[Footnote 1: Plin. Epist. i. 18, 24, iii. 8, v. 11, ix. 34, x. 95.]
[Footnote 2: Lycee, part I. liv. III. c. i.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 4: Pliny informs us that Caius Julius, the father of Julius
Caesar, a man of pretorian rank, died suddenly at Pisa.]
[Footnote 5: A.U.C. (in the year from the foundation of Rome) 670; A.C.
(before Christ) about 92.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 8: He wandered about for some time in the Sabine territory.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 14: Pharmacusa, an island lying off the coast of Asia, near
Miletus. It is now called Parmosa.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 16: From Miletus, as we are informed by Plutarch.]
[Footnote 17: Who commanded in Spain.]
[Footnote 18: Rex, it will be easily understood, was not a title of
dignity in a Roman family, but the surname of the Marcii.]
[Footnote 19: The rites of the Bona Dea, called also Fauna, which were
performed in the night, and by women only.]
[Footnote 20: Hispania Boetica; the Hither province being called Hispania
Tarraconensis.]
[Footnote 21: Alexander the Great was only thirty-three years at the time
of his death.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 23: Seneca compares the annals of Tanusius to the life of a
fool, which, though it may be long, is worthless; while that of a wise
man, like a good book, is valuable, however short.--Epist. 94.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 25: A.U.C. 689. Cicero holds both the Curio’s, father and son,
very cheap.--Brut. c. 60.]
[Footnote 26: Regnum, the kingly power, which the Roman people considered
an insupportable tyranny.]
[Footnote 27: An honourable banishment.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 30: Such as statues and pictures, the works of Greek artists.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 32: Ptolemy Auletes, the son of Cleopatra.]
[Footnote 33: Lentulus, Cethegus, and others.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 38: See before, p. 5. This was in A.U.C. 693.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 43: A.U.C. 695.]
[Footnote 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 [Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 49: So called from the feathers on their helmets, resembling
the crest of a lark; Alauda, Fr. Alouette.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 51: A.U.C. 702.]
[Footnote 52: Aurelia.]
[Footnote 53: Julia, the wife of Pompey, who died in childbirth.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 56: A.U.C. 705.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 59: The ring was worn on the finger next to the little finger
of the left hand.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 61: A.U.C. 706.]
[Footnote 62: Elephants were first introduced at Rome by Pompey the
Great, in his African triumph.]
[Footnote 63: VENI, VIDI, VICI.]
[Footnote 64: A.U.C. 708.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 67: A meadow beyond the Tiber, in which an excavation was made,
supplied with water from the river.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 69: Principally Carthage and Corinth.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 71: The Suburra lay between the Celian and Esquiline hills. It
was one of the most frequented quarters of Rome.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 73: --------Bithynia quicquid Et predicator Caesaris unquam
habuit.]
[Footnote 74: Gallias Caesar subegit, Nicomedes Caesarem; Ecce Caesar
nunc triumphat, qui subegit Gallias: Nicomedes non triumphat, qui subegit
Caesarem.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 77: Urbani, servate uxores; moechum calvum adducimus: Aurum in
Gallia effutuisti, hic sumpsisti mutuum.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 80: Plutarch informs us that Caesar travelled with such
expedition, that he reached the Rhone on the eighth day after he left
Rome.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 82: Religione; that is, the omens being unfavourable.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 84: To save them from the torture of a lingering death.]
[Footnote 85: Now Lerida, in Catalonia.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 87: Cicero was the first who received the honour of being
called “Pater patriae.”]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 89: The white fillet was one of the insignia of royalty.
Plutarch, on this occasion, uses the expression, diadaemati basiliko, a
royal diadem.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 91: Persons appointed to inspect and expound the Sibylline
books.]
[Footnote 92: A.U.C. 709.]
[Footnote 93: See before, c. xxii.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 98: Men’ me servasse, ut essent qui me perderent?]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 100: Josephus frequently mentions the benefits conferred on his
countrymen by Julius Caesar. Antiq. Jud. xiv. 14, 15, 16.]
