Chapter 1

and women, freemen and slaves, but particularly by philosophers.]

[Footnote 256: Masgabas seems, by his name, to have been of African origin.]

[Footnote 257: A courtly answer from the Professor of Science, in which character he attended Tiberius. We shall hear more of him in the reign of that emperor.]

[Footnote 258: Augustus was born A.U.C. 691, and died A.U.C. 766.]

[Footnote 259: Municipia were towns which had obtained the rights of Roman citizens. Some of them had all which could be enjoyed without residing at Rome. Others had the right of serving in the Roman legions, but not that of voting, nor of holding civil offices. The municipia retained their own laws and customs; nor were they obliged to receive the Roman laws unless they chose it.]

[Footnote 260: Bovillae, a small place on the Appian Way, about nineteen miles from Rome, now called Frattochio.]

[Footnote 261: Dio tells us that the devoted Livia joined with the knights in this pious office, which occupied them during five days.]

[Footnote 262: For the Flaminian Way, see before, p. 94, note. The superb monument erected by Augustus over the sepulchre of the imperial family was of white marble, rising in stages to a great height, and crowned by a dome, on which stood a statue of Augustus. Marcellus was the first who was buried in the sepulchre beneath. It stood near the present Porta del Popolo; and the Bustum, where the bodies of the emperor and his family were burnt, is supposed to have stood on the site of the church of the Madonna of that name.]

[Footnote 263: The distinction between the Roman people and the tribes, is also observed by Tacitus, who substitutes the word plebs, meaning, the lowest class of the populace.]

[Footnote 264: Those of his father Octavius, and his father by adoption, Julius Caesar.]

[Footnote 265: See before, c. 65. But he bequeathed a legacy to his daughter, Livia.]

[Footnote 266: Virgil.]

[Footnote 267: Ibid.]

[Footnote 268: Ibid.]

[Footnote 269: Geor. ii.]

[Footnote 270: I am prevented from entering into greater details, both by the size of my volume, and my anxiety to complete the undertaking.]

[Footnote 271: After performing these immortal achievements, while he was holding an assembly of the people for reviewing his army in the plain near the lake of Capra, a storm suddenly rose, attended with great thunder and lightning, and enveloped the king in so dense a mist, that it took all sight of him from the assembly. Nor was Romulus after this seen on earth. The consternation being at length over, and fine clear weather succeeding so turbulent a day, when the Roman youth saw the royal seat empty, though they readily believed the Fathers who had stood nearest him, that he was carried aloft by the storm, yet struck with the dread as it were of orphanage, they preserved a sorrowful silence for a considerable time. Then a commencement having been made by a few, the whole multitude salute Romulus a god, son of a god, the king and parent of the Roman city; they implore his favour with prayers, that he would be pleased always propitiously to preserve his own offspring. I believe that even then there were some who silently surmised that the king had been torn in pieces by the hands of the Fathers; for this rumour also spread, but was not credited; their admiration of the man and the consternation felt at the moment, attached importance to the other report. By the contrivance also of one individual, additional credit is said to have been gained to the matter. For Proculus Julius, whilst the state was still troubled with regret for the king, and felt incensed against the senators, a person of weight, as we are told, in any matter, however important, comes forward to the assembly. "Romans," he said, "Romulus, the father of this city, suddenly descending from heaven, appeared to me this day at day-break. While I stood covered with awe, and filled with a religious dread, beseeching him to allow me to see him face to face, he said; 'Go tell the Romans, that the gods do will, that my Rome should become the capital of the world. Therefore let them cultivate the art of war, and let them know and hand down to posterity, that no human power shall be able to withstand the Roman arms.' Having said this, he ascended up to heaven." It is surprising what credit was given to the man on his making this announcement, and how much the regret of the common people and army for the loss of Romulus, was assuaged upon the assurance of his immortality.]

[Footnote 272: Padua.]

[Footnote 273: Commentators seem to have given an erroneous and unbecoming sense to Cicero's exclamation, when they suppose that the object understood, as connected with altera, related to himself. Hope is never applied in this signification, but to a young person, of whom something good or great is expected; and accordingly, Virgil, who adopted the expression, has very properly applied it to Ascanius:

Et juxta Ascanius, magmae spes altera Romae. Aeneid, xii.]

And by his side Ascanius took his place, The second hope of Rome's immortal race.]

Cicero, at the time when he could have heard a specimen of Virgil's Eclogues, must have been near his grand climacteric; besides that, his virtues and talents had long been conspicuous, and were past the state of hope. It is probable, therefore, that altera referred to some third person, spoken of immediately before, as one who promised to do honour to his country. It might refer to Octavius, of whom Cicero at this time, entertained a high opinion; or it may have been spoken in an absolute manner, without reference to any person.]

[Footnote 274: I was born at Mantua, died in Calabria, and my tomb is at Parthenope: pastures, rural affairs, and heroes are the themes of my poems.]

[Footnote 275: The last members of these two lines, from the commas to the end are said to have been supplied by Erotes, Virgil's librarian.]

[Footnote 276: Carm. i. 17.]

[Footnote 277: "The Medea of Ovid proves, in my opinion, how surpassing would have been his success, if he had allowed his genius free scope, instead of setting bounds to it."]

[Footnote 278: Two faults have ruined me; my verse, and my mistake.]

[Footnote 279: These lines are thus rendered in the quaint version of Zachary Catlin.

I suffer 'cause I chanced a fault to spy, So that my crime doth in my eyesight lie.

Alas! why wait my luckless hap to see A fault at unawares to ruin me?]

