CHAPTER II.
The squall had completely died away; the waves were still tossing andtumbling in the bay, but the streamers of the crowd of barks, which layunder the shore, hardly fluttered in the breeze, and the fishing-boatswere putting out to sea in little fleets.
Gay and busy was the scene on the quays of Baiae; distinguishedvisitors from every part of the vast empire were driving, riding orwalking on the lava-paved[48] sea-wall, and the long roads round theharbor. Elegantly-dressed ladies in magnificent litters were borne bySicambri[49] in red livery,[50] or by woolly-headed Ethiopians.[51]Lower down a crowd of sailors shouted and struggled, and weather-beatenporters in Phrygian caps urgently offered their services, while vendorsof cakes and fruit shrilly advertised the quality of their fragrantgoods. Behind this bustling foreground of unresting and eager activityrose the amphitheatre of buildings that composed the town. Aureliushad been charmed with Panormus and Gades, but he now had to confessthat they both must yield the palm in comparison with this, the finestpleasure-resort and bathing-place in the world. Palace was ranged abovepalace, villa beyond villa, temple above temple. Amid an ocean ofgreenery stood statues, halls, theatres and baths;[52] as far round asthe promontory of Misenum the shores of the bay were one long town ofvillas, gorgeous with the combined splendors of wealth, and of naturalbeauty.
The two ladies and their cortege proceeded for some distance alongthe shore of the harbor, and then turned up-hill in the directionof Cumae.[53] In front walked eight or ten slaves[54] who clearedthe way; then came Octavia, her litter borne by six bronze-huedLusitanians.[55] Claudia shared her litter with Baucis, whileHerodianus, Magus, Octavia's rowers, and a few servants with variousbundles followed on foot. Aurelius had mounted his Hispanian horse androde by the side of the little caravan, sometimes in front, sometimesbehind, and enquiring the way, now of Octavia and now of Claudia andBaucis.
"Our villa is quite at the top of the ridge," said Claudia. "There,where the holm oaks come down to the fig gardens."
"What?" cried Aurelius in surprise. "That great pillared building, halfburied in the woods to the left?"
"No, no," said the girl laughing; "the gods have not housed us somagnificently. To the right--that little villa in the knoll."
"Ah!" cried the Batavian; the disappointment was evidently a verypleasant one. "And whose is that vast palace?"
"It belongs to Domitia, Caesar's wife. Since she has lived separatefrom her imperial lord, she always spends the summer here."
The road grew steeper as they mounted.
"Oh merciful power!" sighed the worthy Baucis, "to think that thesefine young men should be made to toil thus for an old woman! ByOsiris! I am ashamed of myself. To carry you, sweet Claudia, is indeeda pleasure--but me, wrinkled old Baucis! If I had not sprained myribs--as sure as I live...! But I will reward them for it; each manshall have a little jar of Nile-water."
"Do not be uneasy on their account," said Herodianus, wiping his brow."Our Northmen are used to heavier burdens!" Then, turning to Magus, hewent on: "By all the gods, I entreat you--a draught of Caecubum![56] Iam bound to carry this weary load," and he slapped his round paunch,"this Erymanthian boar,[57] like a second Hercules, to the top of thehill on my own unaided legs! and I am dropping with exhaustion."
The Goth smiled and signed to one of the slaves, who was carrying wineand other refreshments.
"The wine of Caecubus," said Herodianus, "is especially good againstfatigue. Dionysus,[58] gracious giver, I sacrifice to thee!" and ashe spoke he shed a few drops as a libation[59] on the earth and thenemptied the cup with the promptitude of a practised drinker.
In about twenty minutes more they reached Octavia's house; in thevestibule[60] a young girl came running out to meet them.
"Mother, dear, sweet mother!" she cried excitedly, "and Claudia,my darling! Here you are at last. Oh! we have been so dreadfullyfrightened, Quintus and I; that awful storm! the whole bay was churnedup, as white as milk. But oh! I am glad to have you safe again!Quintus! Quintus!..."
And she flew back into the house, where they heard her fresh, happyvoice still calling: "Quintus!"
"My adopted daughter,"[61] said Octavia, in answer to an enquiringglance from Aurelius.
"Lucilia," added Claudia, "whom I love as if she were my own realsister."
