The First Man in Rome (146 page)

Volsci
One of the ancient peoples of central Italy. They had occupied eastern Latium, and were centered around the settlements of Sora, Atina, Antium, Circei, Tarracina, and Arpinum; their allies were the Aequi. By the end of the fourth century B.C., the Volsci had been so completely absorbed into the Roman system that their cultural and social identities had largely disappeared. They did not speak Latin, but a language of their own, akin to Umbrian.

wine, vintage wine
Wine was an intrinsic part of the life of both Romans and Greeks; in the absence of brewing or distillation apparatus, wine was the only beverage available that contained alcohol. This made it the object of great reverence (hence the gods of wine, Bacchus and Dionysos), and—usually—great respect. Many different varieties of grapes were grown to make wine, of the white and the purple kinds, and wines came in white and red.

By the time of Gaius Marius, Roman viticulture in particular was a highly educated business, and had outstripped Greek viticulture decisively. The Romans were always good with plants and planting, with gardens, and with growing; from the time her privileged citizens began to travel abroad, Rome was gifted with many imported plants, both new varieties of old friends and completely new friends. This could be said of the grapevine, certainly, always being added to with foreign importations.

Roman viticulture was expert at grafting, and knowledgeable about pest prevention. Asphalt, for instance, dredged out of the Palus Asphaltites (the Dead Sea) in Palestine, was smeared on the woody parts of grapevines to prevent the growth of smuts and moulds. When exactly ready, the grapes were picked, placed in vats, and trodden; the juice which oozed out of the vat at this time was reserved to make the best wine of all. Then, after treading, the grapes were pressed in presses similar to those known today in vineyards where mass-production techniques have not been introduced; this juice was made into ordinary wine. Then the grapes were pressed again, to produce a thin, sour, third-class beverage which retailed so cheaply it was drunk in large quantities by the lowly, and was also given to slaves; this was sometimes fortified to increase its alcohol content, by the addition of boiled-down must after the fermentation process. Fermentation took place with more or less care, depending upon the class of juice and the intent of the
vigneron.
Vats coated inside with wax (for the best wines) or pitch (which is a resin obtained from pines, so these wines took up some of the resin, and emerged tasting like a modern Greek retsina) held the juices for several months, during which they were skimmed frequently.

After fermentation, wines to be drunk at once were put into amphorae or (occasionally) skins. But those wines intended for additional maturation were first strained rigorously through sieves and cloths, then "bottled" in amphorae which were scrupulously stoppered and sealed from the air with melted wax; they were labeled with the year, the vineyard, the type of grape, and the name of the
vigneron,
and were stored in cool cellars. Wooden casks were also used to store some of these-better wines.

Most wines were intended to be drunk within four years, but those wines carefully sealed did not continue to ferment, only to mature, and some could take twenty years to reach their peak drinking moment. These of course were vintage wines. Then, as now, the oenologist reared his head and came out with his stock vocabulary of adjectives and adverbs; of connoisseurs there were many. One such was the great legal advocate Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, who when he died in 50 B.C. bequeathed the staggering number of
10,000
amphorae of wine to some unknown beneficiary; the amphora held 25 liters, or 6 American gallons, which means Hortensius had 60,000 U.S. gallons of wine in his cellar. It was not normal practice to drink wine neat—water was added, in varying proportions.

Roman women of Gaius Marius's time drank little wine; during the early Republic, if a
paterfamilias
so much as smelled wine on the breath of one of his womenfolk, he was considered fully justified in having her executed immediately. Despite the apparent continence of Roman wine drinkers, watering their intake as they did, alcoholism was as real a problem in antiquity as it is today.

