Masters of Rome Boxset: First Man in Rome, the Grass Crown, Fortune's Favourites, Caesar's Women, Caesar

by Colleen McCullough

  Conscript Fathers As established by the kings of Rome, the Senate consisted of one hundred patricians titled patres, which means “fathers.” Then after the Republic was established and plebeians were admitted to the Senate, and its membership had swollen to three hundred, and the censors were given the duty of appointing new senators, the word “conscript” came into use as well, because the censors conscripted these new members. By the time of Gaius Marius, the two terms had been run together, so that the members of the Senate were addressed as Conscript Fathers.

  consul The consul was the most senior Roman magistrate owning imperium, and the consulship (modern scholars do not refer to it as the “consulate” because a consulate is a modern diplomatic institution) was considered the top rung of the cursus honorum. Two consuls were elected each year by the Centuriate Assembly, to serve for one year. The senior of the two—who had polled his requisite number of centuries first—held the fasces for the month of January, which meant he officiated while his junior colleague looked on. The first day of a consul’s office was New Year’s Day, January 1. Each consul was attended by twelve lictors, but only the lictors of the consul officiating during the month carried the fasces on their shoulders. By the time of Gaius Marius, consuls could be either patrician or plebeian, excepting only that two patricians could not hold office together. The proper age for a consul was forty-two, twelve years after entering the Senate at thirty. A consul’s imperium knew no bounds; it operated not only in Rome but throughout Italy and the provinces as well, and overrode the imperium of a proconsular governor. The consul could command any army.

  consular The title given to a man who had been a consul. He was held in special esteem by the ordinary members of the Senate, was asked to speak ahead of junior magistrates, and might at any time be sent to govern a province should the Senate require the duty of him. He might also be asked to take on other duties, like caring for the grain supply.

  consultum, consulta (pl.) The proper term for a senatorial decree. These decrees did not have the force of law; in order to become law, a consultum had to be presented to the Assembly of the People or to the Plebeian Assembly, which then passed the consultum into law—or did not. However, many consulta did not go to one of the tribal assemblies, yet were accepted as law; such were senatorial decisions about who was to govern a province, or the declaration or pursuit of war, or who was to command an army. Foreign affairs were normally conducted through unratified senatorial consulta.

  contio, contiones (pl.) The preliminary meetings of all the comitial assemblies, whether to debate promulgated legislation or establish a trial at law, were called contiones. A contio could be called only by a magistrate having the correct power to convoke whichever assembly it was—a consul or praetor could convoke the Centuriate Assembly or the Assembly of the People, but only a tribune of the plebs could convoke the Plebeian Assembly.

  contubernalis The Latin term for a cadet, a subaltern of lowest rank in the military officers’ hierarchy, but excluding the centurions; no centurion was ever a cadet, he was an experienced soldier.

  corona A crown. The term was generally confined to military decorations for the very highest valor. In descending order of importance, these crowns for various acts of bravery were:

  Corona Graminea The grass crown, awarded to a man who saved a whole legion, or—upon rare occasions—even a whole army.

  Corona Civica The civic crown, made of ordinary oak leaves. It was awarded to a man who had saved the lives of fellow soldiers, and held the ground on which he did this for the rest of the battle.

  Corona Aurea The first of the more minor crowns, which interestingly were intrinsically far more valuable than the top two (an indication that they were far newer). This gold crown was awarded to a man who killed an enemy in single combat, and held the ground for the rest of the battle. Corona Muralis A crenellated gold crown awarded to the first man over the walls of an enemy city when it was stormed.

  Corona Navalis A gold crown adorned with ship’s beaks, awarded for outstanding valor during a sea battle.

