That the name of Scorpus was on every lip appears from another passage in Martial Ep. XI, 1, which runs as follows:
where the Incitatus to whom reference is made is not Caligula’s horse, already mentioned, but a racer named for it.
[145] Sarmatians. A people in what is now Poland and Tartary. (See Mart. Spect. 3.)
[146] Hyperboreans. People who lived above Boreas, fabulous folk dwelling in the extreme north; also Northmen in general. For instance Martial includes among the Hyperboreans, the Chatti (Hessen) and Dacians, inhabitants of eastern Hungary.
[147] Julia. The daughter of the Emperor Titus, with whom Domitian for a long time had unlawful relations. Dio Cass. LXVII, 3. Suet Dom. 22.
[148] A tumult. Many things are related about such tumults. They were partly impromptu, partly carefully prepared. A striking instance of the latter style is told by Dio Cassius (LXXII, 13) where a cunningly-planned circus-riot causes the fall of the hated lord high-chamberlain Cleander. This omnipotent favorite of the Emperor Commodus had enraged the people by a series of the boldest frauds, during a period of great scarcity. Just as the horses were starting for the seventh race a throng of boys, led by a tall, formidable looking woman, rushed into the arena. The children loaded Cleander with the fiercest curses, the people joined them, all rose and rushed furiously towards the emperor’s Quintilian villa. Commodus, a very cowardly man, was so terrified, that after a short struggle he commanded Cleander and his little son to be slain. The mob dragged the corpse of the chamberlain about in triumph, mutilated it, and stuck the head on a pole as a sign of victory.
[149] Secretary. The modern equivalent for the office of “ab epistulis,” held under Domitian by the freedman Abascantus. (Stat. Silv. V, 1.) At a later period—under Hadrian and afterwards—such offices were held only by men of knightly rank.
[150] Calling upon Domitia. We here follow a passage (somewhat doubtful, it is true) of Dio Cassius (LXVII, 3) which states that the emperor “at the entreaties of the people,” became reconciled to his wife. Suetonius (Dom. 3) says, he only alleged such a desire on the part of the people, but really received the empress again “because the separation from her became unendurable.” For special reasons our story fixes the time of this reconciliation in the year 95, while it actually occurred some time earlier.
[151] With regard to Julia, Caesar made no promises. See Dio Cass. LXVII 3. He became reconciled, "but without giving up Julia.”
[152] Vestal maiden. Priestess of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. At first they were four, afterwards six. They were chosen between the ages of six and ten, and were obliged to remain in the service of the goddess thirty years, ten as novices, ten as acting priestesses, and ten to instruct novices. Their principal task was to keep the sacred fire alive. They were vowed to chastity, and if they broke their vows were buried alive in the campus sceleratus, while the seducer was publicly flogged to death.
[153] Transparent gauze. The island of Cos (Κῶς) belonging to the Sporades, furnished garments made from a half-transparent silk gauze called coa. (See Hor. Sat. I. 2, 101.)
[154] Gold plates. A room has been discovered on the Aventine, whose walls were concealed by gilded bronze plates encrusted with medals; on the Palatine there was an apartment lined with plates of silver, set with precious stones. The halls and chambers in Nero’s domus aurea were covered with golden plates.
[155] Stephanus. I have taken considerable liberties in dealing with this personage in his relation to the Empress Domitia. He is, however, historical.
[156] The oyster, (ostrea or ostreum) was considered a great dainty in ancient times. (See note, 42, Vol. 1, “lobster.”)
[157] There is not in all Rome one faithful wife, or one innocent girl. See Martial Ep. IV, 71.
In contrast to the hyperbolical expressions of the satirical writers, we are made acquainted in the letters of the younger Pliny, with a number of women of noble character; the historians too, especially Tacitus, as well as inscriptions on the monuments prove—if proof were required—that even in this corrupt age feminine virtue and loftiness of character were not rare. It is natural, that a satirical author should have special keenness of vision for errors and weaknesses.
[158] What Ravidus?. The poem to which Martial here alludes is found Cat. Carm. XL.
