by F. W. Farrar
NOTES
NOTE 1. PAGE 3.
_The Palace of the Cæsars._--In this description of the Palace of the Cæsars, I chiefly follow Lanciani and Burn’s _Rome and the Campagna_, ch. viii. See, too, Statius, _Sylv._ iv. 26-31; Claudian, _De VI. Cons. Hon._ 39-41.
NOTE 2. PAGE 10.
_Lollia Paulina’s jewels._--See Pliny, _N. H._ ix. 58.
NOTE 3. PAGE 14.
_Agrippina’s talking thrush._--‘Agrippina, Claudii Principis, turdum habuit, quod nunquam ante, imitantem sermones humanos, cum hæc proderem. Habebant et Cæsares juvenes [_i. e._ Nero and Britannicus] sturnum, item luscinias, Græco et Latino sermone dociles, præterea ... loquentes longiore etiam contextu.’--Pliny, _N. H._ x. 59.
NOTE 4. PAGE 14.
_Nero’s genealogy._--Nero was, in the female line, _abnepos_ --great-great-grandson--of Augustus. Britannicus was only the _pronepos_--great-grandson--of Octavia (the sister of Augustus), and great-nephew of Tiberius:--
Augustus??Scribonia | Julia??Agrippa | Agrippina I.??Germanicus | Agrippina II.??Claudius | Nero
Octavia??Mark Antony | Antonia Minor??Drusus, Brother of Tiberius | ------+------ | | Germanicus Claudius??Messalina | Britannicus
NOTE 5. PAGE 31.
_Agrippina’s white nightingale._--Pliny says it cost more than 40_l_ _N. H._ x. 43.
NOTE 6. PAGE 43.
_The Bacchanalians._--The orgies of this pseudo-religious body had been denounced and suppressed in B.C. 186.--See Livy, xxxix. 9-14.
NOTE 7. PAGE 44.
_Nero’s poetry._--The lines of Persius, _Sat._ i. 92-105, have been supposed to contain these quotations from Nero’s poems.
NOTE 8. PAGE 51.
_Seneca’s flatteries._--The opening of Seneca’s _De Clementia_ abounds in this fulsome and impolitic flattery.
NOTE 9. PAGE 52.
For these self-criticisms of Seneca, see _Ep._ xlv. lxxx. &c.; _De Vit. Beat._ 3.
NOTE 10. PAGE 60.
Nero really made this jest.--Tac. _Ann._ xiv. 14.
NOTE 11. PAGE 63.
_Epictetus._--No date in the life of Epictetus is certain; but as he was certainly the slave of Epaphroditus, Nero’s secretary, I take no violent liberty in introducing him here.
NOTE 12. PAGE 64.
_Slaves were not held culpable for what their masters ordered._--The sentiment which Petronius puts into the mouth of Trimalchio--‘Nec turpe est quod dominus jubet’--is echoed by Seneca, ‘Impudicitia ... in servo necessitas est.’
NOTE 13. PAGE 67.
_The ass-headed god._--One of the ancient calumnies against the Christians is that they worshipped a god with an ass’s head named _Onokoites_. See the writer’s _Lives of the Fathers_, i. § v. Hence the Christians were called _Asinarii_, and the ancients thought that Jews also worshipped the ass. See Tac. _Hist._ v. 4; Plut. _Sympos._ iv. 5, § 2; Diod. Sic. xxxiv. Fragm.; Jos. _C. Apion._ ii. 7. For the slander as regards Christians, see Min. Fel. _Octav._ ix. 28; Tert. _Ad Natt._ i. 14, _Apol._ 16. The celebrated _graffito_ of ‘Alexamenos adoring his god,’ known by the Germans as the _Spott-Crucifix_, is now in the Library of the Collegio Romano at Rome, in the _Museo Kircheriano_. It was really found in the Gelotian _Pædagogium_, but is probably of much later date than the reign of Nero.
