GLOSSARY

ABSOLVO The Latin term employed by a jury when voting for acquittal of the accused.

Academic An adherent of Platonic philosophy.

adamas Diamond. The ancients knew it was the hardest substance, and employed it as a cutting tool when they could get hold of it. What diamonds were available came from Scythia and India.

Adriatric Sea Mare Adriaticum. The body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from Illyricum, Macedonia, and Epirus; it was contiguous with the Ionian Sea.

advocate The term generally used by modern scholars to describe a man active in the Roman law courts. “Lawyer” is considered too modern.

aedes A house of the gods which was not considered a temple because it was not used for augury at the time of its consecration. The temple of Vesta, for example, was actually an aedes sacra rather than a full temple.

aedile One of four Roman magistrates with duties confined to the city of Rome. Two were plebeian aediles; two were curule aediles. The plebeian aediles were created first (in 493 B.C.), to assist the tribunes of the plebs in their duties, but more particularly to guard the rights of the plebs in relation to their headquarters, the temple of Ceres. They soon inherited supervision of the city’s buildings as a whole, and archival custody of plebiscites passed in the Plebeian Assembly, together with any senatorial decrees directing the passage of plebiscites. The plebeian aediles were elected by the Plebeian Assembly. Two curule aediles were created (in 367 B.C.) to give the patricians a share in custody of public buildings and archives, but the curule aediles were soon as likely to be plebeians as patricians. The curule aediles were elected by the Assembly of the People. All four from the third century B.C. onward were responsible for care of Rome’s streets, water supply, drains, traffic, public buildings and facilities, markets, weights and measures, games, and the public grain supply. They had the power to fine citizens for infringements of any regulations connected to any of the above, and deposited the moneys in their chests to help fund the games. Aedileship—plebeian or curule—was not a part of the cursus honorum, but because of the games was a valuable way for a praetorian hopeful to accrue popularity.

Aedui A powerful confraternity of Celtic tribes who lived in central Long-haired Gaul. After Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus in 122 and 121 B.C. subjugated their traditional enemies the Arverni, the Aedui became less warlike, steadily more Romanized, and enjoyed Roman patronage.

Aeneas Prince of Dardania, in the Troad. The son of King Anchises and the goddess Venus (Aphrodite), he fled the burning city of Troy (Ilium) with his aged father on his shoulders and the Palladium under one arm. After many adventures, he arrived in Latium and founded the race from whom true Romans were descended. Vergil says his son Iulus, was actually Ascanius, his son by his Trojan wife, Creusa, whom he brought from Troy with him; on the other hand, Livy says Iulus was his son by his Latin wife, Lavinia. What the Roman of Gaius Marius’s day believed is really not known, as both Livy and Vergil wrote almost a hundred years later.

Aenus River The modern river Inn, in Bavaria.

Aetna Mons Modern Mount Etna. The famous Sicilian volcano was as active in ancient times as it is in modern, but the land around it was extensively used.

Africa In Roman Republican times, the word “Africa” was mostly applied to that part of the northern coast around Carthage—modern Tunisia.

Africa Province The Roman province of Africa, which in the days of Gaius Marius was actually very small— basically, the outthrust of land containing Carthage. The Roman province was surrounded by the much larger Numidia.

ager publicum Land vested in Roman public ownership. Most of it was acquired by right of conquest or taken off its original owners as punishment for disloyalty. This latter was particularly true in the Italian Peninsula. It was leased out by the State (the censors had the duty) in a fashion favoring large estates. The most famous and contentious of all the many pieces of Italian ager publicum was the ager Campanus, land once belonging to the town of Capua, and confiscated by Rome after various Capuan insurrections.

Agger The double rampart and fortifications protecting the city of Rome on its most vulnerable side, along the Campus Esquilinus; the Agger was a part of the Servian Walls.

Alba Longa Near modern Castel Gandolfo. The ancient center of Latium, and the original home of many of Rome’s oldest patrician families, including the Julii. It was attacked and conquered by King Tullus Hostilius of Rome in the seventh century B.C., and razed to the ground. Its citizens were relocated in Rome.

Albis River The modern Elbe, in Germany.

Alexander the Great King of Macedonia, the third to be called Alexander. He was born in 356 B.C., and died aged thirty-three years. When he was twenty years old, he succeeded his father, Philip II, as king, and, haunted by the specter of the Persians, he resolved to render the threat of a Persian invasion of Europe nonexistent for all time. So in 334 B.C. he led an army across the Hellespont with the aim of subduing Persia. His odyssey between this time and his death of a fever in Babylon took him, always victorious, as far as the river Indus in modern Pakistan. His tutor as a boy was Aristotle. As he died without a true successor, his empire did not survive him as a possession of Macedonia, but he seeded many Hellenic kings in the persons of his generals, who divided most of Asia Minor, Egypt, Syria, Media, and Persia between them.

Allies Quite early in the history of the Roman Republic, its magistrates began issuing the title “Friend and Ally of the Roman People” to peoples andIor nations which had assisted Rome in an hour of (usually military) need. In time, all of the Italian Peninsula not enfranchised with full Roman citizenship or on the way to enfranchisement by being given the Latin Rights was deemed to consist of “Allies.” Rome assured military protection and some trade concessions, in return for armed troops supported by the Allies whenever Rome demanded them. Abroad, peoples andIor nations began to earn the title too; the Aedui of Long-haired Gaul and the Kingdom of Bithynia were deemed Allies. When foreign elements entered the picture, the Italian nations were simply called Allies, while the overseas nations used the full title “Friend and Ally of the Roman People.”

Allobroges The confraternity of Celtic tribes which occupied the lands south of Lake Lemanna between the crest of the western Alps and the river Rhodanus, as far south as the river Isara. They loathed Roman penetration into the area, and were obdurate foes of the Romans.

Ambarri A sept or subsection of the confraternity of Celtic tribes known as the Aedui, in central Long-haired Gaul. They lived closer to the Arar (Saone).

Ambrones A sept or subsection of the Germanic people called the Teutones; they perished to the last man at Aquae Sextiae in 102 B.C. (see Teutones).

ambrosia The food of the gods.

Amisia River The modern Ems, in Germany.

Amor Literally, “love.” Because it is also “Roma” spelled backward, the Romans of Republican times commonly believed that “Amor” was Rome’s vital secret name.

amphora, amphorae (pl.) A pottery vessel, bulbous in shape, with a narrow neck and two large handles on the upper part, and a pointed or conical bottom which prevented its being stood upright on level ground. It was used for the bulk (usually maritime) transport of wine or wheat, its pointed bottom enabling it to be fitted easily into the sawdust which filled the ship’s hold or cart’s interior. It then sat upright during the journey, cushioned and protected. The pointed bottom enabled it to be dragged across level ground by a handler with considerable ease in loading and unloading. The usual size of amphora held about 6 American gallons (25 liters).

Anas River The modern river Guadiana, in Spain.

Anatolia Roughly, modern Asian Turkey. It extended from the south coast of the Black Sea (the Euxine) through to the Mediterranean, and from the Aegean Sea in the west to modern Armenia, Iran, and Syria in the east. The Taurus and Antitaurus Mountains made its interior and much of its coastline very rugged. Its climate was. continental.

