Part 16

An inclosure in the middle of the Forum, marking the spot where Curtius leapt into the lake, which had been long since filled up.

Sandalarium, Tragoedum; names of streets, in which temples of tame gouts stood, as we now say St. Peter, Cornhill, etc.

A coin, in value about 8 3/4 d. of our money.

The senate, as instituted by Romulus, consisted of one hundred members, who were called Patres, i. e. Fathers, either upon account of their age, or their paternal care of the state. The number received some augmentation under Tullus Hostilius; and Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, added a hundred more, who were called Patres minorum gentium; those created by Romulus being distinguished by the name of Patres majorum gentium. Those who were chosen into the senate by Brutus, after the expulsion of Tarquin the Proud, to supply the place of those whom that king had slain, were called Conscripti, i. e. persons written or enrolled among the old senators, who alone were properly styled Patres. Hence arose the custom of summoning to the senate those who were Patres, and those who were Conscripti; and hence also was applied to the senators in general the designation of Patres Conscripti, the particle et, and, being understood to connect the two classes of senators. In the time of Julius Caesar, the number of senators was increased to nine hundred, and after his death to a thousand; many worthless persons having been admitted into the senate during the civil wars. Augustus afterwards reduced the number to six hundred.

Antonius Musa was a freedman, and had acquired his knowledge of medicine while a domestic slave; a very common occurrence.

A.U.C. 711.

See cc. x. xi. xii. and xiii.

One of them was Scipio, the father of Cornelia, whose death is lamented by Propertius, iv. 12. The other is unknown.

A.U.C. 715.

He is mentioned by Horace:

Occidit Daci Cotisonis agimen. Ode 8, b. iii.

Most probably Antony knew the imputation to be unfounded, and made it for the purpose of excusing his own marriage with Cleopatra.

This form of adoption consisted in a fictitious sale. See Cicero, Topic. iii.

Curiae. Romulus divided the people of Rome into three tribes; and each tribe into ten Curiae. The number of tribes was afterwards increased by degrees to thirty-five; but that of the Curiae always remained the same.

She was removed to Reggio in Calabria.

Agrippa was first banished to the little desolate island of Planasia, now Pianosa. It is one of the group in the Tuscan sea, between Elba and Corsica.

A quotation from the Iliad, 40, iii.; where Hector is venting his rage on Paris. The inflexion is slightly changed, the line in the original commencing, "Aith' opheles, etc., would thou wert, etc."

Women called ustriculae, the barbers, were employed in thin delicate operation. It is alluded to by Juvenal, ix. 4, and Martial, v. 61.

Cybele.--Gallus was either the name of a river in Phrygia, supposed to cause a certain frenzy in those who drank of its waters, or the proper name of the first priest of Cybele.

A small drum, beat by the finger or thumb, was used by the priests of Cybele in their lascivious rites and in other orgies of a similar description, These drums were made of inflated skin, circular in shape, so that they had some resemblance to the orb which, in the statues of the emperor, he is represented as holding in his hand. The populace, with the coarse humour which was permitted to vent itself freely at the spectacles, did not hesitate to apply what was said in the play of the lewd priest of Cybele, to Augustus, in reference to the scandals attached to his private character. The word cinaedus, translated "wanton," might have been rendered by a word in vulgar use, the coarsest in the English language, and there is probably still more in the allusion too indelicate to be dwelt upon.

Mark Antony makes use of fondling diminutives of the names of Tertia, Terentia, and Rufa, some of Augustus's favourites.

Dodekatheos; the twelve Dii Majores; they are enumerated in two verses by Ennius:--

Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars; Mercurius, Jovis, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo.

Probably in the Suburra, where Martial informs us that torturing scourges were sold:

Tonatrix Suburrae faucibus sed et primis, Cruenta pendent qua flagella tortorum. Mart. xi. 15, 1.

Like the gold and silver-smiths of the middle ages, the Roman money-lenders united both trades. See afterwards, NERO, c. 5. It is hardly necessary to remark that vases or vessels of the compound metal which went by the name of Corinthian brass, or bronze, were esteemed even more valuable than silver plate.

See c. xxxii. and note.

The Romans, at their feasts, during the intervals of drinking, often played at dice, of which there were two kinds, the tesserae and tali. The former had six sides, like the modern dice; the latter, four oblong sides, for the two ends were not regarded. In playing, they used three tesserae and four tali, which were all put into a box wider below than above, and being shaken, were thrown out upon the gaming-board or table.