Quintus Claudius, Volume 1

277

The Vestal Virgins. It was believed, that the vestal virgins possessed the power of detaining runaway slaves, by certain spells, within the city limits.

278

Factories and prisons. Ergastulum was the name given to a kind of prison where slaves, who had been guilty of any fault were kept at specially hard labor. The arrangement, of these ergastula in many respects resembled our modern prisons.

279

Thousands and thousands answer to it. See the passages in the letter of Pliny, who as the Christians’ foe, reports to the emperor: “This superstition has not only spread over the city, but through the villages and surrounding country.” (Pliny, Ep. X, 98.)

280

Nazarene Gracchus. Quintus here perceives, like Thrax Barbatus, in the carpenter’s son of Nazareth a real representative of the people’s rights, and therefore a companion of Tiberius and Caius Sempronius Gracchus, the two tribunes of the people (about the middle of the second century B.C.)

281

Mons Janiculus. Now Monte Gianicolo, on the right bank of the Tiber.

282

Statue of Venus. A statue of the Venus Genitrix (Generator, mother, so called as the ancestress of the race of Julius Caesar, who erected a temple to her under this name) has been found among the ruins of the imperial palace on the Palatine, also an Eros, swinging a jar.

283

Mediolanum, now Milan.

284

The woes of Queen Dido, even at that time a famous episode in Virgil’s Aeneid. That the sorrows of Dido were specially popular is shown in Juv. Sat. VI, 434, which runs:

“Illa tamen gravior, quae, quum discumbere coepit,

Laudat Virgilium, periturae ignoscit Elissae…”

The question whether Dido did right in choosing death, seems to have been discussed by would-be beaux esprits, as in our own day, people argue about the comparative merits of Goethe and Schiller.

285

Sibyl. (Σίβυλλα, from Σιὸς βουλή literally “counsellor of God”) the name given to the prophesying priestesses of Apollo. Their predictions were vague and mysterious.

286

Not only Ares the slayer, but the humble Anchises. Stephanus alludes to the love affair of Aphrodite, who according to the Hellenic myth, bestowed her favors not only on the gods, as the homicidal Ares, but also upon mortals. She showed her love for the young Trojan prince Anchises, as is well known, among the groves of Ida.

287

The craftiness of Ulysses. Ulysses, Ulixes, (Odysseus,) the hero of the Homeric Odyssey, was considered in tradition, after Homer’s day, as the type of craft and cunning, while Homer presents him in a more ideal light.

288

Greek blood flows in your veins. Among the Romans, the Greeks had the reputation of resembling in character the Ulysses described after Homer’s day. Next to the Orientals, they were the most hated of all the dwellers in the provinces.

289

I will climb the capitol like the invading Gauls. The (unsuccessful) attempt to take the beleaguered Capitol by storm, made by the Gauls, as is well known, in the year 389 B.C. after they had defeated the Roman army at the little river Allia.

290

Thetis, daughter of Nereus, lived with her sisters, the Nereids, in the depths of the ocean. She personified the friendly character of the sea, as Poseidon did its destructive and terrible one.

291

You are the kindest master. The epithet “kind” (dulcis) is often used in this application to superiors and those in higher position. Thus Horace in the well-known first ode of the first book addresses Maecenas: O et praesidium et dulce decus meum…

292

The chamberlains on duty. At the emperor’s formal morning reception a large number of court officials was present, to maintain order, announce those who were awaiting admission and accompany them into the hall of audience. These persons were called admissionales (admitters) or people ab admissione, ex officio admissionis etc. (See Suet, Vesp. 14, etc.)

293

Saturnalia. A name given to a festival held for several days in the latter part of the month of December, in honor of the old Italian god of the harvest, Saturnus. It resembled in some respects our Christmas festivities, in others the carnival gayeties. The Saturnalia commemorated the happy age of Saturnus. All work ceased. Our “Happy New Year!” or the cry: “Fool, let the fool out!” had their counterpart in the shouts echoing on all sides: “Io saturnalia! Io bona saturnalia!” People caroused, feasted and gambled; pleased each other with gifts and surprises. The slaves were admitted to table, in token, that under the rule of Saturnus there had been no distinction of rank; all sorts of jests and amusements were practised, and a certain liberty of word and deed everywhere prevailed.

