Chap. 4.] SHIELDS WITH PORTRAITS IN PRIVATE HOUSES. 227 



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bettor of mankind. Tims, was he the inventor of a benefit to 

 liis fellow-men, that might have been envied by the gods 

 themselves; for not only did he confer upon them immortality, 

 but he transmitted them, too, to :ill parts of the earth ; so that 

 everywhere it might be possible for them to be present, and 

 for each to oecupy his niche. This service, too, Varro con- 

 i'crred upon persons who were no members of his own family. 



CHAP. 3. (3.) wur.y SHIELDS wr.m: FIRST INVENTED WITH 

 roKTuvns urox THI;M ; AND WIIKN THEY WKIIK FIUST EULCTKD 

 IN rniLic. 



So far as I can learn, Appius Claudius, who was consul 

 with P. Servilius, in the year of the City, 259, was the first to 

 dedicate shields'^ in honour of his own family in a sacred or 

 public place.' 1 For lie placed representations of his ancestors 

 in the Temple of Uellona, and desired that they might bo 

 erected in an elevated spot, so as to be seen, and the inscrip- 

 tions Teching their honours read. A truly graceful device ; 

 more particularly when a multitude of children, represented 

 by so many tiny ligures, displays those germs, as it were, 

 which are destined to continue the line : shields such as these, 

 no one can look at without a feeling of pleasure and livclj- 

 interest. 



CHAP. '1. WHEN TITF.Sr SHIELDS WF.KE FIKST PLACED IN 

 PUIVATK HOUSES. 



More recently, M. JKn.ilius, who was consul 5 - with Quintus 

 Lutatius, not only erected these shields in the. ^Kmiliaii 

 JjosUica, 2 * but in his own house as well; in doing which 

 lie followed a truly warlike example. For, in fact, these 

 portraits were represented on bucklers, similar to those used 

 in the Trojan War;- 7 and hence it is that these shit Ids re- 

 ceived their present name of "clypci," and not, as the perverse 



- 3 u Clypei," These \vrc shields or escutcheons of metal, \vith the fea- 

 tures of the deceased person represented either in painting or in relief. 



21 llardouin informs u* that there nrc some Greek in>eriptior.s ^iven by 

 C ruler, p. 441, and p. 47d, fmrn vhieh it appears that public festivals 

 were celebrated on occasions of this kind. B. 



24 A.t'.c. 071. 15. .See 15. vii. r. />!. 2 See P>. xxxvi. c. 2-1. 



27 It is icarcely necessary to r-fer to the well-known description of the 

 shield of Achilles, in the Iliad, H. xviii. 1. 478 ct sj. t and of that of 

 , JEn. Ij. viii. 1. C.2G, t^t^. B. 



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