[Footnote 258: Augustus was born A.U.C. 691, and died A.U.C. 766.]

[Footnote 259: Municipia were towns which had obtained the rights of Roman citizens. Some of them had all which could be enjoyed without residing at Rome. Others had the right of serving in the Roman legions, but not that of voting, nor of holding civil offices. The municipia retained their own laws and customs; nor were they obliged to receive the Roman laws unless they chose it.]

[Footnote 260: Bovillae, a small place on the Appian Way, about nineteen miles from Rome, now called Frattochio.]

[Footnote 261: Dio tells us that the devoted Livia joined with the knights in this pious office, which occupied them during five days.]

[Footnote 262: For the Flaminian Way, see before, p. 94, note. The superb monument erected by Augustus over the sepulchre of the imperial family was of white marble, rising in stages to a great height, and crowned by a dome, on which stood a statue of Augustus. Marcellus was the first who was buried in the sepulchre beneath. It stood near the present Porta del Popolo; and the Bustum, where the bodies of the emperor and his family were burnt, is supposed to have stood on the site of the church of the Madonna of that name.]

[Footnote 263: The distinction between the Roman people and the tribes, is also observed by Tacitus, who substitutes the word plebs, meaning, the lowest class of the populace.]

[Footnote 264: Those of his father Octavius, and his father by adoption, Julius Caesar.]

[Footnote 265: See before, c. 65. But he bequeathed a legacy to his daughter, Livia.]

[Footnote 266: Virgil.]

[Footnote 267: Ibid.]

[Footnote 268: Ibid.]

[Footnote 269: Geor. ii.]

[Footnote 270: I am prevented from entering into greater details, both by the size of my volume, and my anxiety to complete the undertaking.]

[Footnote 271: After performing these immortal achievements, while he was holding an assembly of the people for reviewing his army in the plain near the lake of Capra, a storm suddenly rose, attended with great thunder and lightning, and enveloped the king in so dense a mist, that it took all sight of him from the assembly. Nor was Romulus after this seen on earth. The consternation being at length over, and fine clear weather succeeding so turbulent a day, when the Roman youth saw the royal seat empty, though they readily believed the Fathers who had stood nearest him, that he was carried aloft by the storm, yet struck with the dread as it were of orphanage, they preserved a sorrowful silence for a considerable time. Then a commencement having been made by a few, the whole multitude salute Romulus a god, son of a god, the king and parent of the Roman city; they implore his favour with prayers, that he would be pleased always propitiously to preserve his own offspring. I believe that even then there were some who silently surmised that the king had been torn in pieces by the hands of the Fathers; for this rumour also spread, but was not credited; their admiration of the man and the consternation felt at the moment, attached importance to the other report. By the contrivance also of one individual, additional credit is said to have been gained to the matter. For Proculus Julius, whilst the state was still troubled with regret for the king, and felt incensed against the senators, a person of weight, as we are told, in any matter, however important, comes forward to the assembly. "Romans," he said, "Romulus, the father of this city, suddenly descending from heaven, appeared to me this day at day-break. While I stood covered with awe, and filled with a religious dread, beseeching him to allow me to see him face to face, he said; 'Go tell the Romans, that the gods do will, that my Rome should become the capital of the world. Therefore let them cultivate the art of war, and let them know and hand down to posterity, that no human power shall be able to withstand the Roman arms.' Having said this, he ascended up to heaven." It is surprising what credit was given to the man on his making this announcement, and how much the regret of the common people and army for the loss of Romulus, was assuaged upon the assurance of his immortality.]

[Footnote 272: Padua.]

[Footnote 273: Commentators seem to have given an erroneous and unbecoming sense to Cicero's exclamation, when they suppose that the object understood, as connected with altera, related to himself. Hope is never applied in this signification, but to a young person, of whom something good or great is expected; and accordingly, Virgil, who adopted the expression, has very properly applied it to Ascanius:

Et juxta Ascanius, magmae spes altera Romae. Aeneid, xii.]

And by his side Ascanius took his place, The second hope of Rome's immortal race.]

Cicero, at the time when he could have heard a specimen of Virgil's Eclogues, must have been near his grand climacteric; besides that, his virtues and talents had long been conspicuous, and were past the state of hope. It is probable, therefore, that altera referred to some third person, spoken of immediately before, as one who promised to do honour to his country. It might refer to Octavius, of whom Cicero at this time, entertained a high opinion; or it may have been spoken in an absolute manner, without reference to any person.]

[Footnote 274: I was born at Mantua, died in Calabria, and my tomb is at Parthenope: pastures, rural affairs, and heroes are the themes of my poems.]

[Footnote 275: The last members of these two lines, from the commas to the end are said to have been supplied by Erotes, Virgil's librarian.]

[Footnote 276: Carm. i. 17.]

[Footnote 277: "The Medea of Ovid proves, in my opinion, how surpassing would have been his success, if he had allowed his genius free scope, instead of setting bounds to it."]

[Footnote 278: Two faults have ruined me; my verse, and my mistake.]

[Footnote 279: These lines are thus rendered in the quaint version of Zachary Catlin.

I suffer 'cause I chanced a fault to spy, So that my crime doth in my eyesight lie.

Alas! why wait my luckless hap to see A fault at unawares to ruin me?]

[Footnote 280: "I myself employed you as ready agents in love, when my early youth sported in numbers adapted to it."—Riley's Ovid.]

[Footnote 281: "I long since erred by one composition; a fault that is not recent endures a punishment inflicted thus late. I had already published my poems, when, according to my privilege, I passed in review so many times unmolested as one of the equestrian order, before you the enquirer into criminal charges. Is it then possible that the writings which, in my want of confidence, I supposed would not have injured me when young, have now been my ruin in my old age?"—Riley's Ovid.]

[Footnote 282: This place, now called Temisvar, or Tomisvar, stands on one of the mouths of the Danube, about sixty-five miles E.N.E. from Silistria. The neighbouring bay of the Black Sea is still called the Gulf of Baba.]

[Footnote 283: "It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable to pursue glory by means of the intellect, than of bodily strength; and, since the life we enjoy is short to make the remembrance of it as lasting as possible."]

[Footnote 284: Intramural interments were prohibited at Rome by the laws of the Twelve Tables, notwithstanding the practice of reducing to ashes the bodies of the dead. It was only by special privilege that individuals who had deserved well of the state, and certain distinguished families were permitted to have tombs within the city.]

[Footnote 285: Among the Romans, all the descendants from one common stock were called Gentiles, being of the same race or kindred, however remote. The Gens, as they termed this general relation or clanship, was subdivided into families, in Familias vel Stirpes; and those of the same family were called Agnati. Relations by the father's side were also called Agnati, to distinguish them from Cognati, relations only by the mother's side. An Agnatus might also be called Cognatus, but not the contrary.]

To mark the different gentes and familiae, and to distinguish the individuals of the same family, the Romans had commonly three names, the Praenomen, Nomen, and Cognomen. The praenomen was put first, and marked the individual. It was usually written with one letter; as A. for Aulus; C. Caius; D. Decimus: sometimes with two letters; as Ap. for Appius; Cn. Cneius; and sometimes with three; as Mam. for Mamercus.]

The Nomen was put after the Praenomen, and marked the gens. It commonly ended in ius; as Julius, Tullius, Cornelius. The Cognomen was put last, and marked the familia; as Cicero, Caesar, etc.]

Some gentes appear to have had no surname, as the Marian; and gens and familia seem sometimes to be put one for the other; as the Fabia gens, or Fabia familia.]

Sometimes there was a fourth name, properly called the Agnomen, but sometimes likewise Cognomen, which was added on account of some illustrious action or remarkable event. Thus Scipio was named Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, from the conquest of Carthage. In the same manner, his brother was called Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. Thus also, Quintus Fabius Maximus received the Agnomen of Cunctator, from his checking the victorious career of Hannibal by avoiding a battle.]

[Footnote 286: A.U.C. 474.]

[Footnote 287: A.U.C. 490.]

[Footnote 288: A.U.C. 547.]

[Footnote 289: A.U.C. 304.]

[Footnote 290: An ancient Latin town on the Via Appia, the present road to Naples, mentioned by St. Paul, Acts xxviii. 15, and Horace, Sat. i. 5, 3, in giving an account of their travels.]

[Footnote 291: A.U.C. 505.]

[Footnote 292: Cybele; first worshipped in Phrygia, about Mount Ida, from whence a sacred stone, the symbol of her divinity, probably an aerolite, was transported to Rome, in consequence of the panic occasioned by Hannibal's invasion, A.U.C. 508.]

[Footnote 293: A.U.C. 695.]

[Footnote 294: A.U.C. 611.]

[Footnote 295: A.U.C. 550.]

[Footnote 296: A.U.C. 663.]

[Footnote 297: A.U.C. 707.]

[Footnote 298: These, and other towns in the south of France, became, and long continued, the chief seats of Roman civilization among the Gauls; which is marked by the magnificent remains of ancient art still to be seen. Arles, in particular, is a place of great interest.]

[Footnote 299: A.U.C. 710.]

[Footnote 300: A.U.C. 713.]

[Footnote 301: A.U.C. 712. Before Christ about 39.]

[Footnote 302: A.U.C. 744.]

[Footnote 303: A.U.C. 735.]

[Footnote 304: See before, in the reign of AUGUSTUS, c. xxxii.]

[Footnote 305: A.U.C. 728.]

[Footnote 306: A.U.C. 734.]

[Footnote 307: A.U.C. 737.]

[Footnote 308: A.U.C. 741.]

[Footnote 309: A.U.C. 747.]

[Footnote 310: A.U.C. 748.]

[Footnote 311: Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, about thirteen miles from the city, was founded by Ancus Martius. Being the port of a city like Rome, it could not fail to become opulent; and it was a place of much resort, ornamented with fine edifices, and the environs "never failing of pasture in the summer time, and in the winter covered with roses and other flowers." The port having been filled up with the depositions of the Tiber, it became deserted, and is now abandoned to misery and malaria. The bishopric of Ostia being the oldest in the Roman church, its bishop has always retained some peculiar privileges.]

[Footnote 312: The Gymnasia were places of exercise, and received their name from the Greek word signifying naked, because the contending parties wore nothing but drawers.]

[Footnote 313: A.U.C. 752.]

[Footnote 314: The cloak and slippers, as distinguished from the Roman toga and shoes.]

[Footnote 315: A.U.C. 755.]

