573 ([return])
[ Among the Romans, the time at which young men first shaved the beard was marked with particular ceremony. It was usually in their twenty-first year, but the period varied. Caligula (c. x.) first shaved at twenty; Augustus at twenty-five.]
574 ([return])
[ A.U.C. 819. See afterwards, c. xxx.]
575 ([return])
[ A.U.C. 808, 810, 811, 813.]
576 ([return])
[ The Sportulae were small wicker baskets, in which victuals or money were carried. The word was in consequence applied to the public entertainments at which food was distributed, or money given in lieu of it.]
577 ([return])
[ “Superstitionis novae et maleficae,” are the words of Suetonius; the latter conveying the idea of witchcraft or enchantment. Suidas relates that a certain martyr cried out from his dungeon—“Ye have loaded me with fetters as a sorcerer and profane person.” Tacitus calls the Christian religion “a foreign and deadly [Footnote exitiabilis: superstition,” Annal. xiii. 32; Pliny, in his celebrated letter to Trajan, “a depraved, wicked (or prava), and outrageous superstition.” Epist. x. 97.] Tacitus also describes the excruciating torments inflicted on the Roman Christians by Nero. He says that they were subjected to the derision of the people; dressed in the skins of wild beasts, and exposed to be torn to pieces by dogs in the public games, that they were crucified, or condemned to be burnt; and at night-fall served in place of lamps to lighten the darkness, Nero’s own gardens being used for the spectacle. Annal. xv. 44. Traditions of the church place the martyrdoms of SS. Peter and Paul at Rome, under the reign of Nero. The legends are given by Ordericus Vitalis. See vol. i. of the edition in the Antiq. Lib. pp. 206, etc., with the notes and reference to the apocryphal works on which they are founded.]