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

by Colleen McCullough

  domine My lord. Vocative case.

  Domus Publica The official State residence of the Pontifex Maximus and, in Republican times, also the residence of the six Vestal Virgins, who were in the hand of the Pontifex Maximus. It was located in the Forum Romanum at about the middle latitude.

  Druid A priest of the Druidic religion, which dominated spiritual (and often earthly) thought among the Gauls, be they Celts or Belgae. It took twenty years to train a Druid, who was required to memorize every aspect of his calling from lays to rituals to laws. Nothing was written down. Druids once consecrated as Druids held the position for life. They were permitted to marry. As directors of thought, they paid no taxes or tithes, did not do military service, and were fed and housed at the expense of the tribe. They provided the priests, lawyers and doctors.

  dug-mullets A kind of fish which lived in sandy or muddy bottoms around river estuaries. I imagine they were flounders.

  Durocortorum The principal oppidum of the Remi. Modern Reims.

  duumviri The two men, elected annually, who headed the municipal governing body or the town governing body.

  Dyrrachium Modern Durres in Albania.

  Eagle Among the army reforms instituted by Gaius Marius was one which gifted each legion with a silver eagle set upon a long pole pointed at its nether end so it could be driven into the ground. The Eagle was the legion’s rallying point and its most venerated standard.

  Edepol! A very benign and socially unexceptionable expletive, akin to our “Oh, darn!” Edepol was reserved for men. Women said, “Ecastor!”

  Elaver River The Allier River.

  Elysian Fields A very special place in the afterlife for very few people. Whereas ordinary shades or spirits were thought to be mindless, twittering, flitting denizens of an underworld both cheerless and drab, some men’s shades were treated differently. Tartarus was that part of Hades where men of great evil like Ixion and Sisyphus were doomed to toil literally eternally at some task perpetually unraveled or undone. The Elysian Fields or Elysium were a part of Hades akin to what might be called Paradise, Nirvana. Interestingly, entrance to either Tartarus or Elysium was reserved for men who in some way had connections to the Gods. Those doomed to Tartarus had offended the Gods, not man. And those transported to the Elysian Fields were either the sons of Gods, married to Gods, or married to human children of the Gods. This may account for the driving wish of some men and women to be worshiped as Gods while still living, or made into Gods after death. Alexander the Great wanted to be declared a God. So, some maintain, did Caesar.

  Epicurean Pertaining to the philosophical system of the Greek Epicurus. Originally Epicurus had advocated a kind of hedonism so exquisitely refined that it approached asceticism on its left hand, so to speak; a man’s pleasures were best sampled one at a time and strung out with such relish that any excess defeated the exercise. Public life or any other stressful work was taboo. However, these tenets underwent considerable modification in Rome. A Roman nobleman could call himself an Epicurean yet still espouse his public career. By the late Republic, the chief pleasures of an Epicurean were food and wine.

  Epirus That part of the Grecian/Macedonian west adjacent to the Adriatic Sea which extended from the Apsus (Seman) River in the north to the Gulf of Ambracia in the south, and inland to the high mountains. Modern Albania is perhaps not the right description; it goes too far north and not far enough south to be aligned with ancient Epirus.

  Equites, equestrian, Ordo Equester See knights.

  Esus The Druidic God of war. His elemental nature was air.

  ethnarch The general Greek word for a city or town magistrate. There were other and more specific names in use, but I do not think it necessary to compound confusion in my readers by employing a more varied terminology.

  Euxine Sea The modern Black Sea.

  fasces These were bundles of birch rods ritually tied together into a cylinder by crisscrossed red leather thongs. Originally an emblem of the Etruscan kings, they passed into the customs and traditions of the emerging Rome, persisting in Roman life throughout the Republic and on into the Empire. Carried by men called lictors (see lictor), they preceded the curule magistrate or promagistrate as the outward indication of his imperium. There were thirty rods for the thirty curiae or original tribal divisions of Roman men under the kings. Within the pomerium of Rome only the rods went into the fasces, to indicate that the curule magistrate had the power to chastise, but not to execute; outside the pomerium two axes were inserted into the fasces to indicate that the curule magistrate had the power to execute. The only man who could bring fasces holding the axes inside the sacred boundary of Rome was the dictator. The number of fasces (and lictors) told the degree of imperium: a dictator had twenty-four, a consul and proconsul twelve, a praetor and propraetor six, and a curule aedile two.

