, 247, "Nodosam post hæc
frangebat
vertice
vitem.
vitem.
Satires
" Gifford.
[272] _Varicosus. _ His legs will swell (like Cicero's and Marius's)
from standing so long praying.
"The poor Aruspex that stands there to tell
All woman asks, must find his ankles swell. " Badham.
[273] _Paludatis. _ Cf. Cic. , Sext. , 33.
[274] _Seres. _ What country these inhabited is uncertain, probably
Bocharia. It was the country from which the "Sericæ vestes" or
"multitia" (ii. , 66) came.
[275] _Instantem. _ Cf. Hor. , iii. , Od. iii. , 3, "vultus instantis
tyranni. " Trajan made an expedition against the Armenians and Parthians
A. D. 106; and about the same time there was an earthquake in the
neighborhood of Antioch (A. D. 115), when mountains subsided and
rivers burst forth. Dio Cass. , lxviii. , 24. Trajan himself narrowly
escaped perishing in it. The consul, M. Verginianus Pedo, was killed.
Trajan was passing the winter there, and set out in the spring for
Armenia. --_Cometem. _ Cf. Suet. , Ner. , 36, "Stella crinita quæ summis
potestatibus exitium portendere vulgo putatur. "
[276] _Excipit. _
"Hear at the city's gate the recent tale,
Or coin a lie herself when rumors fail. " Hodgson.
[277] _Niphates. _ Properly a mountain in Armenia, from which Tigris
takes its rise, and which, in the earlier part of its course, may have
borne the name of Niphates. Lucan, iii. , 245, and Sil. Ital. , xiii. ,
765, also speak of it as a river. Gifford thinks it is a sly hit at the
lady, who converts a mountain into a river.
[278] _Exorata_ implies that their prayers _were_ heard, otherwise
their punishment would have been still more cruel.
[279] _Fastes. _
"Ho whips! she cries; and flay that cur accurst,
But flay the rascal there that owns him first! " Gifford.
[280] _Œnophorum. _ A vessel of any size. The _Urna_ is a determinate
measure, holding 24 sextarii, or about 3 gallons, i. e. , half the
amphora. Cf. xii. , 45, "Urnæ cratera capacem, et dignum sitiente Pholo,
vel conjuge Fusci. "
[281] _Orexim_; cf. iv. , 67, 138. This draught was called the "Trope. "
Mart. , xii. , Ep. 83. Cf. Cic. pro Deiotaro, 7, "Vomunt ut edant: edunt
ut vomant. "
[282] _Marmoribus. _ Cf. xi. , 173, "Lacedæmonium pytismate lubricat
orbem. " Hor. , ii. , Od. xxiv. , 26, "Mero tinguet pavimentum superbum. "
[283] _Præco. _
"Dumfounders e'en the crier, and, most strange!
No other woman can a word exchange. " Hodgson.
[284] _Laboranti. _ The ancients believed that eclipses of the moon were
caused by magic, and that loud noises broke the charm.
"Strike not your brazen kettles! She alone
Can break th' enchantment of the spell-bound moon. " Hodgson.
[285] "_Sylvano_ mulieres non licet sacrificare. " Vet. Schol. Women
sacrificed to Ceres and Juno. Vid. Dennis' Etruria, ii. , 65-68. Cf.
Hor. , ii. , Ep. i. , 143. --_Quadrans. _ Philosophers used to go to the
commonest baths, either from modesty or poverty. Seneca calls the
bath "Res Quadrantaria. " Cf. Hor. , i. , Sat. iii. , 147. Cic. pro Cœl.
"Quadrantaria permutatio. "
[286] _Torqueat. _ Cf. vii. , 156, "Quæ venient diversæ forte sagittæ,"
Quint. , vi. , 3, "Jaculatio verborum. " So Plato uses the term δεινὸς
ἀκοντιστής, of a Spartan orator.
[287] _Palæmon. _ Cf. vii. , 215," Docti Palæmonis. " "Insignis
Grammaticus. " Hieron. "Remmius Palæmon," Vicentinus, owed his first
acquaintance with literature to taking his mistress' son to school as
his "custos angustæ vernula capsæ" (x. , 117). Manumitted afterward, he
taught at Rome in the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius, and "principem
locum inter grammaticos tenuit. " Vid. Suet. , Gram. Illust. , 23, who
says he kept a very profitable school, and gives many curious instances
of his vanity and luxuriousness. He was Quintilian's master. Cf. Vet.
