DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0469
Virbius as Dianus
399
older head is surmounted by a series of lobes recalling the leafage
on the breast, that the lower edge of the long moustache has a leaf-
like dentation, that the mouth of the younger head shows similar
leaves at its corners, that the Satyr-ears of both heads are lobed like
leaves1, that the eyebrows throughout are dentate, and that the
appendages above the brows and beneath the ears exhibit veined
vegetable forms.
The Capitoline herm has been commonly regarded as represent-
ing a pair of water-deities2. But Miss Morpurgo, pursuing her theme,
contends that the foliation under the eyes of the two figures and
over the beard of the elder is certainly meant for leaves—not whole
leaves, but parts of leaves, which (to judge from size and shape) are
those of the quercus ilex. She remarks that the chest on either side
shows a continuous fringe of leaves, modified to look like the frilled
edge of a tunica or chiton, that the moustache and eyebrows of the
bearded head are, again, formed of ^^.sv'-leaves, that the ears of
both heads are dentated, and that the appendages on head and neck
are neither horns nor fins, but leafage like that which decorates
the chest.
On the whole, I conclude (i)that the two herms represent the
same personages ; (2) that those personages, as I conjectured in
19023, are Hippolytos and Virbius, the mythical prototypes of the
rex Nemorensis ; (3) that Hippolytos-turned-Virbius is portrayed
as a Janiform bust, partly because, as I argued in 19054, Diana's
favourite is conceived as Diana's consort Dianus or Ianus, partly
because, as Miss Morpurgo insisted in 1909'1, the ancients clung to the
folk-etymology of Virbius, ' a man twice over ' (vir bis) ; (4) that the
1 In the large frieze from the great altar at Pergamon {supra i. 119 figs. 87 f.) the
Giant fighting Phoihe has horns in his hair and a left ear like a pointed leaf {Pergamon
iii. 2. 37 Atlas pi. 29, 3); another, opposed to Parthenos, has long serrated leaves on
the heads of his two snake-legs and at the juncture of their scales with his skin {ib. iii. 2.
69 Atlas pi. 16). It may be suspected that Pergamene art contributed its quota to the
style of the Nemi bust.
2 Supra p. 393 n. 2.
3 Supra p. 393 n. 7. 4 Supra p. 394 n. r.
5 L. Morpurgo ' La rappresentazione figurata di Virbio ' in Ausonia 1909 iv. 122 (cp,
her ' Nemus Aricinum ' in the Mon. d. Line. 1903 xiii. 356 ff.), citing Cassiod. de ortho-
graphia 6 (in H. Keil Grammatici Latini Lipsiae 18S0 vii. 181, 9 ff.) Virbius etiam
abstractus a regula, quoniam virum bis factum esse memorant, quern numerum per b
mutam scribi ante dicta declarant: quiclam virum bonum, alii herobium, tamquam sit
??pws avafieftiwuihs, alii deum esse qui Viribus praeest interpretantur (Cassiodorus notes
that his information is taken ' ex Martyrio de mediis syllabis.' Martyrius of Sardes, who
lived in s. vi (?) a. d., was sun and pupil of the Latin grammarian Adamantius: see
De Vit Ononiasticon iv. 383, G. Goetz in Pauly—Wissowa Keal-Enc. i. 343 f.) together
with Hyg. fab. 251, Serv. in Verg. Acn. 7. 76r, Vib. Seq. p. 152, 6 f. Riese {supra p. 394
n. 2), Lact. Plac. narr.fab. 15. 45, schol. Pers. sat. 6. 56.
399
older head is surmounted by a series of lobes recalling the leafage
on the breast, that the lower edge of the long moustache has a leaf-
like dentation, that the mouth of the younger head shows similar
leaves at its corners, that the Satyr-ears of both heads are lobed like
leaves1, that the eyebrows throughout are dentate, and that the
appendages above the brows and beneath the ears exhibit veined
vegetable forms.
The Capitoline herm has been commonly regarded as represent-
ing a pair of water-deities2. But Miss Morpurgo, pursuing her theme,
contends that the foliation under the eyes of the two figures and
over the beard of the elder is certainly meant for leaves—not whole
leaves, but parts of leaves, which (to judge from size and shape) are
those of the quercus ilex. She remarks that the chest on either side
shows a continuous fringe of leaves, modified to look like the frilled
edge of a tunica or chiton, that the moustache and eyebrows of the
bearded head are, again, formed of ^^.sv'-leaves, that the ears of
both heads are dentated, and that the appendages on head and neck
are neither horns nor fins, but leafage like that which decorates
the chest.
On the whole, I conclude (i)that the two herms represent the
same personages ; (2) that those personages, as I conjectured in
19023, are Hippolytos and Virbius, the mythical prototypes of the
rex Nemorensis ; (3) that Hippolytos-turned-Virbius is portrayed
as a Janiform bust, partly because, as I argued in 19054, Diana's
favourite is conceived as Diana's consort Dianus or Ianus, partly
because, as Miss Morpurgo insisted in 1909'1, the ancients clung to the
folk-etymology of Virbius, ' a man twice over ' (vir bis) ; (4) that the
1 In the large frieze from the great altar at Pergamon {supra i. 119 figs. 87 f.) the
Giant fighting Phoihe has horns in his hair and a left ear like a pointed leaf {Pergamon
iii. 2. 37 Atlas pi. 29, 3); another, opposed to Parthenos, has long serrated leaves on
the heads of his two snake-legs and at the juncture of their scales with his skin {ib. iii. 2.
69 Atlas pi. 16). It may be suspected that Pergamene art contributed its quota to the
style of the Nemi bust.
2 Supra p. 393 n. 2.
3 Supra p. 393 n. 7. 4 Supra p. 394 n. r.
5 L. Morpurgo ' La rappresentazione figurata di Virbio ' in Ausonia 1909 iv. 122 (cp,
her ' Nemus Aricinum ' in the Mon. d. Line. 1903 xiii. 356 ff.), citing Cassiod. de ortho-
graphia 6 (in H. Keil Grammatici Latini Lipsiae 18S0 vii. 181, 9 ff.) Virbius etiam
abstractus a regula, quoniam virum bis factum esse memorant, quern numerum per b
mutam scribi ante dicta declarant: quiclam virum bonum, alii herobium, tamquam sit
??pws avafieftiwuihs, alii deum esse qui Viribus praeest interpretantur (Cassiodorus notes
that his information is taken ' ex Martyrio de mediis syllabis.' Martyrius of Sardes, who
lived in s. vi (?) a. d., was sun and pupil of the Latin grammarian Adamantius: see
De Vit Ononiasticon iv. 383, G. Goetz in Pauly—Wissowa Keal-Enc. i. 343 f.) together
with Hyg. fab. 251, Serv. in Verg. Acn. 7. 76r, Vib. Seq. p. 152, 6 f. Riese {supra p. 394
n. 2), Lact. Plac. narr.fab. 15. 45, schol. Pers. sat. 6. 56.