THE LIVES
OF
THE TWELVE CAESARS
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Lives of the Grammarians -
Lives of the Poets
[384] A.U.C. 765.
[385] It does not appear that Gaetulicus wrote any historical work, but
Martial, Pliny, and others, describe him as a respectable poet.
[386] Supra Confluentes. The German tribe here mentioned occupied the
country between the Rhine and the Meuse, and gave their name to Treves
(Treviri), its chief town. Coblentz had its ancient name of Confluentes,
from its standing at the junction of the two rivers. The exact site of
the village in which Caligula was born is not known. Cluverius
conjectures that it may be Capelle.
[387] Chap. vii.
[388] The name was derived from Caliga, a kind of boot, studded with
nails, used by the common soldiers in the Roman army.
[389] According to Tacitus, who gives an interesting account of these
occurrences, Treves was the place of refuge to which the young Caius was
conveyed.--Annal. i.
[390] In c. liv. of TIBERIUS, we have seen that his brothers Drusus and
Nero fell a sacrifice to these artifices.
[391] Tiberius, who was the adopted father of Germanicus.
[392] Natriceus, a water-snake, so called from nato, to swim. The
allusion is probably to Caligula's being reared in the island of Capri.
[393] As Phaeton is said to have set the world on fire.
[394] See the Life of TIBERIUS, c. lxxiii.
[395] His name also was Tiberius. See before, TIBERIUS, c. lxxvi.
[396] Procida, Ischia, Capri, etc.
[397] The eagle was the standard of the legion, each cohort of which had
its own ensign, with different devices; and there were also little images
of the emperors, to which divine honours were paid.
[398] See before, cc. liii. liv.
[399] See TIBERIUS, c. x.; and note.
[400] The mausoleum built by Augustus, mentioned before in his Life,
-
C.
[401] The Carpentum was a carriage, commonly with two wheels, and an
arched covering, but sometimes without a covering; used chiefly by
matrons, and named, according to Ovid, from Carmenta, the mother of
Evander. Women were prohibited the use of it in the second Punic war, by
the Oppian law, which, however, was soon after repealed. This chariot
was also used to convey the images of the illustrious women to whom
divine honours were paid, in solemn processions after their death, as in
the present instance. It is represented on some of the sestertii.
[402] See cc. xiv. and xxiii. of the present History.
[403] Ib. cc. vii. and xxiv.
[404] Life of TIBERIUS, c. xliii.
[405] See the Life of AUGUSTUS, cc. xxviii. and ci.
[406] Julius Caesar had shared it with them (c. xli.). Augustus had
only kept up the form (c. xl.). Tiberius deprived the Roman people of
the last remains of the freedom of suffrage.
[407] The city of Rome was founded on the twenty-first day of April,
which was called Palilia, from Pales, the goddess of shepherds, and ever
afterwards kept as a festival.
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