[Footnote 316: This fountain, in the Euganian hills, near Padua, famous for its mineral waters, is celebrated by Claudian in one of his elegies.]

[Footnote 317: The street called Carinae, at Rome, has been mentioned before; AUGUSTUS, c. v.; and also Mecaenas' house on the Esquiline, ib. c. lxxii. The gardens were formed on ground without the walls, and before used as a cemetery for malefactors, and the lower classes. Horace says—

Nunc licet Esquiliis habitare salubribus, atque Aggere in aprico spatiari.—Sat. 1. i. viii. 13.]

[Footnote 318: A.U.C. 757.]

[Footnote 319: A.U.C. 760.]

[Footnote 320: A.U.C. 762.]

[Footnote 321: Reviving the simple habits of the times of the republic; "nec fortuitum cernere cespitem," as Horace describes it.—Ode 15.]

[Footnote 322: A.U.C. 765.]

[Footnote 323: The portico of the temple of Concord is still standing on the side of the Forum nearest the Capitol. It consists of six Ionic columns, each of one piece, and of a light-coloured granite, with bases and capitals of white marble, and two columns at the angles. The temple of Castor and Pollux has been mentioned before: JUL. c. x.]

[Footnote 324: A.U.C. 766.]

[Footnote 325: A.U.C. 767.]

[Footnote 326: Augustus interlards this epistle, and that subsequently quoted, with Greek sentences and phrases, of which this is one. It is so obscure, that commentators suppose that it is a mis-reading, but are not agreed on its drift.]

[Footnote 327: A verse in which the word in italics is substituted for cunctando, quoted from Ennius, who applied it to Fabius Maximus.]

[Footnote 328: Iliad, B. x. Diomede is speaking of Ulysses, where he asks that he may accompany him as a spy into the Trojan camp.]

[Footnote 329: Tiberius had adopted Germanicus. See before, c. xv. See also CALIGULA, c. i.]

[Footnote 330: In this he imitated Augustus. See c. liii. of his life.]

[Footnote 331: Si hanc fenestram aperueritis, if you open that window, equivalent to our phrase, "if you open the door."]

[Footnote 332: Princeps, principatus, are the terms generally used by Suetonius to describe the supreme authority vested in the Caesars, as before at the beginning of chap. xxiv., distinguished from any terms which conveyed of kingly power, the forms of the republic, as we have lately seen, still subsisting.]

[Footnote 333: Strenas; the French etrennes.]

[Footnote 334: "Tiberius pulled down the temple of Isis, caused her image to be thrown into the Tiber, and crucified her priests."—Joseph. Ant. Jud. xviii. 4.]

[Footnote 335: Similia sectantes. We are strongly inclined to think that the words might be rendered "similar sects," conveying an allusion to the small and obscure body of Christians, who were at this period generally confounded with the Jews, and supposed only to differ from them in some peculiarities of their institutions, which Roman historians and magistrates did not trouble themselves to distinguish. How little even the well-informed Suetonius knew of the real facts, we shall find in the only direct notice of the Christians contained in his works (CLAUDIUS c. xxv., NERO, c. xvi.); but that little confirms our conjecture. All the commentators, however, give the passage the turn retained in the text. Josephus informs us of the particular occurrence which led to the expulsion of the Jews from Rome by Tiberius.—Ant. xviii. 5.]

[Footnote 336: Varro tells us that the Roman people "were more actively employed (manus movere) in the theatre and circus, than in the corn-fields and vineyards."—De Re Rustic. ii. And Juvenal, in his satires, frequently alludes to their passion for public spectacles, particularly in the well-known lines—

————Atque duas tantum res serrius optat, Panem et Circenses. Sat. x. 80.]

[Footnote 337: The Cottian Alps derived their name from this king. They include that part of the chain which divides Dauphiny from Piedmont, and are crossed by the pass of the Mont Cenis.]

[Footnote 338: Antium, mentioned before, (AUG. c. lviii.) once a flourishing city of the Volscians, standing on the sea-coast, about thirty-eight miles from Rome, was a favourite resort of the emperors and persons of wealth. The Apollo Belvidere was found among the ruins of its temples and other edifices.]

[Footnote 339: A.U.C. 779.]

[Footnote 340: Terracina, standing at the southern extremity of the Pontine Marshes, on the shore of the Mediterranean. It is surrounded by high calcareous cliffs, in which there are caverns, affording, as Strabo informs us, cool retreats, attached to the Roman villas built round.]

[Footnote 341: Augustus died at Nola, a city in Campania. See c. lviii. of his life.]

[Footnote 342: Fidenae stood in a bend of the Tiber, near its junction with the Anio. There are few traces of it remaining.]

[Footnote 343: That any man could drink an amphora of wine at a draught, is beyond all credibility; for the amphora was nearly equal to nine gallons, English measure. The probability is, that the man had emptied a large vessel, which was shaped like an amphora.]

[Footnote 344: Capri, the luxurious retreat and scene of the debaucheries of the Roman emperors, is an island off the southern point of the bay of Naples, about twelve miles in circumference.]

[Footnote 345: Pan, the god of the shepherds, and inventor of the flute, was said to be the son of Mercury and Penelope. He was worshipped chiefly in Arcadia, and represented with the horns and feet of a goat. The Nymphs, as well as the Graces, were represented naked.]

[Footnote 346: The name of the island having a double meaning, and signifying also a goat.]

[Footnote 347: "Quasi pueros primae teneritudinis, quos 'pisciculos' vocabat, institueret, ut natanti sibi inter femina versarentur, ac luderent: lingua morsuque sensim appetentes; atque etiam quasi infantes firmiores, necdum tamen lacte depulsos, inguini ceu papillae admoveret: pronior sane ad id genus libidinis, et natura et aetate."]

[Footnote 348: "Foeminarum capitibus solitus illudere."]

[Footnote 349: "Obscoenitate oris hirsuto atque olido."]

[Footnote 350: "Hircum vetulum capreis naturam ligurire"]

[Footnote 351: The Temple of Vesta, like that dedicated to the same goddess at Tivoli, is round. There was probably one on the same site, and in the same circular form, erected by Numa Pompilius; the present edifice is far too elegant for that age, but there is no record of its erection, but it is known to have been repaired by Vespasian or Domitian after being injured by Nero's fire. Its situation, near the Tiber, exposed it to floods, from which we find it suffered, from Horace's lines—

"Vidimus flavum Tiberim, retortis Littore Etrusco violenter undis, Ire dejectum monumenta Regis, Templaque Vestae."—Ode, lib. i. 2. 15.

This beautiful temple is still in good preservation. It is surrounded by twenty columns of white marble, and the wall of the cell, or interior (which is very small, its diameter being only the length of one of the columns), is also built of blocks of the same material, so nicely joined, that it seems to be formed of one solid mass.]

[Footnote 352: Antlia; a machine for drawing up water in a series of connected buckets, which was worked by the feet, nisu pedum.]

[Footnote 353: The elder Livia was banished to this island by Augustus. See c. lxv. of his life.]

[Footnote 354: An island in the Archipelago.]

[Footnote 355: This Theodore is noticed by Quintilian, Instit. iii. 1. Gadara was in Syria.]

[Footnote 356: It mattered not that the head substituted was Tiberius's own.]

[Footnote 357: The verses were probably anonymous.]

[Footnote 358: Oderint dum probent: Caligula used a similar expression; Oderint dum metuant.]

[Footnote 359: A.U.C. 778. Tacit. Annal. iv. The historian's name was A. Cremutius Cordo. Dio has preserved the passage, xlvii. p. 619. Brutus had already called Cassius "The last of the Romans," in his lamentation over his dead body.]

[Footnote 360: She was the sister of Germanicus, and Tacitus calls her Livia; but Suetonius is in the habit of giving a fondling or diminutive term to the names of women, as Claudilla, for Claudia, Plautilla, etc.]

[Footnote 361: Priam is said to have had no less than fifty sons and daughters; some of the latter, however, survived him, as Hecuba, Helena, Polyxena, and others.]

[Footnote 362: There were oracles at Antium and Tibur. The "Praenestine Lots" are described by Cicero, De Divin. xi. 41.]

[Footnote 363: Agrippina, and Nero and Drusus.]

[Footnote 364: He is mentioned before in the Life of AUGUSTUS, c. xc.; and also by Horace, Cicero, and Tacitus.]

[Footnote 365: Obscure Greek poets, whose writings were either full of fabulous stories, or of an amatory kind.]

[Footnote 366: It is suggested that the text should be amended, so that the sentence should read—"A Greek soldier;" for of what use could it have been to examine a man in Greek, and not allow him to give his replies in the same language?]

[Footnote 367: So called from Appius Claudius, the Censor, one of Tiberius's ancestors, who constructed it. It took a direction southward of Rome, through Campania to Brundusium, starting from what is the present Porta di San Sebastiano, from which the road to Naples takes its departure.]

[Footnote 368: A small town on the coast of Latium, not far from Antium, and the present Nettuno. It was here that Cicero was slain by the satellites of Antony.]

[Footnote 369: A town on a promontory of the same dreary coast, between Antium and Terracina, built on a promontory surrounded by the sea and the marsh, still called Circello.]

[Footnote 370: Misenum, a promontory to which Aeneas is said to have given its name from one of his followers. (Aen. ii. 234.) It is now called Capo di Miseno, and shelters the harbour of Mola di Gaieta, belonging to Naples. This was one of the stations of the Roman fleet.]

[Footnote 371: Tacitus agrees with Suetonius as to the age of Tiberius at the time of his death. Dio states it more precisely, as being seventy-seven years, four months, and nine days.]

[Footnote 372: Caius Caligula, who became his successor.]

[Footnote 373: Tacitus and Dio add that he was smothered under a heap of heavy clothes.]

[Footnote 374: In the temple of the Palatine Apollo. See AUGUSTUS, c. xxix.]

[Footnote 375: Atella, a town between Capua and Naples, now called San Arpino, where there was an amphitheatre. The people seemed to have raised the shout in derision, referring, perhaps, to the Atellan fables, mentioned in c. xiv.; and in their fury they proposed that his body should only be grilled, as those of malefactors were, instead of being reduced to ashes.]

[Footnote 376: Tacit. Annal. lib. ii.]

[Footnote 377: A.U.C. 757.]

[Footnote 378: A.U.C. 765.]

[Footnote 379: A.U.C. 770.]

