Part 46

Traditions of the church place the martyrdoms of SS. Peter and Paul at Rome, under the reign of Nero. The legends are given by Ordericus Vitalis. See vol. i. of the edition in the Antiq. Lib. pp. 206, etc., with the notes and reference to the apocryphal works on which they are founded.]

“Totam hodie Romam circus capit.”--Sat. xi. 195.

This poetical exaggeration is applied by Addison to the Colosseum.

“That on its public shews unpeopled Rome.”--Letter to Lord Halifax.

The area of the Circus Maximus occupied the hollow between the Palatine and Aventine hills, so that it was overlooked by the imperial palace, from which the emperors had so full a view of it, that they could from that height give the signals for commencing the races. Few fragments of it remain; but from the circus of Caracalla, which is better preserved, a tolerably good idea of the ancient circus may be formed. For details of its parts, and the mode in which the sports were conducted, see Burton’s Antiquities, p. 309, etc.]

“The Laurel, meed of mighty conquerors, And poets sage,”--Spenser’s Faerie Queen.

is retained throughout the translation. But the tree or shrub which had this distinction among the ancients, the Laurus nobilis of botany, the Daphne of the Greeks, is the bay-tree, indigenous in Italy, Greece, and the East, and introduced into England about 1562. Our laurel is a plant of a very different tribe, the Prunes lauro-cerasus, a native of the Levant and the Crimea, acclimated in England at a later period than the bay.]

Not to extend the present note, we may shortly refer to our author’s having already mentioned his grandfather (CALIGULA, c. xix.); besides other sources from which he drew his information. He tells us that he himself was then a boy. We have now arrived at the times in which his father bore a part. Such incidental notices, dropped by historical writers, have a certain value in enabling us to form a judgment on the genuineness of their narratives as to contemporaneous, or recent, events.]

Hunc Fauna, et nympha genitum Laurente Marica Accipimus.--Aen. vii. 47.

Her name may have been changed after her deification; but we have no other accounts than those preserved by Suetonius, of several of the traditions handed down from the fabulous ages respecting the Vitellian family.]

Valerius Flaccus, i. 8, and Silius Italicus, iii. 598, celebrate the triumphs of Vespasian in Britain. In representing him, however, as carrying his arms among the Caledonian tribes, their flattery transferred to the emperor the glory of the victories gained by his lieutenant, Agricola. Vespasian’s own conquests, while he served in Britain, were principally in the territories of the Brigantes, lying north of the Humber, and including the present counties of York and Durham.]

The story has the more interest, as it is one of the examples of successful imposture, selected by Hume in his Essay on Miracles; with the reply to which by Paley, in his Evidences of Christianity, most readers are familiar. The commentators on Suetonius agree with Paley in considering the whole affair as a juggle between the priests, the patients, and, probably, the emperor. But what will, perhaps, strike the reader as most remarkable, is the singular coincidence of the story with the accounts given of several of the miracles of Christ; whence it has been supposed, that the scene was planned in imitation of them. It did not fall within the scope of Dr. Paley’s argument to advert to this; and our own brief illustration must be strictly confined within the limits of historical disquisition. Adhering to this principle, we may point out that if the idea of plagiarism be accepted, it receives some confirmation from the incident related by our author in a preceding paragraph, forming, it may be considered, another scene of the same drama, where we find Basilides appearing to Vespasian in the temple of Serapis, under circumstances which cannot fail to remind us of Christ’s suddenly standing in the midst of his disciples, “when the doors were shut.” This incident, also, has very much the appearance of a parody on the evangelical history. But if the striking similarity of the two narratives be thus accounted for, it is remarkable that while the priests of Alexandria, or, perhaps, Vespasian himself from his residence in Judaea, were in possession of such exact details of two of Christ’s miracles--if not of a third striking incident in his history--we should find not the most distant allusion in the works of such cotemporary writers as Tacitus and Suetonius, to any one of the still more stupendous occurrences which had recently taken place in a part of the world with which the Romans had now very intimate relations. The character of these authors induces us to hesitate in adopting the notion, that either contempt or disbelief would have led them to pass over such events, as altogether unworthy of notice; and the only other inference from their silence is, that they had never heard of them. But as this can scarcely be reconciled with the plagiarism attributed to Vespasian or the Egyptian priests, it is safer to conclude that the coincidence, however singular, was merely fortuitous. It may be added that Spartianus, who wrote the lives of Adrian and succeeding emperors, gives an account of a similar miracle performed by that prince in healing a blind man.]

Utere lactucis, et mollibus utere malvis: Nam faciem durum Phoebe, cacantis habes.--iii. 89.]

Rode caper vitem, tamen hinc, cum staris ad aram, In tua quod spargi cornua possit erit.]

Memini quae plagosum mihi parvo Orbilium tractare. Epist. xi. i. 70.

I remember well when I was young, How old Orbilius thwacked me at my tasks.]

Libertinarum dico; Sallustius in quas Non minus insanit; quam qui moechatur.--Sat. i. 2. 48.]

Esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendat Agaven. --Juv. Sat. vii. 87.]

Sequor hunc, Lucanus an Appulus anceps; Nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus. Hor Sat. xi. 1. 34.] [Footnote 964: Sat. i. 6. 45.]