[Footnote 280: "I myself employed you as ready agents in love, when my early youth sported in numbers adapted to it."--Riley's Ovid.]

[Footnote 281: "I long since erred by one composition; a fault that is not recent endures a punishment inflicted thus late. I had already published my poems, when, according to my privilege, I passed in review so many times unmolested as one of the equestrian order, before you the enquirer into criminal charges. Is it then possible that the writings which, in my want of confidence, I supposed would not have injured me when young, have now been my ruin in my old age?"--Riley's Ovid.]

[Footnote 282: This place, now called Temisvar, or Tomisvar, stands on one of the mouths of the Danube, about sixty-five miles E.N.E. from Silistria. The neighbouring bay of the Black Sea is still called the Gulf of Baba.]

[Footnote 283: "It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable to pursue glory by means of the intellect, than of bodily strength; and, since the life we enjoy is short to make the remembrance of it as lasting as possible."]

[Footnote 284: Intramural interments were prohibited at Rome by the laws of the Twelve Tables, notwithstanding the practice of reducing to ashes the bodies of the dead. It was only by special privilege that individuals who had deserved well of the state, and certain distinguished families were permitted to have tombs within the city.]

[Footnote 285: Among the Romans, all the descendants from one common stock were called Gentiles, being of the same race or kindred, however remote. The Gens, as they termed this general relation or clanship, was subdivided into families, in Familias vel Stirpes; and those of the same family were called Agnati. Relations by the father's side were also called Agnati, to distinguish them from Cognati, relations only by the mother's side. An Agnatus might also be called Cognatus, but not the contrary.]

To mark the different gentes and familiae, and to distinguish the individuals of the same family, the Romans had commonly three names, the Praenomen, Nomen, and Cognomen. The praenomen was put first, and marked the individual. It was usually written with one letter; as A. for Aulus; C. Caius; D. Decimus: sometimes with two letters; as Ap. for Appius; Cn. Cneius; and sometimes with three; as Mam. for Mamercus.]

The Nomen was put after the Praenomen, and marked the gens. It commonly ended in ius; as Julius, Tullius, Cornelius. The Cognomen was put last, and marked the familia; as Cicero, Caesar, etc.]

Some gentes appear to have had no surname, as the Marian; and gens and familia seem sometimes to be put one for the other; as the Fabia gens, or Fabia familia.]

Sometimes there was a fourth name, properly called the Agnomen, but sometimes likewise Cognomen, which was added on account of some illustrious action or remarkable event. Thus Scipio was named Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, from the conquest of Carthage. In the same manner, his brother was called Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. Thus also, Quintus Fabius Maximus received the Agnomen of Cunctator, from his checking the victorious career of Hannibal by avoiding a battle.]

[Footnote 286: A.U.C. 474.]

[Footnote 287: A.U.C. 490.]

[Footnote 288: A.U.C. 547.]

[Footnote 289: A.U.C. 304.]

[Footnote 290: An ancient Latin town on the Via Appia, the present road to Naples, mentioned by St. Paul, Acts xxviii. 15, and Horace, Sat. i. 5, 3, in giving an account of their travels.]

[Footnote 291: A.U.C. 505.]

[Footnote 292: Cybele; first worshipped in Phrygia, about Mount Ida, from whence a sacred stone, the symbol of her divinity, probably an aerolite, was transported to Rome, in consequence of the panic occasioned by Hannibal's invasion, A.U.C. 508.]

[Footnote 293: A.U.C. 695.]

[Footnote 294: A.U.C. 611.]

[Footnote 295: A.U.C. 550.]

[Footnote 296: A.U.C. 663.]

[Footnote 297: A.U.C. 707.]

[Footnote 298: These, and other towns in the south of France, became, and long continued, the chief seats of Roman civilization among the Gauls; which is marked by the magnificent remains of ancient art still to be seen. Arles, in particular, is a place of great interest.]

[Footnote 299: A.U.C. 710.]

[Footnote 300: A.U.C. 713.]

[Footnote 301: A.U.C. 712. Before Christ about 39.]

[Footnote 302: A.U.C. 744.]

[Footnote 303: A.U.C. 735.]

[Footnote 304: See before, in the reign of AUGUSTUS, c. xxxii.]

[Footnote 305: A.U.C. 728.]

[Footnote 306: A.U.C. 734.]

[Footnote 307: A.U.C. 737.]

[Footnote 308: A.U.C. 741.]

[Footnote 309: A.U.C. 747.]

[Footnote 310: A.U.C. 748.]

[Footnote 311: Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, about thirteen miles from the city, was founded by Ancus Martius. Being the port of a city like Rome, it could not fail to become opulent; and it was a place of much resort, ornamented with fine edifices, and the environs "never failing of pasture in the summer time, and in the winter covered with roses and other flowers." The port having been filled up with the depositions of the Tiber, it became deserted, and is now abandoned to misery and malaria. The bishopric of Ostia being the oldest in the Roman church, its bishop has always retained some peculiar privileges.]

[Footnote 312: The Gymnasia were places of exercise, and received their name from the Greek word signifying naked, because the contending parties wore nothing but drawers.]

[Footnote 313: A.U.C. 752.]

[Footnote 314: The cloak and slippers, as distinguished from the Roman toga and shoes.]

[Footnote 315: A.U.C. 755.]

[Footnote 316: This fountain, in the Euganian hills, near Padua, famous for its mineral waters, is celebrated by Claudian in one of his elegies.]

[Footnote 317: The street called Carinae, at Rome, has been mentioned before; AUGUSTUS, c. v.; and also Mecaenas' house on the Esquiline, ib. c.