[475] The cult was Greek in detail; _Graeco ritu_, according to Varro as quoted by Macrobius iii. 6. 17; see also references in Wissowa, _R.K._ 222, note 2. Following R. Peter in the articles in Roscher, I assumed, in _R.F._ p. 194, that this might be a later reconstruction of an originally Italian cult; but for the present it is safer to look on the _Graecus ritus_ as primitive, and on the presence of Salii, a genuine Italian institution, as brought from Tibur by the gens Pinaria, of which there is a trace in that city (_C.I.L._ xiv. 3541). There also Salii were engaged in the cult of Hercules Victor, to whom tithes were also offered (_C.I.L._ xiv. 3541). The evidence for the theory that the cult came to Rome from Tibur is summarised by Wissowa, _R.K._ p. 220. [476] _Op. cit._, p. 37. [477] For the connection of the cult with trade, Wissowa, _R.K._ 225; and the story told in Macrobius iii. 6. 11, from Masurius Sabinus, of a _tibicen_ who became a merchant and had an interview with the god in a dream. For the connection with _oaths_, _R.F._ p. 138. I may say before leaving Hercules that though I accept the latest hypotheses provisionally, I am far from believing that the last word has been said on the subject. [478] See, _e.g._, Lanciani, _Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome_, p. 271 foll. The date of the temple is 482 B.C., but it was vowed in 496 after the Regillus battle. The three columns still standing date from 7 B.C. [479] Wissowa, _R.K._ p. 217, who points out that the Dioscuri never appear in _lectisternia_ at Rome, as they do at Tusculum, which shows that the latter cult was more directly Greek than that at Rome, and that the Roman authorities admitted it as a Latin cult without the Greek details. [480] Carter, _op. cit._ p. 38. There seemed to be difficulties in the way of his conclusion; the Dioscuri were very strong in the Peloponnese, yet the Spartans neglected the use of cavalry. At any rate the theory needs careful historical testing. See article "Dioscuri" in Pauly-Wissowa, _Real-Encycl._ It would seem natural that when once the cult had been introduced by traders it might become specially attached to the cavalry, owing to the ancient connection of the Twins with horses. [481] Ecastor and Edepol, which were oaths used especially by women, who were not allowed to swear by Hercules, Gell. xi. 6. [482] The reasoning will be found in full in Wissowa, _R.K._ p. 203 foll., and in his article "Minerva" in the _Mythological Lexicon_. See also Carter, _Religion of Numa_, p. 45 foll. For the position of this temple and that of Diana on the Aventine, a suburb which cannot be proved to have been then within any city wall, see Carter in _Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society for 1909_, p. 136 foll.