[302] Dr. Frazer conjectures a sacred marriage of
Jupiter and Juno under the forms of Janus and Diana, in
_Kingship_, p. 214; but he is well aware that it is pure
guesswork. There was, indeed, at Falerii such a marriage
of Juno with an unknown deity (Ovid, _Amores_, iii. 13),
of which, however, we do not know the history. Falerii
was one of those cities, like Praeneste, where Etruscan,
Greek, and Latin influences met. The "Orci nuptiae" on
which Frazer lays stress was simply the Greek marriage
of Pluto and Proserpine: "Orci coniux Proserpina," Aug.
_C.D._ vii. 23 and 28, Agahd, p. 152. Wissowa shows this
conclusively, _R.K._ p. 246. Orcus was Graecised as
Plutus, but was himself totally without personality.

[303] Dr. Frazer wrongly translates this as "ancient
prayers" (p. 411), adding "the highest possible
authority on the subject." _Oratio_ is never used in
this sense until Christian times: the word is always
_precatio_. All scholars are agreed that what is meant
is invocations to deities in old speeches, such as occur
once or twice in Cicero (_e.g._ at the end of the
_Verrines_); cp. Livy xxix. 15. As the recording of
speeches cannot be assumed to have begun before the
third century B.C., this does not carry us very far
back. That century is also the age in which the
pontifices were probably most active in drawing up
_comprecationes_; see below, p. 285 foll.

[304] See Appendix B at end of volume.

[305] Cp. Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 850, "_forti_ sacrificare
deae." In _R.F._ p. 60 foll., I have criticised the
attempts, ancient and modern, to make this Nerio the
subject of myths.

[306] Macrob. i. 12. 18. This word Maiestas shows the
doubtful nature of these feminine names, and probably
betrays the real meaning of Maia. I may mention here
that Bellona instead of Nerio is ascribed as wife to
Mars by Seneca ap. Aug. _C.D._ vi. 10; also Venus to
Volcanus instead of Maia. Neither have any connection,
so far as we know, with the gods to whom Seneca ascribes
them as wives: Venus-Vulcan is, of course, Greek. Both
Augustine and Dr. Frazer might with advantage have
abstained from citing Seneca on such a point: as a
Spaniard by birth he was not likely to know much about
technical questions of Roman ritual.

[307] See Schanz, _Gesch. der roem. Litera