A frieze of ox-heads may even have given the house its name. See Platner, Anc. Rome2, 143. sacrarium: a shrine or chapel in which were placed objects of peculiar reverence in the family. See Becker-Göll, Gallus, II2. (1881), 273 f.

13. aliquanto post quam: see note to page 40, line 30. One other occurrence of the ablative and postquam is found; Claud. 39. 1, paulo post quam . . . decubuit. excessit: for excessit e (de, a) vita, which would be Cicero's phrase; rarely, excessit vita. Suetonius uses both the verb and the noun (excessus) absolutely, in this sense. Excedere, = mori, also occurs in Claud. 45, Vesp. 2. 1, Tit. 11; excessus,

mors, in Tib. 22, 70. 3; Cal. 1. 1, 9, 48. 1; Ner. 5. 2; Vesp. 3. Nam introduces decretum est (line 20) and the reason for ubi . . . habet.

14. senatus actis: in the proceedings of the senate, first officially recorded and published, together with acta diurna, during Julius Caesar's first consulship in a commentarius rerum urbanarum available for use in the provinces; cf. Jul. 20. 1, and see note to page 9, line 7; also, Cic., ad Fam. VIII. 11. 4. Augustus suspended their publication, but they were still compiled and kept by a curator actorum senatus or ab actis senatus and often quoted by later historians; see Aug. 36; Tac., Ann. V. 4. 1. Dio (LIII. 19. 2 ff.) bewails the change as making it more difficult for historians to arrive at the true course of events. Tiberius may have restored their publication; cf. Tib. 73. 1. At least access to the recorded enactments was sometimes obtainable. See Momms., Röm.

Staatsr. III. 1015-1021. On the use of the ablative see Introd. II. § 4. r. C. Laetorius: not otherwise known. Shuckburgh suggests, in his note on this passage, that his family may have been raised to the patriciate by Augustus since the Laetorii known to us are all plebeians.

...

15. in deprecanda . . . poena : in his plea against the more severe penalty for adultery. According to the lex Iulia (de adulteriis et stupris) enacted by Augustus in 17 B.C., the full penalty was fixed at relegatio for both parties, a forfeiture of half his property by the man and of one third of her property and half her dowry by the woman. The gravior poena seems to have involved a harsher form of banishment, deportatio, with loss of property and civil status. Under certain conditions the father or injured husband might inflict death. Cf. Tac., Ann. II. 50. 2, 4, IV. 42. 3. Augustus himself was censured for punishing the paramours of his daughter and granddaughter with death or banishment; cf. Tac., Ann. III. 24. 3, clementiam maiorum suasque ipse leges egrediebatur. But he cloaked his severity under a charge of maiestas.

16. praeter . . . natales: besides his youth and extraction. Natales

in this sense is post-Augustan and is often employed by Tacitus: e.g. Agr. 6. 1, splendidis natalibus ortam; Hist. I. 49, claritas natalium; Ann. XI. 21. 3, dedecus natalium; but usually in connection with some expression more definitely designating the ancestry denoted. hoc : anticipates esse . . . attigisset.

17. allegaret: recounted, urged upon; post-Augustan in this sense: cf. page 75, lines 15f., merita erga populum R. adlegantes. In the classical period the verb meant to commission' one on a matter of private business. esse possessorem : sc. se; Introd. II. § 10. d. (2). velut aedituum: the sacristan, so to speak. Marquardt (Röm. Staatsv. III.2 214 ff.) distinguishes between the aedituus magister, who had general supervision of the temple or shrine, and the aedituus minister or aedituus a sacrario, the temple servant who really took care of it. The older word was aeditimus, the later aedituus; cf. Varr., R. R. I. 2. 1. At the burning of the temple on the Capitoline Domitian apud aedituum clam pernoctavit; see Dom. 1. 2.

18. soli quod

attigisset: a Roman child at the time of its birth was laid at the father's feet that he might formally acknowledge it as his own by raising (tollere) it from the ground. Allusion is here made to this rite; cf. Ner. 6. 1. See Macr., Sat. I. 12. 22: quod, ut supra diximus, infantes partu editi non prius vocem edunt quam attigerint humum. Divus especially appropriate in this connection.

