Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Booknsulship of Centho and Tuditanus, the year Livius began to exhibit. They were celebrated on the last day of April and the first and second of May. The lowest courtesans appeared on the stage and performed obscene dances. Cf. Lactant., i., 20. Pers., v., 178. [1027] _Cereris._ The Ludi Circenses in honor of Ceres (vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 53, 74, Ruperti's note) consisted of horse-racing, and were celebrated the day before the ides of April. Ov., Fast., iv., 389, _seq._ They were instituted by C. Memmius when Curule Ædile, and were a patrician festival. Gell., ii., 24. [1028] _Cybeles._ Cf. vi., 69; xi., 191. [1029] _Petauro._ The exact nature of this feat of agility is not determined by the commentators. The word is derived from αὖρα and πέτομαι, and therefore seems to imply some machine for propelling persons through the air, which a line in Lucilius seems to confirm, "Sicuti mechanici cum alto exsiluere petauro." Fr. incert. xli. So Manilius, v., 434, "Corpora quæ valido saliunt excussa petauro, alternosque cient motus: elatus et ille nunc jacet atque hujus casu suspenditur ille, membraque per flammas orbesque emissa flagrantes." Mart., ii., Ep. 86, "Quid si per graciles vias petauri Invitum jubeas subire Ladam." XI., xxi., 3, "Quam rota transmisso toties intacta petauro." Holiday gives a drawing in which it resembles an oscillum or swing. Facciolati describes it as "genus ludi, quo homines per aërem rotarum pulsu jactantur." [1030] _Corycus_ was the northwestern headland of Crete, with an island of the same name lying off it. «There were two other towns of the same name, in Lydia and Cilicia, both infested with pirates; the latter gave its name to the famous Corycian cave. Pind., Pyth., i. Æsch., P. V., 350.» [1031] _Municipes._ The Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται boasted, says Callimachus, that Crete was not only the birthplace, but also the burial-place of Jove. Cf. iv., 33, "Jam princeps equitum magnâ qui voce solebat vendere municipes pacta mercede siluros." So Martial calls Cumæan pottery-ware, "testa municeps Sibyllæ," xiv., Ep. cxiv., and Tyrian cloaks, "Cadmi municipes lacernas." Cf. Aristoph., Ach., 333, where Dicæopolis producing his coal-basket says, ὁ λάρκος δημότης ὁδ' ἐστ' ἐμός. Crete was famous for this "passum," a kind of rich raisin wine, which it appears from Athenæus the Roman ladies were allowed to drink. Lib. x., p. 440, e. Grangæus calls it "Malvoisie." [1032] _Lagenas._ Cf. vii., 121. [1033] _Calpe_, now Gibraltar. It is said to have been Epicurus' notion, that the sun, when setting in the ocean, hissed like red-hot iron plunged in water. Cf. Stat. Sylv., II., vii., 27, "Felix hen nimis et beata tellus, quæ pronos Hyperionis meatus summis oceani vides in undis stridoremque rotæ cadentis audis." [1034] _Aluta._ Cf. vii., 192, "Appositam nigræ lunam subtexit alutæ," where it is used for the shoe-leather, as Mart., xii., Ep. 25, and ii., 29. Ov., A. A., iii., 271. It is a leathern _apron_ in Mart., vii., Ep. 25, and a leathern sail in Cæs., B. Gall., III., xiii. Here it is a leathern money-bag. It takes its name from the alumen used in the process of tanning. [1035] _Oceani monstra._ So Tacitus, Ann., ii., 24, "Ut quis ex longinquo revenerat, miracula narrabant, vim turbinum et inauditas volucres, monstra maris, ambiguas hominum et belluarum formas; visa sive ex metu credita." [1036] _Eumenidum._ Eurip., Orest., 254, _seq._ Æsch., Eumen. Hor., ii., Sat. iii., 132, _seq._ [1037] _Bove percusso._ Soph., Aj. Cf. ad vii., 115; x., 84. [1038] _Curatoris._ The Laws of the xii. tables directed that "Si furiosus essit, agnatorum gentiliumque in eo pecuniâque ejus potestas esto." Tab., v., 7. Cf. Hor., i., Ep. i., 102, "Nec medici credis nec _curatoris egere_ à prætore dati." ii., Sat. iii., 217, "Interdicto huic omne adimat jus prætor." [1039] _Tabulâ._ Cf. xii., 57, "Dolato confisus ligno, digitis a morte remotus quatuor aut septem, si sit latissima tæda." "Who loads his bark till it can scarcely swim, And leaves thin planks betwixt the waves and him! A little legend and a figure small Stamp'd on a scrap of gold, the cause of all!" Badham. [1040] _Cujus votis._ "Lo! where that wretched man half naked stands, To whom of rich Pactolus all the sands Were naught but yesterday! his nature fed On painted storms that earn compassion's bread." Badham. [1041] _Tagus._ Cf. iii., 55, "Omnis arena Tagi quodque in mare volvitur aurum." Mart., i., Ep. l., 15; x., Ep. xcvi., "Auriferumque Tagum sitiam." Ov., Met., ii., 251, "Quodque suo Tagus amne vehit fluit ignibus aurum." [1042] The _Pactolus_ flows into the Hermus a little above Magnesia ad Sepylum. Its sands were said to have been changed into gold by Midas' bathing in its waters, hence called εὔχρυσος by Sophocles. Philoct., 391. It flows under the walls of Sardis, and is closely connected by the poets with the name and wealth of Crœsus. The real fact being, that the gold ore was washed down from Mount Tmolus; which Strabo says had ceased to be the case in his time: lib. xiii., c. 4. Cf. Virg., Æn., x., 141, "Ubi pinguia culta exercentque vivi Pactolusque irrigat auro." Senec., Phœn., 604, "Et quà trahens opulenta Pactolus vada inundat auro rura." Athen., v. It is still called Bagouli. [1043] _Picta tempestate._ Cf. ad xii., 27. "Poor shipwreck'd sailor! tell thy tale and show The sign-post daubing of thy watery woe." Hodgson. [1044] _Custodia._ "First got with guile, and then preserved with dread." Spenser. [1045] _Licinus._ Cf. ad i., 109, "Ego possideo plus Pallante et Licinis." [1046] _Hamis._ Hama, "a leathern bucket," from the ἅμη of Plutarch. Augustus instituted seven Cohortes Vigilum, who paraded the city at night under the command of their Præfectus, equipped with "hamæ" and "dolabræ" to prevent fires. Cf. Plin., x., Ep. 42, who, giving Trajan an account of a great fire at Nicomedia in his province, says, "Nullus in publico sipho, nulla hama, nullum denique instrumentum ad incendia compescenda." Tac., Ann., xv., 43, "Jam aqua privatorum licentia intercepta, quo largior, et pluribus locis in publicum flueret, custodes, et subsidia reprimendis ignibus in propatulo quisque haberet: nec communione parietum, sed propriis quæque muris ambirentur." (Ubi vid. Ruperti's note.) These custodes were called "Castellarii." Gruter. Cf. Sat. iii., 197, _seq._ [1047] _Phrygiaque columnâ._ Cf. ad lin. 89. [1048] _Dolia nudi Cynici._ Cf. ad xiii., 122. The story is told by Plutarch, Vit. Alex. Cf. Diog. Laert., VI., ii., 6. It is said that Diogenes died at Corinth, the same day Alexander died at Babylon. Cf. x., 171. "The naked cynic mocks such anxious cares, His earthen tub no conflagration fears: If crack'd or broken, he procures a new; Or, coarsely soldering, makes the old one do." Gifford. [1049] _Nullum numen._ Cf. x., 365. "Where prudence dwells, there Fortune is unknown, By man a g |