Varro, _De lingua Latina_, v. 49, where, however, “_alii ab aesculetis_” is a conjecture of C. O. Müller’s. I do not know what authority O. Richter has for reading _aesculis consitae_ (“planted with oaks”) for _excultae_ in this passage (_Topographie der Stadt Rom_, 2nd Ed., p. 302, n. 4). Modern topographers prefer to derive the name from _ex-colere_ in the sense of “the hill outside the city” (O. Richter, _l.c._; O. Gilbert, _Geschichte und Topographie der Stadt Rom im Altertum_, i. 166 _sq._). Footnote 601: See above, p. 182. Footnote 602: Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 295 _sq._ Footnote 603: See above, vol. i. p. 18; and for the identification, O. Gilbert, _Geschichte und Topographie der Stadt Rom im Altertum_, ii. 152 _sqq._; A. B. Cook, “Zeus, Jupiter, and the Oak,” _Classical Review_, xviii. (1904) p. 366. Footnote 604: Cicero, _De divinatione_, i. 45, 101. Footnote 605: G. Boni, in _Notizie degli Scavi_, May 1900, pp. 161, 172; _id._, _Aedes Vestae_, p. 14 (extract from the _Nuova Antologia_, 1st August 1900). Copies of these and other papers containing Commendatore Boni’s account of his memorable excavations and discoveries were kindly given me by him during my stay in Rome in the winter of 1900-1901. That the fire in question was a sacrificial one is proved by the bones, potsherds, and rude copper money found among the ashes. Commend. Boni thinks that the charred remains of the wood prove that the fire was extinguished, probably by libations, and that therefore it cannot have been the perpetual holy fire of Vesta, which would have burned up completely all the fuel. But a new fire was annually lit on the first of March (Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 143 _sq._; Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 12. 6), which may imply that the old fire was ceremonially extinguished, as often happens in such cases. Footnote 606: Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvi. 37. Footnote 607: O. Richter, _Topographie der Stadt Rom_, 2nd Ed., p. 211. Footnote 608: Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvi. 237. The inscription was probably not in the Etruscan language, but only in an archaic alphabet like that employed in the inscription on the pyramidal stone which has been found under the Black Stone in the Forum. Footnote 609: G. Boni, “Bimbi Romulei,” _Nuova Antologia_, 16th February 1904, pp. 5 _sqq._ (separate reprint); E. Burton-Brown, _Recent Excavations in the Roman Forum_ (London, 1904), p. 150. Footnote 610: Festus, _s.v._ “Oscillantes,” p. 194, ed. C. O. Müller. Footnote 611: