Müller-Deecke, _Etrusker_, ii. 54, with Deecke’s note 51 b. The Etruscan forms are Nethunus and Nethuns. The form of the word is adjectival like Portunus, &c.; but what is the etymology of the first syllable? We are reminded of course of Nepe or Nepete, an inland town near Falerii; and to this district the cult seems specially to have belonged. Messapus, ‘Neptunia proles,’ leads the Falisci and others to war in Virg. _Aen._ 7. 691, and Halesus, Neptuni filius, was eponymous hero of Falerii (Deecke, _Falisker_, 103). There is no known connexion of Neptunus with any coast town. Footnote 779: 13. 23. 2: cp. Varro, _L. L._ 5. 72. Footnote 780: See above, p. 60. Footnote 781: Cp. Serv. _Aen._ 5. 724 ‘(Venus) dicitur et Salacia, quae proprie meretricum dea appellata est a veteribus.’ Footnote 782: Gell. 5. 12; Henzen, _Act. Fratr. Arv._ 124. Wissowa, in his article ‘Neptunus,’ goes too far, as it seems to me, when he asserts that the ‘pater’ belonged to all deities of the oldest religion. See below, p. 220. Footnote 783: Liv. 5. 13. 6; Dionys. 12. 9. Wissowa, _Lex._ s. v. Nept. 203, for his further history as Poseidon. Footnote 784: Wissowa in _Lex._ l. c. I doubt if much can be made of the argument that the Neptunalia on the 23rd is necessarily connected with the Lucaria on the 17th and 19th—i. e. three alternate days, like the three days of the Lemuria in May. Footnote 785: Varro, _L. L._ 5. 84 ‘Furinalis (flamen) a Furina quoius etiam in fastis Furinales feriae sunt’: cp. 6. 19 ‘Ei sacra instituta annua et flamen attributus: nunc vix nomen notum paucis.’ Footnote 786: See Wissowa’s short and sensible note in _Lex._ s. v. Furrina. For the confusion with Furiae, Cic. _de Nat. Deor._ 3. 46; Plut. _C. Gracch._ 17; _Lex._ s. v. Furiae. Jordan, in Preller, ii. 70, is doubtful on the etymological question. Footnote 787: p. 71. Footnote 788: In Preller, ii. 121. Footnote 789: _Röm. Jahr_, 221. MENSIS SEXTILIS. August is with us the month when the corn-harvest is begun; in Italy it is usually completed in July, and the final harvest-festivals, when all the operations of housing, &c., have been brought to a close, would naturally have fallen for the primitive Roman farmer in the sixth month. The Kalends of Quinctilis would be too early a date for notice to be given of these; some farmers might be behindhand, and so cut off from participation. The Kalends of Sextilis would do well enough; for by the Nones, before which no festival could be held, there would be a general cessation from labour. No other agricultural operations would then for a time be specially incumbent on the farmer[790].