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THE HOUSE OF

CAESAR

AND THE IMPERIAL DISEASE

BY SEYMOUR VAN SANTVOORD

^ ».

PAFRAETS BOOK COMPANY
TROY NEW YORK MDCCCCII

1 ,

:^ v^^ ^

-» 0

M I

2. ^
? i

PREFACE

Prefaces to books are usually of two sorts: eoopldnatory
and apologetic. For this reason, perhaps^ they are tolerated
08 in some degree useful to the comparatvvely few who read
them. If of the first-mentioned kind, it is possible to form
some estim^e as to whether the teoct has a message for the
reader; while if the introduction is of the other variety^
to the eaperienced gleaner, at least, it is ordinarily safe to
conclude that the book ought not to have been written.

While perhaps not entirely justifiable, I have felt that
there is at least excuse for the publication of this little
compilation — than which it professes to be nothing mxyre.
Wkde reading with my boys one of John Bonner s delight-
ful books for children, I was impressed a^ I had never
been by nwre pretentious Roman histories, with the almost
certain incident to the imperial office of a death by violent
means. Curiously tracing this so-called ^'Imperial Disease''
to its origin, I finally discovered it, as it seemed to me, in
the introduction among the Romans by the Empress Livia
Augusta of the dreadfid crime of domestic murder. And
after descending again from JLivia to Nero, and eocplor-
ing the fate of all who bore the cognomen of Caesar by the

[vii]

PREFACE

Old of the clue thtis discovered^ the conclusion became irre-
sistible that the violent death which awaited so large a pro-
portion of the Roman Emperors is to be accounted for not
alone by the license of the times^ but in no small degree by
the eocistence of a veritable disease having its origin in the
house of Coesar itself

Although eortremely anomms not to be classed among
those who deliberately cater to the taste for all monstrous
infractions of both divine and natural lawSy I have as-
sumed the risk which at first sight might not unnaturally
attach to the narration of a series of almost uninterrupted
crimpy confident that in the end the motive of this sketch
will not be misjudged. And while distinctly disavowing the
intent of pointing a morale at once so inexcusable and dan-
gerous in a mere gathering of f axis ^ I have nevertheless
felt that what De Quincey calls the ** striking and truly
scenical catastroplie of retribution which overtook the long
evolution of insane atrocities perpetrated by the Ccesars,''
furnishes a lesson so impressive as to justify in som^ mea-
sure at least even what may be considered a monotonous
relation of wickedness and outrage.

I have m^eant this to be an eocplanation. If between the
lines an apology is founds whosoever discovers it would
wisely apply the rule suggested in the introductory para-
graph.

[ viii ]

PREFACE

As these pages have not been written for the learned^ I
have not cited authorities. But my facts have been gathered
from the visual sources^ — Tacitus^ Dion Cassiv^y SuetomuSy
P&ny, and Plutarch among the fathers; besides making
use of CrAner, Merivale, Duruy^ Cribbon, and the many
writers quoted by them respectively. Everything stated a^
fact has been founded upon the best obtainable authority y
which cfter careful comparison has seemed to me under all
the circumstances student; and where a particular inci-
dent appears to be in doubts I have frankly so stated.

The vahiable and interesting ** Tragedy of the Ccesars''
by S. Baring-Gould wa^ not brought to my attention until
the first eleven chapters of this volume were completed. The
author's conclusions are in many respects so diametrically
opposed to my own and to what has hitherto been so almost
universally accepted as unquestionable fact, that both in a
spirit of fairness and with an ananous regard for historic
truths whatever idols must be destroyed, or new altars
erected^ before completing my work the entire subject was
carefvUy reconsidered in the light of Mr. Baring-Gould's
argument. It need only be said that I have found no rea-
son to recast any of my conclusions — many qfwhicK cm the
contrary t have been actu^dly strengthened cfter remaining
unconvinced by what must be considered the strongest pos-
sible presentation of the other side. My twelfth chapter was

[ix]

PREFACE

accordingly framed upon the lines originally drawn; in
the final note to which chapter will be found a brief refer-
ence to Mr. Baring-Gould's estimate of Livia, Tiberius^
Octavia Minor, and the two Agrippinas.

I am sure that every one — even including the publishers
— will grant me a few lines in closing, gratefully to ac-
knowledge my dear mother's kindness in procuring many
of the photographs from which the accompanying illustra-
tions have been made. Without the assistance which her fa-
miliarity with the subject and close acquaintance with the
museums consequent upon a long residence in Italy enabled
her to render in the selection of those busts and statues of
which photographs would be desirable, the most interesting
and attractive features of this book would have been want-
ing. And among the imperishable memories which lighten
the soberer xnstas of the past, are those of the happy days
when, in supplementing her earlier work, together we sal-
lied forth in the Eternal City: and by pleading, cajolery,
and insistence — with here and there, it must be confessed,
a somewhat laxnsh use of lire — secured the necessary *'per-
messo'' for our lively little photographic " Tito'' to make a
negative of some rare bust which presumably had never
before faced the camera. ''Instant dismissal would be mine,
Signore Americano, if it came to his Holiness' s ears that
this had been permitted," said the smiling official as he slyly

[X]

PREFACE

pocketed the gold piece (a rara avis indeed in that land
of dirty paper) which was the price of the coveted photo-
graph afAgrippina Major secured from the Chiaramonti
in Holy Lent itse^/

s. r. S.

Naoember^ 1901

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I

THE FIRST STAGE OP EMPIRE
THE BEGINNING OP SPLENDOR

PAGE

I. Julius C^sae S

IL C^SAR Augustus, the Fibst Emperoe ao

III. The Family of Augustus 80

IV. Tiberius Cjesar, the Second Emperor 46
V. The Family of Tiberius 66

VI. Caligula, the Third Emperor 74

VII. The Family of Caligula 82

VIIL Claudius C^sar, the Fourth Emperor 96

IX. The Family of Claudius 104

X. Nero, the Fifth Emperor 125

XI. The Family of Nero 187

XII. Results and Causes 168

Appendix : Tables of the Victims, and of

Imperial Deaths and Marriages 196

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART II

THE SECOND STAGE OF EMPIRE

CHAPTBB PAGE

I. Completion of Splendor ao7

THE THIRD STAGE OF EMPIRE

II. Decline of Splendor 285

THE FOURTH STAGE OF EMPIRE

III. Revival of Splendor 298

THE LAST STAGE OF EMPIRE

IV. The Final Decline 844

Index to Part I 881

Index to Part II 898

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

IN PART I

PaLACBS of the CiESARS moNTisPiscB

Restored hf Betwemdi

Temples in the Forum Romanum facino page vii

Restored fry BecchetH

The Rostra and Arch of Sephmius Severus 8

Restored by BecchetH

JuunS C^SAR 6

Bust m British Museum

JULTOS C^SAR 10

Bust tit CapUolknt

JULTOS C^SAR 12

Bust in Uffisd Palace

Augustus 16

Bust in Vffisi Palace

Augustus 20

Bust in Vatican

Augustus 24

Staiue m Vffisi Palace

LlYIA 28

BuH in Vffisi Palace

Julia, daughter of Augustus 80

Bust in Vffisi Palace

Julia, daughter of Augustus 84

Bust in Vatican

Agrifpa 88

Bust in CapitoUne

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

AGBIPPA FAaNO PAGE 42

Bud m Uffisi Palace

Caius C^sab, son of Julia 46

Buil in Vatican

Lucius C^sab, son of Julia 50

Btut in Vatican

POSTUMUS AgRIPPA, SON OF JUUA 64

Bust in Vatican

Tiberius 68

BuH in Uffisi PtUace

Tiberius 62

Statue in Vatican

DrUSUS, son OF TiBEBIUS 66

Bud in Vffisi Palace

TiBEBIUS Gemellus 70

Bust in Lateran

DbUSUS, BBOTHEB of TiBEBIUS 74

Bud in Uffisi Palace

Antonia, motheb of Gebmanicus 76

Bud in Uffisi Palace

Antonia, motheb of Gebmanicus 80

Bud in Vatican

Gebmanicus 82

Statue in Lateran

Agbippina, wife of Gebmanicus 86

Bud in Vatican

Agbippina, wife of Gebmanicus 90

Pnifile of Bud in Vatican

CiNEBABY UbN OF AgBIPPINA 92

In the QjqntoHne

[xvi]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Nero, son of Germanicus facing page 96

Head of Statue in Lateran

Drusus, son of Germanicus 100

Butt m CapUoUne

Caliouia 104

Bust m Uffisi Palace

Caligula 108

Af some claimed to be a statue of Augustus, Statue m Fatican

Caligula 112

Bust m CapUoUne

Claudius 114

Bustim Uffisi Palace

Claudius 118

Statue in Vatican

Messalina, wife of Claudius 122

Bust in QqntoUne

Messalina, wife of Claudius 126

BuH in Uffisi Palace

OCTAVIA, SISTER OF AUGUSTUS 180

Bust in Lomrre

Antony 184

Bust in Fatican

Cleopatra 188

Bust in CapitoSne

Agrippina Minor 142

Bust in QqntoSne

Agrippina Minor 146

Bust in CapitoUne

Agrippina Minor 150

Bust in Nicies Museum

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Agrippina Minor facing page 164

Statue at Naplet

Nero 160

Bud in Vffin Palace

Nero 16*

Bud in Vatican

Nero 166

Bud in UffiziPaiace

Nero 170

Bud in Vffisd Palace

POPP^A 174

Bud in CapiioUne

POPP^A 178

Bud in Vffigi Palace

Britannicus 182

Bud in Uffin Palace

Britannicus 186

Statue in Lateran

Tower 190

FfxmwUch Nero is said to have watched the burning of the ci^

IN PART n

Ruins of the Forum Romanum 807

From a Photograph

Galea 210

Bud in CapitoUne

OthO 814^

Bud m CapiioUne

VlTELLIUS *16

Bud in CapHoUne

[ xviii ]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Vespasian facdiopaob S18

BuH in CapUolme

Titus 222

Buii m CapkoUne

DOMITIAN AND LoNGINA 226

Butt in CapiioUne

Nerya 280

Butt in Capiiolitie

TeaJAN 282

Buit hi CapiioUne

Hadrian 286

Baut in CapitoUne

JuuA Sabina, wife of Hadrian 240

Bust in CapiioUne

Antoninus Pius 242

Bud in Vatican

Faustina, wife of Antoninus Pius 246

Buil in CapiioUne

Marcus Aureuus 260

Butt in CapiioUne

Faustina, wife of Marcus Aurelius 262

Butt in CapiioUne

Marcus Aurelius 264

Equestrian Statue in Square of the Capitol

Commodus 266

Buit in Vatican

Crispina, wife of Commodus 260

Buit in CapiioUne

Pertinax ^ 264

Buit in Vatican

[ »x ]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

DlDIUS FACINOPAOB 266

Buit in Vatican

Septimius Sevebus 270

Bust in CapitoUne

JUUA DOMNA, WIFE OF SeFTIHIUS SeVERUS 274

Bust m Vatican

Clodius Albinus 276

Bud in Vatican

Pescennius Niger 278

BuH in Vatican

GeTA 282

Bust in CapitoUne

Caracalla 286

BuH m Vatican

Macrinus 290

BuH in CapitoUne

Elagabalus 294

BuH in CapitoUne

Julia M^sa, sister of Julia Domna 298

Statue in Q^ntoUne

Alexander Severus 802

BuH in Vatican

Sarcophagus of Alexander Severus and Mamjba 806

In the Vatican

Maximin 810

BuH in QqntoUne

GORDIAN I 814

BuH in QgntoUne

GORDIAN II 818

BuH in

[XX]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

BaLBINUS pacing page 820

BuH in Capiiolme

Decius S24

Bust in CapitoUne

Callus 8S8

Butt in CapitoUne

Gallienus 8SS

BuH in CapitoUne

Cosnella Salonika, wife of Gallienus 886

Bust in CapitoUne

AUBELLAN iAO

Bud in FaUcan

Ruins of the Forum Romanum 844

From a Photograph

Probus 846

Bugt in Muteo Nasionale, Naples

Zenobia 848

Bust in Vatican

CaSINUS 852

Bust in CapitoUne

Diocletian 866

Bust in CapitoUne

CONSTANTIUS ChLOBUS 860

Bust in CapitoUne

CONSTANTINE 864

Bust inLateran

Sabcophagus of Saint Helena 868

In the Vatican

Julian 872

Bust in CapiioUne

Ruins of the Palaces of the Cjesabs 876

From a Photograph

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE

Phocuhmei> m

Augustus

ROMAN EMPERORS

THB Year (b. c.) Proclaiiisd in thb Ybab (a. d.)

24 Septimius Severus 198

Proclaimed in thk Year (a. a) CloDIUS AlbINUS

198

•

Tiberius

Pkscknnius Nioeb

J98

Caugula

Geta

211

Claudius

Caracalla I

211

Nebo

Macrinus

217

Galba

Elagabalus

218

Otho

Alexander Severus

222

VlTKI.IJUS

Maximin I /

'285

Vespasian

GORDIAN I /

285

Titus

Gordian II ^

285

DOMITIAN

PUPIENUS

r288

Nerya

BaIiBINUS

(288

Trajan

Gordian III

240

Hadrian

117

Phiup

244

Trrus Antoninus

188

Decius

249

Marcus Aureuus

161

Gallus

251

COMHODUS

180

^MILIAN

252

Pertinax

198

Valerl/^n

254

DiDIUS

108

Gallienus

260

[ xxiii ]

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF EMPERORS

PROCLAimD IN THE YbAR

(A.D.)

PsocLAimo m rm Year

(A.D.)

POSTUMUS

Florian

275

LiEUANUS

Probus

276

ViCTORINUS

Carus

282

Marius

Cartnus

288

Tetricus

NUMERIAN

288

Cyriades

Diocletian

285

B^^ULISTA

Maximian

285

Macriamus

CONSTANTIUS I

805

Quietus

FROM

Galerius

805

Odenatrus

258

Maximin II

805

Valens

Seyerus

805

Calpurnius Piso

268

Maxemtius

806

Saturninus

CONSTANTINE THK

Trebeixiakus

Great

806

Celsis

Ijcinius

807

^MILIANUS

CoNSTANTIUS II

887

Ingenuus

CONSTANTINE II

887

Reoalian us

CONSTANS

887

AUREOLUS

Maomektius

850

Claudius II

268

Julian

861

QUINTILLUS

270

Jovian

868

AURELIAN

270

Valentinian I

864

Tacitus

Valkns

875

[ xxiv ]

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF EMPERORS

PiBOCLAIlIED IN THE YbAR (a. D.)
G&ATIAK 878

Maximus

888

Majorian

Valentinian

888

Sevebus

Thkodosius

892

Anthemius

HONOBIUS

895

Oltbeius

John

428

Glycebius

Valentinian

III

425

Julius Nepos

Proclaiikd in thb Yba« (a. d.)

Ayitus 455

457
461
467
472
478
475

Petronius Maximus 455 Romulus Auoustulus 476

PART I
THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

'■■'•■*'.'■.,

ir '

■- 3

THE BEGINNING OF SPLENDOR

CHAPTER I

JULIUS CiESAR

ON the fifteenth of March in the year 44 b. c, Caius
I Julius Cassar, the greatest man in ancient Rome,
the grandest figure of sovereignty in all the an-
cient world, was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate.
It was a premeditated assassination. Dissuaded from at-
tending the session by the tender entreaties of his wife
Calpumia, he had sent word that he would not come. But
the conspirators despatched a trusted fiiend to urge his
attendance, and overcoming his presentiments he yielded
and went to his fate. On the way to the senate-house some
one thrust into his hand a scroll containing the names of
the conspirators and an account of their wicked designs.
The &te of the Republic hung upon his opening it. He
did not open it.

Before the charge of the cavalry at Waterloo, Napoleon
is sfud to have asked a question of the guide Lacoste —
presumably whether there was any obstacle. The fate of
the nineteenth century hung upon the shake of a peasant's
head. But, says Hugo, '^ Was it possible for Napoleon to
win the battle? We answer in the negative. Why? On
account of Wellington or Bliicher? No; on account of
God." Napoleon had begun to disturb the equilibrium
of the universe ; nature and Gk)d decreed that he must be
displaced. And so when Caesar, on his way to death, re-
ceived from the unknown a written disclosure of the con-
spiracy against his life, but which he carelessly assumed to

[8]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

be an ordinary petition, the fate of many centuries hung
upon a thread — and the thread was not broken. But could
the Empire have been forestalled? We answer no; God's
law of evolution decreed otherwise. Says Froude, **As
Caesar had lived to reconstruct the Roman world, so his
death was necessary to finish the work." For in any event,
the Republic was doomed. Caesar, as king in name, would
have put an end to that And as the writer last quoted
explains so convindngly, the Empire of the Caesars was
exactly the kingdom demanded by the new life which
was dawning for mankind ; *^a kingdom where peaceful
men could work, think, and speak as they pleased," and
travel freely where life and property were for the most
part protected and fanatics prevented from tearing each
other to pieces on account of reli^ous opinions.

ShaU we say, then, that the slayers of Caesar were indeed
world patriots? And that what Goethe has declared to
have been the most senseless deed that was ever done, was
really founded in the necessities of civilization's progress ?

The &mily of Caesar claimed to be of immortal descent,
tracing its pedigree back to a son of ^neas, who after the
fall of Troy had found a resting-place along the sunny
shores of western Italy. During a funeral oration which
he pronounced from the rostra, in praise of his aunt Julia
(the wife of Marius), Caius Julius, who was then quaestor,
said: **My aunt Julia derived her descent by her mother
from a race of Kings, and by her father from the Inunor-
tal GU)ds. For the Mardi R^es, her mother's family, de-
duce their pedigree from Ancus Mardus, and the Julii,
her Other's, from Venus; of which stock we are a branch.
We therefore unite in our descent the sacred majesty of
Kings, the chiefest among men, and the divine majesty
of GU)ds, to whom Kings themselves are subject"

[4]

JULIUS CiESAR

iEneas was the son of Anchises and Venus, and it was
from his son Ascanius, otherwise called lulus, or Jvlus^
that the Gens Julia, of which the Cassars were a branch,
was descended. Ancus Marcius was the fourth King of
Rome, and according to the old legends he befriended the
people against the nobles, for which reason his name was
held in especial reverence.

The etymology of the name Caesar is unsettled. It has
been variously derived from the color of the eyes prevail-
ing in the family (dark gray and piercing, like an eagle's) ;
from an exploit during an African hunt, there being a
Moorish word Coesar meaning elephant, and from the fact
that the first celebrated member of the family came into
the world by the aid of the surgeon's knife. But whatever
the original meaning of the word, from the hour when
Cassius s dagger put an end to the life work of the great
Caesar, the name has remained among mankind as the
title of sovereignty — august, indeed, as the first Emperor
so pompously elected to be called.

Froude says that the pedigree of the great Cassar goes
no further than his grandfather Caius Julius, who about the
middle of the second century before Christ married Marcia,
descended from one of the early kings as above stated.
Their three chUdren were Caius Julius, Sextus Julius, and
Julia. The daughter married Caius Marius, afterwards the
boast of democracy, and whose name remains a syno-
nym for hardy, incorruptible Roman virtue. Their son, the
younger Marius, who after the death of his father shared
with Cinna the chief power of Rome, was in his youth one
of the most intimate firiends of his cousin, Caius Julius,
the future dictator.

The elder son of Caius Julius and Marcia married Au-
relia, allied to the great consular family of Cotta. Of this

[5]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

union was bom, in the year 100 b. c. (or 102 b.c., as
fixed by Mommsen and perhaps more generally accepted
by scholars), on the twelfth day of the month which there-
after took its name from him, Julius Ccpsar^ afterwards
known to all the world as Caesar the Great. From the Ro-
man people he ultimately received the appellation Julius
CcBsar IHons — the Divine. It was from the same motive
that an apotheosis had been conferred upon Romulus,
namely, to obviate the people's suspicion that he was
murdered by a conspiracy of the patrician order.

According to Pliny, his father, who had been prsetor,
died suddenly at Pisa, in the year 670 a. u.c. (about
84 B. c). Caesar was then a youth of sixteen or eighteen.
Although little is known of his mother Aurdia, she was
plainly a woman of character. Plutarch says that she had
great discretion, and it is certain that between mother and
son a passionate attachment always existed. On the mom-
ing of the election when Caesar was candidate for the office
of Pontifex Maximus, which was really the beginning of
his great career, his mother attended him to the door with
tears in her eyes, while he said as she embraced him, ^'My
dear mother, you will see me this day chief pontiff, or I
shall never return." It seems to have been her life task to
watch over his best interests, and she lived to share in the
triumph of his great exploits in GauL She died in the year
54 B. c.

WhUe a mere boy Caesar had been betrothed to Cossutia,
a member of a very wealthy family, but only of the eques-
trian order. His views, however, were more ambitious and
after his father s death he repudiated the engagement and
married Cornelia, daughter of Cinna, who had been four
times consul. At the time of this marriage he seems to
have been nineteen years old. There is no more striking

[6]

JULIUS CjESAE

;^u^^

*T.B.j^r«°SK!^*.«^

,,'e^>-^"«"

JULIUS CiESAR

evidence of his character than his spirited refusal to di-
vorce Cornelia, at the command of the terrible Sylla* His
friend, the great Pompey, had yielded to a similar com-
mand and given up his wife to marry the tyrant's step-
daughter iBmilia, who was compelled to put away her
own husband for that purpose. But with Caesar, coaxing,
blandishments, and threats were alike useless. The love of
his wife and child and the maintenance of his indepen-
dence and self-respect were more to him than life. Sylla
stripped him of his sacerdotal office, confiscated his patri-
monial estates and his wife's dowry, and actually set a
price upon his head. Suetonius says that his life was finally
spared through the intercession of powerful friends and
that in granting their request Sylla declared: "This man
for whose safety you are so extremely anxious will some
day or other be the ruin of the party of nobles in defence
of which you are leagued with rh^vfw jfn.this one Csesar
you will find many a Marius.'^ K^Mfes a j^pphetic utter-
ance.

One daughter, Julia, was bom qf .t|iis marriage. JuUa is
said to have been gifted with every ch&ia^^kiid at the age
of twenty-two she cemented the friendship of her father
and the great Pompey by manying the latter. She won
her husband's passionate affection, and her early death in
the year 54 B. c. was bitterly and universally lamented. A
child which she had borne to Pompey had previously
died.

After the death of Comeha, Cassar married Pompeia,
daughter of Quintus Pompeius and granddaughter of Lu-
cius Sylla. He afterwards divorced her upon suspicion of
her unfaithftilness ; although there was no evidence other
than the attempt of a young quaestor named Clodius to
enter Caesar's house in disguise during the celebration of

[7]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

a religious festivaL But ** Caesar's wife ought not to be
even so much as suspected," he is reported to have said,
although the saying is perhaps, like so many others,
apocryphaL

Caesar's third wife was Calpumia, the daughter of Lucius
Piso, who succeeded Caesar as consul. Calpumia survived
him. No children were bom of this or of Caesar s second
marriage. Caesario, his reputed child by Cleopatra, was put
to death by Augustus, after the final defeat of Antony.^

Caesar was assassinated in the year 44 b. c. At the time
of his death he had held every office of importance in the
Roman State and was an absolute monarch in everything
but the title. In the name of Democracy and under cover
of the Marian principles he had overthrown the Republic
and reduced the Senate to a mere machine for register-
ing his decrees. Whether he really expected or even de-
sired to become king eo nomine may be questioned. But he
prepared the way for Empire, and he alone. He was the
founder of the house of Caesar; and without the house of
Caesar there would have been no Roman Empire. By the
fiction of adoption, the glory of the great Caesar passed on
to the young Augustus and in itself played no unimpor-
tant part in building up the imperialistic idea.

Twenty years after the daggers of Cassius and Brutus
had left the world without a master, Augustus succeeded in
erecting the framework of an Empire upon the foundation
which his great kinsman had built so enduringly. In ex-

^ Cleopatra^ in anticipation of Antony's defeat^ had sent Caesario with a
large sum of money through Ethiopia into India. Plutarch says that the
young man's tutor urged him to turn back, falsely persuading him that
Augustus would make him King of Egypt While the Emperor was de-
liberating how to dispose of him some one observed that there ought
not by any means to be too many Caesars; whereupon Cesario was put to
death.

[8]

JULIUS C^SAR

tent, in wealth, in variety, and in everything that makes
up earthly power and dignity it became the most magnifi-
cent governmental creation that ever had existed. Perhaps
no man but Alexander, and possibly Napoleon, has ever
dreamed of a greater. During the first two centuries it
waxed and maintained its supremacy; during the three
following it waned, and finally in the year 476 a. d., five
hundred and twenty years after its great founder perished,
it melted away into barbarous oblivion.

During the five hundred years which elapsed between
what may be called the actual establishment of the Em-
pire by Augustus (about 24 b. c.) and the termination
of the Empire by the deposition of Romulus Augustus,
476 A. D., we may count exactly one hundred emperors.
Not all of them indeed are classed as such by the his-
torians. For some, while claiming the office and title for
themselves, or having the claim made for them by certain
provinces, or factions of the State or army, did not main-
tsdn themselves sufficiently long to acquire a permanent
place in the imperial roll. 3o that of the one hundred so-
called emperors, perhaps twenty or twenty-five may be con-
sidered as spurious. But for the^ractical purposes of life
and death it made no difference whether the claim to the
title were genuine or false. The most shadowy as well as
the best-established claim was aUke sufficient to expose
its possessor to the "Imperial disease"; and of these one
hundred so-called emperors of the mightiest and most
wonderful of human governments, only nineteen are known
to have died a natural death. Of the remaining eighty-one,
seven were killed in battle, three committed suicide, sixty-
four were murdered, whUe the cause of death of seven is
unknown. That is to say, during the five centuries of the
Roman Empire's existence, the average reign of its rulers

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

vrvisfive years ; while four out of five of those rulers came
to a violent end.

The sickening story began with the death of the great
Julius. Scarcely one of the murderers, and as well those
who participated in it, died from natiural causes. All were
condemned by the Senate ; some were drowned and others
killed in battle, while Brutus and Cassius destroyed them-
selves with the same poniards with which they had killed
Caesar. It might be said that Caesar's blood was well
avenged ; but this proved to be only the baptismal sprin-
klmg of a long r^me of the most horrible famUy and
State murders contained in the annals of a civilized society.
While it is not a pleasant page to scan, there is many a
lesson to be read between the lines, not the least impor-
tant of which is the undoubted fact that from the horrible
practice of domestic murder which was introduced among
the Romans by the Caesars, sprang no inconsiderable por-
tion of that spirit of lawlessness, soon acquired by the
people after example set by the nobles, which was one of
the chief causes of the ruin of Rome. So that it may not
be unprofitable to briefly trace the rise of what may well
be termed the "Imperial disease" and then notice still
more briefly its fatal efiects upon the long list of Roman
Emperors.

Apart from numerous coins, a few gems, and the various
busts of which the greater number are of doubtful value,
the author of the "Lives" remains our only source of in-
formation as to the personal appearance of the early
Caesars. But however untrustworthy Suetonius may be in
other respects, it is probable that his personal descriptions
are in the main reliable; founded, as they undoubtedly
were, upon both popular tradition and the unquestionably
genuine busts and statues which must have been extant

[10]

JULIUS C.CSAR

JULIUS CiESAR

at the lime he wrote. And while evidence of this sort
must necessarily be open to question, it is convincing
enough to at least gratify that invariable curiosity as to
the personal appearance and characteristics of the great
figures in history. Too often the result is disappointing;
but in the case of Caesar the commonly accepted picture
is that of a man whose bodily presence and personal attri-
butes are entirely proportioned to the greatness of his in-
tellect, the intensity of his moral force, and the splendor
of his fame.

Measured by the Italian standard of height, which is
supposed to have been then, as it still is, lower than that of
the more hardy and vigorous northern races, the founder
of the house of Caesar was tall and of athletic propor-
tions. With well-made limbs, strongly knit frame, and an
iron constitution, he was capable of unremitting activity
and of enduring the greatest fatigue and hardships. His
complexion is said to have becfh %ur, his eyes dark and
piercing, his Ups thin and fimdy ^e^'^ together, his face
rather full and strongly niarked D^;ttie.< prominent nose
which is so rarely absent in the portxaftt^^W ^really great
men. His large and well^formed head, its dbofe accentu-
ated by the prominent templ^ and«^the absence of hair
from the sharply rising forehead, wak- set djpon a firm and
sinewy neck, the latter in itself so significant of constitu-
tional vigor. The contour of the well-known bust in the
British Museum is almost flawless; and combined with
the keen look, not wanting, however, in its expression of
massive gravity, and the strong lines which mark so plainly
a powerful self-poise and an unconquerable will, satisfies
our conception of one of the greatest of men, whether or
not the marble be genuine.

His personal habits — with one exception — are univer-

[11 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

sally ocmoeded to have been of that sort which indicates
a hi^ measure of lefinement, self-respect, and apprecia-
tion of the dignity of hiunan nature. Scrupulously dean
and neat, and all through life particularly attoitive to his
personal appearance, abstemious at table — rarely or never
touching wine — with tonper always under abscdute con-
trol and exhibiting an unfailing pati^ice and courtesy, he
OHmdered sobriety, both bodily and moital, not only
among the highest qualities, but as a veritaUe duty of
citizenship. He excdled in all manly exercises, being noted
especially, however, for his horsemanship and his skill
with the sword.

The charge of immorality under which the first Caesar
suffers equally with his five successors, although fiercely
disputed, has never be^i disproved. Even Froude, who
contends most strenuously against the severe accusations
of certain early writers, concedes it to be in the highest de-
gree improbable that Csesar s morality was superior to that
of the average of his contemporaries. Beyond this point,
however, a sober weighing of the fiicts does not compel us
to go. Froude's arguments are entirely convincing that the
accusations of Cicero, Catullus, and Lidnius, grossly re-
peated by Suetonius (who is said by some one to have dis-
played in his writings all the delight in a coarse sensuality
which those of whom he wrote manifested in their lives),
must have been slanders. And unless forced to do so, by
unquestioned historic truth, we are not inclined to enlarge,
beyond its well-defined limits, this one notable weakness
of "the foremost man of all this world.** ^

While not entirely free from the superstition of his times,
Cassar was too genuinely great to be in any degree moved
by it. The omens were never so unpromising as to deter

CCBMOT, Act !▼. Sc. S.

[12]

JL'f.lUS C^SAK

JULIUS C^SAR

him from a projected enterprise. Happening to stumble
while stepping ashore in the Afirican expedition, it is said
that instead of yielding t« what was considered a dark
omen he gave a lucky turn to it by exclaiming, ''I hold
thee fast, Africa!" Whether founded upon fact, or only
traditional, the story is finely illustrative both of his tena-
city of purpose and that abiding confidence in himself and
his high destiny, which is one of the first attributes of an
elevated souL These characteristics, united with the most
conspicuous courage and daring, and a talent for war which
has never been equalled and will probably never be sur-
passed, rendered him well-nigh invulnerable in those mem-
orable campaigns which advanced the glory of the Roman
arms to a position undreamed of by t|)pe in<>st ardent lover
of the Republic > < J '^.,\ ;-•' ..

His career furnishes perhaps the only e)auift||)e of^a great
military leader who never failed. to achieve sucdcjlis when
himself in command. And even 'in the three o^four in-
stances where his lieutenants met 4?fedt,*lus' ^nius was
sufficient to retrieve the disaster, whrchr^in tl^e end was
converted into an overwhelming victory.

Caesar possessed all the innate kindliness, courtesy, lack
of resentment, and magnanimity which under the circum-
stances of his position none but a supremely great man
could have displayed in the Roman world of that day. The
story of his clemency and generosity after the civil war is
like a refreshing breeze out of the tropics, after reading
similar pages of contemporaneous history. With less dig-
nity of character and a smaller measure of that calm con-
fidence in the genius of his fortunes and the stabiUty of
his relation to events, his remarkable display of modera-
tion towards the vanquished party would never have oc-
curred, and his senseless murder would not have awakened

[18]

JULIUS CiESAR

him firom a projected enterprise. Happening to stumble
while stepping ashore in the African expedition, it is siud
that instead of yielding to what was considered a dark
omen he gave a lucky turn to it by exclaiming, ''I hold
thee fast, Africa 1" Whether founded upon fact, or only
traditional, the story is finely illustrative both of his tena-
city of purpose and that abiding confidence in himself and
his high destiny, which is one of the first attributes of an
elevated soul. These characteristics, united with the most
conspicuous courage and daring, and a talent for war which
has never been equalled and will probably never be sur-
passed, rendered him well-nigh invulnerable in those mem-
orable campaigns which advanced the glory of the Roman
arms to a position undreamed of by ();ie most ardent lover
of the Republic. / > 4 J ^^^.v' >; ..

His career furnishes perhaps the only e)casi&|}e of^a great
military leader who never failed. to achieve sucdQj^s when
himself in command. And even 'in Uie three o^four in-
stances where his lieutenants mei .4efeit,*lus' ^nius was
sufficient to retrieve the disaster, whichr^in the end was
converted into an overwhelming victory.

Caesar possessed all the innate kindliness, courtesy, lack
of resentment, and magnanimity which under the circum-
stances of his position none but a supremely great man
could have displayed in the Roman world of that day. The
story of his clemency and generosity after the civil war is
like a refreshing breeze out of the tropics, after reading
similar pages of contemporaneous history. With less dig-
nity of character and a smaller measure of that calm con-
fidence in the genius of his fortunes and the stability of
his relation to events, his remarkable display of modera-
tion towards the vanquished party would never have oc-
eorred, and his senseless murder would not have awakened

[18]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

increased to about one million sterling. It is also true that
this immense indebtedness was discharged by moneys col-
lected by the conqueror during the Spanish war. And his-
torians have not scrupled to affirm that his campaigns
were prosecuted and even the civil war begun with the
sole view of meeting his vast pecuniary embarrassments.
But as De Quincey has pointed out, rather than being
the original ground of his quest for power and revolution-
ary projects, Caesar's debts were the product of his ambi-
tion and contracted merely in the service of his political
intrigues to establish a powerful support in the State for
his party and himself. He paid them to the last denarius —
that important fact is rarely mentioned by the critics ; and
that the spoils of war supplied the means of so doing is
simply one of the invariably bitter incidents of conquest
either in barbaric or so-called Christian warfare.

As regards his moral character, a more serious question
is presented from the standpoint of Christianity and mod-
em ethics in the fact of the great human misery entailed by
his campaigns and the civil wars- which finally established
his supremacy. The destruction of over a million souls,
and the enforced slavery of additional thousands, will al-
ways be considered by many minds an unanswerable accu-
sation. And whatever arguments in the line of necessity,
human progress, and survival — laws superior to Caesar,
and of which he was but the instrument — may be urged
against this enormous destruction of human life, the sale
into slavery of prisoners taken in battle constitutes an un-
doubted stain upon Caesar's moral character, and one which
modem ideas can never tolerate. Froude declares that the
blot was not personally upon Caesar, but upon the age in
which he lived, urging that "the great Pomponius Atticus
was himself a dealer in human chattels." But it is Caesar,

[16]

AUGUSTUS

JULIUS CiESAR

not Atticus» who is at the bar; and while victors and van-
quished alike accepted it as a law of the times that pris-
oners of war should be sold into slavery, the great Dic-
tator was in most ways so preeminently superior to the
character of the age in which he lived, his hatred of injus-
tice was so frequently and passionately manifested, and the
generosity and mercy which he ordinarily displayed were
of a degree which, in the eyes of the Roman world at
least, implied such unusual magnanimity,^ that it is diffi-
cult to understand why he himself should not have appre-
ciated the gravity of the offence, for which, therefore, it
must be admitted there was the less excuse.

As a final answer to Caesar's claim for our regard and
admiration, his enemies and detractgrs have urged his love
of power. Even those who admit his .vast Superiority and
general moral excellence are fHj^htene^Nd^ tliis b^gaboo
of "lust for power." "If he had .but refus^>tlie ^dicta-
torship," says one, "he would jtiaVfe ))een worthy tcJ stand
by the side of Washington, abc>>« the rspl^ndid ,army of
heroes who have ennobled the world, ^^tjf he had not in-
dulged so unseasonably and greedily in the honors which
were heaped upon him," says another, "he would be en-
titled to more of our sympathy in his untimely end." The
refusal of Washington to accept that which he had led
the fight to escape, entitles and will preserve to him the
undying respect and admiration of all fiiends of liberty
who love a high demeanor as well as courage and success.