Schol. , and Clinton, Fasti Rom. in anno, A. D. 48.
[288] _Opicæ. _ Cf. iii. , 207, "Opici mures. " Opizein Græci dicunt de
iis qui imperitè loquuntur. Vet. Schol.
[289] _Poppæana. _ "Cosmetics used or invented by Poppæa Sabina," of
whom Tacitus says, "Huic mulieri cuncta alia fuere præter honestum
animum," Ann. , xiii. , 45. She was of surpassing beauty and insatiable
ambition: married first to Rufus Crispinus, a knight whom she quitted
for Otho. Nero became enamored of her, and sent Otho into Lusitania,
where he remained ten years. (Cf. Suet. , Otho, 3. Clinton, F. R. , a.
58. ) Four years after he put away Octavia, banished her to Pandataria,
and forced her to make away with herself, and her head was brought to
Rome to be gazed upon by Poppæa, whom he had now married, A. D. 62. Cf.
Tac. , Ann. , xiv. , 64. Poppæa bore him a child next year, whom he called
Augusta, but she died before she was four months old, to his excessive
grief. Cf. xv. , 23. Three years after, "Poppæa mortem obiit, fortuitâ
mariti iracundiâ, à quo gravida ictu calcis adflicta est. " Nero, it
is remarkable, died on the same day of the month as the unfortunate
Octavia.
[290] _Lacte. _ The old Schol. says _Poppæa_ was banished, and took with
her fifty she-asses to furnish milk for her bath. The story of her
exile is very problematical, as Heinrich shows, and is probably only
an ordinary hyperbole. Pliny says (xxviii. , 12; xi. , 41) that asses'
milk is supposed to make the face tender, and delicately white, and to
prevent wrinkles. "Unde Poppæa uxor Neronis, quocunque ire contigisset
secum sexcentas asellas ducebat. " ὄνους πεντακοσίας ἀρτιτόκους. Xiph. ,
lxii. , 28.
[291] _Facies. _
"Can it be call'd a face, so poulticed o'er?
By heavens, an ulcer it resembles more! " Hodgson.
"But tell me yet, this thing thus daub'd and oil'd,
Thus poulticed, plaster'd, baked by turns and boil'd;
Thus with pomatums, ointments, lackered o'er,
Is it a face, Ursidius, or a sore? " Gifford.
[292] _Frangit. _ Cf. viii.
, 247, "Nodosam post hæc frangebat vertice
vitem. " The climax here is not correctly observed, according to Horace.
"Ne scuticâ dignum horribili sectere flagello: Nam, ut ferula cædas
meritum majora subire Verbera non vereor. " I. , Sat. iii. , 119. The
_scutica_ was probably like the "taurea:" the "cowskin" of the American
slave States.
[293] _Diurnum. _ "The diary of the household expenses. " _Relegit_ marks
the deliberate cruelty of the lady.
"Beats while she paints her face, surveys her gown,
Casts up the day's accounts, and still beats on. " Dryden.
[294] _Isiacæ. _ Cf. ix. , 22, "Fanum Isidis. . . . Notior Aufidio mœchus
celebrare solebas. "
[295] _Emerita. _ From the soldier who has served his time and become
"emeritus. "
[296] _Ædificat. _
"So high she builds her head, she seems to be,
View her in front, a tall Andromache;
But walk all round her, and you'll quickly find
She's not so great a personage behind! " Hodgson.
[297] _Pygmæâ. _
"Yet not a pigmy--were she, she'd be right
To wear the buskin and increase her height;
To gain from art what nature's stint denies,
Nor lightly to the kiss on tip-toes rise. " Hodgson.
[298] _Vicina. _
"And save that daily she insults his friends,
Provokes his servants, and his fortune spends,
As a mere neighbor she might pass through life,
And ne'er be once mistaken for his wife. " Badham.
[299] _Xerampelinas. _ The Schol. describes this color as "inter
coccinum et muricem medius," from ξηρὸς, siccus, ἄμπελος, vitis, "the
color of vine leaves in autumn;" the "morte feuille" of French dyers.
[300] _Superbi. _ The Campus Martius, as having belonged originally to
Tarquinius Superbus.
[301] _Ovile_, more commonly _ovilia_ or _septa_, stood in the Campus
Martius, where the elections were held.
