que infamiæ id incendium habuit, quia prædiis Tigellini Æmilianis proruperat; videbaturque Nero condendæ urbis novæ, et cognomento suo appellandæ, gloriam quærere. Quippe in regiones quattuordecim Roma dividitur, quarum quattuor integræ manebant, tres solo tenus dejectæ : septem reliquis pauca tectorum vestigia supererant, lacera et se musta. Ceterùm Nero usus est patriæ ruinis, exstruxitque domum, in quâ haud perinde gemmæ et aurum miraculo essent (solita pridem et luxu volgata) quàm arva et stagna, et in modum solitudinum hinc silvæ inde aperta spatia et prospectus, magistris et machinatoribus Severo et Celere, quibus ingenium et audacia erat, etiam quæ natura denegavisset, per artem temptare, et viribus principis inludere. Namque ab lacu Averno navigabilem fossam usque ad ostia Tiberina depressuros promiserant, squalenti litore aut per montes adversos. Neque enim aliud humidum gignendis aquis occurrit quam Pomptinæ paludes: cetera abrupta aut arentia, ac si perrumpi possent, intolerandus labor nec satis causæ. Nero tamen, ut erat incredibilium cupitor, effodere proxima Averno juga conisus est, manentque vestigia inritæ spei. Ceterùm urbis quæ domui supererant non, ut post Gallica.incendia, nullâ distinctione, nec passim erecta, sed dimensis vicorum ordinibus, et latis viarum spatiis, cohibitâque ædificiorum altitudine, ac patefactis areis, additisque porticibus, quæ frontem insularum protegerent. Eas porticus Nero suâ pecuniâ exstructurum, purgatasque areas dominis traditurum pollicitus est. Addidit præmia pro cujus que ordine et rei familiaris copiis, finivitque tempus intra quod effectis domibus aut insulis apiscerentur. Ruderi accipiendo Ostienses paludes destinabat, utique naves, quæ frumentum Tiberi subvectavissent, onustæ rudere decurrerent, ædificiaque ipsa certâ sui parte sine trabibus saxo Gabino Albanove solidarentur, quòd is lapis ignibus impervius est; jam aqua privatorum licentiâ intercepta, quo largior et pluribus locis in publicum flueret, custodes, et subsidia reprimendis ignibus in propatulo quisque haberet; nec communione parietum, sed propriis quæque muris ambirentur. Ea, ex utilitate accepta, decorem quoque novæ urbi attulêre. Erant tamen qui crederent, veterem illam formam salubritati magis conduxisse, quoniam angustiæ itinerum et altitudo tectorum non perinde solis vapore perrumperentur at nunc patulam latitudinem, et nullâ umbrâ defensam, graviore æstu ardescere. Et hæc quidem humanis consiliis providebantur. Mox petita a dîs piacula, aditique Sibullæ libri, ex quibus supplicatum Volcano et Cereri Proserpinæque, ac propitiata Juno per matronas, primùm in Capitolio, deinde apud proximum mare, unde haustâ aquâ templum et simulacrum deæ perspersum est; et sellisternia ac pervigilia celebravêre feminæ quibus mariti erant. Sed non ope humanâ, non largitionibus principis, aut deûm placamentis decedebat infamia, quin jussum incendium crederetur. Ergò abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos, et quæsitissimis pœnis adfecit, quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Christianos appella Auctor nominis ejus Christus, Tiberio imperitante, per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio adfectus erat; repressaque in præsens exitiabilis superstitio rursum erumpebat, non modò per Judæam, originem ejus mali, sed per urbem etiam, quò cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque. Igitur primùm correpti qui fatebantur ; deinde, indicio eorum, multitudo ingens haud perinde in crimine incendii quàm odio humani generis convicti sunt. Et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu canum interirent, aut crucibus adfixi, aut flammandi, atque ubi defecisset dies, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur. Hortos suos ei spectaculc Nero obtulerat, et circense ludicrum edebat, habitu aurigæ permixtus plebi, vel curriculo insistens. Unde quamquam adversus sontes, et novissima exempla meritos, miseratio oriebatur, tamquam non utilitate publicâ sed in sævitiam unius absumerentur. UNIVERSITY Of California. NOTES. PHÆDRUS. Little is known with accuracy of the life of Phædrus. He was probably a Thracian slave in the household of Augustus, was afterwards manumitted, and became the object of the hatred and persecution of Sejanus, the minister of Tiberius. He seems to have written in the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41–54). His fables are mere translations from the Greek. NOTE. The metre of all these fables is the Iambic Trimeter or Senarius, (§ 82, iii.), the ictus of each double foot being marked with an accent. In the first verse of the first fable, fămē cŏā- is the first measure, consisting of two iambs, with the ictus upon the long syllable of the first; e in fame is long by the analogy of the fifth declension: -ctă vūlpēs āl- is the second, consisting of an iambus and a spondee. A spondee cannot properly stand in any but the odd feet; but Phædrus, like the comic writers, allows himself greater liberties. The third measure is t'in viněā, a spondee followed by an iambus. FABLE I (BOOK IV. 3). 1. Fame, ablative of cause (§ 54, 1.).—coacta, nom. agreeing with vulpes (§ 49, 1.). — vineā, § 56, 1. 1; the vines in Italy were trained upon trees, and festooned from one to another. 2. appetebat: § 27, 11. 2; it agrees with vulpes by § 49. 3. Quam, § 48, 1. and IV.; § 52, 1. —ut, § 64, IV. end. —discedens, § 72, 1. Notice that the relative here implies a conjunction and a pronoun, and that the participle discedens may in English best change constructions with ait; "but when he could not reach it, |