The Lives of the Caesars Suetonius (reader novel .TXT) 📖

appearing on the stage; see Julius, 33. ↩

The first fourteen rows above the orchestra, reserved for the knights by the law of L. Roscius Otho, tribune of the commons, 67 BC. ↩

Euripus, the strait between Euboea and Boeotia, was used also as a common noun, meaning “a ditch” or “canal.” ↩

The year had previously consisted of 355 days, and the deficiency of about eleven days was made up by inserting an intercalary month of twenty-two or twenty-three days after February. ↩

Plebeians, connected in some way with the treasury. ↩

I.e., of the commons, with reference to the distribution of grain. ↩

The derivation of parricida is uncertain, but it cannot come from pater and caedo. In early times it meant wilful murder of a freeman; Lex XII Tab. ap. Fest. s.v., si qui hominem liberum dolo sciens morti duit, paricidas esto; later, it was associated by popular etymology with pater and caedo, and used also in the modern sense of the word. ↩

Epilepsy, called morbus comitialis, because an attack was regarded as sufficient cause for the postponement of elections, or other public business. Sometimes a seizure was feigned for political reasons. ↩

Latus clavus, the broad purple stripe, is also applied to a tunic with the broad stripe. All senators had the right to wear this; the peculiarity in Caesar’s case consisted in the long fringed sleeves. ↩

While a girdle was commonly worn with the ordinary tunic, it was not usual to wear one with the latus clavus; Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria XI.3.138. The looseness of the girdle was an additional peculiarity. ↩

The word play on tertia (pars) and Tertia, daughter of Servilia, as well as on the two senses of deducta, is quite untranslatable. The first meaning is given in the translation, and the second is implied in the following sentence. Cf. Macrobius, Saturnalia, 2.2.5. ↩

M. Actorius Naso; see Julius, 9.3. ↩

The words liberorum quaerendorum causa are a legal formula indicating that the purpose of marriage is to beget legal heirs. ↩

Caesar was in reality propraetor, but proconsul (pro consule) is sometimes used of the governor of a province, regardless of his rank. ↩

Apparently about half the usual price. ↩

Cicero, Brutus 261. ↩

That is, a speech in which he competed with other advocates for the right to conduct a prosecution. ↩

Cicero, Brutus 262. ↩

Caesar, The Gallic Wars VIII, preface, 5⁠–⁠6. ↩

That is, Caesar reduced his reports to book form. If the book was a roll, the writing was arranged in columns, parallel with the edges (or long sides) of the roll. If it was a codex, several sheets were folded and fastened together and the writing was arranged on each page in one or two columns. His predecessors merely took a sheet, or sheets, and wrote from side to side and from top to bottom, without columns or margins. ↩

Through Gaius Volusenus (Caes. B. G. 4.21.1). Suetonius’s words per se do not necessarily imply that Caesar went to Britain himself for this purpose. ↩

The significance of this name can only be conjectured. Salutio was an actor of mimes, mentioned by Pliny, Natural History 7.10 and 35.2. ↩

The standard of the legion was a silver eagle with outstretched wings, mounted on a pole which had a sharp point at the other end, so that it could be set firmly in the ground. ↩

Rostratae naves, ships of war provided with brazen beaks (rostra) or rams. ↩

Probably some woodcutter’s hut; deversorium means “inn, lodging.” ↩

Catullus 29 and 57. ↩

See Julius, 1.2. ↩

At the theatre. ↩

For carrying his statue among those of the gods. ↩

Playing on the double meaning of cor, also regarded as the seat of intelligence. ↩

That is, “make me restore the republic.” ↩

The white fillet was emblematic of royalty. ↩

With a pun on Rex as a Roman name; cf. Horace, Horatii Flacci Sermonum 1.7, etc. ↩

The college of fifteen priests (quindecimviri sacris faciundis) in charge of the Sybilline books. ↩

Bonum factum (sit) was a formula prefixed to edicts, here used in jest; cf. the similar formulas in proposals to the senate, Augustus, 58.2, Caligula, 15.3. ↩

See note on Julius, 45.3. ↩

The pons suffragiorum, a temporary bridge of planks over which the voters passed one by one, to cast their ballots; Cicero, Epistularum ad Atticum I.14; Ovid, Fasti, V.634. ↩

Properly said of a temple; according to Florus, Epitome of Roman History 4.2.91; one of the honours bestowed on Caesar was fastigium in domo; cf. Plutarch, Caesar, LXIII. ↩

Possibly “from behind,” though it is hard to see how a wound paulo infra iugulum could have been dealt from that position. Aversum has better mss. authority than