neighbourhood, and was entertained the whole time at the emperor's
expense.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[602] A play upon the Greek word moros, signifying a fool, while the
Latin morari, from moror, means "to dwell," or "continue."
[603] A small port between the gulf of Baiae and cape Misenum.
[604] From whence the "Procul, O procul este profani!" of the poet; a
warning which was transferred to the Christian mysteries.
[605] See before, c. xii.
[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.
[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.
[608] A.U.C. 813.
[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.
[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.
[611] See Tacitus, Annal. xv. 49-55.
[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.
[613] See before, c. xix.
[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.
[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.
[616] Neonymphon; alluding to Nero's unnatural nuptials with Sporus or
Pythagoras. See cc. xxviii. xxix. It should be neonymphos.
[617] "Sustulit" has a double meaning, signifying both, to bear away,
and put out of the way.
[618] The epithet applied to Apollo, as the god of music, was Paean; as
the god of war, Ekataebaletaes.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[623] Gallos, which signifies both cocks and Gauls.
[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.
[625] Aen. xii. 646.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[629] Decocta. Pliny informs us that Nero had the water he drank,
boiled, to clear it from impurities, and then cooled with ice.
[630] Wood, to warm the water for washing the corpse, and for the
funeral pile,
[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.
[632] II. x. 535.
[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.
[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.
[635] See c. x1i.
[636] The Syrian Goddess is supposed to have been Semiramis deified.
Her rites are mentioned by Florus, Apuleius, and Lucian.
[637] A.U.C. 821--A.D. 69.
[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.
End of Project Gutenberg's Nero Claudius Caesar (Nero),
by C. Suetonius Tranquillus