[Footnote 447: Most of the gladiators were slaves.]
[Footnote 448: The part of the Palatium built or occupied by Augustus and
Tiberius.]
[Footnote 449: Mevania, a town of Umbria. Its present name is Bevagna.
The Clitumnus is a river in the same country, celebrated for the breed of
white cattle, which feed in the neighbouring pastures.]
[Footnote 450: Caligula appears to have meditated an expedition to
Britain at the time of his pompous ovation at Puteoli, mentioned in c.
xiii.; but if Julius Caesar could gain no permanent footing in this
island, it was very improbable that a prince of Caligula’s character would
ever seriously attempt it, and we shall presently see that the whole
affair turned out a farce.]
[Footnote 451: It seems generally agreed, that the point of the coast
which was signalized by the ridiculous bravado of Caligula, somewhat
redeemed by the erection of a lighthouse, was Itium, afterwards called
Gessoriacum, and Bononia (Boulogne), a town belonging to the Gaulish tribe
of the Morini; where Julius Caesar embarked on his expedition, and which
became the usual place of departure for the transit to Britain.]
[Footnote 452: The denarius was worth at this time about seven pence or
eight pence of our money.]
[Footnote 453: Probably to Anticyra. See before, c. xxix. note]
[Footnote 454: The Cimbri were German tribes on the Elbe, who invaded
Italy A.U.C. 640, and were defeated by Metellus.]
[Footnote 455: The Senones were a tribe of Cis-Alpine Gauls, settled in
Umbria, who sacked and pillaged Rome A.U.C. 363.]
[Footnote 456: By the transmarine provinces, Asia, Egypt, etc., are
meant; so that we find Caligula entertaining visions of an eastern empire,
and removing the seat of government, which were long afterwards realized
in the time of Constantine.]
[Footnote 457: See AUGUSTUS, c. xviii.]
[Footnote 458: About midnight, the watches being divided into four.]
[Footnote 459: Scabella: commentators are undecided as to the nature of
this instrument. Some of them suppose it to have been either a sort of
cymbal or castanet, but Pitiscus in his note gives a figure of an ancient
statue preserved at Florence, in which a dancer is represented with
cymbals in his hands, and a kind of wind instrument attached to the toe of
his left foot, by which it is worked by pressure, something in the way of
an accordion.]
[Footnote 460: The port of Rome.]
[Footnote 461: The Romans, in their passionate devotion to the amusements
of the circus and the theatre, were divided into factions, who had their
favourites among the racers and actors, the former being distinguished by
the colour of the party to which they belonged. See before, c. xviii.,
and TIBERIUS, c. xxxvii.]
[Footnote 462: In the slang of the turf, the name of Caligula’s
celebrated horse might, perhaps, be translated “Go a-head.”]
[Footnote 463: Josephus, who supplies us with minute details of the
assassination of Caligula, says that he made no outcry, either disdaining
it, or because an alarm would have been useless; but that he attempted to
make his escape through a corridor which led to some baths behind the
palace. Among the ruins on the Palatine hill, these baths still attract
attention, some of the frescos being in good preservation. See the
account in Josephus, xix. 1, 2.]
[Footnote 464: The Lamian was an ancient family, the founders of Formiae.
They had gardens on the Esquiline mount.]
[Footnote 465: A.U.C. 714.]
[Footnote 466: Pliny describes Drusus as having in this voyage
circumnavigated Germany, and reached the Cimbrian Chersonese, and the
Scythian shores, reeking with constant fogs.]
[Footnote 467: Tacitus, Annal. xi. 8, 1, mentions this fosse, and says
that Drusus sailed up the Meuse and the Waal. Cluverius places it between
the village of Iselvort and the town of Doesborg.]
[Footnote 468: The Spolia Opima were the spoils taken from the enemy’s
king, or chief, when slain in single combat by a Roman general. They were
always hung up in the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius. Those spoils had been
obtained only thrice since the foundation of Rome; the first by Romulus,
who slew Acron, king of the Caeninenses; the next by A. Cornelius Cossus,
who slew Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, A.U. 318; and the third by M.
Claudius Marcellus, who slew Viridomarus, king of the Gauls, A.U. 330.]
[Footnote 469: A.U.C. 744.]
[Footnote 470: This epistle, as it was the habit of Augustus, is
interspersed with Greek phrases.]
[Footnote 471: The Alban Mount is the most interesting feature of the
scenery of the Campagna about Rome, Monti Cavo, the summit, rising above
an amphitheatre of magnificent woods, to an elevation of 2965 French feet.
The view is very extensive: below is the lake of Albano, the finest of the
volcanic lakes in Italy, and the modern town of the same name. Few traces
remain of Alba Longa, the ancient capital of Latium.]
[Footnote 472: On the summit of the Alban Mount, on the site of the
present convent, stood the temple of Jupiter Latialis, where the Latin
tribes assembled annually, and renewed their league, during the Feriae
Latinae, instituted by Tarquinus Superbus. It was here, also, that Roman
generals, who were refused the honours of a full triumph, performed the
ovation, and sacrificed to Jupiter Latialis. Part of the triumphal way by
which the mountain was ascended, formed of vast blocks of lava, is still
in good preservation, leading through groves of chestnut trees of vast
size and age. Spanning them with extended arms--none of the shortest--the
operation was repeated five times in compassing their girth.]
[Footnote 473: CALIGULA. See c. v. of his life.]
[Footnote 474: A.U.C. 793. Life of CALIGULA, cc. xliv., xlv., etc.]