NOTE 14. PAGE 68.
Duc me, Parens, celsique Dominator poli, Quocumque placuit; nulla parendi mora est. Adsum impiger. Fac nolle, comitabor tamen.
Cleanthes _apud_ Senecam.
NOTE 15. PAGE 69.
_Ancient wall-scribblings._--For the _Graffito_ alluded to see note 13. The playful distich attributed to Britannicus is really scrawled on a wall at Pompeii:--
‘Admiror, paries, te non cecidisse ruina Qui tot stultorum tædia sustineas.’
The _graffiti_ ascribed to Titus are on the walls of the _Domus Gelotiana_, but are becoming fast obliterated. They were discovered in 1857.--See Lanciani’s _Rome_, p. 121.
NOTE 16. PAGE 74.
The ‘Cyzicene room’ of a luxurious Roman house or villa faced the north, and opened by folding doors on the garden. The younger Pliny had such rooms in his villa. They were built for warmth and sunlight.
NOTE 17. PAGE 75.
For a remarkable ‘_unconscious prophecy of heathendom_,’ see Æsch. _Prom. Vinct._ 1026-1029. Seneca’s words are:-- ‘Nemo per se satis valet ut emergat. Oportet manum aliquis porrigat, aliquis educat.’ Sen. _Ep._ 52.
NOTE 18. PAGE 77.
_The Fish._--The initial letters of ?????, ‘fish,’ stood for ?????? ??????? ???? ???? ?????, ‘Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour.’ It was the commonest of ancient Christian symbols. See Tert. _De Bapt._ i.; Jer. _Ep._ 43; Aug. _De Civ. Dei_, xviii. 23; and the writer’s _Lives of the Fathers_, i. § xvi.
NOTE 19. PAGE 81.
_Arrest of Onesimus._--Some readers will recognise an incident which really occurred in the life of Alypius, the friend of St. Augustine, which the English reader may see narrated in my _Lives of the Fathers_, ii. 313.
NOTE 20. PAGE 101.
_Agrippas._--Children born feet-first were called _agrippas_, and to be so born was regarded as a certain augury of misfortune.--Pliny, _N. H._ vii. 6.
NOTE 21. PAGE 114.
_Ancient dancing._--The allusions to the dancing of the pantomimic actors may all be found in Lucan’s _De Saltatione_; Vell. Paterc. ii. 83; Athen. xiv. 627-630; and other ancient writers.
NOTE 22. PAGE 124.
Lucan’s daring flatteries may be read in _Pharsal._ i. 33-66.
NOTE 23. PAGE 137.
_The Stemma Cæsarum._--For further facts and details about the Cæsarian family, See Champagny, _Les Césars_, ii. 77, and _passim_.
NOTE 24. PAGE 145.
_Otho’s banquet._--The details here described are derived in every particular from Pliny, Suetonius, Seneca, and other ancient writers.
NOTE 25. PAGE 152.
_Tossing in a blanket._ _Sagatio._--Suet. _Otho_, 2; Mart. i. 4. A case is mentioned in Ulpian of a boy who was killed by it. Greek, ??????.
NOTE 26. PAGE 157.
_Age of Britannicus._--There is some historic uncertainty about the age of Britannicus. The proper date for assuming the _toga virilis_ was the _end_ of the fifteenth year, but Nero had been allowed to assume it soon after his fourteenth birthday (Tac. _Ann._ xii. 41). In _Ann._ xii. 25 Tacitus says that Nero was _two_ years older (_biennio_ majorem) than Britannicus; but from xiii. 6 and 15, where we are told that Nero was barely seventeen at the beginning of his reign, and that Britannicus was nearly fifteen when he was murdered, it seems clear that _triennio_ would be nearer the truth than _biennio_. Eckhel, in his _Doctr. Num._ vi. 260, comes to the conclusion that Nero was _three years and two months_ older than Britannicus; and other circumstances seem to make this probable. Suetonius also (_Claud._ 27) makes some admitted blunders. It seems likely that Nero was born on Dec. 15, A.D. 37, and Britannicus on Feb. 12 or 13, A.D. 41, on the twentieth day of his father’s reign. On this subject I must refer to Nipperdey on Tac. _Ann._ xii. 25; Orelli on Tac. _Ann._ xii. 25, 41, xiii. 6, 15; H. Schiller, _Gesch. d. Römischen Kaiserreichs_, pp. 71, &c.
