There was a proverb to the same effect: "Si non caste,
saltem caute."]

[Footnote 496: Ptolemy appointed him to an office which led him to assume
a foreign dress. Rabirius was defended by Cicero in one of his orations,
which is extant.]

[Footnote 497: The Sigillaria was a street in Rome, where a fair was held
after the Saturnalia, which lasted seven days; and toys, consisting of
little images and dolls, which gave their name to the street and festival,
were sold. It appears from the text, that other articles were exposed for
sale in this street. Among these were included elegant vases of silver
and bronze. There appears also to have been a bookseller's shop, for an
ancient writer tells us that a friend of his showed him a copy of the
Second Book of the Aeneid, which he had purchased there.]

[Footnote 498: Opposed to this statement there is a passage in Servius
Georgius, iii. 37, asserting that he had heard (accipimus) that Augustus,
besides his victories in the east, triumphed over the Britons in the west;
and Horace says:--

Augustus adjectis Britannis
Imperio gravibusque Persis.--Ode iii. 5, 1.

Strabo likewise informs us, that in his time, the petty British kings sent
embassies to cultivate the alliance of Augustus, and make offerings in the
Capitol: and that nearly the whole island was on terms of amity with the
Romans, and, as well as the Gauls, paid a light tribute.--Strabo, B. iv.
p. 138.

That Augustus contemplated a descent on the island, but was prevented from
attempting it by his being recalled from Gaul by the disturbances in
Dalmatia, is very probable. Horace offers his vows for its success:

Serves iturum, Caesarem in ultimos Orbis Britannos.--Ode i. 35.

But the word iturus shews that the scheme was only projected, and the
lines previously quoted are mere poetical flattery. Strabo's statement of
the communications kept up with the petty kings of Britain, who were
perhaps divided by intestine wars, are, to a certain extent, probably
correct, as such a policy would be a prelude to the intended expedition.]

[Footnote 499: Circius. Aulus Gellius, Seneca, and Pliny, mention under
this name the strong southerly gales which prevail in the gulf of Genoa
and the neighbouring seas.]

[Footnote 500: The Stoechades were the islands now called Hieres, off
Toulon.]

[Footnote 501: Claudius must have expended more time in his march from
Marseilles to Gessoriacum, as Boulogne was t