[Footnote 475: A.U.C. 794.]
[Footnote 476: The chamber of Mercury; the names of deities being given
to different apartments, as those “of Isis,” “of the Muses,” etc.]
[Footnote 477: See the note, p. 265.]
[Footnote 478: The attentive reader will have marked the gradual growth
of the power of the pretorian guard, who now, and on so many future
occasions, ruled the destinies of the empire.]
[Footnote 479: See AUGUSTUS, cc. xliii., xlv.]
[Footnote 480: Ib. c. ci.]
[Footnote 481: Germanicus.]
[Footnote 482: Naples and other cities on that coast were Greek
colonies.]
[Footnote 483: This arch was erected in memory of the standards (the
eagles) lost by Varus, in Germany, having been recovered by Germanicus
under the auspices of Tiberius. See his Life, c. xlvii.; and Tacit.
Annal. ii. 41. It seems to have stood at the foot of the Capitol, on the
side of the Forum, near the temple of Concord; but there are no remains of
it.]
[Footnote 484: Tacitus informs us that the same application had been made
by Tiberius. Annal. iii. The prefect of the pretorian guards, high and
important as his office had now become, was not allowed to enter the
senate-house, unless he belonged to the equestrian order.]
[Footnote 485: The procurators had the administration of some of the less
important provinces, with rank and authority inferior to that of the
pro-consuls and prefects. Frequent mention of these officers is made by
Josephus; and Pontius Pilate, who sentenced our Lord to crucifixion, held
that office in Judaea, under Tiberius.]
[Footnote 486: Pollio and Messala were distinguished orators, who
flourished under the Caesars Julius and Augustus.]
[Footnote 487: A.U.C. 795, 796.]
[Footnote 488: A.U.C. 800, 804.]
[Footnote 489: “Ad bestias” had become a new and frequent sentence for
malefactors. It will be recollected, that it was the most usual form of
martyrdom for the primitive Christians. Polycarp was brought all the way
from Smyrna to be exposed to it in the amphitheatre at Rome.]
[Footnote 490: This reminds us of the decision of Solomon in the case of
the two mothers, who each claimed a child as their own, 1 Kings iii.
22-27.]
[Footnote 491: A most absurd judicial conclusion, the business of the
judge or court being to decide, on weighing the evidence, on which side
the truth preponderated.]
[Footnote 492: See the note in CALIGULA, c. xix., as to Suetonius’s
sources of information from persons cotemporary with the occurrences he
relates.]
[Footnote 493: The insult was conveyed in Greek, which seems, from
Suetonius, to have been in very common use at Rome: kai su geron ei, kai
moros.]
[Footnote 494: A.U.C. 798, or 800.]
[Footnote 495: There was a proverb to the same effect: “Si non caste,
saltem caute.”]
[Footnote 496: Ptolemy appointed him to an office which led him to assume
a foreign dress. Rabirius was defended by Cicero in one of his orations,
which is extant.]
[Footnote 497: The Sigillaria was a street in Rome, where a fair was held
after the Saturnalia, which lasted seven days; and toys, consisting of
little images and dolls, which gave their name to the street and festival,
were sold. It appears from the text, that other articles were exposed for
sale in this street. Among these were included elegant vases of silver
and bronze. There appears also to have been a bookseller’s shop, for an
ancient writer tells us that a friend of his showed him a copy of the
Second Book of the Aeneid, which he had purchased there.]
[Footnote 498: Opposed to this statement there is a passage in Servius
Georgius, iii. 37, asserting that he had heard (accipimus) that Augustus,
besides his victories in the east, triumphed over the Britons in the west;
and Horace says:--
Augustus adjectis Britannis
Imperio gravibusque Persis.--Ode iii. 5, 1.
Strabo likewise informs us, that in his time, the petty British kings sent
embassies to cultivate the alliance of Augustus, and make offerings in the
Capitol: and that nearly the whole island was on terms of amity with the
Romans, and, as well as the Gauls, paid a light tribute.--Strabo, B. iv.
p. 138.
That Augustus contemplated a descent on the island, but was prevented from
attempting it by his being recalled from Gaul by the disturbances in
Dalmatia, is very probable. Horace offers his vows for its success:
Serves iturum, Caesarem in ultimos Orbis Britannos.--Ode i. 35.
But the word iturus shews that the scheme was only projected, and the
lines previously quoted are mere poetical flattery. Strabo’s statement of
the communications kept up with the petty kings of Britain, who were
perhaps divided by intestine wars, are, to a certain extent, probably
correct, as such a policy would be a prelude to the intended expedition.]
[Footnote 499: Circius. Aulus Gellius, Seneca, and Pliny, mention under
this name the strong southerly gales which prevail in the gulf of Genoa
and the neighbouring seas.]
[Footnote 500: The Stoechades were the islands now called Hieres, off
Toulon.]
[Footnote 501: Claudius must have expended more time in his march from
Marseilles to Gessoriacum, as Boulogne was then called, than in his
vaunted conquest of Britain.]
[Footnote 502: In point of fact, he was only sixteen days in the island,
receiving the submission of some tribes in the south-eastern districts.
But the way had been prepared for him by his able general, Aulus Plautius,
who defeated Cunobeline, and made himself master of his capital,
Camulodunum, or Colchester. These successes were followed up by Ostorius,
who conquered Caractacus and sent him to Rome.
It is singular that Suetonius has supplied us with no particulars of these
events. Some account of them is given in the disquisition appended to
this life of CLAUDIUS.