[302] _Animam_, "the moral," _mentem_, "the intellectual part" of the
soul. Cf. Virg. , Æn. , vi. , 11, "Cui mentem animamque Delius inspirat
Vates. " When opposed to _animus_, anima is simply "the principle of
vitality. " "Anima, quâ vivimus; mens qua cogitamus. " Lactant. So Sat. ,
xv. , 148, "Indulsit communis conditor illis tantum animas nobis animum
quoque. "
"Doubtless such kindred minds th' immortals seek,
And such the souls with whom by night they speak. " Badham.
[303] _Linigero. _ Cf. Mart. , xii. , Ep. xxix. , 19, "Linigeri fugiunt
calvi sistrataque turba. " Isis is said to have been a queen of Egypt,
and to have taught her subjects the use of linen, for which reason
the inferior priests were all clothed in it. All who were about to
celebrate her sacred rites had their heads shaved. Isis married Osiris,
who was killed by his brother Typhon, and his body thrown into a well,
where Isis and her son Anubis, by the assistance of dogs, found it.
Osiris was thenceforth deified under the form of an ox, and called
Apis: Anubis, under the form of a dog. (Hence Virg. , Æn. , viii. , 698,
"Latrator Anubis. ") An ox, therefore, with particular marks (vid.
Strab. , xvii. ; Herod. , iii. , 28), was kept in great state, which Osiris
was supposed to animate; but when it had reached a certain age (non est
fas eum certos vitæ excedere annos, Plin. , viii. , 46), it was drowned
in a well (mersum in sacerdotum fonte enecant) with much ceremonious
sorrow, and the priests, attended by an immense concourse of people,
dispersed themselves over the country, wailing and lamenting, in quest
of another with the prescribed marks (quæsituri luctu alium quem
substituant; et donec invenerint mærent, derasis etiam capitibus.
Plin. , ii. , 3). When they had found one, their lamentations were
exchanged for songs of joy and shouts of εὑρήκαμεν (cf. viii. , 29,
Exclamare libet populus quod clamat Osiri invento), and the ox was
led back to the shrine of his predecessor. These gloomy processions
lasted some days; and generally during these (or nine days at least)
women abstained from intercourse with their husbands. These rites were
introduced at Rome, the chief priest personating Anubis, and wearing a
dog's head. Hence _derisor_. Cf. xv. , 8, "Oppida tota canem venerantur. "
[304]
"Her internuntial office none deny,
Between us peccant mortals and the sky. " Badham.
[305] _Commagene_ was reduced to a province A. D. 72.
[306] _Deferat. _
"Or bid, at times, the human victim bleed,
And then inform against you for the deed. " Hodgson.
[307] _Conducenda. _
"By whose hired tablet and concurring spell,
The noble Roman, Otho's terror, fell. " Hodgson.
[308] _Magnus civis. _ Cf. Suet. , Otho, 4, "Spem majorem cepit ex
affirmatione Seleuci _Mathematici_, qui cum eum olim superstitem Neroni
fore spopondisset, tunc ultro inopinatus advenerat, imperaturum quoque
brevi repromittens. " Cf. Tac. , Hist. , i. , 22, who says one Ptolemæus
promised Otho the same when with him in Spain. Ptolemy helped to
fulfill his own predictions, "Nec deerat Ptolemæus, jam et sceleris
instinctor, ad quod facillimè ab ejusmodi voto transitur. "
[309] _Cyclada. _ Cf. i. , 73, "Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere
dignum. " x. , 170, "Ut Gyaræ clausus scopulis parvaque Seripho. "
[310] _Tanaquil. _ Cf. Liv. , i, 34, "perita cœlestium prodigiorum
mulier. "
"To him thy Tanaquil applies, in doubt
How long her jaundiced mother may hold out. " Gifford.
[311] _Pinguia sucina. _ The Roman women used to hold or rub amber in
their hands for its scent. Mart. , iii. , Ep. lxv. , 5, "redolent quod
sucina trita. " xi. , Ep. viii. , 6, "spirant, succina virgineâ quod
regelata manu. " Cf. v. , Ep. xxxviii. , II. (Cf. ix. , 50. )
"By whom a greasy almanac is borne,
With often handling, like chafed amber worn. " Dryden.
