actiones_ are best explained in Marquardt, 318 foll. Cp.
Muirhead, _Roman Law_, ed. 1899, pp. 246-7; Greenidge,
_Roman Public Life_, index _s.v._ "legis actio," and
especially p. 87.

[570] The famous passage of Pomponius is in the
_Digest_, i. 2. 2, sec. 6 (for the work of Aelius, see
_Dig._ i. 2. 2, 38) "ex his legibus ... actiones
compositae sunt, quibus inter se homines disceptarent:
quas actiones ne populus prout vellet institueret,
certas sollemnesque esse voluerunt.... Omnium tamen
harum et interpretandi scientia et actiones apud
collegium pontificum erant, ex quibus constituebatur,
quis quoquo anno praeesset privatis."

[571] Livy ix. 46 "civile ius, repositum in penetralibus
pontificum, evulgavit (Cn. Flavius), fastosque circa
forum in albo proponit, ut quando lege agi posset
sciretur." Cp. Val. Max. ii. 5. 2. _Civile ius_ is here
usually taken as meaning the procedure; but this is a
passage which may give some countenance to those who
would put the publication of the XII. Tables later than
the traditional date.

[572] For the relation of the Flamines, Vestals, and Rex
sacrorum to the pontifex maximus, see Wissowa, _R.K._
432 foll.

[573] See above, p. 283. For the eclipse, Cic. _Rep._ i.
16. 25; and for the various scientific determinations of
its exact date, Schanz, _Gesch. der roem. Lit._ vol. i.
(ed. 2) p. 37. "Ex hoc die," writes Cicero, "quem apud
Ennium et in maximis annalibus consignatum videmus,
superiores solis defectiones reputatae sunt."

[574] Cic. _Brutus_, 55 "longe plurimum ingenio
valuisse."

[575] _De Orat._ iii. 33. 134.

[576] See _Dict. of Classical Biography_, _s.v._
"Coruncanius."

[577] _Nat. deor._ ii. 165. Coruncanius is mentioned as
one of those whom the gods love, if indeed they take an
interest in human affairs.

[578] See above, p. 100 foll.; and _Roman Festivals_, p.
3.

[579] Our knowledge of this _tabula_ chiefly depends on
a passage in the Danielian scholiast on Virg. _Aen._ i.
373: "ita enim annales conficiebantur. Tabulam dealbatam
quotannis pontifex maximus habuit, in qua praescriptis
consulum nominibus et aliorum magistratum, digna
memoratu notare consueverat domi militiaeque terra
marique gesta per singulos dies. Cuius diligentiae
annuos commentarios in octoginta libro