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

by Colleen McCullough

  Which leaves Metellus Pius, Quintus Sertorius, and Crassus, all drawn from unidentified portrait busts of Republican date. In The First Man in Rome, I “youthened’’ an anonymous bust to suit the young Sertorius; that bust is now drawn as it was, except that I have removed the left eye and replaced it with scar tissue (taken from a photograph in one of my medical textbooks).

  Alone among the really great men of that time, Marcus Licinius Crassus has no authenticated likeness passed down to our time. So I chose an unidentified bust of a thickset, placid-looking man to portray, as what we know of Crassus strongly suggests that he was a heavy, phlegmatic individual—at least on his surface. Otherwise the jokes about oxen would have had little point.

  King Nicomedes is not an authenticated likeness; though there are coin profiles, debate still rages as to whether there were two kings after Nicomedes II (the King Nicomedes whom Marius met in 97 B.C.), Nicomedes III and Nicomedes IV, or whether the two reigns separated by an exile in Rome were both Nicomedes III. I think the last Nicomedes to reign was Nicomedes III. Be that as it may, I chose to draw from an unidentified bust of Republican date which in profile looks somewhat Nicomedian, though the bust wears no diadem, therefore cannot have been a king. Chiefly I wanted my readers to see what the diadem looked like when worn.

  To save people the trouble of writing to me, I am aware that Suetonius describes Caesar’s eyes as “nigris vegetisque oculis,” usually translated as “keen black eyes” or “piercing black eyes” or “lively black eyes.” However, Suetonius also calls him fair, and was writing a hundred and fifty years after Caesar’s death; a length of time which could well have meant those portrait busts kept up by repainting no longer reflected the true eye color. To be both fair and black-eyed is very rare. Caesar’s great—nephew, Augustus, was also fair; his eyes are said to have been grey, a color more in keeping with fairness. Pale eyes with a dark ring around the outside of the iris always have a piercing quality, so I elected to depart from Suetonius’s eye color rather than from his general description of a fair man; Plutarch, disappointingly unforthcoming about Caesar’s looks, does mention Caesar’s white skin. Velleius Paterculus says Caesar “surpassed all others in the beauty of his person.” It is from Suetonius that one discovers he was tall and slender, but excellently built. I wouldn’t like any of my readers to think that I have succumbed to the temptations of a lady novelist and endowed a major historical character with a physical appeal he did not in fact have! Poor Caesar really did have everything—brains, beauty, height, and a good body.

  One further comment and I will desist from the portrait busts: the drawings are rendered exactly to scale, so those faces with preternaturally large eyes simply reflect the whim of the original sculptor, who perhaps chose to flatter his sitter by making the eyes too large. Big eyes were the greatest mark of beauty to a Roman.

  To enlighten those who may scratch their heads because Pompey’s letters to the Senate differ markedly from Sallust, and Cicero’s court speeches from the published speeches which have come down to us: there is considerable doubt about the veracity of Sallust on the subject of Pompey’s correspondence, and Cicero rewrote his speeches for publication. I have therefore elected to stay with my own words. On the subject of elephants, it must be borne in mind that the Romans were acquainted with African pachyderms, not Indian ones, and that the African species was both larger and far less amenable to taming.

  Those who would like a bibliography are welcome to write to me care of my publishers.

  The next book in the series will be called Caesar’s Women.

  GLOSSARY

  ABSOLVO The term employed by a jury when voting for the acquittal of the accused. It was used in the courts, not in the Assemblies.

