[e] The common people are called, in the original, _tunicatus populus_; that class of men, who wore the _tunic_, and not the _toga_, or the _Roman gown_. The _tunica_, or close coat, was the common garment worn within doors, and abroad, under the _toga_. Kennet says, the _proletarii_, the _capite censi_, and the rest of the dregs of the city, could not afford to wear the _toga_, and therefore went in their _tunics_; whence Horace says (lib. i. epist. 7).
The TOGA, however, was the peculiar dress of the Roman people. VIRGIL distinguishes his countrymen by their mode of apparel:
Romanos rerum dominos, gentemque togatam.
But, though this was the Roman habit, the lower citizens were obliged to appear abroad is their _tunica_, or close garment. The love of praise is so eager a passion, that the public orator is here represented as delighting in the applause of the rabble. Persius, the satirist, has said the same thing:
Pulchrum est digito monstrari, et dicier. HIC EST.
[a] The character of Eprius Marcellus has been already stated, section v. note [c]. Crispus Vibius is mentioned as a man of weight and influence, _Annals_, book xiv. s. 28. Quintilian has mentioned him to his advantage: he calls him, book v. chap. 13, a man of agreeable and elegant talents, _vir ingenii jucundi et elegantis_; and again, Vibius Crispus was distinguished by the elegance of his composition, and the sweetness of his manner; a man born to please, but fitter for private suits, than for the importance of public causes. _Et VIBIUS CRISPUS, compositus, et jucundus, et delectationi natus; privatis tamen causis, quam publicis, melior._ Lib. x. cap. 1.
[b] Which of these two men was born at Capua, and which at Vercellæ, is not clearly expressed in the original. Eprius Marcellus, who has been described of a prompt and daring spirit, ready to embark in every mischief, and by his eloquence able to give colour to the worst cause, must at this time have become a new man, since we find him mentioned in this Dialogue with unbounded praise. He, it seems, and Vibius Crispus were the favourites at Vespasian's court. Vercellæ, now _Verceil_, was situated in the eastern part of Piedmont. _Capua_, rendered famous by Hannibal, was a city in Campania, always deemed the seat of pleasure.