[1029] _Petauro._ The exact nature of this feat of agility is not determined by the commentators. The word is derived from αὖρα and πέτομαι, and therefore seems to imply some machine for propelling persons through the air, which a line in Lucilius seems to confirm, "Sicuti mechanici cum alto exsiluere petauro." Fr. incert. xli. So Manilius, v., 434, "Corpora quæ valido saliunt excussa petauro, alternosque cient motus: elatus et ille nunc jacet atque hujus casu suspenditur ille, membraque per flammas orbesque emissa flagrantes." Mart., ii., Ep. 86, "Quid si per graciles vias petauri Invitum jubeas subire Ladam." XI., xxi., 3, "Quam rota transmisso toties intacta petauro." Holiday gives a drawing in which it resembles an oscillum or swing. Facciolati describes it as "genus ludi, quo homines per aërem rotarum pulsu jactantur."
[1030] _Corycus_ was the northwestern headland of Crete, with an island of the same name lying off it. «There were two other towns of the same name, in Lydia and Cilicia, both infested with pirates; the latter gave its name to the famous Corycian cave. Pind., Pyth., i. Æsch., P. V., 350.»
[1031] _Municipes._ The Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται boasted, says Callimachus, that Crete was not only the birthplace, but also the burial-place of Jove. Cf. iv., 33, "Jam princeps equitum magnâ qui voce solebat vendere municipes pacta mercede siluros." So Martial calls Cumæan pottery-ware, "testa municeps Sibyllæ," xiv., Ep. cxiv., and Tyrian cloaks, "Cadmi municipes lacernas." Cf. Aristoph., Ach., 333, where Dicæopolis producing his coal-basket says, ὁ λάρκος δημότης ὁδ' ἐστ' ἐμός. Crete was famous for this "passum," a kind of rich raisin wine, which it appears from Athenæus the Roman ladies were allowed to drink. Lib. x., p. 440, e. Grangæus calls it "Malvoisie."
[1033] _Calpe_, now Gibraltar. It is said to have been Epicurus' notion, that the sun, when setting in the ocean, hissed like red-hot iron plunged in water. Cf. Stat. Sylv., II., vii., 27, "Felix hen nimis et beata tellus, quæ pronos Hyperionis meatus summis oceani vides in undis stridoremque rotæ cadentis audis."
[1034] _Aluta._ Cf. vii., 192, "Appositam nigræ lunam subtexit alutæ," where it is used for the shoe-leather, as Mart., xii., Ep. 25, and ii., 29. Ov., A. A., iii., 271. It is a leathern _apron_ in Mart., vii., Ep. 25, and a leathern sail in Cæs., B. Gall., III., xiii. Here it is a leathern money-bag. It takes its name from the alumen used in the process of tanning.