Ancus Marcius The fourth King of Rome, claimed by the family Marcius (particularly that branch cognominated Rex) as its founder-ancestor; unlikely, since the Marcii were plebeians. Ancus Marcius was said to have colonized Ostia—though there is some doubt whether he did this, or captured the salt pits at the mouth of the Tiber from their Etruscan owners. Rome under his rule flourished. His one lasting public work was the building of the Wooden Bridge, the Pons Sublicius. He died in 617 B.C., leaving sons who did not inherit their father’s throne, a source of later trouble. Anio River The modern Aniene.

Anna Perenna One of the numinous gods native to Rome and owing nothing to Greece (see numen); possessed of neither face nor mythology, Anna Perenna was regarded as female. Her feast was held on the first full moon after the old New Year (March 1), and it was a very happy occasion for everyone in Rome.

Antiocheia, Antioch The capital of Syria and the largest city in that part of the world.

Apennines The range of mountains breaking Italy up into three regions largely isolated from each other: Italian Gaul (northern Italy of the Po Valley), the Adriatic seaboard of the peninsula, and the wider, more fertile plains and valleys of the peninsula’s west coast. The range branched off the Alpes Maritimae in Liguria, crossed the base of the peninsula from west to east, then ran down the full length of the peninsula to Bruttium, opposite Sicily. Its highest peak rose to 9,600 feet (3,000 m).

aqua An aqueduct. In the time of Gaius Marius, there were four such, supplying water to the city of Rome. The oldest was the Aqua Appia (312 B.C.), next was the Aqua Anio Vetus (272 B.C.), then the Aqua Marcia (144 B.C.), and finally the Aqua Tepula ( 125 B.C.). During the Republic, the aqueducts and the water they provided were cared for by water companies hired under contract by the censors.

Aquae Sextiae Modern Aix-en-Provence. A spa town in the Roman province of Gaul-across-the-Alps.

Aquileia A Latin Rights colony seeded in far eastern Italian Gaul to protect the trade routes across the Carnic Alps from Noricum and Illyricum; the date was 181 B.C. Provided soon after with several roads connecting it to Ravenna, Patavium, Verona, and Placentia, it quickly became the most important city at the top of the Adriatic.

aquilifer Presumably a creation of Gaius Marius at the time he gave the legions their silver eagles. The best man in the legion, the aquilifer was chosen to carry the legion’s silver eagle, and was expected to keep it safe from enemy capture. He wore a wolf skin or a lion skin as a mark of his distinction.

Aquitani, Aquitania The lands of southwestern Longhaired Gaul between the Carantonus River and the Pyrenees, and extending eastward along the Garumna River almost to Tolosa were called Aquitania, and were occupied by a Celtic confederation of tribes called the Aquitani. The largest of the Aquitanian oppida was Burdigala, on the southern side of the mouth of the Garumna.

Arar River The modern Saone, in France.

Arausio Modern Orange. A small settlement under Roman influence on the eastern bank of the Rhodanus River, in Gaul-across-the-Alps.

Arduenna The modern forest of the Ardennes, in northern France. In the time of Gaius Marius the Arduenna extended all the way from the Mosa to the Mosella, and was impenetrable.

area Flacciana Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, an important adherent of Gaius Gracchus, was murdered together with two of his sons in 121 B.C. as part of senatorial suppression of Gaius Gracchus’s policies. His lands and all his properties were confiscated postmortem, including his house on the Palatine, which was torn down and the land left neglected. This vacant block, which overlooked the Forum Romanum, was called the area Flacciana. Quintus Lutatius Catulus acquired it in 100 B.C., and used it to build a colonnade in which he installed the standards taken from the Cimbri at Vercellae.

Arelate Modern Aries. A town, possibly founded by the Greeks, in Gaul-across-the-Alps. Situated on the Rhodanus just above its delta, Arelate grew in importance after Gaius Marius built his ship canal.

armillae The wide bracelets, of gold or of silver, which were awarded as prizes for valor to Roman legionaries, centurions, cadets, and military tribunes.

Arnus River The modern Arno. Throughout its course, loop and all, it formed the boundary between Italy proper and Italian Gaul.

Arpinum A town in Latium not far from the border of Samnium, and probably originally peopled by Volsci. It was the last Latin Rights community to receive the full Roman citizenship, in 188 B.C., but it did not enjoy full municipal status in Gaius Marius’s time.

Arx The more northern of the two humps which sit atop the Capitoline Mount of Rome.

as The smallest in value of the coins of Rome; ten of them equaled one denarius. They were bronze. I have avoided mentioning the as in the book because of (a) its relative unimportance, and (b) its identical spelling to the English adverb, conjunction, or preposition “as”—most confusing!

Asia Province The west coast and hinterland of what is now Turkey, from the Troad in the north to Lycia opposite Rhodes in the south. Its capital in Republican times was Pergamum.

Assembly (Comitia) Any gathering of the Roman People convoked to deal with governmental, legislative, or electoral matters. In the time of Gaius Marius there were three true Assemblies—of the Centuries, the People, and the Plebs. The Centuriate Assembly marshaled the People in their classes, which were defined by a means test and were economic in nature. As it was originally a military assemblage, each class gathered in its centuries (which by Marius’s time numbered far in excess of one hundred men, as it had been decided to keep the number of centuries in each class to a certain value). Its Latin name was Comitia Centuriata, and it met to elect consuls, praetors, and (every five years) censors; it also met to hear trials involving a charge of treason. The other two Assemblies were tribal in nature, not economic. The Assembly of the People allowed full participation of patricians; its Latin name was Comitia Populi Tributa, and it met in the thirty-five tribes among which all Roman citizens were divided. The Assembly of the People (also called the Popular Assembly) was convoked by a consul or praetor, could formulate laws, and elected the curule aediles, the quaestors, and the tribunes of the soldiers. It could also conduct trials. The Assembly of the Plebs or Plebeian Assembly was known in Latin as Comitia Plebis Tributa or Concilium Plebis. It did not allow the participation of patricians, and was convoked by a tribune of the plebs. The Plebeian Assembly had the right to enact laws (strictly, known as plebiscites), and conduct trials. It elected the plebeian aediles and the tribunes of the plebs. In no Roman Assembly could the vote of one individual be credited directly to his wants; in the Centuriate Assembly his vote was credited to his century of his class, and his century’s total vote was credited as going whatever way the majority did; in the tribal Assemblies of People and Plebs, his vote was credited to his tribe, and his tribe’s total vote was credited as going whatever way the majority of its members decided.

Asylum A part of the saddlelike depression which divided the two humps atop the Capitoline Mount; it carried the ancient meaning of asylum—that is, a refuge where a fugitive from any form of earthly justice or retribution could dwell without fear of arrest or detention. It was established as an asylum for fugitives by Romulus himself, when he was seeking a greater number of men to live in Rome than he could find by other means.

Athesis River The modern Adige, in Italy.

atrium The main reception room of a Roman private house; it mostly contained a rectangular opening in the roof, below which was a pool. Originally the purpose of the pool was to provide a reservoir of water for use of the household, but by the time of Gaius Marius, the pool was usually not used in this way; it had become ornamental.

