Cacus
Frieze-Dennison Vergil
- son of Vulcan, contemporary with Evander, a giant of immense physical strength, who dwelt in a cave on Mount Aventinus, and troubled the whole region around by his robberies; he robbed even Hercules of the cattle of Geryon, and was on that account slain by him, Ov. F. 1, 543 sq.; Liv. 1, 7, 5 sq.; Verg. A. 8, 190 sq., and Serv. in h. l.; Prop. 4 (5), 9, 7; 4 (5), 9, 16; Col. 1, 3, 6; Juv. 5, 125; Sol. 1, §§ 7 and 18.
a fabulous Italian shepherd, who was believed to have lived in a cave, and to have committed various kinds of robberies. Among others, he also stole a part of the cattle of Hercules or Recaranus; and, as he dragged the animals into his cave by their tails, it was impossible to discover their traces. But when the remaining oxen passed by the cave, those within began to bellow, and were thus discovered. Another tradition stated, that Caca, the sister of Cacus, betrayed the place of their concealment. Cacus was slain by Hercules. (Liv. 1.7.) He is usually called a son of Vulcan, and Ovid, who gives his story with considerable embellishments, describes Cacus as a fearful giant, who was the terror of the whole land. (Ov. Fast. 1.554; comp. Verg. A. 8.190, &c.; Propert. 4.9; Dionys. A. R. 1.32, 43; Aurel. Vict. Dc Orig. Gent. Rom. 6.) Evander, who then ruled over the country in which Cacus had resided, shewed his gratitude to the conqueror of Cacus by dedicating to him a sanctuary, and appointing the Potitii and Pinarii as his priests. The common opinion respecting the original character of Cacus is, that lie was the personification of some evil daemon, and this opinion is chiefly founded upon the descriptions of him given by the Roman poets. Hartung (Die Relig. d. Röm. i. p. 318, &c.), however, thinks that Cacus, whom he identifies with Cacius (Diod. 4.21; Solin. 1.1), and his sister Caca were Roman penates, whose names he connects with Καίω, caleo, and coquo. There were at Rome various things connected with the legends about Cacus. On the side of the Palatine hill, not far from the hut of Faustulus, there was a foot-path leading up the hill, with a wooden ladder called "the ladder of Cacus," and the ancient cave of Cacus, which is still shewn at Rome, was in the Salina, near the Porta Trigemina. (Diod., Solin., ll.. cc.; Klausen, Aeneas u. die Penaten, p. 768, &c.; Bunsen, Beschreib. der Stadt Rom, i. p. 134, 3.1. p. 407.) [L.S]
In Italian mythology, a fire-spitting giant, the son of Vulcan, who lived near the place where Rome was afterwards built. When Hercules came into the neighbourhood with the cattle of Geryon, Cacus stole some of them while the hero was sleeping and dragged them backwards into his cave under a spur of the Aventine, so that their footprints gave no clue to the direction in which they had gone. He then closed the entrance to the cave with a rock, which ten pairs of oxen were unable to move. But the lowing of the cattle guided the hero, in his search, to the right track. He tore open the cave, and, after a fearful struggle, slew Cacus with his club (Ovid, Fast. i. 543 foll). Upon this he built an altar on the spot to Iupiter, under the title of Pater Inventor, “the discoverer,” and sacrificed one of the cattle upon it. The inhabitants paid him every honour for freeing them of the monster; and Evander, who had been instructed by his mother, Carmentis, in the lore of prophecy, saluted him as a god. Hercules is then said to have established his own religious service, and to have instructed two noble families, the Potitii and the Pinarii, in the usages to be observed at the sacrifice (Livy, i. 7). This sacrifice was to be offered on the Ara Maxima, which he himself had built on the cattle-market (Forum Boarium) where the cattle had been pastured.