[23] With thumbs turned down. These words, with very little variation, are found in a satire by Juvenal. Turning down the thumbs by the audience was a sign, that mercy was refused the conquered gladiator.
[24] Dressing-chairs and litters (cathedrae). High-backed chairs with arms and a stool for the feet. The fashionable Roman dames performed the duties of the toilet in these cathedrae.
[25] Lictor. A public officer, who attended on the higher magistrates, and who preceded them bearing the fasces, the bundle of rods with an axe.
[26] Pronounced the sitting opened. The following description of a session of the Senate corresponds precisely, in its main features, with the accounts handed down to us by the ancient authors.
[27] Relatio. The name, as is evident, given to the discourse concerning the cause and purpose of the session.
[28] Leda. Danae. Sisyphus. Familiar forms of the Hellenic myths. Leda was the daughter of Thestius and the wife of Tyndareus. Zeus approached her in the guise of a swan. Danae, conquered by Zeus in the shape of a shower of golden rain, gave birth to Perseus. Sisyphus, son of Eolus and Enarete, king of Ephyra, (Corinth) was compelled in the nether-world, as a punishment for his crimes, to roll the oft-mentioned mass of stone up-hill.
[29] Truly Latin word religio. The etymology of the word religio really corresponds with the interpretation here given by Cinna.
[30] Postpone your decision by digressions. This was called; dicendo diem eximere; for no valid decree could be made after sunset.
[31] Be on your guard, lest the fatherland should suffer. A variation of the familiar formula: videant consules ne quid res publica detrimenti capiat.
[32] Collect the votes by a show of hands. See Tac. Hist. IV, 4, and Sen. Ep. VIII, 6.