metimes astray. One is
a little perplexed to understand why Jupiter, Janus,
Mars, and Quirinus should all be oak-gods (and all in
origin identical as such!). On the other hand, it is
fair to note that the original spear was probably of
wood, with the point hardened in the fire, like the
_hasta praeusta_ of the Fetiales: Festus, p. 101. If
_quiris_ has really anything to do with oaks, it would
be more natural to explain the two words as springing
from an old place-name, Quirium, as Niebuhr did long
ago, and to derive that again from the oaks among which
it may have stood. But I am content to take _quiris_ as
simply a spear, as Buecheler did; see Deubner, _op.
cit._ p. 76. Since the above was written, the article
"Quirinus" by Wissowa in the _Myth. Lex._ has appeared.
Naturally it does not add anything to our knowledge; but
Wissowa holds to the opinion that the most probable
derivation of the name Quirinus is from Quirium,
possibly the name of the settlement on the Quirinal; and
compares _Q. pater_ (_e.g._ Livy v. 52. 7) with the
_Reatinus pater_ of _C.I.L._ ix. 4676.

[279] The Nonae Caprotinae (July 7), the day when women
sacrificed to Juno Caprotina under a wild fig-tree in
the Campus Martius, is not known to us except from
Varro. See _R.F._ p. 178, where (note 8) is a suggestion
that the festival had to do with the _caprificatio_, or
method of ripening the figs, which Dr. Frazer has
expanded in his _Lectures on Kingship_, p. 270,
believing the process to be that of fertilisation.

[280] _Classical Review_, vol. ix. p. 474 foll. The same
view has recently been taken independently by W. Otto in
_Philologus_, 1905, pp. 215 foll., 221. It is perfectly
clear that the monthly sacrifice to Juno was the duty of
the wife of the _rex sacrorum_; a pontifex minor is also
mentioned (Macrob. i. 15. 19).

[281] Wissowa, _R.K._ p. 116.

[282] _Ib._ p. 114.

[283] See Ihm's article "Iunones" in _Myth. Lex._ vol.
ii. 615; Pliny, _N.H._ ii. 16.

[284] Dr. J. B. Carter tells me that he has abandoned
this explanation of the evolution of Juno. On the other
hand, von Domaszewski seems in some measure to accept it
(_Abhandlungen_, p. 169 foll.), when he says that
"similar functions, when exercised by different
_numina_, can eventually produce a god. _Auf d