Note 33 — Chapter I · THE KING OF THE WOOD
Reading edition
Servius on Virgil, Aen. vi. 136, “Licet de hoc ramo hi qui de sacris Proserpinae scripsisse dicuntur, quiddam esse mysticum adfirment, publica tamen opinio hoc habet. Orestes post occisum regem Thoantem,” etc.; id. on Virgil, Aen. ii. 116; Valerius Flaccus, Argonaut. ii. 304 sq.; Strabo, v. 3. 12; Pausanias, ii. 27. 4; Solinus, ii. 11; Suetonius, Caligula, 35. The custom of breaking the branch, and its supposed connexion with the Golden Bough of Virgil, are recorded by Servius alone (on Virgil, Aen. vi. 136). For the title “King of the Wood” see Suetonius, l.c.; and compare Statius, Sylv. iii. 1. 55 sq.—