Attalus III The last King of Pergamum, and ruler of most of the Aegean coast of western Anatolia as well as Phrygia. In 133 B.C. he died, relatively young and without heirs closer than the usual collection of cousins. His will was carried to Rome, and there it was learned Attalus had bequeathed his entire kingdom to Rome. A war followed, put down by Manius Aquillius in 129 and 128 B.C. When Aquillius set about organizing the bequest as the Roman province of Asia, he sold most of Phrygia to King Mithridates V of Pontus for a sum of gold which he put into his own purse.

Attic helmet An ornamental helmet worn by Roman officers, usually above the rank of centurion. It is the kind of helmet commonly worn by the stars of Hollywood’s Roman epic movies—though I very much doubt any Attic helmet of Republican times was ever crested with ostrich feathers!

Atuatuci Also known as Aduatuci. A confraternity of tribes inhabiting that part of Long-haired Gaul around the confluence of the Sabis and the Mosa, they appear to have been more German than Celt in racial origins, for they claimed kinship with the Germans called Teutones.

auctoritas A very difficult Latin term to translate, as it means much more than the English word “authority.” It carried implications of pre-eminence, clout, leadership, public and private importance, and—above all—the ability to influence events through sheer public or personal reputation. All the magistracies possessed auctoritas as part of their nature, but auctoritas was not confined to those who held magistracies; the Princeps Senatus, Pontifex Maximus, Rex Sacrorum, consulars, and even some private individuals could also accumulate auctoritas.

augur A priest whose duties concerned divination rather than prognostication. He and his fellow augurs constituted the College of Augurs, and numbered some twelve at the time of Gaius Marius, six patrician and six plebeian. Until the lex Domitia de sacerdotiis was passed by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus in 104 B.C., augurs had been chosen by those men already in the college; after that law, augurs had to be publicly elected. The augur did not predict the future, nor did he pursue his auguries at his own whim; he inspected the proper objects or signs to ascertain whether or not the projected undertaking was one having the approval of the gods, be the undertaking a meeting, a war, a proposed new law, or any other State business. There was virtually a manual of interpretation, so a man did not have to pretend he was psychic in order to be appointed an augur; in fact, the Roman State mistrusted men who did claim to have psychic powers, preferring to “go by the book.” The augur wore the toga trabea (see that entry) and carried a staff called the lituus.

auxiliary A legion incorporated into a Roman army without its troops having the status of Roman citizens; a member of such a legion was also called an auxiliary, and the term extended to the cavalry arm as well. In the time of Gaius Marius, most auxiliary infantry was Italian in origin, where most auxiliary cavalry was from Gaul, Numidia, or Thrace, all lands whose soldiers rode horses, whereas the Roman soldier did not.

ave atque vale “Hail and farewell.”

Baetis River The modern Guadalquivir. A river in Further Spain (Hispania Ulterior). According to the geographer Strabo, the valley of the Baetis was the most fertile and productive in the world.

Bagradas River The modern Mellegue. The most important river of the Roman African province. Baiae The small town on the bay side of Cape Misenum, the northern promontory of what is now known as the Bay of Naples. It was not fashionable as a resort during the Republic, but was famous for its beds of farmed oysters.

baldric The belt, either slung over one shoulder and under the other arm, or worn around the waist, which held a man’s sword. The Roman gladius, a short-sword, was carried on a waist baldric, where a German long-sword needed a shoulder baldric.

basilica, basilicae (pl.) A large building devoted to public facilities such as courts of law, and also to commercial facilities, from shops to offices. The basilica was clerestory-lit, and during the Republic was erected at the expense of some civic-minded Roman nobleman, usually of consular status. The first of the basilicae was built by Cato the Censor, was situated on the Clivus Argentarius next door to the Senate House, and was known as the Basilica Porcia; as well as accommodating banking houses, it also was the headquarters of the College of Tribunes of the Plebs. By the time of Gaius Marius, it had been joined by the Basilicae Sempronia, Aemilia, and Opimia, all on the fringes of the lower Forum Romanum.

Belgae The fearsome confraternity of tribes inhabiting northwestern and Rhineland Gaul. Of mixed racial origins, the Belgae were probably more Germanic than Celtic; among them were the nations of the Treveri, the Atuatuci, the Condrusi, the Bellovaci, the Atrebates, and the Batavi. To the Romans of Gaius Marius’s time, they were legendary rather than real.

Benacus, Lacus Modern Lake Garda, in northern Italy.

biga A chariot drawn by two horses.

Bithynia A kingdom flanking the Propontis on its Asian side, extending east to Paphlagonia and Galatia, south to Phrygia, and southwest to Mysia. It was fertile and prosperous, and was ruled by a series of kings of Thracian origin. Its traditional enemy was Pontus.

Boiohaemum Bohemia. Modern Czechoslovakia.

boni Literally, “the Good Men.” First mentioned in a play by Plautus called The Captives, the term came into political use during the days of Gaius Gracchus. He used it to describe his followers—but so also did his enemies Drusus and Opimius. It then passed gradually into general use; in the time of Cicero, the boni were those men of the Senate whose political leanings were ultra-conservative.

Bononia Modern Bologna, in northern Italy.

Borysthenes River The modern Dnieper, in the Ukraine.

Brennus (1) King of the Gauls (or Celts). It was Brennus who sacked Rome and almost captured the Capitol during his siege of it, save that Juno’s sacred geese cackled until the consular Marcus Manlius awoke, found where the Gauls were climbing the cliff, and dislodged them; Rome never forgave its dogs (which hadn’t barked), and ever after honored its geese. Seeing their city reduced to smoking rubble beneath their eyes and having nothing left to eat, the defenders of the Capitol finally agreed to buy their salvation from Brennus. The price was a thousand pounds’ weight of gold. When the gold was brought to Brennus in the Forum, he had it reweighed on scales he had deliberately tampered with, then complained he was being cheated. The Romans said he was the cheat, whereupon Brennus drew his sword and threw it contemptuously onto the scales, saying, “Woe to the vanquished!” (“Vae victis!”) But before he could kill the Romans for their audacity in accusing him of cheating while they were buying their lives from him, the newly appointed dictator, Marcus Furius Camillus, appeared in the Forum with an army, and refused to allow Brennus to take the gold. In an initial battle through Rome’s streets, the Gauls were ejected from the city, and in a second battle eight miles out along the Via Tiburtina, Camillus slaughtered the invaders. For this feat (and for his speech persuading the plebeians not to quit Rome thereafter and move permanently to Veii), Camillus was called the Second Founder of Rome. Livy doesn’t say what happened to King Brennus. All this happened in 390 B.C.

Brennus (2) A later king of the Gauls (or Celts). Leading a large Celtic confraternity of tribes, he invaded Macedonia and Thessaly in 279 B.C., turned the Greek defense at the pass of Thermopylae, and sacked Delphi, in which battle he was wounded. He then penetrated into Epirus and sacked the enormously rich oracular precinct of Zeus at Dodona, and sacked and looted the richest precinct of them all, that of Zeus at Olympia in the Peloponnese. In retreat before a determined Greek guerrilla resistance, Brennus returned to Macedonia, where he died of his old wound. Without Brennus to hold them together, the Gauls were rudderless. Some of them (the Tolistobogii, the Trocmi, and a segment of the Volcae Tectosages) crossed the Hellespont into Asia Minor, and settled in a land thereafter called Galatia. The Volcae Tectosages who did not go to Asia Minor returned to their homes around Tolosa in southwestern Gaul, bearing with them the entire loot of Brennus’s campaign, which they held in trust against the return of the rest of Brennus’s people; for the gold belonged to everyone.

