The Grass Crown

by Colleen McCullough

  dominus Literally, "lord." Domine, the vocative case, was used in address. Domina meant "lady" and dominilla "little lady."

  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 considered polite and permissible for men to utter when in the company of women. Its root suggests it invoked Pollux.

  Elysian Fields 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 latter were rather mindless and characterless effigies of the dead. To both Greeks and Romans, however, 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 only come to re-experience human emotions and appetites after drinking blood. The living human being requiring an audience with a dweller in the Elysian Fields had to dig a pit on the border, sacrifice his animal, and fill the pit with blood. After drinking, the shade could talk.

  emporium This word had two meanings. It could denote a seaport whose commercial activities were tied up in maritime trade, as in the case of the island of Delos; or it could denote a large waterfront building where importers and exporters had their offices.

  epulones Some of the religious holidays in the Republican year were celebrated by a feast, or a feast was a part of the day's festivities. The task of organizing these feasts was the responsibility of the College of Epulones, a minor priestly institution. If the feast involved only the Senate or a similarly small number of men, catering for it was easy; but some feasts involved the entire free population of Rome. Originally there had been only three epulones, but by the time of Marius and Sulla, there were eight or ten of them. ergastula Singular, ergastulum. These were locked barracks for criminals or slaves. Ergastula became infamous when large-scale pastoralists increased in numbers from the time of the Brothers Gracchi onward; such land leasers used chain-gang labor to run their latifundia (ranches) and locked them into ergastula.

  ethnarch The Greek word for a city or town magistrate.

  Etruria The Latin name for what had once been the kingdom of the Etruscans. It incorporated the wide coastal plains west of the Apennines, from the Tiber in the south to the Arnus in the north. During the late Republic its most important towns were Veii, Cosa, and Clusium. The Viae Aurelia, Clodia, and Cassia ran through it.

  Euxine Sea The modern Black Sea. It was extensively explored by the Greeks during the seventh and sixth centuries b.c., and several colonies of Greek traders were established on its shores. Because of the large number of mighty rivers which emptied into it, it was always less salty than other seas, and the current through the Thracian Bosporus and the Hellespont always flowed from the Euxine to the Aegean—a help leaving, a hindrance entering. By far the most powerful nation bordering it was Pontus; the Euxine shores were subdued and conquered by the sixth King Mithridates of Pontus. However, Bithynia controlled the Thracian Bosporus, the Propontis, and the Hellespont, and so made a large income from levying duty and passage fees upon ships passing through these bodies of water. Bithynia's

  ownership of the Euxine entrance undoubtedly accounted for the bitter enmity between Bithynia and Pontus.

  extortion See repetundae.

  faction This is the term usually applied to Republican Roman political groups by modern scholars. These groups could in no way be called political parties in the modern sense, as they were extremely flexible, with a constantly changing membership. Rather than form around an ideology, the Republican Roman faction formed around an individual owning enormous auctoritas or dignitas. I have completely avoided the terms "Optimate" and "Popularis" because I do not wish to give any impression that political parties existed.

  fasces The fasces were bundles of birch rods ritually tied together in a crisscross pattern by red leather thongs. Originally an emblem of the Etruscan kings, they passed into the customs of the emerging Rome, persisted in Roman public life throughout the Republic, and on into the Empire. Carried by men called lictors, they preceded the curule magistrate (and the propraetor and proconsul as well) as the outward 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 (and proconsul) twelve, a praetor (and propraetor) six, and a curule aedile two.

  fasti This Latin word actually meant days on which business could be transacted, but by the time of Marius and Sulla it had come to mean several other things: the calendar, lists relating to holidays and festivals, and the list of consuls (this last probably because Republican Romans did not reckon their years by number as much as by who had been consuls). The entry in the glossary to The First Man in Rome contains a fuller explanation of the calendar than space permits me here—under fasti, of course.

  flamen Plural, flamines. A priest of a very special kind. There were fifteen flamines, three major and twelve minor. The three major flamines were the flamen Dialis (priest of Jupiter Optimus Maximus), the flamen Martialis (priest of Mars), and the flamen Quirinalis (priest of Quirinus). Save for the flamen Dialis, no flamen seemed to have very onerous duties, yet the three major priests at least received their housing and living at the expense of the State. They were probably Rome's most ancient pontifices.

