[38] Titus Claudius Mucianus. The Romans usually had three names. Titus is here the first name (praenomen) which was given sons on the ninth day after their birth. Claudius is the name of the gens, the family in the wider sense of the word (nomen gentilicium). Mucianus is the cognomen, the surname, the name of the immediate family (stirps or familia). Thus several stirpes belonged to a single gens. Daughters bore only the name of the gens; for instance the daughter of Titus Claudius Mucianus was called Claudia. If there were two of them, they were distinguished by the words major (the elder) and minor (the younger); if there were several, by numbers. The Claudia Gens was a very ancient and famous one. The principal characters of the story, belonging to the stirps Muciana, are purely imaginary.
[39] Gavius Apicius, the famous Roman gourmand (Tac. Ann. IV, 1) who finding that he had only two million and a half denari left in the world (about 400,000 dollars) killed himself, thinking it impossible to live on so little.
[40] Hymettus. A mountain in Attica, famed for its delicious honey. (Horace, Od. II, 6, 14).
[41] Polished emerald. (Plin. Hist. Nat. XXXVII, 64) where it is stated that the emperor Nero used such an eye-glass at the public games.
[42] The lobster, (cammarus), was less highly esteemed by the Romans than among ourselves. See Plin. Ep. II, 17. "The sea, it is true, has no superabundance of delicious fish; yet it gives us excellent soles and lobsters"—a passage in which lobsters are contrasted with delicious fish.
[43] Cut Crystal. Window panes of glass (vitrum) mica plates (lapis specularis) and similar materials were by no means rare in ancient times.
[44] Menander, son of the general Diopeithes, B.C. 342. The most distinguished poet of the New Comedy; fragments of his comedies have come down to us.
[45] Tibur. A favorite summer resort of the Roman aristocracy, now Tivoli.
[46] Cappadocian horses. The province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor was famed for its horses.
[47] Litters (lectica). The usual conveyance, somewhat resembling the Oriental palanquin, were supplied with rich curtains (vela) and in other respects became the object of luxurious decorations. The number of litter-bearers (lecticarii, calones) varied from two to eight. In the city of Rome itself, where riding in carriages was not allowed during the day-time, the lecticae took the place of our carriages and hacks, for they could also be hired by the hour, and there were stands of them (castra lecticariorum) in several frequented quarters.