The Roman Traitor, Vol. 2
Page 23
NOTES TO THE ROMAN TRAITOR.
It is perhaps hardly necessary to state, that the oration of Cicero in the37th page of the second volume, those of Cæsar and Cato in the 137th and142d pages, and that of Catiline in the 217th page of the same, are allliteral translations from the actual speeches delivered on thoseoccasions, and recorded by Cicero and Sallust.
It was absolutely necessary for the truth and spirit of the romance, thatthese speeches should be inserted; and the author considered that it wouldbe equally vain and absurd to attempt fictitious orations, when thesemaster-pieces of ancient eloquence were extant.
This brief explanation made, no farther notes will, I believe, be foundnecessary; as the few Latin words which occur in the body of the work areexplained therein; and the costumes and customs are described so much indetail, that they will be readily comprehended even by the unclassicalreader.
A table is appended, containing the Roman and English Calendars of thethree months during which all the events of the conspiracy occurred,illustrating the complicated and awkward mode of Roman computation; andthis, I believe, is all that is needful in the way of simplifying orelucidating the narrative.