53
Why do they even now, at the celebration of the Capitoline games, proclaim Sardians for sale!,So apparently Plutarch; but the Latin Sardi venales can mean nothing but Sardinians for sale. Plutarch, or his authority, has confused Sardi with Sardiani (Sardians). and why is an old man led forth in derision, wearing around his neck a child’s amulet which they call a bulla Cf.Life of Romulus, xxv. (33 e).?
53
Is it because the Etruscans called Veians fought against Romulus for a long time, and he took this city last of allThis is quite contrary to the traditional account (Cf. for example, Livy, vi. 21-23), according to which Veii was not captured until 396 b.c. and sold at auction many captives together with their king, taunting him for his stupidity and folly? But since the Etruscans were originally Lydians, and Sardis was the capital city of the Lydians, they offered the Veians for sale under this name: and even to this day they preserve the custom in sport.
54
Why do they call the meat-markets macella and macellae?
54
Is this word corrupted from mageiroi (cooks) and has it prevailed, as many others have, by force of habit? For c and g have a close relationship in Latin, and it was only after many years that they made use of g, which Spurius Carvilius Cf. 278 e, infra. introduced. And l, again, is substituted lispingly for r when people make a slip in the pronunciation of r because of the indistinctness of their enunciation.