[20] A copy of the 1633 4to. gives “shoulder-eac’t,” which is hardly less intelligible than the reading in the text.  Everybody knows that Pelops received an ivory shoulder for the one that was consumed; but the word “shoulder-packt” conveys no meaning.  “Shoulder-pieced,” i.e., “fitted with an (ivory) shoulder,” would be a shade more intelligible; but it is a very ugly compound.

[21] Dion Cassius ([Greek:  XB]. 14. ed.  Bekker) reports this brutal gibe of Nero’s; Rubellius Plautus was the luckless victim:—­[Greek:  “ho de dae Neron kai gelota kai skommata, ta ton syngenon kaka hepoieito ton goun Plauton apokteinas, hepeita taen kephalaen autou prosenechtheisan oi idon, ‘ouk haedein,’ hephae ‘oti megalaen rina eichen,’ osper pheisamenos an autou ei touto proaepistato.”]

[22] Persius’ tutor, immortalised in his pupil’s Fifth Satire.

[23] Quy. with.

[24] Machlaean—­a word coined from [Greek:  machlos] (sc. libidinosus).

[25] Partly a translation from Persius, Sat.  I. 11. 99-102:—­

“Torva Mimalloneis implerunt cornua bombis,
Et raptum vitulo caput ablatura superbo
Bassaris, et lyncem Maenas flexura corymbis
Euion ingeminat:  reparabilis assonat Echo”;

which lines are supposed to be a parody of some verses of Nero.  Persius’ comment—­

                                  “summa delumbe saliva
    Hoc natat:  in labris et in udo est Maenas et Attis;
    Nec pluteum caedit, nec demorsos sapit ungues”—­

agrees with the judgment of Tacitus (Ann. xiv. 16).  Suetonius (Vit.  Ner. 52), who had seen some of Nero’s MSS., speaks of the extreme care that had been given to correction; and the few verses preserved by Seneca make against the estimate of Tacitus and Persius.

[26] 4tos.  Ennion.

[27] Vid.  Dion Cassius [Greek:  XB]. 29.

[28] 4tos. conductors.

[29] 4tos. again.

[30] Cf.  Tacitus, Ann. xv. 48.

[31] The 4to. points the passage thus:—­

    “The thing determinde on our meeting now,
    Is of the meanes, and place, due circumstance,
    As to the doing of things t’is requir’d,
    So done, it names the action.”

The words “t’is requir’d ... action,” I take to mean, “The assassination must be accomplished in such a way as to appear an act of patriotism and make the actors famous.”

[32] Cf.  Tacitus, Ann. xv. 52

[33] Cf.  Sueton.  Vit.  Ner. 49:—­“Mirum et vel praecipue notabile inter haec fuerit, nihil eum patientius quam maledicta et convitia hominum tulisse, neque in ullos lemorem quam qui se dictis aut carminibus lucessissent exstitisse.  Multa Graece Latineque proscripta aut vulgata sunt, sicut illa:—­

       * * * * *
    Roma domus fiet:  Veios migrate Quirites, Si non et
    Veios occupat ista domus.”