“That the haughty Masthlion now,
Wields such weights on perched brow.”
[316] Ninus’s strength. See Mart Ep. V, 12:
“Or that Ninus finds his praise,
With each hand eight boys to raise.”
Giants, as well as dwarfs, and monstrosities of every kind were extremely popular in Rome. They were even frequently kept in aristocratic families as slaves and jesters. See Mart Ep. VII, 38, where a gigantic slave of Severus is mentioned. According to Plutarch, Rome ad a special market for monsters (ἡ τὼν τεράτων ἀγορά) where persons crippled in all kinds of ways were offered for sale. As the business was lucrative, certain deformities were artificially produced.
[317] Tablets on their knees. See Hor. Epist. ad Pis., 19, etc.
[318] Mannie. Such ponies are mentioned by Lucr., Hor., Prop., and Sen. They were distinguished for speed. The word is of Celtic origin.
[319] This wild horse of the Sun. Herodianus alludes to the steeds of Helios and the fate of Phaethon, who obtained his father’s permission to guide the chariot of the Sun one day in his stead, but had so little control over the unruly steeds, that to save the earth from burning, Zeus was compelled to slay him with a thunderbolt and hurl him from the chariot into the river Eridanus.
[320] Burrhus, the son of Parthenius. See Mart. Ep., IV, 45; V, 6.