^ The popular estimate of Ceesar was strikingly displayed in the immense
and unquestionably spontaneous demonstration of sorrow at his funeral,
^ever before, we are told, had such a multitude assembled for a similar
pvpose, including a great number of foreigners, especially Jews^ who for
several nights frequented the spot where the body was burnt. The pages
of Josephus contain repeated testimony of the benefits conferred on his
coQotiymen by the first Csesar. Antiq. xiv. 14, 15, l6.

[17]

CHAPTER II

CiBSAB AUGUSTUS, THE FIRST EMPEROR

Fbom 24 B. C. to 14 a. D.

A FTER the death of Caesar s daughter JuUa, whose
Xil only child had previously died, he adopted as his son
and afterwards by will named as his chief heir his grand-
nephew Caius Octavius, who thereupon assumed the name
of Caius Caesar. Octavius received three-fourths of his
great-uncle's estate, while his cousins Lucius Pinarius and
Quintus Pedius had the remaining one-fourth. Although
but seventeen years of age at the time of Caesar's death,
he had already given evidence of so much shrewdness,
energy, and ability as to endear himself to his great rela-
tive, who never failed to appreciate such indications of
character.

Caius Octavius, or Caius Caesar; Caesar Augustus, or
Augustus, as he was finally called, was bom in the year
61 B. c, upon the ninth of the Calends of October (Sep-
tember twenty-third). His father, Caius Octavius, was of
an old patrician family of the first distinction. The Octavii,
however, had divided into two branches, of which one re-
mained patrician, its members holding uninterruptedly the
highest o£Sces in the State, while the other, from which
Augustus was descended, was of the equestrian order and
so remained until the father of Augustus became prsetor.
He died as he was on the point of declaring his candidacy
for the consulship.

Caius Octavius was twice married; his first wife being
Ancharia, by whom he had a daughter, the elder Octavia,
who, according to Plutarch, afterwards became the wife

[20]

CiESAR AUGUSTUS

of Mark Antony. But it seems evident that this was an
eiror on the part of the great biographer and that the wife
of Antony was the younger Octavia, the own sister of
Augustus, and daughter of Caius Octavius by his second
wife Atia, who was the daughter of Marcus Atius Balbus
and Julia, sister of the great Cassar. Balbus on his mother's
side was nearly related to Pompey the Great, while his
&ther was of a distinguished family, many of whom had
been senators. Augustus's claims of a lofty descent, how-
ever, were treated with contempt by many of his high-
bora contemporaries, including his sister's husband, Mark
Antony.

However this may be, he was a Ccesar^ and the qualities
which had attracted his uncle's attention enabled him to
make good his inheritance from the outset and finally
to grasp securely the highest measure of power which had
ever been maintained in the Roman world. . .

M^^lM Iff

The foundation was laid in wickedneiss almost: beyond
conception. Although Augustus, thKJu^'^is undjb's'.adop-
tion, became his natural successor, ther^^^ere twp_ rival
claimants in the persons of Mark Antonjr. and Leffidus,'
Caesar's master of the horse, each of whdm l>ftd a power-
ful anny behind him. The crafty Augustus, for^eeipg' that
time alone was all that he needed to secure the .prize, pro-
posed that the three should make a league and rule Rome
together. In so doing he may have urged as a precedent
the compact between his great-uncle, Cneius Pompey, and
Crassus, which was the outcome of the celebrated confer-
ence at Lucca, whereby Cicero's attack upon the trium-
virate was foiled, and Cassar, Crassus, and Pompey were
granted a new term of five years' government in Gaul,
Spain, and Syria, respectively. But in that case the power
was secured constitutionally, — that is, by bills brought be-

[ 21 ]

THE HOUSE OF CESAR

by adoption, became Caesar in fact and Roman republican-
ism and Roman democracy had passed away forever. The
last of the triumvirs became consul, tribune, censor, praetor,
and high priest (Lepidus having died) all at once, and hav-
ing safeguarded his now absolute power by establishing a
praetorian guard, which was the final ruin of free Rome,
received from the people a propoiution that he be made
dictator for life. Declining this, he was offered the name
of Romulus, which he also refrised, selecting instead that
of AugtistuSj an epithet which was ordinarily applied to
places set apart for reli^ous purposes and containing any-
thing consecrated by augury, and which was assumed by
the new sovereign as signifying that a more than human
sacredness and majesty existed in his person.

And thus, in about the year 24 b. a, the spirit of free-
dom in Rome was finally quenched and the Empire es-
tablished, with Augustus its first Emperor. The Roman
people were worn out with the murder, rapine, and wars
of the past few generations. They yielded to their fate.
The imperialistic idea became firmly rooted. The house of
Caesar was apparently founded on a rock. But, as we have
seen, not only its opportunity came in through a shame-
less act of murder, but its subsequent establishment was
also based upon an appalling homicide. It remained for a
woman to introduce a more hideous phase of the same
crime, as the direct consequence of which the great house
of Caesar was absolutely blotted out and a long line of
succeeding emperors likewise disappeared through a series
of crimes so awful and abominations so dreadful as almost
to justify the thought that Rome had been abandoned by
God.

The first Emperor is commonly supposed to have been
handsome and gracefril in person, although it is some*

[ 24]

CiESAR AUGUSTUS

times stated that he was lame ; the assertion perhaps being
founded on a remark of Suetonius that Augustus had a
weakness in his left hip and thigh. His eyes were bright
and piercing, and it is said that few persons could long
sustain his steady gaze; which the gratified Emperor was
pleased to consider an attribute of divinity. He had a finely
shaped, well-poised head, covered with fair, curling hair;
his features were regular, with aquiline nose and small
ears, while the prevailing expression of his countenance
was calm and serene. But he was of a weak constitution,
and subject to frequent attacks of severe illness ; so that it
was only by excessive precautions that he maintained a
state of health sufficient to enable the constant attention
which he ambitiously devoted to his imperial office.

He conducted in person only two foreign wars ; and al-
though for the energy displayed in one of the campaigns
of his great relative he gained the latter's approbation, in
the main he was utterly destitute of military talents, and
wisely left to his lieutenants the conduct oi his wars. At
the close of the civil strife, in which, ais his personal for-
tunes were at stake, he necessarily participated, he finally
abandoned riding and exercises at iarms, and fiptn that
time, in deference to his delicate health, walkii^ aend rid-
ing in his litter constituted his only exi^ise. v ::

Notwithstanding the glamour which has en:t(^lo{>ed his
personal history and character, by reason botii of the bril-
liancy of his era and the undoubted moderation, temper-
ance, and wisdom which he displayed during the last forty
years of his life, it is undeniable that Augustus was by
nature selfish, cowardly, and cruel, if not actually vicious.
The period from the signing of the infamous Bologna com-
pact to the destruction of the unfortunate Antony and his
beautifiil Egyptian consort, abounds in instances of the

[23]

-^2

Mvi

Ota)

I-5D

♦-•

CiESAR AUGUSTUS

He conducted in person only two foreign wars ; and al-
though for the energy displayed in one of the campaigns
of his great relative he gained the latter 's approbation, in
the main he was utterly destitute of military talents, and
wisely left to his lieutenants the conduct oi his wars. At
the close of the civil strife, in which. Bis his personal for-
tunes were at stake, he necessarily participated, he finally
abandoned riding and exercises at ^nns, and fi;otn that
time, in deference to his delicate health, walkix^ and rid-
ing in his litter constituted his only isxi^ise. v ':'•

Notwithstanding the glamour which has en:t(^Ioped his
personal history and character, by reai^n botii of the bril-
liancy of his era and the undoubted moderation, temper-
ance, and wisdom which he displayed during the last forty
years of his life, it is undeniable that Augustus was by
nature selfish, cowardly, and cruel, if not actually vicious.
The period from the signing of the infamous Bologna com-
pact to the destruction of the unfortunate Antony and his
beautiful Egyptian consort, abounds in instances of the

[25]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

eluding Italy and Rome itself: the power of the procon-
suls being entirely absolute under the old constitutions.
And when finally, upon the death of his old associate, the
triumvir Lepidus,^ Augustus was made Pontifex Maxi-
mus, an office of high importance from the sanctity at-
taching to it and the influence it gave him over the entire
religious system, by the mere union of the ordinary execu-
tive powers, he arrived at the full measure of imperial
sovereignty.

While posterity has been divided in its judgment of
Augustus, the weight of opinion seems to be that the
Emperor passed judgment upon himself in the &mous
death- bed remark to his friends: "Have I acted well my
part? Then applaud me." He certainly either proved him-
self an accomplished actor, or else his life presents a
remarkable instance of the obliteration of native evil in-
stincts, by the sheer force of the responsibility and duty
attaching to an elevated public office. The evil deeds
which blackened the first thirty-five years of his life can
never be erased, nor can they be reconciled with De
Quincey's reasoning that "during the forty-two years of
his prosperity and his triumph, being above fear, he
showed the natural lenity of Ms temper.^' It is next to
impossible for a man to attain the age of thirty-five and
not make a display of his real character. In the early life
of Augustus leniency figures only reflexively in connec-
tion with the crimes of himself and his associates, while
his cruelties were by the brilliant English essayist him-
self confessed to be "equal in atrocity to any which are
recorded." The true explanation of the striking change of
character which marked the final accession to power of
the Emperor Augustus is that advanced by Dr. Schmitz :

^ This occurred in the year 12 & c. For Lepidus^ see ante, page 21.

[28]

CiESAR AUGUSTUS

"That his own fears compelled him to strive after the
affection of the people; and supported by his fiiends he
learned to appear good even when he was differently in-
clined/' But as the same writer has suggested, even assum-
ing that none of his actions proceeded from a noble soul,
and if all were merely a series of hypocrisies, it cannot be
denied that what he actually did, under whatsoever guise
accomplished, was the source of incalculable blessing and
advantage to Home and the world. All civilization owes a
benediction to the man who established a form of govern-
ment which has played so mighty a part in the world s
progress; and for tlie moment forgetting the possible
motives which prompted him, and remembering only his
connection with one of the most remarkable periods in
the history of man, we impulsively comply with his last
imperial conunand and applaud him.

4 \

'.■ -;.S

[20]

CHAPTER III

THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS

|X>LL0WIN6 an established custom, Caius Octavius
4^ bad contracted the young Octavius at a tender age
Ui a daughter of Publius Servilius Isauricus. But when
the Bologna compact was made, the army desired that
the confederacy should be confirmed by a matrimonial alli-
ance of some sort and the most convenient and promising
ttcamed to be a marriage between Augustus and Claudia,
the daughter of Antony's wife Fulvia by her former hus-
band, Publius Claudius. Claudia was at the time scarcely
at the threshold of girlhood, and soon afterwards, as the
result of a quarrel with his mother-in-law, Augustus di-
vorced her. He next married Scribonia, the daughter of
L, Scribonius Libo, and whose sister was the wife of Sex-
tus Pompeius. Scribonia had been already twice married to
men of consular rank, one of whom was Scipio, the father
of Cornelia, whose death is lamented by Propertius. By
Scribonia he had a dau^ter Julia, his oidy child.

After the birth of Julia, being as he declared tired to
death by the ill-nature and perversity of Scribonia, Au-
gustus divorced her and inuuediately thereafter married
Livia Drusilla, who was at the time the wife of Tiberius
Nero. Each of his previous marriages had been made
purely from motives of personal interest: the first to seal
the confederacy of the triumvirs ; the second with a view
of preventing a union against him of Sextus Pompey and
Antony after the siege of Perusia. Into his third marriage,
however, he was hurried by his passion for another man's
wife, and judging from its results and the long train of

[80]

JULIA DAUGHTER OF AUGUSTUS

THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS

Clime and infamy which it entailed upon the house of
Caesar and the race of emperors, never was there a wicked
passion which ought so surely to have been strangled in
its inception.

Livia Drusilla was the daughter of Livius Drusus Clau-
dianus» a member of the Claudian family, who took his
name from the house of Livius, into which he had been
adopted. He had fought at the battle of Philippi on the
side of liberty; and seeing the day lost, there had died
by his own hand. Livia married Tiberius Claudius Nero,
also of the Claudian house, who espoused the cause of
Antony, and Augustus perhaps saw her first when she
was fleeing from the danger which threatened her hus-
band during the Perusian war, or possibly a little later, at
the wedding of Antony and Octavia. Augustus was only
twenty-five or twenty-six years *of qjje at the time. The
personal and political considerati6nii''^*fi>|p his alliance with
the family of Pompey were no longeH of 4(>^^» and unable
to control his passion for JImVW. he divorced Scribonia on
tte very d.y of hb d^gh^S-W birth. «.d with the
approbation of the augurs, i^hich Ite ^^ad np difiiculty in
obtaining, celebrated his third ihiirrii^; While it is not
certain that this was done with LYri^'s/own inclination
— the actual wishes of her husband, of course, were not
consulted, although his formal consent seems to have
been obtained — subsequent events would indicate that she
was easily reconciled to her lot At the time of her mar-
riage to Augustus she was the mother of one son, Tibe-
rius, and three months afterwards was bom her second
son, Drusus, of whom Tiberius Nero was also the father.
Although ardently desired by both parties, no children
resulted firom her marriage with Augustus, and when it
became apparent that her predominant ambition of giving

[81]

THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS

crime and infamy which it entailed upon the house of
Caesar and the race of emperors, never was there a wicked
passion which ought so surely to have been strangled in
its inception.

Livia Drusilla was the daughter of Livius Drusus Clau-
dianus, a member of the Claudian family, who took his
name from the house of Livius, into which he had been
adopted. He had fought at the battle of Philippi on the
side of liberty; and seeing the day lost, there had died
by his own hand. Livia married Tiberius Claudius Nero,
also of the Claudian house, who espoused the cause of
Antony, and Augustus perhaps saw her first when she
was fleeing from the danger which threatened her hus-
band during the Perusian war, or possibly a little later, at
the wedding of Antony and Octavia. Augustus was only
twenty-five or twenty-six years 'of qge at the time. The
personal and political considerati6n^''-fi>jp his alliance with
the family of Pompey were no longeHpf 4^X*ce, and unable
to control his passion for l^nw^ he divorced Scribonia on
the very day of his daughjter ^J^dia's birth, and with the
jq)probation of the augurs, ^hich Ite ^^ad np difficulty in
obtaining, celebrated his third ihiirrii^; While it is not
certain that this was done with Liyi^'s/own inclination
—the actual wishes of her husband, of course, were not
consulted, although his formal consent seems to have
been obtained — subsequent events would indicate that she
was easily reconciled to her lot. At the time of her mar-
riage to Augustus she was the mother of one son, Tibe-
rius, and three months afterwards was bom her second
son, Drusus, of whom Tiberius Nero was also the father.
Although ardently desired by both parties, no children
resulted from her marriage with Augustus, and when it
became apparent that her predominant ambition of giving

[81]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

porting his domination and providing a fitting consort for
his daughter, Augustus raised to the dignity of pontiff and
curule eedile Claudius Marcellus, the son of his sister, the
younger Octavia. Marcellus was a mere youth at the time,
but upon the completion of his minority his marriage with
Julia was celebrated. This Marcellus was the one cele-
brated in the beautiful lines of the sixth iEneid, where
he is introduced into the vision of Roman grandeurs yet
unborn which were revealed to iEneas in the shades ; for
which Virgil received an immense reward firom Octavia.

Marcellus died soon after his marriage, and it seems
probable that the wicked arts of Livia were first exercised
in connection with his death. For while history is not
positive on this point, the manifest determination of the
Empress to secure the succession for her own son, her
subsequent acts in this connection and the ''secret appre-
hensions" of the people referred to by Tacitus in speaking
of ''Marcellus, who was snatched in his youth from the
ardent affections of the populace," coupled with the pre-
mature death of a youth theretofore in perfect health, have
been sufficient to convince more than one modem histo-
rian that he was poisoned by his mother-in-law.

Upon the death of Marcellus, Augustus selected for the
second husband of his daughter his oldest friend and most
useful adherent, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. At the time
of this marriage there existed what in these days would be
considered a serious obstacle to its consummation, in the
fact that Agrippa was already married — his wife being
one of the two sisters of the deceased Marcellus. But a
Caesar did not mind such a little thing. Plutarch says that
Octavia herself, who was undoubtedly a woman of extraor-
dinary merit, and for whom Augustus had great affection,
proposed the match to her brother. However this may be,

[84]

JULIA DAUGHTER OF AUGUSTUS

THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS

after languishing there three years perished by starvation
at the hands of the Emperor, who refused even to grant
the privilege of burial. Many of his descendants are said to
have attained the consular rank.

Augustus displayed the greatest interest in the welfare
and fortunes of his grandchildren, — the offspring of Julia
and Agrippa. The two eldest sons, Caius and Lucius, he
adopted by the ceremony of purchase — a sort of fictitious
sale — from their father, and took them into his own home,
where they became his constant companions, their educa-
tion being conducted in a great measure by their grand-
father himself. They assumed the name of Caesar, were
marked out as consuls-elect, to take office at the proper
age» and were introduced to the armies as the heirs of the
Emperor.

But Livia, whose purpose to secure the throne for Tibe-
rius had now become the engrossing passion of her life,
was only biding her time, and the occasion soon arrived.
Julia, the mother of the two young men, had already
entered upon her career of infamy. After the death of
Agrippa at the instance of Livia, she had been given in
marriage to the latter's eldest son, Tiberius, and the way
thus paved, as Livia thought, for the adoption of Tiberius
as the Emperor's son and heir, if Julia's children could be
removed. Julia had become so notorious, through her rela-
tions with Sempronius Gracchus, even during the lifetime
of Agrippa, that Tiberius was inspired — or pretended to
be — with disgust for her from the start. It seems unques-
tionable that this was part of a deep-laid plan on the part
of Livia to alienate her husband's affections from his
daughter^ as an important step in her plan. It is even said
that Livia herself had deliberately tempted Julia to set
out upon her evil ways, although of this there is no suf-

[87]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

ficient proof. Gracchus, who might have been a witness of
the fact, was afterwards murdered by order of Tiberius.

However this may be, Tiberius soon separated from his
wife and withdrew to the island of Rhodes, where he lived
in the greatest retirement During his absence Julia was
guilty of such open shamelessness that Augustus himself
divorced her in the name of his son-in-law, presenting the
facts to the Senate in a message read by the quaestor. The
fate of Julia was as wretched as her mature life had been
abominable. She was first banished by her father to the
island of Pandataria, off the coast of Campania, where she
was treated with the greatest harshness. Five years later
she was removed to Reggio (in Calabria) and treated with
less severity ; but her father always refused to forgive her,
replying to the Roman people, who several times inter-
posed in her behalf, **I wish you all had such daughters
and wives as she is." FinaDy, in continued disgrace and
exile, after the flight of all hope by the murder of her
last son, she died of starvation at the hands of her hus-
band and stepbrother, Tiberius, who had succeeded her
father as Emperor. Truly the ways of the transgressor are
hard.

With the disgrace and banishment of Julia, Livia felt
that the moment had arrived, and the hopes which Au-
gustus cherished in his favorite grandsons were speedily
brought to an end. Lucius Caesar, the youngest, was sud-
denly taken ill, while on his way to assume command of
the army in Spain, and died at Massilia in the year 1. A
few months later his elder brother, Caius Caesar, who was
in command on the Parthian firontier, received a slight
wound in Armenia. It seemed a mere scratch at the time,
but on his way home he was taken ill in Lycia and died
there. Each of them, as Tacitus discreetly says, "cut off

[88]

THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS

either by a death premature but natural, or by the arts
of their stepmother Li via/' From all the surrounding cir-
cumstances» in connection with what had gone before and
what followed, we must believe that it was a case of art,
rather than nature.

Lucius Caesar was not married, but his brother Caius
had for a wife Livia, the daughter of his stepfather's (Ti-
berius) brother Drusus, who had married the Emperor s
niece, Antonia. Caius and Livia had no children, but after
the death of the former his widow married her own cousin,
Drusus, only son of the Emperor Tiberius. The wretched
fate of Livia, her second husband, and their children will
appear in a following chapter.

Of the remaining children of Julia and Agrippa, Julia,
who seems to have been the eldest daughter, was mar-
ried to Lucius iEmilius Paulus, a grandnephew of the tri-
umvir Lepidus.^ Including his own holding of the office
of chief magistrate, he was of consular lank in the fourth
generation, and at the time of his marriage^ was; ^t j;he
head of what was considered the noblest house in Rome.
So that the marriage was in every respect 'gratifying to the
pride and ambition of the first EmperQr, wbo for^w;- in
this new alfiance the promise of another line t>f 4esceiid-
ants who would strengthen the pretensions of his house.
As matter of fact, the blood of Augustus was through this
marriage transmitted to the fifth generation. But instead
of adding strength to the imperial structure, the very ex-
istence of these descendants, with their powerful claims to
the throne, provoked the successors of Augustus to addi-
tional acts of violence against their kindred, and thus con-
tributed to the obliteration of the family and the final
ruin of the edifice. Every one of the links in this chain

^ Anie, page 21.

[89]

THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS

either by a death premature but natural, or by the arts
of their stepmother Li via/' From all the surrounding cir-
cumstances, in connection with what had gone before and
what followed, we must believe that it was a case of art,
rather than nature.
Lucius Csesar was not married, but his brother Caius

■

had for a wife Livia, the daughter of his stepfather's (Ti-
berius) brother Drusus, who had married the Emperor s
niece, Antonia. Caius and Livia had no children, but ajfter
the death of the former his widow married her own cousin,
Drusus, only son of the Emperor Tiberius. The wretched
fate of Livia, her second husband, and their children will
appear in a foUowing chapter.

Of the remaining children of Julia and Agrippa, Julia,
who seems to have been the eldest daughter, was mar-
ried to Lucius iEmilius Paulus, a grandnephew of the tri-
umvir Lepidus.^ Including his own holding of the office
of chief magistrate, he was of consular rank in the fourth
generation, and at the time of his marriage^ wa^. 4t fhe
head of what was considered the noblest house in Rome.
So that the marriage was in every respect gmtifyin^ to the
pride and ambition of the first Emperpr, who for^w' in
this new alliance the promise of another fine^x^f 4escetid-
ants who would strengthen the pretensions of his house.
As matter of fact, the blood of Augustus was through this
maniage transmitted to the fifth generation. But instead
of adding strength to the imperial structure, the very ex-
istence of these descendants, with their powerful claims to
the throne, provoked the successors of Augustus to addi-
tional acts of violence against their kindred, and thus con-
tributed to the obliteration of the family and the final
nun of the edifice. Every one of the links in this chain

^ijiie, page 21.

[89]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

Tiberius by the Emperor. Never was her crafty nature
more cunningly displayed than now. The opportunity
was not ripe to destroy the remaining heir, Postumus
Agrippa. Although she had become an object of suspicion
to the public through the premature deaths of the two
Caesars, thus far she had played the game without in the
slightest arousing her husband's suspicion. Another death
at this juncture might awaken his distrust and destroy his
confidence forever. The risk would be too great. She would
make one more flight of the long ascent upon which she
had toiled so patiently and remorselessly. The result could
be made equally sure. And so Augustus was importuned
by his wife, whose influence over him was still unbounded,
to adopt both Tiberius and the surviving son of Agrippa
as his children and heirs to the throne. It was a master
stroke. Postumus Agrippa had never been a favorite. He
was of a coarse nature, given to folly, and intractable. His
future was at the best uncertain ; Rome must not be left;
without a master; and besides, was not Tiberius already
his son, by marriage with Julia? The Emperor was easily
persuaded, and Agrippa and Tiberius were adopted in the
Forum, by a law passed for the purpose by the Senate
about the year 8 a. d. The remainder of Livia's task was
easy. By frequent playing upon the brutal temperament
and unruly disposition of Postumus Agrippa and exagger-
ating his faults upon every occasion, she readily enlarged
the Emperor s prejudices against his grandson, until finally
the unfortunate young man was banished to the island of
Planasia, where a guard of soldiers was placed about him
under an act that he be confined for life, which Augustus
procured from his servile Senate. Nothing now remained
for him but death at the hands of his grandfather's wife
and his mother's husband, who was his brother by adoption.

[42 ]

tHt

THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS

And now Livia was triumphant; her son Tiberius re-
mained the sole heir to the sovereignty of Rome. Augustus
never spoke of the two Julias — his daughter and grand-
daughter— and of his grandson Agrippa except as *^the
three cancers." He left a memorandum with his will that
the two Julias should not be buried in his tomb. True,
there remained his other granddaughter, Agrippma, a
woman of noble nature and high spirit, who had become
the wife of a man of elevated character, Livia's grandson,
Germanicus. And in order to ensure the succession for a
longer period, Tiberius was shortly compelled by Augustus
to adopt Germanicus as his son — notwithstanding the fact
that he already had a son Drusus, by his first wife, Vipsania
Agrippina. But these things in effect only contributed to
Livia's delight and increased her pride and vanity from
the additional assurance which they conveyed that sover-
eign power and authority would be continued in her fam-
ily. Nothing remained for the lMxipi(gte fulfilment of her
dream but the death of AugQAyii&ljliiA'iiSb^^^ not to be
long delayed. *'^ •'">;,.• ■

It has been commonly adc^epted that Augu^us came to
his end in the course of nafbusi^ 4]fkd^^ peacefully in the

arms of his wife. The historiao.^ue¥6]!liu^';],i| relating the
occurrence declares that when tlie^'end^ .lyas visibly ap-
proaching Livia sent hasty messengers for Tiberius, with
whom the dying Emperor had a long and affectionate in-
terview, and pretends that his last words were "Farewell,
Livia, and ever be mindful of our long union." Tacitus, on
the other hand, insists that it was never clearly established
whether these stories were not fabrications, and whether
the Emperor was not dead when Tiberius arrived at Nola.
He declares that there were many conflicting rumors about
the event; among others, that Augustus had secretly

C 48]

CHAPTER IV

TIBERIUS CiESAR, THE SECOND EMPEROR

Feom 14 A. D. TO 37 A. D.

TIBERIUS NERO, Caesar by adoption, was descended
from the Claudian £imily. He was the son of Tibe-
rius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His father attained distinc-
tion under Julius Caesar, in the Alexandrine war. After
the death of Caesar, Tiberius espoused the cause of Antony
and for a time made some headway in fomenting opposi-
tion to Augustus. But he was soon overcome and com-
pelled to flee with his wife to Sicily, and thence to Achaia.
It is said that Augustus first saw the beautiful wife of
Tiberius at the time of this flight, but it seems probable
that the meeting did not occur until after the Bologna
compact made it safe for Tiberius to return to Rome, his
name not appearing upon the proscribed list, which pre-
sumably would not have been the case if Augustus was
already enamoured of his wife. And all the traditions agree
that with Augustus it was "love at first sight." The fatal
meeting perhaps occurred at the wedding of Mark Antony
and Octavia, after the peace of Brundusium, at which the
bride was attended by Livia, at that time a beautiful
young woman of eighteen. Augustus was about twenty-
six years old, and his second wife, Scribonia, was living
and about to present him with an heir. But he was fasci-
nated by the charms of Livia and immediately requested
Tiberius Nero to resign his wife. The latter obeyed the
command — for such in effect it was — notwithstanding the
fact that his wife was young, beautiful, and accomplished,
the mother of one son, and about to present him with an-

[46 ]

CAIUS C^SAR SON OF JL'l.IA AND AGRIPPA

TIBERIUS C^SAR

other. As Caesar was master of Rome, with a dozen l^ons
at his back, and Tiberius had barely crossed the threshold
of forgiveness after his rebellion, it was doubtless a case of
coercive persuasion. We may to a certain extent appre-
ciate the reasons for his compliance in those times of law-
less proscription, but it is difficult to understand his final
degradation in the matter; he is said to have actually offi-
ciated at the marriage and in the character of father be-
stowed his beautiful young wife upon the future Emperor.
His friends afterwards declared that he yielded to this
public humiliation to save his life. It would seem that the
life of a man who would submit to such demands was not
worth saving; and so the gods evidently considered, even
in degenerate Rome, for Tiberius Nero died very soon
afterwards. His second son, Drusus, was bom about three
months after the marriage of Livia and Augustus.

Tiberius Nero, afterwards Tiberius Caesar, was bom in
the Palatine quarter at Rome upon'li^e sixteenth of the
Calends of December, 712 a. u. jp: (NoveBlbet'lp, 89 B. c).
He and his brother Drusus se^^io'^to have e^fiQri^nced the
love and affection of AugusttMS, an4 at the early age of
nineteen years Tiberius received 'liis fitet 'public appoint-
ment, that of quaestor, thereafter holdiqg ftii^.c^^sively the
offices of praetor and consul. He achieved a decided mili-
tary success in the East, where he was sent aft;er the failure
and death of Crassus in the Parthian war, and seems also
to have displayed no less ability in the administration of
his civil offices under the State.

In view of his military and other successes and his rela-
tions with the Emperor, it would not be unnatural if he
had shared in the ambitious schemes which were cherished
in his behalf by the bold and unscrupulous Empress. But
all of their hopes were, for the time being at least» dispelled

[47]

TIBERIUS C^SAR

other. As Caesar was master of Rome, with a dozen l^ons
at his back, and Tiberius had barely crossed the threshold
of foigiveness after his rebellion, it was doubtless a case of
coercive persuasion. We may to a certain extent appre-
ciate the reasons for his compliance in those times of law-
less proscription, but it is difficult to understand his final
degradation in the matter; he is said to have actually offi-
ciated at the marriage and in the character of father be-
stowed his beautiful young wife upon the future Emperor.
His fiiends afterwards declared that he yielded to this
public humiliation to save his life. It would seem that the
life of a man who would submit to such demands was not
worth saving; and so the gods evidently considered, even
in degenerate Rome, for Tiberius Nero died very soon
afterwards. His second son, Drusus, was bom about three
months after the marriage of Livia and Augustus.

Tiberius Nero, afterwards Tiberius Caesar, was bom in
the Palatine quarter at Rome upon'' |^e sixteenth of the
Calends of December, 712 a. u. c;' (Novenlbet Ip, 89 b. c).
He and his brother Dmsus seyK^i:9*to have e^^^enced the
love and affection of AugusttMS, ah4 at the early age of
nmeteen years Tiberius received "his fil^t 'public appoint-
ment, that of quasstor, thereafter holdiag 'ftiijiceSsively the
offices of praetor and consul. He achieved a decided mili-
tary success in the East, where he was sent after the failure
and death of Crassus in the Parthian war, and seems also
to have displayed no less ability in the administration of
his civU offices under the State.

In view of his military and other successes and his rela-
tions with the Emperor, it would not be unnatural if he
had shared in the ambitious schemes which were cherished
in his behalf by the bold and unscrupulous Empress. But
aQ of their hopes were, for the time being at leasts dispelled

[47]

THE HOUSE OF CESAR

represented to the Emperor as proceeding from unendur-
able shame at the conduct of Julia, now apparently for the
first time brought to the Emperor's knowledge. Tiberius
refused to listen to the entreaties of Augustus — in which
his mother h3rpocritically joined — and finally sailed away
for Rhodes, where the news was soon received that Julia
had been divorced from him by Augustus himsel£

After living in retirement eight years (his request to re-
turn after Julia s banishment having been denied), he was
recalled by his mother's influence and passed the two suc-
ceeding years in privacy at Rome. Then came the deaths
of Caius and Lucius, the Emperor s adoptive sons, the joint
adoption of Tiberius and Postumus Agrippa, the Em-
peror's grandson, and finally the banishment of Postumus,
which left Tiberius the heir-apparent of the imperial power,
now crystallized in the person and title of Ccesar.

From this time until the death of Augustus — a period
of perhaps ten years — Tiberius was actively engaged with
afiairs of State, either in the conduct of his various public
offices at Rome, or in successfully conducting military en-
terprises abroad. He acquired great glory by his military
successes, was repeatedly honored with the highest offices,
and finally celebrated a pompous triumph, his imperial
father superintending the solemnity. It was the most hon-
orable period of his life, and it would have been fortunate
for his memory if he had never lived to taste the pleasures
of unlimited power, which in those days was synonymous
with unbridled license. For, as Tacitus declares, the latter
part of his reign exhibited only a dreadful uniformity of
guilt ; *^of savage mandates and incessant accusations, when
friendship was without confidence and innocence was no
protection."

As we have seen, the death of the Emperor was care-

[50]

UJCIUS CiESAR SON OF JULIA AND AGltlPPA

TIBERIUS CiESAR

fully concealed by Livia until the accession of her son
was an accomplished fact. This was done through the im-
me^ate assumption by Tiberius of the military functions
of the Emperor. The praetorian guard submitted to his
control and received from him the watchword. This was
half the battle; it foreshadowed the final degradation of the
State, when the army chose the Emperor without even
consulting the Senate, selecting on occasion that candidate
who bid the largest cash sum for the office. But now the
form of securing the Senate's approval was still to be ob-
served, and here Tiberius displayed the greatest hypocrisy
— pretending that he had convened the Senate merely in
right of his tribunitian power, to read the late Emperor's
will and honor him with an apotheosis. Upon being urged
to ascend the throne, he assumed great diffidence, depre-
cating his abilities to sustain the burdens of government,
and suggesting that the duties of the State.^would better
be apportioned among several citizens. '^|it^filiaU]^, in the
midst of the confusion, some one bluntly t^ted" but;; "Let
him either accept or decline at o^oe»'^ while ar^q same
moment one of his friends declared* to* his face, *^ Others
are slow to perform what they proniis®,. while- yjpu are slow
to promise what you actually perform!'' Setitat filially his
pretended reluctance gave way and, as Suetonius puts it,
'^eompl^ing of the miserable and burdensome service im-
posed upon him, he accepted the government"; and the
wretched relic of Roman pride and virtue, represented by
a subservient Senate and a degraded aristocracy, volun-
tarily accepted the yoke of an infamous servitude which,
with an occasional interruption, was to endure for many
centuries.

Tiberius was somewhat above the usual stature, broad
shouldered, well formed, and robust. He is said to have

[51]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

been very handsome, with regular features, large dark eyes,
long curling hair, and a very fair complexion. He bore
himself with the springy step, erect carriage, and frown-
ing countenance of a successful military leader and spoke
with the deUberation of a man who, having weighed his
words carefully, expected that after he had spoken every
one would consider the subject closed* Until the latter
part of his reign, when protracted excesses began to tell
upon even his iron constitution, his health was uninter-
ruptedly good; and it is said that from his thirtieth year
he lived without medical assistance whatsoever.

He never entirely abandoned the active habits of army
life, at the close of his military career indulging freely in
his favorite exercises of riding and fencing. During the
ordinary fatigues of a campaign he seemed to take plea-
sure in unnecessary hardships, frequently passing the night
without a tent, and taking his meals while sitting on the
bare ground. He was a strict disciplinarian and in the con-
duct of his campaigns displayed the attributes not only of
a good soldier, but of an able leader as welL In addition
to the convincing fact of his successes, his ability in war
is well attested by the Emperor Augustus, a shrewd ob-
server of men and events, who in various letters extolled
Tiberius as a wnsummate general.

Unlike his inmiediate successors, he was ni^ardly (if
not actually miserly) in the extreme; dispensing nothing
in charity, ^ving no public entertainments, and undertak-
ing no pubUc works except the building of the temple of
Augustus and the restoration of Pompey's theatre, both
of which he even left unfinished. His covetousness and the
passion for accumulation soon led him into acts of high-
handed oppresaon, not infrequentiy amounting to sheer
robbery, without even the form of confiscation, vrhich

[52]

TIBERIUS CiESAR

latter, however, was his favorite method of adding to his
treasure.

He professed an extreme aversion to flattery of every
sort, refusing frequently to allow persons of rank to ap-
preach for the purpose of extending him a civility ; while
if any one ventured, either in conversation or a set speech,
to pay him a compliment, he immediately interrupted the
speaker with a reprimand.

The cruel and sullen temper displayed by him in child-
hood became more pronounced in mature life, and during
the last part of his reign his disposition in this respect be-
came so manifest that even Caligula was not more feared
and hated by the Romans than Tiberius had been. While
many of his barbarous actions were performed under the
pretence of what was termed *^ strictness and reformation
of manners," it must be considered as proven that in the
krge majority of cases they were done merely to gratify
his own savage disposition. His unbounded tyranny and
cold brutality provoked bitter reproaches from his vic-
tims; many of those condemned to die addressing the
most opprobrious remarks to him, while the accusations
of others were scattered among the senators in the form
of written hand-bills. To all this — at least until towards
the close of his life — Tiberius was insensible; declaring
that ''in a free state, both the tongue and the mind ought
to be free."

In regard to other and more shameful vices, the Em-
peror Tiberius seems to have set the pace for Caligula and
Nero, and while the latter in some parts of the circuit
outstripped his vile prototype, Tiberius must be accorded
the badge of general infamy for his life in the island of
Capri.

