[1062] It would appear that the Samnites were not only one of the most warlike people, with whom the Romans had to contest in the infancy of their state, but that they were particularly celebrated as gladiators.—B.
[1063] The gladiators, called Samnites, were armed with the peculiar “scutum,” or oblong shield, used by the Samnites, a greave on the left leg, a sponger on the breast, and a helmet with a crest.
[1064] The term “nervus” was generally applied by the ancients to the sinews or tendons; they had a very indistinct knowledge of what are properly called the “nerves.”—B.
[1065] Pintianus suggests another reading here, which would appear to be much more consistent with probability. “Inermi dextrâ superatum, et uno digito postremo correptum in castra,” &c.—“Conquered him with the right hand, and that unarmed, and then with a single finger dragged him to the camp.”
[1066] “Rusticellus.”
[1067] Philonides has been already mentioned, B. ii. c. 73, as being in the habit of going from Sicyon to Elis in nine hours.—B.
[1068] We may consult the learned notes of Ajasson, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 99, respecting the exact distances here indicated by Pliny. We may remark, that a stadium is about one-eighth of a mile, according to which estimate, Philippides must have gone 142 miles in two days, and the other 150 miles in one day; as it is implied, that these journeys were performed on foot, even the former of them is obviously impossible.—B. Query, however, as to this last assertion; according to recent pedestrian feats, it does not appear to be absolutely impossible.
[1069] See B. ii. c. 72.
[1070] This feat is no less incredible than those mentioned above.—B.
[1071] We have an account of this journey of Tiberius in Dion Cassius. Val. Maximus, B. v. c. 6, also enumerates this among the extraordinary examples of fraternal affection.—B. We learn also from Suetonius, that on learning the accident, a fall from his horse, which had happened to his brother Drusus, Tiberius took horse at Ticinum, and travelled night and day till he reached his brother, who was then in Germany, near the Rhine. He accompanied the body to Rome, preceding it on foot all the way. There is extant a “Consolation to Livia Augusta,” written on this occasion, some have thought, by Pedo Albinovanus, but it is more likely to have been the work of Ovid.