Note 1163 — Chapter III · VICTOR STATUES REPRESENTED AT REST. (continued 2)

The λημνίσκος (Lat. lemniscus) was merely the woolen fillet by which chaplets were fastened on; Hesychios says it is a Syracusan word; in any case it is used only by Roman writers and Greek writers of the Roman age; A. G., XII, 123; Plut., Sulla, 27; Polyb., XVIII, 46 (where στέφανοι and λημνίσκοι are differentiated, though they are usually interchangeable); C. I. G., III, 5361; C. I. A., III, 74. Pliny says that it was of Etruscan origin, H. N., XXI, 4, and that it was at first made of wool or linden-bark and later of gold; cf. XVI, 25. It was used at Rome at feasts, as a sign of special honor to guests: Plaut., Pseudolus, (line 1265); Livy, XXXIII, 33.2; Suet., Nero, 25. For the Roman use of the lemniscus for athletic victors and poets, cf. Cicero, Or. pro Sext. Roscio Amerino, 35, 100; Ausonius, Epist., XX, 6; etc. On the lemniscus, see Dar.-Sagl., III, 2, pp. 1099–1100.