Brundisium Modern Brindisi. The most important port in southern Italy, and possessing the only good harbor on the whole Italian Adriatic coast. In 244 B.C. it became a Latin Rights colony, as Rome wished to protect its new extension of the Via Appia, from Tarentum to Brundisium.

Burdigala Modern Bordeaux, in southwestern France. The great Gallic oppidum belonging to the Aquitani.

Caesarean section The surgical procedure resorted to when a woman in childbirth finds it impossible to deliver her child through the pelvis. The abdomen is incised, the loops of bowel retracted, and the wall of the uterus cut open to extricate the child from within it. In this manner, so it is said, was Gaius Julius Caesar the Dictator delivered; the procedure still bears his family’s cognomen. I have chosen to ignore the story, for the reason that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Caesar’s mother, Aurelia, lived to be seventy years old, and apparently enjoyed good health up until the time of her death. The history of Caesarean section in antiquity was a grim one; though the operation was occasionally resorted to, and the child sometimes saved, the mother inevitably perished. The first truly successful Caesarean section that is well recorded occurred in Pavia, Italy, in April, 1876, when Dr. Edoardo Porro removed a healthy child—and uterus—from one Julie Covallini; mother and child survived and did very well.

Calabria Confusing for those who know modern Italy! Nowadays Calabria is the toe of the boot, but in ancient times it was the heel.

Campania The fabulously rich and fertile basin, volcanic in origin and soil, which lay between the Apennines of Samnium and the Tuscan (Tyrrhenian) Sea, and extended from Tarracina in the north to a point just south of the modern Bay of Naples. Watered by the Liris, VolturnusICalor, Clanius, and Sarnus rivers, it grew bigger, better, and more of everything than any other region in all Italy. Early colonized by the Greeks, it fell under Etruscan domination, then affiliated itself to the Samnites, and eventually was subject to Rome. The Greek and Samnite elements in its populace made it a grudging subject, and it was always an area prone to insurrection. The towns of Capua, Teanum Sidicinum, Venafrum, Acerrae, Nola, and Interamna were important inland centers, while the ports of Puteoli, Neapolis, Herculaneum, Surrentum, and Stabiae constituted the best on Italy’s west coast. Puteoli was the largest and the busiest port in all of Italy. The Via Campana, Via Appia, and Via Latina passed through it.

campus, campi (pl.) A plain, or flat expanse of ground.

Campus Martius Situated to the north of the Servian Walls, the Campus Martius was bounded by the Capitol to its south and the Pincian Hill on its east; the rest of it was enclosed by a huge bend in the river Tiber. Here on the Campus Martius armies awaiting their general’s triumphs were bivouacked, military exercises and military training of the young went on, the stables for horses engaged in chariot racing were situated, assemblies of the Comitia Centuriata took place, and market gardening vied with public parklands. The Via Lata (Via Flaminia) crossed the Campus Martius on its way north.

Cannae An Apulian town on the Aufidius River. Here in 216 B.C., Hannibal and his army of Carthaginians met a Roman army commanded by Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. The Roman army was annihilated; until Arausio in 105 B.C., it ranked as Rome’s worst military disaster. Somewhere between thirty thousand and sixty thousand men died. The survivors were made to pass beneath the yoke (see that entry).

capite censi Literally, “Head Count.” The capite censi were those full Roman citizens too poor to belong to one of the five economic classes, and so were unable to vote in the Centuriate Assembly at all. As most capite censi were urban in origin as well as in residence, they largely belonged to urban tribes, which numbered only four out of the total thirty-five tribes; this meant they had little influence in either of the tribal Assemblies, People or Plebs (see also Head Count, proletarii).

Capitol The Mons Capitolinus, one of the seven hills of Rome, and the only one more or less limited to religious and public buildings. Though the top of the Capitol contained no private residences, by the time of Gaius Marius its lower slopes boasted some of the most expensive houses in all Rome. Gaius Marius himself lived in this location.

Capua The most important inland town of Campania. A history of broken pledges of loyalty to Rome led to Roman reprisals which stripped Capua of its extensive and extremely valuable public lands; these became the nucleus of the ager publicus of Campania, and included, for instance, the fabulous vineyards which produced Falernian wine. By the time of Gaius Marius, Capua’s economic well-being depended upon the many military training camps, gladiatorial schools, and slave camps for bulk prisoners which surrounded the town; the people of Capua made their living from supplying and servicing these huge institutions.

carbunculus The precious stone ruby; the word was also applied to really red garnets.

career A dungeon. The Tullianum’s other name was simply Career.

Carinae One of Rome’s more exclusive addresses. The Carinae was the northern tip of the Oppian Mount on its western side; it extended between the Velia, at the top of the Forum Romanum, and the Clivus Pullius.

Carnic Alps The name I have used to embrace that part of the alpine chain surrounding northern Italy at its eastern end, behind the coastal cities of Tergeste and Aquileia. These mountains are generally called the Julian Alps, the name Carnic Alps being reserved for the mountains of the modern Austrian Tyrol. However, I can find no evidence to suggest that some member of the family Julius of earlier date than Gaius Julius Caesar the Dictator had a mountain range named after himself, and so must assume that prior to Gaius Julius Caesar the Dictator, the Julian Alps were known by some other name. For want of ancient evidence (which is not to say it does not exist, only that I haven’t found it), I have simply extended that name Carnic Alps to cover the Julian Alps as well.

Carnutes One of the largest and most important of the Celtic tribal confraternities of Gaul. Their lands lay along the river Liger between its confluence with the Caris and a point on about the same meridian of longitude as modern Paris. The Carnutes owed much of their pre-eminence to the fact that within their lands lay the cult centers and Gallic training schools of the Druids.

Castor The senior of the twin gods Castor and Pollux (to the Greeks, Kastor and Polydeukes), also called the Dioscuri. Their temple, in the Forum Romanum, was imposingly large and very old, indicating that their worship in Rome went back at least to the time of the kings. They cannot therefore simply be labeled a Greek import, as was Apollo. Their special significance to Rome (and possibly why later on they came to be associated with the Lares) was probably because Romulus, the founder of Rome, was a twin.

Cebenna The highlands of south-central Gaul, lying to the west of the river Rhodanus. The Cebenna in modern terms would incorporate the Cevennes, the Auvergne, the Ardeche, and, in effect, all of the Massif Central.

cella, cellae (pl.) Literally, “room.” Rooms in domestic households had mostly acquired special names distinguishing their functions, but a room without a name was a cella. The rooms inside temples were always cellae.

Celtiberians The members of that part of the Celtic race who crossed the Pyrenees into Spain and settled mostly in its central, western, and northwestern regions. They were so well ensconced by the time of Gaius Marius that they were generally regarded as indigenous.

