Sed deerat pisci patinæ mensura. Vocantur Ergo in consilium proceres, quos oderat Ille; In quorum facie miseræ magnæque sedebat 75 Pallor amicitiæ. Primus, clamante Liburno "Currite! jam sedit !" rapta properabat abolla Pegasus, adtonitæ pósitus modo villicus Urbi. Anne aliud tunc Præfecti? quorum optimus atque Acts xii. 21-23. "O what is it proud slime will not believe Of his own worth, to hear it equal praised Thus with the gods?" Jonson, Sejanus. G. 72. Quamvis lata gerat patella rhombum, rhombus latior est tamen patella; Mart. XIII. lxxxi. PR. 73. There cannot be a stronger instance of the capricious insolence with which the tyrants of Rome treated the servile and degenerate senate, than their being summoned on this paltry occasion. LU. cf. Sil. i. 609. Liv. ix. 17. R. There is an anecdote of Nero, worthy, in every respect, to be placed by the side of that in the text. One day, while the empire was in a state of revolt, he convened the senators in haste. And, when they were breathless with apprehension of some alarming communication, his speech from the throne was this, "'Eğú ρηκα πῶς ἡ ὑδραυλὶς καὶ μεῖζον καὶ ἐμμελέστερον φθέγξεται.” G. 'He hated them, from a consciousness of those feelings with which they could not but regard him.' M. rò piros xai πρὸς τὰ γένη, μισεῖ γὰρ τὸν συκοφάντην ἕκαστος καὶ τοῦ κακῶσαι ἐφίεται· καὶ μὴ sivas Boúkstai, öv μiosĩ. Àrist. Rh. II. wait on his lord and master; whereas the disciples of Zeno boasted themselves to be free, and kings, and professed to be imperturbable. cf. Hor. III Od. iii. 1 sqq. HN. 77. Pegasus was a man of such great learning that he was called a Book;' a most profound lawyer, and an upright and worthy magistrate; he had filled the office of consul, had presided over many of the provinces with honour to himself and satisfaction to the people; and was appointed prefect of the city by Vespasian. He is said to have been named after the ship of his father, who was trierarch of a Liburnian galley. VS. Besides the Dacians, who now kept the city' in a constant state of alarm,' the Catti, the Sygambri, and other barbarous nations, were on the eve of commencing hostilities. 147. G. Or stupified as one thunderstruck. PR. Positus for præpositus. R. Modo cf. nuper; ii. 160. MNS. By the term bailiff' we are given to understand that the emperors regarded Rome as nothing but a large farm, and the citizens as no better than so many menials and labourers. MNS. cf. iii. 195. R. Villicus ærari quondam, nunc cultor agelli; Tib. Priap. 81. SA. does not prove that villicus was synonymous with præfectus, as it is evidently used metaphorically and by way of antithesis. 78. Tune in those days' i. e. under the Flavian family. MNS. cf. Suet. Ves. 16. R. • Prefects of the city' were appointed by Romulus, and existed both under the regal and the consular government. But their authority was so enlarged by Augustus, that he may be almost considered as having instituted them. In this he is said to have acted by the advice of Mæcenas, on whom he first conferred the office: and the choice of those whom he afterwards appointed to it shows his opinion of its importance. The juris Interpres legum sanctissimus, omnia quamquam Consilium? Sed quid violentius aure tyranni, diction of the prefect was now extended a hundred miles beyond the walls. He decided in all causes between masters and slaves, patrons and clients, guardians and wards, &c.: he had the inspection of the mints, the regulation of the markets, and the superintendence of the public amusements. G. 80. He was a time-server, not daring to wield the sword of Justice with vigour; for since it was impossible to punish the greater criminals, he thought it but fair to connive at petty offenders.' FA. Justice is frequently represented on Roman coins unarmed,' with a goblet (patera) in one hand and