Book 9
14
Quintus Ennius, in the sixteenth book of his Annals, wrote dies for diei in the following verse: Ann. 413, Vahlen 2; Vahlen reads postremo and omits quod. Caused by the distant time of the last day (dies). Caesellius asserts that Cicero also wrote dies for diei in his oration For Publius Sestius, and after sparing no pains and inspecting several old manuscripts, I found Caesellius to be right. These are the words of Marcus Tullius: Sest. 28; our texts commonly read diei. But the knights shall pay the penalty for that day (dies). As a result, I readily believe those who have stated that they saw a manuscript from Virgil's own hand, in which it was written: Georg. i. 208. When Libra The constellation of the Balance. shall make like the hours of day (dies) and sleep, where dies is used for diei.