  Fortuna The Roman goddess of fortune, and one of the most fervently worshipped deities in the Roman pantheon. There were many temples to Fortuna, each dedicated to the goddess in a different guise or light. But the aspect of Fortuna who mattered most to politicians and generals was Fortuna Huiusque Diei—"The Fortune of This Present Day." Even men as formidably intelligent and able as Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Gaius Julius Caesar the Dictator believed in the machinations of Fortuna implicitly, and courted her favor.

  forum An open-air meeting place for all kinds of business, public and private. Some fora (plural) were devoted to meat, others to vegetables, or fish, or grain, while others witnessed political assemblies and the business of government. Even an army camp had its forum, situated alongside the general's tent.

  freedman A manumitted slave. Though technically a free man (and, if his former master was a Roman citizen, a Roman citizen himself), the freedman remained in the patronage of his former master. At the time of Marius and Sulla he had little chance to exercise his right to vote in the tribal assemblies, as he belonged to one of two urban tribes—Esquilina and Suburana. If he was of superior ability or ruthlessness, he might, however, be able to vote in the classes of the Centuriate Assembly once he acquired sufficient wealth; freedmen capable of amassing a fortune usually bought their way into a rural tribe and so possessed the complete franchise.

  free man A man born free and never sold into slavery (except as a nexus or debt slave, which was rare among Roman citizens during the time of Marius and Sulla, though still prevalent among the Italian Allies). Fregellae This had been a Latin Rights community with an unblemished record of loyalty to Rome; then in 125 b.c. it revolted against Rome and was crushed by the praetor Lucius Opimius in circumstances of singular cruelty. Destroyed completely, the town never recovered. It was situated on the Via Latina and the Liris River just across the border in Samnium.

  Further Spain Hispania Ulterior. This was the further of Rome's two Spanish provinces—that is, it lay further away from Rome than the other province, called Nearer Spain. In the time of Marius and Sulla the border between Nearer and Further Spains was somewhat tenuous. By and large, the Further province encompassed the entire basins of the Baetis and Anas rivers, the ore-bearing mountains in which the Baetis and the Anas rose, the Atlantic littoral from the Pilla
rs of Hercules to Olisippo at the mouth of the Tagus, and the Mediterranean littoral from the Pillars to the port of Abdera. The largest city by far was Gades, but the seat of the governor was Corduba. Strabo calls it the richest growing land in the world.

  Gallia Comata Long-haired Gaul. Having excluded the Roman province of Gaul-across-the-Alps, Gallia Comata incorporated modern France and Belgium, together with that part of Holland south of the Rhine. The Rhine throughout its length formed the border between Gaul and Germania. The inhabitants of all areas away from the Rhine were Druidical Celts; close to the Rhine the strains were mixed due to successive invasions of Germans. Long-haired Gaul was so called because its peoples wore their hair uncut. games In Latin, ludi. They were a Roman institution and pastime which went back at least as far as the very early Republic, and probably a lot further. At first they were celebrated only when a general triumphed, but in 336 b.c., the ludi Romani became an annual event held in honor of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, whose feast day occurred on September 13. At first the ludi Romani were over in a single day, but as the Republic aged they increased in length; at the time of Marius and Sulla they went on for ten days. Though there were a few rather half-hearted boxing and wrestling bouts, Roman games never possessed the athletic nature of Greek games. At first the games consisted mostly of chariot races, then gradually came to incorporate animal hunts, and plays performed in specially erected theaters. On the first day of every games, there was a spectacular religious procession through the Circus, after which came a chariot race or two, and then the boxing and wrestling, limited to this first day. The succeeding days were taken up with plays in the theater; tragedies were far less popular than comedies, and by the time of Marius and Sulla mimes were most popular of all. Then as the games drew to a close, chariot racing reigned supreme, with wild beast hunts to vary the program. Gladiatorial combats did not form a part of Republican games (they were put on by private individuals, usually as part of a funeral, in the Forum Romanum rather than in the Circus). The games were put on at the expense of the State, though men ambitious to make a name for themselves dug deep into their purses when serving as aediles to make "their" games more spectacular than the State allocation of funds permitted. Most of the big games were held in the Circus Maximus, some of the smaller ones in the Circus Flaminius. Free Roman citizen men and women could attend (there was no admission charge), with women segregated in the theater but not in the Circus; neither slaves nor freedmen were allowed admission, probably because even the Circus Maximus, which held perhaps 150,000 people, was not large enough to contain freedmen as well as free men.

