68 Rev. Mr Wruu1ams on the Force of the prefix Ve or Ve 
Pavxus, a Lombard monk, justly termed by the great ScaLicEer 
an illiterate barbarian, compelled Frsrus to undergo the same 
process which Verrius Fiaccus had undergone under the prun- 
ing hands of Festus. In a dedication to no less a person than 
Cuartes the Great, the restorer of the Western Empire, as the 
degenerate Italians falsely called him, Pavuus, justly terming 
himself wltimus servulus, thus writes: “ Being anxious to add to 
your library, and having no means of my own, I have been com- 
pelled to borrow from another. Now Festus Pompetus, a man 
deeply versed in Roman literature, has, in explaining the origin 
both of obscure expressions, and of certain circumstances, ex- 
tended his work to twenty prolix volumes. I, therefore, omit- 
ting every thing superfluous and unnecessary in his tedious work, 
thoroughly enucleating with my own pen certain abstruse points, 
leaving some few things as I found them, have offered this 
abridgment to the perusal of your Highness *.” In the words of 
Antoninus Aucustinus‘, the learned bishop of Ilerda (for there 
have been most learned bishops even in Spain), “ this book gave 
such satisfaction to the unlearned men of the age, that it was 
substituted for Festus in all libraries.” “ So that in a short 
time” (adds Dacier {) “a true copy of Frsrus was not to be 
found.” At a later period, a small fragment of the original Frs- 
rus was discovered in Illyricum, and published by Atpus. This, 
* « Cupiens aliquid vestris bibliothecis addere, quia ex proprio perparum valeo, 
necessario ex alieno mutuavi. Festus denique Pompxrius, Romanis studiis affatim 
eruditus, tam sermonum abditorum, quam etiam quarundam causarum origines ape- 
riens, opus suum ad viginti usque prolixa volumina extendit, ex qua ego, prolixitate 
superflua quaeque et minus necessaria preetergrediens, et quedam abstrusa penitus 
stylo proprio enucleans nonnulla ita ut erat relinquens, hoc vestre Celsitudini le- 
gendum compendium obtuli.” 
+ “Is liber indoctis viris adeo placuit ut pro F'EstTo in omnibus bibliothecis sub- 
stitueretur.”——Vatr. Delph. Fest. p. 12. 
+ “ Unde brevi factum est ut verus Festr liber non amplius apparuerit.”—Ibid. 
pi. 
