OSCILLUM

a diminutive through osculum from os , meaning “a little face,” was the term applied to faces or heads of Bacchus, which were suspended in the vineyards to be turned in every direction by the wind. Whichsoever way they looked, they were supposed to make the vines in that quarter fruitful. The first cut represents the countenance of Bacchus with a beautiful, mild, and propitious expre ion. The other cut represents a tree with four oscilla hung upon its branches. A syrinx and a pedum are placed at the root of the tree. IMG:6459379820872971714_ill278b.jpg: Oscillum. (From an ancient Gem.)