[Footnote 101: Appian informs us that it was burnt by the people in their
fury, B. c. xi. p. 521.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 103: Suetonius alludes to Brutus and Cassius, of whom this is
related by Plutarch and Dio.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 105: He who has a devoted admiration of Cicero, may be sure
that he has made no slight proficiency himself.]
[Footnote 106: A town in the ancient Volscian territory, now called
Veletra. It stands on the verge of the Pontine Marshes, on the road to
Naples.]
[Footnote 107: Thurium was a territory in Magna Graecia, on the coast,
near Tarentum.]
[Footnote 108: Argentarius; a banker, one who dealt in exchanging money,
as well as lent his own funds at interest to borrowers. As a class, they
possessed great wealth, and were persons of consideration in Rome at this
period.]
[Footnote 109: Now Laricia, or Riccia, a town of the Campagna di Roma, on
the Appian Way, about ten miles from Rome.]
[Footnote 110: A.U.C. 691. A.C. (before Christ) 61.]
[Footnote 111: 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.]
[Footnote 112: 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.]
[Footnote 113: Adrian, to whom Suetonius was secretary.]
[Footnote 114: Augusto augurio postquam inclyta condita Roma est.]
[Footnote 115: A.U.C. 711.]
[Footnote 116: A.U.C. 712.]
[Footnote 117: After being defeated in the second engagement, Brutus
retired to a hill, and slew himself in the night.]
[Footnote 118: 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.]
[Footnote 119: Virgil was one of the fugitives, having narrowly escaped
being killed by the centurion Ario; and being ejected from his farm.
Eclog. i.]
[Footnote 120: A.U.C. 714.]
[Footnote 121: The anniversary of Julius Caesar’s death.]
[Footnote 122: A.U.C. 712-718-]
[Footnote 123: 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.]
[Footnote 124: In the triumvirate, consisting of Augustus, Mark Antony,
and Lepidus.]
[Footnote 125: A.U.C. 723.]
[Footnote 126: 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.]
[Footnote 127: 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.]
[Footnote 128: 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.]
[Footnote 129: A custom of all ages and of people the most remote from
each other.]
[Footnote 130: Meaning the degenerate race of the Ptolomean kings.]
[Footnote 131: The naval trophies were formed of the prows of ships.]
[Footnote 132: A.U.C. 721.]
[Footnote 133: Because his father was a Roman and his mother of the race
of the Parthini, an Illyrian tribe.]
[Footnote 134: 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.]
[Footnote 135: Not a bridge over a river, but a military engine used for
gaining admittance into a fortress.]
[Footnote 136: Cantabria, in the north of Spain, now the Basque
province.]
[Footnote 137: The ancient Pannonia includes Hungary and part of Austria,
Styria and Carniola.]
[Footnote 138: The Rhaetian Alps are that part of the chain bordering on
the Tyrol.]
[Footnote 139: 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.]
[Footnote 140: 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.]
[Footnote 141: “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.]
[Footnote 142: “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.]
[Footnote 143: “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.]
[Footnote 144: Now Saragossa.]
[Footnote 145: 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.]
[Footnote 146: A.U.C. 731.]
[Footnote 147: 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.]
[Footnote 148: 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.]
[Footnote 149: 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.]
[Footnote 150: 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.]
[Footnote 151: 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.]
[Footnote 152: 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.]
[Footnote 153: 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.]
[Footnote 154: 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--
Coelo tonantem credidimus Jovem Regnare.--Hor. 1. iii. Ode 5.
We shall find this temple mentioned again in c. xci. of the life of
Augustus.]
[Footnote 155: 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.]
[Footnote 156: 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.]
[Footnote 157: The theatre of Balbus was the third of the three permanent
theatres of Rome. Those of Pompey and Marcellus have been already
mentioned.]
[Footnote 158: 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,