[741] Suetonius says, c. 73, that Tiberius, in his last illness, awoke after a long lethargy, and demanded his signet-ring, which his son-in-law, Caligula, had removed from his finger, under the supposition that he was dead. Macro, to avoid any unpleasant results in the way of punishment, caused the emperor to be smothered with the pillows and bedclothes.
[742] This famous and somewhat improbable story of the ring of Polycrates is told by Valerius Maximus, B. vi. c. 9; Herodotus, B. iii.; and Cicero, De Finibus, B. iv. Pliny again mentions it in B. xxxvii. cc. [2], [4].
[743] He was crucified by Oroetes, the Persian satrap of Sardis.
[744] “Anulo exsiliente.”
[745] In Chapter [13] of this Book.
[746] The laticlave tunic. See B. viii. c. 73, and B. ix. c. 63.
[747] “Præcones.”
[748] See the list of writers at the end of B. ix.
[749] “Equus militaris.”
[750] See B. xxix. c. 8. The “Decuriæ” of “judices,” or “judges,” were so called, probably, from ten (decem) having been originally chosen from each tribe. As to the Decuriæ of the judices, see Smith’s Dict. Antiq. pp. 531-2. The account given by Pliny is confused in the extreme.