The Lives of the Caesars, Suetonius [best book club books for discussion .TXT] 📗

The Venus of Cos was the work of Praxiteles. ↩

The colossal statue of Nero; see Nero, 31.1. ↩

See Augustus, 74 and the note. ↩

See note on Caligula, 55.2. ↩

The Matronalia or feast of married women; see Horace Odes, 3.8.1. ↩

A transliterated Greek word, κυβιοσάκτης, meaning “dealer in square pieces (κύβοι) of salt fish.” ↩

According to Celsus, 2.1, quadratum is applied to a well-proportioned body, neither slender nor fat. ↩

Cf. Macrobius, Saturn 2.1.9, impudica et praetextata verba; Gellius, Noctes Atticae 9.10.4, non praetextatis sed puris honestisque verbis. Various explanations of the term are given. It perhaps means words such as boys use; but see Festus, s.v. praetextum sermonem. ↩

Plaustra was the urban form of the word for “wagons,” but there was also a plebeian form plostra; see Horace, Horatii Flacci Sermonum 1.6.42 and cf. Claudius, Clodius. The original form was plostra. ↩

Iliad 7.213. ↩

Menander, Fr. 223.2, Koch. ↩

Of Augustus; see Augustus, 100.4. ↩

The connection between the stella crinita and the long hair of the Parthian king is obvious; it does not seem accidental that Calvina is connected with calvus, “bald,” though this wordplay seems to have been overlooked. ↩

Claudius and Nero reigned thirteen and fourteen years respectively; Vespasian, ten; Titus, two; and Domitian, fifteen. ↩

Some building of seven stories; the famous Septizonium on the Palatine was the work of Septimius Severus. ↩

Cf. Nero, 33.2 and 3. ↩

See Galba, 14.2 and note. ↩

By the accession of his father Vespasian. ↩

See Augustus, 13.2. ↩

See Nero, 15.2, and note a. ↩

See note on Vespasian, 9. ↩

See Augustus, 43.1. ↩

When the water had been let out; cf. Nero, 27.2. ↩

By humorously pretending to wrangle with those who favoured other gladiators than the Thracians. ↩

Implying that it was his personal loss, which he would make good. ↩

To propitiate the gods, who were supposed to inflict such evils upon mankind by way of punishment. ↩

The office was seldom taken so seriously. Julius Caesar, for instance, held it during his campaign in Gaul. ↩

The weapons of gladiators were regularly examined by the editor, or giver of the games, to see if they were sharp enough; cf. Dio, 68.3, who tells a similar story of the emperor Nerva. ↩

Possibly Domitian’s charge was true; cf. Domitian, 2.3. ↩

The old homestead at Cutiliae, near Reate; see Vespasian, 24. ↩

Various quarters and streets of the city were designated in this way; cf. ad Capita Bubula, Augustus, 5; ad Pirum, Epigrams of Martial 1.117.6. Ad Malum Punicum was a street on the Quirinal hill, probably corresponding with the modern Via delle Quattro Fontane; see Platner, Topography of Rome, p. 485. ↩

Cf. Otho, 12.1, at the end. ↩

See note on Galba, 1. ↩

As son of the emperor. ↩

That is, in the provinces. ↩

He was but eighteen years old at the time. ↩

The usual procedure for a youthful prince; cf. Tiberius, 6.4. ↩

See note on Galba, 6.1. The reference is to his consulships before he became emperor; see Domitian, 13.3. ↩

That is, twice as large as his brother’s. ↩

Titus had the ability to do this; cf. Titus, 3.2, at the end. ↩

See Domitian, 9 and 11.1. ↩

See note on Vespasian, 9.1. ↩

See note on Claudius, 21.2. ↩

See note on Claudius, 21.3. ↩

As well as in poetry. ↩

Established for the worship of the deified Flavian emperors, after the manner of the Augustales; see note on Claudius, 6.2. ↩

See Augustus, 71.3. ↩

While the spectators remained in their seats; cf. Dio, 67.4. ↩

Represented in many cases by tesserae, or tickets; see note on Augustus, 41.2. ↩

In 80; it had previously been destroyed by fire in 69; see Vitellius, 15.3. ↩

Who finished and dedicated it; it was also called the Forum Transitorium because it connected the Forum of Augustus with the Forum Pacis, as well as the Subura with the Forum Romanum. It occupied a part of the Argiletum. ↩

Or Music Hall. ↩

See Domitian, 4.2. ↩

Tacitus Agricola 39 says that his unjustified triumph over the Germans (and the Dacians) was a laughingstock. ↩

See Nero, 16.2. ↩

See Augustus, 74. ↩

See Caligula, 55.2. ↩

See Domitian, 14.2. ↩

That is, those which had formerly been restricted to the senatorial order. ↩

Where the soldiers deposited their surplus