  Corona Vallaris A gold crown awarded to the first man across the ramparts of an enemy camp.

  cottabus A game played in the dining room. The lees in the bottom of a man’s wine cup were tossed into a large flattish bowl, and the winner was decided by the number of rays in the splash pattern, though exactly how it worked, we do not know.

  cuirass Two plates usually of bronze or steel, but sometimes of hardened leather, one protecting a man’s thorax and abdomen, the other his back from shoulder to lumbar spine; the plates were held together by straps or ties at the shoulders and along each side beneath the arms. Some were exquisitely tailored to the contours of the torso; others were suitable for all wearers of average size and physique. The men of highest rank, especially generals, normally wore cuirasses beautifully tooled in relief, mostly of silver-plated steel or bronze, occasionally gold-plated; the general and his legates also wore a thin red sash around the cuirass about halfway between the nipples and the waist, ritually knotted and looped.

  culibonia A Latin obscenity interpreted by Dr. J. N. Adams as meaning a whore who offered anal intercourse; hence Publius Rutilius Rufus’s pleasure in his own pun on boni in his letter, page 768.

  culus The basic Latin word for the anus.

  Cumae The first Greek colony in Italy, founded in the early eighth century B.C. It lay on the sea side of Cape Misenum, and was an extremely popular Roman Republican resort.

  cunnum lingere A very crude Latin obscenity, meaning to lick the female genitalia.

  cunnus A Latin obscenity at least as offensive to Romans as “cunt” is to us. It meant the female genitalia.

  curator annonae The man responsible for regulating the grain supply from the provinces to Rome.

  curia, curiae (pl.) The curia originally was one of the thirty most ancient divisions of the Roman People, preceding the tribes and certainly the classes. These first Roman clans gathered in special meeting halls; each curia was headed by a curio or chieftain, elected for life. The curiae veteres or ancient meeting halls were clustered on the edge of the Palatium of the Palatine, adjacent to the Via Triumphalis. By the time of Gaius Marius, the curia was all but forgotten in the political and social organization of the People. When, as with the adoption of a patrician into a plebeian family, or the conferring of imperium upon a senior magistrate by a lex curiata, the thirty curiae were required under law to assemble, they were represented by thirty lictors.

  Curia Hostilia The Senate House. It was thought to have been built by King Tullus Hostilius, the third of Rome’s kings, hence its name (“meeting-house of Hostilius”).

  cursus honorum “The way of honor.” If a man aspired to be consul, he had to take certain steps: first he was admitted to the Senate (either by seeking election as quaestor, or by co-optation of the censors, though the censors always had the final word in Gaius Marius’s day); he had to serve as quaestor even if already a senator; after which he had to be elected praetor; and finally he could stand for the consulship. The four steps—senator, quaestor, praetor, and consul—constituted the cursus honorum. Neither of the aedileships (plebeian and curule) nor the tribunate of the plebs was a part of the cursus honorum, but most men who aspired to be consul understood that in order to attract sufficient attention from the electorate, they needed to serve as a tribune of the plebs or as an aedile. The office of censor, available only to those who had already been consul, was also separate from the cursus honorum (see also magistrates).

  curule chair In Latin, sella curulis. This was the ivory chair reserved exclusively for men in senior magistracies; a curule aedile sat in one, but a plebeian aedile did not. The praetor and consul used curule chairs. They were the exclusive province of the magistrates who held imperium, as were lictors. In style, the curule chair was beautifully carved, with curved legs crossing in a broad X; it was equipped with very low arms, but had no back. The Roman in a toga sat very straight and allowed nothing to disturb the
complicated massing of his toga on arm, back, and shoulders.

  Cynic An adherent of the school of philosophy founded by Diogenes of Sinope. It was not a school in the Academic sense, nor was its rule of life of great complexity. Basically, the Cynic believed in simplicity and freedom from the thrall of possessions. Cynics completely mistrusted all human endeavors and worldly aspirations, deeming them self-seeking.

  DAMNO One of the two words employed by a jury when delivering a verdict of “guilty.” Presumably there was a reason why a jury would vote DAMNO rather than CONDEMNO; perhaps DAMNO was more vigorous, and was a way of recommending that no mercy be shown in sentencing the damned.

  Danastris River The modern river Dniester, in Moldavia. It was also known to the ancients as the Tyras River.