294

Mead (Mulsum, scil. vinum) prepared from cider and honey, a favorite drink, especially at the prandium.

295

He spoke, and the dark-browed Kronion nodded assent. In these words Lucilia quotes a well-known line of the Iliad (Il. I. 528.)

Ἡ, καὶ κυανέησιν ἐπ’ ὀφρύσι νεῦσε Κρονίων.

How customary such quotations were – not only in Latin translations, but in the original language – appears in Pliny’s letters, for instance, I, 24, where in two different passages lines from the Iliad are quoted, among them the one mentioned here, also in I, 18, (farther below in the same letter) I, 20, (several times;) IV, 28; V. 19; V, 96. Elsewhere in Pliny numerous Greek words and phrases are found in the Latin text (see Ep. I, 13, 19, 20; II, 2, 3, 12, 13, 14, 20; IV, 10; VI, 32, etc.) as in our own times a French, English, or Latin phrase occurs in a German letter. Every cultivated person understood Greek; nay, the preference for this language had become a fashionable mania, just as in the last century there was a craze for French in Germany. (See Juv. Sat., VI, 185: omnia Graece. Everything is Greek!)

296

Reed. A pen made from a reed, cut in the same manner as our goose quills, was often used for writing.

297

Spartacus. The terrible insurrection of the slaves under Spartacus failed only on account of the want of harmony among the rebels. This insurrection, 71 B.C. was conquered with the utmost difficulty. Spartacus, after a famous battle, fell with his ablest comrades.

298

Daughter of Ares. A name given to Rome in consequence of the well-known legend, that Romulus and Remus were sons of the war-god Mars and the vestal virgin Rhea Silvia. Quintus here uses the Hellenic name Ares, as the words Ῥώμη θυγάτηρ Ἄρεος which occur in the first verse of a celebrated ode by the Greek poetess Melinno (600 B.C.) flitted before his mind.

299

Against Christianity. Concerning the persecutions of the Christians under Domitian, see Dio Cass. XLVII, 16.

300

Campus Martius. The name given to the public pleasure grounds in the north-western part of Rome. Strabo describes them minutely. (V, 3.)

301

Colonnade of Agrippa. The most renowned object in the Campus Martius was the hundred-columned portico of Vipsanius Agrippa.

302

Laurel Groves. Within Agrippa’s colonnade were laurel and plane-groves. (Mart. Ep. I, 108, etc.)

303

Virgil. The author of the Aeneid had always been one of the most popular writers. He was even studied in the schools, as Schiller is in Germany at the present day.

304

Battle of the frogs and mice. (βατραχομυομαχία) The Battle of the Frogs, a parody upon the Iliad; falsely attributed to Homer, and probably composed by Pigres of Halicarnassus.

305

Rostra. The name of the orator’s platform, adorned with a ship’s beak (rostrum, the ship’s beak) in the Forum Romanum.

306

Intends his daughter to marry a consul. Roman women married at a very early age, therefore in the nature of things, parents made the choice for the inexperienced girls. Thus Junius Mauricus requested the younger Pliny, to propose a husband for the daughter of his brother Junius Rusticus Arulenus. (See Book II, p. 55.) Pliny (Ep. I, 14) recommends his friend Minucius Acilianus, and in a quiet, business-like manner enumerates his excellent qualities, among which he does not forget to mention a considerable fortune. To be sure, the daughter’s formal consent was necessary. The young girls of our story, by the way, out of respect for our modern ideas, are described as young girls at an age, when Romans were usually married women. For the ordinary marriageable age, see Friedländer’s detailed description in the appendix to the first part of his “Sittengeschichte,” where he gives a number of inscriptions taken from the tombs, where the age of the girl at the time of her marriage is either directly stated, or may be ascertained by deducting the years of marriage from those of life. Twelve of the wives mentioned, married before they were fourteen, four at fourteen, three at sixteen, one at nineteen, and one at twenty-five. We are, however, expressly told that marriages of girls under twelve were by no means rare.