a sceptre in the other. R. 81. Vibius Crispus Placentinus was another worthy but cautious man. One of his good savings is preserved by Suetonius: Domitianus inter initia principatus, quotidie secretum sibi horarium sumere solebat, nec quidquam amplius, quam muscas capture, ac stilo præacuto configere; ut cuidam interroganti' Essetne quis intus cum Cæsare?' non absurde responsum sit a Vibio Crispo Ne musca quidem;' 3. FA. Vibius Crispus, compositus et jucundus, atque delectatione natus, privatis tamen causis quam publicis melior; Quint. x. 1. PR. Id. v. 13. vi. 2. xii. 11. Tac. de Or. 8. 13. An. xiv. 28. H. ii. 10. iv. 41. 43. R. Lumina Nestorei mitis prudentia Crispi et Fabius Veiento: potentem signat utrumque pur pura; ter memores implerunt nomine 85. Cf. Suet. Dom. 10-12. R. 86. It is dangerous teneras mordaci radere vero auriculas; Pers. i. 107. PR. "Tyrants' ears, alas, are ticklish things."G. 88. Was at stake.' R. 89. Και ῷ λατρεύειν μηδ' ἀντιπνέειν avspots. LU. "As Sherlock at Temple was taking a boat, The waterman ask'd him which way he would float. Which way?' quoth the Doctor, you fool, with the stream!' To Paul's, or to Lambeth, 'twas all one to him." Obsequio tranantur aquæ nec vincere possis flumina, si contra, quam rapit unda, nates: Ov. A. A. ii. 180 sq. 91. To devote his life to the cause of truth.' LU. 92. Octoginta solstitia would be but forty years. PR. 93. Solstitium is generally put for the summer solstice.' humida solstitia atque hyemes orate serenas; Virg. G. i, 100. R. His armis by the temporizing arts of dissimulation, taciturnity, and obsequiousness.' LU. Proximus ejusdem properabat Acilius ævi Venator. Quis enim jam non intelligat artes Even in that court: the court of a 94. Acilius Glabrio, the father, was of consular dignity and a man singulari prudentia et fide; Plin. Ep. i. 14. LU. He was banished subsequently to this, and then put to death for high treason. Suet. 10. PR. Unless these words refer rather to Domitius the son. R. 95. Who this young man was, is doubtful. Dio gives an account of one Acilius Glabrio, who was put to death by Domitian for impiety (attachment to 'Jewish customs,' perhaps Christianity), and because he had fought in the arena: for when he was consul (Trajan was his colleague, and they were both young at the time,) Domitian sent for him to Alba and compelled him to engage a lion at the celebration of the Juvenilia: he killed the beast; and, some time after, the tyrant put him to death, through envy of the applause he had then obtained; lxvii. 13. G. R. 96. Domini see 71. Olim long since.' 'M. 97. Prædictiones vero et præsensiones rerum futurarum quid aliud declarant, nisi hominibus ea quæ sint, ostendi, monstrari, portendi, praedici? ex quo illa ostenta, monstra, portenta, prodigia dicuntur? Cic. N. D. ii. 3. Div. i. 42. PR. See note on giro Her. iii. 80. that chapter gives a very exact portraiture of the Roman tyrant. 98. The giants (nysis) were fabled to be the sons of Titan and Terra; 'their younger brother' therefore would be Terræ filius; an obscure man whose parents were unknown, and who might seem (like a mushroom) to owe his M Pers. vi. 57 origin to the Earth. LU. 99. Suet. Dom. 4. 19. PR. Understand juveni. LU. Men of rank, and even women, entered the arena, either voluntarily or by compulsion, (see 95, note) for the emperor's amusement. ii. 143 sqq. viii. 192 sqq. i. 22 sqq. R. 100. Numidian bears;' (see note on Tuscan boars;' i. 22 sq.) horridus pelle Libystidis ursa; Virg. Æ. v. 37. Herod. iv. 191. (WS.) Mart. I. cv. 5. Solin. 29. Strab. Pliny denies that there are bears in Africa; viii. 36. 58. LI. But there are weighty authorities against him. SA. Dr. Shaw mentions the bear, as one of the animals indigenous to Africa: Travels, p. 177. LA. Nudus cf. i. 23. and ii. 71. where it is mentioned as an indication of insanity. 