Aurelius, who had sprung from his horse, throwing the bridle to hisfaithful Magus, was on the point of conducting Octavia into theatrium,[62] when a youth of remarkable beauty appeared in the door-wayand silently clasped this lady in his arms. Then he pressed a longand loving kiss on Claudia's lips, and it was not till after he hadthus welcomed the mother and daughter, that he turned hesitatingly toAurelius, who stood on one side blushing deeply; a sign from Octaviapostponed all explanation. The whole party entered the house, and itwas not till they were standing in the pillared hall, where marbleseats piled with cushions invited them to repose, that Octavia said tothe astonished youth with a certain solemnity of mien:
"Quintus, my son, it is to this stranger--the noble and illustriousCaius Aurelius Menapius, of Trajectum, in the land of the Batavi--thatyou owe it that you see us here now. He took us on board his trireme,for our boat was sinking. I declare myself his debtor henceforthforever. Do you, on your part, show him all the hospitality and regardthat he deserves." Quintus came forward and embraced Aurelius.
"I hope, my lord," he said with an engaging smile, "that you willfor some time give us the honor of your company and so give us, yourdebtors, the opportunity we desire of becoming your friends."
"He has already promised to do so," said Octavia.
Lucilia now joined them, having put on a handsomer dress in honor ofthe stranger, and stuck a rose into her chestnut hair; she sat down byClaudia and took her hand, leaning her head against her shoulder.
"But tell us the whole story!" cried Quintus. "I am burning to hear afull and exact account of your adventure."
Octavia told her tale; one thing gave rise to another, and before theythought it possible, it was the hour for dinner--the first serious mealof the day, at about noon--and they adjourned to the triclinium.[63]
Under no circumstances do people so soon wax intimate as at meals.Aurelius, who until now had listened more than he had spoken, soonbecame talkative under the cool and comfortable vaulted roof ofthe eating-room, and he grew quite eager and vivacious as he toldof his long and dangerous voyage, of the towns he had visited, andparticularly of his distant home in the north. He spoke of hisdistinguished father, who, as a merchant, had travelled eastwardsto the remote lands east of the peninsula of the Cimbri[64] and tothe fog-veiled shores of the Guttoni,[65] the Aestui[66] and theScandii;[67] indeed Aurelius himself knew much of the wonders andpeculiarities of these little-visited lands, for he had three timesaccompanied his father. Many a time on these expeditions had theypassed the night in lonely settlements or hamlets, where not a soulamong the natives understood the Roman tongue, where the bear and theaurochs fought in the neighboring woods, or eternal terrors broodedover the boundless plain.
These pictures of inhospitable and desert regions, which Aurelius sovividly brought before their fancy, were those which best pleasedhis hearers. Here, close to the luxurious town, and surrounded byeverything that could add comfort and enjoyment to life, the ideaof perils so remote seemed to double their appreciation.[68] Whenthey rose from table the ladies withdrew, to indulge in that privaterepose which was customary of an afternoon. Lucilia could not forbearwhispering to her companion, that she would far rather have remainedwith the young men--that Aurelius was a quite delightful creature,modest and frank, and at the same time upright and steady--a rock inthe sea on which the Pharos of a life's happiness might be securelyfounded.
"You know," she added earnestly, while her eyes sparkled withexcitement from under her thick curls, "Quintus is far handsomer--he isexactly like the Apollo in the Golden House[69] by the Esquiline. Buthe is also like the gods, in that he is apt to vanish suddenly behinda cloud, and is gon
e. Now Aurelius, or my soul deceives me, would beconstant to those he loved. It is a pity that his rank is no higherthan that of knight, and that he is so unlucky as to be a native ofTrajectum."
"Oh! you thorough Roman!" laughed Claudia. "No one is good for anythingin your eyes, that was not born within sight of the Seven Hills."[70]
She put her arm round her gay companion, and carried her offhalf-resisting to their quiet sleeping-room.
