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It is not easy to distinguish ‘scarpio’ and ‘scorpio’ in Ruskin's writing. It is possible that the word appears first as ‘scarpio’ and then as ‘scorpio’ to clarify the reference to the zodiac. The inscription is perhaps to be read E ARIES MATI ACUE SCORPIO PARTIS. It is paraphrased at Works, 10.414 as ‘Mars in his houses Aries and Scorpio’ but no attempt is made there to transcribe or construe it. Ruskin concludes there, correctly it seems, that the words on the flag that he cannot read are DEFEROSUM, ‘de ferro sum’, or ‘I am of iron’.
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[Version 0.05: May 2008]