[312] _Thrasyllus_ was the astrologer under whom Tiberius studied the
"Chaldean art" at Rhodes (Tac. , Ann. , vi. , 20), and accompanied his
patron to Rome. (Cf. Suet. , Aug. , 98. ) Cf. Suet. , Tib. , 14, 62, and
Calig. , 19, for a curious prediction belied by Caligula.
[313] _Petosiris_, another famous astrologer and physician. Plin. , ii. ,
23; vii. , 49.
[314] _Fulgura. _ When a place was struck by lightning, a priest was
sent for to purify it, a two-year-old sheep was then sacrificed, and
the ground, hence called bidental, fenced in.
[315] _Agger. _ The mound to the east of Rome, thrown up by Tarquinius
Superbus. Cf. viii. , 43, "ventoso conducta sub aggere texit. " Hor. , i. ,
Sat. viii. , 15, "Aggere in aprico spatiari. "
[316] _Phalas. _ The Circensian games were originally consecrated to
Neptunus Equestris, or Consus. Hence the dolphins on the columns in
the Circus Maximus. The circus was divided along the middle by the
Spina, at each extremity of which stood three pillars (metæ) round
which the chariots turned: along this spine were seven movable towers
or obelisks, called from their oval form ova, or phalæ; one was taken
down at the end of each course. There were four factions in the
circus, Blue, Green (xi. , 196). White, and Red, xii. , 114; to which
Domitian added the Golden and the Purple. Suet. , Domit. , 7. The egg
was the badge of the Green faction (which was the general favorite),
the dolphin of the Blue or sea party. For the form of these, see
the Florentine gem in Milman's Horace, p. 3. Böttiger has a curious
theory, that the four colors symbolize the four elements, the green
being the earth. The circus was the resort of prostitutes (iii. , 65)
and itinerant fortune-tellers. (Hence "_fallax_," Hor. , i. , Sat. , vi. ,
113. ) Cf. Suet. , Jul. , 39, and Claud. , 21.
[317] _Mane. _ "The first thing seen" in the morning was a most
important omen of the good or bad luck of the whole day. This is well
turned by Hodgson:
"The sooty embryo, had he sprung to light,
Had heir'd thy will and petrified thy sight;
Each morn with horror hadst thou turn'd away,
Lest the dark omen should o'ercloud the day.
[272] _Varicosus. _ His legs will swell (like Cicero's and Marius's)
from standing so long praying.
"The poor Aruspex that stands there to tell
All woman asks, must find his ankles swell. " Badham.
[273] _Paludatis. _ Cf. Cic. , Sext. , 33.
[274] _Seres. _ What country these inhabited is uncertain, probably
Bocharia. It was the country from which the "Sericæ vestes" or
"multitia" (ii. , 66) came.
[275] _Instantem. _ Cf. Hor. , iii. , Od. iii. , 3, "vultus instantis
tyranni. " Trajan made an expedition against the Armenians and Parthians
A. D. 106; and about the same time there was an earthquake in the
neighborhood of Antioch (A. D. 115), when mountains subsided and
rivers burst forth. Dio Cass. , lxviii. , 24. Trajan himself narrowly
escaped perishing in it. The consul, M. Verginianus Pedo, was killed.
Trajan was passing the winter there, and set out in the spring for
Armenia. --_Cometem. _ Cf. Suet. , Ner. , 36, "Stella crinita quæ summis
potestatibus exitium portendere vulgo putatur. "
[276] _Excipit. _
"Hear at the city's gate the recent tale,
Or coin a lie herself when rumors fail. " Hodgson.
[277] _Niphates. _ Properly a mountain in Armenia, from which Tigris
takes its rise, and which, in the earlier part of its course, may have
borne the name of Niphates. Lucan, iii. , 245, and Sil. Ital. , xiii. ,
765, also speak of it as a river. Gifford thinks it is a sly hit at the
lady, who converts a mountain into a river.
[278] _Exorata_ implies that their prayers _were_ heard, otherwise
their punishment would have been still more cruel.
[279] _Fastes. _
"Ho whips! she cries; and flay that cur accurst,
But flay the rascal there that owns him first! " Gifford.
