Part 54

[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.]