[59] Dion. Hal. iii. 45; Mommsen in _C.I.L._ i. p. 177. It may be as well to point out that iron, like wheat in the taboos of the Flamen, was considered dangerous, as being a novelty. The old Italian grain was not true wheat but _far_, which continued to be used in religious rites; _R.F._ p. 304, and Marquardt, _Privatleben der Roemer_, p. 399 foll. [60] Varro, _L.L._ vii. 84; Ovid, _Fasti_, i. 629; Petronius, _Sat._ 44. There are many parallels in Greek ritual. [61] See below, p. 146. Mr. Marett suggests to me a comparison with the _rongo_ (sacred) of the Melanesians, and _tapu_ as used of a place by them, _i.e._ set apart by a human authority; Codrington, _Melanesians_, p. 77. [62] Wissowa, _R.K._ p. 408 foll.; cp. 323 and notes. [63] The fullest account of this will be found in Marquardt, p. 262 foll. For the case of a man killed by lightning, see note 4 on p. 263; the body was not burnt but buried, and the grave became a _bidental_, and _religiosum_. [64] For the intricate pontifical law of burial-places see Wissowa, p. 409. The quotation from Masurius is in Gellius iv. 9. 8, "M. Sabinus in commentariis quos de indigenis composuit." The word _sanctitas_ is here used merely by way of explanation and not in a technical sense; for which see Marq. p. 145 and references; but it seems to have had a special use in the cult of the dead. (See below, p. 470.) [65] Quoted by Macrobius, _Sat._ iii. 3. 8. For Sulpicius see _Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero_, p. 118 foll. [66] Festus, p. 278. This Aelius lived at the end of the Republican period, and belonged to the school of Sulpicius; Schanz, _Gesch. der roem. Lit._ i. pt. 2, p. 486. [67] _e.g._ the three days on which the _mundus_ was open were all _comitiales_, though at the same time _religiosi_. [68] _R.K._ pp. 376, 377. [69] The authorities for the story are Verrius Flaccus, _ap._ Gell. v. 17, and Macrobius, _Sat._ i. 16. 21. [70] For the extent of the taboo see Gell. iv. 9. 5; Macr. i. 16. 18. [71] Gell. v. 17. 3 foll. (_annalium quinto_). [72] Festus, p. 278. [73] _R.F._ p. 151. [74] Wissowa, _R.K._ p. 377, note 6. [75] Cic. _ad Qu. Fratr._ ii. 4. 2. [76] Wissowa, _R.K._ pp. 187, 189. [77] _R.K._ p. 377. Gell. iv. 9. 5 says that the _multitudo imperitorum_ confused the _dies religiosi_ and _dies nefasti_. The distinction is most clearly seen in the fact that on _dies religiosi_ the temples were (or ought to be) shut, and "res divinas facere" was ill-omened (Gell., _ib._), while on _dies nefasti_ the latter was regular, such days being made over to the gods. No wonder that Gellius brands the popular ignorance with such words as _prave_ and _perperam_.