[Footnote 380: A.U.C. 767.]

[Footnote 381: A.U.C. 771.]

[Footnote 382: This opinion, like some others which occur in Suetonius, may justly be considered as a vulgar error; and if the heart was found entire, it must have been owing to the weakness of the fire, rather than to any quality communicated to the organ, of resisting the power of that element.]

[Footnote 383: The magnificent title of King of Kings has been assumed, at different times, by various potentates. The person to whom it is here applied, is the king of Parthia. Under the kings of Persia, and even under the Syro-Macedonian kings, this country was of no consideration, and reckoned a part of Hyrcania. But upon the revolt of the East from the Syro-Macedonians, at the instigation of Arsaces, the Parthians are said to have conquered eighteen kingdoms.]

[Footnote 384: A.U.C. 765.]

[Footnote 385: It does not appear that Gaetulicus wrote any historical work, but Martial, Pliny, and others, describe him as a respectable poet.]

[Footnote 386: Supra Confluentes. The German tribe here mentioned occupied the country between the Rhine and the Meuse, and gave their name to Treves (Treviri), its chief town. Coblentz had its ancient name of Confluentes, from its standing at the junction of the two rivers. The exact site of the village in which Caligula was born is not known. Cluverius conjectures that it may be Capelle.]

[Footnote 387: Chap. vii.]

[Footnote 388: The name was derived from Caliga, a kind of boot, studded with nails, used by the common soldiers in the Roman army.]

[Footnote 389: According to Tacitus, who gives an interesting account of these occurrences, Treves was the place of refuge to which the young Caius was conveyed.—Annal. i.]

[Footnote 390: In c. liv. of TIBERIUS, we have seen that his brothers Drusus and Nero fell a sacrifice to these artifices.]

[Footnote 391: Tiberius, who was the adopted father of Germanicus.]

[Footnote 392: Natriceus, a water-snake, so called from nato, to swim. The allusion is probably to Caligula's being reared in the island of Capri.]

[Footnote 393: As Phaeton is said to have set the world on fire.]

[Footnote 394: See the Life of TIBERIUS, c. lxxiii.]

[Footnote 395: His name also was Tiberius. See before, TIBERIUS, c. lxxvi.]

[Footnote 396: Procida, Ischia, Capri, etc.]

[Footnote 397: The eagle was the standard of the legion, each cohort of which had its own ensign, with different devices; and there were also little images of the emperors, to which divine honours were paid.]

[Footnote 398: See before, cc. liii. liv.]

[Footnote 399: See TIBERIUS, c. x.; and note.]

[Footnote 400: The mausoleum built by Augustus, mentioned before in his Life, c. C.]

[Footnote 401: The Carpentum was a carriage, commonly with two wheels, and an arched covering, but sometimes without a covering; used chiefly by matrons, and named, according to Ovid, from Carmenta, the mother of Evander. Women were prohibited the use of it in the second Punic war, by the Oppian law, which, however, was soon after repealed. This chariot was also used to convey the images of the illustrious women to whom divine honours were paid, in solemn processions after their death, as in the present instance. It is represented on some of the sestertii.]

[Footnote 402: See cc. xiv. and xxiii. of the present History.]

[Footnote 403: Ib. cc. vii. and xxiv.]

[Footnote 404: Life of TIBERIUS, c. xliii.]

[Footnote 405: See the Life of AUGUSTUS, cc. xxviii. and ci.]

[Footnote 406: Julius Caesar had shared it with them (c. xli.). Augustus had only kept up the form (c. xl.). Tiberius deprived the Roman people of the last remains of the freedom of suffrage.]

[Footnote 407: The city of Rome was founded on the twenty-first day of April, which was called Palilia, from Pales, the goddess of shepherds, and ever afterwards kept as a festival.]

[Footnote 408: A.U.C. 790.]

[Footnote 409: A.U.C. 791.]

[Footnote 410: A.U.C. 793.]

[Footnote 411: A.U.C. 794.]

[Footnote 412: The Saturnalia, held in honour of Saturn, was, amongst the Romans, the most celebrated festival of the whole year, and held in the month of December. All orders of the people then devoted themselves to mirth and feasting; friends sent presents to one another; and masters treated their slaves upon a footing of equality. At first it was held only for one day, afterwards for three days, and was now prolonged by Caligula's orders.]

[Footnote 413: See AUGUSTUS, cc. xxix and xliii. The amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus is supposed to have stood in the Campus Martius, and the elevation now called the Monte Citorio, to have been formed by its ruins.]

[Footnote 414: Supposed to be a house, so called, adjoining the Circus, in which some of the emperor's attendants resided.]

[Footnote 415: Now Puzzuoli, on the shore of the bay of Naples. Every one knows what wealth was lavished here and at Baiae, on public works and the marine villas of the luxurious Romans, in the times of the emperors.]

[Footnote 416: The original terminus of the Appian Way was at Brundusium. This mole formed what we should call a nearer station to Rome, on the same road, the ruins of which are still to be seen. St. Paul landed there.]

[Footnote 417: Essedis: they were light cars, on two wheels, constructed to carry only one person; invented, it is supposed, by the Belgians, and by them introduced into Britain, where they were used in war. The Romans, after their expeditions in Gaul and Britain, adopted this useful vehicle instead of their more cumbrous RHEDA, not only for journeys where dispatch was required, but in solemn processions, and for ordinary purposes. They seem to have become the fashion, for Ovid tells us that these little carriages were driven by young ladies, themselves holding the reins, Amor. xi. 16. 49.]

[Footnote 418: Suetonius flourished about seventy years after this, in the reign of Adrian, and derived many of the anecdotes which give interest to his history from cotemporary persons. See CLAUDIUS, c. xv. etc.]

[Footnote 419: See TIBERIUS, c. xlvii. and AUGUSTUS, c. xxxi.]

[Footnote 420: This aqueduct, commenced by Caligula and completed by Claudian, a truly imperial work, conveyed the waters of two streams to Rome, following the valley of the Anio from above Tivoli. The course of one of these rivulets was forty miles, and it was carried on arches, immediately after quitting its source, for a distance of three miles. The other, the Anio Novus, also began on arches, which continued for upwards of twelve miles. After this, both were conveyed under ground; but at the distance of six miles from the city, they were united, and carried upon arches all the rest of the way. This is the most perfect of all the ancient aqueducts; and it has been repaired, so as to convey the Acqua Felice, one of the three streams which now supply Rome. See CLAUDIUS, c. xx.]

[Footnote 421: By Septa, Suetonius here means the huts or barracks of the pretorian camp, which was a permanent and fortified station. It stood to the east of the Viminal and Quirinal hills, between the present Porta Pia and S. Lorenzo, where there is a quadrangular projection in the city walls marking the site. The remains of the Amphitheatrum Castrense stand between the Porta Maggiore and S. Giovanni, formerly without the ancient walls, but now included in the line. It is all of brick, even the Corinthian pillars, and seems to have been but a rude structure, suited to the purpose for which it was built, the amusement of the soldiers, and gymnastic exercises. For this purpose they were used to construct temporary amphitheatres near the stations in the distant provinces, which were not built of stone or brick, but hollow circular spots dug in the ground, round which the spectators sat on the declivity, on ranges of seats cut in the sod. Many vestiges of this kind have been traced in Britain.]

[Footnote 422: The Isthmus of Corinth; an enterprize which had formerly been attempted by Demetrius, and which was also projected by Julius Caesar, c. xliv., and Nero, c. xix.; but they all failed of accomplishing it.]

[Footnote 423: On the authority of Dio Cassius and the Salmatian manuscript, this verse from Homer is substituted for the common reading, which is,

Eis gaian Danaon perao se.

Into the land of Greece I will transport thee.]

[Footnote 424: Alluding, in the case of Romulus, to the rape of the Sabines; and in that of Augustus to his having taken Livia from her husband.—AUGUSTUS, c. lxii.]

[Footnote 425: Selene was the daughter of Mark Antony by Cleopatra.]

[Footnote 426: See c. xii.]

[Footnote 427: The vast area of the Roman amphitheatres had no roof, but the audience were protected against the sun and bad weather by temporary hangings stretched over it.]

[Footnote 428: A proverbial expression, meaning, without distinction.]

[Footnote 429: The islands off the coast of Italy, in the Tuscan sea and in the Archipelago, were the usual places of banishment. See before, c. xv.; and in TIBERIUS, c. liv., etc.]

[Footnote 430: Anticyra, an island in the Archipelago, was famous for the growth of hellebore. This plant being considered a remedy for insanity, the proverb arose—Naviga in Anticyram, as much as to say, "You are mad."]

[Footnote 431: Meaning the province in Asia, called Galatia, from the Gauls who conquered it, and occupied it jointly with the Greek colonists.]

[Footnote 432: A quotation from the tragedy of Atreus, by L. Attius, mentioned by Cicero. Off. i. 28.]

[Footnote 433: See before, AUGUSTUS, c. lxxi.]

[Footnote 434: These celebrated words are generally attributed to Nero; but Dio and Seneca agree with Suetonius in ascribing them to Caligula.]

[Footnote 435: Gladiators were distinguished by their armour and manner of fighting. Some were called Secutores, whose arms were a helmet, a shield, a sword, or a leaden ball. Others, the usual antagonists of the former, were named Retiarii. A combatant of this class was dressed in a short tunic, but wore nothing on his head. He carried in his left hand a three-pointed lance, called Tridens or Fuscina, and in his right, a net, with which he attempted to entangle his adversary, by casting it over his head, and suddenly drawing it together; when with his trident he usually slew him. But if he missed his aim, by throwing the net either too short or too far, he instantly betook himself to flight, and endeavoured to prepare his net for a second cast. His antagonist, in the mean time, pursued, to prevent his design, by dispatching him.]

[Footnote 436: AUGUSTUS, c. xxiii.]

[Footnote 437: TIBERIUS, c. xl.]

[Footnote 438: See before, c. xix.]

[Footnote 439: Popae were persons who, at public sacrifices, led the victim to the altar. They had their clothes tucked up, and were naked to the waist. The victim was led with a slack rope, that it might not seem to be brought by force, which was reckoned a bad omen. For the same reason, it was allowed to stand loose before the altar, and it was thought a very unfavourable sign if it got away.]

[Footnote 440: Plato de Repub. xi.; and Cicero and Tull. xlviii.]