19. donari: be pardoned; here used for the more classical condonari: cf. Liv. VIII. 35. 5, noxae damnatus donatur populo Romano, donatur tribuniciae potestati. The infinitive with peteret is mainly poetic; see Introd. II. § 9. b. (1). Compare its use on page 96, line 11, hortatur ferenda esse praesentia.

Chapter 6. Babyhood of Augustus

21. Nutrimentorum. . . locus: his nursery is pointed out to this day. in avito. Velitras: sc. praedio, in his grandfather's country house near Velitrae. Note that these phrases are inserted between locus and its adjectives, permodicus and instar. See Aug. 94. 7 for the story associated with his childhood days there. Cf. note to page 46, line 1. For the word order see Introd. II. § 10. b. (4). 22. permodicus. instar of very modest dimensions and resembling a pantry. The cella penaria, or (later spelling) penuaria, was the place where the general household supplies (penus) were kept. In

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:

the later Roman house it was located in the rear buildings (penetrale domus). Cf. Marquardt, Röm. Staatsv. III.2 121 f. The genitive follows instar. For permodicus see Introd. II. § 1. b.

23. tenetque vicinitatem, etc.: and the opinion prevails in the neighborhood that he was also born there. The tamquam clause is here used after opinio instead of the infinitive with subject accusative. Both tamquam and quasi are used by Suetonius after words like rumor, opinio, suspicio, fama; cf. page 52, lines 31 f., rumore dilato, quasi necasset; Tit. 5. 3, Unde nata suspicio est, quasi . temptasset; Tac., Ann. XIV. 22. 1, opinio est tamquam mutationem regis portendat. See Introd. II. § 6. n.

Religio est con

24. Huc introire . . . religio est: it is an offense against religious scruples to enter here except of necessity and after purification. Caste refers to ritualistic purification; cf. Cic., N. D. I. 2. 3: Haec enim omnia pure atque caste tribuenda deorum numini ita sunt. tains a negative idea almost equivalent to nemo audet; cf. Ter., Heaut. Tim. 228, nam nil esse mihi religiost dicere, for I have scruples against telling that I have nothing'. For the use of the infinitive, introire, see Introd. II. § 9. b. (1). concepta opinione veteri, etc.: because of a conviction of long standing that those who heedlessly approach it are confronted with a kind of fright and terror. Veteri here = iamdudum, adjective for adverb; cf. page 55, line 16, seras condiciones pacis temptantem, and see Introd. II. § 3. e. On the quasi-clause see note to line 23,

above.

26. sed et: and what is more, equivalent to the Greek ¿à μýv, ảλλà μὴν καί. Sed is not disjunctive in this collocation, but adds a statement by way of further confirmation of what has been previously stated; cf. page 63, line 15, Sed et ceteros . . . hortatus est; page 72, line 6, Sed et Troiae lusum edidit. See Introd. II. § 6. e. mox confirmata: note chiastic order of concepta.. veteri. mox confirmata; see Introd. II. § 10. h. For mox see Introd. II. § 6. i.

27. seu temptandi causa: or to test the matter; to satisfy his curiosity.

28. cubitum: from cubare.

29. exturbatus: routed out; a favorite Plautine word for violent ejection from the house: cf. Plaut., Trin. 137, Ille qui mandavit eum exturbasti ex aedibus? incerta: unaccountable, mysterious; the origin of which was unknown.

30. cum strato simul: bedding and all.

Chapter 7. The Surname Thurinus'. Names of Adoption and Honor

31. cognomen Thurino: the Roman's praenomen was his personal or 'given name, his nomen indicated his gens; his cognomen was often, as here, a nickname in its origin. Strictly speaking, however, this is an agnomen, since the cognomen would naturally indicate the family. Augustus was in his third year when, in 60 B.C., his father was successful against the renegades at Thurii. The name may, therefore, have been given him because of family pride in the father's success, as was the case with Germanicus. Ihne has shown (R. Gesch. VII. 304. n. 2) that another name assigned him by Dio (XLV. 1. 1) should be read Kwπlas, not Kairias of the MSS., and the revised Dindorf edition accepts this reading. It is thus a translation of Thurinus, since Copia was the name given to the Roman colony settled at Thurii; see note to page 47, line 7. Kairias is found only in Zonaras (X. 13), who copies Dio. Consult Class. Rev. IX. 367 and Drumann, Gesch. Roms, IV.2 258. With the case of Thurino cf. Liv. I. 34. 3, puero . . . Egerio inditum nomen. in memoriam: so on page 13, line 7, in filiae memoriam, and Cal. 15. 2, in memoriam patris. Cicero (Brut. XVI. 62) has ad memoriam laudum domesticarum. See Introd. II. § 5. k. (1). (a). For the inconcinnity

here see Introd. II. § 10. a.

