Kitap 15
29
THE two following modes of saying my name is Julius are common and familiar: mihi nomen est Iulius and mihi nomen est Iulio. I have actually found a third, and new, form in Piso, in the second book of his Annals. His words are these: Frag. 19, Peter2. They feared his colleague, Lucius Tarquinius, because he had the Tarquinian name; and he begged him to leave Rome of his own free will. Cf. Livy, ii. 2. 3. Because, says he, he had the Tarquinian name; this is as if I should say mihi nomen est Iulium, or I have the Julian name.
30
Whether the word petorritum, applied to a vehicle, is Greek or Gallic.
30
THOSE who approach the study of letters late in life, after they are worn out and exhausted by some other occupation, particularly if they are garrulous and of only moderate keenness, make themselves exceedingly ridiculous and silly by displaying their would-be knowledge. To this class that man surely belongs, who lately talked fine-spun nonsense about petorrita, or four-wheeled wagons. For when the question was asked, what form of vehicle the petorritum was, and from what language the word came, he falsely described a form of vehicle very unlike the real one; he also declared that the name was Greek and interpreted it as meaning flying wheels, Making a hybrid word, from pe/tomai, fly, and rota. See crit. note 1. maintaining that pelorritum was formed by the change of a single letter from pelorrotum, and that this form was actually used by Valerius Probus.
