Mommsen, _Staatsrecht_, ii. 2. 468, note 2, is doubtful as to the date of the _cura annonae_ of the plebeian aediles. But Plin. _H. N._ 18. 3. 15 attributes it to an aedile of earlier date than Spurius Maelius (B.C. 438); and though the Consuls may have had the general supervision, the immediate _cura_, as far as the plebs was concerned, would surely lie with their officers. Two points should be borne in mind here—(1) that the plebeian population to be relieved would be a surplus population _within the city_, not the farmer-population of the country; (2) that it would probably be easier to transport corn by sea than by land, as roads were few, and enemies all around. Footnote 245: Dion. Hal. 7.1, exposes the absurdity of Roman annalists in attributing the corn-supply to Dionysius; but he himself talks of Gelo. Cp. Ihne, i. 160. Ihne disbelieves the whole story, believing it to be copied from events which happened long afterwards. Footnote 246: Ambrosch, _Studien_, p. 208. Tradition told that the Tarquinii had stored up great quantities of corn in Rome, i. e. had fed their workmen. Cp. Liv. 1. 56 and 2. 9. Footnote 247: Mommsen, _R. H._, bk. i. ch. 13 fin. Footnote 248: See under August 13 (below, p. 198) for the parallel foundation of the temple of Diana on the Aventine, which also had a Greek and plebeian character. Footnote 249: _Fasti_, 4. 681 foll. Ovid does not distinctly say that the foxes were let loose in the Circus, but seems to imply it. Footnote 250: ‘Factum abiit, monimenta manent; nam vivere captam Nunc quoque lex volpem Carseolana vetat.’ The best MSS. have ‘nam dicere certam.’ Bergk conjectured ‘namque icere captam.’ The reading given above is adopted from some inferior MSS. by H. Peter (Leipzig, 1889), following Heinsius and Riese. Mr. S. G. Owen of Ch. Ch., our best authority on the text of Ovid, has kindly sent me the suggestion _namque ire repertam_, comparing, for the use of _ire_, Ovid, _Am_. 3. 6. 20 ‘sic aeternus eas.’ This conjecture, which occurred independently to myself, suits the sense and is close to the reading of the best MSS. Footnote 251: J. Grimm, _Reinhardt der Fuchs_, cclxix (quoted by Peter). Ovid’s explanation is of course wrong; the story is beyond doubt meant to explain the ritual, or a law to which the ritual gave rise. Footnote 252: Preller-Jordan, ii. 43. See under Robigalia. Footnote 253: _Myth. Forsch._ 107 foll. Footnote 254: Ovid’s word is _terga_, but he must, I think, mean ‘tails.’ Footnote 255: Mannhardt, op. cit. 185. Cp. Frazer, _Golden Bough_, i. 408; ii. 3 and 28 (for fertilizing power of tail). Footnote 256: _Zoological Mythology_, ii. 138. Footnote 257: