111 (return)
[ The Palatine hill was
not only the first seat of the colony of Romulus, but gave its name to the
first and principal of the four regions into which the city was divided,
from the time of Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome, to that of
Augustus; the others being the Suburra, Esquilina, and Collina.]
112 (return)
[ There were seven
streets or quarters in the Palatine region, one of which was called “Ad
Capita Bubula,” either from the butchers’ stalls at which ox-heads are
hung up for sale, or from their being sculptured on some edifice. Thus the
remains of a fortification near the tomb of Cecilia Metella are now called
Capo di Bove, from the arms of the Gaetani family over the gate.]
113 (return)
[ Adrian, to whom
Suetonius was secretary.]
114 (return)
[ Augusto augurio
postquam inclyta condita Roma est.]
115 (return)
[ A.U.C. 711.]
116 (return)
[ A.U.C. 712.]
117 (return)
[ After being defeated in
the second engagement, Brutus retired to a hill, and slew himself in the
night.]
118 (return)
[ The triumvir. There
were three distinguished brothers of the name of Antony; Mark, the consul;
Caius, who was praetor; and Lucius, a tribune of the people.]
119 (return)
[ Virgil was one of the
fugitives, having narrowly escaped being killed by the centurion Ario; and
being ejected from his farm. Eclog. i.]
120 (return)
[ A.U.C. 714.]
121 (return)
[ The anniversary of
Julius Caesar’s death.]
122 (return)
[ A.U.C. 712-718-]
123 (return)
[ The Romans employed
slaves in their wars only in cases of great emergency, and with much
reluctance. After the great slaughter at the battle of Cannae, eight
thousand were bought and armed by the republic. Augustus was the first who
manumitted them, and employed them as rowers in his gallies.]
124 (return)
[ In the triumvirate,
consisting of Augustus, Mark Antony, and Lepidus.]
125
[ A.U.C. 723.]
126 (return)
[ There is no other
authority for Augustus having viewed Antony’s corpse. Plutarch informs us,
that on hearing his death, Augustus retired into the interior of his tent,
and wept over the fate of his colleague and friend, his associate in so
many former struggles, both in war and the administration of affairs.]
127 (return)
[ The poison proved
fatal, as every one knows, see Velleius, ii. 27; Florus, iv. 11. The
Psylli were a people of Africa, celebrated for sucking the poison from
wounds inflicted by serpents, with which that country anciently abounded.
They pretended to be endowed with an antidote, which rendered their bodies
insensible to the virulence of that species of poison; and the ignorance
of those times gave credit to the physical immunity which they arrogated.
But Celsus, who flourished about fifty years after the period we speak of,
has exploded the vulgar prejudice which prevailed in their favour. He
justly observes, that the venom of serpents, like some other kinds of
poison, proves noxious only when applied to the naked fibre; and that,
provided there is no ulcer in the gums or palate, the poison may be
received into the mouth with perfect safety.]
128 (return)
[ Strabo informs us that
Ptolemy caused it to be deposited in a golden sarcophagus, which was
afterwards exchanged for one of glass, in which probably Augustus saw the
remains.]
129 (return)
[ A custom of all ages
and of people the most remote from each other.]
130 (return)
[ Meaning the degenerate
race of the Ptolomean kings.]
131 (return)
[ The naval trophies were
formed of the prows of ships.]
132 (return)
[ A.U.C. 721.]
133 (return)
[ Because his father was
a Roman and his mother of the race of the Parthini, an Illyrian tribe.]
134 (return)
[ It was usual at Rome,
before the elections, for the candidates to endeavour to gain popularity
by the usual arts. They would therefore go to the houses of the citizens,
shake hands with those they met, and address them in a kindly manner. It
being of great consequence, upon those occasions, to know the names of
persons, they were commonly attended by a nomenclator, who whispered into
their ears that information, wherever it was wanted. Though this kind of
officer was generally an attendant on men, we meet with instances of their
having been likewise employed in the service of ladies; either with the
view of serving candidates to whom they were allied, or of gaining the
affections of the people.]
135 (return)
[ Not a bridge over a
river, but a military engine used for gaining admittance into a fortress.]
136 (return)
[ Cantabria, in the north
of Spain, now the Basque province.]
137 (return)
[ The ancient Pannonia
includes Hungary and part of Austria, Styria and Carniola.]
138 (return)
[ The Rhaetian Alps are
that part of the chain bordering on the Tyrol.]
139 (return)
[ The Vindelici
principally occupied the country which is now the kingdom of Bavaria; and
the Salassii, that part of Piedmont which includes the valley of Aost.]
140 (return)
[ The temple of Mars
Ultor was erected by Augustus in fulfilment of a vow made by him at the
battle of Philippi. It stood in the Forum which he built, mentioned in
chap. xxxix. There are no remains of either.]
141 (return)
[ “The Ovatio was an
inferior kind of Triumph, granted in cases where the victory was not of
great importance, or had been obtained without difficulty. The general
entered the city on foot or on horseback, crowned with myrtle, not with
laurel; and instead of bullocks, the sacrifice was performed with a sheep,
whence this procession acquired its name.”—Thomson.]
142 (return)
[ “The greater Triumph,
in which the victorious general and his army advanced in solemn procession
through the city to the Capitol, was the highest military honour which
could be obtained in the Roman state. Foremost in the procession went
musicians of various kinds, singing and playing triumphal songs. Next were
led the oxen to be sacrificed, having their horns gilt, and their heads
adorned with fillets and garlands. Then in carriages were brought the
spoils taken from the enemy, statues, pictures, plate, armour, gold and
silver, and brass; with golden crowns, and other gifts, sent by the allied
and tributary states. The captive princes and generals followed in chains,
with their children and attendants. After them came the lictors, having
their fasces wreathed with laurel, followed by a great company of
musicians and dancers dressed like Satyrs, and wearing crowns of gold; in
the midst of whom was one in a female dress, whose business it was, with
his looks and gestures, to insult the vanquished. Next followed a long
train of persons carrying perfumes. Then came the victorious general,
dressed in purple embroidered with gold, with a crown of laurel on his
head, a branch of laurel in his right hand, and in his left an ivory
sceptre, with an eagle on the top; having his face painted with vermilion,
in the same manner as the statue of Jupiter on festival days, and a golden
Bulla hanging on his breast, and containing some amulet, or magical
preservative against envy. He stood in a gilded chariot, adorned with
ivory, and drawn by four white horses, sometimes by elephants, attended by
his relations, and a great crowd of citizens, all in white. His children
used to ride in the chariot with him; and that he might not be too much
elated, a slave, carrying a golden crown sparkling with gems, stood behind
him, and frequently whispered in his ear, ‘Remember that thou art a man!’
After the general, followed the consuls and senators on foot, at least
according to the appointment of Augustus; for they formerly used to go
before him. His Legati and military Tribunes commonly rode by his side.
The victorious army, horse and foot, came last, crowned with laurel, and
decorated with the gifts which they had received for their valour, singing
their own and their general’s praises, but sometimes throwing out
railleries against him; and often exclaiming, ‘Io Triumphe!’ in which they
were joined by all the citizens, as they passed along. The oxen having
been sacrificed, the general gave a magnificent entertainment in the
Capitol to his friends and the chief men of the city; after which he was
conducted home by the people, with music and a great number of lamps and
torches.”—Thomson.]
143 (return)
[ “The Sella Curulis was
a chair on which the principal magistrates sat in the tribunal upon solemn
occasions. It had no back, but stood on four crooked feet, fixed to the
extremities of cross pieces of wood, joined by a common axis, somewhat in
the form of the letter X; was covered with leather, and inlaid with ivory.
From its construction, it might be occasionally folded together for the
convenience of carriage, and set down where the magistrate chose to use
it.”—Thomson.]
144 (return)
[ Now Saragossa.]
145 (return)
[ A great and wise man,
if he is the same person to whom Cicero’s letters on the calamities of the
times were addressed. Fam. Epist. c. vi, 20, 21.]
146 (return)
[ A.U.C. 731.]
