_Röm. Jahr_, 166 foll. Footnote 1488: _L. L._ 6. 31, where Hirschfeld has conjectured ‘litat ad comitium’ for the MS. ‘dicat.’ Footnote 1489: _Aglaophamus_, 676. Footnote 1490: Mannhardt, _Myth. Forsch._ 58 foll.; Frazer, _Golden Bough_, ii. 35 foll.; Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, 286 foll. Cp. Lang, _Myth, Ritual and Religion_, ii. 233 foll. See also Farnell, _Cults of the Greek States_, i. 88 foll., who agrees in the main with Robertson Smith. Footnote 1491: Frazer, l. c. Footnote 1492: Aelian, _N. A._ 12. 34. Footnote 1493: _Relig. der Römer_, ii. 35. Cp. Gilbert, i. 343, note. The presence of the Salii (see above, p. 328), if a fact, would be in favour of this explanation. Footnote 1494: _Röm. Jahr_, 199. Footnote 1495: See on Aug. 21 (Consualia). Footnote 1496: _Myth. Forsch._ 170 foll.; _Baumkultus_, 382 foll. Footnote 1497: This, though with impossible combinations, is what Huschke does (199, note 53). Feb. 27 is the Roman, March 14 the Quirinal Equirria, in his view. That the Quirinalia falls in February may perhaps give some support to the view. Footnote 1498: Varro, _L. L._ 6. 13; Fest. 81. See under Oct. 15. Footnote 1499: i. 361. Footnote 1500: So Ovid, on Feb. 26, writes (2. 853); Fallimur, an veris praenuntia venit hirundo, Et metuit ne qua versa recurrat hiems? This would be early now for central Italy; but Columella, 11. 2, gives Feb. 23 as the date. Footnote 1501: _Fasti_, 2. 857 foll. CONCLUSION At the end of the introductory chapter a promise was made that when we had completed the round of the year, we would sum up our results, sketch in outline the history of Roman religious ideas, and estimate the influence of all this elaborate ceremonial on the life and character of the Roman people. This undertaking I must now endeavour to fulfil, though with doubt and diffidence; for even after the most careful examination of the Calendar, both the character and the history of the Roman religious system must still in great degree remain a mystery. With such knowledge however as may have been gleaned in the preceding pages, the reader may be able to appreciate or criticize a few conclusions of a more general character.