[554] Viribus. Roscommon, as Gifford says, tells his history in two lines:
"Remember Milo's end,
Wedged in the timber which he strove to rend."
Cf. Ovid, Ib., 609, "Utque Milon robur diducere fissile tentes, nec possis captas inde referre manus."
[555] Balæna Britannica. Cf. Hor., iv., Od. xiv., 47, "Te belluosus qui remotis obstrepit Oceanus Britannis." There is probably an allusion here to the large sums which Seneca had out at interest in Britain, where his rigor in exacting his demands occasioned a rebellion.
[556] Tota cohors. "Illo propinquâ vesperâ, tribunus venit, et villam globus militum sepsit." Tac., Ann., xv., 60.
[557] Longinum. Cassius Longinus was charged with keeping among his Imagines one of Cassius, Cæsar's murderer; and allowed an hour to die in. Suet., Ner., 37.
[558] Seneca. Rufus and Tigellinus charged Seneca "tanquam ingentes et privatum suprà modum evectas opes adhuc augeret—hortorum quoque amænitate et villarum magnificentiâ quasi Principem supergrederetur;" and Seneca himself, in his speech to Nero, says, "Tantum honorum atque opûm in me cumulâsti, ut nihil felicitati meæ desit." Tacit., Ann., xiv., 52, seq.
[559] Puri. Cf. ix., 141.
[560] Lateranorum. Vid. Tac., Ann., xv., 60, for the death of Plautius Lateranus. His house was on the Cœlian Hill, on the site of the modern Lateran.
[561] Motæ ad Lunam. Cf. Hor., i., Od. xxiii., 3, "Non sine vano aurarum et siluæ metu." Stat., Theb., vi., 158," Impulsæque noto frondes cassusque valeret exanimare timor." Claud., Eutrop., ii., 452, "Ecce levis frondes a tergo concutit aura: credit tela Leo: valuit pro vulnere terror."