File:Lupa cum Romulo et Remo (Musgrave).jpg

English: "Penates (Household Gods) Dug Up at Devises in Our Belgium in the Year 1714, Table 7.

"12. Shewolf with Romulus and Remus. Length: 1¾ in. Weight: 1 oz.

"§ 10. WHORES were once called She-Wolves. Thus Catullus,

"As if threatened by the filthy saliva of a Whore/She-Wolf...

"And Plautus,

"Values diverge greatly between a young women and a Whore/She-Wolf...

"Isidore gives an reason for the name. "A Whore", he said, "is called a She-Wolf from her rapacity. She is both pitied and distained because she seizes for herself."

"APULEIUS—in his own fashion—says, "The She-Wolf Wife is herself scandalous and her Sons are directed just like her."

"THEN, it is taken as given that Laurentia, the wife of Faustulus, the nurse of Romulus and Remus, was a Whore—that is, a She-Wolf—and this is the origin of the Fable, that those brothers drank milk from a quadraped She-Wolf, the equivocal voice making way for error. Thus Livy said, "There are those who think that Laurentia was called a She-Wolf among the Shepherds in the vulgar sense, hence the place given to the fable and the miracle." Dionysius and Plutarch agree with this.

"THE BEAST having now changed into a woman, it may be noted about Romulus and Remus in Dionysius that "they were in dignity of shape and loftiness of spirit not like cowherds or swineherds but like those judged to have sprung from royal lineage and those believed to have been born from the semen/seed of Gods" and that they were celebrated in this manner by the Romans in their national Hymns and Folk Songs, in the age of Dionysius, all of which is indeed not badly represented in our Little Image."

Notes: "To the Most Noble Prince Frederick, the destined Royal Heir, Great Britain's hope, Delight, and most yearned for Spirit, son of the Most High George and grandson of the Most August George, William Musgrave, Fellow (?) of Exeter College, Oxford, of his own will and in Obedience to his Oath wished these here Penates, hidden by the Earth for 1500 years, to be dedicated.

"These Penates [found] by William Cadby, Gardener at Devizes, engraved on Brass and printed on Imperial Paper, are available for sale at the Booksellers Knapton in London, Clements in Oxford, and Yeo in Exeter. 1717."

The 2nd figure in Musgrave's 4th illustration of the Southbroom Hoard discovered outside Devizes, Wiltshire, in 1714. A depiction of the canine relief from the central discus or medallion of a Roman picture lamp (German: Bildlamp), misrepresented as a statue. Musgrave identified it with the she-wolf (Latin: lupa) who nursed Romulus and Remus in ancient Roman legend but the children's figures are not apparent in his or Moll's later illustration despite being included in the name. The pose is unusual for Roman art concerning the she-wolf and may instead represent a wolf or dog from Celtic or Gallo-Roman mythology or a simple resting domestic dog.

See also:

• Emma Durham, "Depicting the Gods: Metal Figurines in Roman Britain", Internet Archaeology, No. 31, 2012.
• Emma Durham, "Style and Substance: Some Metal Figurines from South-West Britain", Britannia, No. 45, November 2014, pp. 195–221.