[Footnote 441: The collar of gold, taken from the gigantic Gaul who was killed in single combat by Titus Manlius, called afterwards Torquatus, was worn by the lineal male descendants of the Manlian family. But that illustrious race becoming extinct, the badge of honour, as well as the cognomen of Torquatus, was revived by Augustus, in the person of Caius Nonius Asprenas, who perhaps claimed descent by the female line from the family of Manlius.]

[Footnote 442: Cincinnatus signifies one who has curled or crisped hair, from which Livy informs us that Lucius Quintus derived his cognomen. But of what badge of distinction Caligula deprived the family of the Cincinnati, unless the natural feature was hereditary, and he had them all shaved—a practice we find mentioned just below—history does not inform us, nor are we able to conjecture.]

[Footnote 443: The priest of Diana Nemorensis obtained and held his office by his prowess in arms, having to slay his competitors, and offer human sacrifices, and was called Rex from his reigning paramount in the adjacent forest. The temple of this goddess of the chase stood among the deep woods which clothe the declivities of the Alban Mount, at a short distance from Rome—nemus signifying a grove. Julius Caesar had a residence there. See his Life, c. lxxi. The venerable woods are still standing, and among them chestnut-trees, which, from their enormous girth and vast apparent age, we may suppose to have survived from the era of the Caesars. The melancholy and sequestered lake of Nemi, deep set in a hollow of the surrounding woods, with the village on its brink, still preserve the name of Nemi.]

[Footnote 444: An Essedarian was one who fought from an Esseda, the light carriage described in a former note, p. 264.]

[Footnote 445: See before, JULIUS, c. x., and note.]

[Footnote 446: Particularly at Baiae, see before, c. xix. The practice of encroaching on the sea on this coast, commenced before,—

Jactis in altum molibus.—Hor. Od. B. iii. 1. 34.]

[Footnote 447: Most of the gladiators were slaves.]

[Footnote 448: The part of the Palatium built or occupied by Augustus and Tiberius.]

[Footnote 449: Mevania, a town of Umbria. Its present name is Bevagna. The Clitumnus is a river in the same country, celebrated for the breed of white cattle, which feed in the neighbouring pastures.]

[Footnote 450: Caligula appears to have meditated an expedition to Britain at the time of his pompous ovation at Puteoli, mentioned in c. xiii.; but if Julius Caesar could gain no permanent footing in this island, it was very improbable that a prince of Caligula's character would ever seriously attempt it, and we shall presently see that the whole affair turned out a farce.]

[Footnote 451: It seems generally agreed, that the point of the coast which was signalized by the ridiculous bravado of Caligula, somewhat redeemed by the erection of a lighthouse, was Itium, afterwards called Gessoriacum, and Bononia (Boulogne), a town belonging to the Gaulish tribe of the Morini; where Julius Caesar embarked on his expedition, and which became the usual place of departure for the transit to Britain.]

[Footnote 452: The denarius was worth at this time about seven pence or eight pence of our money.]

[Footnote 453: Probably to Anticyra. See before, c. xxix. note]

[Footnote 454: The Cimbri were German tribes on the Elbe, who invaded Italy A.U.C. 640, and were defeated by Metellus.]

[Footnote 455: The Senones were a tribe of Cis-Alpine Gauls, settled in Umbria, who sacked and pillaged Rome A.U.C. 363.]

[Footnote 456: By the transmarine provinces, Asia, Egypt, etc., are meant; so that we find Caligula entertaining visions of an eastern empire, and removing the seat of government, which were long afterwards realized in the time of Constantine.]

[Footnote 457: See AUGUSTUS, c. xviii.]

[Footnote 458: About midnight, the watches being divided into four.]

[Footnote 459: Scabella: commentators are undecided as to the nature of this instrument. Some of them suppose it to have been either a sort of cymbal or castanet, but Pitiscus in his note gives a figure of an ancient statue preserved at Florence, in which a dancer is represented with cymbals in his hands, and a kind of wind instrument attached to the toe of his left foot, by which it is worked by pressure, something in the way of an accordion.]

[Footnote 460: The port of Rome.]

[Footnote 461: The Romans, in their passionate devotion to the amusements of the circus and the theatre, were divided into factions, who had their favourites among the racers and actors, the former being distinguished by the colour of the party to which they belonged. See before, c. xviii., and TIBERIUS, c. xxxvii.]

[Footnote 462: In the slang of the turf, the name of Caligula's celebrated horse might, perhaps, be translated "Go a-head."]

[Footnote 463: Josephus, who supplies us with minute details of the assassination of Caligula, says that he made no outcry, either disdaining it, or because an alarm would have been useless; but that he attempted to make his escape through a corridor which led to some baths behind the palace. Among the ruins on the Palatine hill, these baths still attract attention, some of the frescos being in good preservation. See the account in Josephus, xix. 1, 2.]

[Footnote 464: The Lamian was an ancient family, the founders of Formiae. They had gardens on the Esquiline mount.]

[Footnote 465: A.U.C. 714.]

[Footnote 466: Pliny describes Drusus as having in this voyage circumnavigated Germany, and reached the Cimbrian Chersonese, and the Scythian shores, reeking with constant fogs.]

[Footnote 467: Tacitus, Annal. xi. 8, 1, mentions this fosse, and says that Drusus sailed up the Meuse and the Waal. Cluverius places it between the village of Iselvort and the town of Doesborg.]

[Footnote 468: The Spolia Opima were the spoils taken from the enemy's king, or chief, when slain in single combat by a Roman general. They were always hung up in the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius. Those spoils had been obtained only thrice since the foundation of Rome; the first by Romulus, who slew Acron, king of the Caeninenses; the next by A. Cornelius Cossus, who slew Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, A.U. 318; and the third by M. Claudius Marcellus, who slew Viridomarus, king of the Gauls, A.U. 330.]

[Footnote 469: A.U.C. 744.]

[Footnote 470: This epistle, as it was the habit of Augustus, is interspersed with Greek phrases.]

[Footnote 471: The Alban Mount is the most interesting feature of the scenery of the Campagna about Rome, Monti Cavo, the summit, rising above an amphitheatre of magnificent woods, to an elevation of 2965 French feet. The view is very extensive: below is the lake of Albano, the finest of the volcanic lakes in Italy, and the modern town of the same name. Few traces remain of Alba Longa, the ancient capital of Latium.]

[Footnote 472: On the summit of the Alban Mount, on the site of the present convent, stood the temple of Jupiter Latialis, where the Latin tribes assembled annually, and renewed their league, during the Feriae Latinae, instituted by Tarquinus Superbus. It was here, also, that Roman generals, who were refused the honours of a full triumph, performed the ovation, and sacrificed to Jupiter Latialis. Part of the triumphal way by which the mountain was ascended, formed of vast blocks of lava, is still in good preservation, leading through groves of chestnut trees of vast size and age. Spanning them with extended arms—none of the shortest—the operation was repeated five times in compassing their girth.]

[Footnote 473: CALIGULA. See c. v. of his life.]

[Footnote 474: A.U.C. 793. Life of CALIGULA, cc. xliv., xlv., etc.]

[Footnote 475: A.U.C. 794.]

[Footnote 476: The chamber of Mercury; the names of deities being given to different apartments, as those "of Isis," "of the Muses," etc.]

[Footnote 477: See the note, p. 265.]

[Footnote 478: The attentive reader will have marked the gradual growth of the power of the pretorian guard, who now, and on so many future occasions, ruled the destinies of the empire.]

[Footnote 479: See AUGUSTUS, cc. xliii., xlv.]

[Footnote 480: Ib. c. ci.]

[Footnote 481: Germanicus.]

[Footnote 482: Naples and other cities on that coast were Greek colonies.]

[Footnote 483: This arch was erected in memory of the standards (the eagles) lost by Varus, in Germany, having been recovered by Germanicus under the auspices of Tiberius. See his Life, c. xlvii.; and Tacit. Annal. ii. 41. It seems to have stood at the foot of the Capitol, on the side of the Forum, near the temple of Concord; but there are no remains of it.]

[Footnote 484: Tacitus informs us that the same application had been made by Tiberius. Annal. iii. The prefect of the pretorian guards, high and important as his office had now become, was not allowed to enter the senate-house, unless he belonged to the equestrian order.]

[Footnote 485: The procurators had the administration of some of the less important provinces, with rank and authority inferior to that of the pro-consuls and prefects. Frequent mention of these officers is made by Josephus; and Pontius Pilate, who sentenced our Lord to crucifixion, held that office in Judaea, under Tiberius.]

[Footnote 486: Pollio and Messala were distinguished orators, who flourished under the Caesars Julius and Augustus.]

[Footnote 487: A.U.C. 795, 796.]

[Footnote 488: A.U.C. 800, 804.]

[Footnote 489: "Ad bestias" had become a new and frequent sentence for malefactors. It will be recollected, that it was the most usual form of martyrdom for the primitive Christians. Polycarp was brought all the way from Smyrna to be exposed to it in the amphitheatre at Rome.]

[Footnote 490: This reminds us of the decision of Solomon in the case of the two mothers, who each claimed a child as their own, 1 Kings iii. 22-27.]

[Footnote 491: A most absurd judicial conclusion, the business of the judge or court being to decide, on weighing the evidence, on which side the truth preponderated.]

[Footnote 492: See the note in CALIGULA, c. xix., as to Suetonius's sources of information from persons cotemporary with the occurrences he relates.]

[Footnote 493: The insult was conveyed in Greek, which seems, from Suetonius, to have been in very common use at Rome: kai su geron ei, kai moros.]

[Footnote 494: A.U.C. 798, or 800.]

[Footnote 495: There was a proverb to the same effect: "Si non caste, saltem caute."]

[Footnote 496: Ptolemy appointed him to an office which led him to assume a foreign dress. Rabirius was defended by Cicero in one of his orations, which is extant.]

[Footnote 497: The Sigillaria was a street in Rome, where a fair was held after the Saturnalia, which lasted seven days; and toys, consisting of little images and dolls, which gave their name to the street and festival, were sold. It appears from the text, that other articles were exposed for sale in this street. Among these were included elegant vases of silver and bronze. There appears also to have been a bookseller's shop, for an ancient writer tells us that a friend of his showed him a copy of the Second Book of the Aeneid, which he had purchased there.]

