[1] Plin. Epist. i. 18, 24, iii. 8, v. 11, ix. 34, x. 95.
[2] Lycee, part I. liv. III. c. i.
[3] Julius Caesar Divus. Romulus, the founder of Rome, had the honour
of an apotheosis conferred on him by the senate, under the title of
Quirinus, to obviate the people's suspicion of his having been taken off
by a conspiracy of the patrician order. Political circumstances again
concurred with popular superstition to revive this posthumous adulation
in favour of Julius Caesar, the founder of the empire, who also fell by
the hands of conspirators. It is remarkable in the history of a nation
so jealous of public liberty, that, in both instances, they bestowed the
highest mark of human homage upon men who owed their fate to the
introduction of arbitrary power.
[4] Pliny informs us that Caius Julius, the father of Julius Caesar, a
man of pretorian rank, died suddenly at Pisa.
[5] A.U.C. (in the year from the foundation of Rome) 670; A.C. (before
Christ) about 92.
[6] Flamen Dialis. This was an office of great dignity, but subjected
the holder to many restrictions. He was not allowed to ride on
horseback, nor to absent himself from the city for a single night. His
wife was also under particular restraints, and could not be divorced. If
she died, the flamen resigned his office, because there were certain
sacred rites which he could not perform without her assistance. Besides
other marks of distinction, he wore a purple robe called laena, and a
conical mitre called apex.
[7] Two powerful parties were contending at Rome for the supremacy;
Sylla being at the head of the faction of the nobles, while Marius
espoused the cause of the people. Sylla suspected Julius Caesar of
belonging to the Marian party, because Marius had married his aunt Julia.
[8] He wandered about for some time in the Sabine territory.
[9] Bithynia, in Asia Minor, was bounded on the south by Phrygia, on the
west by the Bosphorus and Propontis; and on the north by the Euxine sea.
Its boundaries towards the east are not clearly ascertained, Strabo,
Pliny, and Ptolemy differing from each other on the subject.
[10] Mitylene was a city in the island of Lesbos, famous for the study
of philosophy and eloquence. According to Pliny, it remained a free city
and in power one thousand five hundred years. It suffered much in the
Peloponnesian war from the Athenians, and in the Mithridatic from the
Romans, by whom it was taken and destroyed. But it soon rose again,
having recovered its ancient liberty by the favour of Pomnpey; and was
afterwards much embellished by Trajan, who added to it the splendour of
his own name. This was the country of Pittacus, one of the seven wise
men of Greece, as well as of Alcaeus and Sappho. The natives showed a
particular taste for poetry, and had, as Plutarch informs us, stated
times for the celebration of poetical contests.
[11] The civic crown was made of oak-leaves, and given to him who had
saved the life of a citizen. The person thus decorated, wore it at
public spectacles, and sat next the senators. When he entered, the
audience rose up, as a mark of respect.
[12] A very extensive country of Hither Asia; lying between Pamphylia to
the west, Mount Taurus and Amanus to the north, Syria to the east, and
the Mediterranean to the south. It was anciently famous for saffron; and
hair-cloth, called by the Romans ciliciun, was the manufacture of this
country.
[13] A city and an island, near the coast of Caria famous for the huge
statue of the Sun, called the Colossus. The Rhodians were celebrated not
only for skill in naval affairs, but for learning, philosophy, and
eloquence. During the latter periods of the Roman republic, and under
some of the emperors, numbers resorted there to prosecute their studies;
and it also became a place of retreat to discontented Romans.
[14] Pharmacusa, an island lying off the coast of Asia, near Miletus.
It is now called Parmosa.
[15] The ransom, too large for Caesar's private means, was raised by the
voluntary contributions of the cities in the Asiatic province, who were
equally liberal from their public funds in the case of other Romans who
fell into the hands of pirates at that period.
[16] From Miletus, as we are informed by Plutarch.
[17] Who commanded in Spain.
[18] Rex, it will be easily understood, was not a title of dignity in a
Roman family, but the surname of the Marcii.
[19] The rites of the Bona Dea, called also Fauna, which were performed
in the night, and by women only.
[20] Hispania Boetica; the Hither province being called Hispania
Tarraconensis.
[21] Alexander the Great was only thirty-three years at the time of his
death.
[22] The proper office of the master of the horse was to command the
knights, and execute the orders of the dictator. He was usually
nominated from amongst persons of consular and praetorian dignity; and
had the use of a horse, which the dictator had not, without the order of
the people.
[23] Seneca compares the annals of Tanusius to the life of a fool,
which, though it may he long, is worthless; while that of a wise man,
like a good book, is valuable, however short.--Epist. 94.
