"By whose hired tablet and concurring spell,
The noble Roman, Otho's terror, fell." Hodgson.
[308] Magnus civis. Cf. Suet., Otho, 4, "Spem majorem cepit ex affirmatione Seleuci Mathematici, qui cum eum olim superstitem Neroni fore spopondisset, tunc ultro inopinatus advenerat, imperaturum quoque brevi repromittens." Cf. Tac., Hist., i., 22, who says one Ptolemæus promised Otho the same when with him in Spain. Ptolemy helped to fulfill his own predictions, "Nec deerat Ptolemæus, jam et sceleris instinctor, ad quod facillimè ab ejusmodi voto transitur."
[309] Cyclada. Cf. i., 73, "Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dignum." x., 170, "Ut Gyaræ clausus scopulis parvaque Seripho."
[310] Tanaquil. Cf. Liv., i, 34, "perita cœlestium prodigiorum mulier."
"To him thy Tanaquil applies, in doubt
How long her jaundiced mother may hold out." Gifford.
[311] Pinguia sucina. The Roman women used to hold or rub amber in their hands for its scent. Mart., iii., Ep. lxv., 5, "redolent quod sucina trita." xi., Ep. viii., 6, "spirant, succina virgineâ quod regelata manu." Cf. v., Ep. xxxviii., II. (Cf. ix., 50.)
"By whom a greasy almanac is borne,
With often handling, like chafed amber worn." Dryden.
[312] Thrasyllus was the astrologer under whom Tiberius studied the "Chaldean art" at Rhodes (Tac., Ann., vi., 20), and accompanied his patron to Rome. (Cf. Suet., Aug., 98.) Cf. Suet., Tib., 14, 62, and Calig., 19, for a curious prediction belied by Caligula.
[313] Petosiris, another famous astrologer and physician. Plin., ii., 23; vii., 49.
[314] Fulgura. When a place was struck by lightning, a priest was sent for to purify it, a two-year-old sheep was then sacrificed, and the ground, hence called bidental, fenced in.