[795] A.U.C. 804.
[796] A street, in the sixth region of Rome, so called, probably, from a
remarkable specimen of this beautiful shrub which had made free growth on
the spot.
[797] VITELLIUS, c. xv.
[798] Tacitus (Hist. iii.) differs from Suetonius, saying that Domitian
took refuge with a client of his father's near the Velabrum. Perhaps he
found it more safe afterwards to cross the Tiber.
[799] One of Domitian's coins bears on the reverse a captive female and
soldier, with GERMANIA DEVICTA.
[800] VESPASIAN, c. xii; TITUS, c. vi.
[801] Such excavations had been made by Julius and by Augustus [AUG.
xliii.], and the seats for the spectators fitted up with timber in a rude
way. That was on the other side of the Tiber. The Naumachia of Domitian
occupies the site of the present Piazza d'Espagna, and was larger and
more ornamented.
[802] A.U.C. 841. See AUGUSTUS, c. xxxi.
[803] This feast was held in December. Plutarch informs us that it was
instituted in commemoration of the seventh hill being included in the
city bounds.
[804] The Capitol had been burnt, for the third time, in the great fire
mentioned TITUS, c. viii. The first fire happened in the Marian war,
after which it was rebuilt by Pompey, the second in the reign of
Vitellius.
[805] This forum, commenced by Domitian and completed by Nerva, adjoined
the Roman Forum and that of Augustus, mentioned in c. xxix. of his life.
From its communicating with the two others, it was called Transitorium.
Part of the wall which bounded it still remains, of a great height, and
144 paces long. It is composed of square masses of freestone, very
large, and without any cement; and it is not carried in a straight line,
but makes three or four angles, as if some buildings had interfered with
its direction.
[806] The residence of the Flavian family was converted into a temple.
See c. i. of the present book.
[807] The Stadium was in the shape of a circus, and used for races both
of men and horses.
[808] The Odeum was a building intended for musical performances. There
were four of them at Rome.
[809] See before, c. iv.
[810] See VESPASIAN, c. xiv.
[811] See NERD, c. xvi.
[812] This absurd edict was speedily revoked. See afterwards c. xiv.
[813] This was an ancient law levelled against adultery and other
pollutions, named from its author Caius Scatinius, a tribune of the
people. There was a Julian law, with the same object. See AUGUSTUS,
c. xxxiv.
[814] Geor. xi. 537.
[815] See Livy, xxi. 63, and Cicero against Verres, v. 18.
[816] See VESPASIAN, c. iii.
[817] Cant names for gladiators.
[818] The faction which favoured the "Thrax" party.
[819] DOMITIAN, c. i.
[820] See VESPASIAN, c. xiv.
[821] This cruel punishment is described in NERO, c. xlix.
[822] Gentiles who were proselytes to the Jewish religion; or, perhaps,
members of the Christian sect, who were confounded with them. See the
note to TIBERIUS, c. xxxvi. The tax levied on the Jews was two drachmas
per head. It was general throughout the empire.
[823] We have had Suetonius's reminiscences, derived through his
grandfather and father successively, CALIGULA, c. xix.; OTHO, c. x. We
now come to his own, commencing from an early age.
[824] This is what Martial calls, "Mentula tributis damnata."
[825] The imperial liveries were white and gold.
[826] See CALIGULA, c. xxi., where the rest of the line is quoted; eis
koiranos esto.
[827] An assumption of divinity, as the pulvinar was the consecrated
bed, on which the images of the gods reposed.
[828] The pun turns on the similar sound of the Greek word for "enough,"
and the Latin word for "an arch."
[829] Domitia, who had been repudiated for an intrigue with Paris, the
actor, and afterwards taken back.
[830] The lines, with a slight accommodation, are borrowed from the poet
Evenus, Anthol. i. vi. i., who applies them to a goat, the great enemy of
vineyards. Ovid, Fasti, i. 357, thus paraphrases them:
Rode caper vitem, tamen hinc, cum staris ad aram,
In tua quod spargi cornua possit erit.
[831] Pliny describes this stone as being brought from Cappadocia, and
says that it was as hard as marble, white and translucent, cxxiv. c. 22.
[832] See note to c. xvii.
[833] The guilt imputed to them was atheism and Jewish (Christian?)
manners. Dion, lxvii. 1112.
[834] See VESPASIAN, c. v.
[835] Columella (R. R. xi. 2.) enumerates dates among the foreign fruits
cultivated in Italy, cherries, dates, apricots, and almonds; and Pliny,
xv. 14, informs us that Sextus Papinius was the first who introduced the
date tree, having brought it from Africa, in the latter days of Augustus.
[836] Some suppose that Domitilla was the wife of Flavius Clemens
(c. xv.), both of whom were condemned by Domitian for their "impiety,"
by which it is probably meant that they were suspected of favouring
Christianity. Eusebius makes Flavia Domitilla the niece of Flavius
Clemens, and says that she was banished to Ponza, for having become a
Christian. Clemens Romanus, the second bishop of Rome, is said to have
been of this family.
[837] A.U.C. 849.
[838] See c. v.
[839] The famous library of Alexandria collected by Ptolemy Philadelphus
had been burnt by accident in the wars. But we find from this passage in
Suetonius that part of it was saved, or fresh collections had been made.
Seneca (de Tranquill. c. ix. 7) informs us that forty thousand volumes
were burnt; and Gellius states that in his time the number of volumes
amounted to nearly seventy thousand.
[840] This favourite apple, mentioned by Columella and Pliny, took its
name from C. Matius, a Roman knight, and friend of Augustus, who first
introduced it. Pliny tells us that Matius was also the first who brought
into vogue the practice of clipping groves.
[841] Julia, the daughter of Titus.