Celts More the modern than the ancient term for a barbarian race which emerged from north-central Europe during the early centuries of the first millennium B.C. From about 500 B.C. onward, the Celts attempted to invade the lands of the European Mediterranean; in Spain and Gaul they succeeded, while in Italy and Greece they failed. However, in northern Italy, Macedonia, Thessaly, Illyricum, and Moesia, they seeded whole populations which gradually admixed with those peoples already present. Galatia, in central western Anatolia, was still Celtic speaking many centuries A.D. (see Brennus [2]). Racially the Celts were different from yet kindred to the later Germans; they considered themselves a discrete people. Their languages held certain similarities to Latin. A Roman rarely used the word “Celt”; he said “Gaul.”

censor The most senior of all Roman magistrates, though he lacked imperium, and was not therefore escorted by lictors. No man who had not already been consul could seek election as censor, and only those consulars owning tremendous personal auctoritas and dignitas normally bothered to stand. To be elected censor was complete vindication of a political man’s career, for it said he was one of the very top men in Rome. The censor (two were elected at the same time) held office for a period of five years, though he was active in his duties for only about eighteen months at the beginning of his term. He and his colleague in the censorship inspected and regulated membership of the Senate, the Ordo Equester (the knights), and the holders of the Public Horse (the eighteen hundred most senior knights), and conducted a general census of Roman citizens, not only in Rome, but throughout Italy and the provinces. He also applied the means test. State contracts were let by him, and various public works or buildings initiated by him.

Centuriate Assembly See Assembly.

centurion, Centurio, centuriones (pl.) The regular officer of both Roman citizen and auxiliary legions. It is a mistake to equate him with the modern noncommissioned officer; centurions were complete professionals enjoying a status uncomplicated by our modern social distinctions. A defeated Roman general hardly turned a hair if he lost military tribunes, but tore his hair out in clumps if he lost centurions. Centurion rank was graduated; the most junior centurio commanded a group of eighty soldiers and twenty noncombatants called a century. In the Republican army as reorganized by Gaius Marius, each cohort had six centurions, with the most senior man, the pilus prior, commanding the senior century of his cohort as well as commanding his entire cohort. The ten men commanding the ten cohorts making up a legion were also ranked in seniority, with the legion’s most senior centurion, the primus pilus, answering only to his legion’s commander (either one of the elected tribunes of the soldiers or one of the general’s legates). Promotion during Republican times was from the ranks.

century A term which could apply to any collection of one hundred men, but which originally meant one hundred soldiers. The centuries of the Centuriate Assembly no longer contained a mere one hundred men, nor had military significance, but originally were indeed military. The centuries of the legions continued to contain one hundred men.

Cercina Island Modern Kerkenna. One of the islands of the African Lesser Syrtis, it was the site of the first of Gaius Marius’s veteran soldier colonies. The father of Gaius Julius Caesar the Dictator was sent by Marius to organize the settlement of Cercina.

Ceres A very old Italian-Roman earth goddess whose duties chiefly concerned food crops, particularly cereal grains. Her temple, on the Aventine side of the Forum Boarium (and therefore outside the pomerium), was held to be the most beautiful temple in Republican Rome, and was built to house the cult of the Plebs in the days when Rome was controlled by the patricians and the Plebs often threatened to pack up and leave Rome, settle elsewhere; the first such mass desertion of the Plebs, in 494 B.C., was only as far as the Aventine, but that was far enough to win them concessions. By the time of Gaius Marius, the temple of Ceres was simply known as the headquarters of the Plebeian Order; it held the offices and records of the plebeian aediles.

Charybdis A mythical whirlpool variously located in the straits between Italy and Sicily, or near the Pillars of Hercules, or other places. Charybdis was always lumped with her companion, Scylla, a monster with a girdle of snarling dogs, who lived so close to Charybdis that no sailor could avoid the one without falling into the clutches of the other. In ancient times the saying “caught between Scylla and Charybdis” was the equivalent of our “between the devil and the deep blue sea,” or “between a rock and a hard place.”

chersonnese The Greeks’ word for a peninsula, though they used it somewhat more flexibly than modern geographers. Thus the Tauric Chersonnese, the Thracian Chersonnese, the Cimbrian Chersonnese, etc.

Cherusci A confraternity of German tribes who lived in the area around the Amisia River (now the Ems) and the Visurgis River (now the Weser). Some segments of the Cherusci left this homeland about 113 B.C. to join the mass migration of the German Teutones and Cimbri.

Cimbri A very large confraternity of German tribes who lived in the more northern half of the Cimbrian Chersonnese until, in 120 B.C. or thereabouts, a massive natural disaster forced them to leave their homeland. Together with their immediate southern neighbors, the Teutones, they began an epic trek to find a new homeland—a trek which lasted nearly twenty years, took them thousands of miles, and finally brought them up against Rome—and Gaius Marius.

Cimbrian Chersonnese Modern Denmark, also known as the Jutland Peninsula.

Circei, Circeii The area, including Mount Circeii, which formed the coastal boundary between Latium and Campania. The town of the same name occupied the Tarracina side of the Circeian Promontory, and was a popular Republican seaside resort.

circus A place where chariot races were held. The course itself was long and narrow, and was divided lengthwise by a central barrier, the spina, the ends of which were conical stones called metae, which formed the turning points for the chariots. Bleacher-style tiers of wooden seats completely fenced it in. The seven laps of a race were monitored by seven eggs in cups, and seven dolphins; both were probably always there, but Agrippa certainly gave the Circus Maximus new and better dolphins. A race normally took about twenty-five minutes to complete. It is now thought that all four colors-—red, green, white, and blue—were a part of the races throughout the middle and late Republic as well as during the Empire. I imagine four colors meant four competitors.

Circus Flaminius The circus situated on the Campus Martius not far from the Tiber and the Forum Holitorium. It was built in 221 B.C., and sometimes was made to serve as a place for a comitial meeting, when the Plebs or the People had to assemble outside the pomerium. There were several temples within the Circus Flaminius, among them one to Vulcan, and the very beautiful, very famous temple of Hercules and the nine Muses.

Circus Maximus The old circus built by King Tarquinius Priscus before the Republic began. It filled the whole of the Vallis Murcia, between the Palatine and Aventine mounts. It held somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 people, even in Republican times; during the Republic, only Roman citizens were admitted, and there is ample evidence to suggest that freedman citizens were still classified as slaves when it came to admission to the circus; I imagine that freedmen were excluded because too many people wanted to go to the circus. Women were allowed to sit with men.

citadel Properly, a fortress atop a precipitous hill, or that part of a larger fortified place occupying the heights, and surrounded by its own walls.

citizenship For the purposes of this book, the Roman citizenship. Possession of it entitled a man to vote in his tribe and his class (if he was economically qualified to belong to a class) in all Roman city elections. He could not be flogged, he was entitled to the Roman trial process, and he had the right of appeal. At various times both his parents had to be Roman citizens, at other times only his father (hence the cognomen Hybrida). The citizen was liable to military service, though, prior to Gaius Marius, only if he owned sufficient property to buy his arms and support himself on campaigns beyond the very small sum he was paid by the State, usually at the end of a campaign.

classes The five economic divisions of property-owning or steady-income-earning Roman citizens. The members of the First Class were the richest, the members of the Fifth Class the poorest. The capite censi did not belong to a class.

client In Latin, cliens. The term denoted a man of free or freed status (he did not have to be a Roman citizen, however) who pledged himself to a man he called his patron (patronus). The client undertook in the most solemn and morally binding way to serve the interests and obey the wishes of his patron, in return for various favors (these were usually gifts of money, or positions, or legal assistance). The freed slave was automatically the client of his former master, until discharged of this obligation—if he ever was. A kind of honor system governed a client’s conduct in respect of his patron, and was remarkably consistently adhered to. To be a client did not necessarily mean a man could not also be a patron; more that he could not be an ultimate patron, for his own clients technically were the clients of his patron also. There were laws governing the foreign client-patron relationship; concerning foreign client-kingdoms or states owning Rome as patron, there was a legal obligation to ransom any kidnapped Roman citizen, a fact that pirates relied on heavily as an additional source of income. Thus, not only individuals could become clients; whole towns and even countries could be clients.

client-king A foreign monarch who pledged himself as client in the service of Rome as his patron, or sometimes in the service of a Roman individual as his patron. The title “Friend and Ally of the Roman People” was a statement of clientship.

