130 pliny's natural HISTOET. [Book XXXIII, 



time, in the reiga of the Emperor Claudius, Pallas,^^ Cal- 

 listus,'^ and Narcissus.^'' 



But to omit all further mention of these men, as though 

 they were stilP^ the rulers of the empire, let us turn to C. 

 Caecilius Claudius Isidorus, who, in the consulship of C. 

 Asinius Gallus and C. Marcius Censorinus,'^^ upon the sixth 

 day before the calends of February, declared by his will, that 

 though he had suffered great losses through the civil wars, he 

 was still able to leave behind him four thousand one hundred 

 and sixteen slaves, three thousand six hundred pairs of oxen, 

 and two hundred and fifty-seven thousand heads of other kind 

 of cattle, besides, in ready money, sixty millions of sesterces. 

 Upon his funeral, also, he ordered eleven hundred thousand 

 sesterces to be expended. 



And yet, supposing all these enormous riches to be added 

 together, how small a proportion will they bear to the wealth 

 of Ptolemaeus; the person who, according to Yarro, when 

 Pompeius was on his expedition in the countries adjoining 

 Judeea, entertained eight thousand horsemen at his own ex- 

 pense, and gave a repast to one thousand guests, setting before 

 every one of them a drinking-cup of gold, and changing these 

 vessels at every course ! And then, again, how insignificant 

 would his wealth have been by the side of that of Pythius 

 the Bithynian'^^ — for I here make no mention of kings, be it 



18 Originally the slave of Antonia, the mother of Claudius. Agrippina, 

 the wife of Claudius, admitted liim to her embraces, and in conjunction 

 with her he for some time ruled the destinies of the Roman Empire. He 

 was poisoned by order of Nero, a.d. 63. 



19 C. Julius Callistus, the freedman of Caligula, in whose assassination 

 he was an accomplice. The physician Scribonius Largus dedicated his 

 work to Callistus. 



20 A freedman of the Emperor Claudius, whose epistolary correspond- 

 ence he superintended. He was put to death on the accession of Nero, 

 A.D. 54. 21 jjj -which case it would be dangerous to speak of them. 



23 A.U.C. 746. 



23 According to some authorities, he was a Lydian. He derived his 

 wealth from his gold mines in the neighbourhood of Celaenge in Phrygia, 

 and would appear, in spite of Pliny's reservation, to have been little less 

 than a king. His five sons accompanied Xerxes ; but Pythius, alarmed by 

 an eclipse of the sun, begged that the eldest might be left behind. Upon 

 this, Xerxes had the youth put to death, and his body cut in two, the army 

 being ordered to march between the portions, which were placed on either 

 side of the road. His other sons were all slain in battle, and Pythius 

 passed the rest of his life in solitude. 



