Plutarch, _Symp._, Bk. ii, Quest. 5, § 2.
See Smith’s _Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiq._, s. vv. “Athletæ,” and “Olympic Games;” Gardner’s _New Chapters in Greek History_, pp. 297–302.
A “porter” and a “porter” are two very different persons, as the terms are employed in both Europe and America. We speak of a porter as a menial who carries burdens, such as parcels or baggage, a mere carrier for hire. Again, we speak of a porter as the attendant at, or the custodian of, the entrance gate of a mansion or public building. In the one case the porter is a very humble personage, in the other case he is a person of responsibility and importance. How it came about that the same term is applied to both these personages is worth considering, in view of its bearing on the importance of the door and the gate.
It is said to have been a custom of the ancient Etruscans and Romans, and perhaps of older peoples, in laying out the foundations of a city, to mark first the compass of the whole city with a plow. When they came to those places where they were to have the gates of the city, they took up the plow and carried it across the gateway, “transported” the plow at that space. It is said that from this custom the Latin word _porta_ came to apply to “a gate,” “_a portando aratrum_,” “from carrying the plow,”–_porta_, in Latin, meaning “to carry.” Whether or not the traditional custom referred to had a historical basis, it will be seen that the mere fact of the tradition will account for the twofold use, in languages derived from the Latin, of the word “porter” as a carrier, and again as a doorkeeper, or a gate watcher, or a guardian of the threshold. Apart from the question of the origin of the terms, we find that the porter or carrier is one who goes through the gate as the place of entrance or exit in his carryings; or, again, the porter or guardian of the gate is one who watches the place of carryings, and of outgoing and incoming.
Among the stories told of the founding of Rome by Romulus, it is said that at the threshold of this enterprise the people kindled fires before their tents, and then leaped through or over the flames.[697] In connection with this ceremony sacrifices were offered, and offerings of the first-fruits of forest and field were made to the gods.[698] A heifer and a bull were yoked to the plow, as in symbol of marriage, and afterwards were offered in sacrifice, thus supplying the symbolic blood on the threshold of the new city.[699] Plutarch, it is true, thinks that, in consequence of this custom of laying out a city, the walls of a city, _except the gates_, were counted sacred; but in this, as in other matters relating to the threshold,[700] it is evident that Plutarch was not sure to be correct as to the meaning of archaic customs.