 1905 xvi. 2 89 ff.
" Vibius Sequester, who in s. iv—v wrote for his son Virgilianus a guide to the geographical
names of Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, Silius Italicus, etc. (W. S. Teuffel— L. Schwabe
History of Roman Literattire^ trans. G. C. W. Warr London 1892 ii. 436 f., Liibker
Reallexfi p. 1108), includes in his list of rivers (p. 152, 6 f. Riese) Virbius Laconices, ubi
Hippolytum Aesculapius arte medicinae reddidit vitae, unde et Virbius dictus, and in his
list of springs (p. 152, 33 Riese) Virvinus Laconices. J. J. Oberlin (ed. Argentorati 1778
pp. 211 f., 242) thinks that Vib. Seq. invented the stream Virbius, and possibly the spring
Virvinus to boot, prompted by Ov. fast. 6. 756 Aricino Virbius ille lacu. C. Bursian
(ed. Turici 1867 pp. 10, ii) would alter Laconices into lacu (or luco) Ariciae, and treats
Virvintis as a blundering repetition of Virbius. A. Riese (ed. Heilbronnae 1878 p. 152)
cj. in agro Ariciae for Laconices, and brackets Virvinus Laconices as a meaningless
duplication. Lnfra p. 421.
^ Accordingly I laid stress on the watery aspect of lanus, husband of luturna {supra
p. 368 n. 3) the old Latin goddess of lakes and rivers, and father of Fontus [ih.) the god
of springs and wells, father also of the river Tiber (interp. Serv. in Verg. Aen. 8. 330)
and of Canens the water-nymph, whom king Picus preferred to the Naiads of Nemi (Ov.
met. 14. 320 ff.). It was said that, when the Sabines on one occasion attempted to force
their way into Rome, a raging flood of waters burst out from the temple of lanus and
ff., Serv. in Verg. Aen. i. 291, Macrob.
drove them back (Ov. met. 14. 778 fi.,fast. i. 259
Sat. 1. 9. 17 f.). See further W. H. Roscher in his Lex. Myth. ii. 18 and 41.
* F. Granger 'A portrait of the Rex Nemorensis' in the Class. Rev. 1907 xxi. 194— 197
with two figs.
^ Sir J. G. Frazer ' The leafy bust at Nemi ' in the Class. Rev. 1908 xxii. 147— 149.