76 Flint's natural history. [Book XXXIII. 



were just now speaking on the subject of rings, it may be as 

 well to add, by way of passing remark, that upon the officer ^^ 

 in charge of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus being arrested, 

 he broke the stone of his ring between his teeth,^^ and expired 

 upon the spot, thus putting an end to all possibility of dis- 

 covering the perpetrator of the theft. 



It appears, therefore, that in the year of the City 364, when 

 Eome was captured by the Gauls, there was but two thousand 

 pounds' weight of gold, at the very most ; and this, too, at a 

 period when, according to the returns of the census, there were 

 already one hundred and fifty-two thousand five hundred and 

 seventy-three free citizens in it. In this same city, too, three 

 hundred and seven years later, the gold which C. Marius the 

 younger °2 conveyed to Praeneste from the Temple of the Capitol 

 when inflames, and all the other shrines, amounted to thirteen 

 thousand pounds' weight, such being the sum that figured in the 

 inscriptions at the triumph of Sylla ; on which occasion it was 

 displayed in the procession, as well as six thousand pounds' 

 weight of silver. The same Sylla had, the day before, dis- 

 played in his triumph fifteen thousand pounds' weight of gold, 

 and one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds' weight of silver, 

 the fruit of all his other victories. 



CHAP. 6. THE EIGHT OF WEARING GOLD RINGS. 



It does not appear that rings were in common use before the 

 time of Cneius Flavins, the son of Annius. This Flavins was 

 the first to publish a table ^^ of the days for pleading, ^^ which 

 till then the populace had to ascertain each day from a few 



^° The *' sedituus," or " temple keeper." See B. xxxvi. 4. 

 ^ SI Beneath which there was poison concealed, Hardouin says. Han- 

 nibal killed himself in a similar manner; also Demosthenes, as mentioned 

 in the next Chapter. 



52 The adopted son of the great Marius. This event happened in his 

 consulship, b.c. 82. After his defeat by Sylla at Sacriportus, he re- 

 tired into the fortified town of Praeneste, where he had deposited the 

 treasures of the Capitoline temple. The temple, after this conflagration, 

 "Was rebuilt by order of Sylla. 



^3 Called the '* Fasti ;" probably because this was the first word of the 

 title. 



^ " Dies fasti." These were the days on which the courts sat, and the 

 Praetor, who was the cliief judge, gave his decisions. The word "fasti" 

 is derived from the ancient Latin " for," or from the old Greek word 0da>, 

 both signifying "to speak :" consequently the "dies fasti" were " the 

 speaking days," and the " dies nefasti " the '* non-speaking days," in 

 allusion to the restrictions put upon the judgments of the Praetor. 



