[351] Almo. The little river still bears this name; it rises at Bovillae; mentioned by Ovid. (Fast. IV, 337-340.)
[352] We swear to each other by the memory of the crucified. See Plin. Ep. X, 97, where in a report about the deeds of the Christians, he says: "But they assert that their guilt or error consisted in meeting before dawn on a certain day, singing hymns in honor of Christ as a god, and binding themselves by a vow, not to commit a crime, but to neither steal, commit adultery, break their promise, nor deny the possession of accumulated property; after which they usually dispersed, only meeting again at an innocent meal, shared by all without distinction of persons.”
[353] The Claudian aqueduct (Aqua Claudia.) Built by the Emperor Claudius 50 A.D. was twelve miles and a half long, and reached to Sublaqueum, (now Subiaco.)
[354] Aqua Marcia. Built 146 B.C. by the Praetor Q. Marcius Rex, was twelve miles long, and extended to the Sabine Hills. Its water was considered the best in all Rome. Ruins of it, as well as of the Aqua Claudia, exist at the present day.
[355] The Labicanian Way. (Via Labicana) led through Toleria, Ferentinum, Frusino and Fregellae to Teanum (north of Capua) where it entered the Via Appia.
[356] The Via Praenestina was a road for local intercourse. Just beyond Praeneste (now Palestrina,) it entered (at Toleria) the Via Labicana.
[357] Xystus (Συστός—Hall) the name of the luxuriously-adorned garden back of the peristyle. See Cic. Acad. II, 13.
[358] Veleda. (Vĕlĕda or Vĕlēda) a German prophetess belonging to the Bructerian people, took part in the war against Rome under Civilis (A.D. 69) and afterwards roused her countrymen to another insurrection, but was captured and dragged to Rome. See Tac. Hist. IV, 61, 65; V, 23, 24, and Tac. Germ. 8.
[359] The grove of Nerthus. Nerthus, an ancient German divinity, the personification of mother earth, specially revered in the north of Germany. Her principal grove was at Rügen.
[360] A slave had just announced, that it was two hours after sunrise. In aristocratic families the hours of the day were announced by a slave, kept specially for this purpose.