Plu'vius
i. e. the sender of rain, a surname of Jupiter among the Romans, to whom sacrifices were offered during long protracted droughts.
These sacrifices were called
aquilicium, "the calling forth of water," because certain magic ceremonies were performed by Etruscans to call down rain from heaven. (
Tib. 1.8. 26; Tertull.
Apolog. 40; Fest. p. 2, ed. Mütller.)
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L.S]