[24] Bibulus was Caesar's colleague, both as edile and consul. Cicero
calls his edicts "Archilochian," that is, as full of spite as the verses
of Archilochus.--Ad. Attic. b. 7. ep. 24.
[25] A.U.C. 689. Cicero holds both the Curio's, father and son, very
cheap.--Brut. c. 60.
[26] Regnum, the kingly power, which the Roman people considered an
insupportable tyranny.
[27] An honourable banishment.
[28] The assemblies of the people were at first held in the open Forum.
Afterwards, a covered building, called the Comitium, was erected for that
purpose. There are no remains of it, but Lumisden thinks that it
probably stood on the south side of the Forum, on the site of the present
church of The Consolation.--Antiq. of Rome, p. 357.
[29] Basilicas, from Basileus; a king. They were, indeed, the palaces
of the sovereign people; stately and spacious buildings, with halls,
which served the purpose of exchanges, council chambers, and courts of
justice. Some of the Basilicas were afterwards converted into Christian
churches. "The form was oblong; the middle was an open space to walk in,
called Testudo, and which we now call the nave. On each side of this
were rows of pillars, which formed what we should call the side-aisles,
and which the ancients called Porticus. The end of the Testudo was
curved, like the apse of some of our churches, and was called Tribunal,
from causes being heard there. Hence the term Tribune is applied to that
part of the Roman churches which is behind the high altar."--Burton's
Antiq. of Rome, p. 204.
[30] Such as statues and pictures, the works of Greek artists.
[31] It appears to have stood at the foot of the Capitoline hill.
Piranesi thinks that the two beautiful columns of white marble, which are
commonly described as belonging to the portico of the temple of Jupiter
Stator, are the remains of the temple of Castor and Pollux.
[32] Ptolemy Auletes, the son of Cleopatra.
[33] Lentulus, Cethegus, and others.
[34] The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was commenced and completed by
the Tarquins, kings of Rome, but not dedicated till the year after their
expulsion, when that honour devolved on M. Horatius Fulvillus, the first
of the consuls. Having been burnt down during the civil wars, A.U.C.
670, Sylla restored it on the same foundations, but did not live to
consecrate it.
[35] Meaning Pompey; not so much for the sake of the office, as having
his name inserted in the inscription recording the repairs of the
Capitol, instead of Catulus. The latter, however, secured the honour,
and his name is still seen inscribed in an apartment at the Capitol, as
its restorer.
[36] It being the calends of January, the first day of the year, on
which the magistrates solemnly entered on their offices, surrounded by
their friends.
[37] Among others, one for recalling Pompey from Asia, under the pretext
that the commonwealth was in danger. Cato was one of the colleagues who
saw through the design and opposed the decree.
[38] See before, p. 5. This was in A.U.C. 693.
[39] Plutarch informs us, that Caesar, before he came into office, owed
his creditors 1300 talents, somewhat more than 565,000 pounds of our
money. But his debts increased so much after this period, if we may
believe Appian, that upon his departure for Spain, at the expiration of
his praetorship, he is reported to have said, Bis millies et quingenties
centena minis sibi adesse oportere, ut nihil haberet: i. e. That he was
2,000,000 and nearly 20,000 sesterces worse than penniless. Crassus
became his security for 830 talents, about 871,500 pounds.
[40] For his victories in Gallicia and Lusitania, having led his army to
the shores of the ocean, which had not before been reduced to submission.
[41] Caesar was placed in this dilemma, that if he aspired to a triumph,
he must remain outside the walls until it took place, while as a
candidate for the consulship, he must be resident in the city.
[42] Even the severe censor was biassed by political expediency to
sanction a system, under which what little remained of public virtue, and
the love of liberty at Rome, were fast decaying. The strict laws against
bribery at elections were disregarded, and it was practised openly, and
accepted without a blush. Sallust says that everything was venal, and
that Rome itself might be bought, if any one was rich enough to purchase
it. Jugurth, viii. 20, 3.
[43] A.U.C. 695.
[44] The proceedings of the senate were reported in short notes taken by
one of their own order, "strangers" not being admitted at their sittings.
These notes included speeches as well as acts. These and the proceedings
of the assemblies of the people, were daily published in journals
[diurna] which contained also accounts of the trials at law, with
miscellaneous intelligence of births and deaths, marriages and divorces.
The practice of publishing the proceedings of the senate, introduced by
Julius Caesar, was discontinued by Augustus.
[45] Within the city, the lictors walked before only one of the consuls,
and that commonly for a month alternately. A public officer, called
Accensus, preceded the other consul, and the lictors followed. This
custom had long been disused, but was now restored by Caesar.
