Grasping someone by the knees was a traditional gesture of supplication in Greece and Rome. For example, in the Iliad 1.493-510, Thetis, the mother of Achilles, supplicates Zeus by clasping his knees with her left hand and touching him beneath the chin with her right.
The Woman Down the Rock
dii immortales (3.8)
Cestius raised the question of “whether the immortal gods are concerned with human affairs“. This reflects the Epicurean doctrine that the gods exist, and are worthy of worship, but “they take no thought for this world or any other” (Oxford Classical Dictionary)
Ex altera parte (3.7)
Several of the declaimers refer to the idea that the accused woman did not die because she was saved by the gods, perhaps specifically by Vesta. Although they do not mention it, there are precedents for this. Dionysius of Halicarnassus (a close contemporary of Seneca the Elder) relates two cases of Vestals who were unjustly accused of incestus and were saved by calling on Vesta to aid them. (Antiquitates Romanae 2.68 and 2.69)
ampliatur a iudicibus in poenam? (3.2)
saxum (3.2)
While unchaste Vestals were executed by other means (live burial, cf. the comment on ampliatur a iudicibus in poenam?), the Tarpeian Rock from which Rome’s most loathed criminals were thrown was itself named after a Vestal virgin who had betrayed the Roman people: in the days of Romulus, the ill-fated Tarpeia had opened Rome’s gates to the attacking Sabines under promise of gold (Livy 1.11). The Sabines killed her shortly afterwords.
cum quo (3.2)
While a man convicted of defiling a Vestal virgin was beaten to death (Fest. 277 L), it is notable that Vestal virgins were occasionally convicted of unchastity without the identification of a male accomplice (Parker 581, cf. Livy 4.44 and Livy 28.6). This calls into question whether a trial for unchastity was centred on the genuine establishment of fact and has led some scholars – particularly René Girard in Violence and the Sacred – to argue that the persecution of a Vestal virgin may have served a ritual function for the Roman people, providing expiatory relief in times of crisis.
immensae altitudinis (3.3)
While its exact location is still a mystery, Lucan’s cursory mention of the Tarpeian rock along with his description of the Temple of Saturn (Phars. III,154) has led some to identify it with the cliff that overlooks the modern-day Piazza della Consolazione at the south-west corner of the Capitoline. The height of the cliff is 60 feet, although it may have been greater in ancient times, when the rock face would have continued down past the current level of the road. A Google Maps view of the site can be found here.
de iudicibus (3.2)
Because the unchastity of a Vestal virgin was a crime against the gods, her case was judged by the pontifical college rather than the Comitia Curiata, which usually presided over criminal trials (Cic. Leg. 2, 9, 22). The collegium pontificum consisted of a rex sacrorum, multiple flamines, multiple pontifices minores, and a single governing pontifex maximus. A body of great power and prestige, the college exercised ultimate jurisdiction over all matters of religion. By performing public rituals, establishing rules for private worship, and administering religious law, it acted as an intermediary between the Romans and their gods.
Vibius Gallus
Vibius Gallus
He was born in Perugia; Seneca made fun of him for almost singing cues that he was about to begin describing something. He says that he would sing out “I want to describe love” as if he were saying “I want to have an orgy.” (Contr 2.1.26). He says that he cultivated insania deliberately as he thought it helped him declaim.
Pompeius Silo
Pompeius Silo
Although he is frequently cited by Seneca we know little about him. His name suggests he is not from Italy and he may come from Narbo or Spain (in the latter country the cognomen Silo is attested in a number of inscriptions). The family were clearly originally clients of Pompey the Great; the consul M. Larcius Magnus Pompeius Silo, who held the office under Domitian, may have been one of his descendants.