Clitumnus River A river in Umbria, Italy.

clivus A street on an incline—that is, a hilly street. Rome, a city of hills, had many.

cloaca, cloacae (pl.) A drain, particularly a sewer. There seems no doubt that a very extensive system of cloacae was put down very early on in Rome’s history. Livy says that after the Gauls virtually demolished the city in 390 B.C., the rebuilding was not planned as it ought to have been, due to the Senate’s fear that the Plebeian Order would move holus-bolus to Veii unless allowed to do precisely what they wanted. So where in the old city plan the streets had been wider, and followed the course of the main sewers, the new city saw narrower and more tortuous streets, and many buildings put on top of the main sewers.

Cloaca Maxima The system of sewers which drained the Subura, the upper Esquiline, the Capitol, the Forum Romanum, and the Velabrum; it entered the Tiber between the Pons Aemilius and the Wooden Bridge (Pons Sublicius), but closer to the Pons Aemilius. The ancient river which formed its first tunnels was the Spinon.

Cloaca Nodina The system of sewers which drained the Palatine, the lower Esquiline and Oppian mounts, the area of the Circus Maximus, and some of the Aventine. It followed the course of the ancient river Nodina and its tributaries, and entered the Tiber just upstream of the Wooden Bridge (Pons Sublicius).

Cloaca Petronia The system of sewers which drained the Viminal, Quirinal, and Campus Martius, following the original course of the ancient river Petronia and its tributaries. It entered the Tiber just upstream of Tiber Island; from this point downstream, the Tiber was not used for swimming.

Coan Pertaining to the island of Cos, one of the Sporades, and located off the coast of Asia Minor. The adjective “Coan” was attached to a famous export of Cos—Coan silk. This was not real silk, but wild silk (real silk did not reach the Mediterranean until the early Empire). Coan silk was much esteemed by prostitutes, to the extent that a prostitute was simply called a Coan.

cognomen, cognomina (pl.) The last name of a Roman male anxious to distinguish himself from all his fellows having the same first and gentilicial (family) names. In some families it became necessary to have more than one cognomen; for example, take Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica! The cognomen usually pointed out some physical or character idiosyncrasy—jug ears or flat feet or a humpback—or else commemorated some great feat, as in the Caecilii Metelli who were cognominated Dalmaticus, Balearicus, Numidicus. Many cognomina were heavily sarcastic or extremely witty. For the meanings of a number of cognomina, see pages 1060-1065.

cohort The tactical unit of the Roman legion, comprising six centuries of troops; in normal circumstances, a legion had ten cohorts. It was customary to speak of the size of a Roman army under three or four legions in strength in terms of cohorts rather than legions.

college A body formed by the association of a number of men having something in common. Thus, there were priestly colleges, political colleges like that of the tribunes of the plebs, religious colleges like that of the lictors, and work-related colleges. Certain groups of men from all walks of life (including slaves) banded themselves together in colleges which looked after the city of Rome’s crossroads and conducted the annual feast of the crossroads, the Compitalia.

Comitia See Assembly.

Comum Modern Como, in northern Italy.

CONDEMNO One of two words employed by a jury when delivering a verdict of “guilty.” The other word was DAMNO (see that entry).

confarreatio The oldest and strictest of the three forms of Roman marriage. By the time of Gaius Marius, only patricians still practised it—but by no means all patricians, as it was not mandatory. The confarreatio bride passed from the hand of her father to the hand of her husband, thus preventing her acquiring any measure of independence; this was one reason why confarreatio was not popular, as the other forms of marriage allowed a woman more control over her business affairs and dowry. The difficulty of divorce was the other cause of its unpopularity; divorce (diffarreatio) was a dismal, religiously and legally arduous business considered more trouble than it was worth, unless the circumstances left no other alternative.

Conscript Fathers As established by the kings of Rome, the Senate consisted of one hundred patricians titled patres, which means “fathers.” Then after the Republic was established and plebeians were admitted to the Senate, and its membership had swollen to three hundred, and the censors were given the duty of appointing new senators, the word “conscript” came into use as well, because the censors conscripted these new members. By the time of Gaius Marius, the two terms had been run together, so that the members of the Senate were addressed as Conscript Fathers.

consul The consul was the most senior Roman magistrate owning imperium, and the consulship (modern scholars do not refer to it as the “consulate” because a consulate is a modern diplomatic institution) was considered the top rung of the cursus honorum. Two consuls were elected each year by the Centuriate Assembly, to serve for one year. The senior of the two—who had polled his requisite number of centuries first—held the fasces for the month of January, which meant he officiated while his junior colleague looked on. The first day of a consul’s office was New Year’s Day, January 1. Each consul was attended by twelve lictors, but only the lictors of the consul officiating during the month carried the fasces on their shoulders. By the time of Gaius Marius, consuls could be either patrician or plebeian, excepting only that two patricians could not hold office together. The proper age for a consul was forty-two, twelve years after entering the Senate at thirty. A consul’s imperium knew no bounds; it operated not only in Rome but throughout Italy and the provinces as well, and overrode the imperium of a proconsular governor. The consul could command any army.

consular The title given to a man who had been a consul. He was held in special esteem by the ordinary members of the Senate, was asked to speak ahead of junior magistrates, and might at any time be sent to govern a province should the Senate require the duty of him. He might also be asked to take on other duties, like caring for the grain supply.

consultum, consulta (pl.) The proper term for a senatorial decree. These decrees did not have the force of law; in order to become law, a consultum had to be presented to the Assembly of the People or to the Plebeian Assembly, which then passed the consultum into law—or did not. However, many consulta did not go to one of the tribal assemblies, yet were accepted as law; such were senatorial decisions about who was to govern a province, or the declaration or pursuit of war, or who was to command an army. Foreign affairs were normally conducted through unratified senatorial consulta.

contio, contiones (pl.) The preliminary meetings of all the comitial assemblies, whether to debate promulgated legislation or establish a trial at law, were called contiones. A contio could be called only by a magistrate having the correct power to convoke whichever assembly it was—a consul or praetor could convoke the Centuriate Assembly or the Assembly of the People, but only a tribune of the plebs could convoke the Plebeian Assembly.

contubernalis The Latin term for a cadet, a subaltern of lowest rank in the military officers’ hierarchy, but excluding the centurions; no centurion was ever a cadet, he was an experienced soldier.

corona A crown. The term was generally confined to military decorations for the very highest valor. In descending order of importance, these crowns for various acts of bravery were:

Corona Graminea The grass crown, awarded to a man who saved a whole legion, or—upon rare occasions—even a whole army.

