Chapter XX: Book II: , p. 55.) Pliny (Ep. I, 14) recommends his friend

Minucius Acilianus, and in a quiet, business-like manner
enumerates his excellent qualities, among which he does not
forget to mention a considerable fortune. To be sure, the
daughter’s formal consent was necessary. The young girls of
our story, by the way, out of respect for our modern ideas,
are described as young girls at an age, when Romans were
usually married women. For the ordinary marriageable age,
see Friedländer’s detailed description in the appendix to
the first part of his “_Sittengeschichte_,” where he gives a
number of inscriptions taken from the tombs, where the age
of the girl at the time of her marriage is either directly
stated, or may be ascertained by deducting the years of
marriage from those of life. Twelve of the wives mentioned,
married before they were fourteen, four at fourteen, three
at sixteen, one at nineteen, and one at twenty-five. We are,
however, expressly told that marriages of girls under twelve
were by no means rare.

[306] VARUS. The famous victory of the Germans over Quintilius Varus
occurred in the year 9, A.D.

[307] PARTHIANS. A people who lived south of the Caspian sea. Their
territory afterwards extended to the Euphrates. The Romans had
numerous feuds with this nation.

[308] CANTABRIAN BEAR. Cantabria, the mountainous region in the
north of Spain, supplied most of the bears for the Roman
wild-beast combats.

[309] ANANKE (Ανάγκη) personifies, like the Latin Fatum, the idea,
that in every event which happens, there is an unalterable
necessity, to which not only human beings, but even the gods
are subject.

[310] BY THE FAMOUS MURAL PAINTINGS. See Mart. _Ep._ II, 14. Ill,
20, etc.

[311] SEPTA. See Mart. _Ep._ II, 14; IX, 59.

[312] THE CENTURIA. Even under the kings, the Romans were divided
into five different classes, since the part taken by each
individual in government affairs, especially concerning
taxes and military service, depended on the amount of his
property. Each of these classes consisted of a certain number
of centurias, for instance, the first class contained eighty,
the fifth thirty, etc. Centuria was the name originally given
to a military division of 100 men, then to a certain number of
citizens, from whose midst such a military organization could
be formed. These centuries--in a civil sense--voted on public
affairs in the _comita centuriata_ (assembly of the centuries)
each century having one vote.

[313] GAY BOOTHS. See Mart, _Ep._ IX, 59, v. I:

“Mamurra many hours does vagrant tell,
I’th’ shops, where Rome her richest ware does sell.”

The same epigram describes the goods to be purchased in
these booths; slaves, table-covers, ivory for table legs,
semicircular dinner-couches (called _Sigma_ from their shape
resembling the old Greek C) Corinthian brass (a mixture of
gold, silver, and copper, very popular in those days) crystal
goblets, _vasa murrhina_, chased silver dishes, gems, jewels,
etc., etc.

[314] WRESTLING OR THROWING THE DISCUS. Physical exercises of all
kinds were highly esteemed by the Romans. Racing, wrestling,
and throwing the discus (a flat, circular piece of stone or
iron) were specially popular. See Hor. _Od._ I. 8 (_saepe
disco_, _saepe trans finem jaculo nobilis expedito_) where the
exercises in the Campus Martius are mentioned.

[315] MASTHLION’S SKILL. See Mart _Ep._ V, 12:

“That the haughty Masthlion now,
Wields such weights on perched brow.”

[316] NINUS’S STRENGTH. See Mart _Ep._ V, 12:

“Or that Ninus finds his praise,
With each hand eight boys to raise.”

Giants, as well as dwarfs, and monstrosities of every kind
were extremely popular in Rome. They were even frequently
kept in aristocratic families as slaves and jesters. See Mart
_Ep._ VII, 38, where a gigantic slave of Severus is mentioned.
According to Plutarch, Rome ad a special market for monsters
(ἡ τὼν τεράτων ἀγορά) where persons crippled in all kinds of
ways were offered for sale. As the business was lucrative,
certain deformities were artificially produced.

[317] TABLETS ON THEIR KNEES. See Hor. _Epist. ad Pis._, 19, etc.

[318] MANNIE. Such ponies are mentioned by Lucr., Hor., Prop., and
Sen. They were distinguished for speed. The word is of Celtic
origin.

[319] THIS WILD HORSE OF THE SUN. Herodianus alludes to the steeds
of Helios and the fate of Phaethon, who obtained his father’s
permission to guide the chariot of the Sun one day in his
stead, but had so little control over the unruly steeds, that
to save the earth from burning, Zeus was compelled to slay
him with a thunderbolt and hurl him from the chariot into the
river Eridanus.

[320] BURRHUS, THE SON OF PARTHENIUS. See Mart. _Ep._, IV, 45; V, 6.

[321] WOLF’S-TOOTH BIT (_lupata frena_) a curb furnished with iron
points shaped like a wolf’s tooth, used for hard-mouthed
horses. See Hor. _Od._ I, 8, 6; _Nec lupatis temperat ora
frenis_....

[322] SORACTE. A mountain north of Rome. See Varro R.R. II, 3, 3;
Virg. _Aen._ VI, 696, Hor. _Od._ I, 9 (_alta nive candidum._)