And yet in exercising the supreme power, which he as-

[58]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

sumed by slow degrees, he seems to have been occasion-
ally moved by a regard for the public good. He frequently
interposed to prevent ill management and injustice, en-
couraged economy in the administration of public affairs,
expelled the astrologers, and — as we are told — "took
upon himself the correction of public morals, where they
tended to decay either through neglect or evil custom " ;
this latter, of course, with the usual result where the blind
ventiires to lead the blind.

The history of Tiberius is the direct counterpart of that
of his predecessor. The duplicity, low cunning, and wicked
selfishness which characterized the earUer part of the first
Emperor's life had in later years given way to a decided
show of moderation, decent living, and wise concern for
the prosperity, welfare, and glory of the State. The adopted
son of Augustus, who had been distinguished for the really
great qualities displayed during the earlier part of his life,
immediately following his accession commenced yielding
to the very lowest promptings of his nature, and in the end
fulfilled to the unhappy people over whom he ruled the
prophetic death-bed saying of Augustus: "Alas I Unhappy
Roman people, to be ground by the jaws of such a slow
devourer 1 "

[54]

POSTUJIUS AGltllM'A

CHAPTER V

THE FAMILY OF TIBERIUS

OF all the emperors of the house of Ccesar, Tiberius
was the least married ; for while Augustus had three
wives, Caligula, the third Emperor, five, Claudius, the
fourth Emperor, six, and Nero, the fifth Emperor, three,
Tiberius had but two, one of these even being forced upon
him against his inclination.

By his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina, the daughter of
Agrippa by his first wife, Pomponia (and thus the step-
daughter of Tiberius s second wife), and the granddaughter
on her mother's side of Caecilius Atticus (a Roman knight
to whom many of the epistles of Cicero are addressed), he
had one son, Drusus. The son afterwards bom to him by
Julia died in infancy, so that his posterity was from Drusus
alone. It is to be remembered, however, that after the
banishment of Postumus Agrippa, foUowineg the adoption
of Tiberius and himself by Augustus, the latter compelled
Tiberius to himself adopt his brot^ner'-s son, Germ^nipu^.
After the fiction of an adoption b^ pui:;^ha;se, all of the
rights and duties of both the adopted cfhild and. the parent
surrendering him attached to the new relationship ; and the
adoptive child was universally considered, and by writers
of contemporaneous history commonly spoken of, as the
"son" of the adoptive parent. In the family of Tiberius is
tiierefore to be included his adopted son, Grermanicus, as
well as his own son, Drusus.

The first mention of Drusus is his introduction into the
Forum by his &ther upon fhe latter's return from his self-
imposed exile at Rhodes. Later he was sent to quell an

' [ 55 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

insurrection among the l^ons in Pannonia and seems to
have acquitted himself with tact and ability. Upon his re-
turn he was accorded a triumph and had the further honor
of two consulships, the second in conjunction with his &-
ther, who during a part of it retired to Campania, leaving
Drusus at the head of the State. Germanicus was dead at
this time, and everything indicated an assured succession in
Drusus and his posterity. But another Livia had come upon
the scene, equally ambitious for power with the Augusta,
and &r surpassing her in wickedness and depravity, through
which Drusus, her husband, was destroyed, the hopes of
his house swept away, and she herself came to an unpitied
death at the hands of the frenzied Tiberius.

Livia was the sister of Germanicus — that is, of her hus-
band's adoptive brother. She was first married to the young
Caius Caesar, the son of Julia and Agrippa, and after his
death she became the wife of Drusus, who was her own
cousin. Granddaughter of Augustus by her first marriage,
and his grandniece by the blood, through her mother An-
tonia, who was the daughter of Augustus's sister Octavia
by Mark Antony, she seemed a most illustrious consort
for the reigning Emperor's only son. The pride and satis-
&ction of Tiberius in this union were heightened with the
birth of twin boys to Livia ; a matter of so much joy to
the Emperor that he could not refrain from boasting "that
to no Roman of the same eminence before him were ever
two children bom at a birth." Upon which the historian
Tacitus dryly remarks: **Thus to his own glory he turned
all things, even mere accidents."

The birth of the twins, who were called Caius and Tibe-
rius Nero (afterwards commonly referred to as Tiberius
Gemellus), was followed by that of a daughter, named
Julia. Caius died in infancy.

[56]

THE FAMILY OF TIBERIUS

At the time of the birth of these children Germanicus
was still hving, and in order to a just understanding of
the tragedy that was impending, his character and the
relationship which he bore to public events must be first
considered.

The ancestry of Germanicus was illustrious. His father,
Drusus, was the only brother of the Emperor Tiberius,
while his mother, the younger Antonia, greatiy celebrated,
as Plutarch tells us, for her beauty and virtue, was the
daughter of one of the noblest Roman matrons, the beau-
tiful Octavia, the sister of Augustus. Octavia's husband was
Mark Antony, who was thus the grandfather of Germani-
cus. Germanicus was also the adoptive son of Tiberius, to
whose son also his sister Livia was married. Germanicus
himself had married Agrippina, one of the chUdren of
Agrippa and JuUa; so that his offspring were the great-
grandchildren of Augustus. Moreover, his adoption into
the family of the reigning Casar was known to have pro-
ceeded from the will of the divine Augustus himself. His
relationship to the throne, therefore, alike by blood, af-
finity, and imperial favor, was of the highest and closest.
And finally, Germanicus was a man of the most elevated
character, of a handsome person, high courage, eloquent
and gifted in various branches of learning, while at the
same time blessed with an unassuming disposition and a
remarkable sweetness of manners; in short, as one historian
declares, it seems to have been generally agreed that he
"possessed all the noblest endowments of body and mind
in a higher degree than had ever before fallen to the lot
of any man." In the midst of all the abandoned wicked-
ness and horrible nightmares to which Roman life was
given up in the times of the CaBsars, when virtue had been
trampled in the mud, when sensuality had been deified,

[57]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

when honor and truth and love and all the finer emotions
of the soul had given way to a consuming lust for power
and the gratification of brutal instincts; after wading
through page after page of the most sickening and hor-
rible recitals, what a reUef to come upon this simple little
tribute to virtue, in the words of the historian, that " Ger-
mamctis reaped the fruit of his noble qualities in abundancey
being much esteemed and beloved by his friends.'' And so
virtue was not yet entirely dead — not even in besotted
Rome. The great poet, to whom the house of Cassar fur-
nished the theme for one of the most wonderful of his im-
mortal creations, in this pictui^ of Germanicus might weU
have found his inspiration for the line.

So shines a good deed in a naughty world.'^

But however high the claims of Germanicus, and how-
ever great his popularity with the people, there was not
wanting a support to the pretensions of Drusus, who of
course had the countenance of the Emperor himself and
of his grandmother, the indomitable Livia. So that Rome
was divided in its affections : a large part of the Court, in-
cluding the most sordid and venal patricians, declared for
Drusus, the Emperor's own son ; while others of the nobles
and practically all of the people (the influence of the lat-
ter, however, counting for comparatively nothing) were for
Germanicus. Of course there were not wanting those who
sought to enlist Drusus in his own interest and against
Germanicus ; but to the lasting honor of the former be it
said that he would not listen to the suggestion. The har-
monious relations of the brothers were unbroken, and after
the death of Germanicus his children continued to receive
especial kindness from Drusus.

But if Drusus was too high minded to act against Grer-

[58]

THE Wt*' ^^11^

PUBLIC Ulf^^^^

THE FAMILY OF TIBERIUS

manicus, there were others not so scrupulous, and indeed
how would it have been possible for a man of his un-
doubted virtue to have escaped? Disturbances having
arisen in the East, Germanicus was sent to Syria, to
regulate its affairs. Tiberius at the same time appointed
a new governor of the province in the person of Cneius
Piso, whose wife, Plancina, secretly instigated by'Livia Au-
gusta, had been for some time engaged in a mean perse-
cution of Germanicus's wife, Agrippina. That Piso actually
had authority from the Emperor to destroy Germani-
cus must be considered not proven. But his subsequent
conduct demonstrates beyond a doubt that he at least
supposed that Tiberius had appointed him to the com-
mand in Syria expressly to defeat the views of Germani-
cus. Urged on as well by his wife as by his own unscru-
pulous ambition, he opposed. Germanicus at every turn,
and finally succeeded in administering to him a slow
poison from which the nephdw pf ^^be Jlmperor finaUy
died — before his death expIicitTy^acty^^ng ^Pa^ of being
his murderer. ' ;

The grief and consternation of ^ both Rome and jthe prov-
inces passes description — Piso *liAi4?JWflijC§i^:^l(^^^ of all
the world, openly exhibiting ati indecent joy ; although, of
course, there were others who exulted in secret. At Rome,
when the news arrived, stones were hurled at the tem-
ples, the altars of some of the gods demolished and the
Lares and Penates thrown into the streets. Germanicus
had been the hero and the hope of the great body of the
Roman people, whose mourning was so genuine that even
the special edicts passed for that purpose could not re-
strain it. And while all history unites in according to
Germanicus a virtue which shone with a brilliant and soli-
tary lustre in those times of public oppression and private

[59]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

Early in his accession to power, Tiberius had chosen for
commander of the prsetorian guards an artful and adroit
and at the same time bold and daring knight named M]ius
Sejanus. This man had skilfully enlarged the power of his
office, until then quite moderate, by gathering into one
camp the cohorts of the guard, which hitherto had been
scattered throughout the city. From this time the military
power may be said to have controlled in determining the
succession. Sejanus was as unscrupulous as he was shrewd
and ambitious, and with the first taste of power and influ-
ence, he began to entertain the most daring projects, which
aimed at nothing less than to secure the throne. With
the army behind him — the good will of the soldiers having
been gained through his undoubted courage coupled with
both tact and dissimulation and supplemented by bribery
and corruption, where the rest &iled — the members of the
imperial family were the only obstacles to his ambition.
To be sure, their number was large; besides the son and
grandson of Tiberius there were the descendants of the
Emperor's brother Drusus, including the three sons of
Germanicus. But to Sejanus this meant simply the neces-
sity of protracted killing, instead of the wholesale murder
which would have attracted attention, although simpler
and more to his mind.

He began in a way which can be characterized only as
devilish. The first person to be removed was the Emperor's
son Drusus, against whom Sejanus cherished a bitter per-
sonal resentment on account of a blow which he had re-
ceived from the haughty prince during a dispute between
them. Livia, the wife of Drusus, is said to have been very
beautiful, and Sejanus, pretending to be overcome by her
attractions, seduced her, and when thus in his power, in-
duced her to share in his scheme by promising to make

[62]

THE FAMILY OF TIBERIUS

her his Empress when he should have gdned the throne.
And thus, musingly remarks the annalist, **the niece of
Augustus, the daughter-in-law of Tiberius, the mother of
the children of Drusus, disgraced herself, her ancestors,
and her posterity by a connection with an adulterer from
a municipal town; exchanging an honorable certainty for
guilty prospects which might never be realized." ^

The wife of Drusus was now fully launched upon her
wicked career. Her physician was admitted into the plot,
^ Sej«.us h.ving'fct divorced his wife, who w Jthe
mother of three little children, and thus assured Livia that
her lover would be at once available as a second husband,
the latter was ready to despatch her first, and Drusus was
poisoned.. Suspicion was at the time entirely diverted from
the murderers, who were discovered only after an interval
of eight years by confession of Eudemus, the physician,
and a slave of Sejanus. v^; ...

The death of Drusus awakened fUpes'sbttic^ friends
of Germanicus, whose three sons, notwiil»94A|vdtn^ the fact
that the two sons of Drusus vi^^ still living, Avere now
commonly regarded as in ,the''lkie.':!rf.sjjccess!ion. Their
mother, Agrippina, proud and 7t&Hg^ty,l/b]t^Wvere in her
Roman virtue, had surrounded them withsievoted friends
and wise counseUors, and the conspirators found it impos-
sible to dispose of them by the same means with which
the death of Drusus had been accomplished. It was evi-
dent that Agrippina must first be removed, and Sejanus
having succeeded — easily, as we are quite ready to be-
lieve— in rousing the hatred of the old Augusta, the two
Livias engaged to persuade the Emperor that "proud of
her numerous offspring and relying upon the affections of
the people, Agrippina had designs upon the sovereignty.''

^ Tacitos, Annab, iv. S.

[6«]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

and various things which he had said — or which she pre-
tended he had said — in his sleep. These were repeated to
the Emperor by Sejanus, with dark insinuations of the
crimes which Nero had in contemplation. The unscrupu-
lous favorite also succeeded in drawing into the combi-
nation Nero's brother Drusus, by tempting him with the
prospect of empire if his elder brother could be first re-
moved. Everything thus progressing well and Caesar's favor
having been especially manifested by his consent to the
betrothal of the daughter of Sejanus with a son of the
Emperor's nephew Claudius, the brother of Germanicus
and Livia, the latter now importuned Sejanus to request
the Emperor's consent to their marriage.

Sejanus was intoxicated with excess of fortune. His
power had increased to such an extent that there remained
scarcely any access to honors except through his favor.
Only this last coup remained to ensure him the succession,
when his meditated removal of the children of Gemanicus
should be accomplished. He had received the most con-
vincing proof of the Emperor's favor and now confidently
presented to him a memorial, begging for himself the
honor of an alliance with the widowed Livia.

But he had presumed too far upon the complacency of
Caesar. While the refusal of Tiberius was cautiously ex-
pressed, he nevertheless made it plain to Sejanus that the
time had gone by when the hand of a daughter of the
Caesars might be aspired to by a mere Roman knight.
Moreover, the Emperor used certiun expressions which
filled Sejanus with actual alarm for the ultimate success
of his projects upon the lines which he was then follow-
ing, and it became necessary to immediately rearrange his
plans. The marriage with Livia was abandoned as at once
impossible and unnecessary, and after strengthening his

[ 66 ]

DHUSirs SON OF TIBERIUS

THE FAMILY OF TIBERIUS

influence with the army, Sejanus used all of his persuasion
to induce the Emperor to withdraw from Rome to Capri,
in the Bay of Naples, access to which could be readily
guarded by a military force. Tiberius, who, at this period
of his career at least, knew no enjoyment except that of
sensual pleasure, was easily persuaded to a course which
promised unlicensed abandonment to the cruelties and dis-
solute pleasures which might have been attended with per-
sonal danger in Rome, corrupt and slavish as the capital
had become; and Sejanus now began openly to exercise
the actual powers of sovereignty. But his increasing ar-
rogance at last roused the fear and suspicion of his be-
sotted master, whose eyes seem to have been opened to
the conduct of his favorite by Antonia, the aged mother
of G^rmanicus. And so, in the mercy of Froyidence, this
monster of iniquity, at the very moment of lj[i^. ^ticipated
triumph, was charged by Tiberius with coA8lfelf*jr,,and
me Senate, ever ready to obey, condenined him *tQr.^dath
with alacrity. He was strangled in pjiaQn^ and his body
dragged to the Tiber, his friends put to death; under cri^l
tortures, and finally his innocent little children- likeirime
murdered under circumstances of the most horrible and
unnamable atrocity. Their mother — the divorced Apicata
-committed suicide upon hearing of the murder of her
children. It was a rare position — that of imperial favorite
in tiie days of the Caesars.

For Livia, his wretched accomplice, there remained
nothing but to drink to its dregs the cup of bitterness
which she herself had filled. Ten short years before, ex-
cepting only the Augusta herself, she had been the first
lady in the greatest city of the world. The great-grand-
daughter of the divine Augustus, sister of the idolized
Germanicus, wife of the Emperor's only son, Drusus, the

[67]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

sole heir to the throne, and mother of two sons in the direct
line of succession, beautiful, accomplished, and powerful
— she had scattered everything to the winds in yielding to
the basest impulses. And now her husband and one son
dead and her noble brother and his family destroyed in-
directly through her means, she herself was cast off upon
a sea of wretchedness which had no bounds. The missing
chapters of the "Annals" leave us in darkness as to the de-
tails of these last years of her life. But after the death of
Sejanus, in the year 81 a. d., his former wife, Apicata, re-
vealed his murder of the Emperor s son Drusus; and upon
the disclosure of Livia's complicity in the crime, she was
put to death by her father-in-law, who caused the most
rigorous decrees to be passed against even her statues
and memory.

With the death of his son, the last link which bound
the Emperor to the semblance of family affection appears
to have been broken. He seemed little concerned during
the illness of Drusus and not much affected at his death.
One of his grandsons, Caius, had died ; the other, Tibe-
rius. was hated as having been conceived in adultery-so
the Emperor maliciously declared, but without apparent
foundation. The two eldest sons of Germanicus, Nero and
Drusus, he had commended to the Senate with the remark
that the good and evil which should befall them — the
great-grandsons of Augustus — must extend to the com-
monwealth. And forthwith he himself proceeded to bring
down upon the hapless young men evil without measure.
After the banishment of their mother, Agrippina, Nero
and Drusus were themselves condemned, fettered with
chains, and cast into prison. In his youth Nero, who seems
to have inherited some of the gracefulness and modesty of
his father, had been especially favored by the Emperor. He

[68]

THE FAMILY OF TIBERIUS

was now charged by Tiberius with the most abominable
crimes, banished to the island of Ponza, and there vanished
into darkness. His brother Drusus was thrown into one of
the horrible dmigeons of the Palatine, that crime-saturated
palace of the Caesars, where, at the expiration of three
years, he was starved to death. In the agonies of hunger
he even ate the chaff with which his mattress was stuffed,
and Tacitus affirms that in this way he protracted his
existence until the ninth day. The centurion in charge
afterwards related that when his last hopes had fled, the
wretched young prince poured forth the most frenzied
imprecation upon his great-uncle; declaring that '*as he
had slaughtered his son's wife, the son of his brother, and
his son s sons, and filled his whole house with carnage, so
might he pay to the uttermost the penalty of his crimes,
m justice of his name, the generations of his forefathers,
and posterity." It is almost beyond belief that the Em-
peror caused this report of Actius to be read publicly to
the senators, who interrupted the reading with exclama-
tions of assumed horror at these imprecations.

Drusus married ^Emilia Lepida, an own cousin of the
Emilia Lepida who was the first wife of Drusus's uncle
Claudius.^ After the destruction of her husband, she too
seems to have been put to death,^ with the approval, if
not under the direct orders, of Tiberius. Neither Drusus
nor his brother Nero left any children.

The death of the Emperor's mother, Livia Augusta

^ Pott, page 104. This Emilia Lepida was the daughter of M. iEmilius
Lepidus, a younger brother of Lucius £milius Paulus^ who married Julia,
the granddaughter of Augustus. Ante, page 89.

' This is upon the authority of Tacitus (Annals, vi. 40). But the reference
is a trifle obscure^ and a modem writer states that this Lepida died during
the reign of Qaudius. See post, page 107, as to the difficulty of tracing
through the female line, owing to the absence of pnmomtna among women.

[69]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

(29 A. D.)> had preceded that of her great-grandson Nero,
and the death of Drusus was ahnost unmediately followed
by the coerced suicide of Agrippina, the mother of the
young princes- Tiberius did not even attend the funeral
of his mother — excusing himself therefor to the Senate
upon the ground of pressure of business. In the case of
Agrippina, whose death he had accomplished, the Em-
peror still further demeaned himself by uttering the most
shameful slanders against her, and reminded the Senate
that she had died on the second anniversary of the death
of the traitor Sejanus, which fact he declared ought to be
recorded; whereupon the servile Senate decreed that on
that day a yearly offering should be presented to Jupiter
forever.

From now on the Emperor abandoned himself to every
species of cruelty. The astrologer Thrasyllus, who had great
influence over him, restrained him for a time by the argu-
ment that his life would be prolonged by deferring some
of his meditated acts of vengeance against members of his
£Eimily especially. In this way the remaining children of
Germanicus, his own son Tiberius, and his daughter Julia
and her descendants (she had married again) escaped for
the time. It would probably not have been for long, how-
ever, had not tardy death at last overtaken him, this father
who used to exclaim, "Happy Priam, who survived all his
children 1"

But the ParcfiB had decreed that by the hand of Cassar
Caesar should die, and the death of Tiberius opened no
escape to the descendants who survived him. His only
surviving grandson, Tiberius Gemellus, received a tardy
show of justice fipom the Emperor, who named him with
Caius Caesar (Caligula) as the imperial heirs. After his
grandfather's death Gemellus was arrested and accused

[70]

TIBERIUS GEMELLUS

^ <y

THE FAMILY OF TIBERIUS

of having expressed the hope that the Emperor would not
recover from his illness. There was no meeting this accusa-
tion and Caligula sent word to his cousin to kill himself.
Tiberius, who is said to have been a mild and gentle youth,
who had never seen a man killed, begged the soldiers to
themselves put him to death, and upon their refusal asked
them at least to show him where and how to strike. With
this request the centurion graciously complied, giving
him a sword and indicating where his heart was. Thank-
ing the rough soldier, the poor boy stabbed himself and
perished instantly.

Julia, the remaining grandchild of Tiberius, after the
murder of her husband Nero, married Rubellius Blandus,
the grandson of a Roman knight from Tibur. Julia sur-
vived until the next reign but one, when she and her
cousin of the same name (a daughter of Germanicus) were
put to death by their uncle, the Emperor Claudius,^ who
was instigated to the murder by the bor^le Messalina.
By her marriage with Blandus, Julia had 'iic^oft^/RubeUius
Plautus. This young nobleman s^ems to fcdye.been of
blameless character and of a sober, ^d ^tiring Si^osition.
Such characteristics in the person \oi 'at/Gaesar were sure
guaranties of a violent death. Instigdt^d -h}^ the. -monster
Tigellinus, and alarmed as well by the *{K>pul^r praise of
Plautus, whose fame only resounded the inbre with his
attempts to withdraw himself from popular notice and the
dangers of public life, Nero, who was then Emperor, noti-
fied Plautus that he would best "retire from Rome, and
in Asia, where he had possessions, end his days in peace
and quiet." This was merely one of the forms of family
death-warrant, but Plautus gladly left Rome in company
with his wife and a few devoted fnends. One day he re-

^ Pod, jpagp 111.

[71 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

ceived a message from his father-in-law that a centurion
was on the way to kill him and that ''if he would im-
mediately escape, out of the compassion that would be
felt for a name so great he would find good men ready
to espouse his cause." But Flautus was unmoved. The
assassins found him in the middle of the day naked and
engaged in corporeal work upon his estate. He was im-
mediately butchered and his head carried to the tyrant
at Rome.

Plautus had married Antistia, daughter of Lucius An-
tistius Vetus, by whom he is said to have had several
children, whose lives, however, are untraced. It would be
strange if anything but death in infancy saved them from
the fate of Nero*s mad determination to extirpate the
house of Cassar, root and branch. In his frantic search for
victims even relations by marriage only did not escape,
and both Antistia and her father Vetus were put to death
under circumstances of great cruelty.^

But long before this final extinction of his race the last
page of the life of Tiberius had been turned. It presents
a fitting conclusion of a series of horrible chapters. Worn
out by his own atrocious crimes and revolting depravity,
his body wasted and his strength exhausted, he retired
to a villa which had once been occupied by LucuUus, at
the promontory of Misenum, having previously in his ex-
treme misery addressed to the Senate a letter which be-
gan, "What to write to you. Conscript Fathers, or how to
write, or what not to write at this time, may all the gods
and goddesses pour upon my head a more terrible ven-
geance than that under which I feel myself d^ly sinkings
if I can tell." The pages of history may be searched in vain
for a more agonizing confession that Nemesis had clutched

1 Post, page 159.

[72]

THE FAMILY OF TIBERIUS

her victim at last The end came speedily. In the midst of
one of the entertainments with which the dying tyrant yet
sought by sensual enjoyment to distract his sufferings, his
physician Charicles, touching the Emperor's hand under
pretence of taking his leave, felt his pulse and immedi-
ately reported to Macro, captain of the guards, that life
was ebbing fast and could not last two days. Caius Caesar
was at once informed and expresses also sent to the army.
The former, siurounded by a great congratulatory throng,
was already setting out to enter upon the sovereignty
when another message came to the effect that the Em-
peror had revived and called for food. But Macro, the
Emperor's best friend and, since the death of Sejanus,
the choicest instrument of his villainous cruelties, who
aspired to a similar position under the new reign which
was already inaugurated through the reports of his mas-
ter's death — was he called upon to submit to such an
unwarranted interference on the part of nature with the
wiU of the Fates ? Calmly he gave commands to pile the
pillows and bed-clothes upon the d)dng Caesar's face, until
life should be extinguished. Thus died the Emperor Tibe-
rius, in the seventy-eighth year of his age and the twenty-
third of his reign, on the seventeenth before the Calends
of April, 87 a. d. The news of his undoubted death was
received at Rome with demonstrations of the wildest joy,
and the city rang with shouts of "Down with his body to
the Tiber 1"

[78]

CHAPTER VI

CALIGULA^ THE THIRD EMPEROR
Fkom S7 A.D. Tx> 41 A.D.

WHILE succession to the imperial power was not
r^ulated by law, on the part of the Caesars them-
selves, at least, it was plainly intended that it should be
determined by lineal descent. To be sure, the Emperor
was said to be elected by *'the authority of the Senate
and the consent of the soldiers** ; which seems to have been
the constitutional language at least down to the time of
the fifth Emperor.^ And firom the very b^inning, as al-
ready observed, the support of the army was almost a sine
qtia non to the assumption of the purple by any candi-
date. In the selection of its chief ruler the destinies of the
Empire may be said to have been ruled by the preetorian
guard. But with this qualification : until after the death of
Nero the voice of the reigning Caesar was felt to be all-
powerM upon the question of his successor ; either when
spoken in life, through the instrumentality of a formal
adoption, or declared and published in a last will and
testament. For example, it will be remembered that the
Emperor Augustus, having in his lifetime adopted both
Tiberius and Postumus Agrippa, in his will named the
former as his chief heir and thus enabled him, although a
stranger to the blood, to secure the throne to the exclu-
sion of the Emperor's own grandson, who under the wiU
was an heir in remainder only.

Tiberius, it is said, had been greatiy puzzled in the se-
lection of his successor. The son of Drusus was still only a

^ TadtoSj Anmdt, ziii. 4.

[74]

DRUSUS BROTHER OF TIBEHIL'S

....-t.-V'''^

CALIGULA

child, and besides was an object of hatred to his grand-
father.^ Claudius, the brother of Germanicus, was thought
to be mentally deficient; while Caius Caesar (or Caligula
as he was called), the son of Germanicus, was disliked by
the Emperor simply because he had gained the favor of
the people. On the other hand, he was unwilling to select
a successor from outside of his family lest the name of
Caesar should fall from its eminence. He finally resolved
that fortune should decide the question, and made a will
constituting Tiberius Gemellus and Caligula his joint heirs
and successors. But there can be no doubt that he knew
fiill well what the result would be. Once when both were
present he ssud to Caligula, ''Thou shalt slay him and an-
other shall slay thee." On another occasion, while com-
menting upon the natural cruelty and depravity which
even as a youth Caligula was unable to conceal, the Em-
peror declared that Caius was "destined to be the ruin
of himself and all mankind"; andjthat he (Tiberius) was
"rearing a hydra for the people of - B^me^ and a Phaeton
for all the world." Some historiaiis '^liftllife .i^qt jscrupled to
declare that it was on account of the vicib^i$^l9ii^position
of Caius that he was chosen by -thf Emperor tb succeed
hnn, so that after his own dgath A^ coirip«iispn; might be
made in favor of his memory whe»-tfce ^otnans should
he governed by a ruler yet more cruel and tyrannical than
himself.

Upon the death of Tiberius, Caligula set out for Rome,
and between the universal hatred of the deceased Em-
peror and the universal joy that a son of Germanicus was
actually to sit upon the throne, his journey from Misenum
was one long passage between altars, victims, lighted
torches, and prodigious crowds of people, the latter trans-

^AvU, page 68.

[75]

CALIGULA

dations of many important cities now existing along the
Rhine were the Roman fortresses established in this war
by Drusus, who seems to have possessed unusual military
genius. He met an untimely death in Germany, where he
had been joined by Tiberius, the latter travelling on foot
ahead of his brother's body all the way to Rome, where
the dead prince was accorded a magnificent funeral, re-
ceiving the most extravagant honors at the hands of
Augustus. The Senate, amongst various other honors, had
in his lifetime conferred the cognomen of Germanicus
upon him and his posterity. The memory of Drusus had
always been revered by the Roman people, who cherished
a strong persuasion that if his life had been spared, he
would have restored liberty. How much of this was justi-
fied by his character, and how much is to be accounted
for by hero-worship, is uncertain ; but the fact undoubtedly
accounts in no small measure for the extravagant hopes
which were founded on the accession ^.te Wtv^er of his
grandson Caligula. ^' \ , v

But the character of Drusus and his beautiful Wilb An-
tonia, the grandparents of Caligula, ^tli^ inmost ..godlike
virtues attributed to his father Gerbia^icuffi^^ah^^ the un-
selfish devotion and signal chastity (rare Vii^u€;|f, in those
days, among the women of Rome) of his lion-hearted
mother Agrippina, seem to have made no impress upon
the nature of the third Emperor, who, starting as a sly,
crael, and vicious boy, developed into a perfect devil in-
carnate and ended as a veritable madman.

After his father's death in Syria^ he returned to Rome
with the widowed Agrippina, with whom he resided until
her exile. Upon the imprisonment of his brothers Nero
and Drusus he was removed to the house of his great-

^Afde, page 59-

[ 77 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

grandmother, Livia Augusta, with whom he lived until
her death, and whose funeral oration he delivered in pub-
lic before he had donned the toga xmilis. After the death
of the Augusta he lived with his grandmother Antonia,
until, when about twenty years of age, he was sunmioned
by the old Emperor to join him at Capri and there re-
mained until the death of Tiberius — to which he was
undoubtedly an accessory.

From the time of his mother's exile and the imprison-
ment of his brothers, he seems to have borne himself
with the greatest circumspection, manifesting no concern
for their sufTerings and displaying no feeling whatever
upon their death. In this way he escaped the fate of his
brothers, and with the death of Sejanus he began to cherish
hopes of succeeding Tiberius in the Empire. He at once
commenced to insinuate himself into the graces of Macro,
the praetorian prefect, by making a mistress of the latter s
wife, whom he engaged by an oath m writing to marry
when he should become Emperor. Nothing now remained
to be accomplished but the death of Tiberius, and that in
the course of nature must be close at hand. But the gods
were a bit tardy towards the end, and in order not to dis-
appoint too long an expectant world, it became necessary
to expedite matters in the way which Tiberius himself
had taught. To this Caligula had no more objection than
he had manifested when the lives of his mother and bro-
thers were in the balance. Tiberius was murdered; and
then, the Senate having been convened for the purpose of
setting aside the late Emperor's will, Caius Csesar was
immediately declared ImperatoTy and the Roman world
went mad over the priceless blessings vouchsafed by the
immortal gods.

The Emperor Caligula was tall and ill shaped. He had

[78]

. CALIGULA

a large head scantily covered with hair, a broad forehead
hoUowed at the temples, with strongly knit brows and
deep-set eyes. He was incapable of enduring fatigue, fre-
quently yielding to a species of faintness which rendered
him practically helpless for hours at a time. Both his con-
stitutional weakness of body and the mental disorder from
which he plainly suffered (of which latter he himself seems
not to have been unconscious^) were greatly aggravated
by his continued inability to sleep more than three or four
hours at a time. Even such sleep as he had was broken
and frequently disturbed by distressing dreams; so that in
sheer despair he sometimes passed almost the entire night
walking about the palace and lon^g for the approach
of day.

Notwithstanding his bodily weakness, he was fond of
certain kinds of athletics, especially fencing and charioteer-
ing. He was constant in practising the former, and fre-
quently drove his chariot in the various circuses. Like Nero,
he was also extremely fond of sin^g and acting, and
by occasionally joining in the sin^ng of the tragedians
and imitating the gestures of the actors during a per-
formance at the theatre, set an example which the "divine
artist'* who followed him carried to an extreme by himself
actually performing on the public stage.^

While it may perhaps be a question whether Caligula or
Nero dishonored humanity the most, it is difficult in the
annals of Roman history — or, for that matter, in the his-
tory of any so-called civilized people — to discover a ruler
who displayed such a savage barbarity of temper as was
manifested by Caligula. Of all forms of wickedness, delib-
erate and cold-blooded cruelty is the most unerring sign

^ He frequently thought of retiring from Rome to ''dear his mind."
* Pod, page 154.

[79]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

of an indwelling devil; and judging from this indication,
if ever there were an instance where temporary reincarna-
tion has been permitted a disembodied evil spirit, the fact
exists in the case of Caius Csesar. It is absolutely impos-
sible to account for his ferocious deeds upon any other
theory than that he had ultimately degenerated into a
raging madman. The cold cruelty of Tiberius, the imbe-
cile murderings of Claudius, and the revengeful wicked-
ness of Nero pale into insignificance when compared
with the malignant ferocity which marked the crimes of
Caligula. Nero imitated, Commodus emulated, but neither
equalled the son of the heroic Germanicus and the proudly
virtuous Agrippina, who occupies a class by himself in the
domain of monstrous cruelty.

In the devices of profuse expenditure, we are told that
Caligula surpassed all the prodigals who ever lived. The
dishes in the preparation of which rare and costly pearls
were dissolved, the decks of vessels blazing with jewels,
the squandering of enormous sums in defying all reason
by attempting, in his architecture, to accomplish the con-
cededly impossible, the broadcast scattering of gold from
the top of the Basilica during successive days — in these
and a thousand ways equally wild and extravagant he
sought to illustrate his favorite remark that a **man ought
to be a good economist — or an emperor." Suetonius de-
clares that in less than a year Caligula dissipated the entire
treasure which had been amassed by Tiberius, amount-
ing to two thousand seven hundred millions of sesterces
(£27»000,000) ; and that after exhausting this immense
sum he replenished his coffers by a course of the most
unheard-of taxation and the most flagrant robbery and
confiscation which the Roman world had ever known.

In the broad display of the Emperor Caligula's evil do-

[80]

ANTONIA MOTHER OF GEUMANICL'S

,^.Jn

^^^"♦'^t^'^'*

i^*^^'''*

^' ^V>

i-^i

V^^

CALIGULA

ing, there yet crops out an occasional vein of absurdity,
which, however, is doubtless more discernible to an amazed
posterity than it was appreciated by the Romans of that
day. Not content with the exalted titles of his imperial
predecessors, he assumed the additional ones of ^^The
Pious,'' " T/ie Dutiful;' and " The Greatest and Best Cos-
sar"; and being finally convinced that he far exceeded all
other reigning sovereigns in grandeur and moral attributes
as well, he seriously assumed divine functions, and stand-
ing between the statues of Castor and Pollux, which flanked
the Forum entrance to the palace, he presented himself
to be worshipped by the people, who gravely saluted him
as Jupiter Latialis! Then followed the erection of a temple
in honor of his divinity, containing a statue of gold, the
exact image of himself, which was daily clothed to corre-
spond with the garments which he wore.

In the days which immediately followed his theft of the
imperial power, this grotesque and horrible masquerader,
in the garb of Tete (TEtat, actually seems to have accom-
plished, or rather permitted the accompUshment of, some
random acts of government; notably i^n attempt to re-
store to the people their ancient right • erf ^participating in
the choice of magistrates, of which they fi^ .fieead^prived
by Tiberius. But after the most' careful and'- imbiassed
study of his four years' reign, the Diie thought in regard
to the history of Caligula which *n^ore than anjr other im-
presses itself upon us will always be, hbw utterly. debased,
disgraced, and degraded the people of Rome must have
been to permit this frantic madman to live and rule over
them for more than a single day.

[81 ]

CHAPTER VII

THE FAMILY OF CALIGULA

THE marriages of Caligula constituted the most fla-
gitious of the imperial* offences against the purity
and virtue, and the decency, even, of the family relation.
Within a period of not more than six years he was mar-
ried five times, and in each case except the first under cir-
cumstances of extreme depravity. "Whether in the mar-
riage of his wives, in repudiating them or retaining them,
he acted with greater infamy," says an ancient writer, "it
is difficult to say.** The effect of such an example upon
Roman society was woful in the extreme. It was not an
extravagant use of language on the part of a late English
historian who remarked that during the reign of Calig-
ula the licentiousness of the palace spread itself rapidly
through his dominions, "contaminating whatever remained
of the chastity of Roman women, or the honor of Romaa
families."