Corona Civica The civic crown, made of ordinary oak leaves. It was awarded to a man who had saved the lives of fellow soldiers, and held the ground on which he did this for the rest of the battle.

Corona Aurea The first of the more minor crowns, which interestingly were intrinsically far more valuable than the top two (an indication that they were far newer). This gold crown was awarded to a man who killed an enemy in single combat, and held the ground for the rest of the battle. Corona Muralis A crenellated gold crown awarded to the first man over the walls of an enemy city when it was stormed.

Corona Navalis A gold crown adorned with ship’s beaks, awarded for outstanding valor during a sea battle.

Corona Vallaris A gold crown awarded to the first man across the ramparts of an enemy camp.

cottabus A game played in the dining room. The lees in the bottom of a man’s wine cup were tossed into a large flattish bowl, and the winner was decided by the number of rays in the splash pattern, though exactly how it worked, we do not know.

cuirass Two plates usually of bronze or steel, but sometimes of hardened leather, one protecting a man’s thorax and abdomen, the other his back from shoulder to lumbar spine; the plates were held together by straps or ties at the shoulders and along each side beneath the arms. Some were exquisitely tailored to the contours of the torso; others were suitable for all wearers of average size and physique. The men of highest rank, especially generals, normally wore cuirasses beautifully tooled in relief, mostly of silver-plated steel or bronze, occasionally gold-plated; the general and his legates also wore a thin red sash around the cuirass about halfway between the nipples and the waist, ritually knotted and looped.

culibonia A Latin obscenity interpreted by Dr. J. N. Adams as meaning a whore who offered anal intercourse; hence Publius Rutilius Rufus’s pleasure in his own pun on boni in his letter, page 768.

culus The basic Latin word for the anus.

Cumae The first Greek colony in Italy, founded in the early eighth century B.C. It lay on the sea side of Cape Misenum, and was an extremely popular Roman Republican resort.

cunnum lingere A very crude Latin obscenity, meaning to lick the female genitalia.

cunnus A Latin obscenity at least as offensive to Romans as “cunt” is to us. It meant the female genitalia.

curator annonae The man responsible for regulating the grain supply from the provinces to Rome.

curia, curiae (pl.) The curia originally was one of the thirty most ancient divisions of the Roman People, preceding the tribes and certainly the classes. These first Roman clans gathered in special meeting halls; each curia was headed by a curio or chieftain, elected for life. The curiae veteres or ancient meeting halls were clustered on the edge of the Palatium of the Palatine, adjacent to the Via Triumphalis. By the time of Gaius Marius, the curia was all but forgotten in the political and social organization of the People. When, as with the adoption of a patrician into a plebeian family, or the conferring of imperium upon a senior magistrate by a lex curiata, the thirty curiae were required under law to assemble, they were represented by thirty lictors.

Curia Hostilia The Senate House. It was thought to have been built by King Tullus Hostilius, the third of Rome’s kings, hence its name (“meeting-house of Hostilius”).

cursus honorum “The way of honor.” If a man aspired to be consul, he had to take certain steps: first he was admitted to the Senate (either by seeking election as quaestor, or by co-optation of the censors, though the censors always had the final word in Gaius Marius’s day); he had to serve as quaestor even if already a senator; after which he had to be elected praetor; and finally he could stand for the consulship. The four steps—senator, quaestor, praetor, and consul—constituted the cursus honorum. Neither of the aedileships (plebeian and curule) nor the tribunate of the plebs was a part of the cursus honorum, but most men who aspired to be consul understood that in order to attract sufficient attention from the electorate, they needed to serve as a tribune of the plebs or as an aedile. The office of censor, available only to those who had already been consul, was also separate from the cursus honorum (see also magistrates).

curule chair In Latin, sella curulis. This was the ivory chair reserved exclusively for men in senior magistracies; a curule aedile sat in one, but a plebeian aedile did not. The praetor and consul used curule chairs. They were the exclusive province of the magistrates who held imperium, as were lictors. In style, the curule chair was beautifully carved, with curved legs crossing in a broad X; it was equipped with very low arms, but had no back. The Roman in a toga sat very straight and allowed nothing to disturb the complicated massing of his toga on arm, back, and shoulders.

Cynic An adherent of the school of philosophy founded by Diogenes of Sinope. It was not a school in the Academic sense, nor was its rule of life of great complexity. Basically, the Cynic believed in simplicity and freedom from the thrall of possessions. Cynics completely mistrusted all human endeavors and worldly aspirations, deeming them self-seeking.

DAMNO One of the two words employed by a jury when delivering a verdict of “guilty.” Presumably there was a reason why a jury would vote DAMNO rather than CONDEMNO; perhaps DAMNO was more vigorous, and was a way of recommending that no mercy be shown in sentencing the damned.

Danastris River The modern river Dniester, in Moldavia. It was also known to the ancients as the Tyras River.

Danubius River The modern Danube, Donau, or Dunarea. The Greeks, who called it the Ister, knew it was a very great river, but had not explored it beyond those inevitable Greek colonies around its outflow into the Euxine. Only its upper, alpine reaches were known to the Romans of Gaius Marius’s day, though like the Greeks, they knew its course through Pannonia and Dacia in theory.

Delphi The great sanctuary of the god Apollo, lying in the lap of Mount Parnassus, in central Greece. From very ancient times it was an important center of worship, though not of Apollo until about the sixth or seventh century B.C. There was an omphalos or navel stone (in all likelihood, a meteorite), and Delphi itself was thought to be the center of the earth. An oracle of awesome fame resided there, its prophecies given by a crone in a state of ecstatic frenzy; she was known as Pythia, or the Pythoness.

demagogue Originally a Greek concept, meaning a politician whose chief appeal was to the crowds. The Roman demagogue preferred the arena of the Comitia well to the Senate House, but it was no part of his policy to “liberate the masses,” nor on the whole were those who listened to him composed of the very lowly. The term was one employed by ultraconservative factions inside the Senate to describe the more radical tribunes of the plebs.

denarius, denarii (pl.) Save for a very rare issue or two of gold coins, the denarius was the largest denomination of Roman Republican coinage. Of pure silver, it contained about 3.5 grams of the metal. There were 6,250 denarii to the talent. It was about the size of a dime, or a threepence.

Dertona Modern Tortona, in northern Italy.

diadem The diadem was a thick white ribbon about 1 inch (25 mm) wide, each end embroidered, and often finished with a fringe. It was worn tied around the head, either across the forehead, or behind the hairline, and knotted beneath the occiput; the ends trailed down onto the shoulders. Originally a mark of Persian royalty, the diadem became the mark of the Hellenistic monarch after Alexander the Great removed it from the tiara of the Persian kings, as being a more appropriately Greek understatement than either crown or tiara.

dignitas A peculiarly Roman concept, dignitas cannot be translated as the English “dignity.” It was a man’s personal share of public standing in the community, and involved his moral and ethical worth, his reputation, his entitlement to respect and proper treatment. Of all the assets a Roman nobleman possessed, dignitas was likely to be the one he was most touchy about; to defend it, he might be prepared to go to war or into exile, to commit suicide, or to execute his wife or his son. I have elected to leave it in the text untranslated, simply as dignitas.