[159] Tryphon, (Lupercus). The episode described here, which seems almost like a satirical allusion to the present time, is only one of Martial’s epigrams transposed into action. (Mart. Ep. I, 117.)
The bookseller Atrectus, who had a shop on the Argiletum, a public square not far from the Forum Caesaris, is also mentioned.—Traces of a well-organized book-trade are found towards the end of the republic. The first publisher on a larger scale is Pomponius Atticus, a friend of Cicero, who formally issued a series of Cicero’s works, for instance the Orator, Quaestiones Academicae, etc., and not only distributed them to the different bookstores in Rome, but supplied the numerous shops in Greece and Asia Minor. (See Cic. ad. Att. XII, 6, XV, 13, XVI, 5.) Yet Atticus was a patron of literature and an aesthetic, rather than a business man. The best-known booksellers and publishers under the emperors were: the Brothers Sosii, who issued the works of Horatius Flaccus (Hor. Ep. I, 20, 2, Ars. poet. 345); Dorus, the Phillip Reclam junior of ancient times, who in the reign of Nero introduced cheap popular editions of Livy and Cicero, (Sen. Benef. VII, 61) and Martial’s publisher, the Tryphon mentioned in this story. (Mart. Ep. IV, 72, XIII, 13.) The editions were provided by slaves, who wrote from dictation. The books were delivered in covers, the backs, glued together, being fastened in the hollow of a cylinder, through which ran a revolving stick. The volumes were cut, the edges were dyed sometimes black and sometimes purple. (See Göll: “Book-trade of the Greeks and Romans,” Schleiz., 1865.) Pollio Valerianus published Martial’s early poems. (Mart. Ep. I, 113, 5.)
[160] Quirinal. Martial’s house was near the temple on the Quirinal. (Mart. Ep. X, 58.)
[161] Denarii. At the time of Domitian, the denarius (10 as,) was worth about 15 cents.
[162] Street-corners. Large square tablets, whitened, for the display of public notices, stood at the corners of the streets. A tablet of this description was called album, (albus-white).
[163] Costermonger. Boiled chick-peas were publicly carried about for sale. (Martial Ep. I, 41, I, 103.)
[164] Massive bowls. The crater (crater or cratera) was a large vase or bowl, in which strong wine was mixed with water. A ladle was used to fill the drinking-cups.
[165] Murrhine vases, (murrhina vasa). Vases made of murrha, a material with a pale sheen in it, highly valued by the ancients; probably fluor-spar.
[166] Guinea-fowls from Numidia, (aves Numidicae or merely Numidicae) were a favorite dish. (Plin., Hist. Nat. Mart. etc.)
[167] The province of Thesprotis in Epirus, extended from Chaonia to the Ambracian Gulf. The goats raised there were considered exceptionally good.
[168] Pheasants from the Caspian Sea. At the time of our story, these birds were a newly-introduced delicacy. Phasis was the name of the boundary river between Asia-Minor and Colchis; hence their name phasianus; (avis Phasiana, or merely Phasiana, or Phasianus—the pheasant.) Martial also calls them volucres Phasides.
[169] Dates. The best quality were imported into Rome from Egypt.
[170] Dainty Cakes. Bread from Picenum is mentioned in the menu of a banquet given in the latter half of the century B. C., (Marquardt Handbuch, IV, 1.)
[171] Figs from Chios. Varro, (R. Rust. I, 41) speaks of Chian, Lydian, Chalcedonian and African figs.
[172] Pistachio nuts. The best pistachio nuts came from Palestine and Syria, whence Lucius Vitellius introduced them into his garden at Albanum.
[173] Euphemus. Caesar’s head-cook or butler. (See Martial Ep. IV. 8.)
[174] The long flowing hair of a female slave. This fancy was not at all unusual. (See Petron., 27.)
[175] Hispalis. A city in southern Spain, now Seville.
[176] Castanets. Castanet dances are often represented in pictures. (See O. Jahn, Fresco-paintings on the walls of the columbarium, in the Villa Pamfili.)
