Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Book, Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers Deny us for our good: so find we profit By losing of our prayers." [553] _Torrens._ "Some who the depths of eloquence have found, In that unnavigable stream were drown'd." Dryden. [554] _Viribus._ Roscommon, as Gifford says, tells his history in two lines: "Remember Milo's end, Wedged in the timber which he strove to rend." Cf. Ovid, Ib., 609, "Utque Milon robur diducere fissile tentes, nec possis captas inde referre manus." [555] _Balæna Britannica._ Cf. Hor., iv., Od. xiv., 47, "Te _belluosus_ qui remotis obstrepit Oceanus Britannis." There is probably an allusion here to the large sums which Seneca had out at interest in Britain, where his rigor in exacting his demands occasioned a rebellion. [556] _Tota cohors._ "Illo propinquâ vesperâ, tribunus venit, et villam _globus militum_ sepsit." Tac., Ann., xv., 60. [557] _Longinum._ Cassius Longinus was charged with keeping among his Imagines one of Cassius, Cæsar's murderer; and allowed an hour to die in. Suet., Ner., 37. [558] _Seneca._ Rufus and Tigellinus charged Seneca "tanquam ingentes et privatum suprà modum evectas opes adhuc augeret--hortorum quoque amænitate et villarum magnificentiâ quasi Principem supergrederetur;" and Seneca himself, in his speech to Nero, says, "Tantum honorum atque opûm in me cumulâsti, ut nihil felicitati meæ desit." Tacit., Ann., xiv., 52, _seq._ [559] _Puri._ Cf. ix., 141. [560] _Lateranorum._ Vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 60, for the death of Plautius Lateranus. His house was on the Cœlian Hill, on the site of the modern Lateran. [561] _Motæ ad Lunam._ Cf. Hor., i., Od. xxiii., 3, "Non sine vano aurarum et siluæ metu." Stat., Theb., vi., 158," Impulsæque noto frondes cassusque valeret exanimare timor." Claud., Eutrop., ii., 452, "Ecce levis frondes a tergo concutit aura: credit tela Leo: valuit pro vulnere terror." [562] _Vacuus._ Cf. Ov., Nux., 43, "Sic timet insidias qui scit se ferre viator cur timeat, tutum carpit inanis iter." Sen., Lucil., "Nudum Latro transmittit." "While void of care the beggar trips along, And, in the spoiler's presence, trolls his song." Gifford. [563] _Divitiæ._ Vid. Cic., "Expetuntur Divitiæ ut utare; _Opes_ ut colaris: _Honores_ ut lauderis." De Amicit., vi. [564] _Foro._ The public treasure was in the temple of Saturn. Private individuals had their money in strong boxes deposited in the Forum Trajani, or Forum Augusti; in the temple of Mars "Ultor" originally; afterward in the temple of Castor and others, probably of Pax. Cf. xiv., 259, "Æratâ multus in arcâ fiscus, et ad vigilem ponendi Cartora nummi." Cf. Suet., Jul., x. Pliny the Younger was once præfectus ærarii Saturni. [565] _Gemmata._ Cf. v., 39, 41.--_Setinum_, v., 34. "Fear the gemm'd goblet, and suspicious hold The ruby juice that glows in cups of gold." Badham. [566] _De Sapientibus._ Democritus of Abdera, and Heracleitus of Ephesus. [567] _Ridebat._ Cf. Hor., ii., Ep. i., 194, "Si foret in terris _rideret_ Democritus." δεῖσθαι μοι δοκεῖ Ἡρακλείτου ἤ Δημοκρίτου, τοῦ μὲν γελασομένου τὴν ἄνοιαν αὐτῶν, τοῦ δὲ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ὀδυρομένου. Luc., βι. πρ., 13, τὸν γελῶντα, τὸν Ἀβδηρόθεν καὶ τὸν κλαίοντα τὸν ἐξ Ἐφέσου. [568] "The marvel this, since all the world can sneer, What fountains fed the ever-needed tear." Badham. [569] _Trabeæ._ Cf. ad viii., 259. [570] _Prætor._ Juvenal has mixed up together the procession of the prætor to open the Circensian games, and a triumphal procession. The latter proceeded through the principal streets _to_ the Capitol. The former, _from_ the Capitol to the _centre_ of the circus. The triumphal car was in the shape of a turret, gilded, and drawn by four white horses: it often occurs on coins. The tunica palmata, worn by generals in their triumph, was kept in the temple of Jupiter. The toga picta was purple, and so heavily embroidered that it may well be compared to a brocaded curtain. Tyre was anciently called Sarra, which may be traced in its modern name Sur. "His robe a ponderous curtain of brocade, Inwrought and stiff by Tyrian needles' aid." Badham. [571] _Orbem._ Probably an allusion to Atlas. [572] _Sufficit._ "And would have crush'd it with the massy freight, But that a sweating slave sustain'd the weight." Dryden. Probably the crown was _not_ worn, but merely _held_ by the slave at his side. "The menial destined in his car to ride, And cool the swelling consul's feverish pride." Hodgson. [573] _Crasso._ "Bœotum in _crasso_ jurares _ære_ natum." Hor., ii., Ep. i., 244. Bœotia was called the land of hogs, which so much annoyed Pindar. Vid. Ol., vi., 152. Abdera seems to have had as bad a name. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. xxv., 3, "Abderitanæ pectora plebis habes." [574] _Medium unguem._ Hence called "Infamis digitus." Pers., ii., 33. Cf. Mart., ii., Ep. xxviii., 2, "digitum porrigito medium." VI., Ep. lxx., 5, "Ostendit digitum impudicum." [575] _Incerare._ They used to fasten their vows, written on wax tablets, to the knees or thighs of the gods. When their wishes were granted, these were replaced by the offerings they had vowed. Cf. Hom., Il., p., 514, θεῶν ἐν γούνασι κεῖται. [576] _Mergit._ Cf. Sil., viii., 285; or mergit may be used _actively_, as xiii., 8. Lucr., v., 1006. Virg., Æn., vi., 512. [577] _Statuæ._ Cf. ad viii., 18. Tac., Ann., vi., 2. Plin., Pan., 52, "Juvabat illidere solo superbissimos vultus, instare ferro, _sævire securibus_, ut si singulos ictus sanguis dolorque sequeretur"--"instar ultionis videretur cernere imagines abjectas excoctasque flammis." [578] _Immeritis._ "The driven axe destroys the conquering car, And unoffending steeds the ruin share." Hodgson. [579] _Adoratum._ Cf. Tac., Ann., iii., 72; iv., 2, "Coli per theatra et fora effigies ejus sineret." Vid. Suet., Tib., lv., 48, "Solæ nullam Sejani imaginem inter signa coluissent." 65, "Sejani imagines aureas coli passim videret." [580] _Sartago._ "And from the stride of those colossal legs You buy the useful pan that fries your eggs." Badham. Dryden reads "matellæ." [581] _Pone domi lauros._ Cf. ad ix., 85. [582] _Sequitur Fortunam._ "When the king's _trump_, the mob are for the king." Dryden. [583] _Nurscia_, Nyrtia, Nortia, or Nurtia, the Etruscan goddess of Fortune, nearly identical with Atropos, and cognate with Minerva. The old Schol. says, "Fortuna apud Nyrtiam colitur _unde fuit Sejanus_." But Tacitus tells us (Ann., iv., l; vi., 8) that Sejanus was a native of Volsinii, now Bolsena. Outside the Florence gate of Bolsena stands the ruin of a temple still called Tempio di Norzia. Cf. Liv., vii., 3; Tertull., Apoll., 24, ad Nat., ii., 8; Müller's Etrusker, IV., vii., 6; Dennis's Etruria, i., p. 258, 509. [584] _Fornacula._ "A fire so fierce for one was scarcely ma |