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CURTIUS, MARCUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 653 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CURTIUS, See also:MARCUS , a legendary See also:hero of See also:ancient See also:Rome. It is said that in 362 B.C. a deep gulf opened in the See also:forum, which the seers declared would never See also:close until Rome's most valuable See also:possession was thrown into it. Then Curtius, a youth of See also:noble See also:family, recognizing that nothing was more See also:precious than a brave See also:citizen, leaped, fully armed and on horseback, into the chasm, which immediately closed again. The spot was afterwards covered by a See also:marsh called the Lacus Curtius. Two other explanations of the name Lacus Curtius are given: (I) a See also:Sabine See also:general, Mettius (or Mettus) Curtius, hard pressed by the See also:Romans under See also:Romulus, leaped into a swamp which covered the valley afterwards occupied by the forum, and barely escaped with his See also:life; (2) in 445 B.C. the spot was struck by See also:lightning, and en-closed as sacred by the See also:consul, See also:Gaius Curtius. It was marked by an See also:altar which was removed to make See also:room for the See also:games in celebration of See also:Caesar's funeral (See also:Pliny, Nat. Hist. xv. 77), butrestored by See also:Augustus (cf. See also:Ovid, See also:Fasti, vi. 403), in whose See also:time there was apparently nothing but a dry well. The altar seems to have been restored See also:early in the 4th See also:century A.D. In See also:April 1904, on the N. See also:side of the Via Sacra and 20 ft.

N.W. of the Equus Domitiani, remains of the buildings were discovered. See See also:

Livy i. 12, vii. 6; DionHalic. ii. 42; See also:Varro, De lingua See also:Latina, v. 148; Ch. Hulsen, The See also:Roman Forum (Eng. trans. of 2nd ed., J. B. See also:Carter, 1906); O. See also:Gilbert, Geschichte and Topographie der Siadt Rom See also:im Altertum, i. (1883), 334—338.

End of Article: CURTIUS, MARCUS

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CURULE (Lat. currus, " chariot ")

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