[Footnote 498: Opposed to this statement there is a passage in Servius Georgius, iii. 37, asserting that he had heard (accipimus) that Augustus, besides his victories in the east, triumphed over the Britons in the west; and Horace says:—

Augustus adjectis Britannis Imperio gravibusque Persis.—Ode iii. 5, 1.

Strabo likewise informs us, that in his time, the petty British kings sent embassies to cultivate the alliance of Augustus, and make offerings in the Capitol: and that nearly the whole island was on terms of amity with the Romans, and, as well as the Gauls, paid a light tribute.—Strabo, B. iv. p. 138.

That Augustus contemplated a descent on the island, but was prevented from attempting it by his being recalled from Gaul by the disturbances in Dalmatia, is very probable. Horace offers his vows for its success:

Serves iturum, Caesarem in ultimos Orbis Britannos.—Ode i. 35.

But the word iturus shews that the scheme was only projected, and the lines previously quoted are mere poetical flattery. Strabo's statement of the communications kept up with the petty kings of Britain, who were perhaps divided by intestine wars, are, to a certain extent, probably correct, as such a policy would be a prelude to the intended expedition.]

[Footnote 499: Circius. Aulus Gellius, Seneca, and Pliny, mention under this name the strong southerly gales which prevail in the gulf of Genoa and the neighbouring seas.]

[Footnote 500: The Stoechades were the islands now called Hieres, off Toulon.]

[Footnote 501: Claudius must have expended more time in his march from Marseilles to Gessoriacum, as Boulogne was then called, than in his vaunted conquest of Britain.]

[Footnote 502: In point of fact, he was only sixteen days in the island, receiving the submission of some tribes in the south-eastern districts. But the way had been prepared for him by his able general, Aulus Plautius, who defeated Cunobeline, and made himself master of his capital, Camulodunum, or Colchester. These successes were followed up by Ostorius, who conquered Caractacus and sent him to Rome.

It is singular that Suetonius has supplied us with no particulars of these events. Some account of them is given in the disquisition appended to this life of CLAUDIUS.

The expedition of Plautius took place A.U.C. 796., A.D. 44.]

[Footnote 503: Carpentum: see note in CALIGULA, c. xv.]

[Footnote 504: The Aemiliana, so called because it contained the monuments of the family of that name, was a suburb of Rome, on the Via Lata, outside the gate.]

[Footnote 505: The Diribitorium was a house in the Flaminian Circus, begun by Agrippa, and finished by Augustus, in which soldiers were mustered and their pay distributed; from whence it derived its name. When the Romans went to give their votes at the election of magistrates, they were conducted by officers named Diribitores. It is possible that one and the same building may have been used for both purposes.]

The Flaminian Circus was without the city walls, in the Campus Martius. The Roman college now stands on its site.]

[Footnote 506: A law brought in by the consuls Papius Mutilus and Quintus Poppaeus; respecting which, see AUGUSTUS, c. xxxiv.]

[Footnote 507: The Fucine Lake is now called Lago di Celano, in the Farther Abruzzi. It is very extensive, but shallow, so that the difficulty of constructing the Claudian emissary, can scarcely be compared to that encountered in a similar work for lowering the level of the waters in the Alban lake, completed A.U.C. 359.]

[Footnote 508: Respecting the Claudian aqueduct, see CALIGULA, c. xxi.]

[Footnote 509: Ostia is referred to in a note, TIBERIUS, c. xi.]

[Footnote 510: Suetonius calls this "the great obelisk" in comparison with those which Augustus had placed in the Circus Maximus and Campus Martius. The one here mentioned was erected by Caligula in his Circus, afterwards called the Circus of Nero. It stood at Heliopolis, having been dedicated to the sun, as Herodotus informs us, by Phero, son of Sesostris, in acknowledgment of his recovery from blindness. It was removed by Pope Sixtus V. in 1586, under the celebrated architect, Fontana, to the centre of the area before St. Peter's, in the Vatican, not far from its former position. This obelisk is a solid piece of red granite, without hieroglyphics, and, with the pedestal and ornaments at the top, is 182 feet high. The height of the obelisk itself is 113 palms, or 84 feet.]

[Footnote 511: Pliny relates some curious particulars of this ship: "A fir tree of prodigious size was used in the vessel which, by the command of Caligula, brought the obelisk from Egypt, which stands in the Vatican Circus, and four blocks of the same sort of stone to support it. Nothing certainly ever appeared on the sea more astonishing than this vessel; 120,000 bushels of lentiles served for its ballast; the length of it nearly equalled all the left side of the port of Ostia; for it was sent there by the emperor Claudius. The thickness of the tree was as much as four men could embrace with their arms."—B. xvi. c. 76.]

[Footnote 512: See AUGUSTUS, c. xxxi. It appears to have been often a prey to the flames, TIBERIUS, c. xli.; CALIGULA, c. xx.]

[Footnote 513: Contrary to the usual custom of rising and saluting the emperor without acclamations.]

[Footnote 514: A.U.C. 800.]

[Footnote 515: The Secular Games had been celebrated by Augustus, A.U.C. 736. See c. xxxi. of his life, and the Epode of Horace written on the occasion.]

[Footnote 516: In the circus which he had himself built.]

[Footnote 517: Tophina; Tuffo, a porous stone of volcanic origin, which abounds in the neighbourhood of Rome, and, with the Travertino, is employed in all common buildings.]

[Footnote 518: In compliment to the troops to whom he owed his elevation: see before, c. xi.]

[Footnote 519: Palumbus was a gladiator: and Claudius condescended to pun upon his name, which signifies a wood-pigeon.]

[Footnote 520: See before, c. xvii. Described is c. xx and note.]

[Footnote 521: See before, AUGUSTUS, c. xxxiv.]

[Footnote 522: To reward his able services as commander of the army in Britain. See before, c. xvii.]

[Footnote 523: German tribes between the Elbe and the Weser, whose chief seat was at Bremen, and others about Ems or Lueneburg.]

[Footnote 524: This island in the Tiber, opposite the Campus Martius, is said to have been formed by the corn sown by Tarquin the Proud on that consecrated field, and cut down and thrown by order of the consuls into the river. The water being low, it lodged in the bed of the stream, and gradual deposits of mud raising it above the level of the water, it was in course of time covered with buildings. Among these was the temple of Aesculapius, erected A.U.C. 462, to receive the serpent, the emblem of that deity which was brought to Rome in the time of a plague. There is a coin of Antoninus Pius recording this event, and Lumisdus has preserved copies of some curious votive inscriptions in acknowledgment of cures which were found in its ruins, Antiquities of Rome, p. 379.

It was common for the patient after having been exposed some nights in the temple, without being cured, to depart and put an end to his life. Suetonius here informs us that slaves so exposed, at least obtained their freedom.]

[Footnote 525: Which were carried on the shoulders of slaves. This prohibition had for its object either to save the wear and tear in the narrow streets, or to pay respect to the liberties of the town.]

[Footnote 526: See the note in c. i. of this life of CLAUDIUS.]

[Footnote 527: Seleucus Philopater, son of Antiochus the Great, who being conquered by the Romans, the succeeding kings of Syria acknowledged the supremacy of Rome.]

[Footnote 528: Suetonius has already, in TIBERIUS, c. xxxvi., mentioned the expulsion of the Jews from Rome, and this passage confirms the conjecture, offered in the note, that the Christians were obscurely alluded to in the former notice. The antagonism between Christianity and Judaism appears to have given rise to the tumults which first led the authorities to interfere. Thus much we seem to learn from both passages: but the most enlightened men of that age were singularly ill-informed on the stupendous events which had recently occurred in Judaea, and we find Suetonius, although he lived at the commencement of the first century of the Christian aera, when the memory of these occurrences was still fresh, and it might be supposed, by that time, widely diffused, transplanting Christ from Jerusalem to Rome, and placing him in the time of Claudius, although the crucifixion took place during the reign of Tiberius.

St. Luke, Acts xviii. 2, mentions the expulsion of the Jews from Rome by the emperor Claudius: Dio, however, says that he did not expel them, but only forbad their religious assemblies.

It was very natural for Suetonius to write Chrestus instead of Christus, as the former was a name in use among the Greeks and Romans. Among others, Cicero mentions a person of that name in his Fam. Ep. 11. 8.]

[Footnote 529: Pliny tells us that Druidism had its origin in Gaul, and was transplanted into Britain, xxi. 1. Julius Caesar asserts just the contrary, Bell. Gall. vi. 13, 11. The edict of Claudius was not carried into effect; at least, we find vestiges of Druidism in Gaul, during the reigns of Nero and Alexander Severus.]

[Footnote 530: The Eleusinian mysteries were never transferred from Athens to Rome, notwithstanding this attempt of Claudius, and although Aurelius Victor says that Adrian effected it.]

[Footnote 531: A.U.C. 801.]

[Footnote 532: A.U.C. 773.]

[Footnote 533: It would seem from this passage, that the cognomen of "the Great," had now been restored to the descendants of Cneius Pompey, on whom it was first conferred.]

[Footnote 534: A.U.C. 806.]

[Footnote 535: A.U.C. 803.]

[Footnote 536: This is the Felix mentioned in the Acts, cc. xxiii. and xxiv., before whom St. Paul pleaded. He is mentioned by Josephus; and Tacitus, who calls him Felix Antonius, gives his character: Annal. v, 9. 6.]

[Footnote 537: It appears that two of these wives of Felix were named Drusilla. One, mentioned Acts xxiv. 24, and there called a Jewess, was the sister of king Agrippa, and had married before, Azizus, king of the Emessenes. The other Drusilla, though not a queen, was of royal birth, being the granddaughter of Cleopatra by Mark Antony. Who the third wife of Felix was, is unknown.]

[Footnote 538: Tacitus and Josephus mention that Pallas was the brother of Felix, and the younger Pliny ridicules the pompous inscription on his tomb.]

[Footnote 539: A.U.C. 802.]

[Footnote 540: The Salii, the priests of Mars, twelve in number, were instituted by Numa. Their dress was an embroidered tunic, bound with a girdle ornamented with brass. They wore on their head a conical cap, of a considerable height; carried a sword by their side; in their right hand a spear or rod, and in their left, one of the Ancilia, or shields of Mars. On solemn occasions, they used to go to the Capitol, through the Forum and other public parts of the city, dancing and singing sacred songs, said to have been composed by Numa; which, in the time of Horace, could hardly be understood by any one, even the priests themselves. The most solemn procession of the Salii was on the first of March, in commemoration of the time when the sacred shield was believed to have fallen from heaven, in the reign of Numa. After their procession, they had a splendid entertainment, the luxury of which was proverbial.]

