Note 372 — Chapter II · THE GROWTH OF THE REPUBLICAN CONSTITUTION

Dionysius (l.c.) suggests that they originally bore another title. Pomponius (l.c.) derives the name from their office in the temple of Ceres; Varro from their care of the repair of aedes both sacred and private (Varro L.L. v. 81 “aedilis, qui aedes sacras et privatas procuraret”), a derivation which Mommsen (Staatsr. ii. p. 480) favours. Their relation to the aediles of the Latin towns is wholly uncertain. Mommsen (ib. p. 474) holds strongly to the view that the Latin aedileship was borrowed from the Roman. For a different view cf. Ohnesseit Ztschr. der Savigny-stiftung 1883, pp. 200 sq.