[53] Why do they even now, at the celebration of the Capitoline games, proclaim “Sardians for sale!”,[124] and why is an old man led forth in derision, wearing around his neck a child’s amulet which they call a bulla [125]?
Is it because the Etruscans called Veians fought against Romulus for a long time, and he took this city last of all[126] and sold at auction many captives together with their king, taunting him for his stupidity and folly? But since the Etruscans were originally Lydians, and Sardis was the capital city of the Lydians, they offered the Veians for sale under this name: and even to this day they preserve the custom in sport.