147 (return)
[ The Lustrum was a
period of five years, at the end of which the census of the people was
taken. It was first made by the Roman kings, then by the consuls, but
after the year 310 from the building of the city, by the censors, who were
magistrates created for that purpose. It appears, however, that the census
was not always held at stated periods, and sometimes long intervals
intervened.]
148 (return)
[ Augustus appears to
have been in earnest on these occasions, at least, in his desire to retire
into private life and release himself from the cares of government, if we
may believe Seneca. De Brev. Vit. c. 5. Of his two intimate advisers,
Agrippa gave this counsel, while Mecaenas was for continuing his career of
ambition.—Eutrop. 1. 53.]
149 (return)
[ The Tiber has been
always remarkable for the frequency of its inundations and the ravages
they occasioned, as remarked by Pliny, iii. 5. Livy mentions several such
occurrences, as well as one extensive fire, which destroyed great part of
the city.]
150 (return)
[ The well-known saying
of Augustus, recorded by Suetonius, that he found a city of bricks, but
left it of marble, has another version given it by Dio, who applies it to
his consolidation of the government, to the following effect: “That Rome,
which I found built of mud, I shall leave you firm as a rock.”—Dio.
lvi. p. 589.]
151 (return)
[ The same motive which
engaged Julius Caesar to build a new forum, induced Augustus to erect
another. See his life c. xx. It stood behind the present churches of St.
Adrian and St. Luke, and was almost parallel with the public forum, but
there are no traces of it remaining. The temple of Mars Ultor, adjoining,
has been mentioned before, p. 84.]
152 (return)
[ The temple of the
Palatine Apollo stood, according to Bianchini, a little beyond the
triumphal arch of Titus. It appears, from the reverse of a medal of
Augustus, to have been a rotondo, with an open portico, something like the
temple of Vesta. The statues of the fifty daughters of Danae surrounded
the portico; and opposite to them were their husbands on horseback. In
this temple were preserved some of the finest works of the Greek artists,
both in sculpture and painting. Here, in the presence of Augustus,
Horace’s Carmen Seculare was sung by twenty-seven noble youths and as many
virgins. And here, as our author informs us, Augustus, towards the end of
his reign, often assembled the senate.]
153 (return)
[ The library adjoined
the temple, and was under the protection of Apollo. Caius Julius Hegenus,
a freedman of Augustus, and an eminent grammarian, was the librarian.]
154 (return)
[ The three fluted
Corinthian columns of white marble, which stand on the declivity of the
Capitoline hill, are commonly supposed to be the remains of the temple of
Jupiter Tonans, erected by Augustus. Part of the frieze and cornice are
attached to them, which with the capitals of the columns are finely
wrought. Suetonius tells us on what occasion this temple was erected. Of
all the epithets given to Jupiter, none conveyed more terror to
superstitious minds than that of the Thunderer—
We shall find this temple mentioned again in c. xci. of the life of Augustus.]
155 (return)
[ The Portico of Octavia
stood between the Flaminian circus and the theatre of Marcellus, enclosing
the temples of Jupiter and Juno, said to have been built in the time of
the republic. Several remains of them exist, in the Pescheria or
fish-market; they were of the Corinthian order, and have been traced and
engraved by Piranesi.]
156 (return)
[ The magnificent theatre
of Marcellus was built on the site where Suetonius has before informed us
that Julius Caesar intended to erect one (p. 30). It stood between the
portico of Octavia and the hill of the Capitol. Augustus gave it the name
of his nephew Marcellus, though he was then dead. Its ruins are still to
be seen in the Piazza Montanara, where the Orsini family have a palace
erected on the site.]
157 (return)
[ The theatre of Balbus
was the third of the three permanent theatres of Rome. Those of Pompey and
Marcellus have been already mentioned.]
158 (return)
[ Among these were, at
least, the noble portico, if not the whole, of the Pantheon, still the
pride of Rome, under the name of the Rotondo, on the frieze of which may
be seen the inscription,
Agrippa also built the temple of Neptune, and the portico of the Argonauts.]
