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.

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

[307] 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.

[308] CANTABRIAN BEAR. Cantabria, the mountainous region in the north of Spain, supplied most of the bears for the Roman wild-beast combats.

[309] 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.

[310] BY THE FAMOUS MURAL PAINTINGS. See Mart. _Ep._ II, 14. Ill, 20, etc.

[311] SEPTA. See Mart. _Ep._ II, 14; IX, 59.

[312] 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.

[313] 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.

[314] 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.

[315] MASTHLION’S SKILL. See Mart _Ep._ V, 12:

“That the haughty Masthlion now, Wields such weights on perched brow.”

[316] 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.

[317] TABLETS ON THEIR KNEES. See Hor. _Epist. ad Pis._, 19, etc.

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

[319] 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.

[320] BURRHUS, THE SON OF PARTHENIUS. See Mart. _Ep._, IV, 45; V, 6.

[321] 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_....

[322] SORACTE. A mountain north of Rome. See Varro R.R. II, 3, 3; Virg. _Aen._ VI, 696, Hor. _Od._ I, 9 (_alta nive candidum._)