  aedile There were four Roman magistrates called aediles; two were plebeian aediles, two were curule aediles. Their duties were confined to the city of Rome. The plebeian aediles were created first (in 494 B.C.) to assist the tribunes of the plebs in their duties, but, more particularly, to guard the rights of the Plebs to their headquarters, the temple of Ceres in the Forum Boarium. The plebeian aediles soon inherited supervision of the city’s buildings as a whole, as well as archival custody of all plebiscites passed in the Plebeian Assembly, together with any senatorial decrees (consulta) directing the passage of plebiscites. They were elected by the Plebeian Assembly. Then in 367 B.C. two curule aediles were created to give the patricians a share in custody of public buildings and archives; they were elected by the Assembly of the People. Very soon, however, the curule aediles were as likely to be plebeians by status as patricians. From the third century B.C. downward, all four were responsible for the care of Rome’s streets, water supply, drains and sewers, traffic, public buildings, monuments and facilities, markets, weights and measures (standard sets of these were housed in the basement of the temple of Castor and Pollux), games, and the public grain supply. They had the power to fine citizens and non—citizens alike for infringements of any regulation appertaining to any of the above, and deposited the moneys in their coffers to help fund the games. Aedile—plebeian or curule—was not a part of the cursus honorum, but because of its association with the games was a valuable magistracy for a man to hold just before he stood for office as praetor.

  Aeneas Prince of Dardania, in the Troad. He was the son of King Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans). When Troy (Ilium to the Romans) fell to the forces of Agamemnon, Aeneas fled the burning city with his aged father perched upon his shoulder and the Palladium under one arm. After many adventures, he arrived in Latium and founded the race from whom true Romans implicitly believed they were descended. His son, variously called Ascanius or Iulus , was the direct ancestor of the Julian family.

  aether That part of the upper atmosphere permeated by godly forces, or the air immediately around a god. It also meant the sky, particularly the blue sky of daylight.

  Ager Gallicus Literally, Gallic land. The exact location and dimensions of the Ager Gallicus are not known, but it lay on the Adriatic shores of Italy partially within peninsular Italy and partially within Italian Gaul. Its southern border was possibly the Aesis River, its northern border not far beyond Ariminum. Originally the home of the Gallic tribe of Senones who settled there after the invasion of the first King Brennus in 390 B.C., it came into the Roman ager publicus when Rome took control of that part of Italy. It was distributed in 232 B.C. by Gaius Flaminius, and passed out of Roman public ownership.

  ager publicus Land vested in Roman public ownership, most of it acquired by right of conquest or confiscated from its original owners as a punishment for disloyalty. This latter was particularly common within Italy itself. Roman ager publicus existed in every overseas province, in Italian Gaul, and inside the Italian peninsula. Responsibility for its disposal (usually in the form of large leaseholds) lay in the purlieus of the censors, though much of the foreign ager publicus lay unused.

  Agger An agger was a double rampart bearing formidable fortifications. The Agger was a part of Rome’s Servian Walls, and protected the city on its most vulnerable side, the Campus Esquilinus.

  agora The open space, usually surrounded by colonnades or some kind of public buildings, which served any Greek or Hellenic city as its public meeting place and civic center. The ,Roman equivalent was a forum.

  Ague The old name for the rigors of malaria.

  Allies Any nation or people or individual formally invested with the title “Friend and Ally of the Roman People’’ was an Ally. The term usually carried with it certain privileges in trade, commerce and political activities. (See also Italian Allies, socii).

  AMOR Literally, “love.” Because it is “Roma” spelled backward, the Romans of the Republic commonly believed it was Rome’s vital secret name, never to be uttered aloud in that context.

  Anatolia Roughly, modern Asian Turkey. It incorporated the ancient regions of Bithynia, Mysia, Asia Province, Phrygia, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, Pontus, Cappadocia, an
d Armenia Parva.

  Ancus Marcius The fourth King of Rome, claimed by the family Marcius (particularly that branch cognominated Rex) as its founder—ancestor; unlikely, since the Marcii were plebeians. Ancus Marcius is said to have colonized Ostia, though there is some doubt as to whether he did this, or whether he took the salt pits at the mouth of the Tiber from their Etruscan owners by force of arms. Rome under his rule flourished. His one lasting public work was the building of the Wooden Bridge, the Pons Sublicius. He died in 617 B.C., leaving sons who did not inherit the throne—a source of later trouble.

  animus The Oxford Latin Dictionary has the best definition, so I will quote it: “The mind as opposed to the body, the mind or soul as constituting with the body the whole person.” There are further definitions, but this one is pertinent to the way animus is used herein. One must be careful, however, not to attribute belief in the immortality of the soul to Romans.

  arcade A long line of shops on both sides of a narrow walkway within a roofed building. The Covered Bazaar in Istanbul is probably very like (if much larger than) an ancient arcade.