NOTE 27. PAGE 171.
_Making gods._--Nero makes the remark in the text to Seneca in the tragedy of _Octavia_:--
‘Stulte verebor, ipse quum faciam, Deos.’
_Octav._ Act. ii. 450
NOTE 28. PAGE 174.
?????? ???? ????? ????? ??????, ????? ? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ?????, ???? ?? ???? ??????.
This epigram was once quoted to Coleridge as proof of the condensation possible in Greek. He at once rendered it in the two English lines:--
‘Jack, finding some gold, left a rope on the ground, Tom, missing his gold, used the rope which he found.’
NOTE 29. PAGE 175.
_Pagan epitaphs._--For those quoted see _Nov. Fiorentini_, xxxiii. (ap. Döllinger, _Judaism_, &c. ii. 147; and Muratori, p. 1677).
NOTE 30. PAGE 176.
The magnificent verses sung by Britannicus are preserved by Cicero (_Tusc. Disp._ iii. 19), and were deservedly admired for their force and rhythm. They end thus, with a striking specimen of ancient rhyme:--
‘Hæc omnia vidi inflammari, Priamo vitam vi evitari, Jovis aram sanguine turpari.’
NOTE 31. PAGE 200.
This ancient hymn is preserved for us at the end of the _Pædagogus_ of St. Clement of Alexandria. I avail myself of the translation by my friend the late Dean of Wells (_Lazarus, and other Poems_).
NOTE 32. PAGE 213.
_An imperial banquet._--See Sen. _Ep._ xc. 15, cxv. 9. The _menu_ of a banquet of luxurious Salian priests is preserved in Macrobius, _Saturn._ iii. 13.
NOTE 33. PAGE 273.
The classical reader will recognise that I have not invented these stories of rural pagan life. They are found in Apuleius.
NOTE 34. PAGE 318.
_The Lemuralia._--See this expiatory rite described in Ovid, _Fasti_, v. 421-444; and compare Latour St.-Ybars, _Néron_, pp. 213, 214. The custom is also alluded to in Varro, _Vit. Pop. Rom._ Fr. 241; Servius _ad Æn._ i. 276.
NOTE 35. PAGE 323.
_Gladiators’ School._--‘Alebat devotum corpus pravior omni fauce sagina.’--Quinct. ‘Qui dabit immundæ venalia fata saginæ.’--Propert. iv. 8. 25. ??? ?? ?????????, ????????????, ????????? ????????, ?? ?????? ??????.--Epict. _Dissert._ iii. 15, § 3.
NOTE 36. PAGE 325.
_The gladiator’s oath_ was comprehensively horrible. ‘In verba Eumolpi sacramentum juravimus _uri_, _vinciri_, _verberari_, _ferroque necari_, et quicquid aliud Eumolpus jussisset; _tamquam legitimi gladiatores domino corpora animosque religiosissime addicimus_.’--Petronius.
NOTE 37. PAGE 330.
_Gladiatorial games._--Not one incident is here described which does not find its authority in Martial _De Spectaculis_, and other epigrams, or in one or other of the many contemporary or later writers of the Empire. See Lipsius, _De Gladiatoribus_ in his _Saturnalia_.
NOTE 38. PAGE 334.
_Dead gladiators._--‘Quinetiam percussos jacentesque repeti jubent, et cadavera ictibus dissipari, ne quis illos simulata morte deludat’ (Lactantius).