Shortly after taking up his residence with Tiberius at
Capri, Caligula, then about twenty-two years of age, was
married by the Emperor to Junia Claudia, the daughter
of Marcus Silanus. Silanus was a man of illustrious de-
scent, although for some time the family had been under
a cloud on account of Decius Silanus, who had been one
of the corrupters of the misguided Julia, granddaughter of
Augustus, for which offence he had been banished by the
first Emperor. Through the influence of his brother Mar-
cus, who was preeminently distinguished for his eloquence,
Decius had been allowed to return to Rome during the
reign of Tiberius; the Emperor in granting consent, how-

[82]

GERMANICUS

THE FAMILY OF CALIGULA

ever, declaiing that he cherished all the resentment of
Augustus against the offending young patrician, who was
never afterwards allowed to attain honors or preference of
any sort in the State. The incident is worthy of notice as
illustrating the severe workings of the Lex JvJia^ when
once invoked, even among a race the most abandoned in
its attitude * towards the sanctity of the marital relation,
and at the instance of a ruler who was himself the most
brazen offender against the same.

The married life of Caligula and his first wife continued
for nearly three years. Shortly before her husband became
Emperor, Claudia died and thus happily escaped from un-
known, although none the less certain, misery. Her sister,
Junia Silana, who was the unfortunate wife of Caius Silius,
the wretched consort of Messalina, after a life of misery
and disgrace, for which the sins of others were largely re-
sponsible, managed to die a natural death at Tarentum.^

The father of Claudia and Silana,^ a virtuous old man,
was the second victim to the En^gtaoE^^ .Qruelty after his
seizure of the throne, the deatti of Sfliil|v^*ibi{^4ng closely
after that of Tiberius Geme^us.^ He watf^i^a^od with a
treasonable design against ^tbeVi^mperor, based upon his
refusal to accompany the Court pif a-^ilinig excursion ; the
pretence being that he had remait^ al'iiopje to perfect
his conspiracy. The fact was that the old mg.^ had declined
to go merely from fear of sea-sickness and excused himself
on this ground. But his death had been decreed. Julius

' Under the hex Jtdia (so called because Augustus^ the author of it^ had
been adopted by Julius Caesar) the guilty parties^ after the payment of
heavy forfeitures and fines^ were condemned to long or perpetual im-
prisonment in different islands. It was for a long time mistakenly be-
Heved that the Julian laws punished adultery vrith death.
' Pody page 144. ' Ante, page 71.

[88]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

Grsecinas (who was the father of Agricola), a man of in-
flexible integrity, and famous for his eloquence and philo-
sophical learning, — for all of which he was accordingly
hated by Caligula, — was ordered to accuse Silanus. Upon
his refusal he was put to death; while Marcus, without
further ado about forms, was driven to commit suicide
with a razor.

Of course Caligula had never cherished the slightest in-
tention of fulfilling his promise to marry Macro's wife,
Ennia Naevia, when he should become Emperor. In order
that there might remain no lingering doubt in her mind,
and to demonstrate to his subjects a bit theatrically that
a bad promise was better broken than kept, Ennia was
speedily put to death, her husband, the brutal Macro,
Ukewise meeting his just reward at the hands of the Em-
peror he had created. About the same time Caligula got
hold of his cousin Ptolemy, the son of King Juba, who
had married Selene (or Cleopatra), the daughter of Mark
Antony and Cleopatra, and Ptolemy's relationship with
the Emperor was speedily paid for with his life.

The second marriage of Caligula occurred after his suc-
cession, under the following circumstances. He was in at-
tendance at the wedding of his friend Caius Piso with a
beautiful woman named Livia Orestilla. After the cere-
mony and while the wedding feast was in progress, the Em-
peror, more and more impressed with the charms of Livia,
sent a message to her husband commanding him on pain of
death "not to touch the bride of Caesar"; who was there-
upon at once conveyed to the Palatine. On the day follow-
ing the Emperor published a proclamation "that he had
secured a wife as Romulus and Augustus had done" ; refer-
ring in the one case to the rape of the Sabines, and in that
of Augustus to his having taken Livia from Tiberius Nero.

[84]

THE FAMILY OF CALIGULA

Caligula soon tired of his second wife, and after enjoy-
ing her imperial honors only a few days, Livia was dis-
missed A'om the palace. The rwnor soon came to Caligula
that she had rejoined her rightful husband ; whereupon in
a fit of mercy the Emperor banished them from Rome.

If the circumstances of his second marriage are thought
to be shameful, the next matrimonial venture of this
abomination in the imperial robes must be characterized
as revolting. Shortly after his divorce of Livia, the Em-
peror annulled the marriage of his own sister Drusilla
with Lucius Cassius,^ and himself deliberately married
her; conferring upon her all the titles and honors ac^
corded to the office of Empress. With all its vices and
all its crimes, Rome had never seen a spectacle like this;
and in this horrible deed of the Emperor Caligula is
found the crowning abomination in the mighty structure
of wickedness reared by the house of Ccesar as an ever-
lasting monument to its disgrace. The elder Livia had
murdered her stepchildren; Tiberius had murdered his
nephew and adopted son; the younger Livia had mur-
dered her husband; while the younger Drusus had con-
nived at the murder of his own brother. All these crimes
agunst the sanctity of human life were the more terrible
because perpetrated within the lines of the domestic cir-
cle. But the crowning infamy of Caligula was a crime
committed against the sacredness of domestic purity,
without the inviolate preservation of which civilization
would crumble into dust, evolution would become invo-
lution^ humanity would degenerate into beasthood. And
within the memory or tradition even of Rome, that city
where the criminal passions of the universe had exhausted

^ This marriage had been arranged by Tiberius. Cassius was of a Roman
plebeian tBusaly, but ancient and honorable. His history is untraced.

[85]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

themselves in the furious vortex of unbridled public indul-
gencesy none but the immortal gods — and the Egyptians
— were said to have done a thing like this.

But little recked Caligula for the opinion of Rome, or
for that matter of the inmiortal gods either. Was he not
Caesar, and was not Caesar '^Divine"? He would make his
sister Drusilla a goddess ; the whole world should acknowl-
edge her divinity also. This he actually pretended to ac-
complish ; following which he declared that by will he had
appointed her heiress both of his estate and the Empire.

Caligula had a friend Lepidus, who had become the as-
sociate of his most abandoned and nameless vices. Lepi-
dus was a son of Julia, the granddaughter of Augustus,
and a brother of iEmilia Lepida, who was first betrothed
to the Emperor Claudius and afterwards, by her marriage
with Appius Junius, brought the Caesarean curse upon
the unhappy family of Silanus.^ He was thus cousin ger-
man to the Emperor and the Empress Drusilla, whose
mother, Agrippina, and Julia were sisters. Besides receiv-
ing extravagant favors from Caligula, Lepidus was actu-
ally encouraged to expect the succession. It was none the
less an unbounded surprise to Rome and to Lepidus as
well, when the Emperor bestowed upon the latter his
deified Empress-sister Drusilla in marriage. Men said
that Caligula was mad. As for Drusilla, history is silent
in regard to her attitude towards this series of matri-
monial ventures, without parallel in the history of any
other civilized nation. The writers all agree, however,
that she survived this last marriage only a short time
and that under the infliction of her death the Emperor
was inconsolable. Public mourning was ordered for her^
during the continuance of which it was a capital offence

1 Post, page 1 59.

[86]

AGBIPPINA WIFE OF GERIIANICUS

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

truthfully allege a precedent in the marriage of the first
Emperor with the wife of Tiberius Nero.

LoUia maintained her imperial honors scarcely longer
than the wife of Piso had, and her speedy dismissal by her
august spouse was accompanied by an order neither to
return to Regulus nor to remarry upon pain of death.
The unhappy woman met the usual fate attending impe-
rial alliances, in the succeeding reign.^ Her husband, the
consul, must have led a charmed life, having been a promi-
nent figure in the reigns of four successive emperors, all
of whom were given to shedding the blood of men high in
authority. As consul, Regulus had executed the orders
of the Emperor Tiberius for the arrest of the powerful
Sejanus, who was at the time exercising all the powers
of sovereignty and in command of all its defences. Joined
with the exceptional courage which such an act evidenced,
his commanding talents and fine tact enabled him to
mdntain his position throughout the sovereignty of both
Caligula and Claudius (finally escaping death under Ca-
ligula, however, only by the sudden death of the Emperor
himself) and well along into the reign of Nero, when he
came to a peaceful end. Nero paid a remarkable tribute
to his talents, honor, and probity. When the Augustians
around his bed during a severe illness were indulging in
the usual flatteries by lamenting that the Republic (?)
would be undone if he died, Caesar answered that ''there
was still one resource.'' Pressed for an explanation he
said, ''Memmius Regulus." But the death of Regulus
was timely; a little later he too would undoubtedly have
succumbed, as did the unspotted Thrasea, to the mad-
dened Emperor's determination to destroy virtue itself.

History mentions no children bom to Caligula until

1 Poit, page 120.

[90]

AGRIPPINA WIFE OF GERMANICUS

THE FAMILY OF CALIGULA

his last marriage, which followed closely his divorce of
LoUia Paulina, whose beauty and attractions had not
equalled his expectations. As a compensation for this
disappointment, to the surprise of his friends, or rather
his slaves, — for by this time he had not a friend in the
world, unless it was his horse, — the Emperor next mar-
ried Milonia Caesonia, a woman who possessed neither
youth nor beauty, who was of the most disreputable
character, and who was already the mother of three
children, by a husband still living. For this abandoned
creature Caligula now displayed the most unbounded af-
fection, his extravagant treatment of Incitatus even suf-
fering m comparison. Csesonia is reported to have excelled
all women of her time in an exquisite perception of sen-
suality, which largely accounts for her remarkable influ-
ence over the imperial madman, who once declared "that
he was of a mind to put her to >(»• tbrbure ,to make her
disclose her art" But as well io' pUfi^^yfjfifi td his con-
temporaries, his innate dep^vity of mind, ' ifii^reased by
all the defects of education ian4» the license o^ unlimited
power, were together insufi^ieht'tX^ftOQ^)!^ for the mon-
strous enormities which the ElmpW€w.4ispIayed from this
time on. The Court unhesitatingly accounted for them by
declaring that Ccesonia had given him a philter, or so-
called love potion, which had both enfeebled his con-
stitution and, by occasioning a violent nervous disorder,
induced a permanent affection of the brain. The ancient
writers all testify to the frequent use of such philters,
which were believed to operate upon the mind by a mys-
terious and sympathetic power; and it is perhaps only
common charity to account in this way for some of the
moral turpitude and frantic wickedness which Caligula
displayed.

[91 ]

THE FAMILY OF CALIGULA

le^ons.^ Incensed by the suffering of Quintilia, whose
fortitude and constancy alone preserved him and his as-
sociates in the plot from death, Chcerea declared that he
would postpone the deed no longer; for if further de-
layed some one else would kill Caligula, and he would
thus lose the privilege of ridding the world of such a
monster.

It was resolved to despatch him during the Palatine (or
Circensian) games, which were about commencing. For
three days Chaerea watched for an opportunity. But
warned by his previous suspicions and as well by various
omens and portents of his approaching end, the Emperor
was so constantly surrounded by the guards that it was
impossible to approach him. On the fourth day of the
games, however, the occasion presented itself. The Em-
peror, who was slightly indisposed while at the theatre,
was prevailed upon by the conspirators to try the bath ;
and while passing through a low vaulted passage, in com-
pany with his uncle Clau^ips, Marcus Vinicius, his sisters
husband, and a few/otjiifirs, Cba^ea struck him down, and
he was despatched by the others as he lay screaming, "I
am not dead." Hjs death occurred an the twenty-fourth of
January, 41 a. d.,' after he Bad lived *wenty-nine years and
reigned three years, ten months, and eight days. His body
was carried privately into the Lamian Gardens, where after
being half burned, it was carelessly covered with earth. It
was disinterred by his sisters Julia and Agrippina, after
their recall from banishment by the Emperor Claudius,
and reduced to ashes.

After the death of Caligula, Chaerea, according to Jo-
sephus, "was very uneasy that Caius s daughter and wife
were still alive, and that all his family did not perish with

^Annals, L ^9.

[98]

THE HOUSE OF CESAR
hluu iiince whosoever was left of them must be left for the
r\»iu of the city and of the laws." After discusMon by the
CikitNpirators it was finally decided, although not unani-
utotutly, that Caligula's wife must die, and Julius Lupus,
one of the tribunes, was sent to despatch her. Ciesonia
wHii found lying by her husband's dead body, and met her
fUte bravely, stretching out her neck and bidding Lupus
Htrike without fear. The young Drusilla was dashed agunst
a wall, and the race of the "divine" Caius Cssar was at
*n end.

[94]

CHAPTER VIII

CLAUDIUS CiESAR, THE FOURTH EMPEROR

From 41 A. D. to 54 A. D.

THE accession to the throne of Claudius Caesar, the
fourth Roman Emperor, was signalized by the last
memorable effort of the Senate to reassume its ancient
rights, of which it had been finally deprived nearly three-
quarters of a century before.

Caligula had left neither descendant, son by adoption,
nor even heir created by will. His immediate &mily had
been completely annihilated — with the exception of Inci-
tatus, who had been proposed by his master for no higher
office than that of consul, and was therefore, of course,
ineligible to the purple. Of his brothers and sisters all
were dead except two of the latter, who had been ban-
ished for their crimes. The only surviving male descen-
dant of Germanicus was Agrippina*s son Nero, then only
two years of age. Rubellius Flautus, a great-grandson of
the Emperor Tiberius, was also a child of tender years,
and no one had suggested the claims of the surviving
male descendants of the Emperor Augustus in the fourth
generation — the sons of ^Emilia Lepida and Appius Ju-
nius Silanus. To be sure, there was Claudius — brother of
Germanicus and uncle of the late Emperor. But Claudius
had always been and still was a mere laughing-stock at
the palace. He was considered by the Court as half-
witted, and tradition has it that his own mother, the
beautiful and sensible Antonia, used to say in speaking
of any exceptionally stupid person, *'He is nearly as great
a fool as my Claudius." The mere fact that his having

[95]

THE HOUSE OF CESAR

been passed over by his uncle, the Emperor Tiberius,
when the latter selected Caligula for adoption, excited no
comment whatever, is an indication that he occupied a
small place in the attention of the Roman world. Present
at the murder of his nephew, he fled and concealed him-
self immediately thereafter; and, under the prevailing ex-
citement, to the patricians, at least, as to such as Claudius
it was out of sight, out of mind.

So that the time seemed opportune and everything pro-
pitious for a last strike for liberty; and the Senate, arous-
ing itself from its seven decades of slavish imbecility, pre-
pared once more to assume the direction of affairs. The
consuls immediately convoked an assembly in the Capitol,
resolutions were adopted condemning the memory of the
Caesars, "Liberty" was selected as the new watchword,
which was to be ^ven to the cohorts, and during forty-
eight hours the Senate, for almost the last time in its
history, dared to act as "the independent chiefs of a free
commonwealth. "

"But while they deliberated," says Gibbon, "the prae-
torians had resolved. The stupid Claudius was already in
their camp, invested with the imperial purple and prepared
to support his election by arms. The dream of liberty was
at an end ; and the Senate awoke to all the horrors of in-
evitable servitude."

After the "virtuous slaughter" of Caligula, as Josephus
happily terms it, all of his attendants fled in the greatest
dismay. Among them was Claudius, who, beside himself
with fright, ran into the palace adjoining the theatre
where the assassination occurred, and concealed himself in
an alcove behind some curtains. The news of the Em-
peror's death spread like wildfire, and the German guards,
who were especially devoted to Caligula because of the

[96]

NERO SON OF GERMANICUS

THE ^Ev: Vo*K

1 x^^ott. ■Li.'*^*- It^^s]

CLAUDIUS CiESAR

immense sums he had distributed among them, rushed
with drawn swords into the theatre and thence overran
the palace. Claudius was ignominiously pulled from his
hiding-place, beg^ng piteously for his life. But his char-
acter was too well known for him to be an object of
suspicion in connection with the crime, and the guards
foreseeing a possible struggle with the Senate, and appre-
ciating the advantage of having on their side the last
prince of the blood, disregarding his protestations, hur-
ried him out of the palace and into the large open court,
where they speedily assembled their companions by set-
ting up a great shout: **This is a Germanicus;^ let us
make him our Emperor." And the trembling, half-witted
old man, who was so weak from 6ight that the guards
had been compelled to carry him out of doors, discovered
to his great amazement that it was not his life, but to se-
cure for him the thi^i^ of ^ufr ance3tprs, which the soldiers
were seeking. He tlief^Q^nd^ ll^llingly accompanied the
guards to their can^p, where, assi&ed ,that he should have
the united support of the Celtic legi4n and the praetorian

cohorts, he quietly ii^34t{$'i'-1^^^^^^^s^^^ outcome which
the leaders promised,. Jutting agreed f hat when he became
Emperor every legionary should Kave a sum of money
equivalent to seven hundred and fifty dollars.

The populace of Rome were with the soldiers ; indeed
even among the senators themselves the sentiment was
largely the same way. The conspirators had been animated
by the motive of self-preservation, not by a principle of
liberty. It was the person of the tyrant, not the imperial
idea, against which the sword of Chaerea had been raised.
Nevertheless, from the fact that the debate in the as-
sembly was prolonged during two entire days, it is appar-

* See Note 2, page 107.

[97]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

ent that there was still a considerable party in favor of
reestablishing the ancient form of government. But it
was too late. The cruelty, licentiousness, and tyranny of
the last two reigns, to which the people had slavishly sub-
mitted, had brought the inevitable result. Roman virtue
was dead. The authority and influence which the Senate
had formerly enjoyed were gone forever. The imperial idea,
backed up by the sword of the legionary, had taken its
place. Without the aid of the common people, it was ab-
solutely impossible for a discredited assembly of the patri-
cians, totally unprovided with resources, to reestablish its
independence and successfully proclaim public freedom.
And when the clamor of the multitude was added to the
open menaces which the praetorians began to utter, the
debate weakened. Chsrea and his companions were over-
borne, and upon the shoulders of the guard Claudius was
at length carried triumphantly to the Capitol, where an
obsequious Senate hailed him as Emperor, and Roman
liberty had uttered its last sigh. This transaction, says one
of the commentators of Suetonius, "laid the foundation of
that military despotism which through many succeeding
ages convulsed the Roman Empire *"; and which, might
as truthfully have been added, contributed largely to its
final disintegration.

Tiberius Claudius Drusus was bom at Lyons on the
first day of August, 10 b. c, so that he was in his fifty-
first year when he became Emperor. He was the second
of the three children of Drusus, the younger brother of
the Emperor Tiberius, and Antonia, the younger daughter
of Mark Antony and the Emperor Augustus's sister Oc-
tavia. Germanicus was his elder brother and Livia, the
wife of the Emperor Tiberius's son Drusus, was his sister.
After the adoption of his elder brother into the Julian

[98]

CLAUDIUS CiESAR

family »^ he assumed the cognomen of 6ermanicus» which
by a decree of the Senate in the lifetime of his father
Drusus had been bestowed upon him and his posterity.
His ancestry has been considered in a former chapter.^

Claudius — for thus he has been invariably called — was
an infant at the time of his father's death ; and as in early
youth he was apparently both of a weak constitution and
deficient in intellect, in the glory of his elder brother's
promise and popularity he was pushed to one side, and
thereafter treated by the entire Court — including, as we
are told, even his own mother — with a contempt which
would have amounted to scorn if it had not been so care-
less. It is undoubtedly to this fact alone that Claudius so
long escaped the fate which overwhelmed every other
member of his immediate family and so many of his kin-
dred as well. Nobody thought of killing him for the
simple reason that nobody thought of him at all, and but
for his unexpected exposure to the imperial disease he
would doubtless have come to a peaceful end, and thus
attained a unique place in history as the only male Caesar
following Augustus who escaped a violent death.

For a long time his education was neglected entirely,
and but for the Emperor Augustus he might never have
received any other teaching than that of the mule driver
who had been selected for his tutor "on purpose to cor-
rect him severely on every trifling occasion." His pene-
trating grandfather discerned in the unhappy boy some-
thing more than the fool and even idiot which his family
considered him; although in the end Augustus himself
apparently came to the conclusion that (to use his own
expression in a letter to the Empress Livia) Claudius was
"below par and deficient in body and mind"; for he in-

^ AnU, page 43. ' Chapter v. page 57.

[99]

j743o

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

vested him with no other honor than the augural priest-
hood. The Emperor Tiherius plainly cherished the same
opinion; for he refused his nephew's request for prefer-
ment in the State, permitting him to have merely the
honorary appendages of the consulship. In the end, how-
ever, Claudius to a considerable extent outgrew his com-
plaints, and actually seems to have attained distinction as
a scholar and writer. But his spirits never fully recovered
from the effects of both disease and punishment, while to
the extreme timidity incident to his sickly constitution
were afterwards added those vices which were the natural
consequence of the indolence to which he resigned himself
when convinced that he was destined to no advancement
Tiberius made some tardy show of justice towards
Claudius by leaving him a legacy of two milUons of ses-
terces, and also in his will expressly recommending " the
brother of Grcrmanicus to the armies, the Senate, and peo-
ple of Rome.** The people now began to treat him more
kindly, so that finally Caligula at the outset of his reign
desiring to win popularity and support in the easiest pos-
sible way, made his uncle consul ; although, as it proved,
by accepting the oUve branch at so late a day from a
member of his family, Claudius was only opening the
door to additional insults, considerable personal danger,
and the loss of almost his entire estate, of which he was
shortly robbed by the Emperor. Once again he became the
butt and laughing-stock of the imperial parasites, and was
speedily lapsing into his old condition of degradation and
almost imbecility, when by a surprising turn of circum-
stances, he who by the first Emperor was thought to be
unworthy of any public trust, himself attained the purple
and assumed the cognomen of Caesar. And while for some
time after his succession, owing, perhaps, to the novelty of

[ 100]

DRUSCS SON OF GERMANICU8

THE Mf YO«K
i>«.IBI.U:iliRARY

A.^iUh. ut.NuX AND
TfLDKN FOUNDATIONS

CLAUDIUS CiESAR

his position, joined to the good fortune of having wise
counsellors, he displayed such prudence and sagacity as to
amaze all who had known him, it has been remarked as
nevertheless difficult to assign any other motive for the
choice of Claudius as Emperor than that which the army
professed — "His relationship to the whole family of Cae-
sars/' The commencement of his reign of course demanded
a libation of blood. And while Lupus, the slayer of Cae-
sonia, is entitied to no tears, it is sad to read that the brave
Chaerea was punished for his righteous crime. But such
sacrifices were in those days considered only the ordinary
and indispensable precautions for the new Emperor's own
safety; and Claudius destroyed their harshness with the
vast majority of his subjects by inunediately thereafter
passing an act of perpetual oblivion and pardon for every-
thing which had been said and done. Even Valerius Asiati-
cus, who, when asked after XlaligulSLwas stricken down who
it was had done it^ ^j^'^ebli^i'Mii^uld to God I had
been the manl" — ejren'Ke wfifenlftbSl^ted. And posterity
must affirm that *^|he half-witted Cliudius" commenced
his reign more Uke^iaf fa€L]iiasii.ib«i9g, fvith an accountable
soul, than any other Emperor of ftis^T^use.

The Emperor Claudius was lall'Md not ill formed; but
from his rickety constitution his knees were weak, and
his gait was consequently awkward and shambling. Al-
though there may be a question whether his mental infirm-
ity proceeded from inheritance or a severe illness which
occurred in his childhood, from the developments of his
history it seems highly probable that but for the con-
temptuous and abusive treatment received in early life
he might have largely outgrown his weaknesses, which,
yielding readily to the evil persuasions of Messalina, ulti-
mately led him into dissolute and sanguinary courses, end-

[ 101 ]

CHAPTER IX

THE FAMILY OF CLAUDIUS

AT the time of his accession the Emperor Claudius had
jLjL been married five times and four children had been
bom to him ; while a fifth child, the ill-fated Britannicus,
was bom twenty days after his father ascended the throne
(February 18, 41 a. d.) and came to his death at the hands
of his cousin, the Emperor's successor, some fifteen years
later.

Claudius first married — or perhaps only became be-
trothed to — iEmilia Lepida, the only daughter of his
cousin JuUa,^ the granddaughter of Augustus, and Lucius
iBmilius Paulus, grandnephew of the triumvir Lepidus.
At the time of his betrothal to j^milia, Claudius was en-
tirely dependent upon his uncle for the most ordinary
consideration; 2 and when shortly afterwards Augustus be-
came incensed by the conduct of Julia (or possibly that
of Paulus, who had engaged in a conspiracy against the
Emperor), the betrothal or marriage, whichever it was,
with iEmilia was abruptly broken off. Not long after this
disappointment he married Livia MeduUina, a beautiful
young lady of high extraction, but only to have the cup
dashed from his lips a second time, as Livia expired sud-
denly on her wedding day.

His next venture, although more successful at the out-
set, in the end brought him more bitterness than either
of the others, Plautia Urgulanilla, who became his third
wife, was the daughter of a brave soldier, who had at-

^ Julia was the daughter of Augustus's daughter Julia and Agrippa. Ante,
page 39. ' Ante, page 99-

[ 104 ]

L-k-

!.••"

NSi

iT\uOV

THE FAMILY OF CLAUDIUS

tained the honor of a triumph; and to the unbounded
delight of Claudius she bore him a son, who was called
Drusus. But the happiness of Claudius was short-lived.
Drusus, while still very young, was playing one day at
Pompeii, and, it is said, while tossing something into the
air, caught it in his mouth and was choked to death. Only
a few days before he had been betrothed by Tiberius to
one of Sejanus's daughters;^ which seems a just occasion
of surprise to one of the ancient writers that this Drusus
also should have been considered by certain other authors
as one of the victims of Sejanus. However this may be, for
any scion of the house of Caesar, to lose his life was the
only way of saving it, and the death of Drusus at a tender
age ought not to have been deplored. Not long afterwards
his mother, Plautia, was suspected by her lord of unfaith-
fulness and of having been concerned in a murder (which
latter was of course entirely too shocking for the delicate
sensibility of a Caesar), and she ^^nu^ tjuereuppn/' repudiated
with infamy'* — whatever may^]fe#|iji^p!|i^d'in/the phrase.
Plautia had another child, n daughter named Claudia. She
was five months old when Jjej mother was /driven from
the palace, and Claudius, (fislel&iiisagjl^i^^tehuty, ordered
that she be cast naked at Ker'Tn^thex.'sjdoor.i

One might think that by this time Claudius would have
been somewhat sobered by his matrimonial experiences;
but encouraging himself perhaps with the assertion of
Socrates that whether a man married or not he was bound
to regret it, he speedily selected a fourth wife in the per-
son of -^lia Pa^na, a daughter of the Tuberonian family
and whose father was a man of consular rank. Pastina re-
mained his wife long enough to bear him a daughter, who
was called Antonia, after the mother of Claudius, and

^Ante, page 66.

[105]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

whose end was quite as wretched as might be expected,
in view of the events which ensued. After being twice
married, and witnessing the murder of both husbands, one
at the hands of her father^ and the other a victim to
Nero's cruelty ,2 she herself succumbed to the rage of the
latter, upon her refusal to marry him, after the death of
Poppsea.^

Paetina having been divorced upon grounds so slight
that in explaining her repudiation the ancient writers
speak only of the Emperor's "disgust" for his wife, Clau-
dius now took a step which ultimately stained his hands
with blood and his character with infamy, bringing to him
finally shame beyond measure, and to the Roman people
such oppression and injustice as made them speedily for-
get the mildness and almost excellence — comparatively
speaking — which characterized the earlier part of his
reign.

Antonia, the mother of Claudius, had an elder sister of
the same name,^ who had married Lucius Domitius Ahe-
nobarbus and become the mother of three children. One of
them, a son, married Agrippina, the niece of Claudius and
sister of Caligula, who with her sister Julia, upon the ac-
cession of Claudius, was recalled by him from the exile
imposed upon them by their brother,, the former Em-
peror.*^ The only child of this marriage was Nero, after-
wards Emperor; and it would not be strange if nature had
exhausted itself in the production of such a monster as
this child afterwards showed himself.

The other two children of L. Domitius and the elder
Antonia were daughters, each bearing the name of Do-
mitia Lepida. It has been a common mistake with modem

1 Post, page 113. * Pogt, page 148. • Post, page 154. * See page 108.
* Ante, page 88.

THE FAMILY OF CLAUDIUS

historians and others who have written about this period
of Roman history to consider that Nero's father had only
one sister.^ The frequent carelessness and occasional ob-
scurity of the ancient writers are to some extent respon-
sible for the mistakes and confusion which have existed in
regard to the two Lepidas. But the mam difficulty, as well
in tracing descent through the female line as in occasion-
ally distinguishing between sisters, lies in the fact that
the Ex>man women bore no distinctive praBnomen;^ which,
by the way, is terribly significant of another fact, perhaps
not fully proven, although highly probable, — that the
horrible practice of exposure and infanticide, enjoined by
the wise Solon and approved by the gentle Plutarch, had
previously been, if it was not stiU, prevalent among the

^ In Darknen and Dawn Canon Farrar speaks of ''Domitia Lepida, the
mother of the Empress Messalina, and the former wife of Ciispus Pasd-
enus" ; whereas the mother of Messalina and the wife of Passienus, the
orator, were distinct persons. See next page.

' To mark the different gentet and famiUas, and to distinguish the indi-
viduals of the same £unilj^ the Romans had commonly three names, the
pnEnomen, the nomen, and the cognomen.

The prasnomen was put first and marked the individual, and was usually
written with one letter: A. for Aldus; C. for Cauu; M. for Marcui.
The nomen followed the prsenomen and indicated the gens. It usually
ended in ius; as Julius, Cornelius, Domitius (changing to Julia, Cornelia,
and DonuUa in case of females).

The cognomen came last and marked the Jitmilia; as Cassar, Nero, Scipio.
Some gentes, however, appear to have had no cognomen, or surname; for
example, Caius Marius, Marcus Agrippa,

Occasionally there was a fourth name, called the agnomen (but some-
times also spoken of as cognomen)^ which was added to conmiemorate
an illustrious action or remarkable event Thus on account of his memo-
rable victories in Germany, Germanicus was added to the nomen of the
brother of Tiberius, so that he was finally called Drusus Germanicus; in
the same way, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africamus, from his exploit at
Carthage.

[ 107]

THE HOUSE OF CJBSAR

Romans.^ But whatever the reason therefor, the fact ex-
isted that an individual name was not usually bestowed
upon the female child, who was distinguished merely by
an adaptation to her sex of the nomen of her father or
mother, or of that which marked the gens of some other
ancestor, or collateral relative. Thus the frequency of the
name Julia in the family of Caesar, which belonged to the
Gens Julius; the name of Agrippina^ in the posterity of
Agrippa; the two Octaxms, sisters of the Emperor Au-
gustus (Octavius);^ Mark Antony's two daughters, the
elder and younger Antonia, who were the first Emperor's
nieces,^ and the sisters whose names introduced this di-
gression, the two Lepidas, who were grandnieces of Au-
gustus.

The eldest of these daughters of Antonia and L. Domi-
tius was usually called by the second name, Lepida, and
hereafter will be referred to under this name only. The
younger daughter, who married Crispus Passienus, is inva-
riably mentioned by her full name, Domitia Lepida, and
may thus readily be distinguished frt)m her more brilliant
and notorious sister.

Lepida married M. Valerius Messala Barbatus, and be-
came the mother • of Messalina, who lived to become one

^ Positive as well as indirect testimon j on this point is found in Dion

Cassius^ Tertullian, and Tacitus. The destruction of Claudia, the infimt

daughter of Claudius and Plautia, seems to have been practically a case

of exposure. Ante, page 105.

' Even Plutarch &lls into an error in connection with the two Octavias.

He says Mark Antony married Octavia Major, who was only half-sister

to Augustus, and not of the blood of Ceesar; whereas it was the younger

Octavia^ daughter of Atia and own sister to Augustus, whose marriage

with the triumvir sealed the confederacy. Afiie, page 21.

' Tacitus says that the younger Antonia was the grandmother of Nero;

whereas all the other writers agree that it was Antonia Major.

[ 108]

CALIGULA

THE HOUSE OF CESAR

time she did not take the trouble to go to Claudius, but
herself poisoned Vinicius.

Claudius had betrothed his daughter Octavia to Lucius
Silanus, the second son of his first wife, Mmi\i& Lepida
(the great-granddaughter of Augustus), by Appius Junius
Silanus, whom she had married after Claudius divorced
hen In order to further strengthen her position the Em-
press, whose father had died, induced her husband to re-
call Appius Junius (whose wife ^Emilia also was dead),
who was Governor of Spain at the time, and compel him
to marry her mother Lepida.^ But it was not long be-
fore Silanus likewise incurred her displeasure and she re-
solved to get rid of him. With the aid of her secretary, it
was readily accomplished. Before daybreak one morning
Narcissus burst into the Emperor's bedchamber, and with
a great assumption of fright, told Claudius that he had
dreamed that Appius Silanus had murdered him. Upon
this, Messalina, affecting great surprise, declared that she
too had dreamed that her husband had been slain by Ap-
pius. At this juncture word came that Appius had come
to see the Emperor — orders having been given him at
the instance of the conspirators to be at the palace at that
time. The truth of the dream was thus confirmed and Ap-
pius was at once put to death, Claudius on the follow-
ing day acknowledging to the Senate his great obligation
to Narcissus and the Empress for watching over him even
while he slept.

Appius left five children by iEmilia Lepida. Of these
great-great-grandchildren of Augustus, one son was poi-
soned and another driven to suicide by Agrippina, the
sixth wife of Claudius;* one daughter was exiled by

^ Silanus thus had the distinctioii of twice marrying into the Julian fiunilj.
' Posi, pages 137 and 138.

[112]

THE FAMILY OF CLAUDIUS

Claudius,^ and the remaining son and daughter were re*
spectively driven to suicide and exiled by the Emperor
Nero.2 The younger Silanus, only grandson of Appius Ju-
nius and the last surviving male descendant of the divine
Augustus, was also put to death by Nero,^

The Emperor had given in marriage^ his daughter An-
tonia, the child of his fourth wife, Peetina, to Cneius
Pompey, a descendant of the triumvir. Besides permit-
ting his son-in-law to reassume the cognomen of Magnus,
or Great, which had been taken from him by Caligula,
Pompey had been loaded with honors by the Emperor,
who treated him — and as well Cornelius Sylla, who be-
came Antonia's second husband — as Augustus did the
young princes ; among other things allowing them to stand
for high offices five years before the age prescribed by law.
But all this favor and magnificence did not save Pompey.
Guilty of the crime of d^spleR^iiig .Messalina, without any
form of proceeding to Establish %n actual .offence, he was
stabbed in bed by the'grders of Cldudi^s. ^Crassus Frugi,
his father, and ScriboriiaV nls Tipother, perished with him.
Their nobility is said tb^iave^li^n tlveiir crime. Crassus
was certainly not feared for'hi^. gemu£. As Cr^vier says,
"He resembled Claudius perfedtlj^. Jn his stupidity and
was in that respect as worthy to succeed him as he was
incapable of coveting his post."

Antonia left no children either by Pompey or Sylla.
Both she and her second husband were murdered by
Nero.*

The mutilated text of the eleventh book of the "An-
nals," which begins abruptly in the seventh year of the
reign of Claudius (the history of the six preceding years

» Fody page II9. * FoUy page 138. » Fost, page 158.

^ Posty pages 148 and 154.

[118]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

being lost), informs us that Messalina was bent upon the
ruin of Valerius Asiaticus, and that '*as she coveted his fine
gardens, commenced by Lucullus, but carried out on an
extended scale and adorned in a style of unexampled mag-
nificence by himself, she suborned Suilius to accuse him/'

Valerius was the brave consul who pubhcly proclaimed
r^ret that he had not had the honor of slaying Caligula.
He was now dragged in chains to Rome, denied a hearing
before the Senate, and tried privately in the presence of
Messalina. He defended himself so eloquently that the
Emperor was greatly moved and even Messalina is said to
have shed tears. Asiaticus was finally granted the favor of
choosing the mode of his death. After declaring that it
would have been less ignominious to die by the dark arti-
fices of Tiberius or the fury of Caligula than thus to fall
by the base devices of a woman, he opened his veins, the
usual method of an enforced suicide among the elegant,
agreeable, and civilized Roman citizens. The coveted gar-
dens belonged to the Empress at last; and it was there
that Nemesis overtook her.

Common decency forbids our coming within sight or
sound of the personal life of Messalina, whose murders
were merely the occasional staccato notes in a continued
theme of vice, which was now approaching the last tragic
flourish. Soon after the death of Asiaticus she formed a
passionate attachment for Caius Silius, then consul-elect,
who is said to have been the handsomest man in Rome.
Silius was married to Junia Silana, the sister of Caligula's
first wife and daughter of the murdered Silanus.^ Messa-
lina compelled Silius to divorce the unhappy Junia, and
after loading the former with presents and honors and
otherwise deporting herself so as to scandalize even her

^ Anie, page 83.

