Antony and Cleopatra (82 page)

Fabian tactics
Named after Fabius Maximus Cunctator, who dogged Hannibal’s army through Italy for seventeen years without ever offering pitched battle. It still means avoiding battle.

Fannian paper
A Roman businessman named Fannius invented a cheap way to turn poor-grade papyrus paper into something akin to the most expensive kinds. He made a huge fortune.

fasces
A cylindrical bundle of red-dyed birch rods tightly bound together in a criss-cross pattern by red leather thongs. Carried by a man called a lictor, it indicated a magistrate’s degree of imperium (q.v.)—six for a praetor, twelve for a consul. Within Rome, the
fasces
contained only the rods, indicating the magistrate’s power to chastise, but outside the city it also held a single-bladed axe to indicate that the magistrate had the power to decapitate. Mussolini revived the term for his party, hence the modern “Fascist.”

fasti
A list of days, as in the Roman calendar, or a list of consuls.

feliciter
“Good luck!” or “Much happiness!”

fiscus
A purse of money or a moneybag: it referred to State moneys.

“five”
Slang for the quinquereme (q.v.).

flamen
A Roman priest having a specific job. There were three major
flamines:
Dialis (Jupiter); Quirinalis (Quirinus); and Martialis (Mars). He and his wife were shackled with taboos, particularly the
flamen
and
flaminica Dialis;
he was forbidden to see death, touch iron, have knots or buckles on his person, and much more. The
flamen
wore a circular, poncholike cape, the
laena,
and the
apex,
a close-fitting ivory helmet surmounted by a spike on which was impaled a disc of wool.

forum
The Roman public meeting place, also applied to major markets—fish, meat, fruit, and vegetables, etc.

freedman
A manumitted slave. He was obliged to wear a conical skullcap, the “cap of liberty.” If his former master was a Roman, then he was automatically in his master’s clientele and had little right to exercise his franchise. However, he could make money and so rise high in the Classes.

Gades
Modern Cadiz, in Spain.

Galatia
In the third century
B.C
., an enclave of Gauls settled in the rich grassy regions of Anatolia between the Sangarius and Halys Rivers. Its ancient capital, Ancyra, is now Ankara.

garum
A highly esteemed flavoring obtained from fish; as far as we know, it stank a treat. The best
garum
was from Spain.

Gaul, Gauls
Any region inhabited by Celtic peoples was a Gaul. Romans did not call these people Celts: they were Gauls.

gens humana
The human family.

Gerrae!
Utter rubbish, nonsense.

gig
A Roman conveyance with two wheels. It was drawn by mules, in any number from one to four.

glans, glandes
An acorn, acorns. Also used of the acorn-shaped lead bullet flung from a sling, so it also meant bullet.

gorgon
a mythical monster, female in sex. She had hair of living snakes and a glance that turned men to stone. There were three gorgons, sisters, but only Medusa’s gaze was stony.

Halys River
The modern Kizil Irmak River of central Turkey.

harpy
A mythical monster, female in sex. She had the body of a bird of prey and the head of a woman.

Head Count
The
capite censi
. Those Romans too impoverished to belong to the Fifth Class. When holding a census, the censors simply counted their heads. They could vote and could wear the toga.

Hellespont
The straits between Europe and Asia, flowing from the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean Sea. The modern Dardanelles.

herm
A pedestal adorned with male genitalia. In Christian times hermed pedestals were defaced, portrayal of the genitals being considered obscene.

hostis
An enemy of the Roman State. If declared
hostis
, a citizen was stripped of his property and citizenship, perhaps also his life.

Ides
One of the three enumerated days in a Roman month. It fell on the thirteenth of January, February, April, June, Sextilis (August), September, November, and December. In March, May, Julius, and October, it fell on the fifteenth.

Ilium
The Roman name for Troy.

Illyricum
The upper, eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and extending well inland. Istria, Liburnia, and Dalmatia were a part of it.

imperator
Properly, the commanding general of a Roman army. By this time, it had come to mean only those commanders hailed “imperator” on the battlefield. It entitled a man to celebrate a triumph (q.v.).

imperium
The degree of authority vested in a curule magistrate. If he went on to hold a promagistracy, it was extended, though not necessarily to the same degree. The number of lictors preceding a man denoted his imperium—six for a praetor, twelve for a consul.

imperium maius
Unlimited imperium, so high that its holder was superior to all save a dictator, whether in Rome or in a province. Until this time it was relatively rare, but during the last decades of the Republic, the Senate awarded it to quite a number of men.

inepte
A fool, idiot, someone mentally dull.

insula
It meant an island, but also a tall apartment building, which was always surrounded by alleyways.

irrumator
A mortal insult! The man performing fellatio on another man, thus on his knees before him.

Italia
The leg and foot of the Italian boot. It terminated at the rivers Arnus and Rubicon.

