IT was known in Rome that Caesar wished to see Ostia on the journey, or rather
the largest ship in the world, which had brought wheat recently from Alexandria,
and from Ostia to go by the Via Littoralis to Antium. Orders had been given a
number of days earlier; hence at the Porta Ostiensis, from early morning, crowds
made up of the local rabble and of all nations of the earth had collected to feast
their eyes with the sight of Caesar's retinue, on which the Roman population
could never gaze sufficiently. The road to Antium was neither difficult nor long. In
the place itself, which was composed of palaces and villas built and furnished in
a lordly manner, it was possible to find everything demanded by comfort, and
even the most exquisite luxury of the period. Caesar had the habit, however, of
taking with him on a journey every object in which he found delight, beginning
with musical instruments and domestic furniture, and ending with statues and
mosaics, which were taken even when he wished to remain on the road merely a
short time for rest or recreation. He was accompanied, therefore, on every
expedition by whole legions of servants, without reckoning divisions of pretorian
guards, and Augustians; of the latter each had a personal retinue of slaves.
Early on the morning of that day herdsrnen from the Campania, with sunburnt
faces, wearing goat-skins on their legs, drove forth five hundred she-asses
through the gates, so that Poppaea on the morrow of her arrival at Antium might
have her bath in their milk. The rabble gazed with delight and ridicule at the long
ears swaying amid clouds of dust, and listened with pleasure to the whistling of
whips and the wild shouts of the herdsmen. After the asses had gone by, crowds
of youth rushed forth, swept the road carefully, and covered it with flowers and
needles from pine-trees. In the crowds people whispered to each other, with a
certain feeling of pride, that the whole road to Antium would be strewn in that way
with flowers taken from private gardens round about, or bought at high prices
from dealers at the Porta Mugionis. As the morning hours passed, the throng
increased every moment. Some had brought their whole families, and, lest the
time might seem tedious, they spread provisions on stones intended for the new
temple of Ceres, and ate their prandium beneath the open sky. Here and there
were groups, in which the lead was taken by persons who had travelled; they
talked of Caesar's present trip, of his future journeys, and journeys in general.
Sailors and old soldiers narrated wonders which during distant campaigns they
had heard about countries which a Roman foot had never touched. Home-
stayers, who had never gone beyond the Appian Way, listened with amazement
to marvellous tales of India, of Arabia, of archipelagos surrounding Britain in
which, on a small island inhabited by spirits, Briareus had imprisoned the
sleeping Saturn. They heard of hyperborean regions of stiffened seas, of the
hisses and roars which the ocean gives forth when the sun plunges into his bath.
Stories of this kind found ready credence among the rabble, stories believed by
such men even as Tacitus and Pliny. They spoke also of that ship which Caesar
was to look at, -- a ship which had brought wheat to last for two years, without
reckoning four hundred passengers, an equal number of soldiers, and a