[280] _Œnophorum. _ A vessel of any size. The _Urna_ is a determinate
measure, holding 24 sextarii, or about 3 gallons, i. e. , half the
amphora. Cf. xii. , 45, "Urnæ cratera capacem, et dignum sitiente Pholo,
vel conjuge Fusci. "
[281] _Orexim_; cf. iv. , 67, 138. This draught was called the "Trope. "
Mart. , xii. , Ep. 83. Cf. Cic. pro Deiotaro, 7, "Vomunt ut edant: edunt
ut vomant. "
[282] _Marmoribus. _ Cf. xi. , 173, "Lacedæmonium pytismate lubricat
orbem. " Hor. , ii. , Od. xxiv. , 26, "Mero tinguet pavimentum superbum. "
[283] _Præco. _
"Dumfounders e'en the crier, and, most strange!
No other woman can a word exchange. " Hodgson.
[284] _Laboranti. _ The ancients believed that eclipses of the moon were
caused by magic, and that loud noises broke the charm.
"Strike not your brazen kettles! She alone
Can break th' enchantment of the spell-bound moon. " Hodgson.
[285] "_Sylvano_ mulieres non licet sacrificare. " Vet. Schol. Women
sacrificed to Ceres and Juno. Vid. Dennis' Etruria, ii. , 65-68. Cf.
Hor. , ii. , Ep. i. , 143. --_Quadrans. _ Philosophers used to go to the
commonest baths, either from modesty or poverty. Seneca calls the
bath "Res Quadrantaria. " Cf. Hor. , i. , Sat. iii. , 147. Cic. pro Cœl.
"Quadrantaria permutatio. "
[286] _Torqueat. _ Cf. vii. , 156, "Quæ venient diversæ forte sagittæ,"
Quint. , vi. , 3, "Jaculatio verborum. " So Plato uses the term δεινὸς
ἀκοντιστής, of a Spartan orator.
[287] _Palæmon. _ Cf. vii. , 215," Docti Palæmonis. " "Insignis
Grammaticus. " Hieron. "Remmius Palæmon," Vicentinus, owed his first
acquaintance with literature to taking his mistress' son to school as
his "custos angustæ vernula capsæ" (x. , 117). Manumitted afterward, he
taught at Rome in the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius, and "principem
locum inter grammaticos tenuit. " Vid. Suet. , Gram. Illust. , 23, who
says he kept a very profitable school, and gives many curious instances
of his vanity and luxuriousness. He was Quintilian's master. Cf. Vet.
Schol. , and Clinton, Fasti Rom. in anno, A. D. 48.
[288] _Opicæ. _ Cf. iii. , 207, "Opici mures. " Opizein Græci dicunt de
iis qui imperitè loquuntur. Vet. Schol.
[289] _Poppæana. _ "Cosmetics used or invented by Poppæa Sabina," of
whom Tacitus says, "Huic mulieri cuncta alia fuere præter honestum
animum," Ann. , xiii. , 45. She was of surpassing beauty and insatiable
ambition: married first to Rufus Crispinus, a knight whom she quitted
for Otho. Nero became enamored of her, and sent Otho into Lusitania,
where he remained ten years. (Cf. Suet. , Otho, 3. Clinton, F. R. , a.
58. ) Four years after he put away Octavia, banished her to Pandataria,
and forced her to make away with herself, and her head was brought to
Rome to be gazed upon by Poppæa, whom he had now married, A. D. 62. Cf.
Tac. , Ann. , xiv. , 64. Poppæa bore him a child next year, whom he called
Augusta, but she died before she was four months old, to his excessive
grief. Cf. xv. , 23. Three years after, "Poppæa mortem obiit, fortuitâ
mariti iracundiâ, à quo gravida ictu calcis adflicta est. " Nero, it
is remarkable, died on the same day of the month as the unfortunate
Octavia.
[290] _Lacte. _ The old Schol. says _Poppæa_ was banished, and took with
her fifty she-asses to furnish milk for her bath. The story of her
exile is very problematical, as Heinrich shows, and is probably only
an ordinary hyperbole. Pliny says (xxviii. , 12; xi. , 41) that asses'
milk is supposed to make the face tender, and delicately white, and to
prevent wrinkles. "Unde Poppæa uxor Neronis, quocunque ire contigisset
secum sexcentas asellas ducebat. " ὄνους πεντακοσίας ἀρτιτόκους. Xiph. ,
lxii. , 28.
[291] _Facies. _
"Can it be call'd a face, so poulticed o'er?
By heavens, an ulcer it resembles more! " Hodgson.
