3. Chap. 3. (3.)-When Shields Were First Invented With Portraits Upon Them; And When They Were First Erected In Public.

CHAP. 3. (3.)—WHEN SHIELDS WERE FIRST INVENTED WITH PORTRAITS UPON THEM; AND WHEN THEY WERE FIRST ERECTED IN PUBLIC.

So far as I can learn, Appius Claudius, who was consul with P. Servilius, in the year of the City, 259, was the first to dedicate shields[1] in honour of his own family in a sacred or public place.[2] For he placed representations of his ancestors in the Temple of Bellona, and desired that they might be erected in an elevated spot, so as to be seen, and the inscriptions reciting their honours read. A truly graceful device; more particularly when a multitude of children, represented by so many tiny figures, displays those germs, as it were, which are destined to continue the line: shields such as these, no one can look at without a feeling of pleasure and lively interest.

1. "Clypei." These were shields or escutcheons of metal, with the features of the deceased person represented either in painting or in relief.

2. Hardouin informs us that there are some Greek inscriptions given by Gruter, p. 441, and p. 476, from which it appears that public festivals were celebrated on occasions of this kind.—B.