[823] We have had Suetonius's reminiscences, derived through his grandfather and father successively, CALIGULA, c. xix.; OTHO, c. x. We now come to his own, commencing from an early age. [824] This is what Martial calls, "Mentula tributis damnata." [825] The imperial liveries were white and gold. [826] See CALIGULA, c. xxi., where the rest of the line is quoted; eis koiranos esto. [827] An assumption of divinity, as the pulvinar was the consecrated bed, on which the images of the gods reposed. [828] The pun turns on the similar sound of the Greek word for "enough," and the Latin word for "an arch." [829] Domitia, who had been repudiated for an intrigue with Paris, the actor, and afterwards taken back. [830] The lines, with a slight accommodation, are borrowed from the poet Evenus, Anthol. i. vi. i., who applies them to a goat, the great enemy of vineyards. Ovid, Fasti, i. 357, thus paraphrases them: Rode caper vitem, tamen hinc, cum staris ad aram, In tua quod spargi cornua possit erit. [831] Pliny describes this stone as being brought from Cappadocia, and says that it was as hard as marble, white and translucent, cxxiv. c. 22. [832] See note to c. xvii. [833] The guilt imputed to them was atheism and Jewish (Christian?) manners. Dion, lxvii. 1112. [834] See VESPASIAN, c. v. [835] Columella (R. R. xi. 2.) enumerates dates among the foreign fruits cultivated in Italy, cherries, dates, apricots, and almonds; and Pliny, xv. 14, informs us that Sextus Papinius was the first who introduced the date tree, having brought it from Africa, in the latter days of Augustus. [836] Some suppose that Domitilla was the wife of Flavius Clemens (c. xv.), both of whom were condemned by Domitian for their "impiety," by which it is probably meant that they were suspected of favouring Christianity. Eusebius makes Flavia Domitilla the niece of Flavius Clemens, and says that she was banished to Ponza, for having become a Christian. Clemens Romanus, the second bishop of Rome, is said to have been of this family. [837] A.U.C. 849. [838] See c. v. [839] The famous library of Alexandria collected by Ptolemy Philadelphus had been burnt by accident in the wars. But we find from this passage in Suetonius that part of it was saved, or fresh collections had been made. Seneca (de Tranquill. c. ix. 7) informs us that forty thousand volumes were burnt; and Gellius states that in his time the number of volumes amounted to nearly seventy thousand. [840] This favourite apple, mentioned by Columella and Pliny, took its name from C. Matius, a Roman knight, and friend of Augustus, who first introduced it. Pliny tells us that Matius was also the first who brought into vogue the practice of clipping groves. [841] Julia, the daughter of Titus.