159 (return)
[ To whatever extent
Augustus may have cleared out the bed of the Tiber, the process of its
being encumbered with an alluvium of ruins and mud has been constantly
going on. Not many years ago, a scheme was set on foot for clearing it by
private enterprise, principally for the sake of the valuable remains of
art which it is supposed to contain.]
160 (return)
[ The Via Flaminia was
probably undertaken by the censor Caius Flaminius, and finished by his son
of the same name, who was consul A.U.C. 566, and employed his soldiers in
forming it after subduing the Ligurians. It led from the Flumentan gate,
now the Porta del Popolo, through Etruria and Umbria into the Cisalpine
Gaul, ending at Ariminum, the frontier town of the territories of the
republic, now Rimini, on the Adriatic; and is travelled by every tourist
who takes the route, north of the Appenines, through the States of the
Church, to Rome. Every one knows that the great highways, not only in
Italy but in the provinces, were among the most magnificent and enduring
works of the Roman people.]
161 (return)
[ It had formed a sort of
honourable retirement in which Lepidus was shelved, to use a familiar
expression, when Augustus got rid of him quietly from the Triumvirate.
Augustus assumed it A.U.C. 740, thus centring the last of all the great
offices of the state in his own person; that of Pontifex Maximus, being of
high importance, from the sanctity attached to it, and the influence it
gave him over the whole system of religion.]
162 (return)
[ In the thirty-six years
since the calendar was corrected by Julius Caesar, the priests had
erroneously intercalated eleven days instead of nine. See JULIUS, c. xl.]
163 (return)
[ Sextilis, the sixth
month, reckoning from March, in which the year of Romulus commenced.]
164 (return)
[ So Cicero called the
day on which he returned from exile, the day of his “nativity” and his
“new birth,” paligennesian, a word which had afterwards a theological
sense, from its use in the New Testament.]
165 (return)
[ Capi. There is a
peculiar force in the word here adopted by Suetonius; the form used by the
Pontifex Maximus, when he took the novice from the hand of her father,
being Te capio amata, “I have you, my dear,” implying the forcible breach
of former ties, as in the case of a captive taken in war.]
166 (return)
[ At times when the
temple of Janus was shut, and then only, certain divinations were made,
preparatory to solemn supplication for the public health, “as if,” says
Dio, “even that could not be implored from the gods, unless the signs were
propitious.” It would be an inquiry of some interest, now that the care of
the public health is becoming a department of the state, with what
sanatory measures these becoming solemnities were attended.]
167 (return)
[ Theophrastus mentions
the spring and summer flowers most suited for these chaplets. Among the
former, were hyacinths, roses, and white violets; among the latter,
lychinis, amaryllis, iris, and some species of lilies.]
168 (return)
[ Ergastulis. These were
subterranean strong rooms, with narrow windows, like dungeons, in the
country houses, where incorrigible slaves were confined in fetters, in the
intervals of the severe tasks in grinding at the hand-mills, quarrying
stones, drawing water, and other hard agricultural labour in which they
were employed.]
169 (return)
[ These months were not
only “the Long Vacation” of the lawyers, but during them there was a
general cessation of business at Rome; the calendar exhibiting a constant
succession of festivals. The month of December, in particular, was devoted
to pleasure and relaxation.]
170 (return)
[ Causes are mentioned,
the hearing of which was so protracted that lights were required in the
court; and sometimes they lasted, we are told, as long as eleven or twelve
days.]
171 (return)
[ Orcini. They were also
called Charonites, the point of the sarcasm being, that they owed their
elevation to a dead man, one who was gone to Orcus, namely Julius Caesar,
after whose death Mark Antony introduced into the senate many persons of
low rank who were designated for that honour in a document left by the
deceased emperor.]
172 (return)
[ Cordus Cremutius wrote
a History of the Civil Wars, and the Times of Augustus, as we are informed
by Dio, 6, 52.]
173 (return)
[ In front of the
orchestra.]
174 (return)
[ The senate usually
assembled in one of the temples, and there was an altar consecrated to
some god in the curia, where they otherwise met, as that to Victory in the
Julian Curia.]
