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Strena in honor of a certain daimon so called, who is the overseer of victories. But 'strena' according to the Greeks signifies good leadership based on military dexterity. For it is not—as the multitude thinks—derived for the sake of play and ease. And they say that Latinus, the brother of Telegonus and son of Circe, and the father-in-law of Aeneas, while founding the acropolis of Rome before the arrival of Aeneas, found a laurel on the spot by chance and so in turn allowed it to remain there; and for this reason here also they call the Palatine "Daphne." And the ancients dedicate the laurel to Apollo, because the plant is full of fire, as Plutarch says, and Apollo is fire; for he is the sun. Wherefore this plant is also hated by daimons and from this there might be "daphne," "away with you, daimons," and in divinations by burning it, men seem to have found a presentation of prophecy. But the more ancient dedicated the laurel to Ares, but those after them to Helios, whence also they crowned victors over enemies with laurels, just as saviors in turn with oak, because the oak had become salvation to the ancients before the discovery of grain; for the ancients ate acorns instead of grain. But Elpidianus in his work "On Festivals" says that strena means health in the Sabine tongue, for which reason laurel leaves were given to the magistrates by the people on the first of the month of January; for it is productive of health. For neither a sacred disease nor a heavy daimon will trouble the place in which there is laurel, just as not even a thunderbolt where there is a fig tree, but it is also a scatterer of phantoms; for this reason also those desiring to attain a divine epiphany through dreams partake of dried figs only. And since laurel leaves were also given together with the dried figs, the custom has prevailed even until now, to also throw laurel leaves into the jars of dried figs. But the custom nevertheless remained, having been changed only out of abundance; for instead of dried figs one gives cakes, and instead of the leaves, gold. And the Romans call the honey-cakes placentas because such a food first came from the Greeks, or rather from the Samians, in Placentia, the city of Italy, and for this reason it is so called, just as Tarentines from Tarentum and Canobics from Canobus and Coptics from Coptus. And a certain Samian, Dion, first made a bread by kneading it with honey and invented the so-called sisamon in Samos; whence also the place is related by name to the fruit. 4.5 And in Rome the emperors used to receive the magistrates with a kiss in honor of liberty, the tyrants having been expelled through Brutus, the consul of the Romans. 4.6 That according to Iamblichus the serpent is sacred; for he speaks thus: “the creature of the serpent is divine, the most spiritual of all reptiles and fiery; wherefore also its speed is unsurpassable because of its spirit, without feet or hands or anything else external, by which other animals make their movements; and it produces impressions of various shapes and in its course has spiral impulses at whatever speed it wishes. And it is most long-lived, and not only does it grow young by sloughing off its old age, but it is also by nature able to receive greater growth, and when it has fulfilled its destined measure, it is consumed into itself. Therefore this animal has also been included in sacred rites and mysteries.” And it sees most sharply of all, whence it has also been named drakon. 4.7 On this day Trajan consecrated a temple to the Fortune of all, having decreed according to the sacred law, that no one besides the one who sacrificed should taste of the sacrifice. That nowhere does Homer make mention of the name of Tyche, but Hesiod does. Heimarmene as if it were "eiromene" because it requires time and extension, so that the sequence of the underlying things may be preserved. That the name of Tyche and Heimarmene has been put forth in the case of generation; and Hermes is a witness in the so-called Perfect Discourse, having spoken thus: "the so-called seven spheres have as their beginning the

