Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

402
Diana and the Oak
Moreover, the beech-trees of the Fagiital may have been a ritual, as
they were certainly an etymological, equivalent for oaks\ The same
consi>tae B.tenBrink cj. excultae G. Goetz—F. Schoell cjj. excidtae
) a rege Tullio essent (C. O. Miiller suppl. alii ab aesatletis). huic origini
magis concinunt loca vicini (G. Goetz— F. Schoell note that we must read either loci
vicini with P. Canal or loca vicina), quod ibi lucus dicitur Facutalis et Larum (C. O.
Miiller ins. et) Querquetulanum sacellum et lucus Mefitis et lunonis Lucinae, quorum
angusti fines. I take it that Querqttetulaitum is an old gen. plur. agreeing with Larum,
not a nom. sing, agreeing with sacellum. These Lares Querquetulani, of whom nothing
more is known, presumably stood in some relation to the Querquetulanae Virae described
as ' Nymphs
presiding over a verdant oak-grove such as that said to have grown within
the gate thence called Querquetularia'' (Fest. p. 261 a 17 ff. Miiller, p. 314, 11 ff. Lindsay
Querquetulanae virae putantur significari nymphae praesidentes querqueto virescenti,
quod genus silvae iudicant fuisse intra portam, quae ab eo dicta sit Querquetularia, cp.
Paul, ex Fest. p. 260, 5 Miiller, p. 315, 6 f. Lindsay, with Plin. nat. hist. 16. 37 porta
Querquetulana). It is therefore tempting to suppose with R. Borghesi GLuzn-es completes
Decades numismatiques Paris 1862 i. 365 ff. that denarii ^XxwcV c. 41 B.C. by P. Accoleius
Lariscolus have for obv. type the bust of Acca Larentia, and for rev. the Querquetulanae
Virae—three statues in the form of archaistic Caryatids supporting a beam or stand, from
which rise five trees : the nymph on the left holds a bow, the nymph on the right a lily
(Morell. Thes. Num. Fain. Rom. i. 2 pi. Accoleia, i, Babelon Monn. r^p. ro?n. i. 98 ff.
' figs., Brit. Mus. Cat. Rom. Coins Rep. i. 569 f. (where H. A. Grueber says : the nymph
on the 1. holds a poppy pi. ') 55, 19 ( = myfig. 304) and 20. Fig. 305 f. are from specimens
Fig. 304. F'g- 305- Fig. 306.
in my collection). Nevertheless this popular explanation (O. Hofer in Roscher Lex.
Myth iv. 9 fig.) is demonstrably wrong. The name Lariscolus cannot possibly mean
' Worshipper of the Lar or Lares,' but is a diminutive of larix (*laric-isco-lo- >lariscolo-,
cp. comix, Corniscae) and denotes 'Young larch.' Cp. the name M. Caesius Larix {Corp.
inscr. Lat. x no. 2019, 3 Puteoli). Again, the trees, of which three are springing from
the heads of the alleged oak-nymphs, do not bear the least resemblance to oaks, but
may well be intended for larches. I therefore fall back on the vievi' adopted by Eckhel
Doclr. num. vet'^ v. 118 (curiously misrepresented by H. A. Grueber op. cit. i. 569 n. i)
that the three female figures are those of Phaethon's sisters here conceived as trans-
formed into larches. See further De Vit Onomasticon iv. 48, who defends Eckhel by
citing Vitr. 2. 9. 14 larix vero, quae non est nota nisi is municipalibus qui sunt circa ripam
fluminis Padi et litora maris Hadriani, etc. Infra § 3 (a) vi (X) 7ned.
^ Fagus = r\-^b%. Several altars dedicated to a god Fagus have come to light in
Aquitania (Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii no. 33 {Ladivert near Saint- BM) Fago deo |
v.s.l.m.,
Taurini
Erdesci f(ilius)
Convenarum
|
(Saint-Berlraitd-de-Comminges)) Fago | deo | Bonxus |
Corp. inscr, Lat. xiii no. 224 (found with no. 223) Fago | deo | Justus |
(found in the same neighbourhood as nos. 223, 224) F'ago deo | Pompeia |
Erdenius |
no. 223 = Dessau Inscr. Lat. set. no. 453 1 (near Lugdunum
f(ilius),
v.s.l.m., no. 225
C.
filia
v.s.l.m.). The beech-tree seems to have retained something of its sanctity in this district,
cp. A. de Gubernatis La Mythologie des Plantes Paris 1882 ii. i7of. ' D'apres une tradi-
tion toujours vivante aux Pyrenees, un homme, au moment meme ou le bon Dieu passait
|