The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete
[Footnote 367: So called from Appius Claudius, the Censor, one of
Tiberius’s ancestors, who constructed it. It took a direction southward
of Rome, through Campania to Brundusium, starting from what is the present
Porta di San Sebastiano, from which the road to Naples takes its
departure.]
[Footnote 368: A small town on the coast of Latium, not far from Antium,
and the present Nettuno. It was here that Cicero was slain by the
satellites of Antony.]
[Footnote 369: A town on a promontory of the same dreary coast, between
Antium and Terracina, built on a promontory surrounded by the sea and the
marsh, still called Circello.]
[Footnote 370: Misenum, a promontory to which Aeneas is said to have
given its name from one of his followers. (Aen. ii. 234.) It is now
called Capo di Miseno, and shelters the harbour of Mola di Gaieta,
belonging to Naples. This was one of the stations of the Roman fleet.]
[Footnote 371: Tacitus agrees with Suetonius as to the age of Tiberius
at the time of his death. Dio states it more precisely, as being
seventy-seven years, four months, and nine days.]
[Footnote 372: Caius Caligula, who became his successor.]
[Footnote 373: Tacitus and Dio add that he was smothered under a heap of
heavy clothes.]
[Footnote 374: In the temple of the Palatine Apollo. See AUGUSTUS, c.
xxix.]
[Footnote 375: Atella, a town between Capua and Naples, now called San
Arpino, where there was an amphitheatre. The people seemed to have raised
the shout in derision, referring, perhaps, to the Atellan fables,
mentioned in c. xiv.; and in their fury they proposed that his body should
only be grilled, as those of malefactors were, instead of being reduced to
ashes.]
[Footnote 376: Tacit. Annal. lib. ii.]
[Footnote 377: A.U.C. 757.]
[Footnote 378: A.U.C. 765.]
[Footnote 379: A.U.C. 770.]
[Footnote 380: A.U.C. 767.]
[Footnote 381: A.U.C. 771.]
[Footnote 382: This opinion, like some others which occur in Suetonius,
may justly be considered as a vulgar error; and if the heart was found
entire, it must have been owing to the weakness of the fire, rather than
to any quality communicated to the organ, of resisting the power of that
element.]
[Footnote 383: The magnificent title of King of Kings has been assumed,
at different times, by various potentates. The person to whom it is here
applied, is the king of Parthia. Under the kings of Persia, and even
under the Syro-Macedonian kings, this country was of no consideration, and
reckoned a part of Hyrcania. But upon the revolt of the East from the
Syro-Macedonians, at the instigation of Arsaces, the Parthians are said to
have conquered eighteen kingdoms.]
[Footnote 384: A.U.C. 765.]
[Footnote 385: It does not appear that Gaetulicus wrote any historical
work, but Martial, Pliny, and others, describe him as a respectable poet.]
[Footnote 386: Supra Confluentes. The German tribe here mentioned
occupied the country between the Rhine and the Meuse, and gave their name
to Treves (Treviri), its chief town. Coblentz had its ancient name of
Confluentes, from its standing at the junction of the two rivers. The
exact site of the village in which Caligula was born is not known.
Cluverius conjectures that it may be Capelle.]
[Footnote 387: Chap. vii.]
[Footnote 388: The name was derived from Caliga, a kind of boot, studded
with nails, used by the common soldiers in the Roman army.]
[Footnote 389: According to Tacitus, who gives an interesting account of
these occurrences, Treves was the place of refuge to which the young Caius
was conveyed.--Annal. i.]
[Footnote 390: In c. liv. of TIBERIUS, we have seen that his brothers
Drusus and Nero fell a sacrifice to these artifices.]
[Footnote 391: Tiberius, who was the adopted father of Germanicus.]
[Footnote 392: Natriceus, a water-snake, so called from nato, to swim.
The allusion is probably to Caligula’s being reared in the island of
Capri.]
[Footnote 393: As Phaeton is said to have set the world on fire.]
[Footnote 394: See the Life of TIBERIUS, c. lxxiii.]
[Footnote 395: His name also was Tiberius. See before, TIBERIUS, c.
lxxvi.]
[Footnote 396: Procida, Ischia, Capri, etc.]
[Footnote 397: The eagle was the standard of the legion, each cohort of
which had its own ensign, with different devices; and there were also
little images of the emperors, to which divine honours were paid.]
[Footnote 398: See before, cc. liii. liv.]
[Footnote 399: See TIBERIUS, c. x.; and note.]
[Footnote 400: The mausoleum built by Augustus, mentioned before in his
Life, c. C.]
[Footnote 401: The Carpentum was a carriage, commonly with two wheels,
and an arched covering, but sometimes without a covering; used chiefly by
matrons, and named, according to Ovid, from Carmenta, the mother of
Evander. Women were prohibited the use of it in the second Punic war, by
the Oppian law, which, however, was soon after repealed. This chariot was
also used to convey the images of the illustrious women to whom divine
honours were paid, in solemn processions after their death, as in the
present instance. It is represented on some of the sestertii.]
[Footnote 402: See cc. xiv. and xxiii. of the present History.]
[Footnote 403: Ib. cc. vii. and xxiv.]
[Footnote 404: Life of TIBERIUS, c. xliii.]
[Footnote 405: See the Life of AUGUSTUS, cc. xxviii. and ci.]
[Footnote 406: Julius Caesar had shared it with them (c. xli.). Augustus
had only kept up the form (c. xl.). Tiberius deprived the Roman people of
the last remains of the freedom of suffrage.]
[Footnote 407: The city of Rome was founded on the twenty-first day of
April, which was called Palilia, from Pales, the goddess of shepherds, and
ever afterwards kept as a festival.]
[Footnote 408: A.U.C. 790.]
[Footnote 409: A.U.C. 791.]
[Footnote 410: A.U.C. 793.]
[Footnote 411: A.U.C. 794.]
[Footnote 412: The Saturnalia, held in honour of Saturn, was, amongst the
Romans, the most celebrated festival of the whole year, and held in the
month of December. All orders of the people then devoted themselves to
mirth and feasting; friends sent presents to one another; and masters
treated their slaves upon a footing of equality. At first it was held
only for one day, afterwards for three days, and was now prolonged by
Caligula’s orders.]
[Footnote 413: See AUGUSTUS, cc. xxix and xliii. The amphitheatre of
Statilius Taurus is supposed to have stood in the Campus Martius, and the
elevation now called the Monte Citorio, to have been formed by its ruins.]
[Footnote 414: Supposed to be a house, so called, adjoining the Circus,
in which some of the emperor’s attendants resided.]
[Footnote 415: Now Puzzuoli, on the shore of the bay of Naples. Every
one knows what wealth was lavished here and at Baiae, on public works and
the marine villas of the luxurious Romans, in the times of the emperors.]
[Footnote 416: The original terminus of the Appian Way was at Brundusium.
This mole formed what we should call a nearer station to Rome, on the same
road, the ruins of which are still to be seen. St. Paul landed there.]
[Footnote 417: Essedis: they were light cars, on two wheels, constructed
to carry only one person; invented, it is supposed, by the Belgians, and
by them introduced into Britain, where they were used in war. The Romans,
after their expeditions in Gaul and Britain, adopted this useful vehicle
instead of their more cumbrous RHEDA, not only for journeys where dispatch
was required, but in solemn processions, and for ordinary purposes. They
seem to have become the fashion, for Ovid tells us that these little
carriages were driven by young ladies, themselves holding the reins, Amor.
xi. 16. 49.]
[Footnote 418: Suetonius flourished about seventy years after this, in
the reign of Adrian, and derived many of the anecdotes which give interest
to his history from cotemporary persons. See CLAUDIUS, c. xv. etc.]
[Footnote 419: See TIBERIUS, c. xlvii. and AUGUSTUS, c. xxxi.]
[Footnote 420: This aqueduct, commenced by Caligula and completed by
Claudian, a truly imperial work, conveyed the waters of two streams to
Rome, following the valley of the Anio from above Tivoli. The course of
one of these rivulets was forty miles, and it was carried on arches,
immediately after quitting its source, for a distance of three miles. The
other, the Anio Novus, also began on arches, which continued for upwards
of twelve miles. After this, both were conveyed under ground; but at the
distance of six miles from the city, they were united, and carried upon
arches all the rest of the way. This is the most perfect of all the
ancient aqueducts; and it has been repaired, so as to convey the Acqua
Felice, one of the three streams which now supply Rome. See CLAUDIUS, c.
xx.]
[Footnote 421: By Septa, Suetonius here means the huts or barracks of the
pretorian camp, which was a permanent and fortified station. It stood to
the east of the Viminal and Quirinal hills, between the present Porta Pia
and S. Lorenzo, where there is a quadrangular projection in the city walls
marking the site. The remains of the Amphitheatrum Castrense stand
between the Porta Maggiore and S. Giovanni, formerly without the ancient
walls, but now included in the line. It is all of brick, even the
Corinthian pillars, and seems to have been but a rude structure, suited to
the purpose for which it was built, the amusement of the soldiers, and
gymnastic exercises. For this purpose they were used to construct
temporary amphitheatres near the stations in the distant provinces, which
were not built of stone or brick, but hollow circular spots dug in the
ground, round which the spectators sat on the declivity, on ranges of
seats cut in the sod. Many vestiges of this kind have been traced in
Britain.]
[Footnote 422: The Isthmus of Corinth; an enterprize which had formerly
been attempted by Demetrius, and which was also projected by Julius
Caesar, c. xliv., and Nero, c. xix.; but they all failed of accomplishing
it.]
[Footnote 423: On the authority of Dio Cassius and the Salmatian
manuscript, this verse from Homer is substituted for the common reading,
which is,
Eis gaian Danaon perao se.
Into the land of Greece I will transport thee.]
[Footnote 424: Alluding, in the case of Romulus, to the rape of the
Sabines; and in that of Augustus to his having taken Livia from her
husband.--AUGUSTUS, c. lxii.]
[Footnote 425: Selene was the daughter of Mark Antony by Cleopatra.]
[Footnote 426: See c. xii.]
[Footnote 427: The vast area of the Roman amphitheatres had no roof, but
the audience were protected against the sun and bad weather by temporary
hangings stretched over it.]
[Footnote 428: A proverbial expression, meaning, without distinction.]
[Footnote 429: The islands off the coast of Italy, in the Tuscan sea and
in the Archipelago, were the usual places of banishment. See before, c.
xv.; and in TIBERIUS, c. liv., etc.]
[Footnote 430: Anticyra, an island in the Archipelago, was famous for the
growth of hellebore. This plant being considered a remedy for insanity,
the proverb arose--Naviga in Anticyram, as much as to say, “You are mad.”]
[Footnote 431: Meaning the province in Asia, called Galatia, from the
Gauls who conquered it, and occupied it jointly with the Greek colonists.]
[Footnote 432: A quotation from the tragedy of Atreus, by L. Attius,
mentioned by Cicero. Off. i. 28.]
[Footnote 433: See before, AUGUSTUS, c. lxxi.]
[Footnote 434: These celebrated words are generally attributed to Nero;
but Dio and Seneca agree with Suetonius in ascribing them to Caligula.]
[Footnote 435: Gladiators were distinguished by their armour and manner