The quest of Vergil's birthplace has been brought to a satisfactory conclusion, but the nationality and social origin of the poet are still curiously obscure. He may have been Etruscan, Celtic, Venetian, Ligurian or even Greek; and he is variously described in the ancient biographies as ‘parentibus infimis’ and ‘dignitate eques Romanus.’ To this it may be rejoined that these things matter little in any man, and not at all in the case of a great poet: stemmata quid faciunt? Yet the circumstances of his birth play their part, like the scenery of his early home, in determining the growth of a poet's mind; and for this reason it seems worth while to investigate them afresh, and to attempt a new quest after the elusive facts of Vergil's family.

It is reasonable to suppose that these, the only two legions with the title ‘Primigenia,’ were sister legions. Cassius Dio appears to have thought that they were created by Augustus; for, in his (otherwise accurate) list of the foundation dates of legions which survived to his own day, he mentioned XXII (Mommsen's insertion of δευτέρου ϰαὶ in the text of 55, 23, 6 is a certain one) among the legions of Augustus' army. This cannot be XXII Deiotariana, for it was no longer in existence in Cassius Dio's time, but must be XXII Primigenia. Cassius Dio did not include XV Primigenia in his list because, having been disbanded by Vespasian at the beginning of his principate, it did not qualify for a place in that list. As, however, there is no room for these two legions among the twenty-five Roman legions which existed in A.D. 23, Cassius Dio was evidently in error, and the two legions must be supposed to have been created after that date.

At rex sollicitus monstris oracula Fauni,

fatidici genitoris, adit lucosque sub alta

consulit Albunea, nemorum quae maxima sacro

fonte sonat saevamque exhalat opaca mephitim.

hinc Italae gentes omnisque Oenotria tellus

in dubiis responsa petunt.

The traditional view from the time of Servius onwards has been that this passage refers to a shrine in the neighbourhood of Tibur, and that the waters described are those of the sulphur lakes of Albula, white and strong-smelling, which lie two miles away in the open country. This view was first challenged by Bonstetten in 1805, and his theory has been further developed by Carcopino. The main objections to the old view are, firstly, that Albula lies about thirty miles north in the Sabine region, well away both from the district in which is set the action of the last six books of the Aeneid, and from the home of Latinus, whether the latter was at Laurentum (the existence of which is now doubted by some scholars) or at Lavinium; secondly, the difference in name, for that the springs near Tibur were called ‘Albula’ is well attested by ancient notices; and thirdly, the difficulty of access. Both Bonstetten and Carcopino are in agreement in locating the oracle at the sulphur springs near Pratica di Mare, the ancient Lavinium : neither, however, seems to have investigated the site as fully as was desirable, and it may be of interest to give the results of a further exploration.

The two following notes deal with parallel and interrelated aspects of imperial policy noticeable in Spain after the institution of the Principate, namely, the attitude of the provincials to the Princeps and his house, and the survival of Nationalism. Under the first head are included both religious and non-religious institutions, showing in each case not only the reactions of the Spanish provincials to the Principate but also the personal efforts made by the Princeps to ingratiate himself and his dynasty, while in the second note an attempt is made to demonstrate that the imperial administration, so far from aiming at a paralysis of nationalism, went out of its way to encourage it.

The traditional date for the Syrian governorship of M. Titius, ‘about 10 B.C.’, is derived from a passage in Josephus, where he is referred to in connection with Herod's supposed ‘third journey’ to Rome. The circumstances of this third journey have caused considerable perplexity to those who have investigated the details of the reign of Herod the Great. The trouble is due to a confusion in Josephus himself, who can be shown to be narrating a series of events as occurring after, which in reality refer to the years immediately before, 12 B.C. The ‘third journey’ was never undertaken or, indeed, contemplated, and the context in which the name of Titius occurs is to be dated to 12 B.C. and not later.

Perhaps the most remarkable product of Rhenish glass-furnaces during the Imperial period is the well-known fabric bearing polychrome or monochrome applied decoration. These are the glasses termed by German archaeologists ‘Schlangenfaden’ or ‘snake-thread’ glass. They are of various shapes and were produced in great numbers from the last quarter of the second to the fourth century A.D., probably largely, if not entirely, at Cologne.