101. Who is not now alive to the arts of patricians?' LU. 102. Primitive; which would not pass current in the present day.' LU. Plin. vii. 103. Liv. i. 56. PR. It is no such hard matter to gull a king with far more beard than brains.' G. It was 444 years before barbers were introduced into the city. They first came from Sicily. Varr. R. R. ii, ult. 59. Gell. iii. 4. Pers. iv. 1. PR. Long before the days of Brutus, we have an instance of a like device, by which David saved himself at the court of Achish king of Gath; 1 Sam. xxi. 10—15. M. vi. 105. xvi. 29. R. Men were in those days sundis. 104. Equally pale.' LU. cf. 75. M. 105 Rubrius, offensæ veteris reus atque tacendæ Though ignoble' for it must be remembered that this lord of the world did not consider it derogatory to his dignity to impale flies on a bodkin. 105. Of Rubrius and his nameless offence' nothing certain is known. 106. More lost to shame than the pathic satirist,' had become proverbial. GE. cf. xiv. 30. Mart. VI. xxxix. 12. Plaut. Aul. III. ii. 8. MNS. ii. 27. Rom. ii. 21 sqq. For improbus see iii. 282. 107. Curtius Montanus, (whose unwieldy paunch prepares us for the prominent part which he is to bear in the debate, G.) is mentioned xi. 34. Tac. A. xvi. 28 sq. 33. H. iv. 40. PR. But the name of Montanus, was a very common one. R. 108. Cf. 1 sqq. LU. i. 26 sqq. R. Morning' has a twofold sense oriental' and early in the day.' HO. VS. It showed the height of voluptuousness to have bathed and anointed at such an untimely hour instead of in the afternoon. PR. Authority is wanting for the word's being used to signify 'eastern.' M. Eurus ad Auroram Nabatæaque regna recessit Persidaque et radiis juga subdita matutinis: Vesper et occiduo quæ litora sole tepescunt, proxima sunt Zephyro; Ov. M. i. 61 sqq. is not conclusive. The corresponding Greek word nos or los, however, has the double meaning. pallidus eoo thure quod ignis olet; Mart. III. lxv. 8. The amomum (Plin. xiii. 1.) is an Assyrian shrub with a white flower, of which a very costly perfume was made. LU. Virg. E. iii. 89. iv. 25. R. The precise plant is not ascertained: amomum is the Linnæan name for the ginger.' 109. This perfume was one of the ingredients used in embalming. LU. It was also the practice to place a large quantity of aromatics with the body on a funeral pile. FA. Pers. vi. 35 sqq. PR. St Matt. xxvi. 12. It was originally an eastern custom. M. See KI, de Fun. Rom. iii. 5. R. vii. 208, note. 110. Of Pompeius nothing further is known. R. Savior aperire is a Grecism; FA. as quælibet in quemvis opprobria fingere sævus; Hor. I Ep. xv. 30. R. Jugulos aperire to cut men's throats.' (see note on iii. 36.) The noun has both a neuter and a masculine form. FA. Hence Pliny has insidiantes susurri; Pan. 62. R. cf. iii. 122 sqq. 111. Corn. Fuscus was slain with a great part of his army in an expedition against the Dacians, VS. or Catti, which Domitian had entrusted him with. Suet. 6. Tac. H. ii. 86. iii. 4. 12. 42. 66. iv. 4. Eutr. vii. fin. PR. Dio lxviii. 9. R. Vultures' are said to resort to a spot, where slaughter is to take place, two or three days beforehand! Plin. x. 6. Plut. Q. Rom. 93. PR. 'The entrails' are the parts which these birds most eagerly devour. FA. see Job xxxix. 