The meaning of
Plutarch is perhaps not quite clear. See the note in Schaefer's
edition.]
[Footnote 656: These were the Roman Socii, or Italian states, which
were in a kind of alliance with and subordination to Rome. They had to
furnish troops for the wars, and to share the burdens of the Roman
State in return for which they claimed the citizenship (Life of
Marius, c. 32).]
[Footnote 657: Or Silo (Life of Marius, c. 33).]
[Footnote 658: There is obviously an error here in Plutarch's text, as
Sintenis observes. The real meaning of what Pompaedius said appears
from the context, and from a passage of Valerius Maximus (3. 1, 2),
who tells the same story.]
[Footnote 659: This sham fight was according to an old tradition
established by AEneas. It is described by Virgil, _AEneid_, v. 553, &c.
See Tacitus, _Annal._ xi. 11; and Dion Cassius, 43. c. 23, and 49. c.
43. These games (ludi) were also celebrated under the early Emperors.]
[Footnote 660: The text is literally "a place for the impious," not
_the_ place. But Plutarch may allude to the tortures of the wicked in
the regions below, according to the popular notions.]
[Footnote 661: The possession of a priestly office by a person who
also discharged the functions of civil life was common among the
Romans. The effect of this political institution was more extensive
than at first sight may appear, but the examination of such a question
belongs, as Plutarch sometimes observes, to another place.
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