  Danubius River The modern Danube, Donau, or Dunarea. The Greeks, who called it the Ister, knew it was a very great river, but had not explored it beyond those inevitable Greek colonies around its outflow into the Euxine. Only its upper, alpine reaches were known to the Romans of Gaius Marius’s day, though like the Greeks, they knew its course through Pannonia and Dacia in theory.

  Delphi The great sanctuary of the god Apollo, lying in the lap of Mount Parnassus, in central Greece. From very ancient times it was an important center of worship, though not of Apollo until about the sixth or seventh century B.C. There was an omphalos or navel stone (in all likelihood, a meteorite), and Delphi itself was thought to be the center of the earth. An oracle of awesome fame resided there, its prophecies given by a crone in a state of ecstatic frenzy; she was known as Pythia, or the Pythoness.

  demagogue Originally a Greek concept, meaning a politician whose chief appeal was to the crowds. The Roman demagogue preferred the arena of the Comitia well to the Senate House, but it was no part of his policy to “liberate the masses,” nor on the whole were those who listened to him composed of the very lowly. The term was one employed by ultraconservative factions inside the Senate to describe the more radical tribunes of the plebs.

  denarius, denarii (pl.) Save for a very rare issue or two of gold coins, the denarius was the largest denomination of Roman Republican coinage. Of pure silver, it contained about 3.5 grams of the metal. There were 6,250 denarii to the talent. It was about the size of a dime, or a threepence.

  Dertona Modern Tortona, in northern Italy.

  diadem The diadem was a thick white ribbon about 1 inch (25 mm) wide, each end embroidered, and often finished with a fringe. It was worn tied around the head, either across the forehead, or behind the hairline, and knotted beneath the occiput; the ends trailed down onto the shoulders. Originally a mark of Persian royalty, the diadem became the mark of the Hellenistic monarch after Alexander the Great removed it from the tiara of the Persian kings, as being a more appropriately Greek understatement than either crown or tiara.

  dignitas A peculiarly Roman concept, dignitas cannot be translated as the English “dignity.” It was a man’s personal share of public standing in the community, and involved his moral and ethical worth, his reputation, his entitlement to respect and proper treatment. Of all the assets a Roman nobleman possessed, dignitas was likely to be the one he was most touchy about; to defend it, he might be prepared to go to war or into exile, to commit suicide, or to execute his wife or his son. I have elected to leave it in the text untranslated, simply as dignitas.

  Dis An alternative name for Pluto, the god who ruled the underworld.

  diverticulum, diverticula (pl.) In the sense used in this book, a road connecting the main arterial roads which radiated out from the gates of Rome—a “ring road.”

  Dodona A temple and precinct sacred to the Greek Zeus. Located among the inland mountains of Epirus some ten miles to the south and west of Lake Pamboris, it was the home of a very famous oracle situated in a sacred oak tree which was also the home of doves.

  dominus Literally, “lord.” Domina meant “lady,” and dominilla “little lady.” I have used these words to indicate the kind of respect servants would show to an English nobleman in addressing him as “my lord.”

  domus, domi (pl.) Literally, “house.” It was the term used to describe a city house or town house, and as used in this book is intended to mean the residences of those living privately rather than in apartments.

  Domus Publicus This was a house owned by the Senate and People of Rome—that is, owned by the State. There were at least several such, and perhaps more—all, it would appear, inhabited by priests. The Pontifex Maximus, the Vestal Virgins, the Rex Sacrorum, and the three major flamines—Dialis, Martialis, and Quirinalis—lived in State-owned houses. All were apparently situated within the Forum Romanum. The evidence suggests that during Republican times, the Pontifex Maximus and the Vestal Virgins shared the same house (on the site of the much later Atrium Vestae, but oriented to the north); this was usually the one meant when the term “Domus Publicus” was used. The house of the Rex Sacrorum, located on the Velia, was referred to as “the King’s house.” I have drawn in the houses of the three major flamines on my map of central Rome in purely arbitrary positions, intended only to show where they might have been.

  Dravus River The modern Drava, in Yugoslavia.