  Gaul-across-the-Alps Gallia Transalpina. I have preferred to endow Gallia Transalpina with a more pedestrian name because of the hideous confusion nonclassical readers would experience if they had to deal with Cis and Trans. Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus won the Roman Gallic province for Rome just before 120 b.c. to ensure that Rome would have a safe land route for her armies marching between Italy and Spain. The province consisted of a coastal strip all the way from Liguria to the Pyrenees, with two inland incursions—one to Tolosa in Aquitania, the other up the valley of the Rhodanus as far as the trading post of Lugdunum (Lyon).

  gens Plural, gentes. A Roman clan whose members all owned the same nomen or family name, also called the gentilicial name. Julius, Domitius, Cornelius, Aemilius, Servilius, Livius, Porcius, Junius and Licinius were all gentilicial names, for example. All the genuine members of the same gens (that is, excluding freed slaves who adopted their masters' names) could trace their line back to a common ancestor. The terms gens was feminine gender, hence gens Julia, gens Cornelia, gens Servilia, and so forth.

  gig A two-wheeled vehicle drawn by either two or four animals, more usually mules than horses. The gig was very lightly and flexibly built within the limitations of ancient vehicles—springs and shock absorbers did not exist—and was the vehicle of choice for a Roman in a hurry because it was easy for the animals to draw, therefore speedy. However, it was open to the elements. In Latin it was cisia. The two-wheeled closed-in carriage, a heavier and slower vehicle, was called the carpentum.

  gladiator A soldier of the sawdust, a professional warrior who performed his trade before an audience as a form of entertainment. An inheritance from the Etruscans, he always flourished throughout Italy, including Rome. During the Republic he was an honorable as well as an heroic figure, was well cared for and free to come and go. His origins were several: he might be a deserter from the legions, a condemned criminal, a slave, or a free man who voluntarily signed himself up. In Republican times he served for perhaps four to six years, and on an average fought perhaps five times in any one year; it was rare for him to die, and the Empire’s "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" verdict was still far in the future. When he retired he was prone to hire himself out as a bodyguard or bouncer. To own a gladiatorial school was considered a smart investment for a Roman businessman.

  Gold of Tolosa Perhaps several years after 278 b.c., a segment of the tribe Volcae Tectosages returned from Macedonia to their homeland around Aquitanian Tolosa (modern Toulouse) bearing the accumulated spoils from many sacked temples (see Brennus). These were melted down and stored in the artificial lakes which dotted the precincts of Tolosa's temples; the gold was left lying undisturbed beneath the water, whereas the silver was regularly hauled out—it had been formed into gigantic millstones which were used to grind the wheat. In 106 b.c. the consul Quintus Servilius Caepio was ordered during his consulship to make war against migrating Germans who had taken up residence around Tolosa. When he arrived in the area he found the Germans gone, for they had quarreled with their hosts, the Volcae Tectosages, and been ordered away. Instead of fighting a battle, Caepio the Consul found a vast amount of gold and silver in the sacred lakes of Tolosa. The silver amounted to 10,000 talents (250 imperial tons) including the millstones, and the gold to 15,000 talents (370 imperial tons). The silver was transported to the port of Narbo and shipped to Rome, whereupon the wagons returned to Tolosa and were loaded with the gold; the wagon train was escorted by one cohort of Roman legionaries, some 520 men. Near the fortress of Carcasso the wagon train of gold was attacked by brigands, the soldier escort was slaughtered, and the wagon train disappeared, together with its precious cargo. It was never seen again.