NOTE 39. PAGE 351.
_The Rex Nemorensis._--See Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 263-277; Propert. iii. 24. 9; Stat. _Sylv._ iii. 1. 32; and Mr. Fraser’s _Golden Bough_.
The appearance and cautious terror of the priest are described by Strabo (v. 3. 12):--??????? ??? ?????, ??? ??????????, ??? ????????? ??????? ?????????.
NOTE 40. PAGE 398.
_Age of Octavia._--Nothing certain can be ascertained as to the _exact_ age of Octavia at her death. Tillemont, _Néron_, Art. xv., thinks that she was twenty-two; and Nipperdey on Tac. _Ann._ xiv. 64 conjectures that the true reading is ‘II et vicesimo.’ See Stahr, _Agrippina_, p. 54; Lehmann, 132; Sievers, _Studien zur Gesch. des Röm. Kaiser._, 129; H. Schiller, _Gesch. des Röm. Kaiserreichs_, 67. When she married Nero she was apparently thirteen, and he fifteen; Schiller, _l. c._ 83.
NOTE 41. PAGE 401.
_Christian fortitude._--These are the explanations given by Pagans of the calmness of Christians under martyrdom. Marc. Aurelius says that men should die calmly, yet not ??? ????? ????????? ?? ?? ??????????, _Medit._ xi. 3; ??? ??????, ??? ?????, ?? ?? ?????????, says Epictetus, _Dissert._ iv. 7.
NOTE 42. PAGE 416.
_Ishmael ben Phabi._--An Ishmael ben Phabi was made high priest by Valerius Gratus; and another, or the same at a later age, by Festus. The younger is here intended.
NOTE 43. PAGE 434.
_Anchialus_ is a dubious word found in Martial, _Ep._ xi. 94, and very variously explained. The famous oracle quoted by Josephus is found in Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 18.
NOTE 44. PAGE 439.
Esther, in her epitaph, charges Arescusus not to put ‘D. M.’ or any other pagan symbol on her tomb. The name of Primitivus, a _Curator Spoliarii_ in Nero’s time (mentioned in the next paragraph), has been preserved in an inscription found in the Columbaria.
NOTE 45. PAGE 448.
I borrow this ancient hymn from the conclusion of the _Pædagogus_ of Clement of Alexandria. The translation is by my friend the late Dean of Wells.
NOTE 46. PAGE 477.
What we call St. Elmo’s fire was known to the ancients as ‘the fires of Castor and Pollux.’ A _bidental_ was an enclosure round a place struck by lightning. For such legends of St. John as I have here adopted I may refer to Tert._ De Præscr. Hær._ 36; Jer. _C. Jovin._ i. 26; and _In Matt._ xx. 23, Orig. _In Matt._ Hom. xii; Zahn, _Acta Johannis_, cxvii.-cxxii.
NOTE 47. PAGE 478.
I have elsewhere given strong reasons for the belief that St. John was banished to Patmos by Nero, _not_ by Domitian. See _Early Days of Christianity_, ii. 147, 184 _sqq._
NOTE 48. PAGE 485.
_Icarus._--See Sueton, _Nero_, 12; Dio Chrysost. _Orat._ xxi. 9. There seems to be an echo of this incident in the legend about the attempted flight of Simon Magus. Cyril Hierosol. _Catech._ vi. 15; Arnob. _C. Gentes_, ii. 12. See Lipsius, _Petrus-Sage_, and Fabricius, _Cod. Apocr. N. T._ iii. 632.
NOTE 49. PAGE 485.
See Clem. Rom. _Ad Cor._ i. 6. ??? ????? ?????????? ???????? ???????? ??? ?????? ????????? ????? ??? ?????? ????????? ??? ??? ??? ??????? ??????? ?????? ?????????? ??? ?????? ????? ???????? ?? ???????? ?? ??????. I do not see any reason to accept any alterations of the reading. See, too, Renan, _L’Antéchrist_, p. 167. The Dirce-statue, known as the Farnese Bull, is now in the Museo Borbonico at Naples.
