---
title: "The Deified Julius · Divus Julius"
author: "Suetonius"
translator: "John C. Rolfe"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 39 of 89
url: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/39/
cite: "Suetonius, tr. John C. Rolfe, The Deified Julius · Divus Julius, section 39. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/39/"
---

# The Deified Julius · Divus Julius

*Suetonius, tr. John C. Rolfe*

## 39. Chapter 39

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/39/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/39/#p-N

[¶0] He gave entertainments of divers kinds: a combat of gladiators and also stage-plays in every ward all over the city, performed too by actors of all languages, as well as races in the circus, athletic contests, and a sham sea-fight. In the gladiatorial contest in the Forum Furius Leptinus, a man of praetorian stock, and Quintus Calpenus, a former senator and pleader at the bar, fought to a finish. A Pyrrhic dance was performed by the sons of the princes of Asia and Bithynia.

> Latin: Edidit spectacula varii generis: munus gladiatorium, ludos etiam regionatim urbe tota et quidem per omnium linguarum histriones, item circenses athletas naumachiam. Munere in Foro depugnavit Furius Leptinus stirpe praetoria et Q. Calpenus senator quondam actorque causarum. Pyrricham saltaverunt Asiae Bithyniaeque principum liberi.

[¶1] During the plays Decimus Laberius, a Roman knight, acted a farce of his own composition, and having been presented with five hundred thousand sesterces and a gold ring, passed from the stage through the orchestra and took his place in the fourteen rows. For the races the circus was lengthened at either end and a broad canal was dug all about it; then young men of the highest rank drove four-horse and two-horse chariots and rode pairs of horses, vaulting from one to the other. The game called Troy was performed by two troops, of younger and of older boys.

> Latin: Ludis Decimus Laberius eques Romanus mimum suum egit donatusque quingentis sestertiis et anulo aureo sessum in quattuordecim e scaena per orchestram transiit. Circensibus spatio Circi ab utraque parte producto et in gyrum euripo addito quadrigas bigasque et equos desultorios agitaverunt nobilissimi iuvenes. Troiam lusit turma duplex maiorum minorumque puerorum.

*Note: In token of his restoration to the rank of knight, which he forfeited by appearing on the stage; see chap. xxxiii. · The first fourteen rows above the orchestra, reserved for the knights by the law of L. Roscius Otho, tribune of the commons, 67 B.C. · Euripus, the strait between Euboea and Boeotia, was used also as a common noun, meaning a ditch or canal.*

[¶2] Combats with wild beasts were presented on five successive days, and last of all there was a battle between two opposing armies, in which five hundred foot-soldiers, twenty elephants, and thirty horsemen engaged on each side. To make room for this, the goals were taken down and in their place two camps were pitched over against each other. The athletic competitions lasted for five days in a temporary stadium built for the purpose in the region of the Campus Martius.

> Latin: Venationes editae per dies quinque ac novissime pugna divisa in duas acies, quingenis peditibus, elephantis vicenis, tricenis equitibus hinc et inde commissis. Nam quo laxius dimicaretur, sublatae metae inque earum locum bina castra exadversum constituta erant. Athletae stadio ad tempus exstructo regione Marti campi certaverunt per triduum.

[¶3] For the naval battle a pool was dug in the lesser Codeta and there was a contest of ships of two, three, and four banks of oars, belonging to the Tyrian and Egyptian fleets, manned by a large force of fighting men. Such a throng flocked to all these shows from every quarter, that many strangers had to lodge in tents pitched in the streets or along the roads, and the press was often such that many were crushed to death, including two senators.

> Latin: Navali proelio in minore Codeta defosso lacu biremes ac triremes quadriremesque Tyriae et Aegyptiae classis magno pugnatorum numero conflixerunt. Ad quae omnia spectacula tantum undique confluxit hominum, ut plerique advenae aut inter vicos aut inter vias tabernaculis positis manerent, ac saepe prae turba elisi exanimatique sint plurimi et in his duo senatores.