Dis An alternative name for Pluto, the god who ruled the underworld.

diverticulum, diverticula (pl.) In the sense used in this book, a road connecting the main arterial roads which radiated out from the gates of Rome—a “ring road.”

Dodona A temple and precinct sacred to the Greek Zeus. Located among the inland mountains of Epirus some ten miles to the south and west of Lake Pamboris, it was the home of a very famous oracle situated in a sacred oak tree which was also the home of doves.

dominus Literally, “lord.” Domina meant “lady,” and dominilla “little lady.” I have used these words to indicate the kind of respect servants would show to an English nobleman in addressing him as “my lord.”

domus, domi (pl.) Literally, “house.” It was the term used to describe a city house or town house, and as used in this book is intended to mean the residences of those living privately rather than in apartments.

Domus Publicus This was a house owned by the Senate and People of Rome—that is, owned by the State. There were at least several such, and perhaps more—all, it would appear, inhabited by priests. The Pontifex Maximus, the Vestal Virgins, the Rex Sacrorum, and the three major flamines—Dialis, Martialis, and Quirinalis—lived in State-owned houses. All were apparently situated within the Forum Romanum. The evidence suggests that during Republican times, the Pontifex Maximus and the Vestal Virgins shared the same house (on the site of the much later Atrium Vestae, but oriented to the north); this was usually the one meant when the term “Domus Publicus” was used. The house of the Rex Sacrorum, located on the Velia, was referred to as “the King’s house.” I have drawn in the houses of the three major flamines on my map of central Rome in purely arbitrary positions, intended only to show where they might have been.

Dravus River The modern Drava, in Yugoslavia.

Druentia River The modern Durance, in France.

Druidism The major Celtic religion, particularly in Gallia Comata and in Britannia; its priests were called Druids. Druidic headquarters were located in the area of Long-haired Gaul inhabited by the Carnutes. A mystical and naturalistic cult, Druidism did not appeal in the least to any of the Mediterranean peoples, who considered its tenets bizarre.

Duria Major River The modern Dora Baltea, in northern Italy.

Duria Minor River The modern Dora Riparia, in northern Italy.

ecastor The exclamation of surprise or amazement considered polite and permissible for women to utter. Its root suggests it invoked Castor.

edepol The exclamation of surprise or amazement men uttered in the company of women, as sufficiently polite. Its root suggests it invoked Pollux.

Elysium Republican Romans had no real belief in the intact survival of the individual after death, though they did believe in an underworld and in “shades,” which were rather mindless and characterless effigies of the dead. However, to both Greeks and Romans, certain men were considered by the gods to have lived lives of sufficient glory (rather than merit) to warrant their being preserved after death in a place called Elysium, or the Elysian Fields. Even so, these privileged shades were mere wraiths, and could re-experience human emotions and appetites only after a meal of blood.

emporium The word had two meanings. It could denote a seaport whose commercial life was all tied up in maritime trade (the island of Delos was an emporium). Or it could denote a large building on the waterfront of a port where importers and exporters had their offices.

Epicure, Epicurean An adherent of the school of philosophy founded by the Greek Epicurus during the early third century B.C. Personally Epicurus had advocated a brand of hedonism so exquisitely refined it approached asceticism on its left hand, so to speak; a man’s pleasures had to be so relished and strung out and savored that any excess defeated the purpose of the exercise. Public life or any other stressful kind of occupation was forbidden. In Rome especially, these tenets underwent considerable modification, so that a Roman nobleman could call himself an Epicure, yet espouse a public career.

Epirus The Molossian and Thesprotian area of western Greece, isolated from the mainstream of Greek culture by the Gulf of Corinth and the high mountains of central Greece, for there were few passes into Thessaly or Boeotia. After the defeat of Macedonia by Aemilius Paullus in 167 B.C., some 150,000 Epirote people were deported, leaving the country depopulated and helpless. By the time of Gaius Marius, it was largely the fief of absentee Roman landlords who grazed vast herds for wool and leather.

Eporedia Modern Ivrea, in northern Italy.

ethnarch The Greek term for a city magistrate.

Etruria The Latin name for what had once been the Kingdom of the Etruscans. It incorporated the wide coastal plains of northwestern peninsular Italy, from the Tiber in the south to the Arnus in the north, and east to the Apennines of the upper Tiber.

Euxine Sea The modern Black Sea. It was extensively explored and colonized by the Greeks during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., but behind its coasts in its upper regions both on the European side (Sarmatia) and the Asian side (Scythia), the land remained barbarian. Trade routes were many, however, and jealously guarded. Whoever controlled the Thracian Bosporus, the Propontis, and the Hellespont was in a position to levy duty or passage fees between the Euxine and the Aegean; in the time of Gaius Marius, this control belonged to the Kingdom of Bithynia.

faction The term usually applied by modern scholars to Roman Republican political groups. These can in no way be called political parties, for they were extremely flexible, and their membership changed continually. Rather than form around an ideology, the Roman faction formed around a man of formidable auctoritas and dignitas. I have completely avoided the terms “Optimate” and “Popularis” because I do not wish to give any impression that political parties existed.

Fannius paper A Roman Fannius who lived at some time between 150 and 130 B.C. took the worst grade of papyrus paper and subjected it to a treatment which turned it into paper as good as the best hieratical grade. The Brothers Gracchi used Fannius paper, which is how we know when Fannius must have invented his treatment. Fannius paper was far cheaper to buy than hieratical Egyptian paper, as well as easy to obtain.

Fanum Fortunae Modern Fano, in Italy.

fasces These were bundles of birch rods ceremonially tied together in a crisscross pattern by red leather thongs. Originally an emblem of the old Etruscan kings, they persisted in Roman public life throughout the Republic and into the Empire. Carried by men called lictors, they preceded the curule magistrate (and the proconsul and propraetor as well) as a symbol of his imperium. Within the pomerium, only the rods went into the bundles, to signify that the curule magistrate had only the power to chastise; outside the pomerium, axes were inserted into the bundles, to signify that the curule magistrate also had the power to execute. The number of fasces indicated the degree of imperium—a dictator had twenty-four, a consul or proconsul twelve, a praetor or propraetor six, and a curule aedile two.

fasti The Latin word for “holidays,” which has come to mean the calendar as a whole. The calendar was divided into dies fasti and dies nefasti, and was published by being attached to the walls of various buildings, including the Regia and the rostra. It told the Roman what days of the year he could use for business, what days were available for meetings of the Comitia, what days were holidays, what days ill-omened, and when the movable feasts were going to fall. With the year set at 355 days, the calendar was rarely synchronized with the seasons—save when the College of Pontifices took its duties seriously, and intercalated an extra twenty days every two years, after the month of February. Normally the college didn’t bother, as Romans found it hard to see the point of the exercise. The days in each month were not calculated as we do, in a simple consecutive counting-off—March 1, March 2, etc.—the days were counted backward from one of three nodal points: the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides. Thus, instead of March 3, a Roman would say “four days before the Nones of March,” and instead of March 28, he would say “four days before the Kalends of April.” To us, very confusing! But not to the Romans.