“There will be heaps and heaps of arena fights,” cried one; “the Subura swarms with Nazarenes.” “Let them have it!” said another. “The last wild-beast fight was the most wretched affair; and when I sit there, in my newly-bleached toga,[33] blood is what I want!” “Merciful Lord Jesus Christ!” murmured Quintus. “From this hour my only God! To Thy keeping I commend my life. And ah! protect him--that dear father, who never dreams how fearful is the darkness that shrouds his sight. Preserve him--my dear, dear father; and forgive him, O God--him and his fellows--for they know not what they do.” FOOTNOTES: [20] GARUM. A delicacy similar to our caviare, prepared from the entrails of sea-fish. [21] MILK COOLED WITH ICE. In well-to-do families, the drinks, etc. during the warm season of the year, were cooled by snow or ice. See Mart. _Ep._ XII, 17 (“Caecubum cooled with snow-water”) XIV, 103, 104, etc. [22] FATHERS. This nearly corresponds with the Latin _patres conscripti_, as the senators were called. [23] WITH THUMBS TURNED DOWN. These words, with very little variation, are found in a satire by Juvenal. Turning down the thumbs by the audience was a sign, that mercy was refused the conquered gladiator. [24] DRESSING-CHAIRS AND LITTERS (_cathedrae_). High-backed chairs with arms and a stool for the feet. The fashionable Roman dames performed the duties of the toilet in these _cathedrae_. [25] LICTOR. A public officer, who attended on the higher magistrates, and who preceded them bearing the fasces, the bundle of rods with an axe. [26] PRONOUNCED THE SITTING OPENED. The following description of a session of the Senate corresponds precisely, in its main features, with the accounts handed down to us by the ancient authors. [27] RELATIO. The name, as is evident, given to the discourse concerning the cause and purpose of the session. [28] LEDA. DANAE. SISYPHUS. Familiar forms of the Hellenic myths. Leda was the daughter of Thestius and the wife of Tyndareus. Zeus approached her in the guise of a swan. Danae, conquered by Zeus in the shape of a shower of golden rain, gave birth to Perseus. Sisyphus, son of Eolus and Enarete, king of Ephyra, (Corinth) was compelled in the nether-world, as a punishment for his crimes, to roll the oft-mentioned mass of stone up-hill. [29] TRULY LATIN WORD RELIGIO. The etymology of the word _religio_ really corresponds with the interpretation here given by Cinna. [30] POSTPONE YOUR DECISION BY DIGRESSIONS. This was called; _dicendo diem eximere_; for no valid decree could be made after sunset. [31] BE ON YOUR GUARD, LEST THE FATHERLAND SHOULD SUFFER. A variation of the familiar formula: _videant consules ne quid res publica detrimenti capiat_.