FOOTNOTES:


[670] On the esplanade, where the standards, objects of religious
reverence, were planted. See note to c. vi. Criminals were usually
executed outside the Vallum, and in the presence of a centurion.

[671] Probably one of the two mentioned in CLAUDIUS, c. xiii.

[672] A.U.C. 784 or 785.

[673] "Distento sago impositum in sublime jactare."

[674] See NERO, c. xxxv.

[675] The Milliare Aureum was a pillar of stone set up at the top of the
Forum, from which all the great military roads throughout Italy started,
the distances to the principal towns being marked upon it. Dio (lib.
liv.) says that it was erected by the emperor Augustus, when he was
curator of the roads.

[676] Haruspex, Auspex, or Augur, denoted any person who foretold
futurity, or interpreted omens. There was at Rome a body of priests, or
college, under this title, whose office it was to foretell future events,
chiefly from the flight, chirping, or feeding of birds, and from other
appearances. They were of the greatest authority in the Roman state; for
nothing of importance was done in public affairs, either at home or
abroad, in peace or war, without consulting them. The Romans derived the