57
Is it because the Latins call the teat ruma, and assert that Ruminalis Cf. 320 d, infra, and Life of Romulus, iv. (19 d); Ovid, Fasti, ii. 411 ff. acquired its name inasmuch as the she-wolf offered its teat to Romulus? Therefore, as we call wet-nurses thelonai from thele (teat), even so Rumina is she that gives suck, the nurse and nurturer of children: she does not, therefore, welcome pure wine, since it is harmful for babes.
58
Why did they use to address some of the senators as Conscript Fathers, others merely as Fathers? Cf.Life of Romulus, xiii. (25 a).
58
Is it because they used to call those senators originally assigned to that body by Romulus fathers and patricians, that is to say well-born, since they could point out their fathers, Cf. Livy, x. 8. 10. while they called those who were later enrolled from the commoners conscript fathers?
59
Why did Hercules and the Muses have an altar in common?
59
Is it because Hercules taught Evander’s people the use of letters, as JubaMüller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iii. p. 470. has recorded? And this action was held to be noble on the part of men who taught their friends and relatives. It was a long time before they began to teach for pay, and the first to open an elementary school was Spurius Carvilius, Cf. 277 d, supra. a freedman of the Carvilius Cf. the note on 267 c, supra. who was the first to divorce his wife.
60
Why, when there are two altars of Hercules, do women receive no share nor taste of the sacrifices offered on the larger altar?