XXIX. Some say that the name Quirinus, which Romulus received, means
Mars; others that it was because his people were called Quirites.
Others, again, say that the spear-head or spear was called by the
ancients _Quiris_, and that the statue of Juno leaning on a spear is
called Juno Quirites, and that the dart which is placed in the Regia is
addressed as Mars, and that it is customary to present with a spear
those who have distinguished themselves in war, and therefore that it
was as a warrior, or god of war, that Romulus was called Quirinus. A
temple dedicated to him is built on the Quirinal Hill which bears his
name, and the day of his translation is called the People's Flight, and
the Nonae Caprotinae, because they go out of the city to the Goat's
Marsh on that day to sacrifice, for in Latin a goat is called _Capra_.
And as they go to the sacrifice they call out many of the names of the
country, as Marcus, Lucius, Caius, with loud shouts, in imitation of
their panic on that occasion, and their calling to each other in fear
and confusion. But some say that this is not an imitation of terror, but
of eagerness, and that this is the reason of it: after the Gauls had
captured Rome and been driven out by Camillus, and the city through
weakness did not easily recover itself, an army of Latins, under one
Livius Postumius, marched upon it. He halted his army not far from Rome,
and sent a herald to say that the Latins were willing to renew their old
domestic ties, which had fallen into disuse, and to unite the races by
new intermarriage.
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