[992] Aulus Gellius says, that he was one of the royal family.
[993] This man resembled Antiochus III., surnamed the Great, to such a degree, that when that monarch had been slain in a tumult by his people, his wife, Laodice, daughter of Mithridates V., King of Pontus, put Artemon into a bed, pretending that he was the king, but dangerously ill. Many persons were admitted to see him; and all believed that they were listening to the words of their king, when he recommended to them Laodice and her children.
[994] This circumstance is related by Valerius Maximus, but he speaks of Vibius as being “ingenuæ stirpis,” “of good family.”—B.
[995] Hardouin expands the words “os probum,” into “liberale, venustum, gratum, venerandum, probandum,” B. xxxvii. c. 6.—B.
[996] See B. xxxvii. c. 6.
[997] The Latin word “strabo,” means “squinting,” or “having a cast” or “defect in the eye.”
[998] The word “mimus” was applied by the Romans to a species of dramatic performance, as well as to the persons who acted in them. The Roman mimes were imitations of trivial and sometimes indecent occurrences in life, and scarcely differed from comedy, except in consisting more of gestures and mimicry than of spoken dialogue. Sylla was very fond of these performances, and they had more charms for the Roman populace than the regular drama. As to the mime Salvitto, here mentioned, see B. xxxv. c. 2.
[999] This anecdote, and the one respecting Spinther and Pamphilus, are mentioned also by Val. Maximus, B. ix. c. 24.—B.
[1000] A celebrated orator and satirical writer of the time of Augustus and Tiberius. He is mentioned in the Index of authors at the end of B. xxxvi., where he is called Longulanus, as being a native of Longula, a town of Latium. It was even thrown in his teeth, that he was the offspring of adultery, and that this low-born person was his father.
[1001] “Mirmillonis.” Many of the editions make this word to be a proper name, and “Armentarius” to signify the calling of the person described, as being a herdsman. The “Mirmillones” were a peculiar class of gladiators, said to have been so called from their having the image of a fish, called “mormyr,” on their helmets.