Neither Quintus nor Aurelius cared to follow the example of theladies--not the Roman, for he had slept on late into the day--nor thestranger, for the excitement of this eventful morning had feveredhis blood. Besides, there was the temptation of an atmosphere as ofParadise, uniting the glory and plenitude of summer with the freshtransparency of autumn. During dinner Aurelius had turned againand again to look through the wide door-way at the beautiful scenewithout, and now he crossed the threshold and filled his spirit withthe loveliness before him. Here was not--as in the formal gardens ofRome[71]--a parterre where everything was planned by line and square;here were no trained trees and hedges, circular beds or clipped shrubs.All was free and wholesome Nature, lavish and thriving vitality. Thepaths alone, leading from the villa in three directions into the wood,betrayed the care of man. The whole vegetation of the happy land ofCampania seemed to have been brought together on the slope below. Hugeplane-trees, on which vines hung their garlands, lifted their headsabove the holm-oaks and gnarled quinces. The broad-leaved fig glistenedby the side of the grey-green olive; here stood a clump of stalwartpines, there wide-spreading walnuts and slender poplars. Below themwas a wild confusion of brush-wood and creepers; ivy, periwinkle andacanthus entangled the giants of the wood with an inextricable network.Maiden-hair hung in luxuriant tufts above the myrtles and bays, andsombre evergreens contrasted with the brilliant centifolia. In shortthe whole plant-world of southern Italy here held an intoxicating orgy.Quintus seemed to divine the thoughts of the young Northman, and puthis hand confidingly through his guest's arm, and so they walked on,taking the middle path of the three before them, and gently mountingthe hill.
"I can see," said Quintus, "that you are a lover of Nature; I quiteunderstand that a garden at Baiae must seem enchanting to you, who camehither from the region of Boreas himself, where the birch and the beechcan scarcely thrive. But you can only form a complete idea of it fromthe top of the hill; we have built a sort of temple there and the viewis unequalled...."
"You are greatly to be envied," said Aurelius. "And how is it thatTitus Claudius, your illustrious father, does not enjoy himself on thislovely estate, instead of living in Rome as I hear he does?"
"As priest to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus[72] he is tied to thecapital. The rules forbid his ever quitting it for more than a nightat a time. Dignity, you see, brings its own burdens, and not even thegreatest can have everything their own way. Many a time has my fatherlonged to be away from the turbulent metropolis--but no god has brokenhis chains. Unfulfilled desires are the lot of all men."
He spoke with such emphasis, that the stranger glanced at him.
"What desire of yours can be unfulfilled?"
A meaning smile parted the Roman's lips.
"If you are thinking of things which gold and silver will purchase,certainly I lack little. Everything may be had in Rome for money;everything--excepting one thing; the stilling of our craving forhappiness."
"What do you understand by that?"
"Can you ask me? I, here and as you see me, am a favorite of fortune,rich and independent by my grandfather's will, which left me possessedof several millions at an early age--as free and healthy as abird--strong and well-grown and expert in all that is expected of ayoung fellow in my position. I had hardly to do more than put out myhand, to acquire the most influential position and the highest officesand honors--to become Praetor or Consul.[73] I am well received atcourt, and look boldly in the face of Caesar, before whom so manytremble. I am betrothed to a maiden as fair as Aphrodite herself, and ahundred others, no less fair, would give years of their lives to callme their lover for a week--and yet--have you ever felt what it is toloathe your existence?"
"No!" said Aurelius.
"Then you are divine, among mortals. You see, weeks and months go byin the turmoil of enjoyment; the bewildered brain is incapable offollowing it all--then life is endurable. My cup wreathed with roses,a fiery-eyed dancer from Gades[74] by my side, floating on the giddywhirl of luxury, as mad and thoughtless as a thyrsus-bearer[75] at thefeast of Dionysus--under such conditions I can bear it for a while. Buthere, where my unoccupied mind is thrown back upon itself...."
"But what you say," interrupted Aurelius, "proves not that you aresatiated with the joys of life, so much as--you will forgive myplainness--that you are satiated with excess. You are betrothed, yousay, and yet you can feel a flame for a fiery-eyed Gaditanian. In mycountry a man keeps away from all other girls, when he has chosen hisbride."
"Oh yes! I know that morality has taken refuge in the provinces,"said Quintus ironically. "But the youth of Rome go to work somewhatdifferently, and no one thinks the worse of us for it. Of course weavoid public comment, which otherwise is anxiously courted--but we livenevertheless just as the humor takes us."
Aurelius shook his head doubtfully.
"Well, well," said Quintus. "You good folks in the north have astricter code--Tacitus describes the savage Germanic tribes as almostequally severe. But Rome is Roman.--No prayers can alter that; andafter all you get used to it! I believe Cornelia herself would hardlyscold if she heard.... Besides, it is in the air. Old Cato haslong, long been forgotten, and the new Babylon by the Tiber wantspleasure--will have pleasure, for in pleasure alone can she find hervocation and the justification of her existence."
"And does your bride live in the capital?" asked Aurelius after a pause.