[177] Jester. Jesters, especially dwarfs, were very popular in ancient Rome. The scene that follows here is based upon various incidents in a description by Lucian, which has come down to modern times: “The Banquet, or The Lapithae” 18, 19. In this a hideous little fellow, who gives utterance to all sorts of jests and witticisms, appears at Aristaenetus’ banquet. "Finally he addressed each person with some mischievous joke—and each laughed as his turn came. But when he accosted Alcidamas, calling him a Maltese puppy, the latter, especially as he had long been jealous of the applause and attention bestowed on the jester by the whole company, grew angry, threw off his cloak and challenged the dwarf to a boxing-match. What could the poor jester do? It was infinitely comical to see a philosopher fight with a clown. Many of the spectators were ashamed of the scene, but others laughed merrily, until Alcidamas was at last beaten black and blue.”
[178] Velarium. The cloth hung across the amphitheatre, to screen it from the sun.
[179] The baths of Titus were located near the Cyprius Street, on the site of Nero’s domus aurea, which had been destroyed after its builder’s death.
[180] Curtain. The drop-scene (as we should call it) raised between the acts of a play. The curtain, properly so-called, was the aulaeum. These were not drawn up, as in modern theatres, but lowered.
[181] A tall cross. Crucifixion was the common punishment of great crimes.
[182] Trimeter. A verse of three double feet—the usual metre in dramatic verse.
[183] The capital punishment of a criminal slave. Such executions in theatrical form, especially pantomimic representations of them, were no rarity in the arena. Condemned criminals were specially trained for such performances. “They entered, clad in costly, gold-broidered tunics and purple mantles, and adorned with golden wreaths; suddenly, like the death-dealing robes of Medea, flames burst from these magnificent garments, in which the miserable creatures died a cruel death. There was scarcely a torture or terrible end known in history or literature, with whose representation the populace had not been entertained in the amphitheatre. Hercules was seen burning to death on Mt. Oeta, Mucius Scaevola holding his hand over the brazier of coals till it was consumed, the robber, Laureolus, the hero of a well-known farce, fastened to a cross and torn by wild beasts. At the same spectacle, another condemned criminal, in the character of Orpheus, ascended from the ground as if returning from the nether-world. Nature seemed enchanted by his playing, the rocks and trees moved towards him, birds hovered over him, countless animals surrounded him; when the scene had lasted long enough, he was torn to pieces by a bear.” (Friedlaender II, 268, etc.) It can scarcely be termed an unwarrantable license, that Lycoris presents a similar spectacle for the amusement of her guests. The masters’ right to dispose of the lives and persons of their slaves had been restricted in the first century, it is true; but the omnipotent Parthenius was doubtless superior to such legal edicts.
[184] Daci. A people living in the region now called Hungary, east of the Danube.
[185] Blood-hounds. (Molossi.) The dogs from Molossis in eastern Epirus were famous sleuth-hounds. (Hor. Virg. etc.)
[186] Patrician way. (vicus Patricius) ran between the Esquiline and Viminal hills.
[187] This is violence! Julius Caesar’s famous exclamation just before his murder, when Cimber Tullius, having approached him with a petition, after a refusal, seized him by the toga. (Suet. Jul. Caes. 82.)
[188] I should advise you, freedman. Their former condition of slavery affixed an ineffaceable stigma upon all freedmen, especially in the eyes of the old senatorial nobility. Even the vast power attained by some of the emperor’s freedmen, for instance the high chamberlain Parthenius, was of no avail in this respect; they too were at heart despised by all free-born citizens, much as they strove, from motives of prudence, to conceal this contempt beneath protestations of sycophantic devotion. Quintus addressing Stephanus as “freedman,” could not fail to be taken by the latter as a mortal insult.
[189] Town-watch, (cohortes urbanae). Besides the imperial body-guard, specially devoted to the Caesar’s service, there was a city-guard, which provided for the maintenance of public safety.
[190] Sabine Hills. The Sabines, an old Italian people, were the neighbors of the Latins. Their country extended northward to the domains of the Umbrians, southward to the Anio river.