[46] In order that he might be a candidate for the tribuneship of the
people; it was done late in the evening, at an unusual hour for public
business.
[47] Gaul was divided into two provinces, Transalpine, or Gallia
Ulterior, and Cisalpina, or Citerior. The Citerior, having nearly the
same limits as Lombardy in after times, was properly a part of Italy,
occupied by colonists from Gaul, and, having the Rubicon, the ancient
boundary of Italy, on the south. It was also called Gallia Togata, from
the use of the Roman toga; the inhabitants being, after the social war,
admitted to the right of citizens. The Gallia Transalpina, or Ulterior,
was called Comata, from the people wearing their hair long, while the
Romans wore it short; and the southern part, afterwards called
Narbonensis, came to have the epithet Braccata, from the use of the
braccae, which were no part of the Roman dress. Some writers suppose the
braccae to have been breeches, but Aldus, in a short disquisition on the
subject, affirms that they were a kind of upper dress. And this opinion
seems to be countenanced by the name braccan being applied by the modern
Celtic nations, the descendants of the Gallic Celts, to signify their
upper garment, or plaid.
[48] Alluding, probably, to certain scandals of a gross character
which were rife against Caesar. See before, c. ii. (p. 2) and see also
c. xlix.
[49] So called from the feathers on their helmets, resembling the crest
of a lark; Alauda, Fr. Alouette.
[50] Days appointed by the senate for public thanksgiving in the temples
in the name of a victorious general, who had in the decrees the title of
emperor, by which they were saluted by the legions.
[51] A.U.C. 702.
[52] Aurelia.
[53] Julia, the wife of Pompey, who died in childbirth.
[54] Conquest had so multiplied business at Rome, that the Roman Forum
became too little for transacting it, and could not be enlarged without
clearing away the buildings with which it was surrounded. Hence the
enormous sum which its site is said to have cost, amounting, it is
calculated, to 809,291 pounds of our money. It stood near the old forum,
behind the temple of Romulus and Remus, but not a vestige of it remains.
[55] Comum was a town of the Orobii, of ancient standing, and formerly
powerful. Julius Caesar added to it five thousand new colonists; whence
it was generally called Novocomum. But in time it recovered its ancient
name, Comum; Pliny the younger, who was a native of this place, calling
it by no other name.
[56] A.U.C. 705.
[57] Eiper gar adikein chrae, tyrannidos peri
Kalliston adikein talla de eusebein chreon.
--Eurip. Phoeniss. Act II, where Eteocles aspires to become the tyrant of
Thebes.
[58] Now the Pisatello; near Rimini. There was a very ancient law of
the republic, forbidding any general, returning from the wars, to cross
the Rubicon with his troops under arms.
[59] The ring was worn on the finger next to the little finger of the
left hand.
[60] Suetonius here accounts for the mistake of the soldiers with great
probability. The class to which they imagined they were to be promoted,
was that of the equites, or knights, who wore a gold ring, and were
possessed of property to the amount stated in the text. Great as was the
liberality of Caesar to his legions, the performance of this imaginary
promise was beyond all reasonable expectation.
[61] A.U.C. 706.
[62] Elephants were first introduced at Rome by Pompey the Great, in his
African triumph.
[63] VENI, VIDI, VICI.
[64] A.U.C. 708.
[65] Gladiators were first publicly exhibited at Rome by two brothers
called Bruti, at the funeral of their father, A.U.C. 490; and for some
time they were exhibited only on such occasions. But afterwards they
were also employed by the magistrates, to entertain the people,
particularly at the Saturnalia, and feasts of Minerva. These cruel
spectacles were prohibited by Constantine, but not entirely suppressed
until the time of Honorius.
[66] The Circensian games were shews exhibited in the Circus Maximus,
and consisted of various kinds: first, chariot and horse-races, of which.
the Romans were extravagantly fond. The charioteers were distributed
into four parties, distinguished by the colour of their dress. The
spectators, without regarding the speed of the horses, or the skill of
the men, were attracted merely by one or the other of the colours, as
caprice inclined them. In the time of Justinian, no less than thirty
thousand men lost their lives at Constantinople, in a tumult raised by a
contention amongst the partizans of the several colours. Secondly,
contests of agility and strength; of which there were five kinds, hence
called Pentathlum. These were, running, leaping, boxing, wrestling, and
throwing the discus or quoit. Thirdly, Ludus Trojae, a mock-fight,
performed by young noblemen on horseback, revived by Julius Caesar, and
frequently celebrated by the succeeding emperors. We meet with a
description of it in the fifth book of the Aeneid, beginning with the
following lines:
Incedunt pueri, pariterque ante ora parentum
Fraenatis lucent in equis: quos omnis euntes
Trinacriae mirata fremit Trojaeque juventus.
