Note 79 — BOOK XII.
Reading edition
p. 36. l. 15. —fire adoring. Watching or maintaining the sacred fire is another duty: it peculiarly belongs to priests and hermits. The latter may watch the fire mentally: "Then having reposited his holy fires, as the law directs, in his mind, let him live without external fire, without a mansion, wholly silent, feeding on roots and fruit." Menu, vi. 25.