presented an omen especially unfavourable to kings. To this opinion the following passage in the Paradise Lost obviously refers; “And with fear of change perplexes monarchs.” [287] Seneca refers to the four comets that were seen, after the death of Cæsar, in the time of Augustus, of Claudius, and of Nero; Quæst. Nat. i. 7. Suetonius mentions the comet which appeared previous to the death of Claudius, cap. 46, and Tacitus that before the death of Nero, Ann. xiv. 22. [288] “A Julio Cæsare. Is enim paulo ante obitum collegium his ludis faciendis instituerat, confecto Veneris templo;” Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 299. Jul. Obsequens refers to a “stella crinita,” which appeared during the celebration of these games, cap. 128. [289] “Hoc est, hora fere integra ante solis occasum;” Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 299. [290] All these circumstances are detailed by Suetonius, in Julio, §