175 (return)
[ To allow of their
absence during the vintage, always an important season in rural affairs in
wine-growing countries. In the middle and south of Italy, it begins in
September, and, in the worst aspects, the grapes are generally cleared
before the end of October. In elevated districts they hung on the trees,
as we have witnessed, till the month of November.]
176 (return)
[ Julius Caesar had
introduced the contrary practice. See JULIUS, c. xx.]
177 (return)
[ A.U.C. 312, two
magistrates were created, under the name of Censors, whose office, at
first, was to take an account of the number of the people, and the value
of their estates. Power was afterwards granted them to inspect the morals
of the people; and from this period the office became of great importance.
After Sylla, the election of censors was intermitted for about seventeen
years. Under the emperors, the office of censor was abolished; but the
chief functions of it were exercised by the emperors themselves, and
frequently both with caprice and severity.]
178 (return)
[ Young men until they
were seventeen years of age, and young women until they were married, wore
a white robe bordered with purple, called Toga Praetexta. The former, when
they had completed this period, laid aside the dress of minority, and
assumed the Toga Virilis, or manly habit. The ceremony of changing the
Toga was performed with great solemnity before the images of the Lares, to
whom the Bulla was consecrated. On this occasion, they went either to the
Capitol, or to some temple, to pay their devotions to the Gods.]
179 (return)
[ Transvectio: a
procession of the equestrian order, which they made with great splendour
through the city, every year, on the fifteenth of July. They rode on
horseback from the temple of Honour, or of Mars, without the city, to the
Capitol, with wreaths of olive on their heads, dressed in robes of
scarlet, and bearing in their hands the military ornaments which they had
received from their general, as a reward of their valour. The knights rode
up to the censor, seated on his curule chair in front of the Capitol, and
dismounting, led their horses in review before him. If any of the knights
was corrupt in his morals, had diminished his fortune below the legal
standard, or even had not taken proper care of his horse, the censor
ordered him to sell his horse, by which he was considered as degraded from
the equestrian order.]
180 (return)
[ Pugillaria were a kind
of pocket book, so called, because memorandums were written or impinged by
the styli, on their waxed surface. They appear to have been of very
ancient origin, for we read of them in Homer under the name of pinokes.—II.
z. 169.
181 (return)
[ Pullatorum; dusky,
either from their dark colour, or their being soiled. The toga was white,
and was the distinguishing costume of the sovereign people of Rome,
without which, they were not to appear in public; as members of an
university are forbidden to do so, without the academical dress, or
officers in garrisons out of their regimentals.]
182 (return)
[ Aen. i. 186.]
183 (return)
[ It is hardly necessary
to direct the careful reader’s attention to views of political economy so
worthy of an enlightened prince. But it was easier to make the Roman
people wear the toga, than to forego the cry of “Panem et Circenses.”]
184 (return)
[ Septa were enclosures
made with boards, commonly for the purpose of distributing the people into
distinct classes, and erected occasionally like our hustings.]
185 (return)
[ The Thensa was a
splendid carriage with four wheels, and four horses, adorned with ivory
and silver, in which, at the Circensian games, the images of the gods were
drawn in solemn procession from their shrines, to a place in the circus,
called the Pulvinar, where couches were prepared for their reception. It
received its name from thongs (lora tensa) stretched before it; and was
attended in the procession by persons of the first rank, in their most
magnificent apparel. The attendants took delight in putting their hands to
the traces: and if a boy happened to let go the thong which he held, it
was an indispensable rule that the procession should be renewed.]
186 (return)
[ The Cavea was the name
of the whole of that part of the theatre where the spectators sat. The
foremost rows were called cavea prima, of cavea; the last, cavea ultima,
or summa; and the middle, cavea media.]
187 (return)
[ A.U.C. 726.]
188 (return)
[ As in the case of
Herod, Joseph. Antiq. Jud. xv. 10.]
189 (return)
[ The Adriatic and the
Tuscan.]
190 (return)
[ It was first
established by Tiberius. See c. xxxvii.]
191 (return)
[ Tertullian, in his
Apology, c. 34, makes the same remark. The word seems to have conveyed
then, as it does in its theological sense now, the idea of Divinity, for
it is coupled with Deus, God; nunquum se dominum vel deum appellare
voluerit.]
