Note 1411 — BOOK III. AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED. INTRODUCTION.

“Accipere carnem.” Literally, “to take the flesh.” It appears that certain nations, of which Alba was the chief, were in early times accustomed to meet on the Alban Mount for the purposes of sacrifice. The subject is full of obscurity, but it has been suggested that this minor confederacy co-existed with a larger one including all the Latin cities, and there can be little doubt that the common sacrifice was typical of a bond of union among the states that partook therein. It does not necessarily appear from the context that more than the thirty-one states after mentioned took part therein, though the text may be so construed as to imply that the Latin nations previously mentioned also shared in the sacrifice; if so, it would seem to imply that Alba was the chief city of the whole Latin confederacy. See this subject ably discussed in Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of Ancient Geography, under the article Latini.