"At Tibur," replied Quintus. "Her uncle, Cornelius Cinna, avoids theneighborhood of the court on principle. The fact that Domitia resideshere is quite enough to make him hate Baiae--although, as you know,Domitia has long ceased to belong to Caesar's court."
Aurelius was silent. Often had his worldly-wise father warned himnever to speak of affairs of state or even of the throne, exceptingin the narrowest circle of his most trusted friends; under the reignof terror of Domitian, the most trivial remark might prove fatefulto the speaker. The numerous spies, known as delators, who had foundtheir way everywhere, scenting their prey, had undermined all mutualconfidence and trust to such an extent that friends feared each other;the patron trembled before his client, and the master before his slave.Although the manner and address of his host invited confidence, cautionwas always on the safe side, all the more so as the young Roman wasevidently an ally of the court party. So the Northman checked theutterance of that fierce patriotism, which the hated name of Domitianhad so painfully stirred in his soul. "Unhappy Rome!" thought he: "Whatcan and must become of you, if men like this Quintus have no feelingfor your disgrace and needs?"
The next turn in the path brought them within sight of the littletemple; marble steps, half covered with creepers, led through aCorinthian portico into the airy hall within. The panorama from thisspot was indeed magnificent; far below lay the blue waters of the bay,with the stupendous bridge of Nero;[76] farther away lay Baiae withits thousand palaces and the forest of masts by Puteoli; beyond these,Parthenope, beautiful Surrentum,[77] and the shining islands bathedby the boundless sea; the vaporous cloud from Vesuvius hung like acone of snow in the still blue atmosphere. To the north the horizonwas bounded by the bay of Caieta[78] the Lucrine lake and the woodedslopes of Cumae. The foreground was no less enchanting; all round thepavilion lay a verdurous and luxuriant wilderness, and hardly a hundredpaces from the spot rose the colossal palace of the Empress, shaded byvenerable trees. The mysterious silence of noon brooded over the wholelandscape; only a faint hum of life came up from the seaport. All elsewas still, not a living creature seemed to breathe within ear-shot....
Suddenly a sound came through the air, like a suppres
sed groan;Aurelius looked round--out there, there where the branches parted in anarch to form a vista down into the valley--there was a white object,something like a human form. The young foreigner involuntarily pointedthat way.
"Look there, Quintus!" he whispered to his companion.
"That is part of the Empress's grounds," replied the Roman.
"But do you see nothing there by the trunk of that plane-tree? Aboutsix--eight paces on the other side of the laurel-hedge? Hark! there isthat groan again."
"Pah! Some slave or another who has been flogged. Stephanus, Domitia'ssteward, is one of those who know how to make themselves obeyed."
"But it was such a deep, heartrending sigh!"
"No doubt," laughed Quintus; "Stephanus is no trifler. Where his lashfalls the skin comes off; then he is apt to tie up the men he hasflogged in the wood here, where the gnats...."
"Hideous!" cried Aurelius interrupting him. "Let us run down and setthe poor wretch free!"
"I will take good care to do nothing of the kind. We have no right inthe world to do such a thing."
"Well, at any rate, I will find out what he has done wrong. Historturer's brutality makes me hot with indignation!"
So speaking he walked straight down the hill through the brushwood.Quintus followed, not over-pleased at the incident; and he was verynear giving vent to his annoyance when a swaying branch hit him sharplyon the forehead. But the native courtesy, the urbanity[79] or townbreeding, which distinguished every Roman, prevailed, and in a fewminutes they had reached the laurel-hedge. Quintus was surprised tofind himself in front of a tolerably wide gap, which could not havebeen made by accident; but there the young men paused, for Quintushesitated to trespass on the Empress's grounds.
The sight which met his eyes was a common one enough to the bluntednerves of the Roman, but Aurelius was deeply moved. A pale, beardedman,[80] young, but with a singularly resolute expression, stoodfettered to a wooden post, his back dreadfully lacerated by a stick orlash, while swarms of insects buzzed round his bleeding body.
"Hapless wretch!" cried Aurelius. "What have you done, that you shouldatone for it so cruelly?"
The slave groaned, glanced up to heaven and said in a choked voice:
"I did my duty."
"And are men punished in your country for doing their duty?" asked theBatavian frowning, and, unable any longer to control himself, he wentstraight up to the victim and prepared to release him. The slave's facelighted up with pleasure.
"I thank you, stranger," he said with emotion, "but if you were torelease me, it would be doing me an ill-turn. Fresh torture would beall that would come of it. Let me be; I have borne the like before now;I have only another hour to hold out. If you feel kindly towards me, goaway, leave me! Woe is me if any one sees you here!"