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στρῆνα εἰς τιμὴν δαίμονός τινος οὕτω προσαγορευομένης, ἥτις ἔφορός ἐστι τῶν νικῶν. τὸ δὲ στρῆνα καθ' Ἕλληνας τὸν εὐαρχισμὸν τὸν ἐπὶ ἐντρεχείας στρατιωτικῆς σημαίνει. οὐ γὰρ-ὡς τὸ πλῆθος-ἀπάγεται παιγνίου καὶ ῥᾳστώνης χάριν. φασὶ δὲ Λατῖνον ἐκεῖνον τοῦ Τηλεγόνου μὲν ἀδελφόν, Κίρκης δὲ παῖδα, πενθερὸν δὲ Αἰνείου, κτίζοντα τὴν τῆς Ῥώμης ἀκρόπολιν πρὸ τῆς παρουσίας Αἰνείου εὑρεῖν ἐπὶ τοῦ τόπου δάφνην κατὰ τύχην καὶ οὕτως πάλιν ἐᾶσαι αὐτὴν ἐκεῖσε διαμένειν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθα ∆άφνην προσαγορεύουσι τὸ Παλάτιον. τὴν δάφνην δὲ οἱ παλαιοὶ τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι καθιεροῦσιν, ὅτι πυρὸς πλῆρες τὸ φυτὸν ὥς φησιν ὁ Πλούταρχος καὶ ὁ Ἀπόλλων πῦρ· ὁ ἥλιος γάρ ἐστιν. ὅθεν καὶ ἀπεχθάνεται δαίμοσι τοῦτο τὸ φυτὸν καὶ ἔνθεν ἂν εἴη δάφνη, ἐκποδὼν δαίμονες, κἀν ταῖς μαντείαις καίοντες ταύτην οἱ ἄνθρωποι παράστασιν προφητείας δοκοῦσιν εὑρηκέναι. οἱ παλαιότεροι δὲ τῷ Ἄρει τὴν δάφνην ἀνετίθησαν, οἱ δὲ μετ' αὐτοὺς τῷ Ἡλίῳ, ὅθεν καὶ τοὺς νικητὰς τῶν πολεμίων δάφναις ἔστεφον, ὥσπερ τοὺς σωτῆρας πάλιν τῇ δρυΐ, διὰ τὸ σωτηρίαν τοῖς πάλαι πρὸ τῆς εὑρήσεως τοῦ σίτου τὴν δρῦν γεγενῆσθαι· βαλάνους γὰρ ἤσθιον οἱ παλαιοὶ ἀντὶ σίτου. ὁ δὲ Ἐλπιδιανὸς ἐν τῷ περὶ ἑορτῶν στρήναν τὴν ὑγείαν τῇ Σαβίνων φωνῇ λέγεσθαί φησι, δι' ἣν φύλλα δάφνης ἐπεδίδοτο τοῖς ἄρχουσι παρὰ τοῦ δήμου τῇ πρώτῃ τοῦ Ἰανουαρίου μηνός· ὑγείας γάρ ἐστιν ἐργαστική. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἱερὰ νόσος ἢ δαίμων βαρὺς ἐνοχλήσει τῷ τόπῳ ἐν ᾧ δάφνη ἐστίν, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ κεραυνὸς ὅπου συκῆ, ἀλλὰ καὶ σκεδαστικὴ φασμάτων ἐστί· ταύτῃ τοι καὶ οἱ δι' ὀνείρων θείας τυχεῖν ἐπιφανείας ἱμειρόμενοι ἰσχάδων καὶ μόνων μεταλαμβάνουσιν. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ φύλλα δάφνης μετὰ τῶν ἰσχάδων συνεπεδίδοντο, ἐπεκράτησε μέχρι καὶ νῦν ἡ συνήθεια, ἐν τοῖς ἀγγείοις τῶν ἰσχάδων καὶ φύλλα δάφνης ἐμβάλλεσθαι. διέμεινε δὲ ὅμως τὸ ἔθος ἐκ μόνης εὐπορίας ἐναλλαγέν· ἀντὶ μὲν γὰρ ἰσχάδων ἐπιδίδωσι πόπανα, ἀντὶ δὲ τῶν φύλλων χρυσίον. πλακοῦντας δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι τὰ ἐκ μέλιτος πόπανα καλοῦσι διὰ τὸ ἐν Πλακεντίᾳ τῇ πόλει τῆς Ἰταλίας πρῶτον ἐξ Ἑλλήνων ἢ μᾶλλον ἐκ Σαμίων τὴν τοιαύτην ἐδωδὴν παρελθεῖν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὕτως λέγεσθαι, ὡς Ταραντῖνα ἀπὸ Τάραντος καὶ Κανουβικὰ ἀπὸ Κανούβου καὶ Κοπτὰ ἀπὸ Κοπτοῦ. Σάμιος δέ τις πρῶτος μέλιτι φυράσας ἄρτον κατεσκεύασε ∆ίων καὶ τὴν λεγομένην σίσαμον ἐξεῦρεν ἐν τῇ Σάμῳ· ὅθεν καὶ συγγενὲς προσηγορίᾳ τοῦ καρποῦ τὸ χωρίον. 4.5 Ἐδέχοντο δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥώμης οἱ αὐτοκράτορες φιλήματι τοὺς ἄρχοντας πρὸς τιμὴν ἐλευθερίας, ἀπελαθέντων τῶν τυράννων διὰ Βρούτου τοῦ Ῥωμαίων ὑπάτου. 4.6 Ὅτι ἱερὸν κατὰ τὸν Ἰάμβλιχον ὁ δράκων ἐστί· λέγει γὰρ ὧδε· «θεῖον τὸ τοῦ δράκοντος ζῶον, πνευματικώτατον πάντων ἑρπετῶν καὶ πυρῶδες· παρ' ὃ καὶ τάχος αὐτῷ ἀνυπέρβλητον διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, χωρὶς ποδῶν καὶ χειρῶν ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν ἐκτός, δι' ὧν τὰ λοιπὰ ζῶα τὰς κινήσεις ποιεῖται· καὶ ποικίλων σχημάτων τύπους ἀποτελεῖ καὶ κατὰ τὴν πορείαν ἑλικοειδεῖς ἔχει τὰς ὁρμὰς ἐφ' ὃ βούλεται τάχος. πολυχρονιώτατος δέ ἐστι, καὶ οὐ μόνον ἐκδυόμενος τὸ γῆρας νεάζει, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὔξησιν ἐπιδέχεσθαι μείζονα πέφυκε, καὶ ἐπειδὰν τὸ ὡρισμένον μέτρον πληρώσῃ, εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀναλίσκεται. διὸ καὶ ἱεροῖς τοῦτο τὸ ζῶον καὶ μυστηρίοις συμπαρείληπται.» ὀξύτατα δὲ πάντων βλέπει, ὅθεν καὶ δράκων ὠνόμασται. 4.7 Ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ Τραιανὸς τῇ πάντων Τύχῃ καθιέρωσε ναόν, θεσπίσας κατὰ τὸν ἱερὸν νόμον, μηδένα παρὰ τὸν θύσαντα γεύεσθαι τῆς θυσίας. ὅτι οὐδαμοῦ τοῦ τῆς Τύχης ὀνόματος Ὅμηρος μέμνηται, Ἡσίοδος μέντοι. Εἱμαρμένη οἱονεὶ εἰρομένη διὰ τὸ χρόνου δεῖσθαι καὶ διαστάσεως, ἵνα ὁ εἱρμὸς τῶν ὑποκειμένων σώζηται. ὅτι τὸ τῆς Τύχης καὶ Εἱμαρμένης ἐπὶ τῆς γενέσεως προβέβληται ὄνομα· καὶ μάρτυς Ἑρμῆς ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ τελείῳ λόγῳ οὕτως εἰπών· «αἱ καλούμεναι ἑπτὰ σφαῖραι ἔχουσιν ἀρχὴν τὴν