[Footnote 541: Scaliger and Casauhon give Teleggenius as the reading of the best manuscripts. Whoever he was, his name seems to have been a bye-word for a notorious fool.]

[Footnote 542: Titus Livius, the prince of Roman historians, died in the fourth year of the reign of Tiberius, A.U.C. 771; at which time Claudius was about twenty-seven years old, having been born A.U.C. 744.]

[Footnote 543: Asinius Gallus was the son of Asinius Pollio, the famous orator, and had written a hook comparing his father with Cicero, and giving the former the preference.]

[Footnote 544: Quintilian informs us, that one of the three new letters the emperor Claudius attempted to introduce, was the Aeolic digamma, which had the same force as v consonant. Priscian calls another anti-signs, and says that the character proposed was two Greek sigmas, back to back, and that it was substituted for the Greek ps. The other letter is not known, and all three soon fell into disuse.]

[Footnote 545: Caesar by birth, not by adoption, as the preceding emperors had been, and as Nero would be, if he succeeded.]

[Footnote 546: Tacitus informs us, that the poison was prepared by Locusta, of whom we shall hear, NERO, c. xxxiii. etc.]

[Footnote 547: A.U.C. 806; A.D. 54.]

[Footnote 548: A.U.C. 593, 632, 658, 660, 700, 722, 785.]

[Footnote 549: A.U.C. 632.]

[Footnote 550: A.U.C. 639, 663.]

[Footnote 551: For the distinction between the praenomen and cognomen, see note, p. 192.]

[Footnote 552: A.U.C. 632.]

[Footnote 553: The Allobroges were a tribe of Gauls, inhabiting Dauphiny and Savoy; the Arverni have left their name in Auvergne.]

[Footnote 554: A.U.C. 695.]

[Footnote 555: A.U.C. 700.]

[Footnote 556: A.U.C. 711.]

[Footnote 557: A.U.C. 723.]

[Footnote 558: Nais seems to have been a freedwoman, who had been allowed to adopt the family name of her master.]

[Footnote 559: By one of those fictions of law, which have abounded in all systems of jurisprudence, a nominal alienation of his property was made in the testator's life-time.]

[Footnote 560: The suggestion offered (note, p. 123), that the Argentarii, like the goldsmiths of the middle ages, combined the business of bankers, or money-changers, with dealings in gold and silver plate, is confirmed by this passage. It does not, however, appear that they were artificers of the precious metals, though they dealt in old and current coins, sculptured vessels, gems, and precious stones.]

[Footnote 561: Pyrgi was a town of the ancient Etruria, near Antium, on the sea-coast, but it has long been destroyed.]

[Footnote 562: A.U.C. 791; A.D. 39.]

[Footnote 563: The purification, and giving the name, took place, among the Romans, in the case of boys, on the ninth, and of girls, on the tenth day. The customs of the Judaical law were similar. See Matt. i. 59-63; Luke iii. 21. 22.]

[Footnote 564: A.U.C. 806.]

[Footnote 565: Seneca, the celebrated philosophical writer, had been released from exile in Corsica, shortly before the death of Tiberius. He afterwards fell a sacrifice to the jealousy and cruelty of his former pupil, Nero.]

[Footnote 566: Caligula.]

[Footnote 567: A.U.C. 809—A.D. 57.]

[Footnote 568: Antium, the birth-place of Nero, an ancient city of the Volscians, stood on a rocky promontory of the coast, now called Capo d' Anzo, about thirty-eight miles from Rome. Though always a place of some naval importance, it was indebted to Nero for its noble harbour. The ruins of the moles yet remain; and there are vestiges of the temples and villas of the town, which was the resort of the wealthy Romans, it being a most delightful winter residence. The Apollo Belvidere was discovered among these ruins.]

[Footnote 569: A.U.C. 810.]

[Footnote 570: The Podium was part of the amphitheatre, near the orchestra, allotted to the senators, and the ambassadors of foreign nations; and where also was the seat of the emperor, of the person who exhibited the games, and of the Vestal Virgins. It projected over the wall which surrounded the area of the amphitheatre, and was raised between twelve and fifteen feet above it; secured with a breast-work or parapet against the irruption of wild beasts.]

[Footnote 571: A.U.C. 813.]

[Footnote 572: The baths of Nero stood to the west of the Pantheon. They were, probably, incorporated with those afterwards constructed by Alexander Severus; but no vestige of them remains. That the former were magnificent, we may infer from the verses of Martial:

————Quid Nerone pejus? Quid thermis melius Neronianis.—B. vii. ch. 34.

What worse than Nero? What better than his baths?]

[Footnote 573: Among the Romans, the time at which young men first shaved the beard was marked with particular ceremony. It was usually in their twenty-first year, but the period varied. Caligula (c. x.) first shaved at twenty; Augustus at twenty-five.]

[Footnote 574: A.U.C. 819. See afterwards, c. xxx.]

[Footnote 575: A.U.C. 808, 810, 811, 813.]

[Footnote 576: The Sportulae were small wicker baskets, in which victuals or money were carried. The word was in consequence applied to the public entertainments at which food was distributed, or money given in lieu of it.]

[Footnote 577: "Superstitionis novae et maleficae," are the words of Suetonius; the latter conveying the idea of witchcraft or enchantment. Suidas relates that a certain martyr cried out from his dungeon—"Ye have loaded me with fetters as a sorcerer and profane person." Tacitus calls the Christian religion "a foreign and deadly [Footnote exitiabilis: superstition," Annal. xiii. 32; Pliny, in his celebrated letter to Trajan, "a depraved, wicked (or prava), and outrageous superstition." Epist. x. 97.]

Tacitus also describes the excruciating torments inflicted on the Roman Christians by Nero. He says that they were subjected to the derision of the people; dressed in the skins of wild beasts, and exposed to be torn to pieces by dogs in the public games, that they were crucified, or condemned to be burnt; and at night-fall served in place of lamps to lighten the darkness, Nero's own gardens being used for the spectacle. Annal. xv. 44.

Traditions of the church place the martyrdoms of SS. Peter and Paul at Rome, under the reign of Nero. The legends are given by Ordericus Vitalis. See vol. i. of the edition in the Antiq. Lib. pp. 206, etc., with the notes and reference to the apocryphal works on which they are founded.]

[Footnote 578: Claudius had received the submission of some of the British tribes. See c. xvii. of his Life. In the reign of Nero, his general, Suetonius Paulinus, attacked Mona or Anglesey, the chief seat of the Druids, and extirpated them with great cruelty. The successes of Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, who inhabited Derbyshire, were probably the cause of Nero's wishing to withdraw the legions; she having reduced London, Colchester, and Verulam, and put to death seventy thousand of the Romans and their British allies. She was, however, at length defeated by Suetonius Paulinus, who was recalled for his severities. See Tacit. Agric. xv. 1, xvi. 1; and Annal. xiv. 29.]

[Footnote 579: The dominions of Cottius embraced the vallies in the chain of the Alps extending between Piedmont and Dauphiny, called by the Romans the Cottian Alps. See TIBERIUS, c. xxxvii.]

[Footnote 580: It was a favourite project of the Caesars to make a navigable canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, to avoid the circumnavigation of the southern extremity of the Morea, now Cape Matapan, which, even in our days, has its perils. See JULIUS CAESAR, c. xliv. and CALIGULA, c. xxi.]

[Footnote 581: Caspiae Portae; so called from the difficulties opposed by the narrow and rocky defile to the passage of the Caucasus from the country washed by the Euxine, now called Georgia, to that lying between the Caspian and the sea of Azof. It commences a few miles north of Teflis, and is frequently the scene of contests between the Russians and the Circassian tribes.]

[Footnote 582: Citharoedus: the word signifies a vocalist, who with his singing gave an accompaniment on the harp.]

[Footnote 583: It has been already observed that Naples was a Greek colony, and consequently Greek appears to have continued the vernacular tongue.]

[Footnote 584: See AUGUSTUS, c. xcviii.]

[Footnote 585: Of the strange names given to the different modes of applauding in the theatre, the first was derived from the humming of bees; the second from the rattling of rain or hail on the roofs; and the third from the tinkling of porcelain vessels when clashed together.]

[Footnote 586: Canace was the daughter of an Etrurian king, whose incestuous intercourse with her brother having been detected, in consequence of the cries of the infant of which she was delivered, she killed herself. It was a joke at Rome, that some one asking, when Nero was performing in Canace, what the emperor was doing; a wag replied. "He is labouring in child-birth."]

[Footnote 587: A town in Corcyra, now Corfu. There was a sea-port of the same name in Epirus.]

[Footnote 588: The Circus Maximus, frequently mentioned by Suetonius, was so called because it was the largest of all the circuses in and about Rome. Rudely constructed of timber by Tarquinius Drusus, and enlarged and improved with the growing fortunes of the republic, under the emperors it became a most superb building. Julius Caesar (c. xxxix) extended it, and surrounded it with a canal, ten feet deep and as many broad, to protect the spectators against danger from the chariots during the races. Claudius (c. xxi.) rebuilt the carceres with marble, and gilded the metae. This vast centre of attraction to the Roman people, in the games of which religion, politics, and amusement, were combined, was, according to Pliny, three stadia (of 625 feet) long, and one broad, and held 260,000 spectators; so that Juvenal says,

"Totam hodie Romam circus capit."—Sat. xi. 195.

This poetical exaggeration is applied by Addison to the Colosseum.

"That on its public shews unpeopled Rome."—Letter to Lord Halifax.

The area of the Circus Maximus occupied the hollow between the Palatine and Aventine hills, so that it was overlooked by the imperial palace, from which the emperors had so full a view of it, that they could from that height give the signals for commencing the races. Few fragments of it remain; but from the circus of Caracalla, which is better preserved, a tolerably good idea of the ancient circus may be formed. For details of its parts, and the mode in which the sports were conducted, see Burton's Antiquities, p. 309, etc.]

[Footnote 589: The Velabrum was a street in Rome. See JULIUS CAESAR, c. xxxvii.]

[Footnote 590: Acte was a slave who had been bought in Asia, whose beauty so captivated Nero that he redeemed her, and became greatly attached to her. She is supposed to be the concubine of Nero mentioned by St. Chrysostom, as having been converted by St. Paul during his residence at Rome. The Apostle speaks of the "Saints in Caesar's household."—Phil. iv. 22.]