  Armenia Magna In ancient times, Armenia Magna extended from the southern Caucasus to the Araxes River, east to the corner of the Caspian Sea, and west to the sources of the Euphrates. It was immensely mountainous and very cold.

  Armenia Parva Though called Little Armenia, this small land occupying the rugged and mountainous regions of the upper Euphrates and Arsanius Rivers was not a part of the Kingdom of Armenia. Until taken over by the sixth King Mithridates of Pontus, it was ruled by its own royal house, but always owed allegiance to Pontus, rather than to Armenia proper.

  armillae The wide bracelets, of gold or of silver, awarded as prizes for valor to Roman legionaries, centurions, cadets and military tribunes of more junior rank.

  Arvernian Pertaining to the Gallic tribe Arverni, who occupied lands in and around the northern half of the central massif of the Cebenna, in Gaul-across-the-Alps.

  Assembly (comitia) Any gathering of the Roman People convoked to deal with governmental, legislative, judicial, or electoral matters. In the time of Sulla there were three true Assemblies—the Centuries, the People, and the Plebs. The Centuriate Assembly marshaled the People, patrician and plebeian, in their Classes, which were filled by a means test and were economic in nature. As this was originally a military assemblage, each Class gathered in the form of Centuries (which, excepting for the eighteen senior Centuries, by the time of Sulla numbered far in excess of one hundred men per century, as it had been decided to limit the number of Centuries). The Centuriate Assembly met to elect consuls, praetors, and (every five years usually) censors. It also met to hear charges of major treason (perduellio),and could pass laws. Because of its originally military nature, the Centuriate Assembly was obliged to meet outside the pomerium, and normally did so on the Campus Martius at a place called the saepta. It was not usually convoked to pass laws or hear trials. The Assembly of the People (comitia populi tributa) allowed the full participation of patricians, and was tribal in nature. It was convoked in the thirty-five tribes into which all Roman citizens were placed. Called together by a consul or praetor, it normally met in the lower Forum Romanum, in the Well of the Comitia. It elected the curule aediles, the quaestors, and the tribunes of the soldiers. It could formulate and pass laws, and conduct trials until Sulla established his standing courts.The Plebeian Assembly (comitia plebis tributa or concilium plebis) met in the thirty-five tribes, but did not allow the participation of patricians. The only magistrate empowered to convoke it was the tribune of the plebs. It had the right to enact laws (strictly, plebiscites) and conduct trials, though thelatter more or less disappeared after Sulla established his standing courts. Its members elected the plebeian aediles and the tribunes of the plebs. The normal place for its assemblage was in the Well of the Comitia. (See also voting and tribe.)

  atrium The main reception room of a Roman domus, or private house. It mostly contained an opening in the roof (the compluvium) above a pool (the impluvium) originally intended as a water reservoir for domestic use. By the time of the late Republic, the pool had become ornamental only.

  auctoritas A very difficult Latin term to translate, as it meant far more than the English word “authority” implies. It carried nuances of pre-eminence, clout, public importance and—above all—the ability to influence events through sheer public reputation. All the magistracies possessed auctoritas as an intrinsic part of their nature, but auctoritas was not confined to those who held magistracies; the Princeps Senatus, Pontifex Maximus, other priests and augurs, consulars, and even some private individuals outside the ranks of the Senate also owned auctoritas. Though the King of the Backbenchers, Publius Cornelius Cethegus, never held a magistracy, his auctoritas was formidable.