27 sqq. St Matthew xxiv. 28. St Luke xvii. 37. The obsequiousness by which he contrived to prolong his days, served but to fatten him for vulture's food.' R. Dacia comprehended the modern provinces of Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia. PR. ་ 112. Studied the art of war (vii. 128.) in a marble villa, and not in a tent of skins.' PR. 113. Fabricius Veiento: see iii. 185. vi. 113. His wife Hippia eloped with Sergius a gladiator. vi. 82. Both he and Catullus were of consular dignity. His shrewdness was shown by accommodating himself to the tyrannical caprices of Domitian. FA. In the reign of Nero he was banished for publishing a jeu d'esprit, which he called Codicils of persons de Qui numquam visæ flagrabat amore puellæ, 115 Grande et conspicuum nostro quoque tempore monstrum! Cæcus adulator dirusque a ponte satelles, Dignus, Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes Nemo magis rhombum stupuit: nam plurima dixit ceased,' in which he had libelled senators, and priests, and even the emperor himself. LU. Tac. A. xiv. 50. (LI.) PR. He was 'prudent' enough to obtain the good graces of Nerva likewise. When that prince was supping with a small party, Veiento lay in his bosom. The conversation having turned on the enormities of Catullus, the emperor exclaimed, "I wonder what would be his fate, were he now alive?" "His fate," replied Junius Mauricus, (casting his eyes on Veiento, who was little less criminal than Catullus,) "his fate," replied he, with the dauntless spirit of an old Roman, "would be-to sup with us." G. Plin. Ep. iv. 22. ix. 13. R. Catullus Messalinus had well earned the epithet here given him: luminibus captus, ingenio savo mala cæcitatis addiderat; non verebatur, non erubescebat, non miserebatur: quo a Domitiano non secus ac tela, quæ et ipsa cæca et improvida feruntur, in optimum quemque contorquebatur; Plin. Ep. iv. 22. FA. D. Cass. Ixvii. Joseph. B. J. p. 996 sq. Tac. Ag. 45. R. His death may be added to the innumerable instances of retribution which "vindicate the ways of God to man." He was afflicted with an incurable disease, attended by the most excruciating and unremitting torture: yet the agonies of his body were perfect ease, compared to those of his mind. He was constantly haunted with the thoughts of his past cruelties; the ghosts of those he had accused seemed ever before him, and he used to leap from his bed with the most dreadful shrieks, as if avenging flames had already seized upon it. Worn out at length by his mental sufferings, he expired one livid mass of putrefaction! G. cf. Her. iv. 205. 114. Thus giving a practical refutation to the proverb : ἐκ τοῦ ὁρᾶν γίγνεται το igav. LU. Mart. VIII. xlix. R. 115. Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum ; Virg. Æ. iv. 658. Even in our time, when they are so rife.' LU. 116. He was probably not quite blind: otherwise his praise of the turbot could not have pleased the tyrant. ACH. Raised from a beggar's station on some bridge to be the accursed minister of cruelty.' M. xiv. 134. Thus satelles audacia, potestatis, scelerum, &c. Cic. Cat. i. 3. Agr. ii. 13. Prov. 3. Quint. 25. R. Unless these words are rather to be connected with the following: dignusque qui dirus &c. the importunate sentry of the bridge.' PR. cf. v. 8. 117. The Aricine hill, without the city gate on the Appian road, swarmed with beggars, particularly Jews: VS. iii. 296. so as to become proverbial for it: multi Manii Ariciæ. cf. Pers. vi. 56. Mart. II. xix. 3. XII. xxxii. 10. R. As the carriages went slowly down hill, they were the more exposed to the importunities of mendicants. T. The modern name of Aricia (Hor. I S. v. 1. M.) isla Riccia.' PR. or Nemi.' R. 118. To throw his complimentary kisses to the ladies, as they rode in their chariots down the hill,' VS. by kissing his hand.' SA. iii. 106. M. vi. 584. Apul. Met. iv. p. 83. D. Cass. xliv. 8. Luc. de Salt. 17. Tac. H. i. 36. Plin. xxviii. 2. Job xxxi. 27. Hosea xiii. 2. Whence the expression adorare. R. [Livy xxx, 16, f. ED.] Instead of presuming, as now, to approach their lips; too good to be contaminated by such a blind and lecherous old dotard.' 114. PR. 119. Professed more astonishment and admiration.' M. cf. xiii. 16. 164. Sil. v. 202. R. 121. The enormous fish.' LU. In like manner,' i. e. without seeing them. LU. Of the Cilician gladiator;' LU. who was a favourite with Domitian. M. |