  fasti The fasti were originally days on which business could be transacted, but came to mean other things as well: the calendar, lists relating to holidays and festivals, and the list of consuls (this last probably because Romans preferred to reckon up their years by remembering who had been the consuls in any given year). For a fuller explanation, see fasti in the Glossary to The First Man in Rome.

  fellatrix, fellatricesA woman or women who sucked a man’s penis.

  filibuster A modern term for a political practice as old as the concept of a parliament. It consisted, then as now, of “talking a motion out.”

  flamen A special priest dedicated to one particular Roman God. They were the oldest in time of Rome’s priests. Caesar had been flamen Dialis, the special priest of Jupiter (Marius had him so consecrated at thirteen years of age); Sulla stripped him of it.

  forum The public meeting place of any Roman town or city. It was surrounded by public buildings and arcades housing shops or offices.

  Forum Boarium The meat markets, situated at the starting-post end of the Circus Maximus, below the Germalus of the Palatine. The Great Altar of Hercules and several different temples of Hercules lay therein.

  freedman A manumitted slave. Though technically a free man (and, if his former master was a Roman citizen, himself also a Roman citizen), the freedman remained in the patronage of his former master, who had first call on his time and services.

  free man A man born free and never sold into slavery.

  Gades Modern Cádiz.

  Gallia Gaul. Commonly regarded as the area of modern France and Belgium. There were four Gauls: the Roman Gallic Province (always called, simply, the Province), which encompassed the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea between Niceia (modern Nice) and the Pyrenees and included a tongue which went from the Cebenna (the Cevennes) to the Alps as far up as Lugdunum (modern Lyon); the lands of the Belgae, which lay to the north of the Sequana River (the Seine) from the Atlantic to the Rhenus (Rhine); the lands of the Celtae, which lay south of the Sequana and to the north of the Garumna (Garonne); and the lands collectively called Aquitania, which lay between the Garumna and the Pyrenees. The latter three Gauls together constituted Gallia Comata.

  Gallia Comata Gaul of the Long-hairs. That is, un-Romanized Gaul.

  games In Latin, ludi. Public entertainments put on by certain magistrates of the year, and held in one of the two circuses (usually the Circus Maximus), or both circuses. Games consisted of chariot races (the most popular events), athletic contests and theatrical performances put on in temporary wooden theaters. The Republican games did not include gladiatorial combat, which was confined to funeral games put on by private individuals in the Forum Romanum. Free Roman men and women were permitted to attend the games, but not freedmen or freed-women; the circuses could not accommodate all the free, let alone the freed.

  garum A noisome concentrate made from fish which was used as a basis for many sauces. It was highly prized by gourmets.

  Garumna River The Garonne River.

  Gaul, Gauls For French Gaul, see Gallia. “Gaul” was what Romans called a man of Celtic or Belgic race, no matter which part of the world he inhabited. Th
us there were Gauls not only in modern France, but also in Italian Gaul, Switzerland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and that part of modern Turkey around Ankara.

  Genava Modern Geneve, Geneva.

  gens humana The human family of peoples.

  Genusus River The Shkumbin River in modern Albania.

  Gergovia The principal oppidum of a very powerful Gallic tribe, the Arverni. It was near modern Clermont-Ferrand.

  German Ocean Basically, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

  Gerrae! Rubbish! Nonsense!

  gladiator During Republican times there were only two kinds of gladiator, the Thracian and the Gaul. These were styles of combat, not nationalities. Republican gladiators did not fight to the death, because they were expensive investments owned privately by individuals; purchasing, training, feeding and housing a gladiator was costly. Few of them were slaves. Most were deserters from the Roman army, offered a choice between disenfranchisement and a term as a gladiator. The gladiator fought for a total of six years or thirty bouts (he had around five bouts per year), after which he was free to do as he pleased. The best gladiators were heroes to the people of Italia and Italian Gaul.

  gladius The Roman sword. It was short, the blade being about 2 feet (600mm) long and sharp on both edges. It ended in a point. The handle was made of wood in the case of an ordinary soldier; those higher than a ranker who could afford it preferred a handle made of ivory carved in the shape of an eagle.