[114]

THE FAMILY OF CLAUDIUS

most scandalous associates, she finally broke down the last
barriers, and during the absence of Claudius at Ostia,
where he was assisting at a sacrifice, the unaccountable
Empress publicly celebrated her nuptials with Silius, with
all the usual solemnities. **I am aware," says Tacitus with
great ingenuousness, ''that it will appear fabulous that
any human beings should have exhibited such recklessness
of consequences. But I would not dress up my narrative
with fictions to give it an air of marvel rather than relate
what has been stated to me, or written by my seniors."^

In the midst of the orgies which attended 'the nwriage
ceremonies, a sort of court buffoon who had cUmbed a
tree, upon being asked what he saw, replied, "a terrible
storm coming up from Ostia." The guilty parties had
scarcely recovered from the shock occasioned by this pro-
phetic remark when couriers arrived to say that the Em-
peror was actually coming. For the first time Messalina
seemed to realize the enormity of her offence. In the gen-
eral panic which ant^ibd the wretched woman fled to her
beautiful gardens of Lucullus, where the murder of their
last owner was now to be expiated, and there, abandoned
by every one exc^ptVhcflr* mother,, she lay grovelling on the
earth, awaiting tk& expected message from her wrathful
husband. Curious to relate, the Emperor seemed inclined
to overcome his resentment, and instead of ordering Mes-
salina's immediate execution, directed that on the next
day she should attend and plead her cause. Whereupon
Narcissus, fearing that the whole thing might recoil upon
himself, rushed out and directed the tribune on duty to
** despatch the execution by the Emperor's command."

It is said that Lepida had not lived in harmony with
Messalina during the latter s prosperity, but now, over-

[ 115 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

enormous fortune which thus came into her possession,
reinforced by her striking beauty, her great ability, un-
bending will, and utter unscrupulousness in the employ-
ment of means to accomplish ends the most trivial, she
easily became one of the most power&l, most dreaded,
and most terrible characters in Rome. Posterity may fairly
accord to her a position at the very apex of wickedness,
for in cruelty and deliberate evil-doing, if not in aban-
doned profligacy, she certainly surpassed MessaUna, whose
name has become proverbial for similar vices. It would be
impossible to overestunate the curse which this woman
must have brought upon Roman society but for the fact
that its degeneration was already so extreme. And yet
her ending was so tragic — the crime of her death was
so terrible, so monstrous — that pity tempers judgment
even in her case, and in thinking of her we are fain again
to repeat the wonderful and divinely beautiM words of
Him who had preached even while she was in the full
flush of her wicked life: "He that is without sin among
you let him first cast a stone.*'

Aided by the arts and blandishments of Agrippina,
the arguments of the Emperor s treasurer won the day,
the weak resistance urged by the poor old dotard on the
ground of near relationship being readily overcome by pro-
curing from the Senate a decree legalizing marriages of
this character.^ Within twenty-four hours thereafter the
marriage was consummated and the last dark chapter in
the Emperor's life commenced.

By her first husband Agrippina had a son named Domi-
tius, who was a youth of about thirteen at the time of his

* Until quite recently the statute law of the State of New York permitted
— or at least did not prohibit — marriages between nephews and auntSi
uncles and nieces.

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THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

come with compassion for the extreme necessity of her
daughter, the mother "persuaded her not to await the
execution; the course of her life was run, and her only
object now should be to die becomingly.'* In the midst of
her mother's entreaties, her own tears and lamentations,
and the upbraidings of a slave for her cowardice, the cen-
turions arrived. She at last sunmioned courage to inflict
upon herself a few feeble strokes of the dagger, when the
sword of the tribune pierced her heart. In the entire range
of ancient literature there can be found no more graphic
description of the degraded condition of society under the
Cassars than in the concluding words of the most pictu-
resque writer of ancient history in relating the death of
Messalina: '* Tidings were then carried to Claudius that
'Messalina was no more,' without distinguishing whether
by her own or another's hand ; neither did he inquire, but
called for a cup of wine, and proceeded in the usual cere-
monies of the feast; nor did he indeed during the follow-
ing days manifest any symptom of disgust or joy, of re-
sentment or sorrow, nor in short of any human affection;
not when he beheld the accusers of his wife exulting at
her death ; not when he looked upon her mourning chil-
dren. The Senate aided in effacing her from his memory
by decreeing *that from all public and private places her
name should be rased and her images removed.'" ^

In his first sober moments following the death of Mes-
salina, when the full sense of his ignominy and shame
swept over him, the Emperor summoned his praetorians
and declared that having been so unhappy in his union,
he was resolved never to marry again; **and if I should,"
he concluded, "I give you leave to stab me." And then,
with his usual vacillation and acting still from the pur-

^ AfmaU, xL 38.

[116]

THE FAMILY OF CLAUDIUS

posdess motive which prompted him to yield to the latest
emotion as the invariable rule of conduct, he immediately
turned his attention to securing another wife. The fact
precipitated an ardent contest between the ladies of the
Court, each of whom was ambitious for the exalted posi-
tion, although none could have been unaware that a vio-
lent death was the almost inevitable consequence of an
alliance with the imperial family. Unable himself to decide
between the rival claimants, the Emperor requested his
ministers to deliberate upon the matter and advise him.
Each of the favorites was naturally eager to advance his
own interests by recommending the successful lady, who
would thereupon become more or less indebted to him for
her elevation. Narcissus proposed that Claudius should es-
pouse his former wife Paetina, by whom he had a daughter
still living; Callistus urged that the wealthy Lollia Pau-
lina, one of the Emperor Caligula's divorced wives, should
be chosen; while PaUas startled the whole Court, includ-
ing even the aimless and dull-witted Claudius himself, by
proposing a marriage with Agrippina, the only surviving
daughter of G^ermanicus, and consequently the Emperor's
own niece.

This Agrippina, it wUl be remembered, had been exiled
with her sister Julia, in the reign of Caligula, they having
incurred the displeasure of their imperial brother. During
the period of her exile, her first husband, the brother of
the two Lepidas, had died, and soon after her recall by
Claudius she had married a celebrated orator named Cris-
pus Passienus, who had been twice consul. Passienus, who
was very rich, had the imprudence to inform his wife that
he had made a will constituting her his heiress. Having
thus, as his wife concluded, fulfilled his destiny, she im-
mediately disposed of him by poison, and through the

[117]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

the State, more nearly the equal of Britannicus, the heir
apparent. In this she found ready assistance from all who,
having contributed to the death of Messalina, dreaded the
ultimate vengeance of her son. The Senate approved,
the weak-minded Emperor also consented, and Nero and
the gentle Octavia, whose wishes were of course not con-
sulted, were betrothed. Slowly but surely the unconscious
Emperor was preparing for the extermination of his family.

Thus far in the accomplishment of her ends the Em-
press had proceeded with great caution, feeling her way
carefuUy and refraining entirely from the use of violence.
But she was now so firmly established that it seemed per-
fectly safe to indulge a little in the open gratification of
her cruel nature, and a victim had already been selected.
She had never forgiven Lollia Paulina for jeopardizing
her own ambitions by aspiring to many Claudius, and her
hatred, always implacable, was in this instance intensified
by both jealousy and covetousness, her defeated rival be-
ing immensely rich. Lollia's fortune was enormous, Pliny
declaring that he had seen her on an ordinary occa-
sion wearing jewels valued at forty millions of sesterces
(£400,000). As the sentence of banishment implied for-
feiture, this immense fortune was ultimately enjoyed by
Agrippina. Witnesses were suborned charging LolUa with
consulting magicians and oracles concerning her ambitious
views. As usual, no hearing was granted the accused, the
Emperor recommending to the Senate that she should be
banished. This sentence was immediately carried into ef-
fect; but Agrippina was not satisfied until her hated rival
was killed and her head produced for inspection by the
first lady in the State, who wished to establish its iden-
tity by an examination of the teeth.

Having thus refireshed herself, Agrippina returned to her

[120 ]

THE FAMILY OF CLAUDIUS

original purposes with renewed energy, her next aim bemg
to secure the formal adoption of her son by the Emperor.
Through the influence of her corrupt associate, the detes-
table Pallas, this important step was also accomplished.
The fooUsh Emperor yielded to the hollow arguments
advanced by his minister: that the adoption was desir-
able to provide for the exigency of the commonwealth
and support the infancy of Britannicus with a collateral
stay; that Tiberius notwithstanding he had a son of his
own adopted Germanicus, the deified Augustus likewise,
though possessed of grandsons upon whom to rely, having
raised to power the sons of his wife. With the consent
of Claudius a law was enacted decreeing the adoption of
Domitius into the Claudian family under the name of
Nero — the title of Augusta being at the same time con-
ferred upon his mother. The adoption of Nero was said to
have been the first in the Claudian family in over two
hundred years. It proved to be the last also, for by it the
Emperor Claudius sealed the doom of his race. His own
deatii had already been decided upon, while the ill-fated
Britannicus, who was two years younger than his adoptive
brother^ was not long to survive his murdered father.

The accession of Nero was now assured, the death of
Claudius alone interposing as the last obstacle to the tri-
umphant policy of the Empress. How feeble the barrier
was none knew better than Agrippina herself; and per-
haps with a view of acquiring a proper state of mind in
which to accomplish its removal, she determined upon a
little preliminary exercise of her powers. This time the
victim was of the blood of Caesar, in the person of Lepida,
mother of the late Empress, cousin german to Claudius,
and aunt of Nero, being one of the two sisters of the
latter's fitther. For Lepida the Empress had long cher-

[ 121 ]

THE HOUSE OF CESAR

ished a bitter jealousy and hatred. During the exile of the
latter, in the reign of Caligula, her son Nero had found a
home with his aunt, and ever since the dawn of his new
fortunes there had been a silent but none the less power-
ful contention between the two women to acquire the
first position in his confidence and regard. An attempt to
secure the ascendency over a son for whom her own con-
sununate art alone had ensured the prize, would in itself
have been sufficient to arouse all the tiger-like instincts of
Agrippina. But her hatred was intensified — and for the
same reason reciprocated by the other — because of the
striking similarity in both the position and character of
the two women. Of the same degree of nobility, equally
beautiful, almost equally rich, of about the same age, each
of them hot and violent in temper, their reputations alike
ruined and lost, and competitors in vice, as in everything
else, Agrippina exceeded her rival alone in the added
power of her position in the imperial household. With re-
gard to Nero, on the other hand, the advantage seems to
have been with Lepida, who had gained his confidence in
early youth, while his mother was in exile, by liberal
if not actually caressing and flattering treatment; while
from Agrippina he had until recently received only stern-
ness and threats. But the crafty Agrippina had been to
the oracle. She knew herself. In the consciousness of her
power she did not lose sight of her weakness, and, like
every successfiil leader, realized the wisdom of averting a
threatened danger before it should become uncontrollable.
She was at this moment the stronger; the ascendency of
her rival over Nero profited Lepida nothing as long as
the young prince was himself dependent. But as it might
easily be different when he should actually become Caesar,
the conclusion was obvious that in order to destroy the

[ 122]

MESSALINA

THE FAMILY OF CLAUDIUS

one existing menace to her dream of absolute power, a
dominion which was to be exercised through control of
the future Emperor, her rival must be crushed before
Nero came to the throne. As in the case of the last vic-
tim, the destruction of Lepida was accomplished through
an accusation of magic — against which to the mind of
the shivering Claudius there never could be any answer;
which is doubtless the reason why sentence was in such
cases pronounced by him without opportunity for defence
on the part of the accused. Lepida was condemned to
death, her great estate, like that of Lollia, going to swell
the already immense fortune which the murder of her sec-
ond husband had brought to the Empress, whose wealth
was now not far short of the imperial treasure itself. Do-
mitia Lepida, her remaining sister-in-law, and who had
also been the first wife of Passienus, although an object
of jealousy to the Empress, escaped for the present, and
ultimately managed to keep out of Agrippina's reach, but
only to perish miserably at the hahd erf Nero.^

Her rivals overthrown, her yengtf^ee satisfied, at least
temporarily, the continuance ^of her i^i) wet .assured, and
every detail of her plan 4iavii!^jg been aecdl^p^ished pre-
cisely as arranged, Agrippifia^ ^^^N>X apprdaqhed the last
of her labors — this time one 6f ^pflreripve ; for was not a
place among the immortal gods fot^^hi^t i^horlshed husband
the immediate object and her only^spn/to be the direct
beneficiary ?

She had long accustomed herself to the thought of poi-
soning her husband, and after careful deliberation had
decided to employ an agent which should be instanta-
neous in its operation, in order that there might be at once
neither miscarriage nor the opportunity for discovery or

^Poff, page 148.

[ 128]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, was a masterful overbear-
ing soldier, of whom the orator Crassus said, ^^No wonder
he has a brazen beard whose face is of iron and whose
heart is lead." The next Cneius, son of the last-mentioned,
was a man of sullen temper and inconstant character, who
fell at Fharsalia after fighting on both sides in the great
contest for the empire of the world. His son, also called
Cneius, after narrowly escaping the general condemnation
which followed the death of the great Cassar, lived to fill
the highest offices under the Emperor Augustus. His son
Domitius, the grandfather of Nero, was a man of great
arrogance. prodigaUty, and cruelty, and it is said that he
displayed such barbarity in his gladiatorial and wild beast
shows, which occurred both in the circus and the various
wards of the city, that Augustus was compelled to restrain
him by public edict.

The cruel disposition of his grandfather manifested
itself in the Emperors father, Cneius Domitius, who is
described as **a man of execrable character in every part
of his life." He once killed one of his freedmen for refus-
ing to drink as much as he ordered him, and at another
time, while driving in the Appian Way, purposely whipped
up his horses and crushed a poor boy under his chariot.
Shortly before the death of the Emperor Tiberius, Cneius
was accused of treason, adulteries, and incest with his sis-
ter Lepida (the mother of Messalina), but escaped in the
distraction of the next Emperor's succession, and soon
after died. The character of his wife, Agrippina, has been
sufficiently indicated in the preceding chapter.^

Every element of character was thus apparently present
in the ancestry of Nero, destined to become for all ages
the personification of monstrous vice and crime. Among

^Anie, page 117.

[ 126]

MESSALINA

NERO

his ancestors were those who had controlled the destinies
of the civilized world ; whose mighty deeds had carried the
power of the Roman arms among distant barbarous na-
tionsy impressing upon them a character which after the
lapse of so many centuries is still discernible; whose vices
had dug the graves of entire dynasties ; whose virtues had
been embalmed in the memories which even yet survive
to persuade us that all Roman women were not vile and
all Roman men utterly corrupt. Augustus, the deified Em-
peror; Mark Antony, the splendid sacrifice of manhood
upon the altar of a sensual attraction ; Agrippa, the great
minister of the wonderftil Augustan era ; Drusus Germani-
cus, and his son, the great popular hero; the long lines of
the Claudii and the Domitii, soldiers and statesmen of re-
pute both good and ill ; Julia, the stately^&ister of the Great
Caesar; the noble Octavia; the prpad'-^fUM} . haughty but
virtuous Agrippina; the dissolute daugliier>of the first
Emperor; the beautiful Antonta^ the awmt'figiire of the
Augusta; and his own mother, n^Hosjp. calculatiqg.-^ipked-
ness and deliberate crime had fiiilkUy brought him «to the
steps of the throne I Cast into the re^i^ng'})ot of t^e most
terribly corrupt and demoralizing Court wJiich ever con-
trolled a so-called civilized State, these jarring and dis-
cordant elements had in some way fused and fi'om the
crucible at last appears the result of five generations of
intermarrying among the most exclusive aristocracy the
world ever saw — and behold I a Nero; who murdered his
mother, his brother, his sister, his wives, and his unborn
cMd; who burned Rome; who destroyed the very ashes of
purity; and who finally tried even to exterminate virtue
itself.

Nero was bom at Antium on the fifteenth day of De-
cember in the year 87 a. d. At the time of his birth the

[127]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

first year of the reign of his iinde, the Emperor Caligula,
was drawing to a close, and it is astonishing to learn that
notwithstanding the complete demoralization of society
induced by the third Emperor, and which must neces-
sarily have deformed the education of the young prince,
he seems to have at first manifested no mean degree of
character and promise. But the saying attributed to his
father Domitius, that ^^nothing but what was detestable
and pernicious to the public could ever be produced of him
and Agrippina." proved in the end a more correct prog-
nostic than the promise which he displayed as a mere boy,
while performing his part in the Circensian games, and the
merciAil disposition which he indicated a little later when,
being caUed upon for his first hnperial subscription to the
sentence of a condemned criminal, he uttered the pious
wish that "he had never learned to read and write."

His father died when he was three years old, leaving
Nero (or Domitius, as he was called until his adoption by
Claudius) heir to one-third of his possessions ; the remain-
ing two-thirds bemg left to the reigning Emperor, from
the customary prudential motives of wealthy Roman tes-
tators, who sought in this way to ensure at least a por-
tion of their estate to their posterity. In the present case
Caligula seized the whole, and supplemented this act of in-
justice to his young kinsman by shortly afterwards banish-
ing his mother and confiscating all of her property.^ The
penniless and abandoned child thereupon found a home
with his Other's sister, the elder Lepida, whose daughter
Messalina about this time became the wife of Claudius, a
great-uncle of the young Domitius. There is a tradition
that Messalina afterwards employed assassins to strangle
Nero, in whom she foresaw a probable rival of her son

^ Ante, page 88.

[ 128]

NERO

Britannicus; and the. story goes that the would-be mur-
derers were frightened away by a snake which crept from
under the cushion upon which the sleeping child lay.
Whether true or false, — and it contains the elements of
probability, — the story undoubtedly contributed to the
hatred which in after years Nero cherished against his
cousin, and which was accentuated by the latter's refrisal
to address his adoptive brother by any other name than
that of the despised "Ahenobarbus/' The proud young
Claudian had undoubtedly been prompted to this irritat-
ing conduct by his preceptors, either already secretly in
the pay of Agrippina, or unwisely seeking to provoke a
difference between the two young men which might ulti-
mately advance their own interests; and upon Nero's com-
plaining of the alleged insult to Claudius, the latter, with
his usual display of imbecility, punished all the most vir-
tuous of his son's tutors with exile or death and replaced
them with the minions of Agrippina. And yet the pitiable
old man seemed not unaware of the nefarious designs of
his wife; for he frequently prayed that "Britannicus might
speedily attiun to maturity and vigor and put to flight the
enemies of his father ! Ay, and be revenged even on the
murderers of his mother."

But the arts of Agrippina invariably calmed her hus-
band's suspicions, and the betrothal and marriage of Nero
with the Emperor's daughter Octavia effectually prevented
any diversion which the friends of Britannicus might other-
wise have made in his fevor. The marriage ceremony hav-
ing been performed, as in the case of the accession of the
second Emperor, it then remained only to secure the sup-
port of the army; and this Agrippina easily accomplished
by inducing the Emperor to remove Rufius Crispinus,
who was known to be devoted to the children of Mes-

[129]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

saiina, and intrust the command of the praetorian cohorts
to Burrhus Afranius» an incorruptible officer of high re-
pute, but who naturally inclined towards the interests of
those who procured his advancement.

Everything now being in readiness, the arts of Locusto
were invoked and Claudius was destroyed.^ The instant
his death was assured, Agrippina gave her instructions to
Burrhus, who at once made ready to conduct Nero to the
cohort, which, according to custom, was on guard at the
palace where the Emperor was supposed to be dying. But
an unexpected obstacle arose; the omens were unpropi-
tious, and it became necessary to postpone the event until
they should become more favorable. The situation was
now extremely critical, not to say dangerous. Lict it once
be known that Claudius was dead, and the adherents of
Britannicus might still aroiise the people and prejudice
the cohorts in favor of the rightful successor.^ But the
indomitable Agrippina was equal to the emergency. No
one but Xenophon, Nero, Burrhus, and herself knew that
the Emperor was actually dead. The Senate, which had
been assembled, was still in session, while vows for the
Emperor*s recovery were even then being offered by the
pontiffs and consuls. Emulating the example of her great-
grandmother upon a similar occasion,^ the Empress set a
strict guard at every approach to the palace, and then

^Anie, page 124.

' It is of ocmrse well understood that hereditaiy succession iras not ad-
mitted by the Romans and that the head of the State was supposed to
be elective, the Senate pretending to be the depositary of the public
mind, although from an early period in the Empire this function was
practically usurped by the army, which, however, respected the Csesarean
line as long as it lasted. And it has already been pointed out that the
rule of hereditary succession substantially obtained. Ante, page 74.
* Ante, page 44.

[180]

OCTAVIA SlSTEll OF AUGUSTUS

NERO

from time to time gave out bulletins of the Emperor's im-
proving condition. His three children, Antonia, Octavia,
and Britannicus, were detained by their stepmother in her
own apartment — Britannicus, who was wild to go to his
father's chamber, being actually clasped in the arms of the
Empress to prevent his leaving the room.

But at last the omens were propitious. The death of the
Emperor was announced by Xenophon ; the palace gates
were thrown open, and, preceded by Burrhus, Nero, mag-
nificently clothed, and beaming with youth, health, and
gratified pride and vanity, was borne to the cohorts, who
received him with shouts and conducted him to the prae-
torian camp, where amid the wildest excitement he was
saluted as Emperor. In the palace the poor young prince,
released at last from the false embraces of his sinister
stepmother, and accompanied by Octavia, ran to the place
where lay the unwatched remains of imperial Caesar, and
there. Jih a prophetic vision of their own hnpending
doom, the two young orphans in a passion t^' grief and
misery cast themselves down by the side of him 'who with
all his weakness and miserable wrong-doing had loved his
children, and in his own blind way would^have protected
them until the end.

It was on the thirteenth of October in the year 54 a. d.
that Nero was proclaimed by the soldiers, the Senate
speedily ratifying the praetorians' decree. The circum-
stances of his accession bear a remarkable similarity to
those which attended that o^ the second Emperor. Clau-
dius was known to have been poisoned by his wife ; Augus-
tus was supposed to have been by his. The death of each
was kept secret until matters were arranged for securing
the Empire to an adopted son, whose interests had been
insidiously advanced by a shrewdly wicked mother to the

[ 181 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

exclusion of the descendant who was rightfully entitled to
the throne. Into the future also were the pohits of simi-
larity projected; for as Fostumus Agrippa had fallen an
early victim to the jealousy and hatred of a usurping
adoptive brother, Britannicus met a similar fate at the
hands of Nero; who himself likewise finally succumbed
to the violence of a slave even as Tiberius eventually per-
ished by the hand of Macro. One point of divergence in-
deed there was, in that Livia, the central figure in the
crime of Tiberius*s succession, lived to enjoy the fi*uits of
her wickedness and to meet a peaceful end, after receiv-
ing the plaudits of the people and the titie of Augusta, in
recognition of her exalted services to the State; whereas
her terrible descendant, although receiving the applause,
securing the title, and emulating the magnificence of her
great-grandmother, in the end tasted the full bitterness of
the prophet's saying in the discovery that her chUd was
thankless, and that the horrible crime of matricide was his
final recognition of all the iniquities with which she had
burdened her soul for him.

But now it was otherwise. She was at the summit of
her accomplishments and the height of her power. She
had come within a single step of rounding out the full
possibility of relationship in the nearest degree to the
imperial person ; she had been the sister, the wife, the
mother of an Emperor, and if G^rmanicus had received
his dues the measure of possibility would have been full.^
Everything was at last triumphant for this " Best of Mo-

^ In his tragedy of Briianmcus, Racine accords her the full measure, in the

passage:

**Maif fille^^^mfM, MBur et mire, de V09 maUres'*

Poetical license may justify the line, as Agrippina was the great-grand-
daughter of Augustus.

[182]

NERO

thers," which was the new word given to the tribune of
the guard on the first day of the reign of Nero.

And thus came to the throne, in the seventeenth year
of his age, and scarce a generation after the death of the
despised Kmg of the Jews, the last Emperor of the house
of Caesar, fast tottering now to the ruins from which that
other kingdom was to rise enduringly. In the ruins of that
house, the ^'grandeur of human nature" may readily be
discovered.

Nero was of short stature and rather thick set, with slen-
der legs, and although constitutionally sound, was neither
athletic nor active. His head was large and covered with
a mass of yellowish hair, which he wore in rings, cut one
above the other. In early life his features, although effemi-
nate, were agreeable, if not actually handsome. But in later
years the dull gray eyes, the thick bull neck and double
chin, a sallow and unhealthy complexion, and that inde-
scribable stamp of coarseness with which unchecked dis-
sipation and openly indulged vice unfailingly brand the
countenance, served to render him anything but attrac-
tive. In attire he seems to have been extremely careless,
frequently appearing in public in the loose garb which he
wore at table, without girdle or shoes, although with custo-
mary extravagance he never wore the same garment twice.

At an early age he was inculcated by Seneca with a
taste for the fine arts, music and poetry ultimately shar-
ing the remnants of affections which were in the main de-
voted to sensual enjojnnents and the gratification of the
most cruel instincts and vicious desires. The vainest school-
boy could not covet popular applause more than Nero
craved it for his musical and poetical efforts, failure to
appreciate which inevitably resulted in rousing the Em-
peror's anger and not infrequently was punished by death.

[ 188]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

Extravagantly vain of his mediocre talents and possessed
of an insatiable desire to immortalize his name, he even
descended to compete upon the public stage with ordi-
nary minstrels and actors; and as the honors were of
course invariably accorded the royal buffoon, he soon be-
came actually convinced that his gifts were of the divine
order. There can be no doubt that the misery of his death
was enhanced by the thought to which in the last hours
he so frequently gave expression : that a great artist was
perishing untimely.

Passionately fond of horses and chariot, he was a con-
stant attendant at the exhibitions of the smaller circus,
although frequently wearing a disguise from a sense of
shame, to which on occasions of the most flagrant vtrrong-
doing he was an entire stranger; and finaUy, in view of all
the people and amidst the most tumultuous applause, he
drove his chariot in the Circus Maximus. It was his one
solitary display of manly attributes whatsoever.

In the use of riches Nero emulated the example of the
Emperor Caligula, who was openly praised by his nephew
for squandering so quickly the immense treasure which the
successor of Augustus had accumulated. Nero's extrava-
gance was almost incredible; it is said that the expenses
of entertaining Tiridates, who was nine months in Rome
as guest of the State, was eight hundred thousand ses-
terces a day; equivalent in the aggregate to £2,160,000.
Suetonius (whose statements must, however, be taken
cumgrano) informs us that the Emperor had been known
to stake four hundred thousand sesterces (£4000) on a
throw of the dice, and that he never travelled with less
than a thousand baggage carts. His extravagance reached
its limits in the construction of his "Golden House." The
palace of the Caesars, as enlarged by Augustus from the

[ 184]

MARK ANTONY

NERO

dimensions of a private house, and extended by both Ti-
berius and Caligula, was still confined to the Palatine
HilL Nero continued it to the Esquiline Hill, and as
finally rebuilt, after its destruction by the fire, its gran-
deur and magnificence are beyond modem conception.
The author of the "Caesars" says: "Of its dimensions and
furniture it may be sufficient to say this much : The porch
was so high that there stood in it a colossal statue of him-
self a hundred and twenty feet in height ; and the space
included in it was so ample, that it had triple porticos a
mile in length, and a lake like a sea, surrounded with
buildings which had the appearance of a city. Within its
area were com fields, vineyards, pastures, and woods, con-
taining a vast number of animals of various kinds, both
wild and tame. In other parts ijisl'was entirely overlaid
with gold, and adorned with jeWUj^ 'sAd: inother-of-pearL
The supper rooms were vaulted, and iconnbartments of
the ceUings, inlaid with iv^,.were ma^H^r^olve, and
scatter flowers; while tfiiey cbni^med pipes/Which shed
unguents upon the guests. Thfechie^bgrnquejnng room was
circular, and revolved perpetually,'^»i^iit B^d day, in imi-
tation of the motion of the celestial bodies. The baths
were supplied with water from the sea and the Albula.
Upon the dedication of this magnificent house after it
was finished, all he said in approval of it was, ^that he had
now a dwelling fit for a man.'"^

During the first four years of his reign, with the excep-
tion of the heartless murder of Britannicus, the Emperor
Nero seems to have ruled not only with mildness, but
with a show of justice, wisdom, and even temperance.
Trajan does not hesitate to declare that these years were
proverbial in succeeding ages for the wisdom, clemency,

^ Suetonius^ Nero, xxxL

[ 185 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

and happiness by which they were distinguished. But at
the expiration of that interval the naturally evil instincts
of the Emperor were gradually brought into play — largely,
as it appears, through the malign influence of Poppsa.
Relieved from all restraint by the death of his mother, the
baser inclinations of his nature speedily triumphed over
the weak opposition of a false manhood, which may have
been aroused by the early precepts of Seneca and the
rough but virile example of Burrhus ; and during the re-
mainder of his reign the Emperor's conduct was a mix-
ture of puerilities, senseless extravagance, cruelty, lust, and
murder. Although there have not been wanting attempts
to show that the last of the Ccesars was not the depraved
and ferocious monster painted by the fathers of Roman
history, the effort has failed. The character of Nero can
be whitewashed no more than the character of Washing-
ton can be blackened; in these two respects at least the
conclusions of posterity must remain unchanged. Augus-
tine was right in speaking of Nero as the most finished
pattern of wicked rulers; and there is small reason to
wonder that for years the ignorant and credulous cher-
ished a belief that the son of Agrippina yet lived as Anti-
christ and would return to reign over the kingdom of
error when the full measure of human iniquity should be
fulfilled. Certain it is that no one possessing the most
shadowy instincts of humanity can read even that portion
of the history of Nero which is absolutely undisputed,
without being moved to the anger, disgust, and abhor-
rence for which there is but a single apt expression —
** Anathema.^

[186]

CHAPTER XI

THE FAMILY OF NERO

THE first wife of the Emperor Nero was Octavia,
the only daughter of the Emperor Claudius and his
fifth wife, Messalina. Octavia was thus related to her hus-
band both through her father and her mother, Claudius
being uncle to Nero*s mother, Agrippina, while Messa-
lina s mother, Lepida, was the sister of Cneius Domitius,
Nero's father.

Octavia was bom in the year 42 a. d., two years before
her father became Emperor, and while yet a mere child
she was betrothed to Lucius Silanus, one of the three
great-great-grandsons of Augustus, in the direct line of the
two Julias. The suicide of Silanus, after his disgrace by
Claudius, the murder of his father by Messalina, and the
subsequent betrothal and marriage of Octavia and Nero
have already been related.^ Upon the accession of Nero,
the invariable murder which signalized the commencement
of a new reign found its victim in the family of Silanus.

Lucius Silanus, the betrothed of Octavia, had two bro-
thers, one named Torquatus, the other Marcus Junius. The
latter is said to have lived in such a state of indolence that
the Emperor Caligula sneeringly nicknamed him ^'the
Golden Sheep.'' But as posterity may well be suspicious
of the virtue applauded by Caligula, so in the object of
his contempt we may expect to find evidence of decided
worth. It is therefore cause for no surprise to learn that
Silanus was a man of unblemished character; which fact,
together with his relationship to the Ccesars, in the direct

^Anie, pages 112 and 119.

[ 187]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

line of the divine Augustus, rendered him an object both
of suspicion and fear to Agrippina, who had murdered his
brother Lucius. The deatii of Silanus occurred so soon
after the accession of Nero that it was doubtless planned
by the Empress in advance of that event. Marcus Junius
was proconsul of Asia at the time, and poison was openly
administered to him at a banquet by two revenue farmers
of the Emperor. Nero, however, must be acquitted of
complicity in this crime, responsibility for which rests
solely upon Agrippina and her heartless instruments, one
of whom was a freedman and the other a Roman knight
But the evil passions of this apparently mUd and gentle
Emperor, who at first grieved to sign the death-warrant
of a hardened criminal, were only sleeping. Ten years
later, when the product of Agrippina and Cneius Domitius
had, in the prophetic language of the latter, indeed mani-
fested himself "detestable and pernicious," Torquatus, the
last male of this generation of the Silani, was driven to an
ignominious death by his imperial kinsman. The persecu-
tion of Torquatus, who was of the noble Junian family, in
addition to being descended from Augustus, was accounted
for merely because of the splendor of his lineage. He was
accused of being '* prodigal in his bounties"; and it was
charged that he had "no other resource than in revolu-
tion ; and that already he kept men of no mean rank, with
the style of secretaries, accountants, treasurers ; names be-
longing to the imperial function and indicating prepara-
tions for assuming it." Torquatus saw that his doom was
sealed and calmly opened the veins of both arms. His
death was speedily followed by that of his nephew Lucius,
only son of Marcus Junius, and the last of his race, the
circumstances of whose destruction will be related in an-
other connection.

[ 188 ]

CLEOPATRA

T^\

^^.S^y^-'

„-jss-;ss.a^

THE FAMILY OF NERO

The marriage of Nero and Octavia occurred about a
year before the death of Claudius, Nero being at the time
in his sixteenth year, while Octavia was scarcely more than
eleven years old. In all the dread history of the family
of Cassar there is perhaps no sadder story than that of
Octavia. Her noble birth, her sweet and gentle disposi-
tion, the tenderness of the relation existing between the
ill-fated Britannicus and herself, the ignominious ending of
her mother, the tragic death of her father, her compulsory
marriage to Nero, — the son of the murderer of her first
betrothed, whose noble and engaging quaUties had gained
her childish afiection, and whose self-imposed death, under
a shameful accusation, must have deeply shocked her pure
and sensitive spirit, — the terrible death of her brother,
followed by years of indescribable anguish culminating in
a pitiable death at the hands of her husband, the destroyer
of her race ; in fact, all tb4/rp^tsKist»nces of her short life
were at once so full of frdfwPip^aUdi^ tonchingly pathetic
that it only needed tpie assurance (for if hich there seems
to be a foundation of ^ct) that Octavia was a Christian,
to arouse our deepest 'Syw]|mtljy^ and our endless

abhorrence of the monster who dragged her through the
mire. In the deaths of Thrasea and Octavia, Nero might
well have thought, from the standpoint of paganism, that
he had accompUshed his wish to destroy virtue itself.

All the sweet and lovely traits of Octavia, which, as
she came to maturity and surrounded as she was by the
temptations of an innately depraved and vicious Court,
had deepened into a genuinely beautiful character, failed
to attract Nero, although not yet fully launched upon his
career of unchecked wickedness. His afiections were soon
engaged by a beautiful freedwoman named Acte, whose
influence over the young Emperor, combined with that

[ 189]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

of Seneca, Burrhus, and a young man who was afterwards
the Emperor Otho, speedily gave indication of undermin-
ing the power of Agrippina, which had theretofore been
supreme. The rage and Airy of the latter upon discovering
what was going on were such as might be expected from
her passionate nature and imperious spirit. If she )md con-
fined herself to her usual system of menace and terrorism,
the breach might have been repaired ; but in an unguarded
moment she awoke the dormant hyena in her son by de-
claring in the Emperor's hearing that ^'Britannicus was
now grown up^ and was .worthy to succeed to that Empire
of his father which an adopted son swayed by trampUng
upon his mother." And then after accounting the many
atrocities she had perpetrated for his sake, she turned di-
rectly to her son and, heaping reproaches upon him, with
violent gesticulations declared that "by the providence of
the gods and her own forethought one resource remained
to her — her stepson was still aUve; with him she would
repair to the camp where on the one side would be heard
the daughter of Germanicus and on the other the impo-
tent Burrhus and the exiled Seneca,^ one with a maimed
hand and the other with the tongue of a pedagogue press-
ing their claim to govern the world. "^

Nero was alarmed at this outbreak on the part of a
woman whose impetuosity and determination were so well
known, and who had approved herself capable of conceiv-
ing and executing whatsoever crime to accomplish her
ends. All the latent deviltry in his essentially evil nature

^ Britannicus was nearlj fourteen years old at the time of his death.
' Seneca, who was accused of an intrigue with Julia, the daughter of
Germanicus, was banished by the Emperor Claudius to the isle of Corsica.
He had been recalled by the influence of Agrippina.
' Annals, xiiL 14.

[ 140 ]

THE FAMILY OF NERO

was awakened by his fear, and he determined to forestall
his mother in the use of her own weapons. He was the
more ready to destroy Britannicus because at the festival
of the Saturnalia the latter in singing had acquitted him-
self in so creditable a manner as to deeply arouse the
anger of the Emperor, who, priding himself upon his own
voice, had all the mean jealousy of others' success so com-
monly displayed by ambitious mediocrity. He at once in-
voked the aid of the terrible Locusta,^ who prepared a
poison which was administered to Britannicus by his tu-
tors. It £uled of effect, and the Emperor in a rage threat-
ened the sorceress with immediate execution if she did
not furnish a poison which would cause instant death ; and
a more deadly compound was thereupon concocted in a
chamber adjoining that of the Emperor.

