opuli Romani," as "comprecationes deorum
immortalium"; these also occur, he says, in _plerisque antiquis
orationibus_, _i.e._ in the invocations to the gods made by the orator
at the beginning or end of his speech.[303] Among these Gellius found
the following conjunctions of divine names: Lua Saturni, Salacia
Neptuni, Hora Quirini, Virites Quirini, Maia Volcani, Herie Iunonis,
Moles Martis, and Neriene Martis, or Nerio Martis. Now among these
conjunctions there are three which obviously do not express pairs of
deities, married or other, viz. Virites Quirini, Moles Martis, and Herie
Iunonis; the first two of which plainly mean the strength or force of
Quirinus and Mars, and the third conjoins two female names. The question
is whether the others are to be understood as giving us the names of the
"wives" of Saturnus, Neptunus, Quirinus, Volcanus, and Mars. The fact
that these are associated with others which cannot mean anything of the
kind is itself against this conclusion; but I have carefully examined
each pair by the light of such stray information about them as we
possess, and have failed to find anything to suggest Dr. Frazer's
emphatic conclusion that these are married pairs. I should be tedious if
I were to go through the evidence in detail in a lecture like this; but
I will take the pair which Gellius himself discusses, and on which Dr.
Frazer chiefly relies, Neriene or Nerio Martis: it is the pair about
which we know most, and in every way is the most interesting of the
set.[304]

After giving the list of names, Gellius goes on to express his own
opinion that _Nerio Martis_ means (like _Moles Martis_) the _virtus_ or
_fortitudo_ of Mars, _Nerio_ being a Sabine word meaning strength or
courage;[305] and a little further he sums up his view thus: "Nerio
igitur Martis vis et potentia et maiestas quaedam esse Martis
demonstratur." This seems to fit in very comfortably with what can be
guessed of the meaning of two of the other pairs, Virites Quirini and
Maia Volcani: Maia was explained by another Roman scholar as equivalent
to Maiestas.[306]

But Gellius goes on to quote three passages from old Latin authors in
which Nerio (or Neria) appears positively as the wife of Mars; and again
concludes that there was also a tradition that these two were
_coniuges_. Of these passages we luckily have the context of one, for it
occurs in the _Truculentus_ of Plautus: turning this out (line 515) we
find that a rough soldier, arr