[18.5] adipīscor.
[18.6] Circum Māximum: see map, [p. xxviii]. In its final form it could accommodate nearly 300,000 spectators. The Romans of the Empire were passionately devoted to the chariot races of the circus. For a good description of a Roman circus, see Lew Wallace’s Ben Hur, Book V, Chap. XII.
[18.7] dē Sabīnīs triumphāvit: ‘he triumphed over’; lit., ‘he got a triumph out of.’ See Vocab., [triumphus].
[18.8] mūrum . . . circumdedit: ‘he built a stone wall round the city.’ According to Livy, the wall was merely begun by Tarquin and finished by his successor, Servius Tullius.
[18.9] Cf. II, 42. Livy says that when Romulus formed the three centuries of horsemen he called one Ramnēs, after his own name, another Titiēnsēs, after King Tatius. Tarquin desired to name the new centuries after himself.
[18.10] = tempore.
[18.11] nisi . . . addīxissent: ‘unless the birds gave consent,’ i.e. without taking the auspicia and finding them favorable. Cf. I, 42. The subjunctive is due to the indirect discourse. For the tense, see [p. 6, n. 1].
[18.12] in experīmentum artis: ‘to test his art.’ Cf. [p. 14, n. 4].
[18.13] Cf. [p. 3, n. 2].
[18.14] Cf. [p. 6, n. 1]. The king said ‘Potestne fierī quod in mente concēpī?’