Quintus now came up to him; this really heroic resignation excited hisastonishment, nay, his admiration.
"Man," said he, waving away the swarm of gnats with his hand, "are youa disciple of the Stoa,[81] or yourself a demi-god? Who in the worldhas taught you thus to contemn pain?"
"My lord," replied the slave, "many better than I have endured greatersuffering."
"Greater suffering--yes, but to greater ends. A Regulus, a Scaevolahave suffered for their country; but you--a wretched slave, a grainof sand among millions--you, whose sufferings are of no more accountthan the death of a trapped jackal--where do you find this indomitablecourage? What god has endowed you with such superhuman strength?"
A beatific smile stole over the man's drawn features.
"The one true God," he replied with fervent emphasis, "who has pity onthe feeble; the all-merciful God, who loves the poor and abject."
A step was heard approaching.
"Leave me here alone!" the slave implored them. "It is the overseer."
Quintus and Aurelius withdrew silently, but from the top of the copsethey could see a hump-backed figure that came muttering and grumblingup to where the slave was bound, released him presently from the stakeand led him away into the gardens. For a minute or two longer the youngmen lingered under the pavilion and then, lost in thought, returned tothe house. Their conversation could not be revived.
FOOTNOTES:
[48] LAVA BLOCKS. The usual material for pavements in central and southern Italy.
[49] SICAMBRI. A powerful German tribe, occupying in the time of Caesar the eastern bank of the Rhine, and extending from the Sieg to the Lippe.
[50] RED LIVERY. The usual costume of the litter-bearers in the time of the emperors.
[51] WOOLLY-HEADED ETHIOPIANS. The name Ethiopian [Greek: Aithiopes] in its more restricted sense, applies to the inhabitants of Upper Egypt; in a more general meaning to the whole population of North-eastern Africa, and South-western Asia. According to Herodotus (VII, 70) the Ethiopians dwelling in the East had smooth, those in the West woolly hair.
[52] BATHS (_thermae_, [Greek: thermai], that is "warm baths") were public bathing-establishments on the grandest scale, modelled after the Greek wrestling-schools. See Becker, _Gallus_ III, p. 68 and following.
[53] CUMAE ([Greek: Kyme]) now Cuma, the oldest of the Greek colonies in Italy, beyond the mountain range that bounds the bay of Baja on the west; it is only a few thousand paces from Baja.
[54] IN FRONT WALKED EIGHT OR TEN SLAVES. Such a vanguard was customary among people of distinction, even when they went on foot.
[55] LUSITANIANS. A people living in the region now known as Portugal, between the Tagus (_Tajo_, _Tejo_) and Durius, (_Duero_, _Douro_.)
[56] CAECUBUM. A district on the shores of the bay of Gaeta, famous for its wine. See (Horace _Od._ I, 20, 9 and I, 37, 5) where it is said, that it would be positively sinful to bring Caecubian wine from the cellar with other kinds on ordinary occasions (_antehac nefas depromere Caecubum cellis avitis_, _etc._).
[57] ERYMANTHIAN BOAR. So called from Mt. Erymanthus in Arcadia, where the animal lived until slain by Hercules.
[58] DIONYSUS. A surname of Bacchus.
[59] LIBATION. Wine poured as an offering to the gods.
[60] VESTIBULUM. The space in front of the house-door (_fores_) which in the time of the imperial government was frequently covered with a portico.
[61] ADOPTED DAUGHTER. The adoption of a child in ancient Rome was regulated by very strict laws. Adoption in its narrower sense (_adoptio_) extended to persons who were still under paternal authority; with self-dependent persons the so-called _arrogatio_ took place. With women this last form was entirely excluded.
[62] ATRIUM. From the door of the house a narrow passage (_ostium_) led to the first inner court, the atrium, so-called because this space, where the hearth originally was, was _blackened_ by the smoke (_ater_). The atrium, which in the more ancient Roman houses possessed the character of a room with a comparatively small opening in the roof, and afterwards resembled a court-yard, was at first the central point of family life, the sitting-room, where the industrious house-keeper sat enthroned among her slaves. When republican simplicity gave way to luxury, the atrium became the hall devoted to the reception of guests, and domestic life was confined to the more retired apartments.
[63] TRICLINIUM, (triple couch) really the sofa on which three, and sometimes even more persons reclined at table; the name was also given to the dining-room itself, which comprised the second inner court-yard, the so-called peristyle or cavaedium.
