THE LIVES
OF
THE TWELVE CAESARS
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Lives of the Grammarians -
Lives of the Poets
[539] A.U.C. 802.
[540] The Salii, the priests of Mars, twelve in number, were instituted
by Numa. Their dress was an embroidered tunic, bound with a girdle
ornamented with brass. They wore on their head a conical cap, of a
considerable height; carried a sword by their side; in their right hand a
spear or rod, and in their left, one of the Ancilia, or shields of Mars.
On solemn occasions, they used to go to the Capitol, through the Forum
and other public parts of the city, dancing and singing sacred songs,
said to have been composed by Numa; which, in the time of Horace, could
hardly be understood by any one, even the priests themselves. The most
solemn procession of the Salii was on the first of March, in
commemoration of the time when the sacred shield was believed to have
fallen from heaven, in the reign of Numa. After their procession, they
had a splendid entertainment, the luxury of which was proverbial.
[541] Scaliger and Casauhon give Teleggenius as the reading of the best
manuscripts. Whoever he was, his name seems to have been a bye-word for
a notorious fool.
[542] Titus Livius, the prince of Roman historians, died in the fourth
year of the reign of Tiberius, A.U.C. 771; at which time Claudius was
about twenty-seven years old, having been born A.U.C. 744.
[543] Asinius Gallus was the son of Asinius Pollio, the famous orator,
and had written a hook comparing his father with Cicero, and giving the
former the preference.
[544] Quintilian informs us, that one of the three new letters the
emperor Claudius attempted to introduce, was the Aeolic digamma, which
had the same force as v consonant. Priscian calls another anti-signs,
and says that the character proposed was two Greek sigmas, back to back,
and that it was substituted for the Greek ps. The other letter is not
known, and all three soon fell into disuse.
[545] Caesar by birth, not by adoption, as the preceding emperors had
been, and as Nero would be, if he succeeded.
[546] Tacitus informs us, that the poison was prepared by Locusta, of
whom we shall hear, NERO, c. xxxiii. etc.
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