Part 3

[868] This is not the only instance mentioned by Suetonius of statues erected to learned men in the place of their birth or celebrity. Orbilius, as a schoolmaster, was represented in a sitting posture, and with the gown of the Greek philosophers.

[869] Tacitus [Annal. cxi. 75] gives the character of Atteius Capito. He was consul A.U.C. 758.

[870] Asinius Pollio; see JULIUS, c. xxx.

[871] Whether Hermas was the son or scholar of Gnipho, does not appear,

[872] Eratosthenes, an Athenian philosopher, flourished in Egypt, under three of the Ptolemies successively. Strabo often mentions him. See xvii. p. 576.

[873] Cornelius Helvius Cinna was an epigrammatic poet, of the same age as Catullus. Ovid mentions him, Tristia, xi. 435.

[874] Priapus was worshipped as the protector of gardens.

[875] Zenodotus, the grammarian, was librarian to the first Ptolemy at Alexandria, and tutor to his sons.

[876] For Crates, see before, p. 507.

[877] We find from Plutarch that Sylla was employed two days before his death, in completing the twenty-second book of his Commentaries; and, foreseeing his fate, entrusted them to the care of Lucullus, who, with the assistance of Epicadius, corrected and arranged them. Epicadius also wrote on Heroic verse, and Cognomina.

[878] Plutarch, in his Life of Caesar, speaks of the loose conduct of Mucia, Pompey's wife, during her husband's absence.

[879] Fam. Epist. 9.

[880] Cicero ad Att. xii. 36.

[881] See before, AUGUSTUS, c. v.

[882] Lenaeus was not singular in his censure of Sallust. Lactantius, 11. 12, gives him an infamous character; and Horace says of him,

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

[883] The name of the well known Roman knight, to whom Cicero addressed his Epistles, was Titus Pomponius Atticus. Although Satrius was the name of a family at Rome, no connection between it and Atticus can be found, so that the text is supposed to be corrupt. Quintus Caecilius was an uncle of Atticus, and adopted him. The freedman mentioned in this chapter probably assumed his name, he having been the property of Caecilius; as it was the custom for freedmen to adopt the names of their patrons.

[884] Suetonius, TIBERIUS, c. viii. Her name was Pomponia.

[885] See AUGUSTUS, c. lxvi.

[886] He is mentioned before, c. ix.

[887] Verrius Flaccus is mentioned by St. Jerome, in conjunction with Athenodorus of Tarsus, a Stoic philosopher, to have flourished A.M.C. 2024, which is A.U.C. 759; A.D. 9. He is also praised by Gellius, Macrobius, Pliny, and Priscian.

[888] Cinna wrote a poem, which he called "Smyrna," and was nine years in composing, as Catullus informs us, 93. 1.

[889] See AUGUSTUS, cc. lxii. lxix.

[890] Cornelius Alexander, who had also the name of Polyhistor, was born at Miletus, and being taken prisoner, and bought by Cornelius, was brought to Rome, and becoming his teacher, had his freedom given him, with the name of his patron. He flourished in the time of Sylla, and composed a great number of works; amongst which were five books on Rome. Suetonius has already told us [AUGUSTUS, xxix.] that he had the care of the Palatine Library.

[891] No such consul as Caius Licinius appears in the Fasti; and it is supposed to be a mistake for C. Atinius, who was the colleague of Cn. Domitius Calvinus, A.U.C. 713, and wrote a book on the Civil War.

[892] Julius Modestus, in whom the name of the Julian family was still preserved, is mentioned with approbation by Gellius, Martial, Quintilian, and others.

[893] Melissus is mentioned by Ovid, De Pontif. iv 16-30.

[894] See AUGUSTUS, c. xxix. p. 93, and note.

[895] The trabea was a white robe, with a purple border, of a different fashion from the toga.

[896] See before, c. x.

[897] See CLAUDIUS, c. x1i. and note.

[898] Remmius Palaemon appears to have been cotemporary with Pliny and Quintilian, who speak highly of him.

[899] Now Vicenza.

[900] "Audiat haec tantum vel qui venit, ecce, Palaemon."--Eccl. iii. 50.

[901] All the editions have the word vitem; but we might conjecture, from the large produce, that it is a mistake for vineam, a vineyard: in which case the word vasa might be rendered, not bottles, but casks. The amphora held about nine gallons. Pliny mentions that Remmius bought a farm near the turning on the Nomentan road, at the tenth mile-stone from Rome.

[902] "Usque ad infamiam oris."--See TIBERIUS, p. 220, and the notes.

[903] Now Beyrout, on the coast of Syria. It was one of the colonies founded by Julius Caesar when he transported 80,000 Roman citizens to foreign parts.--JULIUS, xlii.

[904] This senatus consultum was made A.U.C. 592.

[905] Hirtius and Pansa were consuls A.U.C. 710.

[906] See NERO, c. x.

[907] As to the Bullum, see before, JULIUS, c. lxxxiv.

[908] This extract given by Suetonius is all we know of any epistle addressed by Cicero to Marcus Titinnius.

[909] See Cicero's Oration, pro Caelio, where Atracinus is frequently mentioned, especially cc. i. and iii.

[910] "Hordearium rhetorem."

[911] From the manner in which Suetonius speaks of the old custom of chaining one of the lowest slaves to the outer gate, to supply the place of a watch-dog, it would appear to have been disused in his time.

[912] The work in which Cornelius Nepos made this statement is lost.

[913] Pliny mentions with approbation C. Epidius, who wrote some treatises in which trees are represented as speaking; and the period in which he flourished, agrees with that assigned to the rhetorician here named by Suetonius. Plin. xvii. 25.

[914] Isauricus was consul with Julius Caesar II., A.U.C. 705, and again with L. Antony, A.U.C. 712.

[915] A river in the ancient Campania, now called the Sarno, which discharges itself into the bay of Naples.

[916] Epidius attributes the injury received by his eyes to the corrupt habits he contracted in the society of M. Antony.

[917] The direct allusion is to the "style" or probe used by surgeons in opening tumours.

[918] Mark Antony was consul with Julius Caesar, A.U.C. 709. See before, JULIUS, c. lxxix.

[919] Philipp. xi. 17.

[920] Leontium, now called Lentini, was a town in Sicily, the foundation of which is related by Thucydides, vi. p. 412. Polybius describes the Leontine fields as the most fertile part of Sicily. Polyb. vii. 1. And see Cicero, contra Verrem, iii. 46, 47.

[921] Novara, a town of the Milanese.

[922] St. Jerom in Chron. Euseb. describes Lucius Munatius Plancus as the disciple of Cicero, and a celebrated orator. He founded Lyons during the time he governed that part of the Roman provinces in Gaul.

[923] See AUGUSTUS, c. xxxvi.

[924] He meant to speak of Cisalpine Gaul, which, though geographically a part of Italy, did not till a late period enjoy the privileges of the other territories united to Rome, and was administered by a praetor under the forms of a dependent province. It was admitted to equal rights by the triumvirs, after the death of Julius Caesar. Albutius intimated that those rights were now in danger.