307

Varus. The famous victory of the Germans over Quintilius Varus occurred in the year 9, A.D.

308

Parthians. A people who lived south of the Caspian sea. Their territory afterwards extended to the Euphrates. The Romans had numerous feuds with this nation.

309

Cantabrian bear. Cantabria, the mountainous region in the north of Spain, supplied most of the bears for the Roman wild-beast combats.

310

Ananke (Ανάγκη) personifies, like the Latin Fatum, the idea, that in every event which happens, there is an unalterable necessity, to which not only human beings, but even the gods are subject.

311

By the famous mural paintings. See Mart. Ep. II, 14. Ill, 20, etc.

312

Septa. See Mart. Ep. II, 14; IX, 59.

313

The Centuria. Even under the kings, the Romans were divided into five different classes, since the part taken by each individual in government affairs, especially concerning taxes and military service, depended on the amount of his property. Each of these classes consisted of a certain number of centurias, for instance, the first class contained eighty, the fifth thirty, etc. Centuria was the name originally given to a military division of 100 men, then to a certain number of citizens, from whose midst such a military organization could be formed. These centuries – in a civil sense – voted on public affairs in the comita centuriata (assembly of the centuries) each century having one vote.

314

Gay booths. See Mart, Ep. IX, 59, v. I:

“Mamurra many hours does vagrant tell,

I’ th’ shops, where Rome her richest ware does sell.”

The same epigram describes the goods to be purchased in these booths; slaves, table-covers, ivory for table legs, semicircular dinner-couches (called Sigma from their shape resembling the old Greek C) Corinthian brass (a mixture of gold, silver, and copper, very popular in those days) crystal goblets, vasa murrhina, chased silver dishes, gems, jewels, etc., etc.

315

Wrestling or throwing the discus. Physical exercises of all kinds were highly esteemed by the Romans. Racing, wrestling, and throwing the discus (a flat, circular piece of stone or iron) were specially popular. See Hor. Od. I. 8 (saepe disco, saepe trans finem jaculo nobilis expedito) where the exercises in the Campus Martius are mentioned.

316

Masthlion’s skill. See Mart Ep. V, 12:

“That the haughty Masthlion now,

Wields such weights on perched brow.”

317

Ninus’s strength. See Mart Ep. V, 12:

“Or that Ninus finds his praise,

With each hand eight boys to raise.”

Giants, as well as dwarfs, and monstrosities of every kind were extremely popular in Rome. They were even frequently kept in aristocratic families as slaves and jesters. See Mart Ep. VII, 38, where a gigantic slave of Severus is mentioned. According to Plutarch, Rome ad a special market for monsters (ἡ τὼν τεράτων ἀγορά) where persons crippled in all kinds of ways were offered for sale. As the business was lucrative, certain deformities were artificially produced.

318

Tablets on their knees. See Hor. Epist. ad Pis., 19, etc.

319

Mannie. Such ponies are mentioned by Lucr., Hor., Prop., and Sen. They were distinguished for speed. The word is of Celtic origin.

320

This wild horse of the Sun. Herodianus alludes to the steeds of Helios and the fate of Phaethon, who obtained his father’s permission to guide the chariot of the Sun one day in his stead, but had so little control over the unruly steeds, that to save the earth from burning, Zeus was compelled to slay him with a thunderbolt and hurl him from the chariot into the river Eridanus.

321

Burrhus, the son of Parthenius. See Mart. Ep., IV, 45; V, 6.

322

Wolf’s-tooth bit (lupata frena) a curb furnished with iron points shaped like a wolf’s tooth, used for hard-mouthed horses. See Hor. Od. I, 8, 6; Nec lupatis temperat ora frenis…

323

Soracte. A mountain north of Rome. See Varro R.R. II, 3, 3; Virg. Aen. VI, 696, Hor. Od. I, 9 (alta nive candidum.)

