, which Wissowa does
not explain, and which, so far as I can see, can only be
explained by assuming that, as might have been expected,
the Greek Hercules became to some extent entangled in
the web of Italian thought.

[475] The cult was Greek in detail; _Graeco ritu_,
according to Varro as quoted by Macrobius iii. 6. 17;
see also references in Wissowa, _R.K._ 222, note 2.
Following R. Peter in the articles in Roscher, I
assumed, in _R.F._ p. 194, that this might be a later
reconstruction of an originally Italian cult; but for
the present it is safer to look on the _Graecus ritus_
as primitive, and on the presence of Salii, a genuine
Italian institution, as brought from Tibur by the gens
Pinaria, of which there is a trace in that city
(_C.I.L._ xiv. 3541). There also Salii were engaged in
the cult of Hercules Victor, to whom tithes were also
offered (_C.I.L._ xiv. 3541). The evidence for the
theory that the cult came to Rome from Tibur is
summarised by Wissowa, _R.K._ p. 220.

[476] _Op. cit._, p. 37.

[477] For the connection of the cult with trade,
Wissowa, _R.K._ 225; and the story told in Macrobius
iii. 6. 11, from Masurius Sabinus, of a _tibicen_ who
became a merchant and had an interview with the god in a
dream. For the connection with _oaths_, _R.F._ p. 138. I
may say before leaving Hercules that though I accept the
latest hypotheses provisionally, I am far from believing
that the last word has been said on the subject.

[478] See, _e.g._, Lanciani, _Ruins and Excavations of
Ancient Rome_, p. 271 foll. The date of the temple is
482 B.C., but it was vowed in 496 after the Regillus
battle. The three columns still standing date from 7
B.C.

[479] Wissowa, _R.K._ p. 217, who points out that the
Dioscuri never appear in _lectisternia_ at Rome, as they
do at Tusculum, which shows that the latter cult was
more directly Greek than that at Rome, and that the
Roman authorities admitted it as a Latin cult without
the Greek details.

[480] Carter, _op. cit._ p. 38. There seemed to be
difficulties in the way of his conclusion; the Dioscuri
were very strong in the Peloponnese, yet the Spartans
neglected the use of cavalry. At any rate the theory
needs careful historical testing. See article "Dioscuri"
in Pauly-Wissowa, _Real-Encycl._ It