"But tell me yet, this thing thus daub'd and oil'd,
Thus poulticed, plaster'd, baked by turns and boil'd;
Thus with pomatums, ointments, lackered o'er,
Is it a face, Ursidius, or a sore? " Gifford.
[292] _Frangit. _ Cf. viii.
, 247, "Nodosam post hæc frangebat vertice
vitem. " The climax here is not correctly observed, according to Horace.
"Ne scuticâ dignum horribili sectere flagello: Nam, ut ferula cædas
meritum majora subire Verbera non vereor. " I. , Sat. iii. , 119. The
_scutica_ was probably like the "taurea:" the "cowskin" of the American
slave States.
[293] _Diurnum. _ "The diary of the household expenses. " _Relegit_ marks
the deliberate cruelty of the lady.
"Beats while she paints her face, surveys her gown,
Casts up the day's accounts, and still beats on. " Dryden.
[294] _Isiacæ. _ Cf. ix. , 22, "Fanum Isidis. . . . Notior Aufidio mœchus
celebrare solebas. "
[295] _Emerita. _ From the soldier who has served his time and become
"emeritus. "
[296] _Ædificat. _
"So high she builds her head, she seems to be,
View her in front, a tall Andromache;
But walk all round her, and you'll quickly find
She's not so great a personage behind! " Hodgson.
[297] _Pygmæâ. _
"Yet not a pigmy--were she, she'd be right
To wear the buskin and increase her height;
To gain from art what nature's stint denies,
Nor lightly to the kiss on tip-toes rise. " Hodgson.
[298] _Vicina. _
"And save that daily she insults his friends,
Provokes his servants, and his fortune spends,
As a mere neighbor she might pass through life,
And ne'er be once mistaken for his wife. " Badham.
[299] _Xerampelinas. _ The Schol. describes this color as "inter
coccinum et muricem medius," from ξηρὸς, siccus, ἄμπελος, vitis, "the
color of vine leaves in autumn;" the "morte feuille" of French dyers.
[300] _Superbi. _ The Campus Martius, as having belonged originally to
Tarquinius Superbus.
[301] _Ovile_, more commonly _ovilia_ or _septa_, stood in the Campus
Martius, where the elections were held.
[302] _Animam_, "the moral," _mentem_, "the intellectual part" of the
soul. Cf. Virg. , Æn. , vi. , 11, "Cui mentem animamque Delius inspirat
Vates. " When opposed to _animus_, anima is simply "the principle of
vitality. " "Anima, quâ vivimus; mens qua cogitamus. " Lactant. So Sat. ,
xv. , 148, "Indulsit communis conditor illis tantum animas nobis animum
quoque. "
"Doubtless such kindred minds th' immortals seek,
And such the souls with whom by night they speak. " Badham.
[303] _Linigero. _ Cf. Mart. , xii. , Ep. xxix. , 19, "Linigeri fugiunt
calvi sistrataque turba. " Isis is said to have been a queen of Egypt,
and to have taught her subjects the use of linen, for which reason
the inferior priests were all clothed in it. All who were about to
celebrate her sacred rites had their heads shaved. Isis married Osiris,
who was killed by his brother Typhon, and his body thrown into a well,
where Isis and her son Anubis, by the assistance of dogs, found it.
Osiris was thenceforth deified under the form of an ox, and called
Apis: Anubis, under the form of a dog. (Hence Virg. , Æn. , viii. , 698,
"Latrator Anubis. ") An ox, therefore, with particular marks (vid.
Strab. , xvii. ; Herod. , iii. , 28), was kept in great state, which Osiris
was supposed to animate; but when it had reached a certain age (non est
fas eum certos vitæ excedere annos, Plin. , viii. , 46), it was drowned
in a well (mersum in sacerdotum fonte enecant) with much ceremonious
sorrow, and the priests, attended by an immense concourse of people,
dispersed themselves over the country, wailing and lamenting, in quest
of another with the prescribed marks (quæsituri luctu alium quem
substituant; et donec invenerint mærent, derasis etiam capitibus.
Plin. , ii. , 3). When they had found one, their lamentations were
exchanged for songs of joy and shouts of εὑρήκαμεν (cf. viii. , 29,
Exclamare libet populus quod clamat Osiri invento), and the ox was
led back to the shrine of his predecessor. These gloomy processions
lasted some days; and generally during these (or nine days at least)
women abstained from intercourse with their husbands. These rites were
introduced at Rome, the chief priest personating Anubis, and wearing a
dog's head. Hence _derisor_. Cf. xv. , 8, "Oppida tota canem venerantur. "
[304]
"Her internuntial office none deny,
Between us peccant mortals and the sky. " Badham.
