e of the
braccae, which were no part of the Roman dress. Some writers suppose the
braccae to have been breeches, but Aldus, in a short disquisition on the
subject, affirms that they were a kind of upper dress. And this opinion
seems to be countenanced by the name braccan being applied by the modern
Celtic nations, the descendants of the Gallic Celts, to signify their
upper garment, or plaid.

[48] Alluding, probably, to certain scandals of a gross character
which were rife against Caesar. See before, c. ii. (p. 2) and see also
c. xlix.

[49] So called from the feathers on their helmets, resembling the crest
of a lark; Alauda, Fr. Alouette.

[50] Days appointed by the senate for public thanksgiving in the temples
in the name of a victorious general, who had in the decrees the title of
emperor, by which they were saluted by the legions.

[51] A.U.C. 702.

[52] Aurelia.

[53] Julia, the wife of Pompey, who died in childbirth.

[54] Conquest had so multiplied business at Rome, that the Roman Forum
became too little for transacting it, and could not be enlarged without
clearing away the buildings with which it was surrounded. Hence the
enormous sum which its site is said to have cost, amounting, it is
calculated, to 809,291 pounds of our money. It stood near the old forum,
behind the temple of Romulus and Remus, but not a vestige of it remains.

[55] Comum was a town of the Orobii, of ancient standing, and formerly
powerful. Julius Caesar added to it five thousand new colonists; whence
it was generally called Novocomum. But in time it recovered its ancient
name, Comum; Pliny the younger, who was a native of this place, calling
it by no other name.

[56] A.U.C. 705.

[57] Eiper gar adikein chrae, tyrannidos peri
Kalliston adikein talla de eusebein chreon.
--Eurip. Phoeniss. Act II, where Eteocles aspires to become the tyrant of
Thebes.

[58] Now the Pisatello; near Rimini. There was a very ancient law of
the republic, forbidding any general, returning from the wars, to cross
the Rubicon with his troops under arms.

[59] The ring was worn on the finger next to the little finger of the
left hand.

[60] Suetonius here accounts for the mistake of the soldiers with great
probability. The class to which they imagined they were to be promoted,
was that of the equites, or knights, who wore a gold ring, and were
possessed of property to the amount stated in the text. Great as was the
libe