That evening at dinner the deed was done. Britannicus
was reclining at the special table accorded him in right
of his princely extraction, in full sight of the numerous
assemblage which nightiy surrounded the table of Cassar
in the Golden House. A cup of drink, after first being
tasted by an official in attendance for that purpose, was
handed to the young prince, who, finding the liquor scald-
ing hot, directed that some cold water be added. The
poison was contained in the latter and its action was so
powerful that at the first draught Britannicus was bereft
of speech and expired almost immediately. Even the hard-
ened associates of the dissolute tyrant and his imperial
Court were stricken with consternation at so terrible and
unexpected an exhibition of his heartiess savagery, and
many fled hastily from the apartment, forgetful that such
a breach of decorum was punishable with death by Caesar,
thus outraged. The more experienced courtiers, however,

^ LocDsta prepared the poiflon which destroyed Claudius. Anie, page 124.

[ 141 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

kept their places, anxiously awaiting their cue from the
Emperor, who, maintaining his careless reclining posture,
calmly declared that *'he himself used to be so affected
by reason of the falling sickness, with which Britannicus
had been from early childhood afflicted; and that by de-
grees his sight and senses would return." So that after
a short silence, in the midst of which the dead boy was
carried from the room, the delights of the banquet were
resumed, the orphaned Octavia, who had long ago mas-
tered the "peace of suspense," by learning to conceal
every natural affection, proudly hiding her grief and tor-
ture, while regarding with an eye apparently cold and
unmoved the removal of all that was mortal of the only
surviving relative she had loved and for whose love she
cared, the last male of the proud Claudian race, which
for centuries had contributed to the Roman grandeur in
which its own greatness blazed so brightly.

It was different with Agrippina. The dismay with which
she had witnessed the death of Britannicus amounted to
positive terror, and vainly she strove to suppress her con-
sternation and alarm. For to her penetrating mind the
conviction came with all the suddenness of her stepson's
death that her domination of the boy Emperor was gone
forever; and close upon this reflection foDowed the dark-
some thought that from the poisoning of Britannicus to the
crime of matricide was but a step for one who could strike
so quickly, so openly, with such terrible effectiveness and
such freedom from compunction as the "detestable and
pernicious" son, whose heartless laughter rang in her ter-
rified ears while the door had scarce closed upon the body
of his victim.

It was her first manifestation of weakness during a long
life of danger and vicissitudes, and was an indication that

[ 1*2 ]

AGRIPPINA MOTHER OF NERO

THE FAMILY OF NERO

fortune was making ready to leave her, who was at last
driven to admit distrust as to her own powers* But al-
though the talisman was thus lost, the old courage and
inflexibility were by no means gone; and attaching herself
to Octavia, as closely as the coldly impassive but gentle
sister of Britannicus would permit, she practised all of
her arts to build up among the few remaining nobles a
party which in an emergency might be rallied to the sup-
port of herself under a new leader.

The throw was a desperate one, and it lost By her pre-
vious conduct the daughter of Germanicus had made bit-
ter enemies, and in the hour of her misfortune these did
not scruple to seek their revenge. It was not necessary for
the Emperor to employ spies to learn of his mother's new
schemes, and before long the guards which had attended
her as the widow of Claudius and^piother of the reigning
Emperor were withdrawn. Tnys^JlSte^ was

speedily followed by Agrippixia's ^^^ji^JtpwpfBl^ from the
palace to a house at a considerable disraii^f which had
once been occupied by i\iiti^atf^ the Empe^r's grand-
mother. ^ H. ^"'^ >v ^;v; ,

One night while Nero was carctafiijig^'^/tual, an actor
named Paris, who was one of the freedmfen bf Agrippina's
bitter rival, Domitia Lepida, by whom he was undoubt-
edly instigated, entered hastily and with feigned terror
informed his imperial master that Agrippina was conspir-
ing to overturn the State in favor of Rubellius Plautus,
son of Rubellius Blandus and Julia, the granddaughter of
Tiberius. The enraged and terrified Emperor determined
to put to death both Agrippina and Plautus without
wwting for morning even ; but was finally prevailed upon
by Burrhus to first grant his mother the liberty of a de-
fence. The accusation against Agrippina was brought by

[ 148 ]

IILEH'^N P00N-.r>A;i'iONS

THE FAMILY OF NERO

proud and conscienceless ambition, was to be the advan-
tage of her son. But we are too human, our horror and
detestation of the abominations which she performed are
too overwhehning, for us to bring an adequate mercy into
our judgment of Agrippina; that may come only from
the God of the Christians whom her son persecuted so
savagely.

From the terrors of remorse with which even Nero
was tortured after this impious deed, the Emperor sought
foTgetfulness by plunging into new excesses; first, how-
ever, endeavoring to heighten the popular hatred towards
Agrippina by addressing letters to the Senate, in which,
after rehearsing the long list of his mother s crimes and
charging upon her all the atrocities of the reign of Clau-
dius, he falsely declared that she had at the last attempted
his assassination, and closed by saying that ^^ through the
good fortune of the State she had fallen." He was assured
in reply that "the very ^iii|iie,: of Agrippina was detested
and that by her death: f^^al£^ctidm:^ the people toward
him had been kindled into a flame." Abandoning himself
now to the most inordinate p^sions, he speedily came
under the tyranny of hew ihastiei^, notably the infamous
Tigellinus; and befoi*ef long Seneca and Burrhus succumbed
to the bloodthirsty demands of the later favorites — Bur-
rhus, as it is alleged, by poison, while Seneca opened his
veins by command of his pupil and master. There is that
in the rough old soldier which moves our sympathy, but
nothing except contempt remains for the moral philoso-
pher who had been an accomplice in his pupil's crime of
matricide.

Tigellinus was now the power behind the throne, and
under his deadly influence the imperial beast was hur-
ried into new crimes which finally resulted in an entire

[147]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

obliteration of the race of Cassar as well as a practical an-
nihilation of the scanty nobility which remained. The first
victim was the noble young Plautus,^ who in Junia's ac-
cusation had been named as the central figure in Agrip-
pina's alleged conspiracy. At the time of the latter's ac-
quittal, Plautus was passed over in silence; but a little
later he had been compelled by Nero's jealousy and dis-
trust to expatriate himself, retiring with his wife, Antistia,
and a few fiiends to Asia, where he had large possessions.
His cold-blooded butchery by the Emperor's centurion
has already been related; and after despatching the great-
great-grandson of Tiberius, the assassins crossed to Mar-
seilles, where Sylla, the second husband of Antonia, the
Emperor's sister-in-law, was living in exile, and there mur-
dered the young noble as he sat at meat, without previous
warning or apprehension.

The next to pay the penalty of a near relationship to
Csesar was Domitia Lepida, the sister of Nero's father.
She had narrowly escaped the fate of her sister Lepida,
murdered by Agrippina, and had lived to gloat over the
downfall of her old enemy, whom she was, however, not
destined long to survive. One day, while confined to her
bed by illness, she received a visit from the Emperor, and
being advanced in years, she drew the young man towards
her and, stroking his chin in the tenderness of affection,
said that if only her life might be spared ''until this is
shaved the first time, she would die contented." Her afiTec-
tionate nephew, turning to those about him, said that he

^ Suetonius mentions ''the young Aulus Plautinus" as among the Em-
peror's relatives^ by blood or marriage^ who were put to death by Nera
From the context, in connection with Tadtus's account of the death of
Rubellius Plautus, it is apparent that Plautus was refeired to by the former
historian.

[ 148 ]

THE FAMILY OF NERO

would have his beard immediately taken off; but» with-
out waiting for the ceremony/ directed the physicians to
mingle a poison with his aunt's medicine, and immediately
thereafter confiscated her estate.

Through all of these scenes of violence and bloodshed
the gentle Octavia had serenely awaited the fate which
since the death of Britannicus she had known to be im-
pending, and which now at kst overtook her. Assured by
the complacent manner in which the Senate received in-
formation of the deaths of Plautus and Sylla ''that all his
villainies passed for acts of exemplary merit," as Tacitus
quaintly expresses it, the Emperor rudely divorced Octavia
and immediately thereafter celebrated his marriage with
Poppaea. This woman, noted alike for her beauty and de-
pravity, was said to have "possessed every ornament but
that of an unpolluted mind.'' Beautiful, wealthy, accom-
plished, of splendid birth, engaging in conversation, en-
dowed with intellectual gifts, and in exterior deportment
correct to a fault, she was especially adapted to satisfy
the undoubted artistic sensibilities of the young Emperor,
now in the twenty-fifth year of his age, while appealing
in the most dangerously seductive way to all the lower
instincts of his depraved nature. While yet the wife of
Rufius Crispus, who had been captain of the praetorian
guards under the Emperor Claudius, she was allured by
Otho, one of Nero's companions, who aft:erwards himself
became Emperor. In a boastful moment Otho carelessly
extolled the charms of his wife to the Emperor, who, im-
mediately seeking an interview, speedily became infiiamed
by the arts of Foppaea and proposed to her the higher al-

^ The first shaving of the beard was marked bj a particular ceremony
among the Romans. While the period varied somewhat^ it was usually in
the twenty-first year.

[ 149 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

liance for which, conscious of her beauty and other power-
ful attractions, she had ahready been scheming.

Empress at last, with three husbands living and undi-
vorced, Poppaea could not feel entirely iree from danger
until Octavia was actually dead. She suborned one of
the latter's domestics to accuse her mistress of an offence
which Poppaea herself had never reckoned as other than a
venial sin. Although the charge was plainly disproven, the
craven Nero exiled the object of his new wife's hatred and
placed a guard of soldiers over her in Campania, which
was the place of her banishment. But the cowardly hus-
band was easily terrified by the clamors of the populace,
by whom Octavia had always been loved, and the prin-
cess was at once recalled. Upon her return Rome went
wild. The statues of Poppsea were overthrown, while those
of Octavia, wreathed in garlands, were carried on the
shoulders of the people, who marched first to the temples
to offer thanks to the gods, and thence to the palace to
express their grateful adoration for the Emperor.

The incident was artfully turned by Poppsea to her
own advantage. She appealed to Nero as his lawful wife,
who was about to give an offspring to the fast-thinning
family of the Caesars, but whose very life was in danger
by the slaves of the barren Octavia, who, calling them-
selves the people of Rome, had insulted the imperial dig-
nity by their attack upon the object of their Emperor's
affection, through insults heaped upon her statue; and she
closed by hinting that neither Nero nor herself would
have peace until Octavia was dead. The rage of Nero
was effectually aroused by this shrewd address, and as the
evidence of a slave had proved insufficient, another in-
strument was selected with which to accomplish the ruin
of Octavia. This time Nero himself made the arrange-

[ 150 ]

AGRIPPINA MOTHER OF NEItO

Kt*»

*MOt<'

hok*^

THE FAMILY OF NERO

ments. He sent for Anicetus, the same who had murdered
Agrippina, and said to him that ^'as he alone had saved
the life of the prince from the dark devices of his mother,
an opportunity for a service of no less magnitude now
presented itself by relieving him from a wife who was his
mortal enemy; nor was there need of force of arms; he
had only to admit adultery with Octavia."

The brutal murderer of Agrippina of course would not
balk at so slight a service as tiiis, and the Emperor there-
upon published an edict that '^Octavia in hopes of engag-
ing the fleet in a conspiracy had corrupted Anicetus, the
admiral." To carry out the delusion the latter was forth-
with banished to Sardinia, where he lived in pretended
exile, and after enjoying the abundant reward bestowed
by Nero for his shameful service, came to a natural, if not
peaceful, end. Octavia was again sent away — this time to
&tal Fandataria, where so many of her kindred after liv-
ing in exile and wretchec[ties8 .Jbustd suffered death by vio-
lence or starvation at t|^^ .^^Mis pffth^ imperial jailer.
And now, deprived even of 'the -friendly offices of her
slaves and attendants, surrounded by /coarse centurions
and common soldier)^^w4tii*'|^very. Jhope/crushed and sink-
ing beneath the sha^ne o^^a false 'stnd i^amous accusation
which she had not been perniitted^^ien to answer, this
fair young girl of nineteen years saw that the fate wMch
so long had threatened her had come at last. After an in-
terval of only a few days the centurion informed her that
she must die. The delicate daughter of the Cassars was
bound with cords and her veins opened in every joint;
and as the flow of blood was retarded by the bodily fear
and shrinking which in the extreme moment even her
resigned and lofty spirit was unable to control, death was
accelerated by submerging her in a bath of vapor heated

[151]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

to the highest possible temperature. Nor did she escape
the final indignity: the beautiful head upon which tra-
dition said that the Apostle Peter's hand had rested in
baptism, was cut off by the centurion and conveyed to
Poppsea as proof unanswerable that her cruel orders had
been fulfilled.

Although the popularity of Nero received a great shock
by the murder of Octavia, the approval of the gods was
clearly manifested in the safe delivery of Poppasa's daugh-
ter, the offspring which Nero had so anxiously awaited,
and whose coming was heralded by Emperor and people
with unbounded joy. The child was named Augusta, a
temple was decreed in honor of her birth, and the event
signalized by many other extravagant demonstrations on
the part of the Senate. But the joy of the Emperor was
short-lived, Augusta dying within four months after her
birth. Her death provoked a new kind of flattery, which
was nothing short of an apotheosis, the child of Nero and
Poppaea being decreed a goddess and accorded the honor
of a permanent place among the immortals.

After the death of his child Nero abandoned himself to
a series of crimes so dark and atrocious that for the time
being it must have seemed to Rome that the spirit of
Caligula had found a resting-place in his imperial nephew.
Among the victims of his ferocity during this period of
the Emperor*s life were the devoted believers in that faith
which had sustained the gentle Octavia in all the bitter-
ness of her later years. Under the false accusation of hav-
ing started the fire which he himself kindled, the disciples
of Paul and Peter were destroyed by thousands and under
circumstances of such atrocity that human nature recoils
in horror from the mere narration of events which to the
eyes of the degraded and bloodthirsty populace were only

[ 152 ]

THE FAMILY OF NERO

an exceptional holiday entertainment provided for their
delight by the "Father of his Country." Besides the per-
secution of the Christians and the wanton destruction of
Rome, the pages of Tacitus and Suetonius groan beneath
a relation of the most horrible and unnamable crimes which
were perpetrated by this "divine artist," as he was fond
of terming himself; so that it is positively a relief to turn
away from a recital so sickening and recur once more to
the ordinary and every-day murders with which the most
infamous of the Caesars was now speedily removing the
few remaining persons who were allied to him by blood or
by affinity.

Poppaea was the first to succumb in the Emperor's last
mad onslaught upon his family. Reproaching him for his
long absence and late return one night when she was in
ill health, the Empress was rewarded by her brutal hus-
band with a kick, from the effects of which she soon died.
Grieving as much perhaps for the loss of his unborn child
as for the death of Poppaea (whom it is said he had fruit-
lessly endeavored to poison), Nero was at first apparently
overwhelmed by remorse, but soon roused himself to the
performance of a manifest duty : the discovery of a victim
for the crime which had been committed. Poppasa's father
and mother were dead; the former, Titus Ollius, having
been destroyed by Sejanus, the latter, Poppaea Sabina,
murdered by MessaUna in connection with the conspir-
acy which resulted in the death of Asiaticus.^ Poppasa's
son, Rufinus Crispinus, by her first husband was also dead ;
having been thrown into the sea by order of Nero because
he was reported to have played the part of an Emperor
among his playfellows. But her first husband, Rufius
Crispinus, was still alive ; he would be a fitting sacrifice

^Ante, page 114.

[158]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

to the manes of the murdered Poppasa, and the virtuous
Emperor breathed more freely when the centurion re-
ported that his errand had been performed and Crispinus
was no more. Otho, the second husband of Poppaea, was
suffered to live, as the Emperor had need of his vices for
the time.

Following the rule of his imperial predecessors, whose
invariable custom it was to as speedily as possible fill the
place of each deceased wife with a new Empress, Nero
sought a marriage with the twice-widowed Antonia, his
adoptive sister, the half-sister of the murdered Octavia,
and, with the exception of Nero himself, the only living
descendant of the Empress Livia Augusta. To her lasting
honor be it said, the proud daughter of Claudius disdain-
frdly refused the proffered alliance, and was immediately
put to death by the enraged Nero, under pretence that
she was engaged in a plot against him. It is fair to say
that there are conflicting opinions as to Antonia's com-
plicity in the conspiracy, which was that of Piso. Pliny
asserts that Antonia had married Piso and consented to
use her influence with the army in securing for her hus-
band the favor of the people, after Nero's death should
have cleared the way to the throne. The author of the
"Annals," however, plainly discredits this report; while
expressly declaring his purpose to state only historic truth
in regard to Antonia, he says that it is not only quite im-
probable that Antonia would have lent her name to a pro-
ject frt>m which she would have nothing to hope, but as
well that Piso, who was tenderly devoted to his wife, al-
though she was a woman of extreme depravity and devoid
of every recommendation but personal beauty, would have
entered into a matrimonial contract with another; "unless
it be,** as the historian philosophically muses, ^'that the

[ 154 ]

AGItlHPINA MOTHER OK NEllO

THE NEW YOnK

, A*K)«. LENOX AND

THE FAMILY OF NERO

lust of domination bums with a flame so fierce as to over-
power all other affections of the human breast."

Upon the discovery of his conspiracy Piso was put to
death by the usual method of opening his veins — a death
commonly supposed to be comparatively free from suf-
fering, but which in the majority of cases is attended
by excruciating pain. The plot was widespread, involving
families and individuals of every rank, age, and sex, and
the furious Emperor took such a bloody and wholesale
revenge that, as we are darkly informed, "at one and the
same time the City was thronged with funerals and the
Capitol with victims."

But this carnival of blood had not diverted the Em-
peror from his intention of taking another wife, and a
selection was finally made in the person of StatUia Messa-
lina,^ mentioned as the great-granddaughter of Statilius
Taurus, who lived in thct time of Augustus, and who built
the great a])[iphHdieiCt^4 ckl}ed after his name, which stood
in the Campii^^WlSrausl^ Statilia was married at the time;
and it is thiis worthy of notej that this last marriage of
the last impe^i^ Q^^sar tocouired under similar circum-
stances to tlid'Iftit'ffiafriage b^ the first Emperor. In the
ease of AugusttiSj'h'dwever, Tiberius Nero was allowed to
die a natural death — from shame at the disgrace which
had been inflicted upon him. Of course, from the high-
spirited Nero action so mild could not be expected in deal-
ing with one who had displayed the temerity of marrying
a woman to whom the Emperor of Rome afterwards con-
descended to pay his addresses. Statilia's husband was
Atticus Vestinus, the consul, a man of independent spirit,

^ It is uncertain whether Statilia was related to the wife of Claudius.
* The elevation called the Monte Citorio is supposed to have been formed
by its ruins.

[ 155 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

and who had apparently given some expression to his
scorn at the cowardly bearing of the Emperor. Nero at
first endeavored to connect Vestinus with Piso's conspir-
acy ; but it became so plain that the consul had been en-
tirely ignorant of the plot, that the Emperor abandoned
all forms and despatched a tribune with orders to put
Vestinus to death. In the graphic description of Tacitus,
*'he had that day discharged all the functions of consul,
and was celebrating a banquet totally devoid of fear, or
perhaps in order to hide his fears, when the soldiers enter-
ing told him the tribune wanted him. Without a moment s
delay he rose from the table and every particular of the
business was at once carried into instant execution; he
was shut up in a chamber ; a physician was at hand ; his
veins were opened ; and while yet full of life he was con-
veyed into a bath and immersed in hot water, not a word
betokening regret escaping him. Meanwhile those who
supped with him were enclosed with a guard, nor released
till the night was far spent and till Nero having pictured
to himself and passed his jokes upon the terror of men,
expecting when they rose from the table to be put to
death, signified that they had paid dear enough for thdr
consular supper."

It might be thought that Messalina was blotted out of
existence with her first husband, as other than the fact of
her marriage, which is well attested, we find no further
mention of her during the reign of Nero. But in some in-
scrutable manner she must have survived during both the
remainder of his life and — for the widow of a murdered
Emperor — the more critical period of his death. For in
the history of Otho it is stated that in a letter written by
that Emperor in anticipation of death, he ''committed the
care of his relics (ashes) and memory to Messalina, Nero's

[ 156]

THE FAMILY OF NERO

widow, whom he had intended to marry/' Otho's inten-
tion was perhaps in the nature of a post-mortem reprisal
upon his predecessor, who had a few years since robbed
him of Poppasa Sabina.

To this period belongs the death of the younger Silanus,
with the exception of the Emperor himself the last male
Cassar. Silanus, who was the only son of Marcus Junius
Silanus^ and thus the great-great-great-grandson of the
Emperor Augustus, was a young man of the highest qual-
ity. He had been educated under the tuition of Cassius
Longinus, an eminent lawyer, by whom it is said the
young Lucius "was formed to every noble aspiration."
Cassius was preeminent for elevated character, great abili-
ties, and hereditary opulence, and the tie of mutual esteem
and affection which existed between pupil and master had
been strengthened by the marriage of the latter to Junia
Lepida, the aunt of Silanus. In the time of Caligula, while
holding the office of proconsul of Asia, Cassius had been
unjustly suspected of the conspiracy to discover which
Quintiha had been so shockingly tortured;^ and his death
having been decreed by Caligula, he was summoned to
Rome; but the tyrant fortunately died before his arrival
He was now far advanced in years and blind; utterly un-
conscious of plots and conspiracies and devoted to form-
ing the graceiul mind and opening character of his young
kinsman.

The virtuous picture did not escape the evil eye of the
besotted Nero, and he formally accused Cassius of cherish-
ing among the images of his ancestors the bust of Caius
Cassius,^ inscribed "the leader of the party"; and that in
addition to thus venerating the memory of a name implac-
ably hostile to the family of the Caesars, he had attached

' Ante, page 137. ' Ante, page ;9S. ' One of Ceesar's muixlerera

[ 157 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

to his person the descendant of Augustus, with a view of
making him the centre of his revolutionary schemes. Sila-
nus was himself chaiged with the same accusations which
had formerly been brought against his uncle Torquatus,
and finally the Emperor procured informers to accuse the
wife of Cassius of ''practising horrible magic rites" and of
incest with her nephew.

After gravely hearing the "charges," the Senate pro-
nounced sentence of banishment against Cassius, who was
sent to Saidinia, where Nero planned to kill him, but him-
self died too soon, and the virtuous old man was recaUed
by Galba and died peacefully at Rome. The case of Lepida
was "referred to Caesar," and we are uninformed as to her
punishment; but can we doubt what befell a descendant
of Augustus who vanished into the darkness of Nero s
mercy? Not, at least, if we may judge from the fate of
her nephew. No sentence was pronounced upon Silanus,
who was at first merely confined in the city of Barium, in
Apulia. But while living there in the greatest extremity,
he was confronted one day by a centurion who roughly
ordered him to open his veins. The son of Marcus Junius,
however, was no Cicero nor Seneca. Descended from a
long line of ancestors, in no generation of whom was death
by violence unknown, the spirited young Julian, in whose
character seemed blended all the better elements of his
race, determined that if the final destruction of that race
were now at hand, he at least would not allow an assassin
the glory of accomplishing it. Athletic in form and inured
to manly exercises, he fought his assailants with naked
hands imtil, overpowered by the soldiers, ** he fell as though
in battle from wounds received from the centurion in front
of his body."

Thus perished the last male of the line of Augustus,

[ 158]

THE FAMILY OF NERO

with the exception of Nero; and with the possible ex-
ception also of one or two females, whose fate is shrouded
in darkness, the last of the house of Caesar. His great-
great-grandmother, Julia, the daughter of Augustus, had
been starved to death by Tiberius. His great-grandmother,
the younger Julia, had pierished in the same way, and his
great-g)-andfather, Lucius Paulus, had also fallen by the
wayside. His grandfather, Appius Junius, was murdered by
Claudius and Messalina, while his father, Marcus Junius,
had been poisoned by Agrippina, who also forced one of
his uncles to commit suicide, while Nero destroyed the
other. For six generations death at the hands of Caesar
had been the heritage of his house; and with his own
brave life went out forever the last spark of virtue in
the family which the great Julius had founded a century
before.^

Close upon the destruction of his last blood relation
came the final murder among the Emperor's connections
by marriage. The victims were Lucius Vetus, who had
formerly been a colleague of Nero in the consulship, and
Antistia, his daughter, widow of the murdered Flautus.^
We are told that they had been long hated by the Em-
peror, their existence, whenever called to his attention,
seeming to reproach him with the murder of Antistia's
husband, the son-in-law of his old friend. The young
widow had abandoned herself to grief ever since she be-
held the assassins who had butchered her brave husband,
and had been with difficulty prevailed upon to take nutri-
ment sufficient to maintain life. But when a guard of sol-
diers secretly beset the country seat of her father, the
broken-hearted daughter, by a supreme effort controlling

^ The death of Silanus occurred in the year 65 a. n.

[ 159 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

her own sufferings, hastened to Nero, to entreat in person
for her parent's life. She might as well have pleaded to
a starving hyena, of which she herself was speedily con-
vinced; whereupon returning to Vetus, father, daughter,
and the latter's grandmother Sextia, after distributing all
their portable property among the domestics, in order that
the imperial liiief might not profit too much by their
death, quietly opened their veins and expired in the order
of their respective ages.

Although the victims were not related to him, either by
blood or affinity, one other crime of Nero's requires men-
tion as being in some respects the most flagrant among all
the brutal deeds of wickedness which soon were to people
the madman's last terrible hours with pale and weeping
ghosts and blood-stained, menacing spectres. *' After shed-
ding the blood of so many men of eminence," says the
historian, ''Nero at last conceived a burning intention to
extirpate virtue itself, by putting to death Thrasea Pcetus
and Bareas Soranus." Degraded as Roman society had be-
come under the low and evil standard, which, radiating un-
interruptedly from the Palatine during half a century, had
now fairly undermined the primitive purity and integrity
of the entire State, it is supremely encouraging to know
that among all the Roman senators Thrasea and Soranus,
**becatise of their elevated character and undoubted virtue^
were greatly beloved by the people. The fact was of course
in itself sufficient to rouse the jealous hatred of Nero.
But in the case of Thrasea, there were special reasons for
the Emperor's animosity. Twice had the noble and lofty-
minded senator refused to sacrifice his self-respect by unit-
ing in the servile flatteries which his cowardly and fawning
associates invariably bestowed upon their vile master after
some crime of peculiar atrocity; once when it was pro-

[ 160]

9itJl^

^-ssisr^s--''

THE FAMILY OF NERO

posed by the Senate to publicly congratulate Nero for
the murder of his mother, and again when divine honors
were being decreed to Poppaea — on each of which occa-
sions Thrasea walked out of the Senate. He had been re-
proached by his friends for thus laying the foundation of
danger for himself without opening a source of liberty to
others. But this was the pagan view. In the wider horizon
of the Christian's hope, the silent protest of truth against
&lsehood, of virtue against vice, of good against evil, when
manifested by the refusal of a noble soul to acquiesce
in an act of dishonor, however futile and useless at the
moment, is seen to be the sowing of a spirit which in
later times shall spring into the life of a magnificent ac-
complishment in the unending war for the liberation of
mankind.

For a long time Nero cherished his rage in secret, fear-
ing too much the wrath of the p^ppl^ to openly destroy
their idol. But taking advantage^ ^p£3t9>,^0^i^^ when the
attention of the populace was absorbed in the« reception
of Tiridates, the Parthian (who had come to receive his
crown from Cassar), the ceremimia^ .^tteA^iQg which were
the most magnificent Rome iiad. ever seen, the Emperor
ventured to accomplish his vengeance. Soranus was charged
with the time-honored accusation of having supported the
pretensions of Rubellius Plautus ; with his devoted young
daughter Servilia he was condemned to death. Thrasea
was condenmed upon what in modem times would be
called '^general principles"; the charge against him being
'*that he had trampled upon all the civil and sacred insti-
tutions of our ancestors." The soldiers found him at even-
mg in his beautiful gardens, surrounded by his friends and
conversing with tiie cynic philosopher Demetrius. His
noble wife, Arria, daughter of that other Arria of heroic

[161 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

memory,^ essayed to share his fate, but he restrained her
by saying that she must not deprive their daughter of her
remaining refuge. His veins were opened, and when the
blood began to flow he sprinkled it upon the floor, crying,
**Let us make a libation to Jove, the deliverer"; and call-
ing his son-in-law, the noble young Helvidius, he said to
him, '* Behold, young man, and may the gods avert the
omen, but you are fallen upon such times that it may be
useful to fortify your mind by examples of unflinching
firmness.^

Virtue was dead ; it remained for vice also to be exter-
minated, and the last act in the dark tragedy of the family
of Caesar was fast approaching, when the curtain was to fall
upon a race of rulers who, pretending to a place among
the gods, had, with one marked exception, by their lives
relegated themselves to the lowest depths of infamy and
brute degradation, which all the splendor and magnificence
of their wonderful Empire cannot conceaL

Thrasea had been slain in the thirteenth year of the
Emperor's reign, and for perhaps eighteen months longer
the ruthless murderer of virtue was tolerated by a groan-
ing world. Then came the end, slow muttering at first, but
at the last swiftly, tragically, terribly as the sternest exac-
tion of justice, untinged with mercy, could demand. The
Gauls, under Julius Vindex, a Roman general in command
of the province, first raised the standard of rebellion ; so that
it was from the indomitable people upon whose conquest
by the great Julius the house of Caesar founded its power,
that there came the first ominous mutterings of a gather-

^ The wife of Thrasea was the daughter of the celebrated Arria, who in
the reign of Qaudius, to encourage her husband, who had been ordered
to commit suicide, plunged a dagger in her own breast, saying, '^Strike,
my Pastus, it does not hurt!"

[ 162]

THE NE)(i' YORK

?UBUCU«RARY

AjUTQK, Lk.HOK AND

Vp.

-i

THE FAMILY OF NERO

ing storm, by which the last stone of the princely struc-
ture which had towered so loftily was now to be wrathfully
overthrown. The news of the insurrection reached Nero on
the anniversary of his mother's murder, but neither fact
gave the slightest concern to the Emperor, who, inter-
rupted at supper by the news, did not even leave his feast,
and thereafter remained at Naples for an entire week, with-
out taking any steps to meet the danger which threatened.
But at the end of that period he was roused by a proclama-
tion of Vindex, in which the Emperor was mentioned as
"Ahenobarbus," and was railed at as "a pitiful harper";
at which Nero was so mortified and enraged that he hastily
returned to Rome — not indeed to defend his Empire, but
merely to refute the accusations against his want of skill
in an art upon his proficiency in which he had so prided
himself WTien the news became more ominous he did call

with the examination of some ne\^ musical instruments,
which seem to have been the protG|type of the pneumatic
organ. But '
Galba and the

upon hearing which, in a paroxysm* of fear and rage, he
tore his clothes and ran screaming about the palace, beat-
ing his head and crying that it was all over with him and
that his Empire was lost. Encouraged, however, by his
old nurse and by the presence of his associates in vice, he
once more rallied and deliberately attempted to bury the
whole afiair in oblivion, by an abandonment to the luxu-
rious wickedness for which the Golden House had become
a synonym. But it was too' late. Horrible dreams disturbed
his sleeping hours ; his mother beaten to death by his or-
ders, the murdered Octavia and the other victims of his

[ 168]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

he ordered a grave to be dug, of the proper size and lined
by pieces of white marble, if such could be found. Then
he took up the two daggers which the eager slaves had
furnished him, but after feeling their points, whimpered
**the fatal hour is not yet come,** and laid them down.
Then beseeching one of the slaves to weep and lament,
he entreated another to set him the example by killing
himself, crying every now and then, "Oh, what an artist
is about to perish!" But the prsetorians were on his track;
during his flight he had been recognized by an old soldier,
who caught a glimpse of the Emperor s face when, his
horse having shied at a dead body in the road, the hand-
kerchief about his head had become disarranged. The
horsemen, who had orders to take him alive, were heard
approaching. Quoting a line from the ** Iliad," —

^ The noise qf ^mft-heded steeds assails my eaars^ —

he tremblingly carried a dagger to his throat; it was
driven in by Epaphroditus, his secretary, and Nero fell
to the ground just as the soldiers burst into the room.
Applying his cloak to stanch the flow of blood, the cen-
turion pretended that he had come to the assistance of
the Emperor, whereupon the latter replied, **It is too
late; is this your loyalty?" And immediately after pro-
nouncing these words he expired, with his eyes fixed and
starting out of his head, to the terror of all who beheld
him.

Thus on the ninth (or eleventh) of June, 69 a. d., in the
thirty-second year of his life, miserably perished the last
of the Caesars — one hundred and twelve years after that
other death at the foot of Pompey s statue had at once
made possible the imperial system and marked the eleva-
tion of its one great ruling family, of which Nero was the

[166]

1 fc. NOX A^^ ^\

THE FAMILY OF NERO

last distorted product During that interval we have seen
sixty-five Caesars by birth and marriage put to death by
the sovereign power; while of all those bom in the Julian
line, excepting such as perished in infancy, history tells us
of only five (and there cannot have been more than thir-
teen) who died from natural causes. Truly a bountiful heri-
tage fi*om the unnatural creation of Livia and the vices
to which it naturally paved the way, and one which if
it could have been foreseen would doubtless have brought
new honors to the '^Augusta" from the Senate and the
people whose conception of virtue had been swallowed up
in the vices of an unholy imperialism.

No relative remained to perform the last mournful of-
fices for Nero, whose name was declared accursed by the
Senate, and whose statues were overthrown in the verita-
ble saturnalia of joy to which the city gave itself up when
the tidings came from Phaon's villa. But the once beau-
tiful Acte, who tr^j^n tells us had become a believer
with the gentle Optajnii^ ^d the sparing of whose life by
Nero seems to have beenlihe 6n'e i^bite spot in his history
— she it was who gathered up aU tfeat was mortal of the
^'divine artist" aM.^i^osited the remains in the family
tomb on the Pikeian . Hill. As a family distinction the
name of Caesar had passed away forever, remaining in use
thereafter only as a badge of sovereignty. And for a mo-
ment, at least, before taking another mad plunge, Rome
and the Roman dependencies must have breathed more
fi-eely when the last tyrant of the great Julian line disap-
peared from mortal view.

[167]

,,-iS-.----''

THE FAMILY OF NERO

last distorted product. During that interval we have seen
sixty-five Caesars by birth and marriage put to death by
the sovereign power ; while of all those bom in the Julian
line, excepting such as perished in infancy, history tells us
of only five (and there cannot have been more than thir-
teen) who died from natural causes. Truly a bountiful heri-
tage from the unnatural creation of Livia and the vices
to which it naturally paved the way, and one which if
it could have been foreseen would doubtless have brought
new honors to the "Augusta" from the Senate and the
people whose conception of virtue had been swallowed up
in the vices of an unholy imperialism.

No relative remained to perform the last mournful of-
fices for Nero, whose name was declared accursed by the
Senate, and whose statues were overthrown in the verita-
ble saturnalia of joy to which the city gave itself up when
the tidings came from Phaon's villa. But the once beau-
tiful Acte, who tr^t^n tells us had become a believer
with the gentle Optajiij^ ^d' the sparing of whose life by
Nero seems to have beenT;he 6ne white spot in his history
—she it was wha gathered up all ttat was mortal of the
"divine artist" and'^^dl^oisited .the ifemains in the family
tomb on the Pikeian , Hill. As a family distinction the
name of Caesar had passed away forever, remaining in use
thereafter only as a badge of sovereignty. And for a mo-
ment, at least, before taking another mad plunge, Rome
and the Roman dependencies must have breathed more
freely when the last tyrant of the great Julian line disap-
peared from mortal view.

[167]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

teen died from natural causes, and eight died from causes
unknown.

Assuming that all of those as to whose death history is
silent died from natural causes, and excluding eight who
died in infancy, it appears that more than two out of three
of the imperial race came to a violent end. The proportion
is far more significant when confined to the mcde represen-
tatives of the family; of the twenty-eight Julian princes
not more than seven died from natural causes. Of these
seven, four (the infant son of Tiberius and Julia, the in-
fant son of G^rmanicus and Agrippina, Caius, grandson of
Tiberius, and Drusus, son of Claudius) died in infancy; a
fifth, Nero's father, only escaped execution by an oppor-
tune attack of dropsy; while a sixth, Barbatus Messala,
father of Messalina, is included among those whose death is
unmentioned. So that of all the males of that great family
which swayed the Roman world for nearly a century and
a half, Augustus, the first Emperor, may be considered the
only one who was permitted to die quietly in bed.^

As to the remaining fifty-two individuals whose names
have appeared in the foregoing pages by reason of their af-
finity to the imperial family, two Caesars by adoption were
murdered, and the third fell in war; five wives of Julian
princes, not of the blood, were put to death, a like num-
ber died from natural causes, and the death of eight is un-
mentioned ; nine of the seventeen husbands who were not
of the blood of their Caesarean spouses were murdered, six
came to a natural end, and the death of two is untraced;
while fourteen fathers, mothers, previous husbands or wives,
or children of previous marriages of those who braved an
imperial marriage met death by reason of such alliance.