[191] Followed by his clients and slaves. Aristocratic people rarely appeared in public without a train of followers.
[192] “Getting up early is my greatest torment.” See Martial, Ep. X 74, where the poet, as the sole reward for his verses, begs to be permitted to sleep as long as he likes in the morning.
[193] “Well said!” cried the poet. Martial often flattered his superiors, even to servility. See Mart. Ep. XII, 11, where he praises the poetic gifts of Parthenius.
[194] Subura. A densely-populated district between the Forum Romanum and the Vicus Patricius, occupied by the poorer classes.
[195] Houses. For the height of the houses in ancient Rome see Friedlander I, 5 etc.
[196] Taverns. All sorts of booths, stands, work-shops, taverns and barbers’ shops stood in front of the houses in the smaller streets, greatly impeding the passers-by. The confusion at last increased to such an extent, that Domitian found himself compelled to have the most obtrusive structures removed in certain quarters of the city. One of Martial’s epigrams (VII, 61) is founded on this incident.
[197] Itinerant bakers. Mart. XIV, 223:
The breakfast probably consisted of adipata, i.e. pastry or cakes made with fat. Bread was baked at home till the last years of the Republic; afterwards there were public bakehouses for the poorer classes.
[198] The pedagogue was a slave, whose duty it was to take children to school.
[199] The babble of spelling children. The Romans attached great importance to a distinct and accurate pronunciation; reading was taught twice a day, and children began to learn before the age of seven.
[200] The cyprius street (vious Cyprius) led from the Subura to the Flavian amphitheatre.
[201] A procession of priests. Solemn processions of priests through the city formed one of the principal features in the worship of Isis.
[202] You leeches are always right. Blepyrus, as his master’s constant companion, would watch over his health, if not as a qualified physician, at any rate, as an empirical adviser. The household leech in noble families was almost always a slave or freedman, and those who practised independently were often in the same position.
[203] Ostiarius. The porter, who sat in a niche of the entrance-corridor (ostium).
[204] Hyrcanian mountains. Hyrcania was the name of a rough mountainous region near the Caspian Sea.
[205] The second vigil. The Romans divided the time from sunrise to sunset into four vigils (night-watches) of three hours each.
[206] Cubiculum. Sleeping-room.
[207] Orbilius. The well-known schoolmaster, nicknamed by his pupils plagosus, (delighting in blows) to whom Horace went. (Suet. Gramm. 9.)
[208] I suppose you would like to stick a pin into me. Roman ladies often avenged mistakes committed by their slaves, during the process of making their toilettes, by such abuse. Nay, it sometimes happened that a slave thus stabbed was killed. See Mart. Ep. II, 66, where Lalage knocks down the female slave Plecusa on account of a single curl escaping from her hair.
[209] Ah! you naughty girl. With the sovereign contempt with which so many Romans treated their slaves, this tone, addressed to the daughter of the house, might seem strange, but even under the emperors the relation between masters and slaves was in many respects a patriarchial one. The older slaves, especially, were permitted many familiarities in their intercourse with the children of the family, who often called them “little father,” "little mother," allowed them to reprove them, and according to their personality, frequently permitted them to exercise no little authority. A beautiful example of cordial relations existing between the master, and his slaves and freedmen, is shown us in a letter from the younger Pliny to Paullinus (Ep. V. 19) where he says: "I see how mildly you treat your people, and therefore acknowledge the more frankly how indulgent I am to mine; I always remember the words of Homer:
and our own ‘father of a family’ (pater familias). But even were I harsher and sterner by nature, I should be moved by the illness of my freedman Zosimus, to whom I must show the greater kindness, now that he needs it more.... My long-standing affection for him, which is only increased by anxiety, affords a guarantee for that. Surely it is natural, that nothing so fans and increases love as the fear of loss, which I have already endured more than once on his account. Some years ago, after reciting a long time with much effort, he raised blood; so I sent him to Egypt, from whence he returned a short time since greatly strengthened by the long journey. But on straining his voice too much for several days, a slight cough served to remind us of the old difficulty, and he again raised blood. Therefore I intend to send him to your estate at Forojulium, having often heard you say that the air there was healthful, and the milk very beneficial in such diseases.“
[210] Wedding with offering of corn. The oldest form of the marriage ceremony was the Confarreatio, so-called from the offerings of grain (far). By this form the wife entirely lost her independence. Her property passed into her husband’s possession, and she could neither acquire anything for herself, nor transact any legal business. The desire for emancipation, here jestingly uttered by Lucilia, was in reality very widely diffused throughout Rome at the time of our story, and the form of the Confarreatio was therefore constantly becoming rarer.
