aute."

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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

[501] Claudius must have expended more time in his march from Marseilles
to Gessoriacum, as Boulogne was then called, than in his vaunted conquest
of Britain.

[502] In point of fact, he was only sixteen days in the island,
r