^ Even his death was not entirely free from suspicion of poisoning. See
antCy page 44.

[170]

THE I^t^^• YOSK

PUBLIC Li PR^R^

ASTON, LKNOX AND
TlLDtS FOUNDATIONS!

RESULTS AND CAUSES

Next to the bare fact of this great domestic slaughter,
which of course first impresses us in a study of the Caesars,
we are struck by the progressiveness of imperial criminal-
ity as indicated by the family murders.

During the rule of the first Csesar, only one violent death
occurred in the family — that of its illustrious founder;
whose assassination, moreover, was not a family affair.^ In
this period, also, Pompey the Great was the only relative
by marriage who came to a violent end ; and although he
feU in war with his father-in-law, C»sar was not respon-
sible for his assassination, which was accomplished by one
of Pompey's own centurions, assisted by Egyptian slaves.
While the undisputed tenure of power of the Dictator
continued scarcely two years, even by his severest critics
it will be conceded that the brevity of that tenure had not
the slightest efiect upon the stilne^ now, under considera-
tion. If he had ruled a lifdtifi^ the i^$u}VV^ld have been
unchanged; for there existed aii impfUisabi^ gulf between
domestic murder and th^ devoted son of Alirelia, the ten-
der father of Julia, the nf^j^^'iqsjf^^^yi^ to divorce
Cornelia at the beck of lAielemble Sytfa.'* }

The supremacy of Augustus may be said to have cov-
ered a period of about forty years; during which interval
four Caesars by birth and five relatives by marriage suc-
cumbed to the passions bom of a consuming thirst for
power. Of these, three were destroyed by Livia, to clear
the way for her own son's succession ; while six were put
to death by Augustus,^ from motives of fear, preservation
of his power, and revenge.

During the twenty-three years of the second Emperor s

^ The charge that Brutus was Caesar's illegitimate son seems to be un-
founded.
2 htdodiiig Antony and Cleopatra, who were suicides.

[171]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

From the subjoined tables,^ which are based upon the
preceding chapters, it appears that of fifteen male C«sars
by birth who married, ten married near relatives of the
blood ; while of twenty-three female Caesars who married,
nine married Caesars by birth.^ The phjrsical, mental, and
moral effect upon the race can best be considered by a
comparison between the children — both as to their num-
ber and character — of these marriages and those of the
Caesars, both male and female, whose wives and husbands
were not of the Julian blood.

Of the ten Julian intermarriages, six were unproductive
of children, of whom thirteen resulted from the remaining
four, including that of G^rmanicus and Agrippina, the
number of whose offspring was nine.

Of the eight Caesars ^ whose wives were not of the Ju-
lian blood, history mentions eight children, while Tacitus
speaks indirectly of at least two others.^ Only one of these
eight marriages resulted unproductively.

Of the eighteen Julian females by birth who married
outside the family,^ not more than six failed to produce
children, of whom at least thirty in the aggregate were
bom of {he marriages in question.

It thus appears that while sia; of the ten Julian inter-
marriages were unproductive of offspring, a like result oc-
curred in but seven of the twenty-six instances where only
one of the contracting parties was a Caesar by birth. Again,

1 See Tables V, VI, VII.

' The apparent discrepancy is accounted for by the fact that Drasilla,

daughter of Gennanicus, was twice married to cousins: Caligula and

Lepidus.

* Three of these eight married both relatives and strangers to the blood.

^ The children of Rubellius Plautus. Ante, page 71. They have not been

included here.

^ Four of these married Caesars by birth, as well as strangers to the blood.

[m]

RESULTS AND CAUSES

not counting the marriage of Germanieus and Agrippina,
the number of whose children was so very exceptional as
to warrant its exclusion in drawing a comparison of this
kind, — especially where no similar abnormal factor exists
on the other side, — it appears that while nine Julian inter-
marriages produced only four children, twenty-six outside
alliances added thirty-eight children to the imperial race.
And if the five children of Julia and Agrippa be excluded
fit>m the one class as a sort of counterbalance to the ex-
clusion of the Germanici from the other, the results as to
the number of offspring would still be significantly dispro-
portionate.

But it may be said — and with a large degree of truth —
that even if fewer Cassars by birth had intermarried, with
a consequent increase in the number of their descendants,
the fact would in no wise have prevented or even retarded
the inevitable destruction of the family. Indeed, as already
observed, at certain periods in the Julian history more
Caesars would have merely implied more fuel for the
flames, so that domestic murder would have raged more
fiercely, and the destruction of the imperial house would,
if anything, have been accelerated. And yet who can say
what possibilities and advantages might not have resulted
to the Julian Une from a more frequent infusion of new
and vigorous Roman blood, like that of Agrippa and Sila-
nus ? Such, for example, as the birth of another Silanus,
who with all the courage and character of Lucius Junius,
and a little better fortune than befell that unfortunate
youth, might have destroyed Nero, revolutionized the Em-
pire, and reestablished the supremacy of his house upon
the solid foundations of humanity, purity, and truth.

But speculation of this sort is not essential to the con-
elusion that the too frequent intermarriages of the Caesars

[ 175]

THE HOUSE OF CESAR

contributed largely to the extinction of their race. For
whether or not affected by the disproportionate number
of offspring, the character of the children bom of the two
classes of marriages proved to be a matter of vital impor-
tance to the duration of the house of Cassar.

The difference in moral and mental traits of these two
classes of offspring is well recognized both generally by
physiologists and in the particular case by every one hav-
ing the most casual acquaintance with the history of the
imperial family of Caesar. Outside of those descendants of
Augustus and Octavia whose parents were not nearly re-
lated, there existed an undoubted line of mental aberra-
tion in the Julian house, which in the case of Caligula and
Nero developed into undoubted insanity. Now the appar-
ently invariable tendency of a totally unrestrained mental
unsoundness seems to be in the direction of some sort of
vice. And in the absence of either moral or religious an-
chorage— the old religion having lost its primitive grasp
and Christianity not yet arrived, while morality and sanc-
tity had become scarcely more than terms — it was per-
haps to be expected that even where insanity might not
be positively predicated, as this mental weakness was pres-
ent in a greater or less degree, its possessors, open to all
the unbridled license of imperial power, would exhibit a
corresponding tendency both to the depravity of their an-
cestors and the vices peculiar to their own surroundings
and intimate associations, public and private.

With a few noteworthy exceptions this conclusion is
borne out by the facts, and in part accounts for some
of those monstrous and shocking deeds which otherwise
would remain incomprehensible. On the one side, among
the offspring of C^sars whose blood was crossed in mar-
riage, we find the first Julia, the two Antonias, the Mar-

[ 176]

RESULTS AND CAUSES

celli, Germanicus and Agrippina, the two eldest sons of
Julia and Agrippa, Rubellius Plautus and the two genera-
tions of Silani; the lives of whom were, for that period, re-
markably free from vice and evil tendencies, and of whom
several on occasion displayed what would at any stage of
social and moral attainment be considered a notable ele-
vation of character. On the other hand, among the chil-
dren of the family intermarriages were Caligula and Nero,
Messalina, Julia and Drusilla, the sisters of Caligula, and
Aigrippina the younger. The first was an undoubted mad-
man, the second presumably so ; while Messalina certiunly,
and Julia and DrusiUa, if guilty of the offences gravely
recorded by Suetonius, must at least have suffered from
what has been not inaptly termed ^^moral paralysis,'' the
existence of which it is difficult to conceive without pre-
supposing some sort of mental unsoundness. As for the
mother of Nero, she was, it is true, almost a genius. But
her genius was of the Machiavellian order, between which
and insanity the line must be very fine — a "nice barrier,"
indeed.

Exceptions to the proposition, however, readily occur to
the mind in the case of Julia, the daughter of Augustus,
her son Agrippa and her daughter Julia, and the second
Livia, who, although the offspring of cross-marriages, ex-
hibited something of that same moral lesion displayed by
the daughter of Germanicus ; the third Emperor, who, al-
though the result of an admixture of Julian and Claudian
blood, was by some thought to have been as mentally de-
ficient as any descendant of imperial intermarriage; and
finally Octavia and Britannicus, classed among the best and
purest of their race — and yet the children of this same
imbecile Claudius and his abominable Empress cousin!
But upon reflection these apparent exceptions are seen to

[ 177 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAK
be of slight consequence. In addition to the doctrine of
exceptio, it is to be remembered that the fact of white
fowls occasionally having daric chickens does not affect
the rule that black fowls ordinarily produce black chick-
ens. In the case of ClauiUus, also, it is uncertun whether
fab mental infirmity was constituticHial or the result of
alHmve treatment following a severe illness in childhood.
As for Britannicus, it has already heea observed that he
died too young to confidently predicate upon his actual
character; his terrible cousin in early life scans to have
been quite as promising as the virtuous and lamented
young Claudian. Octavia alone remuns to contradict our
general conclusion; and while science may, by some mys-
terious prindple of atavism, expl^n to its own satisfiu:-
tion, mankind will yet wondo- how the union of Claudius
and Messalina could produce that pure and virtuous daugh-
ter of the Oesars, in whom had united three streams of
the Julian blood, than which none more tainted with vice
and impurity ever coursed in Roman veins.

It remains only to inquire how far the children of in-
t^marriages and the offspring of out^de imperial alliances
were respectively responsible for the domestic murders by
which the race of Oesar was destroyed. Although it is not
pretended that the answer will furnish a true comparison
between the criminal tendencies of the two kinds of off-
spring, it will at least be a sort of test of the general propo-
rtion that too frequent intermarriage contributed in no
small decree to the downfall of the &mily.

is <^ the tables already referred to, it
: thirty<five Cssars by Inrth who came
four were killed by strangers, two by
}f whose ancestors was of the Julian
by peisons who had married into tiie
[ 178 ]

RESULTS AND CAUSES

family. As against this total number of seventeen deaths,
eighteen Ccesars by birth were put to death by the de-
scendants of imperial intermarriages, who in the same
way murdered seventeen relatives by marriage as against
thirteen destroyed by all the others. To put it more di-
rectly, Augustus and Claudius, each of whom had only
one parent of the Julian blood, together destroyed two
blood relatives and six relatives by marriage — in all, eight ;^
while Messalina, Agrippina, Caligula, and Nero, the chil-
dren of intermarriages among the Cassars, put to death
thirty-five in the aggregate, of whom eighteen were Caesars
by birth and seventeen relatives by marriage.

And thus we have finally arrived at the inevitable con-
clusion that, as in the case of so many humbler and less
pretentious families, the house of Cassar was destroyed
from within and by its own vices alone. From the highest
pitch of nobility and grandeur it fell-^ the lowest depths
of shame and infamy ; imiil^^CiiOiiiit^^^ imperial city it

had created, and in the s^pl^^f^A'^^f'the magnificent Golden
House which was to haVe been its home for generations,
its last drop of blood wai^ yielde4 io :ex|^1idn of the family
crimes. In the mad and dttferly selfish struggle for individ-
ual supremacy, its sons and daughters had deliberately se-
lected domestic murder as their most available handmaid ;
and in the unlicensed enjoyment and unrestrained abuse
of the power and privileges thus fearfully acquired, they
had broken down the bars of domestic purity, they had
violated the sanctity of marriage, they had trampled upon
every law, divine and human, and finally, through an in-
sane pride in the pretended "divinity" of the Julian line,

^ In this computation Claudius is charged with the death of only one
Cssar, as it is conceded that of all the others put to death during his
reign Messalina was the true murderer.

[ 179 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

they had endeavored to perpetuate their worn-out race
through repeated intermarriages. God and Nature again
intervened; and as the death of the first Cassar was the
inexorable demand of social evolution, in whose trium-
phant progress the individual who has performed his part,
whether relatively great or small, and by whose continued
presence events are retarded, is ruthlessly brushed aside ;
so the final extinction of the JuUan race was the ultimate
penalty exacted by Nature and its Creator of those who,
by presuming to extirpate virtue and deify themselves,
displayed the mad ambition of subjecting all mankind to
their own lawless desires. Another and a mightier force
was gathering, another and an infinitely grander sover-
eignty was preparing, and it became necessary that the last
vestiges of what had almost become an accepted family
apotheosis under the shelter of a dangerous imperialism,
should be dislodged from men's minds and swept away
into the abyss, before Christianity could assume its eter-
nal place as the moral and religious balance of the uni-
verse. The first Cassar had lived and was gone. Christ had
died — and was come again. Both had been misunderstood
— as Emerson says, every great spirit always has been
misunderstood ; both were to regain their rightful places
in the history of the world and in the story of the Spirit.
But those other Caesars, upon the crumbled ruins of whose
house the sovereignty of Peter was to rise — what shall
be said of them ? We believe that as long as virtue is seen
to be fair and vice remains hideous, the very names of
Tiberius, CaUgula, Claudius, and Nero will be esteemed
abominable by mankind; while the good which appears
not unabundantly during the last years of Augustus can-
not avail to entirely overcome our horror and detestation
of the cruelty and wickedness which disfigured the early

[ 180 ]

RESULTS AND CAUSES

part of his reign. In the dramatic 'words of a great modem
artist, for the most part they passed ''as a whirlwind, as a
storm, as a fire, as war or death passes ; but the basilica of
Peter rules till now from the Vatican heights the city and
the world."

[181 ]

NOTE TO CHAPTER XII

IN his delightful "Tragedy of the Caesars," although
modestly termed by the author a mere "iconographic
essay," Mr. S. Baring-Gould has made a serious attempt
to vindicate the character of the Emperor Tiberius, and
incidentally of the Empress Livia Augusta and of Agrip-
pina, the mother of Nero. In the introductory chapter the
author states that his study was inspired by the portrait-
busts of the early Caesars in the Italian museums, and in
the body of the text appears the following:

"In the galleries of Rome, of Naples and Florence
one sees the beautiful face of Tiberius, with that intel-
lectual brow and sensitive mouth, looking pleadingly at
the passer-by, as though seeking for some who would un-
lock the secret of his story and vindicate his much-aspersed
memory."

Gallantly indeed has the author responded to that mute
appeal of the dead Caesar, and it must be admitted that if
Tiberius can be successfiiUy defended, and the character
of Agrippina the younger can be rehabilitated, the defence
and the right to rehabilitation have been established in the
pages of his work.

To secure a verdict, however, it is necessary not only to
refute the unanimous testimony of the ancient writers, —
Tacitus, Dion Cassius, Suetonius, and the others, — but as
well to overcome almost the entire consensus of modem
historical opinion. The author accomplishes it to his own
entire satisfaction by first disposing of all the early histo-
rians and biographers except the son-in-law of Agricola,
with the omnium blow that they are unworthy of credence,

[ 182 ]

BRITANNICUS

THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC UjRARy

'"^^UNDATrONSi

NOTE TO CHAPTER XII

their stories being founded on no better evidence than
"Roman gossip and lampoons"; whereupon it only re-
mains to perfect a most beautiful case of physiognomy
vs. Tacitus, in which to the honor of the advocate be it
said, the argument as a whole is more ingenuous than
ingenious. Although a basis of fact is attempted, the
strongest part of the author's contention seems to be that
all those beautifiil busts of Tiberius with the intellectual
brow, the sensitive mouth, and above all the "pleading,
sorrowful look," cannot indicate such a character as Taci-
tus describes. "There is in it [the face of Tiberius] not
a trace of coarseness, of sensuality, of cruelty;" while
he does not share "the opinion of Bernoulli that hard
thoughts slumber under the brows." In the same way,
referring to Nero's mother, who is characterized as "one
of the grandest women of history," he says: "When I
showed photographs of this statue of Agrippina to Mr.
Conrad Dressier, the sculptor, the exclamation that es-
caped him was, ' What riT .^yji^;^';v4iaft>'^ . true and royal
lady!' And that is the limpci^esyfa^n "tile ' p proud, and
refined face makes on all attentive students."

The *' Tragedy of the daesars" dji^plj^-^plidnly the edu-
cated and enthusiastic ph^isiiQgnbmiisrt. 'A^^ a ^scholarly and
charming essay on the Csesarean busts, it is both a valuable
contribution to the student and a deUghtfiil morceau for
those who are compelled to read as they run. But to the
ordinary reader, familiar with the "Annals," and at all
appreciative of its author's character, dignity, and fine
sense of loyalty to historic truth, to overcome one's con-
ceptions of Tiberius, Agrippina, and the others, which are
based largely upon the express statements of this incom-
parable history, will require far weightier evidence than
the deductions of the physiognomist and the phrenologist

[ 188]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

—especially when the first proposition rests upon a more
or less unattested marble bust some two thousand years
old. And, for that matter, however pure and refined the
features and expression of the second Emperor, accepting
the picture of Tacitus as fact, his would not be the only
case where the countenance of an angel has been linked
with the deeds of a devil.^

Any attempt to vindicate Tiberius inevitably compels a
defence of Livia and Agrippina Minor, and at the same
time necessitates bearing down upon Octavia, Agrippina
the elder, and Germanicus. We are therefore not sur-
prised to find that in Mr. Baring-Gould's essay Livia is
freed from the charge of domestic murder whatsoever,
and the mother of Nero acquitted of all similar indict-
ments, including the charge of poisoning Claudius. More-
over, in order to clear the character of Agrippina, it has
been necessary to relieve Nero from the charge of destroy-
ing Britannicus. For it will be remembered that the mo-
tive of Nero's alleged crime (as related by Tacitus ^) was
Agrippma's angry threat to overturn her son by enlisting
the soldiers in the interest of Britannicus. The surest, if
not the only way to dispose of such a reflection upon one
of the "grandest women in history" was to prove that Nero
did not murder his cousin. The entire contest between
physiognomist and historian might well rest upon the case
of Britannicus, as presented in the essay under considera-
tion^ and in the pages of Tacitus. Earlier in the argu-
ment the latter is charged with lack of information ; again,
with having derived his facts from the partisan memoirs

^ Milady Garik^ in hu Trotf Mousquetaires, is a striking example of this
suggestion. Fiction, it is true; but the fiction of the great Dumas is the
indisputable history of human nature.
^Annali, xiiL 13 ei seq. ' Tragedy of the QesarSy page 554.

[ 184]

NOTE TO CHAPTER XII

of Agrippina. But this is the "last ditch.'* The murder of
Britannicus must be disproved or the beautiful tenement
which has been erected for Agrippina will disappear ; and
in his desperate plight our author does not scruple to in-
sinuate deliberate misrepresentation on the part of the
great historian. "It is more probable," he sajrs, "that Taci-
tus feiffned the threat of Agrippina in order to give plau-
sibility to his tragic story of a crime which he felt was with-
out motive''^ And then, after asserting that we must receive
the stories of poison with the greatest mistrust, and ridi-
culing the other motives attributed to Nero, he declares
it incredible both that all the details of the alleged poison-
ing could be given with such minuteness and that the
hitherto amiable and harmless Emperor could have con-
trived and carried out so hideous a fratricide; and con-
cludes by sajring that " Seneca, moreover, must have been
the most despicable of men had he written his treatise on
Clemency with the knowledge that he whom he praised
therein was stained with his brother's blood,"

The author's attempt to strengthen his argument by a
conclusion drawn from the conduct of Seneca is imfortu-
nate. The mind naturally reverts to the part played by
this moral preceptor in the murder of Agrippina— in re-
gard to which, by the way, our author's usual ingenuous-
ness is not manifested. When the first failure of Anicetus
was reported and Nero summoned his friends for counsel,
Seneca, according to the "Tragedy," "knew not what to
say, what to advise, and when Burrhus was bidden to send
soldiers to kill the Empress, he bluntly replied that the
praetorians would never draw the sword against the daugh-
ter of Gennanicus." But from whom came the suggestion

^ Compare with a statement of Tacitus as to the sources of his informa-
tion^ Annaliy xL 27, quoted ante, page 115.

[ 186]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

that Burrhus should be called upon to perform the evil
deed? According to Tacitus, it came firom the virttioTis
Seneca himself/ ^ The charge is directly made in the same
paragraph which contains the reply of Burrhus, quoted
as sufficiently proven by our author, who however appar-
ently considers the great historian untrustworthy when it
comes to a reflection upon Seneca, who was too aston-
ishingly virtuous to have praised in his treatise a possible
fratricide. As for the suggestion of incredibility that Nero
could have committed the crime and that its details could
have been so minutely known, what is there in it more
incredible than that this abominable young egoist could
have murdered his own mother, and that posterity could
have information of the veriest details of that terrible
crime, as related by our author himself?

The murder of Postumus Agrippa at the threshold of
the reign of Tiberius is another stubborn fact to be ex-
plained in any vindication of his adoptive brother. It is
admitted that Tiberius was the only one to profit by
Agrippa's death, that the hapless grandson of Augustus
was slain by a centurion acting, as he afterwards declared
in his official report, by command of Livia's son, and that
the proposed investigation before the Senate was checked
by the Augusta. Now let the unbiassed reader turn to the
first book of the "Annals," where the circumstances are
dispassionately related, and then consider the proposition
gravely advanced by our author, who, unable to get away
from the facts, adopts the theory that Agrippa was put to
death by the orders of Atigtistus^ to save Rome from civil
warl

If ever a cruel and crafty nature betrayed itself be-
yond the possibility of subsequent contradiction or expla-

1 Annals, xiv. 7.

[ 186 ]

BRITANNIC us

NOTE TO CHAPTER XII

nation, it was manifested in the destruction of Sejanus by
the second Emperor. Decoyed into the Senate by false as-
surances on the part of the Emperor's personal Ueutenant,
that he was to be invested with the tribunitian author-
ity, the unfortunate though guilty minister unsuspiciously
listened to a long and purposely involved communication,
which, after first referring to Sejanus in not unkind terms,
branched off upon other subjects, and to the unbounded
astonishment of all, abruptly closed by ordering the arrest
of the favorite, who was at once savagely butchered under
the directions of his imperial master's personal envoy.

The facts are not denied by our author, whose explana-
tion is that this maliciously cruel letter was written by
the Emperor in a tumult of nervous terrors and with his
mind unhinged by loss of confidence in the man he had
so blindly loved. But what can be thought of the char-
acter of one whose love would seek revenge so diabolically
planned? And indeed what can bficth^itigl$;9^ "love"
which this refined and sensitl^^ Tfcapejffi:^— he of the
"intellectual brow," of the tender, womanly countenance,
w^hich betrayed so plainly a^ aceat,.".lpndliness restrained
by timidity" — had cherished fof tMs notovipQs ministerial
bandit during all the years of his^savage. cm^eer? It was
rather the love of a tiger for his marauding associate — a
love from which might be expected just such fruits as
appeared, when following the shameful indignities which
during three days were publicly bestowed upon the corpse
of Sejanus, his innocent little children were destroyed un-
der circumstances of such unutterable horror that the mind
shrinks from the very thought of the story as told by the
historian.

Our author's views as to the character and death of the
elder Agrippina, whose "ambition and blind hate" he de-

[ 187 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

in his old age, then we must suppose he was insane," says
the author of the ** Tragedy.** This he refuses to do. But
in the case of Agrippina and Drusus he can account for
the difficulties and reconcile the apparent contradictions
only by predicating insanity; and to this he sees no ob-
jection.

The noble Octavia, beloved by Augustus, lauded by
Plutarch, and as the writer had supposed universally con-
ceded to have been a woman of extraordinary merit and
generosity of temperament — she also suffers from the
demonstrations of physiognomy. Her son Marcellus, it
will be remembered, met an untimely death, soon after
his marriage to Julia, the daughter of Augustus ; and his
supposed poisoning was among the crimes laid at the door
of the Augusta. Says the author of the **Tragedy"^: "The
intensity of the grief and disappointment of Octavia at
the loss of her son on whom she had not only set her
heart, but also her ambition, was, if not greater than that
of Augustus, at least more demonstrative and less mea-
sured. ... It was a short step from frantic grief and dis-
appointed rage, to make accusation against the guiltless
Livia of having contrived the death of Marcellus. If tlie
reader xvill look back at the face of OctaxAa he xvill see that
under all the heaviness of expression^ there lurks an ugly
unrea^soning temper.^*

Whatever may be the expression of the Louvre bust,
^^an ugly unreasoning temper*' had no place in the char-
acter of the considerate, unselfish, and generous-minded
Octavia, as sketched by Plutarch, and once more we must
decline to conform a long-cherished mental image, origi-
nally outlined by the fathers of biography and history, to
the unsupported deductions of an inexact science.

» Page 174.

[ 190 ]

TOWF.U

T-F M'W y^'^K \

NOTE TO CHAPTER XII

But however tempting the subject, the limits of this
sketch forbid a further discussion of Mr. Baring-Gould's
fascinating study. Enough has been stated to suggest the
line of his argument, which must be read in its entirety to
be appreciated — and to which, as the writer is convinced,
there must then be returned the verdict of "Unproven."

• / l it t .-t

[ 191 1

•

u
•^

- -I I

-a

«?

•<

— -<

<§

APPENDIX
TABLE I

VICTIMS OF THE CAESARS

Julius CiESAR. The founder of the Family.
Assassinated by Cassitis^ Brutus^ and others.

Cneius Pompey Magnus. CiESAu's son-in-law.

Assassinated by one of his centurions and Egyptian
soldiers.

Marcellus. Son-in-law of Augustus.
Destroyed by Lima Augusta.

Caius CiESAR. Son of Julia and Agrippa.
Destroyed by Lima Augusta.

Lucius Caesar. Son of Julia and Agrippa.
Destroyed by Livia Augusta.

Cjesario. Reputed son of Julius CiESAR and Cleopatra.
Put to death by Augustus.

Lucius Paulus. Husband of Julia, granddaughter of
Augustus.
Put to death by Augustus.

Mark Antony. Brother-in-law of Augustus.
Committed suicide.

Cleopatra. Wife of Antony.
Committed suicide.

Julius Antonius. Son of Antony.
Put to death by Augustus.

Antyllus. Son of Antony.
Put to death by Augustus.

[ 195]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

Julia, Daughter of Augustus.
Put to death by Tiberius.

Julia. Granddaughter of Augustus.
Pvt to death by Tiberius.

PosTUMUS Agrippa. Brother of the last-mentioned.
Put to death by Tiberius.

Geemanicus. Nephew of Tiberius.
Put to death by Lixna.

Nero. Son of Germanicus.

Put to death by Tiberius and S^anus.

Drusus. Son of Germanicus.

Put to death by Tiberius and Syarms.

Tiberius the Emperor.

Put to death by Macro and Caligula.

Drusus Minor. Son of Tiberius.
Put to death by Lima the younger.

LiviA. Wife of the last-mentioned and daughter of Ger-
manicus.
Put to death by Tiberius.

Agrippin A. Granddaughter of Augustus and wife of Ger-
manicus.
Put to death by Tiberius.

AsiNius Gallus. Second husband of Vipsania Agrip-
piNA, the wife of Tiberius.
Put to death by Tiberius.

iEMiLiA Lepida. Wife of Drusus, the son of Germanicus.
Put to death by Tiberius.

Claudia Pulchra (?).

Put to death by Tiberius.

Titus Ollius. Father of Popp^a.
Put to death by Sganus.

[ 196 ]

APPENDIX

Tiberius Gemellus. Grandson of Tiberius.
Put to death by Caligula.

Lepidus. Great-grandson of Augustus.
Put to death by Caligula.

Caligula the Emperor.
Put to death by Chcerea.

Antonia. Mother of Germanicus. %

Put to death by Caligula. u

Claudia. Daughter of the Emperor Claudius.
Put to death by Claudius.

Julia Drusilla. Daughter of Caligula.
Put to death by Lupus.

C^soNiA. Wife of Caligula.
Put to death by Luyus.

Ptolemy. Grandson of Cleopatra.
Put to death by Caligula.

Julia. Daughter of Germanicus.

Put to death by Claudius and Messaliruu

Julia. Granddaughter of Tiberius.

Put to death by Claudius and Messalina.

Messalina. Wife of Claudius.
Put to death by Narcissus.

Lepida. Aunt of Nero.

Put to death by Agrippina.

Claudius the Emperor.
Put to death by Agrippina.

Lucius Silanus. Great-great-grandson of Augustus.
Put to death by Agrippina.

Lollia Paulina. Wife of Caligula.
Put to death by Agrippina.

[ 197]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

Cneius Pompey. Son-in-law of Claudius.
Put to death by Claudius and MessaUna.

Marcus Vinicius. Husband of Julia, the daughter of
Germanic us.
Put to death by MessaUna.

Appius Junius Silanus. Husband of iEMiLiA Lepida,
great-granddaughter of Augustus.
Put to death by Claudius and MessaUna.

Passienus. Husband of Domitia Lepida (and of Agrip-
piNA Minor).
Put to death by Agrippina.

Crassus Frugi. Father of Cneius Pompey.
Put to death by Claudius and MessaUna.

ScRiBONiA. Mother of Cneius Pompey.
Put to death by Ckmdius and MessaUna.

Popp-ffiA Sabina. Mother of the Empress Popp^a.
Put to death by Claudms and MessaUna.

Marcus Junius Silanus. Great-great-grandson of Augus-
tus.
Put to death by Agrippina.

ToRQUATUs Silanus. Brother of Marcus Junius Silanus.
Put to death by Nero.

Lucius Junius Silanus. Great-great-great-grandson of
Augustus.
Put to death by Nero.

Britannicus. Son of the Emperor Claudius.
Put to death by Nero.

RuBELLius Plautus. Great-grandson of Tiberius.
Put to death by Nero.

Agrippina Minor. Mother of Nero.
Put to death by Nero.

[198]

APPENDIX

OcTAViA. Daughter of Claudius and wife of Nero.
Put to death by Nero.

Antonia, Daughter of Claudius.
Put to death by Nero.

DoMiTiA Lepida. Aunt of Nero.
Put to death by Nero.

PoppjEA. Wife of Nero,
Put to death by Nero.

Antistia. Wife of Rubellius Plautus.
Put to death by Nero.

Caius Faustus Sylla. Son-in-law of Claudius.
Put to death by Nero.

RuFius Crispinus. First husband of Popp-sa.
Put to death by Nero.

RuFiNus Crispinus. Son of Popp-^a.
Put to death by Nero.

Antistius Vetus. Father of the wife of Plautus.
Put to death by Nero.

Sextia. Grandmother of the wife of Plautus.
Put to death by Nero.

Atticus Vestinus. First husband of the second Messa
LiNA, wife of Nero.
Put to death by Nero.

Nero.

Committed suicide.

TABLE II

PERISHED IN EXILE

Lucius Antony. Son of Julia.

Sanished by Augustus and died in eooUe.

[ 199 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR
TABLE III

CiESABS WHO DEED FROM NATURAL CAUSES

Julia. Daughter of Julius Cjesab.

Augustus.

DoMiTius Ahenobabbus. Father of Nero.

Drusus. Infant son of the Emperor Claudius.

Caius. Infant son of Drusus Minor.

OcTAViA Minor. Sister of Augustus.

Drusilla. Wife of Caligula.

Augusta. Infant child of Nero.

Infant Child of Julia and Pompey the Great.

Infant Son of Julia and Tiberius.

Infant Son of Germanicus.

Infant Daughter of Germanicus.

LiviA Augusta.

LiviA Medullina. Wife of Caligula.

ViPSANiA Agrippina. Wife of Tiberius.

Junia Claudia. Wife of Caligula.

Messalina. Wife of Nero.

Drusus. Brother of Tiberius.

Drusus was killed by a fall from his horse while prose-
cuting the war in Germany.

[ 200 ]

APPENDIX
TABLE IV

C^SARS WHOSE DEATH IS UNTRACED

Valerius Messala Barbatus. Father of Messalina.

OcTAViA Major. Half-sister of Augustus,

Emilia Lepida. Great-granddaughter of Augustus,

JVIarcella Major. Daughter of Octavia.

Marcella Minor, Daughter of Octavia.

JuNiA Lepida. Great-great-granddaughter of Augustus.

JuNiA Calvina. Great-great-granddaughter of Augustus.

Antonia. Daughter of Octavia and grandmother of
Nero.

Barbatus Messala. Husband of Marcella Minor,

RuBELLius Blandus. Husband of Julia, the granddaugh-
ter of Tiberius.

LiviA Orestilla. Wife of Caligula.

CossuTiA. Wife of Julius C^sar,

Cornelia. Wife of Julius C^sar,

Calpurnia. Wife of Julius C^saju

Claudia, Wife of Augustus.

ScRiBONiA. Wife of Augustus.

^LiA P-ffiTiNA. Wife of Claudius.

Plautia Urgulanilla. Wife of Claudius.

[201 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR
TABLE V

C^SARS WHO INTERMARRIED

Mabcellus. Son of Octavia.

Married JuUa^ daughter of Augustus.

Caius C^sail Grandson of Augustus.

Married Livia^ granddaughter of Octavia.

Germanicus. Grandson of Octavia.

Married Agrippina^ granddaughter of Augustus.

Nero. Son of Germanicus.

Married JuKa, niece of Germanicus.

Marcus Lepidus. Great-grandson of Augustus.

Married DrusiUa^ the great-granddaughter of Octavia.

Caligula. Great-grandson of both Augustus and Octavia.
Married DrusiUaj the great-granddaughter of Octavia
and of Augustus.

Claudius. Grandson of Octavia.

Married MessaUna, also Agrippirui, each a great-grand-
daughter of Octavia.

Valerius Messala Barbatus. Grandson of Octavia.
Married Lepida^ the great-granddaughter of Octaxna.

DoMiTius Ahengbarbus. Grandson of Octavia.

Married Agrippina^ great-granddaughter of Octaxna.

Nero. Great-grandson of Octavia.

Married OctaxAa, great-great-granddaughter of Oc-
taxna.

[ 202 ]

APPENDIX
TABLE VI

MALE CiESARS WHO MARRIED OUTSIDE THE FAMILY

Julius C^sail

Augustus.

Marcus Junius Silanus. Great-great-grandson of Au-
gustus.

Drusus. Son of Germanicus.

Caligula.

Claudius.

RuBELLius Plautus. Grandson of Tiberius.

Nero.

TABLE VII

FEMALE CiESARS WHO MARRIED OUTSIDE THE

FAMILY

Julia. Daughter of Julius C^sar.
Married Pompey the Great.

Julia. Daughter of Augustus.

Married Agrippa; also Tiberius.

Julia. Granddaughter of Augustus.
Married Ltccius Paulus.

iEMiLiA Lepida. Great-granddaughter of Augustus.
Married Appitis Junitcs Silanus.

Antonia Minor. Daughter of Octavia.
Married Drusus Major.

Antonia. Daughter of Octavia.

Married Cneius Domitius Ahenobarlms.

[ 208 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

Antonia. Daughter of Claudius.
Married Pompey; also $yUa.

DoMiTiA Lepida. Nero's aunt.
Married Passienus.

Julia. Granddaughter of Tiberius.
Married RubeUms Plauttis.

LiviA Minor.

Married Drustis Minor}

JuNiA Lepida. Great-great-granddaughter of Augustus.
Married a son of Vitellms.

JuNiA Calvina. Great-great-granddaughter of Augustus.
Married Cassitis Longintcs.

OcTAviA Major. Half-sister of Augustus.
Married

OcTAViA Minor. Sister of Augustus.
Married Antony and Marcellus.

Marcella Major. Daughter of Octavia.
Married Agrippa; also JuKtis Antonius.

Marcella Minor. Daughter of Octavia.
Married Barbatus Messala.

Julia. Daughter of Germanicus.
Married Ltudus Cassius.

^ Livia and Dnuus were cousins genJui through their fathers, Drusos and
Tiberius.

[ 204 ]

PART II
THE IMPERIAL DISEASE

• \

THE IMPERIAL DISEASE
CHAPTER I

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR
From Galba to Marcus Aureuus: 69-180 A. D.

GALEA: 69 a. d. The death of* Nero, as observed
by Tacitus, disclosed a secret of the Empire;
namely, that an Emperor might be created else-
where than at Rome. The disclosure was fatal in its con-
sequences : again and again was the Empire torn by the
bloody contention of rival claimants to the purple, whose
standards had been raised in different parts of the state,
and whose ambitions would, as a rule, have been stifled
at birth if to Rome alone the choice of Csesar had been
consigned.