[211] Citrus-wood. The citrus (tuja cupressoides) a beautiful tree growing on the sides of the Atlas, furnished costly tops for tables, for which the most extravagant prices were paid, as the trunks rarely attained the requisite degree of thickness. Pliny (Hist. Nat. XIII, 15) mentions slabs almost four feet in diameter, and six inches thick. Cicero gave a million sesterces for a citrus-wood table. Seneca is said to have owned five hundred of them. The slab rested on a single base of skilfully-carved ivory, from which they received the name of monopodia (a single foot).
[212] Stola. The over-garment worn by women (stola) was trimmed around the bottom with a border (instita) that often lengthened into a train.
[213] Metal mirror. At the time of our story mirrors made of a mixture of gold, silver and copper were preferred.
[214] Who hire flatterers to praise them. See Quintillian, XI, 3, 131; Juv. Sat. XIII, 29-31, Plin. Ep. II, 14, 4.
[215] The Centumvirate. A body of judges whose function it was to decide in civil cases, more particularly in suits concerning inheritance. The Decemvirate presided over them.
[216] Lived on the corn given away by the state. The number of Roman paupers, who lived almost exclusively by this means, far surpassed those who need support in civilized countries at the present time.
[217] The arch of Titus. The triumphal arch of Titus, at the southeastern corner of the Forum Romanum, designed for the commemoration of the victory over the Jews, A.D. 81, is still standing at the present day. It bears the inscription: ”Senatus populusque Romanus divo Tito divi Vespasiani filio Vespasiano Augusto." Some of its bas-reliefs are admirably preserved.
[218] Meta Sudans. One of the Metae (the obelisks at the upper and lower ends of the circus) resembling a fountain, not far from the Flavian amphitheatre. Part of the sub-structure still remains.
[219] The Flavian Amphitheatre, now the Coliseum. This edifice, commenced by the emperor Vespasian at the close of the Jewish war, finished under Titus, and dedicated A.D. 80, contained seats for 87,000 spectators, and room for 20,000 more in the open gallery. Even at the present time, no similar structure in the world has equalled, far less surpassed it in extent and magnificence.
[220] Caelimontana Gate.. (Porta Caelimontana) near the Lateran. The street here entered by Claudia and Lucilia still exists; it now bears the name of Via di San Giovanni in Laterano.
[221] The birthday (dies natalis, sacra natalicia) was celebrated in ancient times.
[222] In the middle stood a hearth. The real hearth, originally in the atrium, had long since vanished from the atria of the wealthy and aristocratic. Here a festal hearth erected for the occasion is meant.
[223] Lucretius. Titus Lucretius Carus, who was born in the year 98, and died in 55 B.C., composed a philosophical didactic poem “on the nature of things.” (De Rerum Natura.) The view of the world taken in it is a thoroughly material one. The poet constructs the universe out of an infinite multitude of atoms, which exist singly and imperishably in infinite space.
[224] Pliny the elder. Caius Plinius Secundus, called to distinguish him from his nephew, so often quoted here, the elder (major) a warrior, statesman, and famous naturalist, was born at Novum Comum, A.D. 23. He met his death, a victim to his thirst for scientific knowledge, at the great eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79. (See the famous description in his nephew’s letter to Tacitus, Plin. Ep. VI, 16.) Of his numerous works, nothing has come down to us except the Historia Naturalis, a vast encyclopedia, the material for which was obtained from more than 2,000 volumes. He was an absolute denier of the gods, nay, of transcendentalism altogether. The opinions attributed to Cinna are in part literally copied from the Historia Naturalis.
