th dealings in gold and silver plate, is
confirmed by this passage. It does not, however, appear that they were
artificers of the precious metals, though they dealt in old and current
coins, sculptured vessels, gems, and precious stones.]

[Footnote 561: Pyrgi was a town of the ancient Etruria, near Antium, on
the sea-coast, but it has long been destroyed.]

[Footnote 562: A.U.C. 791; A.D. 39.]

[Footnote 563: The purification, and giving the name, took place, among
the Romans, in the case of boys, on the ninth, and of girls, on the tenth
day. The customs of the Judaical law were similar. See Matt. i. 59-63;
Luke iii. 21. 22.]

[Footnote 564: A.U.C. 806.]

[Footnote 565: Seneca, the celebrated philosophical writer, had been
released from exile in Corsica, shortly before the death of Tiberius. He
afterwards fell a sacrifice to the jealousy and cruelty of his former
pupil, Nero.]

[Footnote 566: Caligula.]

[Footnote 567: A.U.C. 809--A.D. 57.]

[Footnote 568: Antium, the birth-place of Nero, an ancient city of the
Volscians, stood on a rocky promontory of the coast, now called Capo d'
Anzo, about thirty-eight miles from Rome. Though always a place of some
naval importance, it was indebted to Nero for its noble harbour. The
ruins of the moles yet remain; and there are vestiges of the temples and
villas of the town, which was the resort of the wealthy Romans, it being a
most delightful winter residence. The Apollo Belvidere was discovered
among these ruins.]

[Footnote 569: A.U.C. 810.]

[Footnote 570: The Podium was part of the amphitheatre, near the
orchestra, allotted to the senators, and the ambassadors of foreign
nations; and where also was the seat of the emperor, of the person who
exhibited the games, and of the Vestal Virgins. It projected over the
wall which surrounded the area of the amphitheatre, and was raised between
twelve and fifteen feet above it; secured with a breast-work or parapet
against the irruption of wild beasts.]

[Footnote 571: A.U.C. 813.]

[Footnote 572: The baths of Nero stood to the west of the Pantheon. They
were, probably, incorporated with those afterwards constructed by
Alexander Severus; but no vestige of them remains. That the former were
magnificent, we may infer from the verses of Martial:

--------Quid Nerone pejus?
Quid thermis melius Neronianis.--B. vii. ch. 34.

What worse than Nero?
What better than his baths?]

[Footnote