  Gorgobina The principal oppidum of the Boii. Modern St.-Parize-le-Chatel.

  Head Count See capite censi.

  Hellenic, Hellenized These are terms relating to the spread of Greek culture and customs after the time of Alexander the Great. Life style, architecture, dress, industry, government, commerce and the Greek language were all part of it.

  Heracleia Near modern Bitola, in Makedonia.

  Hierosolyma The other, Hellenic name for Jerusalem.

  horse See October Horse and Public Horse.

  hostis The term used when the Senate and People of Rome declared a man an outlaw, a public enemy.

  Iberus River The Ebro River.

  Icauna River The Yonne River.

  Ides The third of the three named days of the month which represented the fixed points of the month. Dates were reckoned backward from each of these points—Kalends, Nones and Ides. The Ides occurred on the fifteenth day of the long months (March, May, July and October) and on the thirteenth day of the other months.

  Ilium The Roman name for Troy.

  Illerda Modern Lerida in Spain.

  Illyricum The wild and mountainous lands bordering the Adriatic on its eastern side. The native peoples belonged to an Indo-European race called Illyrians, were tribalized, and detested first Greek and then Roman coastal incursions. By the time of Caesar, Illyricum was an unofficial province governed in conjunction with Italian Gaul. That Caesar’s long years as governor were good for Illyricum is evidenced by the fact that Illyricum remained loyal to him during his civil wars.

  imperium Imperium was the degree of authority vested in a curule magistrate or promagistrate. It meant that a man owned the authority of his office, and could not be gainsaid provided he was acting within the limits of his particular level of imperium and within the laws dictating his conduct. Imperium was conferred by a lex curiata and lasted for one year only. Extensions for prorogued governors had to be ratified by the Senate and/or People of Rome. Lictors shouldering the fasces indicated a man’s imperium: the more lictors, the higher the imperium.

  imperium maius Unlimited imperium, which outranked the imperium of the consuls of the year. The main benefactor of imperium maius was Pompey the Great.

  in absentia Described a candidacy for public office approved of by the Senate (and the People, if necessary) and an election conducted in the absence of the candidate himself. He may have been waiting on the Campus Martius because imperium prevented his crossing the pomerium to register as a candidate and fight the election in person. Cicero when consul in 63 B.C. enacted a law prohibiting in absentia candidacy; Pompey reinforced this during his consulship without a colleague in 52 B.C.

  in suo anno Literally, “in his year.” The phrase was used to describe men who attained curule office at the exact age the law and custom prescribed for a man holding that office. To be praetor and consul in suo anno was a great distinction, as it meant that a man had gained office at his first attempt.

  intercalaris Because the Roman year was only 355 days long, some 20 days extra were inserted after the month of February every two years—or ought to have been. Very often this was not done, with the result that the calendar galloped ahead of the seasons. By the time Caesar rectified the calendar in 46 B.C., the seasons were lagging 100 days behind the calendar, so few intercalations had been made. It was the duty of the Colleges of Pontifices and Augurs to intercalate; while Caesar, Pontifex Maximus from 63 B.C., was in Rome these intercalations were made, but when he went to Gaul in 58 B.C. the practice ceased, with one or two exceptions.

  interrex It meant “between the kings.” When Rome had no consuls to go into office on New Year’s Day, the Senate appointed a patrician senator, leader of his decury, to assume office as the interrex. He served for five days, then a second interrex was appointed to hold elections. Sometimes public violence prevented the second interrex from this duty, with the result that a further series of interreges served until elections could be held.

  Italia The Italian Peninsula. The boundary between Italia proper and Italian Gaul consisted of two rivers, the Arnus on the western side of the Apennines, and the Rubicon on the eastern side.