[64] CIMBRIAN PENINSULA, now called Jutland.
[65] GUTTONI. A German race on the lower Vistula.
[66] AESTUI. A German race living on the coast of Revel.
[67] SCANDII. Inhabitants of southern Sweden.
[68] THE SENSE OF CONTRAST was a conspicuous trait in Roman character. They were wont to heig
hten their appreciation of the joys of life by images of death, and the dining-room was intentionally placed so as to afford a view of tombs.
[69] THE GOLDEN HOUSE (_domus aurea_). The name given to the magnificent palace of Nero, which extended from the Palatine Hill across the valley and up again as far as the gardens of Macaenas on the Esquiline. It contained an enormous number of the choicest works in statuary. Vespasian had a large part of this building pulled down.
[70] THE SEVEN HILLS. Contempt for all who lived in the provinces was peculiar to all Romans, even the lowest classes of the populace. Thus Cicero says: "_Cum infimo cive romano quisquam amplissimus Galliae comparandus est?_" (Can even the most distinguished Gaul be compared with the humblest Roman citizen?) This prejudice extended to later centuries, though under the first emperors numerous inhabitants of the provinces attained the rank of senator and reached the highest offices. It is very comical, when Juvenal, a freedman's son, treats the "knights from Asia Minor," (_Equites Asiani_) condescendingly, as if they were intruders, unworthy to unfasten the straps of his sandals. Inhabitants of the other provinces were held in higher esteem than the Greeks and Orientals. But even Tacitus (_Ann._ IV, 3.) regards it as an aggravation of the crime committed by the wife of Drusus, that Sejanus, for whom she broke her marriage-vow, was not a full-blooded Roman, but merely a knight from Volsinii.
[71] THE FORMAL GARDENS OF ROME. The taste of the Romans in regard to the art of gardening resembled that shown at Versailles. The eloquence with which individual authors urge a return to nature (Hor. _Epist._ I, 10, Prop. I, 2, Juv. _Sat._ III, etc.,) only proves that the opposite course was universal. Clipping bushes and trees into artificial forms was considered specially fashionable. Thus Pliny the younger, in his description of the Tuscan villa (_Ep._ V, 6,) writes: "Before the colonnade is an open terrace, surrounded with box, the trees clipped into various shapes; below it a steep slope of lawn, at whose foot, on both sides of the path, stand bushes of box, shaped into the forms of various animals. On the level ground the acanthus grows delicately, I might almost say transparently. Around it is a hedge of thick closely-clipped bushes, and around this hedge runs an avenue of circular form, adorned with box clipped into various shapes, and small trees artistically trimmed. The whole is surrounded by a wall, concealed by box." Then towards the end of the letter: "The box is clipped into a thousand shapes, sometimes into letters, that form the name of the owner or gardener."
[72] JUPITER CAPITOLINUS. The priests of certain divinities were called _Flamines_ and the chief of these was the _Flamen Dialis_ or priest of Jupiter--called Capitolinus from the hill on which the temple stood. Tacitus (_Ann._ III, 71,) tells us of the prohibition here spoken of.
[73] THE PRAETORSHIP AND CONSULSHIP were still, under the emperors, an object of ardent desire, in spite of the fact that these offices had been stripped of all power.
[74] GADES, now Cadiz, was famous for its dancers of easy morality. (See Juv. _Sat._ XI, 162.)
[75] THYRSUS, ([Greek: thyrsos]) a pole or wand wreathed with vine and ivy leaves, and borne by Bacchus and by Bacchantes.
[76] BRIDGE OF NERO. One of this emperor's mad undertakings was the construction, at an enormous expense, of a perfectly useless bridge aslant across the bay of Baiae.
[77] SURRENTUM, now Sorrento.
[78] CAIETA, now Gaeta.
[79] URBANITAS. Literally: city training.
[80] A PALE, BEARDED MAN. Wearing beards first became general under the Emperor Hadrian. At the time of this story it was still the custom among the higher classes (but not among the lower ones and the slaves) to shave off the beard after the twenty-first year.
[81] STOA. The school of the stoics; so named from the pillared hall ([Greek: poikile stoa]) at Athens, where Zeno, the founder, taught. The doctrine inculcated was the subjugation of physical and moral evil by individual heroism.
Quintus Claudius: A Romance of Imperial Rome. Volume 1 Page 3
