spoken of in the parable where lamps, properly so called, because mention is made of oil. They belonged to virgins, as torches to men. Thus Virgil says in the 4th Eclogue, “Cut, O Mopsas, new torches: it is your wedding day.” And Pliny says, “The thorn, most auspicious for wedding torches, is an accompaniment of the same rites, because the shepherds, who carried off the Sabine maids, made use of them for that purpose” (lib. 16, c. 18). Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent (Vulg.). Foolish,