  Italian Gaul In Latin, Gallia Cisalpina, meaning “Gaul on this side of the Alps.” The peoples of Italian Gaul, which lay to the north of the rivers Arnus and Rubicon, and between the town of Ocelum in the west and Aquileia in the east, were held to be Gauls descended from the Gallic tribes which invaded Italy in 390 B.C., and therefore to the more conservative Roman mind not worthy to hold the full Roman citizenship. This became the sorest point in the minds of the Italian Gauls, particularly for those on the far (north) side of the Padus River (the Po); Pompey the Great’s father, Pompey Strabo, legislated the full citizenship for those living south of the Padus in 89 B.C., while those living to the north continued as non-citizens or the second-class citizens who held the Latin Rights. Caesar was the great champion of full enfranchisement for all of Italian Gaul, and made it the first thing he legislated when appointed Dictator at the end of 49 B.C. It was, however, still governed as a province of Rome rather than as a part of Italia proper.

  iugerum, iugera The Roman unit of land measurement. In modern terms the iugerum consisted of 0.623 (five-eighths) of an acre, or 0.252 (one-quarter) of a hectare. The modern reader used to acres will get close enough by dividing iugera by 2; for metric readers, divide by 4 to get the number of hectares.

  Kalends The first of the three named days of each month which represented the fixed points of the month. The Kalends always occurred on the first day of the month. Originally they had been timed to coincide with the appearance of the New Moon.

  knights The equites, the members of what Gaius Gracchus named the Ordo Equester or Equestrian Order. Under the kings of Rome, the equites had formed the cavalry segment of the Roman army; at this time horses were both scarce and expensive, with the result that the eighteen original Centuries comprising the knights were dowered with the Public Horse by the State. As the Republic came into being and grew, the importance of Roman knight cavalry waned. Yet the number of knight Centuries in the Classes kept increasing. By the second century B.C. Rome no longer fielded horse of her own, preferring to use Gauls as auxiliaries. The knights became a social and economic group having little to do with military matters. They were now defined by the censors in economic terms alone, though the State continued to provide a Public Horse for each of the eighteen hundred most senior equites, called the Eighteen. These original eighteen Centuries were kept at one hundred members each, but the rest of the kn
ights’ Centuries (between seventy-one and seventy-five) swelled within themselves to contain many more than one hundred men apiece. Until 123 B.C. all senators were knights as well, but in that year Gaius Gracchus split the Senate off as a separate body of three hundred men. It was at best an artificial process; all nonsenatorial members of a senator’s family were still classified as knights and the senators were not put into three senators-only Centuries for voting purposes, but left in whichever Centuries they had always occupied. Nor, it appears, were senators stripped of their Public Horses if they belonged in the ranks of the Eighteen. Economically the full member of the First Class had to possess an income of 400,000 sesterces per annum; those knights whose income lay between 300,000 and 400,000 sesterces per annum were probably the tribuni aerarii. Senators were supposed to have an annual income of one million sesterces, but this was entirely unofficial; some censors were lenient about it, others strict. The real difference between senators and knights lay in the kinds of activities they might pursue to earn income. Senators were forbidden to indulge in any form of commerce not pertaining to the ownership of land, whereas knights could.

  latus clavus The broad purple stripe which adorned the right shoulder of a senator’s tunic. He alone was entitled to wear it. The knight wore a narrow purple stripe, the angustus clavus, and those below the status of knights wore no stripe at all.

  lectus imus, lectus medius, locus consularis A lectus was a couch, mostly used for dining (the lectus funebris was the funerary bier). Couches were arranged in threes to form a U; if one stood in the doorway of a dining room (the triclinium) looking into the U, the couch on the right was the lectus imus, the couch in the middle forming the bottom of the U was the lectus medius, and the couch on the left was the lectus summus. Socially the most desirable couch was the lectus medius. Positions on the couches were also socially graded, with the head of the household located at the left end of the lectus medius. The spot for the guest of honor, the locus consularis, was at the right end of the lectus medius. A continuous U of table at a little below couch height stood just in front of the couches. During the Republic couches were reserved for men; women sat on chairs placed inside the U on the opposite side of the tables from the couches.