NOTE 50. PAGE 489.
I am indebted for one slight touch in this scene to the otherwise absurd sketch in Latour St.-Ybars’ _Néron_.
NOTE 51. PAGE 540.
Dion Cassius tells the fate of Corbulo in three energetic words: ????? ?????? ????? (lxiii. 17).
NOTE 52. PAGE 556.
The reader who is familiar with the cycles of early Christian legend will recognise that I borrow the character of Patroclus and various incidents of these scenes from the _Acts of Linus_. They are printed in De la Bigne, _Bibl. Patr. Max._ ii. 67; and some account of them is given by Dr. Salmon, in _Dict. Christ. Biog._ iii. 726. See, too, the allusion of St. Chrysostom, _Hom. xlvi. in Actt. App._
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
The following corrections have been made in the text:
[1] Chapter 1 paragraph 1 - ‘incrusted’ replaced with ‘encrusted’ (the great bronze valves were encrusted)
[2] Chapter 8 paragraph 8 - ‘Octavio’ replaced with ‘Octavia’ (a desire to divorce Octavia)
[3] Chapter 17 paragraph 3 - ‘Apocolokyntosis’ replaced with ‘Apokolokyntosis’
[4] Chapter 17 paragraph 67 - ‘similiar’ replaced with ‘similar’ (Tigellinus follow a similar)
[5] Chapter 18 paragraph 8 - ‘matyrdom’ replaced with ‘martyrdom’ (did not share her husband’s martyrdom)
[6] Ch
apter 20 paragraph 2 - ‘or’ replaced with ‘of’ (saw a copy of)
[7] Chapter 26 paragraph 27 - ‘Gallia’ replaced with ‘Gallio’ (‘Antistia,’ said Gallio)
[8] Chapter 30 paragraph 13 - ‘superstitution’ replaced with ‘superstition’ (workings of a foreign superstition)
[9] Chapter 31 paragraph 23 - ‘Is’ replaced with ‘It’ (It is vain to talk to me)
[10] Chapter 32 paragraph 24 - ‘mendicity’ replaced with ‘mendacity’ (a life of squalor, mendacity, and imposture)
[11] Chapter 35 paragraph 21 - ‘wonnd’ replaced with ‘wound’ (with blood from the wound)
[12] Chapter 42 paragraph 45 - ‘familar’ replaced with ‘familiar’ (and was thus familiar)
[13] Chapter 49 paragraph 24 - ‘neighboring’ replaced with ‘neighbouring’ (Many of the neighbouring houses)
[14] Chapter 50 paragraph 4 - ‘tempestous’ replaced with ‘tempestuous’ (on a storm of tempestuous agony)
[15] Chapter 50 paragraph 7 - ‘disemcumbered’ replaced with ‘disencumbered’ (which might be disencumbered)
[16] Chapter 52 paragraph 12 - ‘gayety’ replaced with ‘gaiety’ (usual aspect of easy gaiety)
[17] Chapter 54 paragraph 74 - ‘exlaimed’ replaced with ‘exclaimed’ (he exclaimed hoarsely)
[18] Chapter 56 paragraph 40 - ‘vigourous’ replaced with ‘vigorous’ (sprang into more vigorous life)
[19] Chapter 66 paragraph 6 - ‘Christanity’ replaced with ‘Christianity’ (the auroral glow of Christianity)
[20] Chapter 66 paragraph 10 - ‘batttle’ replaced with ‘battle’ (who had fled from battle)
[21] Chapter 66 paragraph 20 - ‘indentity’ replaced with ‘identity’ (revealed to them his identity)
[22] Chapter 66 paragraph 30 - ending quote missing from text (‘the extreme sensuality of superstition.’)