practice of augury chiefly from the Tuscans; and anciently their youth
used to be instructed as carefully in this art, as afterwards they were
in the Greek literature. For this purpose, by a decree of the senate, a
certain number of the sons of the leading men at Rome was sent to the
twelve states of Etruria for instruction.

[677] See before, note, c. i. The Principia was a broad open space,
which separated the lower part of the Roman camp from the upper, and
extended the whole breadth of the camp. In this place was erected the
tribunal of the general, when he either administered justice or harangued
the army. Here likewise the tribunes held their courts, and punishments
were inflicted. The principal standards of the army, as it has been
already mentioned, were deposited in the Principia; and in it also stood
the altars of the gods, and the images of the Emperors, by which the
soldiers swore.

[678] See NERO, c. xxxi. The sum estimated as requisite for its
completion amounted to 2,187,500 pounds of our money.

[679] The two last words, literally translated, mean "long trumpets;"
such as were used at sacrifices. The sense is, therefore, "What have I
to do, my hands stained with blood, with performing religious
ceremonies!"

[680] The Ancile was a round shield, said to have fallen from heaven in
the reign of Numa, and supposed to be the shield of Mars. It was kept
with great care in the sanctuary of his temple, as a symbol of the
perpetuity of the Roman empire; and that it might not be stolen, eleven
others were made exactly similar to it.