  Druentia River The modern Durance, in France.

  Druidism The major Celtic religion, particularly in Gallia Comata and in Britannia; its priests were called Druids. Druidic headquarters were located in the area of Long-haired Gaul inhabited by the Carnutes. A mystical and naturalistic cult, Druidism did not appeal in the least to any of the Mediterranean peoples, who considered its tenets bizarre.

  Duria Major River The modern Dora Baltea, in northern Italy.

  Duria Minor River The modern Dora Riparia, in northern Italy.

  ecastor The exclamation of surprise or amazement considered polite and permissible for women to utter. Its root suggests it invoked Castor.

  edepol The exclamation of surprise or amazement men uttered in the company of women, as sufficiently polite. Its root suggests it invoked Pollux.

  Elysium Republican Romans had no real belief in the intact survival of the individual after death, though they did believe in an underworld and in “shades,” which were rather mindless and characterless effigies of the dead. However, to both Greeks and Romans, certain men were considered by the gods to have lived lives of sufficient glory (rather than merit) to warrant their being preserved after death in a place called Elysium, or the Elysian Fields. Even so, these privileged shades were mere wraiths, and could re-experience human emotions and appetites only after a meal of blood.

  emporium The word had two meanings. It could denote a seaport whose commercial life was all tied up in maritime trade (the island of Delos was an emporium). Or it could denote a large building on the waterfront of a port where importers and exporters had their offices.

  Epicure, Epicurean An adherent of the school of philosophy founded by the Greek Epicurus during the early third century B.C. Personally Epicurus had advocated a brand of hedonism so exquisitely refined it approached asceticism on its left hand, so to speak; a man’s pleasures had to be so relished and strung out and savored that any excess defeated the purpose of the exercise. Public life or any other stressful kind of occupation was forbidden. In Rome especially, these tenets underwent considerable modification, so that a Roman nobleman could call himself an Epicure, yet espouse a public career.

  Epirus The Molossian and Thesprotian area of western Greece, isolated from the mainstream of Greek culture by the Gulf of Corinth and the high mountains of central Greece, for there were few passes into Thessaly or Boeotia. After the defeat of Macedonia by Aemilius Paullus in 167 B.C., some 150,000 Epirote people were deported, leaving the country depopulated and helpless. By the time of Gaius Marius, it was largely the fief of absentee Roman landlords who grazed vast herds for wool and leather.

  Eporedia Modern Ivrea, in northern Italy.

  ethnarch The Greek term for a city magistrate.

  Etruria The Latin name for what had once been the Kingdom of
the Etruscans. It incorporated the wide coastal plains of northwestern peninsular Italy, from the Tiber in the south to the Arnus in the north, and east to the Apennines of the upper Tiber.

  Euxine Sea The modern Black Sea. It was extensively explored and colonized by the Greeks during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., but behind its coasts in its upper regions both on the European side (Sarmatia) and the Asian side (Scythia), the land remained barbarian. Trade routes were many, however, and jealously guarded. Whoever controlled the Thracian Bosporus, the Propontis, and the Hellespont was in a position to levy duty or passage fees between the Euxine and the Aegean; in the time of Gaius Marius, this control belonged to the Kingdom of Bithynia.

  faction The term usually applied by modern scholars to Roman Republican political groups. These can in no way be called political parties, for they were extremely flexible, and their membership changed continually. Rather than form around an ideology, the Roman faction formed around a man of formidable auctoritas and dignitas. I have completely avoided the terms “Optimate” and “Popularis” because I do not wish to give any impression that political parties existed.

  Fannius paper A Roman Fannius who lived at some time between 150 and 130 B.C. took the worst grade of papyrus paper and subjected it to a treatment which turned it into paper as good as the best hieratical grade. The Brothers Gracchi used Fannius paper, which is how we know when Fannius must have invented his treatment. Fannius paper was far cheaper to buy than hieratical Egyptian paper, as well as easy to obtain.

  Fanum Fortunae Modern Fano, in Italy.