"His robe a ponderous curtain of brocade, Inwrought and stiff by Tyrian needles' aid." Badham. [571] _Orbem._ Probably an allusion to Atlas. [572] _Sufficit._ "And would have crush'd it with the massy freight, But that a sweating slave sustain'd the weight." Dryden. Probably the crown was _not_ worn, but merely _held_ by the slave at his side. "The menial destined in his car to ride, And cool the swelling consul's feverish pride." Hodgson. [573] _Crasso._ "Bœotum in _crasso_ jurares _ære_ natum." Hor., ii., Ep. i., 244. Bœotia was called the land of hogs, which so much annoyed Pindar. Vid. Ol., vi., 152. Abdera seems to have had as bad a name. Cf. Mart., x., Ep. xxv., 3, "Abderitanæ pectora plebis habes." [574] _Medium unguem._ Hence called "Infamis digitus." Pers., ii., 33. Cf. Mart., ii., Ep. xxviii., 2, "digitum porrigito medium." VI., Ep. lxx., 5, "Ostendit digitum impudicum." [575] _Incerare._ They used to fasten their vows, written on wax tablets, to the knees or thighs of the gods. When their wishes were granted, these were replaced by the offerings they had vowed. Cf. Hom., Il., p., 514, θεῶν ἐν γούνασι κεῖται. [576] _Mergit._ Cf. Sil., viii., 285; or mergit may be used _actively_, as xiii., 8. Lucr., v., 1006. Virg., Æn., vi., 512. [577] _Statuæ._ Cf. ad viii., 18. Tac., Ann., vi., 2. Plin., Pan., 52, "Juvabat illidere solo superbissimos vultus, instare ferro, _sævire securibus_, ut si singulos ictus sanguis dolorque sequeretur"--"instar ultionis videretur cernere imagines abjectas excoctasque flammis." [578] _Immeritis._ "The driven axe destroys the conquering car, And unoffending steeds the ruin share." Hodgson. [579] _Adoratum._ Cf. Tac., Ann., iii., 72; iv., 2, "Coli per theatra et fora effigies ejus sineret." Vid. Suet., Tib., lv., 48, "Solæ nullam Sejani imaginem inter signa coluissent." 65, "Sejani imagines aureas coli passim videret." [580] _Sartago._ "And from the stride of those colossal legs You buy the useful pan that fries your eggs." Badham. Dryden reads "matellæ." [581] _Pone domi lauros._ Cf. ad ix., 85. [582] _Sequitur Fortunam._ "When the king's _trump_, the mob are for the king." Dryden. [583] _Nurscia_, Nyrtia, Nortia, or Nurtia, the Etruscan goddess of Fortune, nearly identical with Atropos, and cognate with Minerva. The old Schol. says, "Fortuna apud Nyrtiam colitur _unde fuit Sejanus_." But Tacitus tells us (Ann., iv., l; vi., 8) that Sejanus was a native of Volsinii, now Bolsena. Outside the Florence gate of Bolsena stands the ruin of a temple still called Tempio di Norzia. Cf. Liv., vii., 3; Tertull., Apoll., 24, ad Nat., ii., 8; Müller's Etrusker, IV., vii., 6; Dennis's Etruria, i., p. 258, 509. [584] _Fornacula._ "A fire so fierce for one was scarcely made." Gifford.