324

Gallia Lugdunensis. Lugdunian Gaul (Gallia Lugdunensis, so called from the principal city Lugdunum, now Lyons) extended from the Seine (Sequana) to the Garonne (Garumna) and westward to the Atlantic Ocean. On the south, it was separated from the Mediterranean by Narbonensian Gaul.

325

Bequeathed to him a small legacy. Legacies bequeathed by childless persons to those not connected by ties of blood, played a very important part in the society under the emperors. Legacy-hunting thrived greatly in consequence of its frequent occurrence.

326

In the midst of a very humble quarter. The right bank of the Tiber, in the (14) district, which bore the name “Trans Tiberim,” was inhabited exclusively by tradesfolk, sailors, etc.

327

Titus. The brother and predecessor of Domitian.

328

The Flavii had come into possession of the government with Vespasian, the father of Titus and Domitian. The latter’s full name was: Titus Flavius Domitianus Augustus.

329

Junius Rusticus. See Suet. Dom. 10; Dio Cass. LXVII. 13.

330

Caepio. Suet. Dom. 9, mentions a man of this name.

331

Caesar was to inherit his fortune. See Suet. Dom. 12: "Estates to which the emperor had no claim were seized, if only some one could be found to declare he had heard the dead man, during his life-time, say that the Caesar was to inherit his property.”

332

The daughters of our noblest families are stolen. That this was really to be expected, is proved by the incredible description Dio Cassius gives us of Nero’s conduct, (LXII, 15.)

333

The suspicious tyrant who has the walls of his sleeping-room lined with mirrors. See Suet, Dom. 14.

334

There are troops enough in Gallia Lugdunensis. True, nothing is expressly stated concerning this fact in the reign of Domitian; but as it was the case under Nero, this extremely probable opposition certainly scarcely involves a license. The liberty I take in the treatment of the conspiracy itself, is much greater. Strictly speaking, it was only a revolution in the palace. Considerations more important to the novelist than strict historical accuracy, compel me here to deviate from the accounts of Suetonius and Dio Cassius.

335

Rodumna on the Liger, (now the Loire). Called at the present day Roanne.

336

Islands of Pontia. Now Isole di Ponza, opposite the Gulf of Gaeta.

337

Messana. Now Messina.

338

Aricia. Now Ariccia.

339

Lanuvium. Now Civita Lavigna.

340

At the foot of the Aventine was a slip arranged by the aediles M. Aemilius Lepidus and L. Aemilius Paulus in the year 193 B.C. Ships still lie at anchor there at the present day.

341

Long-haired woollen cloaks. The paenulae, the travelling and winter garments made of rough woollen material or leather. The lacerna differed from the paenula in being an open garment like the Greek pallium, and fastened on the right shoulder by means of a buckle (fibula), whereas the paenula was what is called a vestimentum clausam with an opening for the head. (Mart. XIV, 132, 133.) See Becker’s Gallus, vol. II, p. 95, etc.

342

Impluvium. The cistern, in the floor of the atrium, intended to receive rain-water.

343

A brazier full of burning charcoal. In ancient Rome, heat was usually supplied by means of movable stoves and iron braziers. Chimneys were also known.

344

Feast of Saturn. The so-called Saturnalia. See note, 292, Vol. I.

345

When I struck Allobrogus in the face. This, according to Roman views, was a mild punishment for such an offence. It sometimes happened in such cases, that slaves were instantly condemned by their angry masters “to the muraenae,” that is, to be thrown into the fish-ponds for food for the muraenae.

346

Pons Milvius. Now Ponte Molle.

347

The Caelian Hill. (Mons Caelius) south and south-east of the Coliseum.

348

The Via Latina branched off to the left, on entering the Via Appia, from the north.

