. Bohn, upon
which one or other of these instruments figures. On the obverse is the
bust of the emperor in armour, laureated, with the inscription as
AURELIUS ANTONINUS PIUS AUG. BRIT. (his latest title). On the reverse is
the organ; an oblong chest with the pipes above, and a draped figure on
each side.

[621] A fine sand from the Nile, similar to puzzuclano, which was
strewed on the stadium; the wrestlers also rolled in it, when their
bodies were slippery with oil or perspiration.

[622] The words on the ticket about the emperor's neck, are supposed, by
a prosopopea, to be spoken by him. The reply is Agrippina's, or the
people's. It alludes to the punishment due to him for his parricide. By
the Roman law, a person who had murdered a parent or any near relation,
after being severely scourged, was sewed up in a sack, with a dog, a
cock, a viper, and an ape, and then thrown into the sea, or a deep river.

[623] Gallos, which signifies both cocks and Gauls.

[624] Vindex, it need hardly be observed, was the name of the propraetor
who had set up the standard of rebellion in Gaul. The word also
signifies an avenger of wrongs, redresser of grievances; hence vindicate,
vindictive, etc.

[625] Aen. xii. 646.

[626] The Via Salaria was so called from the Sabines using it to fetch
salt from the coast. It led from Rome to the northward, near the gardens
of Sallust, by a gate of the same name, called also Quirinalis, Agonalis,
and Collina. It was here that Alaric entered.

[627] The Via Nomentana, so named because it led to the Sabine town of
Nomentum, joined the Via Salara at Heretum on the Tiber. It was also
called Ficulnensis. It entered Rome by the Porta Viminalis, now called
Porta Pia. It was by this road that Hannibal approached the walls of
Rome. The country-house of Nero's freedman, where he ended his days,
stood near the Anio, beyond the present church of St. Agnese, where there
was a villa of the Spada family, belonging now, we believe, to Torlonia.

[628] This description is no less exact than vivid. It was easy for
Nero to gain the nearest gate, the Nomentan, from the Esquiline quarter
of the palace, without much observation; and on issuing from it (after
midnight, it appears), the fugitives would have the pretorian camp so
close on their right hand, that they might well hear the shouts of the
soldiers.

[629] Decocta. Pliny informs us that Nero had the water he drank,
boiled, to clear