Septimi, Gades aditure mecum.--Ode xl. b. i.]

Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute vises.]

O nata mecum consule Manlio Testa.--Ode iii. 21.

And again,

Tu vina, Torquato, move Consule pressa meo.--Epod. xiii. 8.]

Nunc licet Esquiliis habitare salubribus, atque Aggere in aprico spatiare.--Sat. i. 8.]

INDEX.

Acilius, C., his heroic conduct in a sea-fight, 42. Acte, a concubine of Nero, 357. Actium, battle of, 81, 82. Agrippa, M., his naval victory, 80; presented with a banner, 88; his buildings, 93; aqueducts, 104; grandson of Augustus, 118; his character, ib. 119; adopted, 203; banished, 204; murdered, 208. Agrippina, daughter of M. Agrippa and Livia, 254; marries Germanicus, 118; banished by Tiberius, 225; birth of Caligula, 255; daughter of Germanicus, Claudius marries her, 320, 327; suspected of poisoning him, 331; her character, 335. Alban Mount, 276, 298, and note; festival on, 482. Albula, the warm springs at, 131. Albutius, Silus, an orator, 528. Alexander the Great, J. Caesar’s model, 5; his sarcophagus opened for Augustus, 82. Alexandria, museum at, 330; library at, 496, note; the key of Egypt, 449; Vespasian’s miracles there, 450, and note. Amphitheatres; of Statilius Taurus, 93; description of, 262, note; the Castrensis, 265 and note; the Colosseum, 453 and note. Andronicus, M. P. a scholar, 515. Antony, Mark, at Caesar’s funeral, 53; triumvir with Octavius and Lepidus, 75; opposes Octavius, 76; defeated by him, 77; their new alliance, ib.; dissolved, 80; defeat at Actium, 81; flies to Cleopatra, ib.; kills himself, ib. Anticyra, island of, 272 and note. Antium, the Apollo Belvidere found there, 217 note; preferred by Caligula, 256; colony settled at, 343 and note. Antonius, Lucius, brother of Mark, war with, 76; forced to surrender, 78. ------, Musa, Augustus’s physician, 116. Antonia, grandmother of Caligula, 267, 272. Apollonius of Rhodes, 4. Apple, the Matian, 496. Apomus, fountain of, 203. Apotheosis, J. Caesar, 1, note; and 55. Apicius, his works, 249. Aqueduct of the Anio, 265 and note, 314. Arch of Claudius, 303; of Titus, 467 note. Aricia, grove of, 81; a town near Rome, 73. Arles, a Roman colony, 195. Asinius Pollio, the orator, 304. ------ Gallius, his son, ib.; 329. Atteius, the philologer, 513. ------ Capito, jurisconsult, 521. Atticus, the friend of Cicero, 517 and note. August, name of the month Sextilis changed to, 95. AUGUSTUS CAESAR, his descent, 71; birth, 73; infancy and youth, 74; civil wars, 76; battle of Philippi, 77; takes Perugia, 79; naval war with Pompey, 80; battle of Actium, 81; forces Antony to kill himself, ib.; and Cleopatra, ib.; foreign wars, 83; triumphs, 85; conduct as a general, 86; in civil affairs, 88-90; in improving the city, 90-94; in religious matters, 95; in administering justice, 96, 97; purifies the senate, 98; scrutiny of the knights, 102; his munificence, 104; public spectacles, 105-108; colonies, 109; the provinces, ib.; distribution of the army, 110; his clemency, 111; moderation, 112, 113; honours paid him, 114-116; his wives and family, 117-119; friendships, 120; aspersions on his character, 121-124; his domestic life, 125-129; person and health, 129-131; literary pursuits, 132-135; regard for religion and omens, 136-142; his last illness and death, 143-145; his funeral and will, 146-147; remarks on his life and times, 148-191. Aulus Plautius commands in Britain, 309 and note, 444; his ovation, 316.

Baiae, Julian harbour formed at, 79; frequented by Augustus, 126. Basilicas, the, 7 and note. Basilides, an Egyptian priest, 447 note; appears to Vespasian, 450. Baths of Nero, 345 and note; of Titus, 470 and note. Beccus, a general in Gaul, 439 and note. Bedriacum, battle of, 423, 433, 447. Berenice, queen, attachment of Titus to her, 469 and note. Berytus, now Beyrout, 522. Bibaculus, a poet, 507 note. Bibulus, M., edile, 6 and note; consul with J. Caesar, 12; lampoon on, 13. Bithynia, J. Caesar sent there, 2. Britain, invaded by Julius Caesar, 17; reconnoitred first, 38; Caligula’s intended expedition, 282 and note; that of Claudius, 308, 309; Nero proposes to abandon, 848; revolt there, 368 and note. Britannicus, son of Claudius, 320; his regard for him, 330; educated with Titus, 405; poisoned, ib.; honours paid him by Titus, ib. Brutus and Cassius conspire against Julius Caesar, 49; they assassinate him, 51; his dying apostrophe to Brutus, 52 and note; their fate, 55 and 78. Bulla, the, worn by youths, 54 and note.