[582] Sequitur Fortunam.
"When the king's trump, the mob are for the king." Dryden.
[583] Nurscia, Nyrtia, Nortia, or Nurtia, the Etruscan goddess of Fortune, nearly identical with Atropos, and cognate with Minerva. The old Schol. says, "Fortuna apud Nyrtiam colitur unde fuit Sejanus." But Tacitus tells us (Ann., iv., l; vi., 8) that Sejanus was a native of Volsinii, now Bolsena. Outside the Florence gate of Bolsena stands the ruin of a temple still called Tempio di Norzia. Cf. Liv., vii., 3; Tertull., Apoll., 24, ad Nat., ii., 8; Müller's Etrusker, IV., vii., 6; Dennis's Etruria, i., p. 258, 509.
[584] Fornacula. "A fire so fierce for one was scarcely made." Gifford.
[585] Brutidius. Tacitus speaks thus of him: "Brutidium artibus honestis copiosum et, si rectum iter pergeret, ad clarissima quæque iturum festinatio exstimulabat, dum æquales, dein superiores, postremo suasmet ipse spes anteire parat." Ann., iii., 66. He had been one of the accusers of Silanus, and was involved in Sejanus' fall. "Magna est fornacula" is well borne out by Tacitus' account. "Cunctos qui carcere attinebantur, accusati societatis cum Sejano, necari jubet. Jacuit immensa strages; omnis sexus omnis ætas: inlustres ignobiles—corpora adsectabantur dum in Tiberim traherentur." Ann., vi., 19.
[586] Victus. Fierce as Ajax, when worsted in the contest for the arms of Achilles.
[587] Exercitibus præponere. Vid. Tac., Ann., iv., 2, "Centuriones ac Tribunos ipse deligere: neque senatorio ambitu abstinebat clientes suos honoribus aut provinciis ornando, facili Tiberio atque ita prono ut socium laborum celebraret."
[588] Tutor.
"Arraign
Thy feeble sovereign in a guardian's strain,
Who sits amid his foul Chaldæan herd
In that august domain to Rome preferr'd." Badham.
[589] Sedentis. Cf. Suet., Tib., 43; Tac., Ann., vi., 1. Grangæus supposes this word to have reference to the Sellaria there described. It probably only refers to his luxury and indolence. Tiberius was with Augustus when he visited Capreæ shortly before his death: "remisissimo ad otium et ad omnem comitatem animo. Vicinam Capreis insulam ἀπραγοπόλιν appellabat à desidiâ secedentium illuc e comitatu suo." Cf. c. 40. Tac., Ann., iv., 67.