﻿THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 101 



custom witli which Cicero charges Antony in his second Philippic. These veiy abuses 

 presuppose the existence of the custom ; for it is in the nature of things that the abuse 

 of a thing succeeds its proper, legitimate use. 



The existence and prevalence, nay, the abuse of this custom, even in the times of 

 the republic, being sufficiently established, there is nothing in this passage, as far as 

 this custom is concerned, to prevent us from applying the name Cassar to Augustus, 

 if not to his great-uncle, Julius Caesar. It is known that Augustiis was frequently 

 remembered in the testaments of persons not his relations, and that he accepted such 

 legacies. "\^^iile he was entirely free from avarice, employing the means accruing from 

 this source in the most generous manner, he loved such tokens of respect and affection, 

 and naiTOwly scrutinized the amount of the legacy and the language of the testator. 

 C£ Suetou. Aug. 66 : " Nam, quamvis minime appeteret hereditates, ut qui nunquam 

 ex ignoti testamento capere quidquam sustiuuerit, aniicorum tamen suprema judicia 

 morosissime pensitavit, neque dolore dissimulate, si parcius aut citra honorem verborum, 

 neque gaudio, si grate pieque quis se prosecutus fuisset. Legata, vel partes heredi- 

 tatum, a quibuscunque parentibus relicta sibi, aut statim liberis eorum concedere aut, 

 si pupillari aetate essent, die virilis togae vel nuptiarum cum incremento restituere con- 

 suerat." Xay, those who see everywhere in the works of Petronius satirical allusions 

 to individuals, and especially those who, with Burmann, discover in the name Maecena- 

 tianus (c. 71. 12) an evidence that Trimalchio was actually a freedman of that distin- 

 guished personage Maecenas, may find a corroboration of their hypothesis in the fact 

 that Maecenas made Augustus his heir. Cf Dio Cass. 55. 7 : Tovrav re oZv evsKa la-xvpax: 

 avTov 6 Avyovaro^ l-wod-qcre, koI oti koi KKrfprjvofiov avrov, Kaivep €7rt ttj yvvaiKi. Sva-KoXaivtov, 

 KareXiTre, 



25. C. 77. 5: "Ad summa, Scaurus cum hue venit, nusquam mavoluit hospitari, et 

 habet ad mare paternum hospitium." The question naturally suggests itself, whether 

 it is possible to identify this indi-\idual Scaurus. We can distinguish among those 

 who bear the name Scaurus several branches, the most distinguished and numerous 

 belonging to the " gens Aemilia" ; besides these, we meet with Aurelii and Terentii. 

 Among the last the most distinguished was Q. Terentius Scaurus, a grammarian in the 

 times of the Emperor Hadrianus (from 117 to 138 A. D.). Among the .Emilii there 

 is one who at once attracts our attention in connection vriih this passage, namely, 

 Mamercus ^milius Scaurus, distinguished as an orator and poet, but also conspicuous 

 for the dissoluteness of his life and manners. He was the grandson of M. JEmihus 

 Scam-US, who, in the times of Sulla, Pompey, and Cicero, played no inconsiderable part 

 in public afi"aus. Mamercus at an early period drew upon himself the enmity of Tibe- 



VOL. VI. NEW SERIES. 1-i 



