THE LIVES
OF
THE TWELVE CAESARS
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Lives of the Grammarians -
Lives of the Poets
[785] A.U.C. 823, 825, 827-830, 832.
[786] Berenice, whose name is written by our author and others Beronice,
was daughter of Agrippa the Great, who was by Aristobulus, grandson of
Herod the Great. Having been contracted to Mark, son of Alexander
Lysimachus, he died before their union, and Agrippa married her to Herod,
Mark's brother, for whom he had obtained from the emperor Claudius the
kingdom of Chalcis. Herod also dying, Berenice, then a widow, lived with
her brother, Agrippa, and was suspected of an incestuous intercourse with
him. It was at this time that, on their way to the imperial court at
Rome, they paid a visit to Festus, at Caesarea, and were present when St.
Paul answered his accusers so eloquently before the tribunal of the
governor. Her fascinations were so great, that, to shield herself from
the charge of incest, she prevailed on Polemon, king of Cilicia, to
submit to be circumcised, become a Jew, and marry her. That union also
proving unfortunate, she appears to have returned to Jerusalem, and
having attracted Vespasian by magnificent gifts, and the young Titus by
her extraordinary beauty, she followed them to Rome, after the
termination of the Jewish war, and had apartments in the palace, where
she lived with Titus, "to all appearance, as his wife," as Xiphilinus
informs us; and there seems no doubt that be would have married her, but
for the strong prejudices of the Romans against foreign alliances.
Suetonius tells us with what pain they separated.
[787] The Colosseum: it had been four years in building. See VESPAS.
c. ix.
[788] The Baths of Titus stood on the Esquiline Hill, on part of the
ground which had been the gardens of Mecaenas. Considerable remains of
them are still found among the vineyards; vaulted chambers of vast
dimensions, some of which were decorated with arabesque paintings, still
in good preservation. Titus appears to have erected a palace for himself
adjoining; for the Laocoon, which is mentioned by Pliny as standing in
this palace, was found in the neighbouring ruins.
[789] If the statements were not well attested, we might be incredulous
as to the number of wild beasts collected for the spectacles to which the
people of Rome were so passionately devoted. The earliest account we
have of such an exhibition, was A.U.C. 502, when one hundred and forty-
two elephants, taken in Sicily, were produced. Pliny, who gives this
information, states that lions first appeared in any number, A.U.C. 652;
but these were probably not turned loose. In 661, Sylla, when he was
praetor, brought forward one hundred. In 696, besides lions, elephants,
and bears, one hundred and fifty panthers were shown for the first time.
At the dedication of Pompey's Theatre, there was the greatest exhibition
of beasts ever then known; including seventeen elephants, six hundred
lions, which were killed in the course of five days, four hundred and ten
panthers, etc. A rhinoceros also appeared for the first time. This was
A.U.C. 701. The art of taming these beasts was carried to such
perfection, that Mark Antony actually yoked them to his carriage. Julius
Caesar, in his third dictatorship, A.U.C. 708, showed a vast number of
wild beasts, among which were four hundred lions and a cameleopard. A
tiger was exhibited for the first time at the dedication of the Theatre
of Marcellus, A.U.C. 743. It was kept in a cage. Claudius afterwards
exhibited four together. The exhibition of Titus, at the dedication of
the Colosseum, here mentioned by Suetonius, seems to have been the
largest ever made; Xiphilinus even adds to the number, and says, that
including wild-boars, cranes, and other animals, no less than nine
thousand were killed. In the reigns of succeeding emperors, a new
feature was given to these spectacles, the Circus being converted into a
temporary forest, by planting large trees, in which wild animals were
turned loose, and the people were allowed to enter the wood and take what
they pleased. In this instance, the game consisted principally of beasts
of chase; and, on one occasion, one thousand stags, as many of the ibex,
wild sheep (mouflions from Sardinia?), and other grazing animals, besides
one thousand wild boars, and as many ostriches, were turned loose by the
emperor Gordian.
[790] "Diem perdidi." This memorable speech is recorded by several
other historians, and praised by Eusebius in his Chronicles.
[791] A.U.C. 832, A.D. 79. It is hardly necessary to refer to the well-
known Epistles of Pliny the younger, vi. 16 and 20, giving an account of
the first eruption of Vesuvius, in which Pliny, the historian, perished.
And see hereafter, p. 475.
[792] The great fire at Rome happened in the second year of the reign of
Titus. It consumed a large portion of the city, and among the public
buildings destroyed were the temples of Serapis and Isis, that of
Neptune, the baths of Agrippa, the Septa, the theatres of Balbus and
Pompey, the buildings and library of Augustus on the Palatine, and the
temple of Jupiter in the Capitol.
[793] See VESPASIAN, cc. i. and xxiv. The love of this emperor and his
son Titus for the rural retirement of their paternal acres in the Sabine
country, forms a striking contrast to the vicious attachment of such
tyrants as Tiberius and Caligula for the luxurious scenes of Baiae, or
the libidinous orgies of Capri.
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