This year also brought deputations from the Grecian cities; one from the
people of Samos; one from those of Cooes; the former to request that the
ancient right of Sanctuary in the Temple of Juno might be confirmed; the
latter to solicit the same confirmation for that of Aesculapius. The
Samians claimed upon a decree of the Council of Amphictyons, the supreme
Judicature of Greece, at the time when the Greeks by their cities founded
in Asia, possessed the maritime coasts. Nor had they of Cooes a weaker
title to antiquity; to which likewise accrued the pretensions of the place
to the friendship of Rome: for they had lodged in the Temple of
Aesculapius all the Roman citizens there, when by the order of King
Mithridates, such were universally butchered throughout all the cities of
Asia and the Isles. And now after many complaints from the Praetors, for
the most part ineffectual, the Emperor at last made a representation to
the Senate, concerning the licentiousness of the players; "that in many
instances they raised seditious tumults, and violated the public peace;
and, in many, promoted debauchery in private families: that the _Oscan
Farce_, formerly only the contemptible delight of the vulgar, was risen to
such a prevailing pitch of credit and enormity, that it required the
authority of the Senate to check it.
Pages:
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299