6

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32. originis: with reference to birth-place', 'home' of his ancestors. Not only Antony and others spoke of Thurii as the home of his ancestors, but Augustus is himself said to have expressed surprise that a previous name in the family should be used as a reproach against him; cf. Aug. 2. 3. regione Thurina: Suetonius omits the preposition in with regione when accompanied by a defining genitive or an adjective indicative of a place; cf. line 12, above, regione Palati; page 20, line 15, regione Marti campi. See Introd. II. § 4. r. recens eo nato: not long after his son's birth; in the third year of the young Octavius. Recens may here be an adjective used adverbially, while in Tib. 1. 1, Romam recens conditam, it is an adverb proper.

Page 49. 1. adversus fugitivos, etc. : see note to page 47, line 16. 2. cognominatum : sc. esse, had the surname given him; mostly postAugustan cf. Tib. 17. 2, Censuerunt nonnulli ut Pius cognominaretur. satis certa probatione: on quite sure evidence; in this sense (= argumentum) probatio is post-Augustan.

3. tradiderim: may assert; so-called potential subjunctive. Sue

tonius uses both the present and the perfect tense in this way; cf. page 53, line 28, putem. See Introd. II. § 8. a. puerilem: note use of adjective instead of pueri; see Introd. II. § 3. c. imagunculam: a statuette or bust; occurs only here, unless Ihm's reading (im)agunculam puellarem be accepted for Ner. 56. See Introd. II. § 1. e.

aeream:

of bronze; for more common aeneam; cf. Vesp. 8. 5, aerearumque tabularum.

4. ferreis . . . litteris: probably fastened upon the bronze by the art known as 'empaistic' (μTALOTIKỲ TÉXVN) among the Greeks. This seems to be indicated by exolescentibus, 'rubbed off', 'scarcely legible '. See Marquardt, Das Privatleben der Römer 2, 684. litteris hoc nomine: observe the collocation of two instrumental ablatives.

5. dono dative of purpose; see Introd. II. § 4. g. principi: Hadrian, whose private secretary was Suetonius; one of the few personal touches in our author. See Introd. I, pages VIII, XI, XIII f.

6. cubiculi Lares: Lares of his bedchamber; might include statues and busts of persons, particularly of deified emperors, held in especial reverence in the family. In Dom. 17. 2 we read of a Puer qui curae Larum cubiculi ex consuetudine assistens interfuit caedi. Nero kept his artistic crowns and statues of himself in cubiculis circum lectos, according to Suetonius (Ner. 25. 2). Sed et see note to page 48, line 26. Antonio in epistulis: see note to page 47, line 6.

7. per contumeliam: by way of insult; see Introd. II. § 5. n. (3). 8. prius: see note to page 48, line 31.

After his adop

9. Gai Caesaris: more exactly, Gai Iulii Caesaris. tion by Julius Caesar in his will, the young Octavius became Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus, his gentile name being retained, as was customary, in the form of an adjective. Although the title was assumed immediately upon his return to Italy in April, 44 B.C., the formal transfer by lex curiata to the gens and familia of Julius Caesar was postponed through the intrigues of Antony and occurred only after Mutina, in 43 B.C., and Octavian's election to the consulship. See Jul. 83. 2; Aug. 68, 94. 11; Dio XLV. 5. 3 f. Augusti cognomen formally conferred by the senate on January 16, 27 B.C.; see M. A., Gr., XXXIV. 17. 22 f. Augustus refers to this event in M. A. XXXIV. 6. 13 ff. In consulatu sexto et septimo, bella ubi civilia exstinxeram per consensum universorum potitus rerum omnium, rem publicam ex mea potestate in senatus populique Romani arbitrium transtuli. Quo pro merito meo senatus consulto Aug. appellatus sum. Cf. C. I. L. I, page 384; Dio LIII. 16. 6. While Octavian scrupulously declined titles that smacked of sovereignty, he ap