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CLOACINA

Volume 7 · 55 words · 1860 Edition

r CLUACINA, a surname of Venus at Rome, said by Lactantius to be derived from the Cloaca Maxima, in which an image of the goddess was found; but Pliny is doubtless right in deriving it from the verb cloare or cluere, to wash or purify. (H.N.xv.36.) Smith's Dict. of Greek and Roman Biog. and Mythol.