  At the time no suspicion attached to Caepio the Consul, but after the odium he incurred over his conduct at the battle of Arausio a year later, it began to be rumored that Caepio the Consul had organized the attack on the wagon train and deposited the gold in Smyrna in his own name. Though he was never tried for the Great Wagon Train Robbery, he was tried for the loss of his army, convicted, and sent into exile. He chose to spend his exile in Smyrna, where he died in 100 b.c. The story of the Gold of Tolosa is told in the ancient sources, which do not state categorically that Caepio the Consul stole it. However, it seems logical. And there is no doubt that the Servilii Caepiones who succeeded Caepio the Consul down to the time of Brutus (the last heir) were fabulously wealthy. Nor is there much doubt that most of Rome thought Caepio the Consul responsible for the disappearance of more gold than Rome had in the Treasury. Good Men See boni.

  governor A convenient English word to describe the consul or praetor, proconsul or propraetor, who—usually for the space of one year—ruled a Roman province in the name of the Senate and People of Rome. The degree of imperium the governor owned varied, as did the extent of his commission. However, no matter what his imperium, while in his province he was virtual king of it. He was responsibly for its defense, administration, the gathering of its taxes and tithes, and all decisions pertaining to it. Provinces notoriously difficult to govern were generally given to consuls, peaceful backwaters to praetors.

  The Gracchi More generally known as the Brothers Gracchi. Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus and Aemilia Paulla, was married when eighteen years old to the forty-five-year-old Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus; the year was about 172 b.c., and Scipio Africanus had been dead for twelve years. Tiberius Semproni
us Gracchus was consul in 177 b.c., censor in 169 b.c., and consul a second time in 163 b.c. By the time he died in 154 b.c. he was the father of twelve children. However, they were a universally sickly brood; only three of them did Cornelia manage to raise to adulthood, despite assiduous care. The oldest of these three was a girl, Sempronia, who was married as soon as she was of age to her cousin Scipio Aemilianus. The two younger children were boys. Tiberius was born in 163 b.c., his brother Gaius not until the year of his father's death, 154 b.c. Thus both boys owed their upbringing to their mother, who by all accounts did a superlative job.

  Both the Brothers Gracchi served under their mother's first cousin (and their own brother-in-law) Scipio Aemilianus—Tiberius during the Third Punic War, Gaius at Numantia—they were conspicuously brave. In 137 b.c. Tiberius was sent as quaestor to Nearer Spain, where he single-handedly negotiated a treaty to extricate the defeated Hostilius Mancinus from Numantia, thus saving Mancinus's army from annihilation; however, Scipio Aemilianus considered Tiberius's action disgraceful, and managed to persuade the Senate not to ratify the treaty. Tiberius never forgave his cousin and brother-in-law.

  In 133 b.c. Tiberius was elected a tribune of the plebs and set out to right the wrongs the State was perpetrating in its leasing of the ager publicus. Against furious opposition, he passed an agrarian law which limited the amount of public land any one man might lease or own to 500 iugera (with an extra 250 iugera per son), and set up a commission to distribute the surplus land this limit produced among the civilian poor of Rome. His aim was not only to rid Rome of some of her less useful citizens, but also to ensure that future generations would be in a position to give Rome sons qualified at the means test to serve in the army. When the Senate chose to filibuster, Tiberius took his bill straight to the Plebeian Assembly—and stirred up a hornets' nest thereby, as this move ran counter to all established practice. One of his fellow tribunes of the plebs, his relative Marcus Octavius, vetoed the bill in the Plebeian Assembly, and was illegally deposed from office—yet another enormous offense against the mos maiorum (that is, established custom and practice). The legality of these ploys mattered less to Tiberius's opponents than did the fact that they contravened established practice, however unwritten that. established practice might be.