349

Tomb of the Scipios. Portions of this tomb, (discovered in the Vigna Sassi in the year 1780,) still exist at the present day. Here lay buried: among others: L. Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, Consul 298 B.C.; his son. Consul 259 B.C., the poet Ennius etc. The tomb was originally above the ground.

350

Arch of Drusus. This monument, still extant, was erected in 8 B.C. to Claudius Drusus Germanicus.

351

The tombs that stood by the road-side. Abundant traces of these tombs on the Via Appia still exist.

352

Almo. The little river still bears this name; it rises at Bovillae; mentioned by Ovid. (Fast. IV, 337-340.)

353

We swear to each other by the memory of the crucified. See Plin. Ep. X, 97, where in a report about the deeds of the Christians, he says: "But they assert that their guilt or error consisted in meeting before dawn on a certain day, singing hymns in honor of Christ as a god, and binding themselves by a vow, not to commit a crime, but to neither steal, commit adultery, break their promise, nor deny the possession of accumulated property; after which they usually dispersed, only meeting again at an innocent meal, shared by all without distinction of persons.”

354

The Claudian aqueduct (Aqua Claudia.) Built by the Emperor Claudius 50 A.D. was twelve miles and a half long, and reached to Sublaqueum, (now Subiaco.)

355

Aqua Marcia. Built 146 B.C. by the Praetor Q. Marcius Rex, was twelve miles long, and extended to the Sabine Hills. Its water was considered the best in all Rome. Ruins of it, as well as of the Aqua Claudia, exist at the present day.

356

The Labicanian Way. (Via Labicana) led through Toleria, Ferentinum, Frusino and Fregellae to Teanum (north of Capua) where it entered the Via Appia.

357

The Via Praenestina was a road for local intercourse. Just beyond Praeneste (now Palestrina,) it entered (at Toleria) the Via Labicana.

358

Xystus (Συστός – Hall) the name of the luxuriously-adorned garden back of the peristyle. See Cic. Acad. II, 13.

359

Veleda. (Vĕlĕda or Vĕlēda) a German prophetess belonging to the Bructerian people, took part in the war against Rome under Civilis (A.D. 69) and afterwards roused her countrymen to another insurrection, but was captured and dragged to Rome. See Tac. Hist. IV, 61, 65; V, 23, 24, and Tac. Germ. 8.

360

The grove of Nerthus. Nerthus, an ancient German divinity, the personification of mother earth, specially revered in the north of Germany. Her principal grove was at Rügen.

361

A slave had just announced, that it was two hours after sunrise. In aristocratic families the hours of the day were announced by a slave, kept specially for this purpose.

362

Berenice’s Hair. A constellation, so called from the glittering hair of Berenice, daughter of Magas of Cyrene. See Cat. 66.

363

The senatorial purple. From ancient times the privilege of wearing a broad purple stripe upon the edge of the toga was one of the distinctions of the Roman senators. The second class (equites) among other prerogatives, possessed the right to wear a gold ring on the finger. But at a very early period abuse of this privilege crept in, until members of the third class, nay, even freedmen, presumed to assume this badge of honor. The severest punishments, such as confiscation of property, etc., could not prevent the misdemeanor. At the time of my story, the gold ring was actually as common as the use of the “von” in addressing simple citizens in Austria at the present day. See Mart. Ep. XI, 37, where the freedman Zoilus ventures to don a huge gold ring. The ring worn by Caius Aurelius – though legitimately his – must therefore have seemed all the more contemptible, in comparison with the senatorial purple. By the way, it may be said, that in the time of Tiberius the use of the purple was also abused. See Dio Cass. LVII, 13.

364

The Bona Dea. A somewhat mystical divinity, allied with the Ops, the Fauna, and the Hellenic Demeter. Her temple stood on the northeastern slope of the Aventine Hill.

365

The Delphian Way, (Clivus Delphini), led from the Circus Maximus to the Porta Raudusculana.

366

Clear a way through the mass of people. When people of distinction went out, this making a way through the crowd was often done with much ostentation, but it was always the duty of a few slaves to walk before their masters, and thus smooth the way for them.

367