Fourthly, Venatio, which was the fighting of wild beasts with one
another, or with men called Bestiarii, who were either forced to the
combat by way of punishment, as the primitive Christians were, or fought
voluntarily, either from a natural ferocity of disposition, or induced by
hire. An incredible number of animals of various kinds were brought from
all quarters, at a prodigious expense, for the entertainment of the
people. Pompey, in his second consulship, exhibited at once five hundred
lions, which were all dispatched in five days; also eighteen elephants.
Fifthly the representation of a horse and foot battle, with that of an
encampment or a siege. Sixthly, the representation of a sea-fight
(Naumachia), which was at first made in the Circus Maximus, but
afterwards elsewhere. The combatants were usually captives or condemned
malefactors, who fought to death, unless saved by the clemency of the
emperor. If any thing unlucky happened at the games, they were renewed,
and often more than once.
[67] A meadow beyond the Tiber, in which an excavation was made,
supplied with water from the river.
[68] Julius Caesar was assisted by Sosigenes, an Egyptian philosopher,
in correcting the calendar. For this purpose he introduced an additional
day every fourth year, making February to consist of twenty-nine days
instead of twenty-eight, and, of course, the whole year to consist of
three hundred and sixty-six days. The fourth year was denominated
Bissextile, or leap year, because the sixth day before the calends, or
first of March, was reckoned twice.
The Julian year was introduced throughout the Roman empire, and continued
in general use till the year 1582. But the true correction was not six
hours, but five hours, forty-nine minutes; hence the addition was too
great by eleven minutes. This small fraction would amount in one hundred
years to three-fourths of a day, and in a thousand years to more than
seven days. It had, in fact, amounted, since the Julian correction, in
1582, to more than seven days. Pope Gregory XIII., therefore, again
reformed the calendar, first bringing forward the year ten days, by
reckoning the 5th of October the 15th, and then prescribing the rule
which has gradually been adopted throughout Christendom, except in
Russia, and the Greek church generally.
[69] Principally Carthage and Corinth.
[70] The Latus Clavus was a broad stripe of purple, on the front of the
toga. Its width distinguished it from that of the knights, who wore it
narrow.
[71] The Suburra lay between the Celian and Esquiline hills. It was one
of the most frequented quarters of Rome.
[72] Bede, quoting Solinus, we believe, says that excellent pearls were
found in the British seas, and that they were of all colours, but
principally white. Eccl. Hist. b. i. c. 1.
[73] --------Bithynia quicquid
Et predicator Caesaris unquam habuit.
[74] Gallias Caesar subegit, Nicomedes Caesarem;
Ecce Caesar nunc triumphat, qui subegit Gallias:
Nicomedes non triumphat, qui subegit Caesarem.
[75] Aegisthus, who, like Caesar, was a pontiff, debauched Clytemnestra
while Agamemnon was engaged in the Trojan war, as Caesar did Mucia, the
wife of Pompey, while absent in the war against Mithridates.
[76] A double entendre; Tertia signifying the third [of the value of the
farm], as well as being the name of the girl, for whose favours the
deduction was made.
[77] Urbani, servate uxores; moechum calvum adducimus:
Aurum in Gallia effutuisti, hic sumpsisti mutuum.
[78] Plutarch tells us that the oil was used in a dish of asparagus.
Every traveller knows that in those climates oil takes the place of
butter as an ingredient in cookery, and it needs no experience to fancy
what it is when rancid.
[79] Meritoria rheda; a light four-wheeled carriage, apparently hired
either for the journey or from town to town. They were tolerably
commodious, for Cicero writes to Atticus, (v. 17.) Hanc epistolam dictavi
sedens in rheda, cum in castra proficiscerer.
[80] Plutarch informs us that Caesar travelled with such expedition,
that he reached the Rhone on the eighth day after he left Rome.
[81] Caesar tells us himself that he employed C. Volusenus to
reconnoitre the coast of Britain, sending him forward in a long ship,
with orders to return and make his report before the expedition sailed.
[82] Religione; that is, the omens being unfavourable.
[83] The standard of the Roman legions was an eagle fixed on the head of
a spear. It was silver, small in size, with expanded wings, and
clutching a golden thunderbolt in its claw.
[84] To save them from the torture of a lingering death.
[85] Now Lerida, in Catalonia.