[Footnote 591: See Tacitus, Annal. xv. 37.]

[Footnote 592: A much-frequented street in Rome. See CLAUDIUS, c. xvi.]

[Footnote 593: It is said that the advances were made by Agrippina, with flagrant indecency, to secure her power over him. See Tacitus, Annal. xiv. 2, 3.]

[Footnote 594: Olim etiam, quoties lectica cum matre veheretur, libidinatum inceste, ac maculis vestis proditum, affirmant.]

[Footnote 595: Tacitus calls him Pythagoras, which was probably the freedman's proper name; Doryphorus being a name of office somewhat equivalent to almoner. See Annal. B. xv.]

[Footnote 596: The emperor Caligula, who was the brother of Nero's mother, Agrippina.]

[Footnote 597: See before, c. xiii. Tiridates was nine months in Rome or the neighbourhood, and was entertained the whole time at the emperor's expense.]

[Footnote 598: Canusium, now Canosa, was a town in Apulia, near the mouth of the river Aufidus, celebrated for its fine wool. It is mentioned by Pliny, and retained its reputation for the manufacture in the middle ages, as we find in Ordericus Vitalis.]

[Footnote 599: The Mazacans were an African tribe from the deserts in the interior, famous for their spirited barbs, their powers of endurance, and their skill in throwing the dart.]

[Footnote 600: The Palace of the Caesars, on the Palatine hill, was enlarged by Augustus from the dimensions of a private house (see AUGUSTUS, cc. xxix., lvii.). Tiberius made some additions to it, and Caligula extended it to the Forum (CALIGULA, c. xxxi.). Tacitus gives a similar account with that of our author of the extent and splendour of the works of Nero. Annal. xv. c. xlii. Reaching from the Palatine to the Esquiline hill, it covered all the intermediate space, where the Colosseum now stands. We shall find that it was still further enlarged by Domitian, c. xv. of his life is the present work.]

[Footnote 601: The penates were worshipped in the innermost part of the house, which was called penetralia. There were likewise publici penates, worshipped in the Capitol, and supposed to be the guardians of the city and temples. Some have thought that the lares and penates were the same; and they appear to be sometimes confounded. They were, however, different. The penates were reputed to be of divine origin; the lares, of human. Certain persons were admitted to the worship of the lares, who were not to that of the penates. The latter, as has been already said, were worshipped only in the innermost part of the house, but the former also in the public roads, in the camp, and on sea.]

[Footnote 602: A play upon the Greek word moros, signifying a fool, while the Latin morari, from moror, means "to dwell," or "continue."]

[Footnote 603: A small port between the gulf of Baiae and cape Misenum.]

[Footnote 604: From whence the "Procul, O procul este profani!" of the poet; a warning which was transferred to the Christian mysteries.]

[Footnote 605: See before, c. xii.]

[Footnote 606: Statilius Taurus; who lived in the time of Augustus, and built the amphitheatre called after his name. AUGUSTUS, c. xxiv. He is mentioned by Horace, Epist. i. v. 4.]

[Footnote 607: Octavia was first sent away to Campania, under a guard of soldiers, and after being recalled, in consequence of the remonstrances of the people, by whom she was beloved, Nero banished her to the island of Pandataria.]

[Footnote 608: A.U.C. 813.]

[Footnote 609: Seneca was accused of complicity in the conspiracy of Caius Piso. Tacitus furnishes some interesting details of the circumstances under which the philosopher calmly submitted to his fate, which was announced to him when at supper with his friends, at his villa, near Rome.—Tacitus, b. xiv. xv.]

[Footnote 610: This comet, as well as one which appeared the year in which Claudius died, is described by Seneca, Natural. Quaest. VII. c. xvii. and xix. and by Pliny, II. c. xxv.]

[Footnote 611: See Tacitus, Annal. xv. 49-55.]

[Footnote 612: The sixteenth book of Tacitus, which would probably have given an account of the Vinician conspiracy, is lost. It is shortly noticed by Plutarch.]

[Footnote 613: See before, c. xix.]

[Footnote 614: This destructive fire occurred in the end of July, or the beginning of August, A.U.C. 816, A.D. 64. It was imputed to the Christians, and drew on them the persecutions mentioned in c. xvi., and the note.]

[Footnote 615: The revolt in Britain broke out A.U.C. 813. Xiphilinus (lxii. p. 701) attributes it to the severity of the confiscations with which the repayment of large sums of money advanced to the Britons by the emperor Claudius, and also by Seneca, was exacted. Tacitus adds another cause, the insupportable tyranny and avarice of the centurions and soldiers. Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, had named the emperor his heir. His widow Boadicea and her daughters were shamefully used, his kinsmen reduced to slavery, and his whole territory ravaged; upon which the Britons flew to arms. See c. xviii., and the note.]

[Footnote 616: Neonymphon; alluding to Nero's unnatural nuptials with Sporus or Pythagoras. See cc. xxviii. xxix. It should be neonymphos.]

[Footnote 617: "Sustulit" has a double meaning, signifying both, to bear away, and put out of the way.]

[Footnote 618: The epithet applied to Apollo, as the god of music, was Paean; as the god of war, Ekataebaletaes.]

[Footnote 619: Pliny remarks, that the Golden House of Nero was swallowing up all Rome. Veii, an ancient Etruscan city, about twelve miles from Rome, was originally little inferior to it, being, as Dionysius informs us, (lib. ii. p. 16), equal in extent to Athens. See a very accurate survey of the ruins of Veii, in Gell's admirable TOPOGRAPHY OF ROME AND ITS VICINITY, p. 436, of Bohn's Edition.]

[Footnote 620: Suetonius calls them organa hydralica, and they seem to have been a musical instrument on the same principle as our present organs, only that water was the inflating power. Vitruvius (iv. ix.) mentions the instrument as the invention of Ctesibus of Alexandria. It is also well described by Tertullian, De Anima, c. xiv. The pneumatic organ appears to have been a later improvement. We have before us a contorniate medallion, of Caracalla, from the collection of Mr. W. S. Bohn, upon which one or other of these instruments figures. On the obverse is the bust of the emperor in armour, laureated, with the inscription as AURELIUS ANTONINUS PIUS AUG. BRIT. (his latest title). On the reverse is the organ; an oblong chest with the pipes above, and a draped figure on each side.]

[Footnote 621: A fine sand from the Nile, similar to puzzuclano, which was strewed on the stadium; the wrestlers also rolled in it, when their bodies were slippery with oil or perspiration.]

[Footnote 622: The words on the ticket about the emperor's neck, are supposed, by a prosopopea, to be spoken by him. The reply is Agrippina's, or the people's. It alludes to the punishment due to him for his parricide. By the Roman law, a person who had murdered a parent or any near relation, after being severely scourged, was sewed up in a sack, with a dog, a cock, a viper, and an ape, and then thrown into the sea, or a deep river.]

[Footnote 623: Gallos, which signifies both cocks and Gauls.]

[Footnote 624: Vindex, it need hardly be observed, was the name of the propraetor who had set up the standard of rebellion in Gaul. The word also signifies an avenger of wrongs, redresser of grievances; hence vindicate, vindictive, etc.]

[Footnote 625: Aen. xii. 646.]

[Footnote 626: The Via Salaria was so called from the Sabines using it to fetch salt from the coast. It led from Rome to the northward, near the gardens of Sallust, by a gate of the same name, called also Quirinalis, Agonalis, and Collina. It was here that Alaric entered.]

[Footnote 627: The Via Nomentana, so named because it led to the Sabine town of Nomentum, joined the Via Salara at Heretum on the Tiber. It was also called Ficulnensis. It entered Rome by the Porta Viminalis, now called Porta Pia. It was by this road that Hannibal approached the walls of Rome. The country-house of Nero's freedman, where he ended his days, stood near the Anio, beyond the present church of St. Agnese, where there was a villa of the Spada family, belonging now, we believe, to Torlonia.]

[Footnote 628: This description is no less exact than vivid. It was easy for Nero to gain the nearest gate, the Nomentan, from the Esquiline quarter of the palace, without much observation; and on issuing from it (after midnight, it appears), the fugitives would have the pretorian camp so close on their right hand, that they might well hear the shouts of the soldiers.]

[Footnote 629: Decocta. Pliny informs us that Nero had the water he drank, boiled, to clear it from impurities, and then cooled with ice.]

[Footnote 630: Wood, to warm the water for washing the corpse, and for the funeral pile,]

[Footnote 631: This burst of passion was uttered in Greek, the rest was spoken in Latin. Both were in familiar use. The mixture, perhaps, betrays the disturbed state of Nero's mind.]

[Footnote 632: II. x. 535.]

[Footnote 633: Collis Hortulorum; which was afterwards called the Pincian Hill, from a family of that name, who flourished under the lower empire. In the time of the Caesars it was occupied by the gardens and villas of the wealthy and luxurious; among which those of Sallust are celebrated. Some of the finest statues have been found in the ruins; among others, that of the "Dying Gladiator." The situation was airy and healthful, commanding fine views, and it is still the most agreeable neighbourhood in Rome.]

[Footnote 634: Antiquarians suppose that some relics of the sepulchre of the Domitian family, in which the ashes of Nero were deposited, are preserved in the city wall which Aurelian, when he extended its circuit, carried across the "Collis Hortulorum." Those ancient remains, declining from the perpendicular, are called the Muro Torto.—The Lunan marble was brought from quarries near a town of that name, in Etruria. It no longer exists, but stood on the coast of what is now called the gulf of Spezzia.—Thasos, an island in the Archipelago, was one of the Cyclades. It produced a grey marble, much veined, but not in great repute.]

[Footnote 635: See c. x1i.]

[Footnote 636: The Syrian Goddess is supposed to have been Semiramis deified. Her rites are mentioned by Florus, Apuleius, and Lucian.]

[Footnote 637: A.U.C. 821—A.D. 69.]

[Footnote 638: We have here one of the incidental notices which are so valuable in an historian, as connecting him with the times of which he writes. See also just before, c. lii.]

[Footnote 639: Veii; see the note, NERO, c. xxxix.]

