resisting the power of that
element.

[383] The magnificent title of King of Kings has been assumed, at
different times, by various potentates. The person to whom it is here
applied, is the king of Parthia. Under the kings of Persia, and even
under the Syro-Macedonian kings, this country was of no consideration,
and reckoned a part of Hyrcania. But upon the revolt of the East from
the Syro-Macedonians, at the instigation of Arsaces, the Parthians are
said to have conquered eighteen kingdoms.

[384] A.U.C. 765.

[385] It does not appear that Gaetulicus wrote any historical work, but
Martial, Pliny, and others, describe him as a respectable poet.

[386] Supra Confluentes. The German tribe here mentioned occupied the
country between the Rhine and the Meuse, and gave their name to Treves
(Treviri), its chief town. Coblentz had its ancient name of Confluentes,
from its standing at the junction of the two rivers. The exact site of
the village in which Caligula was born is not known. Cluverius
conjectures that it may be Capelle.

[387] Chap. vii.

[388] The name was derived from Caliga, a kind of boot, studded with
nails, used by the common soldiers in the Roman army.

[389] According to Tacitus, who gives an interesting account of these
occurrences, Treves was the place of refuge to which the young Caius was
conveyed.--Annal. i.

[390] In c. liv. of TIBERIUS, we have seen that his brothers Drusus and
Nero fell a sacrifice to these artifices.

[391] Tiberius, who was the adopted father of Germanicus.

[392] Natriceus, a water-snake, so called from nato, to swim. The
allusion is probably to Caligula's being reared in the island of Capri.

[393] As Phaeton is said to have set the world on fire.

[394] See the Life of TIBERIUS, c. lxxiii.

[395] His name also was Tiberius. See before, TIBERIUS, c. lxxvi.

[396] Procida, Ischia, Capri, etc.

[397] The eagle was the standard of the legion, each cohort of which had
its own ensign, with different devices; and there were also little images
of the emperors, to which divine honours were paid.

[398] See before, cc. liii. liv.

[399] See TIBERIUS, c. x.; and note.

[400] The mausoleum built by Augustus, mentioned before in his Life,
c. C.

[401] The Carpentum was a carriage, commonly with two wheels, and an
arched covering, but sometimes without a covering; used chiefly by
matrons, and named, according to Ovid, from Carmenta, the mothe