  augur A priest whose duties concerned divination. He and his fellow augurs comprised the College of Augurs, an official State body which had numbered twelve members (usually six patricians and six plebeians) until in 81 B.C. Sulla increased it to fifteen members, always intended thereafter to contain at least one more plebeian than patrician. Originally augurs were co-opted by their fellow augurs, but in 104 B.C. Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus brought in a law compelling election of future augurs by an assembly of seventeen tribes chosen from the thirty-five by lot. Sulla removed election in 81 B.C., going back to co-optation. The augur did not predict the future, nor did he pursue his auguries at his own whim; he inspected the proper objects or signs to ascertain whether or not the projected undertaking was one meeting with the approval of the gods, be the undertaking a contio (q.v.), a war, a new law, or any other State business, including elections. There was a standard manual of interpretation to which the augur referred: augurs “went by the book.” The augur wore the toga trabea (see that entry), and carried a curved staff called the lituus.

  auxiliary A legion of non—citizens incorporated into a Roman army was called an auxiliary legion; its soldiers were also known as auxiliaries, and the term extended to cover cavalry units as well. By the time of Sulla’s dictatorship, auxiliary infantry had more or less disappeared, whereas auxiliary cavalry was still very much in evidence.

  Bacchic Pertaining to the god Bacchus (in Greek, Dionysos), who was the patron of wine, and therefore by extension the patron of carousing. During the early and middle Republic excesses of a Bacchic nature were frowned upon, and even legislated against; by the time of Sulla, however, some degree of tolerance had crept in.

  barbarian Derived from a Greek word having strong onomatopoeic overtones; on first hearing these peoples speak, the Greeks thought they sounded “bar—bar,” like animals barking. It was not a word used to describe any people settled around the Mediterranean Sea, but referred to races and nations deemed uncivilized, lacking in an admirable or desirable culture. Gauls, Germans, Scythians, Sarmatians and other peoples of the Steppes were considered barbarian.

  basilica A large building devoted to public activities such as courts of law, and also to commercial activities in shops and offices. The basilica was two—storeyed and clerestory—lit, and incorporated an arcade of shops under what we might call verandah extensions along either length side. Though the aediles looked after these buildings once erected, their actual building was undertaken at the expense of a prominent Roman nobleman. The first basilica was put up by Cato the Censor on the Clivus Argentarius next door to the Senate House, and was known as the Basilica Porcia; as well as accommodating banking institutions, it was also the headquarters of the College of the Tribunes of the Plebs. At the time of this book, there also existed the Basilica Aemilia, the Basilica Sempronia, and the Basilica Opimia, all on the borders of the lower Forum Romanum.

  Bellona The Italian goddess of war. Her temple lay outside the pomerium of Rome on the Campus Martius, and was vowed in 296 B.C. by the great Appius Claudius Caecus. A group of special priests called fetiales conducted her rituals. A large vacant piece of land lay in front of the temple, known as Enemy Territory.

  bireme
A ship constructed for use in naval warfare, and intended to be rowed rather than sailed (though it was equipped with a mast and sail, usually left ashore if action was likely). Some biremes were decked or partially decked, but most were open. It seems likely that the oarsmen did sit in two levels at two banks of oars, the upper bank and its oarsmen accommodated in an outrigger, and the lower bank’s oars poking through ports in the galley’s sides. Built of fir or another lightweight pine, the bireme could be manned only in fair weather, and fight battles only in very calm seas. It was much longer than it was wide in the beam (the ratio was about 7:1), and probably averaged about 100 feet (30 meters) in length. Of oarsmen it carried upward of one hundred. A bronze—reinforced beak made of oak projected forward of the bow just below the waterline, and was used for ramming and sinking other vessels. The bireme was not designed to carry marines or grapple to engage other vessels in land—style combat. Throughout Greek, Republican Roman and Imperial Roman times, all ships were rowed by professional oarsmen, never by slaves. The slave oarsman was a product of Christian times. Boreas The north wind.

  Brothers Gracchi See Gracchi.

  caelum grave et pestilens Malaria.

  Calabria Confusing for modern Italians! Nowadays Calabria is the toe of the boot, but in ancient times Calabria was the heel. Brundisium was its most important city, followed by Tarentum. Its people were the Illyrian Messapii.