21 ([return])
[ Brother of the emperor Otho.]
22 ([return])
[ At the head of the praetors, the number of whom was different at different periods of the empire, were the Praetor Urbanus, and Praetor Peregrinus. The first administered justice among the citizens, the second among strangers. The rest presided at public debates, and had the charge of exhibiting the public games, which were celebrated with great solemnity for seven successive days, and at a vast expense. This, indeed, in the times of the emperors, was almost the sole business of the praetors, whose dignity, as Tacitus expresses it, consisted in the idle trappings of state; whence Boethius justly terms the praetorship "an empty name, and a grievous burthen on the senatorian rank.">[
23 ([return])
[ Nero had plundered the temples for the supply of his extravagance and debauchery. See Annals, xv. 45.]
24 ([return])
[ This was the year of Rome 822; from the birth of Christ, 69.]
25 ([return])
[ The cruelties and depredations committed on the coast of Italy by this fleet are described in lively colors by Tacitus, Hist. ii. 12, 13.]