[225] Antium. The modern Porto d’Anzio, an ancient city south of Rome. Many Roman aristocrats owned country-seats there.
[226] Tissues mixed with silk. Fabrics made entirely of silk were rare in Rome.
[227] Mentor was a famous sculptor, especially celebrated for his cups and goblets in metal (repoussé). Pliny. Hist. Nat. VII, 38, and XIII, 11, 12, also Martial, Ep. III, 41:
that is, the silver lizard, wrought on the cup, is so true to life, that people might fear it. See Mart. Ep. IV, 39, IX, 59 (cups that Mentor’s hand ennobled), etc.
[228] Niceros. See Mart. Ep. VI, 55 (“because you smelt Niceros’s leaden vials ...”) Mart. Ep. X, 38, (“the lamps that exhaled Niceros’s sweet perfumes ...”) and Mart. Ep. XII, 65, (“a pound of ointment from Cosmus or Niceros.”)
[229] Ribbons and trimmings of amethyst-purple. Garments of amethystine-purple, woollen material (amethystina or vestes amethystinae) were among the most magnificent and costly clothes. See Mart. Ep. I, 97, 7, and Juv. Sat. VII, 136. The color was so-called because it glittered in the amethyst, a violet-blue gem.
[230] Exquisite roses. Roses and violets were the favorite flowers of the ancients. The use of these blossoms was enormous. For the rose-culture in Rome, see Varro, R. Rust, I, 16, 3.
[231] The steward of the tables. The chief slave in the dining-room, the butler, was called Tricliniarcha. (Petr. XXII, 6, Inscr. Orell. No. 794.)
[232] Paestum (Παὶστον) in the most ancient times Posidonia, a city on the western coast of Lucania, south of the mouth of the Silarus, (now Sele) was famous for its magnificent roses.
[233] Atellanian buffoon. Atellanae (Atellanae fabulae, ludi Atellani) was the name given to a species of dramatic performance, somewhat coarsely comical in character. The material for these plays was taken from the lives of the humble citizens and country people. The language used was that of every-day life, and they were often written in the Oscan dialect. The name comes from the Campanian city Atella, where this style of play first originated. Certain fundamental characteristics of the Atellanae representations are still visible in Italian popular farces.
[234] Phoenix. See Tac. Ann. VI, 28, Plin. Hist. Nat. X. 2, Ov. Met. XV, 392.
[235] Like crape from Cos. Corduba, now Cordova, on the Baetis, now the Guadalquivir, was one of the most important commercial cities in Spain, the principal place in Hispania Baetica, the seat of the imperial governor. See Strabo III, 141. Materials woven from Spanish flax (carbasus) were considered specially delicate for clothing.
[236] Epic from Epos (ἒπος)—word, speech, tale. Afterwards the Greeks distinguished epic poetry from lyric by the ἒπη.
[237] M. Ulpius Trajanus, born September 18th, A.D. 53, at Italica in Spain, obtained the consulship in the year 91.
[238] Cupid and Psyche. The story of Cupid and Psyche was the primeval prototype of Cinderella and a thousand other gems of primitive poetry, and was familiar in nurseries of every rank long before Appuleius cast it into shape, availing himself no doubt of several traditional versions. “Once upon a time there were a king and queen, who had three beautiful daughters,” (Erant in quadam civitate rex et regina; hi tres numero filias forma conspicuas habuere,) was no doubt as favorite a legend with the children of that age as with ours.
[239] In the forum, that is in the basilica situated in the forum.
[240] Basilica, (βασιλική scil. domus or porticus—royal house) a magnificent public building, used for holding courts of law, or transacting commercial business, and thus at the same time a court-house and exchange. Above were seats for the spectators. The basilicas consisted of a central nave and two side ones, divided from the former by columns. After Constantine the Great had transformed numerous basilicas into churches, the name and style of architecture became associated with the latter.
[241] Theognis. An elegiac poet from Attic Megara, who lived B.C. 520. The lines here quoted by Lucilia may be found Eleg. 1323, and in the original text run: