A Friend of Cæsar: A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. by - (best ereader for manga TXT) 📖

Slave household.

[13] Every Roman had a prænomen, or "Christian name"; also a gentile name of the gens or clan to which he belonged; and commonly in addition a cognomen, usually an epithet descriptive of some personal peculiarity of an ancestor, which had fastened itself upon the immediate descendants of that ancestor. The Livii Drusi were among the noblest of the Roman houses.

[14] Died in 91 B.C.

[15] In 54 B.C.

[16] The two Roman consuls were magistrates of the highest rank, and were chosen each year by the people.

[17] The famous watering-place on the Bay of Naples.

[18] An ex-consul was known by this title.

[19] Built by Pompeius the Great, in 55-54 B.C.

[20] A member of the band who with Catiline conspired in 63 B.C. to overthrow the Roman government.

[21] The Roman millionaire who had just been slain in Parthia.

[22] Domina, mistress.

[23] By Hercules.

[24] The right of kissing kinsfolk within the sixth degree.

[25] No teaming was allowed in Rome by day.

[26] Greek outer mantle.

[27] Greek under garment.

[28] At an age when respectable men were almost invariably smooth shaven, the philosophers wore flowing beards, as a sort of professional badge.

[29] A "fad" of this time. Such tables often cost $20,000.

[30] The ten tribunes had power to convene the people and Senate, propose laws and "veto" the actions of other magistrates.

[31] Sequestres.

[32] Interpres.

[33] Assembly of the Roman tribes for election.

[34] Suet., "Nero," 51.

[35] An inner private court back of the atrium.

[36] The opponents of the Epicureans; they nobly antagonized the mere pursuit of pleasure held out as the one end of life by the Epicurean, and glorified duty.

[37] Cubicularius.

[38] To let out the ointment. Capua was a famed emporium for perfumes and like wares.

[39] Born 180 B.C.

[40] Ornatrices.

[41] Demeter and Persephone, a Greek woman's oath.

[42] A costly substance, probably porcelain agate.

[43] Whipper; many Roman houses had such a functionary, and he does not seem to have lacked employment.

[44] Flagellum.

[45] Furca-bearer, a coarse epithet.

[46] Thief. Branding was a common punishment for slaves.

[47] I.e. $2,400,000; a sesterce was about 4 cents.

[48] Senior Vestals.

[49] A diminutive of endearment.

[50] Infula.

[51] A coarse epithet.

[52] Comitium, assembly-place round the Rostra.

[53] Great men, and candidates for office who wished to "know" everybody, kept smart slaves at their elbow to whisper strangers' names in their ears. Sometimes the slaves themselves were at fault.

[54] Dining room with couch seats for nine, the regular size.

[55] The ne plus ultra of Roman gastronomy at the time.

[56] Porter—Insularius.

[57] From Cadiz, Spain.

[58] Commercial adviser required for young men under five-and-twenty.

[59] Born about 470 B.C.

[60] Four sesterces, 16 cents.

[61] Keeper of a school of gladiators.

[62] Gladiators equipped as Gaulish warriors.

[63] Buckler men.

[64] Sicarius.

[65] The Gallic sun-god.

[66] See Plato's "Theætetus," 174.

[67] A Lydian king whose wealth was placed on a par with that of the better known Croesus.

[68] Such alterations were actually made in Rome.

[69] To whose mysteries only women were admitted.

[70] Cattle-market.

[71] She was a sister of Clodius, a famous demagogue, and was a brilliant though abandoned woman.

[72] Without the imperium—so long as a Roman official held this he was above prosecution.

[73] Contemptuous diminutive for Greek.

[74] The heavy short javelin carried by the Roman legionary, only about six feet long. In practised hands it was a terrible weapon, and won many a Roman victory.

[75] The "rosy-fingered Dawn" of Homer; Tithonos was her consort.

[76] Milman, translator.

[77] Sallust, the well-known historian.

[78] A distinguished poet and orator—a friend of Catullus.

[79] A long tunic worn by Roman ladies.

[80] A shawl worn over the stola.

[81] The party in opposition, since the time of Tiberius Gracchus, to the Senate party—Optimates; at this time the Populares were practically all Cæsarians.

[82] Ara Maxima.

[83] "Strange! Marvellous!"

[84] Cithara.

[85] Itinerant pipers have existed in Italy from earliest times; they still survive, albeit in alien lands and with less tuneful instruments.

[86] Mimæ.

[87] A common diversion for "young men of spirit."

[88] Acta Diurna, prepared officially.

[89] "Chaldean" astrologers played an almost incredibly important part among even the highest-class Romans of the period.

[90] Babylonian temple towers.

[91] Popinæ.

[92] A poet at that time of some little reputation.

[93] Women sat at Roman banquets, unless the company was of a questionable character.

[94] Most beautiful.

[95] Sons remained under the legal control of a father until the latter's death, unless the tie was dissolved by elaborate ceremonies.

[96] Cato Minor's sister Portia was the wife of Lucius Domitius. Cato was also connected with the Drusi through Marcus Livius Drusus, the murdered reformer, who was the maternal uncle of Cato and Portia. Lucius Ahenobarbus and Quintus Drusus were thus third cousins.

[97] About one-twelfth pint.

[98] Calverly's translation.

[99] The Egyptian judge of the dead.

[100] At this period the great slave emporium of the world.

[101] The spiritual double which belonged to every man according to the Egyptian ideas.

[102] Such establishments were common near the gates, and the Vestals often had their horses at such places.

[103] Equarius.

[104] Inns were known by such signs.

[105] Four-sided dice.

[106] Terence, "Adelphoe," 467 and 471.

[107] Ostium.

[108] The "dinner coat" of the Romans.

[109] College of chief priests.

[110] This was the law, that the tribunes might always be ready to render help (auxilium) to the distressed.

[111] Farm steward.

[112] Puls, the primitive Italian food.

[113] About 606-3/4 English feet.

[114] The great battle won in 207 B.C. over Hasdrubal.

[115] The Gallic thunder-god.

[116] A Germanic war-god.

[117] About $400.

[118] Local municipal magistrates.

[119] Prandium.

[120] Black shoes were worn as a sort of badge by equites.

[121] Expounders of the Roman law.

[122] Translated in the collection "Sales Attici."

[123] The ancient curtain (aulæum) had its roller at the bottom.

[124] Cæsar had given the magistrates of towns of the north of Italy the Roman franchise: no Roman citizens could be lawfully flogged. By his action Marcellus denied Cæsar's right to confer the franchise.

[125] Marius had made young Cæsar, Flamen Dialis: priest of Jupiter.

[126] Translated by Shelley.

[127] $24,000.

[128] Blessed dear.

[129] Duodecim scripta.

[130] One of their functions made these officers practically chiefs of police.

[131] A part of these public officers performed police duty.

[132] A sort of mantle held on the shoulders by a clasp.

[133] Latrunculi.

[134] Si vales bene est ego valeo, written commonly simply S. V. B. E. E. V.

[135] Optimus maximus.

[136] Ex-prætors and ex-ædiles.

[137] Subsellium.

[138] Trabea.

[139] Lituus.

[140] Silentium esse videtur.

[141] Princeps senatus.

[142] Assembly-place in the Forum Romanum.

[143] Manumissio inter amicos was less formal than the regular ceremony before the prætor.

[144] The Ædes Martis of the Campus Martius.

[145] Pompeius was not allowed by law to attend sessions of the Senate (so long as he was proconsul of Spain) when held inside the old city limits; but the Curia which he himself built was outside the walls in the Campus Martius. This meeting seems to have been convened there especially that he might attend it.

[146] Sagum.

[147] Slaves were always close clipped.

[148] Horreæ.

[149] Adjutant, subordinate to a centurion.

[150] Squadron of 30 horse.

[151] Slave who looked after the welfare and conduct of a schoolboy.

[152] President of the games.

[153] Buckler and cutlass men.

[154] Net and trident men.

[155] General's body-guard of picked veterans.

[156] A finger-guessing game.

[157] He has got to die.

[158] A celox of one bank of oars, a small ship much used by the pirates.

[159] Wine-mixing bowl.

[160] The Romans divided the night into 12 hours (from sunrise to sunset); thus the length of the hour varied with the seasons: but at the time here mentioned the "second hour" was about 8 P.M. The water-clocks could show only regular, not solar, time.

[161] The official residence of the Pontifex Maximus.

[162] Riches and strength.

[163] Elton, translator.

[164] Dearest one.

[165] Very distinguished sir.

[166] Master.

[167] Ō-op—avast there.

[168] Missile-throwing engines.

[169] Tibiæ.

[170] Your Highness.

[171] These were real affectations of the Cilician pirates.

[172] A high order of Egyptian nobility.

[173] The official title of Alexandrian Greek citizens.

[174] A mixture of myrrh, frankincense, and other aromatic materials.

[175] Elton, translator.

[176] A drink of vinegar and water very common among the soldiers.

[177] Elton, translator.

[178] Midnight.

[179] The military oath of obedience.

[180] Macedonian it is needless to say was a