[86] The title of emperor was not new in Roman history; 1. It was
sometimes given by the acclamations of the soldiers to those who
commanded them. 2. It was synonymous with conqueror, and the troops
hailed him by that title after a victory. In both these cases it was
merely titular, and not permanent, and was generally written after the
proper name, as Cicero imperator, Lentulo imperatore. 3. It assumed a
permanent and royal character first in the person of Julius Caesar, and
was then generally prefixed to the emperor's name in inscriptions, as
IMP. CAESAR. DIVI. etc.
[87] Cicero was the first who received the honour of being called "Pater
patriae."
[88] Statues were placed in the Capitol of each of the seven kings of
Rome, to which an eighth was added in honour of Brutus, who expelled the
last. The statue of Julius Caesar was afterwards raised near them.
[89] The white fillet was one of the insignia of royalty. Plutarch, on
this occasion, uses the expression, diadaemati basiliko, a royal diadem.
[90] The Lupercalia was a festival, celebrated in a place called the
Lupercal, in the month of February, in honour of Pan. During the
solemnity, the Luperci, or priests of that god, ran up and down the city
naked, with only a girdle of goat's skin round their waist, and thongs of
the same in their hands; with which they struck those they met,
particularly married women, who were thence supposed to be rendered
prolific.
[91] Persons appointed to inspect and expound the Sibylline books.
[92] A.U.C. 709.
[93] See before, c. xxii.
[94] This senate-house stood in that part of the Campus Martius which is
now the Campo di Fiore, and was attached by Pompey, "spoliis Orientis
Onustus," to the magnificent theatre, which he built A.U.C. 698, in his
second consulship. His statue, at the foot of which Caesar fell, as
Plutarch tells us, was placed in it. We shall find that Augustus caused
it to be removed.
[95] The stylus, or graphium, was an iron pen, broad at one end, with a
sharp point at the other, used for writing upon waxen tables, the leaves
or bark of trees, plates of brass, or lead, etc. For writing upon paper
or parchment, the Romans employed a reed, sharpened and split in the
point like our pens, called calamus, arundo, or canna. This they dipped
in the black liquor emitted by the cuttle fish, which served for ink.
[96] It was customary among the ancients, in great extremities to shroud
the face, in order to conceal any symptoms of horror or alarm which the
countenance might express. The skirt of the toga was drawn round the
lower extremities, that there might be no exposure in falling, as the
Romans, at this period, wore no covering for the thighs and legs.
[97] Caesar's dying apostrophe to Brutus is represented in all the
editions of Suetonius as uttered in Greek, but with some variations. The
words, as here translated, are Kai su ei ekeinon; kai su teknon. The
Salmasian manuscript omits the latter clause. Some commentators suppose
that the words "my son," were not merely expressive of the difference of
age, or former familiarity between them, but an avowal that Brutus was
the fruit of the connection between Julius and Servilia, mentioned before
[see p. 33]. But it appears very improbable that Caesar, who had never
before acknowledged Brutus to be his son, should make so unnecessary an
avowal, at the moment of his death. Exclusively of this objection, the
apostrophe seems too verbose, both for the suddenness and urgency of the
occasion. But this is not all. Can we suppose that Caesar, though a
perfect master of Greek, would at such a time have expressed himself in
that language, rather than in Latin, his familiar tongue, and in which he
spoke with peculiar elegance? Upon the whole, the probability is, that
the words uttered by Caesar were, Et tu Brute! which, while equally
expressive of astonishment with the other version, and even of
tenderness, are both more natural, and more emphatic.
[98] Men' me servasse, ut essent qui me perderent?
[99] The Bulla, generally made of gold, was a hollow globe, which boys
wore upon their breast, pendant from a string or ribbon put round the
neck. The sons of freedmen and poor citizens used globes of leather.
[100] Josephus frequently mentions the benefits conferred on his
countrymen by Julius Caesar. Antiq. Jud. xiv. 14, 15, 16.
[101] Appian informs us that it was burnt by the people in their fury,
B. c. xi. p. 521.
[102] Suetonius particularly refers to the conspirators, who perished at
the battle of Philippi, or in the three years which intervened. The
survivors were included in the reconciliation of Augustus, Antony, and
Pompey, A.U.C. 715.
[103] Suetonius alludes to Brutus and Cassius, of whom this is related
by Plutarch and Dio.
[104] For observations on Dr. Thomson's Essays appended to Suetonius's
History of Julius Caesar, and the succeeding Emperors, see the Preface to
this volume.
[105] He who has a devoted admiration of Cicero, may be sure that he has
made no slight proficiency himself.