[305] _Commagene_ was reduced to a province A. D. 72.
[306] _Deferat. _
"Or bid, at times, the human victim bleed,
And then inform against you for the deed. " Hodgson.
[307] _Conducenda. _
"By whose hired tablet and concurring spell,
The noble Roman, Otho's terror, fell. " Hodgson.
[308] _Magnus civis. _ Cf. Suet. , Otho, 4, "Spem majorem cepit ex
affirmatione Seleuci _Mathematici_, qui cum eum olim superstitem Neroni
fore spopondisset, tunc ultro inopinatus advenerat, imperaturum quoque
brevi repromittens. " Cf. Tac. , Hist. , i. , 22, who says one Ptolemæus
promised Otho the same when with him in Spain. Ptolemy helped to
fulfill his own predictions, "Nec deerat Ptolemæus, jam et sceleris
instinctor, ad quod facillimè ab ejusmodi voto transitur. "
[309] _Cyclada. _ Cf. i. , 73, "Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere
dignum. " x. , 170, "Ut Gyaræ clausus scopulis parvaque Seripho. "
[310] _Tanaquil. _ Cf. Liv. , i, 34, "perita cœlestium prodigiorum
mulier. "
"To him thy Tanaquil applies, in doubt
How long her jaundiced mother may hold out. " Gifford.
[311] _Pinguia sucina. _ The Roman women used to hold or rub amber in
their hands for its scent. Mart. , iii. , Ep. lxv. , 5, "redolent quod
sucina trita. " xi. , Ep. viii. , 6, "spirant, succina virgineâ quod
regelata manu. " Cf. v. , Ep. xxxviii. , II. (Cf. ix. , 50. )
"By whom a greasy almanac is borne,
With often handling, like chafed amber worn. " Dryden.
[312] _Thrasyllus_ was the astrologer under whom Tiberius studied the
"Chaldean art" at Rhodes (Tac. , Ann. , vi. , 20), and accompanied his
patron to Rome. (Cf. Suet. , Aug. , 98. ) Cf. Suet. , Tib. , 14, 62, and
Calig. , 19, for a curious prediction belied by Caligula.
[313] _Petosiris_, another famous astrologer and physician. Plin. , ii. ,
23; vii. , 49.
[314] _Fulgura. _ When a place was struck by lightning, a priest was
sent for to purify it, a two-year-old sheep was then sacrificed, and
the ground, hence called bidental, fenced in.
[315] _Agger. _ The mound to the east of Rome, thrown up by Tarquinius
Superbus. Cf. viii. , 43, "ventoso conducta sub aggere texit. " Hor. , i. ,
Sat. viii. , 15, "Aggere in aprico spatiari. "
[316] _Phalas. _ The Circensian games were originally consecrated to
Neptunus Equestris, or Consus. Hence the dolphins on the columns in
the Circus Maximus. The circus was divided along the middle by the
Spina, at each extremity of which stood three pillars (metæ) round
which the chariots turned: along this spine were seven movable towers
or obelisks, called from their oval form ova, or phalæ; one was taken
down at the end of each course. There were four factions in the
circus, Blue, Green (xi. , 196). White, and Red, xii. , 114; to which
Domitian added the Golden and the Purple. Suet. , Domit. , 7. The egg
was the badge of the Green faction (which was the general favorite),
the dolphin of the Blue or sea party. For the form of these, see
the Florentine gem in Milman's Horace, p. 3. Böttiger has a curious
theory, that the four colors symbolize the four elements, the green
being the earth. The circus was the resort of prostitutes (iii. , 65)
and itinerant fortune-tellers. (Hence "_fallax_," Hor. , i. , Sat. , vi. ,
113. ) Cf. Suet. , Jul. , 39, and Claud. , 21.
[317] _Mane. _ "The first thing seen" in the morning was a most
important omen of the good or bad luck of the whole day. This is well
turned by Hodgson:
"The sooty embryo, had he sprung to light,
Had heir'd thy will and petrified thy sight;
Each morn with horror hadst thou turn'd away,
Lest the dark omen should o'ercloud the day.