Wooden Bridge
The name given universally to the Pons Sublicius, built of wood.

yoke
The yoke was the beam or crosstie which rested upon the necks of a pair of oxen or other animals when harnessed to draw a load. In human terms, it came to mean the mark of servility, of submission to the domination of others. There was a yoke for the young of both sexes to pass beneath inside the city of Rome, located somewhere on the Carinae; it was called the Tigillum, and perhaps symbolized submission to the seriousness of adult life. However, it was in military terms that the yoke came to have its greatest metaphorical significance. Very early Roman (or perhaps Etruscan) armies forced a defeated enemy to pass beneath the yoke; two spears were planted upright in the ground, and a third spear was placed across their tops to form a crosstie—the whole was too low for a man to pass beneath walking upright; he had to bend over. Unfortunately enemy armies adopted the idea, with the result that from time to time a Roman army was compelled to pass beneath the yoke. To do this was an intolerable humiliation; so much so that the Senate usually preferred to see a Roman army stand and fight until the last man was dead, rather than sacrifice Roman honor and
dignitas
by surrendering and passing beneath the yoke. Even the ordinary people of Rome, including those as lowly as the Head Count, deemed passing beneath the yoke an utter humiliation, and clamored too to know why the defeated army hadn't fought until its last man lay dead.

PRONUNCIATION GUIDE TO ROMAN MASCULINE NAMES

To some extent, the pronunciation of classical Latin is still debated, but there are definite conventions among scholars. Liturgical Latin and medieval Latin are pronounced somewhat differently than classical Latin. None of which need worry the reader unduly. The aim of this little section is simply to offer guidelines for those readers without Latin.

One convention adhered to in pronouncing classical Latin is to sound the consonantal v like our English
w:
thus, the word
veritas
is properly pronounced
weritas.
But the rule is not hard and fast, even among scholars, so in the interests of reader comfort, I shall proceed to ignore it.

The diphthong
ae
should not be pronounced as in "say," but rather as in "eye"; this convention I have adhered to.

We have several more consonants in English than the Latin language did. The one which concerns the reader most is
j.
It has been customary in the English language for centuries to spell those Latin words commencing in consonantal
i
with a
j
. Thus, Julius should really be lulius, and pronounced Yoo-lee-uss,
not
Joo-lee-uss. However, I have elected to go with English
j.

The Latin
g
has only one sound, which I shall call
guh,
as in "gain"—"get"—"give"—"gone"—"gun." The other
g
sound in English, which I shall call
juh,
as in "ginger," is
never
used in pronouncing Latin.

Rather than adopt one of the current lexicographic systems of pronunciation, I have elected to use a phonetic system of my own, rhyming the Latin with some ordinary English word pronounced identically on both sides of the Atlantic as well as in the Antipodes—where possible!

And, last but by no means least, none of it really matters save to the purist. The most important thing is that the reader discover and enjoy the world of Republican Rome. Do not feel uncomfortable with the names. Latin is a major root of the English language, and that is a major help in itself. (Note: in some cases I have given the standard English pronunciation first, and put the more correct pronunciation in parentheses, in the lists below.)

The
Praenomen
(the First Name)

Appius
            Ah-pee-uss
(ah
as in "pa," "ma"—
uss
as in "puss")

Aulus
              Ow-luss
(ow
as in "cow")

Gaius
              Gye-uss
(gye
as in "eye")

Gnaeus
            Nye-uss
(nye
as in "eye")

Lucius
             Loo-shuss (more correctly, Loo-kee-uss)

Mamercus      
Mah-mer-kuss
(mah
as in "pa"—
mer
as in "her")

Manius
            Mah-nee-uss
(mah
as in "pa")

Marcus
           Mar-kuss

Publius
            Pub-lee-uss
(pub
has the same
u
sound as "put")

Quintus
           Kwin-tuss
(kwin
as in "twin")

Servius
            Ser-vee-uss
(ser
as in "her")

Sextus
            
Sex-tuss
(sex
as in "sex")

Spurius
           Spoo-ree-uss
(spoo
as in "too")

Tiberius
          Tye-beer-ee-uss (more correctly, Tee-bear-ee-uss)

Titus
               Tye-tuss (more correctly, Tee-tuss)

The
Nomen
(the Family or Gentilicial Name, Indicating the
Gens)

Aelius
              Eye-lee-uss
(eye
as in "eye"—
uss
as in "puss")

Aemilius
          Eye-mil-ee-uss
(mil
as in "will")

Annius
            An-nee-uss
(an
as in "tan")

Antistius
          Ahn-tist-ee-uss
(ahn
as in "gone"—
list
as in "fist")

Antonius
         An-toh-nee-uss
(an
as in "tan"—
toh
as in "so")

Appuleius        
Ah-poo-lay-ee-uss
(poo
as in "too"—
lay
as in "say")