Italian Gaul
The haunch of the Italian leg: everything between the Alps and the two rivers of the Italian boundary. Watered by the Padus (Po) River, it was extremely rich and fertile. However, its bounty could not be exported to Italia proper because of the Apennine mountain chain and perverse winds on the sea.

iugerum, iugera
The Roman unit of land measurement. One
iugerum
was equal to 0.623 of an acre, or 0.252 of a hectare.

Julius
The old Roman month of Quinctilis became Julius after Julius Caesar was assassinated and deified.

Kalends
One of the three enumerated days of the Roman month. It was the first day.

knights
The Ordo Equester, or equestrian order. When Rome was very young, some men formed the cavalry, and because horses were expensive, the State bought their mounts. However, by the time of this book, a knight was merely a prominent businessman, a member of the First Class. Thus it was a social and economic distinction.

Lares and Penates
The Roman household gods or gods of the field—of granaries and storage cupboards, all things that enabled a family to live safely and comfortably.

Lares Permarini
The Lares who presided over Romans voyaging on the sea.

laserpicium
A substance obtained from a north African shrub called silphium. It was used to relieve indigestion after over-indulgence and was extremely expensive.

latifundium, latifundia
A large tract of land, usually public, leased for grazing rather than growing.
Latifundia
were the chief reason why Italia was not able to feed itself wheat, as they deprived the small farmer of his land. They reduced employment and encouraged urban drift.

lectus medius
Roman dining couches were arranged facing each other in a U that might contain as few as three or as many as fifteen. The host’s couch, the
lectus medius
, formed the bottom of the U.

legate
Deputy generals or commanders in a Roman army, as used herein.

legion
The smallest unit in a Roman army capable of fighting a war on its own; that is, it was complete within itself in terms of manpower, equipment, and function. A full-strength legion contained 4,800 soldiers divided into 10 cohorts of 6 centuries; it also held 1,200 noncombatant Roman citizen servants and 60 centurions, plus artificers and artillerymen. It had 600 mules as pack animals, and 60 ox-drawn wagons for bulk supplies.

lemur, lemures
Shades. Creatures from the underworld.

lex, leges
A law, laws. Feminine gender. The name of the man who promulgated a law was usually attached to it, as
lex Ogulnia, lex Annia,
etc.

lex Voconia de mulierum hereditatibus
Passed in 169
B.C.
, it severely limited a woman’s right to inherit a large fortune. However, the Senate could override it by decree.

Liburnian
A ship so called because the pirates of Liburnia used it. Its exact dimensions are hard to surmise, but as Agrippa used Liburnians in sea battles, it must have been about the size of a trireme, or “three.” Which meant it was decked and able to carry marines in goodly number. Certainly it was swift and easy to maneuver.

Liguria
The mountainous maritime region between Italian Gaul and the Gallic Province. A poor area, it was famous for its greasy wool, tamped into felt and waterproof ponchos.

locus consularis
The right-hand end position on the host’s couch, the most important.

Long-haired Gaul
So called because its inhabitants wore their hair very long, a mark of barbarity. It was, roughly, most of modern France and Belgium excluding the Rhone Valley and the Mediterranean coast. Its people were tribal, divided into Celtae and Belgae.

Macedonia
It bordered the eastern Adriatic below Illyricum, went east across the mountains of Candavia, and ended at the Strymon River. In ancient times it was much larger than it is today. Its main artery was the Via Egnatia (q.v.).

maiestas
“Little” treason. “Big” treason,

perduellio,
mandated a uniquely cruel death, whereas
maiestas
might see a man let off with exile from Rome and confiscation of all his property.

maniple
In earlier times, the tactical unit of the legion. It comprised two centuries of troops. Gaius Marius made the cohort supreme, relegating the maniple to a parade ground phenomenon.

Massilia
Modern Marseilles.

Mauretania
Modern Morocco.

medicus
A pun on “
medius
” (middle) and “
medicus
” (doctor) that called the middle finger, used for rectal examinations, the “
medicus
” when the intention was a rude gesture: “Up yours!”

mentula
A choice Latin obscenity: prick.

mentulam caco
A particularly obscene phrase: “I shit on your prick!”

meretrix
A harlot.

meum mel
A Latin endearment: “my honey.”

modius, modii
The customary Roman measure of grain. It weighed 13 pounds and was sufficient to make one large loaf a day for six days. The free grain dole gave a recipient five
modii
a month. The Greek measure, a
medimnus
, consisted of five
modii
.

mos maiorum
Almost indefinable for us. It was the established order of things: the way things had always been and always would be. It represented an unwritten constitution of sorts.

municipium
A district that did not have full autonomy in Roman eyes.

Mutina
A town on the Via Aemilia in Italian Gaul. Modern Modena. It lay in the clientele of Mark Antony.

Narbo
Modern Narbonne, in France.

nefas
Unholy, sacrilegious.

nemes
An Egyptian headdress made of cloth bound across the forehead, joined at the nape of the neck, and flaring out like wings on either side behind the ears.