192 (return)
[ An inclosure in the
middle of the Forum, marking the spot where Curtius leapt into the lake,
which had been long since filled up.]
193 (return)
[ Sandalarium, Tragoedum;
names of streets, in which temples of tame gouts stood, as we now say St.
Peter, Cornhill, etc.]
194 (return)
[ A coin, in value about
8 3/4 d. of our money.]
195 (return)
[ The senate, as
instituted by Romulus, consisted of one hundred members, who were called
Patres, i. e. Fathers, either upon account of their age, or their paternal
care of the state. The number received some augmentation under Tullus
Hostilius; and Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, added a hundred
more, who were called Patres minorum gentium; those created by Romulus
being distinguished by the name of Patres majorum gentium. Those who were
chosen into the senate by Brutus, after the expulsion of Tarquin the
Proud, to supply the place of those whom that king had slain, were called
Conscripti, i. e. persons written or enrolled among the old senators, who
alone were properly styled Patres. Hence arose the custom of summoning to
the senate those who were Patres, and those who were Conscripti; and hence
also was applied to the senators in general the designation of Patres
Conscripti, the particle et, and, being understood to connect the two
classes of senators. In the time of Julius Caesar, the number of senators
was increased to nine hundred, and after his death to a thousand; many
worthless persons having been admitted into the senate during the civil
wars. Augustus afterwards reduced the number to six hundred.]
196 (return)
[ Antonius Musa was a
freedman, and had acquired his knowledge of medicine while a domestic
slave; a very common occurrence.]
197 (return)
[ A.U.C. 711.]
198 (return)
[ See cc. x. xi. xii. and
xiii.]
199 (return)
[ One of them was Scipio,
the father of Cornelia, whose death is lamented by Propertius, iv. 12. The
other is unknown.]
200 (return)
[ A.U.C. 715.]
201 (return)
[ He is mentioned by
Horace:
Most probably Antony knew the imputation to be unfounded, and made it for the purpose of excusing his own marriage with Cleopatra.]
202 (return)
[ This form of adoption
consisted in a fictitious sale. See Cicero, Topic. iii.]
203 (return)
[ Curiae. Romulus divided
the people of Rome into three tribes; and each tribe into ten Curiae. The
number of tribes was afterwards increased by degrees to thirty-five; but
that of the Curiae always remained the same.]
204 (return)
[ She was removed to
Reggio in Calabria.]
205 (return)
[ Agrippa was first
banished to the little desolate island of Planasia, now Pianosa. It is one
of the group in the Tuscan sea, between Elba and Corsica.]
206 (return)
[ A quotation from the
Iliad, 40, iii.; where Hector is venting his rage on Paris. The inflexion
is slightly changed, the line in the original commencing, “Aith’ opheles,
etc., would thou wert, etc.”]
207 (return)
[ Women called
ustriculae, the barbers, were employed in thin delicate operation. It is
alluded to by Juvenal, ix. 4, and Martial, v. 61.]
208 (return)
[ Cybele.—Gallus
was either the name of a river in Phrygia, supposed to cause a certain
frenzy in those who drank of its waters, or the proper name of the first
priest of Cybele.]
209 (return)
[ A small drum, beat by
the finger or thumb, was used by the priests of Cybele in their lascivious
rites and in other orgies of a similar description, These drums were made
of inflated skin, circular in shape, so that they had some resemblance to
the orb which, in the statues of the emperor, he is represented as holding
in his hand. The populace, with the coarse humour which was permitted to
vent itself freely at the spectacles, did not hesitate to apply what was
said in the play of the lewd priest of Cybele, to Augustus, in reference
to the scandals attached to his private character. The word cinaedus,
translated “wanton,” might have been rendered by a word in vulgar use, the
coarsest in the English language, and there is probably still more in the
allusion too indelicate to be dwelt upon.]
210 (return)
[ Mark Antony makes use
of fondling diminutives of the names of Tertia, Terentia, and Rufa, some
of Augustus’s favourites.]
211 (return)
[ Dodekatheos; the twelve
Dii Majores; they are enumerated in two verses by Ennius:—