Aquillius
         Ah-kwill-ee-uss
(kwill
as in "will")

Atilius
             Ah-tee-lee-uss

Aurelius
          Or-ree-lee-uss  (more correctly,  Ow-ray-lee-uss)

Baebius
           Bye-bee-uss
(bye
as in "eye")

Billienus
          Bill-ee-ay-nuss
(bill
as in "will"—
ay
as in "say")

Caecilius
         Kye-kill-ee-uss
(kye
as in "eye"—
kill
as in "will")

Caelius
            Kye-lee-uss

Calpurnius      
Kahl-purr-nee-uss
(kahl
as in "doll")

Cassius
            Kass-ee-uss
(kass
as in "lass")

Claudius
          Klaw-dee-uss
(klaw
as in "paw")—the English way; Klow-dee-uss
(klow
as in  "cow")—the correct Latin way

Clodius
           Kloh-dee-uss
(kloh
as in "so")'

Coelius
            Koy-lee-uss
(koy
as in "boy")

Cornelius
        Kor-nee-lee-uss (strictly, Kor-nay-lee-uss)

Curtius
            Koor-tee-uss
(koor
as in "poor")

Decius
             Deck-ee-uss
(deck
as in "peck")

Decumius        
Deck-oo-mee-uss
(oo
as in "too")

Didius
             Did-ee-uss
(did as
in "bid")

Domitius
         Dom-it-ee-uss
(dom
as in "torn"—
it
as in "fit")

Equitius
          Ay-kwit-ee-uss
(ay
as in "say"—
kwit
as in "fit")

Fabius
             Fay-bee-uss (strictly, Fab-ee-uss,/ab as in "cab")

Fabricius
         Fab-rick-ee-uss
(fab
as in "cab"—
rick
as in "kick")

Fannius
           Fan-nee-uss
(fan
as in "tan")

Flavius
            Flay-vee-uss (strictly, Flah-vee-uss)

Fraucus
           Frow-kuss
(frow
as in "cow")

Fulvius
            Full-vee-uss (strictly, Fool-vee-uss)

Furius
             Few-ree-uss (strictly, Foo-ree-uss)

Gavius
            Gah-vee-uss
(gah
as in "pa")

Granius
           Grah-nee-uss
(grah
as in "pa")

Gratidius        
Grah-tid-ee-uss
(tid
as in "bid")

Herennius       
Her-en-ee-uss

Hortensius      
Hor-ten-see-uss
(hor
as in "or"—
ten
as in "ten")

Julius
              Joo-lee-uss
(joo
as in "too")

Junius
             Joo-nee-uss

Labienus
         Lab-ee-ay-nuss
(lab
as in "cab"—
ay
as in "say")

Licinius
           Lick-in-ee-uss
(lick
as in "kick"—
in
as in "sin")

Livius
              Liv-ee-uss
(liv
as in "spiv")

Lucilius
           Loo-kill-ee-uss

Lusius
             Loo-see-uss

Lutatius
          Loo-tah-tee-uss
(tah
as in "pa")

Macrinus
         Mah-kree-nuss
(mah
as in "pa")

Maelius
           Mye-lee-uss
(mye
as in "eye")

Magius
            Mah-gee-uss (the
g
as in "gear")

Mallius
            Mah-lee-uss

Mamilius
         Mah-mill-ee-uss
(mill
as in "will")

Manlius
           Mahn-lee-uss

Marcius
           Mar-shuss (more correctly, Mar-kee-uss)

Marius
            Mah-ree-uss

Matius
            Mat-ee-uss
(mat
as in "pat")

Memmius
        Mem-ee-uss
(mem
as in "them")

Minucius
         Min-oo-kee-uss
(min
as in "sin"—
oo
as in "too")

Mucius
            Mew-shuss (more correctly, Moo-kee-uss)

Nonius
            Noh-nee-uss
(noh
as in "so")

Norbanus
        Nor-bah-nuss
(nor
as in "or"—
bah
as in "pa")

Octavius
          Ock-tay-vee-uss (more correctly, Ock-tah-vee-uss)

Opimius
          Oh-pee-mee-uss

Oppius
            Op-ee-uss
(op
as in "top")