[Footnote 640: The conventional term for what is most commonly known as,

"The Laurel, meed of mighty conquerors, And poets sage,"—Spenser's Faerie Queen.

is retained throughout the translation. But the tree or shrub which had this distinction among the ancients, the Laurus nobilis of botany, the Daphne of the Greeks, is the bay-tree, indigenous in Italy, Greece, and the East, and introduced into England about 1562. Our laurel is a plant of a very different tribe, the Prunes lauro-cerasus, a native of the Levant and the Crimea, acclimated in England at a later period than the bay.]

[Footnote 641: The Temple of the Caesars is generally supposed to be that dedicated by Julius Caesar to Venus genitrix, from whom the Julian family pretended to derive their descent. See JULIUS, c. lxi.; AUGUSTUS, c. ci.]

[Footnote 642: A.U.C. 821.]

[Footnote 643: The Atrium, or Aula, was the court or hall of a house, the entrance to which was by the principal door. It appears to have been a large oblong square, surrounded with covered or arched galleries. Three sides of the Atrium were supported by pillars, which, in later times, were marble. The side opposite to the gate was called Tablinum; and the other two sides, Alae. The Tablinum contained books, and the records of what each member of the family had done in his magistracy. In the Atrium the nuptial couch was erected; and here the mistress of the family, with her maid-servants, wrought at spinning and weaving, which, in the time of the ancient Romans, was their principal employment.]

[Footnote 644: He was consul with L. Aurelius Cotta, A.U.C. 610.]

[Footnote 645: A.U.C. 604.]

[Footnote 646: A.U.C. 710.]

[Footnote 647: A.U.C 775.]

[Footnote 648: A.U.C. 608.]

[Footnote 649: Caius Sulpicius Galba, the emperor's brother, had been consul A.U.C. 774.]

[Footnote 650: A.U.C. 751.]

[Footnote 651: Now Fondi, which, with Terracina, still bearing its original name, lie on the road to Naples. See TIBERIUS, cc. v. and xxxix.]

[Footnote 652: Livia Ocellina, mentioned just before.]

[Footnote 653: A.U.C. 751.]

[Footnote 654: The widow of the emperor Augustus.]

[Footnote 655: Suetonius seems to have forgotten, that, according to his own testimony, this legacy, as well as those left by Tiberius, was paid by Caligula. "Legata ex testamento Tiberii; quamquam abolito, sed et Juliae Augustae, quod Tiberius suppresserat, cum fide, ac sine calumnia repraesentate persolvit." CALIG. c. xvi.]

[Footnote 656: A.U.C. 786.]

[Footnote 657: Caius Caesar Caligula. He gave the command of the legions in Germany to Galba.]

[Footnote 658: "Scuto moderatus;" another reading in the parallel passage of Tacitus is scuto immodice oneratus, burdened with the heavy weight of a shield.]

[Footnote 659: It would appear that Galba was to have accompanied Claudius in his expedition to Britain; which is related before, CLAUDIUS, c. xvii.]

[Footnote 660: It has been remarked before, that the Cantabria of the ancients is now the province of Biscay.]

[Footnote 661: Now Carthagena.]

[Footnote 662: A.U.C. 821.]

[Footnote 663: Now Corunna.]

[Footnote 664: Tortosa, on the Ebro.]

[Footnote 665: "Simus," literally, fiat-nosed, was a cant word, used for a clown; Galba being jeered for his rusticity, in consequence of his long retirement. See c. viii. Indeed, they called Spain his farm.]

[Footnote 666: The command of the pretorian guards.]

[Footnote 667: In the Forum. See AUGUSTUS, c. lvii.]

[Footnote 668: II. v. 254.]

[Footnote 669: A.U.C. 822.]

[Footnote 670: On the esplanade, where the standards, objects of religious reverence, were planted. See note to c. vi. Criminals were usually executed outside the Vallum, and in the presence of a centurion.]

[Footnote 671: Probably one of the two mentioned in CLAUDIUS, c. xiii.]

[Footnote 672: A.U.C. 784 or 785.]

[Footnote 673: "Distento sago impositum in sublime jactare."]

[Footnote 674: See NERO, c. xxxv.]

[Footnote 675: The Milliare Aureum was a pillar of stone set up at the top of the Forum, from which all the great military roads throughout Italy started, the distances to the principal towns being marked upon it. Dio (lib. liv.) says that it was erected by the emperor Augustus, when he was curator of the roads.]

[Footnote 676: Haruspex, Auspex, or Augur, denoted any person who foretold futurity, or interpreted omens. There was at Rome a body of priests, or college, under this title, whose office it was to foretell future events, chiefly from the flight, chirping, or feeding of birds, and from other appearances. They were of the greatest authority in the Roman state; for nothing of importance was done in public affairs, either at home or abroad, in peace or war, without consulting them. The Romans derived the practice of augury chiefly from the Tuscans; and anciently their youth used to be instructed as carefully in this art, as afterwards they were in the Greek literature. For this purpose, by a decree of the senate, a certain number of the sons of the leading men at Rome was sent to the twelve states of Etruria for instruction.]

[Footnote 677: See before, note, c. i. The Principia was a broad open space, which separated the lower part of the Roman camp from the upper, and extended the whole breadth of the camp. In this place was erected the tribunal of the general, when he either administered justice or harangued the army. Here likewise the tribunes held their courts, and punishments were inflicted. The principal standards of the army, as it has been already mentioned, were deposited in the Principia; and in it also stood the altars of the gods, and the images of the Emperors, by which the soldiers swore.]

[Footnote 678: See NERO, c. xxxi. The sum estimated as requisite for its completion amounted to 2,187,500 pounds of our money.]

[Footnote 679: The two last words, literally translated, mean "long trumpets;" such as were used at sacrifices. The sense is, therefore, "What have I to do, my hands stained with blood, with performing religious ceremonies!"]

[Footnote 680: The Ancile was a round shield, said to have fallen from heaven in the reign of Numa, and supposed to be the shield of Mars. It was kept with great care in the sanctuary of his temple, as a symbol of the perpetuity of the Roman empire; and that it might not be stolen, eleven others were made exactly similar to it.]

[Footnote 681: This ideal personage, who has been mentioned before, AUGUSTUS, c. lxviii., was the goddess Cybele, the wife of Saturn, called also Rhea, Ops, Vesta, Magna, Mater, etc. She was painted as a matron, crowned with towers, sitting in a chariot drawn by lions. A statue of her, brought from Pessinus in Phrygia to Rome, in the time of the second Punic war, was much honoured there. Her priests, called the Galli and Corybantes, were castrated; and worshipped her with the sound of drums, tabors, pipes, and cymbals. The rites of this goddess were disgraced by great indecencies.]

[Footnote 682: Otherwise called Orcus, Pluto, Jupiter Infernus, and Stygnis. He was the brother of Jupiter, and king of the infernal regions. His wife was Proserpine, the daughter of Ceres, whom he carried off as she was gathering flowers in the plains of Enna, in Sicily. The victims offered to the infernal gods were black: they were killed with their faces bent downwards; the knife was applied from below, and the blood was poured into a ditch.]

[Footnote 683: A town between Mantua and Cremona.]

[Footnote 684: The temple of Castor. It stood about twelve miles from Cremona. Tacitus gives some details of this action. Hist. ii. 243.]

[Footnote 685: Both Greek and Latin authors differ in the mode of spelling the name of this place, the first syllable being written Beb, Bet, and Bret. It is now a small village called Labino, between Cremona and Verona.]

[Footnote 686: Lenis was a name of similar signification with that of Tranquillus, borne by his son, the author of the present work. We find from Tacitus, that there was, among Otho's generals, in this battle, another person of the name of Suetonius, whose cognomen was Paulinus; with whom our author's father must not be confounded. Lenis was only a tribune of the thirteenth legion, the position of which in the battle is mentioned by Tacitus, Hist. xi. 24, and was angusticlavius, wearing only the narrow stripe, as not being of the senatorial order; while Paulinus was a general, commanding a legion, at least, and a consular man; having filled that Office A.U.C. 818. There seems no doubt that Suetonius Paulinus was the same general who distinguished himself by his successes and cruelties in Britain. NERO, c. xviii., and note.]

Not to extend the present note, we may shortly refer to our author's having already mentioned his grandfather (CALIGULA, c. xix.); besides other sources from which he drew his information. He tells us that he himself was then a boy. We have now arrived at the times in which his father bore a part. Such incidental notices, dropped by historical writers, have a certain value in enabling us to form a judgment on the genuineness of their narratives as to contemporaneous, or recent, events.]

[Footnote 687: A.U.C. 823.]

[Footnote 688: Jupiter, to prevent the discovery of his amour with Io, the daughter of the river Inachus, transformed her into a heifer, in which metamorphosis she was placed by Juno under the watchful inspection of Argus; but flying into Egypt, and her keeper being killed by Mercury, she recovered her human shape, and was married to Osiris. Her husband afterwards became a god of the Egyptians, and she a goddess, under the name of Isis. She was represented with a mural crown on her head, a cornucopia in one hand, and a sistrum (a musical instrument) in the other.]

[Footnote 689: Faunus was supposed to be the third king who reigned over the original inhabitants of the central parts of Italy, Saturn being the first. Virgil makes his wife's name Marica—

Hunc Fauna, et nympha genitum Laurente Marica Accipimus.—Aen. vii. 47.

Her name may have been changed after her deification; but we have no other accounts than those preserved by Suetonius, of several of the traditions handed down from the fabulous ages respecting the Vitellian family.]

[Footnote 690: The Aequicolae were probably a tribe inhabiting the heights in the neighbourhood of Rome. Virgil describes them, Aen. vii. 746.]

[Footnote 691: Nuceria, now Nocera, is a town near Mantua; but Livy, in treating of the war with the Samnites, always speaks of Luceria, which Strabo calls a town in Apulia.]

[Footnote 692: Cassius Severus is mentioned before, in AUGUSTUS, c. lvi.; CALIGULA, c. xvi., etc.]

[Footnote 693: A.U.C. 785.]

[Footnote 694: A.U.C. 787.]

[Footnote 695: He is frequently commended by Josephus for his kindness to the Jews. See, particularly, Antiq. VI. xviii.]

[Footnote 696: A.U.C. 796, 800.]

[Footnote 697: A.U.C. 801.]

[Footnote 698: A.U.C. 797. See CLAUDIUS, c. xvii.]

[Footnote 699: A.U.C. 801.]

[Footnote 700: A.U.C. 767; being the year after the death of the emperor Augustus; from whence it appears that Vitellius was seventeen years older than Otho, both being at an advanced age when they were raised to the imperial dignity.]