Servius Sulpicius Galba, the sixth Emperor, was bom
near Naples in the year 8 b. c. He was of noble extraction
and is said to have been distantly related to the Empress
Livia, although unconnected by birth or adoption with
the family of the Caesars.

The genealogical table which Galba erected for himself
in the atrium of the palace proclaimed that on the side
of his father the Emperor was descended from Jupiter,
and on that of his mother from Pasiphae, daughter of the
Sun.

The first Emperor is alleged to have prophesied that
Galba would taste the imperial dignity; while Tiberius,
being told that the young man would come to be Em-
peror, although at an advanced age, exclaimed, '^Let him
live then, since that does not concern me."

[ 207 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

ilising through the various grades of public office to
the consulship, the province of Spain was at length be-
stowed upon him by Nero. The news of the insurrection
in Gaul and the appeal of Vindex that he should head
the revolt against the oppressor at Rome came to Galba
in the spring of the year 68. Fear of his imperial master,
however, restrained him fix)m taking active steps until
proclaimed by the army, whereupon he marched straight
to Rome. His progress is said to have been marked with
blood, while his entry into the city, accompanied by a
Spanish legion, appears to have been signalized by the
massacre of several thousands of unarmed men. However
this may be, the old soldier, who seems not to have been
wanting in stem virtues, speedUy became unpopular with
both praetorians and the people, and finally lost the sup-
port of even his few intimate friends. By the former (to
whom he bluntly declared that he chose his soldiers and
would not buy them) he was charged with a breach of
faith in refusing the customary largess; and when the peo-
ple learned that the Emperor was governed by incapable
and pr6fligate favorites, and that all the worst abuses of
the last reign might be expected, with none of its liberal-
ity and extravagant spectacles, Galba's fate was sealed.
The storm broke among the German legions; Otho, the
profligate companion of the last Csesar, was proclaimed
by the prsetorians, and the rebels marched on Rome. Ac-
companied by a single cohort which was faithful to him,
the Emperor had left the palace and proceeded to the
Forum. At the Curtian Lake,^ near the rostra, he was met
by the prsetorians, who no sooner appeared than Galba's
standard-bearer tore off the Emperor's image and dashed

^ An inclosure in the Forum^ which marked the spot where Curtius leaped
into the Like once situated there.

[ 208 ]

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR

•

it to the ground; whereupon the soldiers with one voice
declared for Otho. The men who carried Galba's litter let
him fall to the ground and fled. Abandoned by all, the
aged Emperor bravely presented his head, saying with a
firm voice, " Strike if the good of the commonwealth de-
mands it." He was speedily hacked to pieces, and his head
borne in triumph to Otho, by whose orders it was fixed
upon a spear and carried in derision around the camp.
After being subjected to various indignities, his remains
were buried in his own gardens near the Aurelian Way.
He had reigned seven months. His character is perhaps
fittingly described in the caustic remark of Tacitus: "The
suf&ages of mankind would have pronounced him worthy
of empire, had he never made the experiment."

Otho: 69 a. d. The atrocities attending the elevation
of Otho to the imperial ofiKce formed a disastrous omen of
things to come. Piso Licinianus, a man of noble character,
who had been chosen and publicly proclaimed by Galba
as his successor, was dragged from the temple of Vesta,
where his person should have been sacred, and ruthlessly
butchered by Otho's order. The favorite and justly detested
Vinius was the next victim, following whose death came
that of the few remaining friends of Galba; and '^ after a
day of guilt and carnage," says the historian, "the joys
that succeeded completed the climax of abominations."
The fathers decreed to Otho the name of Augustus and
all imperial honors which had been enjoyed by former
Caesars, and the murderer of Galba was conveyed trium-
phantly through the bloody Forum, past heaps of headless
Roman citizens, to the imperial palace, where, as he flat-
tered himself, he was now to be the master of revels in
which thus far he had merely assisted.

[ 209 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

His joy was short-lived. During the very first night of
his imperial grandeur he was tortured by horrible dreams,
in which the ghost of the murdered Galba threatened him
with a drawn sword ; and the Emperor, in a fi-enzy of fear,
ro ed out of bed shrie ing for his guards. Almost imme-
diately also came the mutiny of the German l^ons, who
took an oath to Vitellius, as Emperor, and advanced upon
Italy. Otho first endeavored to concihate Vitellius by of-
fering him a share in the Empire. But the commander
of the Rhine legions refused to divide the gift of his sol-
diers. Otho, in the meantime, by again setting up the
statues of Nero, by restoring his friends to place and of-
fice and promising the speedy completion of the Gk>lden
House, and above all by announcing his intention to obey
the laws and govern equitably, had acquired a very con-
siderable support in Rome. Upon the failure of his n^o-
tiations with Vitellius, he prepared vigorously for war, and,
after assembling the neighboring legions and the prsetorian
cohorts, marched to intercept the Germans. The first pas-
sage was favorable to the Emperor, but at a great battle
near Cremona, where forty thousand were slain, the troops
of Vitellius were successful. Although the Emperor's re-
sources were still far from contemptible, — it would have
been mere child's play for the first Caesar to have turned
the defeat into a glorious victory, — he preferred to accept
the verdict as final. He gave a great dinner to his ofiS-
cers and friends, to whom he finally addressed a farewell
speech, declaring that he was unwilling to cause further
bloodshed. When the feast ended, he retired to his room,
wrote a letter of consolation to the widow of Nero, whom
he had intended to marry ,^ committing his ashes to her
care, and then slept calmly until daybreak, when he drew

^ Messalina, Nero's third wife. Ante, page 156.

[ 210 ]

iv o

S9%

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR

a dagger from under his pillow and stabbed himself to
death. He had reigned barely three months and had just
completed his thirty-seventh year. The reckless and vicious
associate and abetter in Nero's abominable depravity, it
has been well said that in all his life nothing became Otho
so well as his manner of leaving it. His funeral was cele-
brated at BrixeUum, where he died, and in commendation
of his fortitude many of his soldiers killed themselves at
his pyre. One can but wonder which was the most dis-
torted, the character of the suicides or their conception of
the character of the Emperor slain by his own hand.

ViTELLius : 69 A. D. Early in the reign of Galba, For-
tenis Capito, who had assumed imperial rights in Lower
Germany, of which he was governor, had been slain by
Valens, legate of one of the legions — not improbably to
remove a witness of the murderer's o^m^bortive intrigues.
Galba sent to Grermany as general ijiplaceof Capito, Aulus
ViteUius, a man without militaiy^ocjnSeed ^y special dis-
tinction, except that of havix>g befen'^what Su^etQnius terms
"scandalously vicious.'' VitellUiS is considert%ta have been

of mean birth, although Ms grandfat^£^r^3^ ^ Roman
knight and procurator under the firsj^ C«&sar, and his father
was a censor and under the Emperors-Claudius second in
rank in the Empire. After attaining the purple, when it
became necessary to proclaim a more extended genealogy,
no difficulty was found in tracing his descent from an early
King of Latium and Vitellia, a Sabine divinity. As the
companion and favorite of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius,
and Nero, ViteUius had become an adept in all the vices
and depravity of the age. While superintendent of the
pubUc works he practised the most shameless robbery, and
after squandering everything that he could steal, is said to

[211 ]

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR

ViTEixius : 69 A. D. Early in the reign of Galba, For-
tenis Capito, who had assumed imperial rights in Lower
Germany, of which he was governor, had been slain by
Valens, legate of one of the legions — not improbably to
remove a witness of the murderer's o^m% abortive intrigues.
Galba sent to Germany as general iji'place^f Capito, Aulus
Vitellius, a man without militarj^or^)n3eed ^y special dis-
tinction, except that of havi^g bebn'^what Su^tQnius terms
'^scandalously vicious." Vitelliiis Js considert<|^tp.have been
of mean birth, although his j^ndfat|^r^3^ ^ Roman
knight and procurator under the firs^ C«&fiaif, and his father
was a censor and under the Emperor\^Claudius second in
rank in the Empire. After attaining the purple, when it
became necessary to proclaim a more extended genealogy,
no difficulty was found in tracing his descent from an early
King of Latium and Vitellia, a Sabine divinity. As the
companion and favorite of Tiberius, CaUgula, Claudius,
and Nero, Vitellius had become an adept in all the vices
and depravity of the age. While superintendent of the
public works he practised the most shameless robbery, and
after squandering ever3rthing that he could steal, is said to

[211 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

" Hidden in the shady groves of the gardens of Arieia,
like those slothful brutes which if you give them food lie
down and sleep/' it was not until Rome itself became in-
volved that Vitellius awoke from his torpor. As a modem
writer has observed, ''he had regarded the Empire as a
banquet, and desired to finish the feast in tranquillity."^
The fair city of Cremona had been utterly annihilated by
the advancing Flavians; Rome was threatened with a
similar fate, and the imperial hog, after watching for a
time from his table in the palace of Tiberius the sangui-
nary attack upon the Capitol,^ finally escaped in a litter,
accompanied by his cook and baker, to a house on the
Aventine occupied by his wife. He was finally taken by
the praetorians, and amidst outrageous insults, half naked,
a rope about his neck and his hands tied behind his back,
was dragged down the Via Sacra and across the Forum,
where his predecessor had been slain, a sword being thrust
beneath his chin to compel him to look up at his tormen-
tors ; to be at last hacked to pieces on the Gemonian stairs,
from whence his remains were thrown into the Tiber.

Vespasian : 69 a. d. With the Emperor Vespasian it
may be said the Augustan age recommenced, continuing
for rather more than a century, when the death of Marcus
Aurelius marked the culmination of imperial splendor.

ViteUius was the last of the patrician Emperors. His
successor was the son of a Sabine peasant, whose father
had been a centurion in Pompey's legions at Pharsaiia.
The Emperor's father, after serving in the army, was made

1 Duruy, Hist. Rome.

^ The Capitoline and Palatine, at the northwest elevation of which latter
stood the imperial palace, are separated only by the depression which
constituted the Roman Forum.

[ 214 ]

.■^U^

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR
collector of taxes in Asia ; and he displayed such notable
lonesty in office that statues were raised to him bearing
he inscription "To the honest collector of taxes." At a
ime when those of his contemporaries who had greatness
hrust upon them were tracing their descent from the di-
inities, it is refreshing to read that Vespasian repudiated
he lofty pedigree prepared for him by his flatterers and
howed a manifest pride in his humble but honest ancestry.
Titus Flavins Vespasianus was bom in the country of
he Sabines in the year 10 a. d. — five years before the
leath of the Emperor Augustus. He had therefore seen
he rise and fall of seven Emperors before his own hopes
if obtaining the purple were realized. He was sixty years
lid when he came to power, and during the remaining
en years of a life that had been one of ceaseless activity,
le labored earnestly, intelligently^ and successfully for the
relfare of the State. Historian^ have spoken of him as
t time-serving flatterer of Caligula; 'tind -Stietonius heaps
ipon him the reproach of a sordid and culpable avarice,
tlis cowardly flatteries of the (third EnapecDr^can be neither
lenied nor condoned; but tpe other dhatge of Suetonius
las been seriously questioned. However i^is- rnay be, by
1 long life of faithful and brilliant services to the State,
rem the time of Claudius to his death thirty years later,
l^'espasian redeemed his early reputation, and if by only
letting a good example, accomplished more for the Roman
State than ever could have been gwned by reformatory
aws alone. Under his awakening touch and firm guidance
he innate vitality of the mighty creation of Augustus and
lis great predecessor soon put an end to the rapid disor-
pnization which had set in — a disorganization inevitable
inder a constitution where everything depended upon the
naster, and where the latter was a Caligula or a Nero.
[ 215]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

The Emperor profited by the very excesses of those who
had brought the State to such an evil pass ; and it is with-
out doubt largely from contrast with these others, that
the early century writers declared Vespasian worthy to be
compared with the best pnnces who ever reigned. From
what can be learned of his work and methods, he seems
to have apprehended the fundamental principle of all true
reform, — the supplanting of the old idea with a new and
better one« Suetonius himself is compelled to render him
this high testimony, — that it would be difficult to name
a single person unjustly punished in his reign, unless it
were done in his absence or without his knowledge. St.
Augustine says of him that he was a good prince and
very worthy of being beloved, while the historian Pliny-
declares, '* Greatness and majesty produced in him no
other effect than to render his power of doing good equal
to his desire."

It was fitting that for this man, who had proved him-
self truly the Emperor required by the times, the recur-
rence of that grim imperial disease which had stricken
every Csesar since Augustus should be stayed. In the little
house in Reate where his childhood had been passed, and
which he had sacredly preserved unchanged, death came
to him, in his seventieth year. Up to the last moment he
calmly and courageously occupied himself with the affairs
of the State. When the final moment approached he jok-
ingly remarked, — referring to his coming apotheosis, — "I
shall soon be a godl" A little later he cried out, "An
Emperor ought to die standing,** and, attempting to rise,
expired in the effort He had reigned ten years.

TiTUs: 79 A. D. The elder Vespasian had married in
early life Flavia Domitilla, who had formerly been the

[ 216 ]

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR

mistress of Statilius Capella, a Roman knight of Sobrata
in Africa. This wife and their only daughter died before he
became Emperor, and Vespasian had thereupon renewed
his former relations with Csenis, a freedwoman of Antonia ;
which may account for the fact that his two sons, Titus
and Domitian, were educated in the palace with the
young Britannicus« The elder boy is alleged to have been
remarkable for his bodily and mental endowments. Cer-
tain it is that he soon showed himself to be a man of ac-
tion and served the State with distinction under Nero and
his three immediate successors. Early in the reign of his
father, Titus had achieved great glory by the final over-
throw of Jerusalem, which succumbed after a two years*
siege; and following the triumph which in commemora-
tion of this affair was celebrated jointly by father and
son,^ the latter was openly associated with Vespasian in
the conduct of the Empire. It ^^as a lyise act on the part
of the old Emperor, upon whose atdih not a voice was
raised against the transmission of the purple to Titus,
who thus enjoyed the uniquetdistiBCtion of being the first
prince who succeeded to the Empire by .hereditary right.

Such an accession must have been a surprise to the Ro-
man world, accustomed to the wildest upheaval upon the
death of a Caesar — especially in view of the fact that the
new Emperor's brother had made no secret of his expec-
tation to be a partner in the Empire. But it was a strong
hand which now held the reins, and fortified by rather
more than connnon shrewdness, and the experience born
of his long participation in power, Titus also displayed a
moral character which could hardly have been expected in
view of his somewhat wild and dissolute youth. Strange

^ This triumph was marked by the beautiful ^'Areh of Titus" which spans
the road from the Forum to the Colosseum.

[ 217]

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR
mistress of Statilius Capella, a Roman knight of Sobrata
in Afiica. This wife and their only daughter died before he
became Emperor, and Vespasian had thereupon renewed
his former relations with Csenis, a freedwoman of Antonia;
'w^hich may account for the fact that his two sons, Titus
a.nd Domitian, were educated in the palace with the
young Britannicus. The elder boy is alleged to have been
remarkable for his bodily and mental endowments. Cer-
tain it is that he soon showed himself to be a man of ac-
tion and served the State with distinction under Nero and
his three immediate successors. Early in the reign of bis
father, Titus had achieved great glory by the final over-
throw of Jerusalem, which succumbed aiter a two years'
siege; and following the triumph which in commemora-
tion of this aff^r was celebrated jointly by father and
son,' the latter was openly associated with Vespasian in
the conduct of the Empire. It ^^ a vise act on the part
of the old Emperor, upon whose ateih not a voice was
raised against the transmission of the purple to Titus,
who thus enjoyed the unique.distiBction of being the first
prince who succeeded to the Empire by .hereditary right.

Such an accession must have been a surprise to the Ro-
man world, accustomed to the wildest upheaval upon the
death of a Ciesar — especially in view of the fact that the
new Emperor's brother had made no secret of his expec-
tation to be a partner in the Empire. But it was a strong
hand which now held the reins, and fortified by rather
more than common shrewdness, and the experience bom
of his long participation in power, Titus also displayed a
moral character which could hardly have been expected in
view of his somewhat wild and dissolute youth. Strange

* This triumph was marked by the beautiful "Arch of Titus" which i^miis
the rokd from the Forum to the Colossemn.

[ 2I7 ]

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR
him." Titus had indeed always treated his brother with
unmerited respect, and had invariably declared Domitian
to be his successor; which was perhaps one reason why
Rome accepted its new master apparently as matter of
course. But it is only upon the theory that the new Em-
peror had arranged the matter in advance with the ever
corruptible pnetorians that we can satisfactorily account
for the failure of the Senate and people to repudiate the
degenerate Flavian.

The comfort and assistance which Vespasian derived
irom his elder son were largely counterbalanced by the
cares and mortification imposed upon him by the younger.
The Emperor did not feil to realize the wide difference
between the two young men. Once at table, when Do-
mitian declined to partake'^, nflushrooms,* the father
dryly remarked that he "vf'diiidji^t^if^r the da^er."
The son grew up to be cruel, lazy, vindictive, sensual, and
superstitious ; and the e^of t .of this combination of vices
in the sovereign head of "k r^ffnM'-iip,;^ii^e despotism may
readily be imagined. UpoiS"ftrs*'^succ£?.dingf to power, Do-
mitian made professions of justice and clemency — even
of morality. But his evil instincts could not long be re-
pressed, and during nearly fifteen years his treatment of
the Roman people was exactly what might have been ex-
pected from a ruler whose favorite occupation in private
was that of transfixing flies with a pin. His uninterrupted
career of selfish wickedness was redeemed only by ati oc-
casional public-spirited act, such as the erection of build-
ings and other monuments, and the enactment of some
naoderately good laws — the latter intended, of course, for
every one except the Emperor and his favorites.

' The miuhrooin sterns to have been & favorite medium for the adminte-
tratioD of poison. Claudius was disposed of in this my.
[219]

. -'•ir'-T.r i^ii pizr^.n — even compeUing

. ^. -i^zr^ x= a^-^ wrich was so abhor-

^ - • _N. I ^ iJrc^i zzsz the shame and dis-

- .. -.sa' '^T ilrsir^ rfc.>r of tbe Emperors

^ . .■r'.u^\v t :r-ij jkko have brought him

.1 -2^ • r :2t**£ .-c a srrong and martial hand

c ^ • ^'^ r?c:i-ts: O' vhich had so easily coun-

^ ^ •." »"r--:i.t:^aL:LLT;x: efforts in £avor of reform.

. -c ^-^Ov.-^ of a successor he sdected the

> ^- -c ■:i-> T^c tbe purpose of restoring disci-

. i^ :'^' ::z^ State a ruler whom no force would

, _ V"^ Jt:: was then waging war upcm the

^ • v: 'ic'fcs Of a great victory came from Pan-

^ >.>^ w^rr rvV^.^-'j: solemn ofierings in tbe Capi-

.. • ^v^^:'t>i Trsrisn as his son, at tbe same time

;5^ o i.u the sur:.airie of Germanicus, which the

\»u '^.:ii-<^f a^umed in honor of bis generals

V \i' bividi::^ Trajan, in a letter, avaoge the in-

V . ,..> : isf Kir.jvix^r had sustained from tbe leading
. V i* * V gtiard, Xerva passed quietly away after

^ .*a^»^ Cecil months.

V v\. 9* A. IX In the selection of Tngan as bis sue-
_ \si\A supplied the State witb its first provincial

.v^. M. Vlpius Trajanus was bom at Italica on
KsC^x^ a iH^lony in Spain which had been founded
x. .J MO AtVicanus during the Second Punic War. His
u^ vv4^ A soldier who had attained tbe highest ci\il
. Ai:UturY honors — consul, govanor, triumphaUa orna-
..iM p»v-wnsul in Asia. Under his father the future
^v^uu* umde his first military campaigns, and himself
v»lil> became noted as a brave and skilful general
uU.^ uciueving the prsetorship and consulship, with the

[ 222 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR
of his uncle's death was received. His procedure, says a
modem writer, was very simple: to the soldiers he prom-
ised a double donativum, to the senators he addressed an
exceedingly modest letter. "The former were no more
capable of resisting the money than the latter were the
fair words, backed by seven l^ons; each received his
share and felt satisfied 1" But the old murderous spirit
which had dominated the Roman world under the Julian
dynasty must needs bubble up with the death of Trajan,
who had inspired a respect and fear which the compara-
tively unknown Hadrian could not at first command. A
plot was formed to kill the Emperor, and as the ring-
leaders were men of consequence, — all four of them ex-
consuls, — it would undoubtedly have borne fruit but for
a chance discovery during the absence of Hadriian, whose
first information in r^ard to the matter was that the
Senate had promptly executed the conspirators. Upon his
accession to power Hadrian immediately gave up the pro-
fession of arms and devoted himself entirely to admin-
istrative work. Emulating the simple and prtuseworthy
mjmner of living which had endeared his great predecessor
to the Roman world, and ruling for the most part justly
and well, he speedily gained the confidence and esteem of
both Senate and people and is fairly entitled to be called
a great monarch. One writer terms him "the best in the
imperial series"; while another declares that "when the
glory of rulers is measured by the happiness which they
have given to their subjects, Hadrian wiU stand forth the
first of the Roman Emperors."

In his domestic relations the Emperor was unfortunate.

There seems to have been no sympathy between husband

"" ' "e Emperor knew no peace until Sabina

was perhaps the reason for a report that

[ 226 ]

DOMITIAN AND LONGINA

1 ••,v

NK'V YORK

is-lO»t LtNOX AND
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Jh.

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR

her death was caused by ill treatment. Having no chil-
dren, Hadrian chose for companion a beautiful boy named
Antinous. But a crazy seer having declared that the Em-
peror's hfe would be prolonged if some one would die for
him, Antinous committed suicide. Shortly after this loss,
realizing that he was growing old, the Emperor secured
the consent of the Senate to his adoption of a successor,
and his choice fell upon Lucius Commodus Verus, who,
strangely enough, was son-in-law to Caius Nigrinus, who
was one of those put to death by the Senate for conspir-
ing against the Emperor. Verus seems to have been chosen
on account of his pleasing personality, for although appar-
ently gifted with eloquence and talents, he was without
fixed character and led the elegant life of the rich patri-
dans. The assent of the people and of the soldiers was se-
cured by a large gift of money;' but the choice of Verus
never was popular and brD^gI]t^o■'oontfo^t to the old Em-
peror. Fortunately for hi^ reputation, Verus did not long
outlive his honor, and oi)ce more Hadrian! found himself
alone in the world. Thesei.f*^fiyr^;ti;6^ 'wjw began to af-
fect both his health and tjb s_om^exteii.t.liis.i!haracter. Dur-
ing the later years of his reign there seem to have been
numerous executions for alleged conspiracy, although it
is by no means certmn that for these the Emperor was
direcUy responsible. And certain it is that he retmned
enough character and wisdom to make another public
adoption which gave to Rome two of her best and wisest
rulers. Assembling the most important of the senators at
the palace, he declared that he had chosen as his successor
Aurelius Antoninus; and as the latter had no son Uving
and was himself advanced in years, Hadrian stretched his
authority to include in the adoption, as successors to An-
toninus, Lucius Aurelius Verus (son of that Verus who
[ 227 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

had first been designated as Hadrian's successor) and Mar-
cus Annius Verus, a youth whose great capacities had al-
ready impressed the Emperor and who afterwards became
the celebrated Marcus Aurelius.

This adoption occurred the twenty-fifth of February,
and on the tenth of March following Hadrian died. His
last days were clouded with pain and sufiering, so that
towards the end he prayed for death and actually b^ged
a freedman to strike him with a sword — having; marked
the pkceoverhis heart withapiece of chalklrhe man's
courage failed, however, and he ran away, leaving the
wretched old Emperor to fight it out alone; which he
finaUy did with some degree of calmness and even of mel-
ancholy wit, if we may accept as authentic some lines of
poetry "to his fluttering soul" which he left behind.^ He
was sixty-two at the time of his death, and had reigned
over twenty years. His ashes were entombed in the mighty
mausoleum which bears his name — now, however, com-
monly spoken of as the Castle of St. Angelo.

Titus Antoninus: 188 a. d. The new Emperor had
been neither a relative nor an intimate fi*iend of Hadrian,
whose second choice of a successor seems to have been
based alone upon the latter's manifest qualifications for
the ofiice, at least as fiir as character and virtues were
concerned. Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius An-
toninus, as he had been named before his adoption,^ was

1 The lines are as follows: which Dean Merivale has translated:

^^Animula, vaguki, blandula, *^8oui qfmine, pretty one, flitting one,
Hospee, comesque, corporis, Queet and partner qfmy day.

Quae nunc abibie in loca, — Whither vriU thou hie away,

FaUidula, rigida, nudula, PaUid one, rigid one, naked one, —

Nee, ut eolee dabie jocoe" ; Never to play again, never to playf" —

' After his accession he was called Titus iBtius Hadrianus Antonius Pins
Augustus^ commonly shortened to Antonius Pius, or ''the Dutiful."

[ 228 ]

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR

bom near Lanuvium on the nineteenth of September, 86.
His ancestors came originally from Nimes» upon which
city the Emperor Tiberius had conferred the jus Latiiy
whereby any inhabitant who had held mimicipal office be-
came clothed with Roman citizenship. Both there and at
Rome the Antonines had enjoyed the highest civil offices,
including at least five consulships. The family possessed an
enviable record for character, and the virtues of the new
Emperor had come to him by direct inheritance from both
his father and grand&ther, who were men of purest lives.
He had himself filled the offices of consul, pro-consul (in
Asia), jvdex of one of the Italian provinces, and member
of the imperial consistory ; all of which indicates plainly
that before adoption he had enjoyed the imperial favor.

It is a mooted question whether or not the Emperor's
domestic relations were happy. His wife, the beautifrd
Faustina, has been accorded an extremely bad reputation ;
but it is not improbable that the attacks upon her char-
acter were in the main slanderous. Certain it is that the
Emperor professed for her both love and esteem, and re-
fused to marry again after her death, which occurred shortly
after his accession. Three of their four children had pre-
viously died; and of Faustina the younger, who became
the wife of Marcus Aurelius, little that is not disparaging
has come down to us.

Antoninus was fifty years of age when he came to the
throne, and the twenty odd years of his reign were a time
of peace, plenty, and protection for the Romans. Some
wars, it is true, were necessarily waged in defence of his
Empire; but personally he undertook no expedition and
diiring nearly a quarter of a century he did not leave
Rome or its environs, except for a rapid tour in Asia.
It is a grave question whether the very mildness of his

[ 229 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR
government was not the primal cause of his successors
greatest misfortunes. Unduly fond of his ease and inclined
towards too much complacency with the Senate, the ad-
ministration of Antoninus was lacking in the discipline and
rigidity with which Trajan and Hadrian had made possible
their successor's own peaceful reign. But for all, Rome —
that is to say, mankind — owed him a genuine debt of
gratitude, and posterity has accorded him so unique a
place among the best rulers of his time that his name has
become a veritable proverb for goodness

In his seventy-fourth year, after a life theretofore singu-
larly free from any sort of infirmity, his physical strength
began to decrease, although without attendant bodily dis-
order ; and in March, 161, after the barest shadow of an ill-
ness, he calmly passed away. His last words — in reply to
the tribune of the guards, who inquired for the password —
were "Patience and Resignation " ; which may be accepted as
an unaffected declaration of the principle which had guided
him in every dai^ hour. He had reigned twenty-three years.

Mabcus Aoreuus: 161 a. d. The successor of Anto-
ninus was of a family which came originally from Spain,
although he himself was bom at Rome, on April 26, 121.
His ancestry was patrician, his grandfather having been
twice consul, and prefect of the city. His mother, Lucilla,
was a direct descendant from Domitius Afer, the favorite
historian of the Emperor Tiberius. His name was Marcus
Annius Venis; after his adoption be was called ^lius
Aurelius Verus Cesar, and after his succession Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. From early boyhood his
life had been austere, the philosopher's cloak having been
assumed at the age of twelve, from which time he never
failed to practise the severest stoical simplicity; sleeping
[ 280 ]

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR

on the bare ground, eating little, exercising and working
without intermission, and indulging in no pleasures — or
rather invariably finding his pleasure in an unceasing de-
votion to duty, the pursuit of knowledge, and the attain-
ment of a perfect self-mastery.

Although Antoninus had named Marcus Aurelius alone
as his successor, the latter felt called upon to associate
ivith himself in the imperial power Lucius Aurelius Verus,
who, it will be remembered, had been adopted with Aure-
lius as one of the heirs-apparent of Antoninus at the time
the latter was formally chosen to succeed Hadrian. Verus,
however, although still further dignified by his marriage
with Lucilla, the Emperor's daughter, seems to have had
the good sense to content himself with the position of a
lieutenant. This was fortunate both for the reputation of
Aurelius and the welfare of the^^people ; for nothing but
the Emperor's own gravity of }if<^lWuy*^§p|)are|itly have
made amends for the wild and Hotdy^tiaisi^i!^^^ o^*the son-
in-law, who would soon have destroyed the Tibntor of the
imperial house if he had openly <oeQi4pied the position ac-
corded by his too generous bj^therT^xi^plCtbd Jby a select
coterie of wild spirits, Verus displSiyed^ll ilie personal
misconduct with which Rome had been disgraced by Nero,
with the important exception that his extravagance and
debauchery were fi^ee fix)m cruelty. Fortunately, however,
the Emperor had an early opportimity and the good sense
to despatch his associate to the East, where the fortunes of
the Empire were seriously threatened by a Parthian inva-
sion; and in his conduct of the campaign Verus certainly
bore himself both modestly and with credit He performed
a distinct service to the State in discovering the conspiracy
of Crassus, who was plotting to overthrow Aurelius and
seize the Empire. Four years later, after the inglorious

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campaign in Illyria, Verus died of apoplexy at Altinum
and relieved Aurelius from further sorrow and shame. Un-
happy in his adoptive brother, the Emperor was even
more unfortunate in his direct family relations. His wife,
Faustina (daughter of the preceding Emperor), must have
been indeed an infamous woman, as the Senate begged the
Emperor to punish or at least divorce her.* Seven children
had been bom to the imperial pwr, of whom two boys died
in infancy, the eldest daughter disgraced herself as the un-
fiuthful wife of Pompeianus,^ while Commodus, the only
other son, at an early age disclosed the peculiarly evil in-
stincts which in later years, and under the robust stimulus
of arbitrary power, devdoped into a character more de-
graded even than that of Nero, if such a thing were possible.
Aurelius certmnly needed all of his stoicism to sustain
the burdens wid calamities which finally pressed upon
him. The splendor and magnificence of the Empire had
reached its apogee. Already the signs of decay and disin-
tegration were manifest The reign of the "Philosopher,"
b^un in tranquiUity, had gradually developed into a
period of recurring storms. Inundations, pestilence, fam-
ine, war, grim persecution* — in its final effect more blast-
ing even than war, — all of these calamities in turn bore

' Among the scandaloua stories about Faustina were the reports that
Commodus was really the son of a gladiator, and that Verus, who had
married her daughter, Lucilla, was one of her lovers, Lucilla being her-
self charged with a similar offence in after years.

* Pompeianus was her second husband.

* The persecutions of the Christians which occurred during the reign of
Marcus Aurelius have left the one dark stain upon an otherwise singu-

ame. In refusing "to swear by the gods," — that is, in refus-
' certain laws of the State, — the victims were deserving of
bment, according to the Emperor, who when appealed to
declared that the law must take its course.

[ 282 ]

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR

down upon the just and gentle-minded Emperor, who,
unsupported even by the love and consideration of a vir-
tuous wife or son, became sad and mournful and rarely
was seen to smile. It is impossible to withhold profound-
est pity for the misfortunes which towards the end en-
gulfed a man whose life from very boyhood had been so
loyally cast upon lines of the highest ideals, essentially
pagan though such ideals may be considered. But on the
other hand, it is because of the very clearness of his per-
ception and rigidity of his practice in moral affairs that
we also find it difficult to avoid reproaching him for nam-
ing as his successor in an office where, as he must have
known, the character of the occupant counted for so
much, the weak, licentious, and savage youth whose in-
nate wickedness had already become manifest. For it is
to be remembered that the principle of royal heredity,
although of course always dear to a father's heart, as it
seems to be naturally, ab^^table to the governed, was
by no means that whicll^iiffid/'^r^Miofore obtained in the
Empire. On the contrary, out' wrjsi^tefn Emperors there
had been only twp-„tkus far who wfeBfe the natural heirs
of their predecessor,^ *l?fti*/:gke, j^est, the custom of adop-
tion (which, through lh«^.incWicr^ ^f formal ratification
by the Senate and the army^-fegs heen well pointed out^
to have been a sort of compromise between the principles
of heredity and popular election) had controlled in the
bestowal of the purple, the army or Senate stepping in *
where, for any reason, the privilege had not been exercised

^ These were Titus and Domitian.

> Confirmation by the Senate was considered as the assent of the nobil-
ity; that of the soldiers was accepted as a ratification by the people, of
whom the army was considered more representative than was the popu-
lace of the city.
• Duruy.

[ 288 ]

COMPLETION OF SPLENDOR
down upon the just and gentle-minded Emperor, who,
unsupported even by the love and consideration of a vir-
tuous wife or son, became sad and mournful and rarely
was seen to smile. It is impossible to withhold profound-
est pity for the misfortunes which towards the end en-
^Ifed a man whose life from very boyhood had been so
loyally cast upon lines of the highest ideals, essentially
pagan though such ideals may be considered. But on the
other hand, it is because of the very clearness of his per-
ception and ligidity of his practice in moral affairs that
we also find it difficult to avoid reproaching him for nam-
ing as his successor in an office where, as he must have
known, the character of the occupant counted for so
DQuch, the weak, hcentious, and savage youth whose in-
nate wickedness had already become manifest. For it is
to be remembered that the principle of royal heredity,
although of course always dear to a father's heart, as it
seems to be natural]^ abiMjitable to the governed, was
by no means that w,faic^'h9d.'^er^:^fpre obtained in the
Empire. On the contrary, ouf M.CBtjtepn Emperors there
had been only twj>„yhis far who w6ue the natural heirs
of their predecessior^^ 'Ffte'tiiQ, jest, the custom of adop-
tion (which, through Ui«^.incraei^ jbf formal ratification
by the Senate and the armyl'hag Jbeen well pointed out^
to have been a sort of compromise between the principles
of heredity and popular election) bad controlled in the
bestowal of the purple, the army or Senate stepping in *
where, for any reason, the privilege had not been exercised

' These were Titus and Domitian.

■ Confinnation by the Senate was conadered as the assent of the nobil~
ity; that of the soldiers was accepted as a ratification by the people, of
whom the army was considered more representative than was the popu-
lace of the city.
'Duruy.

[ 288 ]

■

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

Commodus, who was with the army at the time of the
Emperor's death, was urged by his father s generals to
stay and press the advantages which had been obtained.
Lxured by the seductions of the capital, however, he
bought an ignoble peace with the barbarians, and leav-
ing Niger, Pertinax, Albinus, and Severus (each of whom
afterwards became Emperor) to guard the frontiers. Corn-
modus hurried to Rome and at once plunged into that
sea of vice from which he never emerged. Of an inferior
intellect, his low instincts prompted him to pleasures
either vulgar or hideous; and being both vicious and
timid, it needed only a spark to develop that unreason-
ing cruelty which is the inevitable outcome of such a
nature when frightened or opposed. It was his sister
Lucilla^ who roused the tiger within him. Jealous of the
Emperor's wife,^ who of course had the precedence, Lu-
cilla formed a plot to kill Commodus and bestow the
purple upon her friend Quadratus, a rich young senator,
through whom she would thus obtain a larger measiure of
power. To her son-in-law, who was an intimate friend
of the Emperor, was intrusted the task of striking the
blow ; and one evening as Commodus was passing through
a dark passage leading to the amphitheatre, the assassin
fell upon him with a dagger, cr5dng "The Senate sends
thee this!" Fortunately for Commodus, his guards were at
hand, the assassin was knocked down and killed, Cassar
escaping without a scratch, although so overcome with
fright that he could scarcely speak. When he recovered
his senses he was wild with ftiry; Lucilla, Quadratus, and
all others concerned in the plot were put to death at
once, and upon the strength of the words used by the

^ The widow of his father's adoptive brother Verus. Ante, page 231,
* The Empress Crispina.

[ 286 ]

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DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

Eissassin many noble senators, friends of Aurelius, also
perished- From that day the cruelty of Commodus knew
Qo bounds. He seemed possessed with a veritable thirst
For blood. The list of his victims is so long that we can
well believe Dion's statement, that of all who enjoyed dis-
tinction in the State during the reign of his father three
mly under Commodus escaped with their lives. Once more
the informers, who had flourished under Tiberius, Caligula,
ind Nero, were called into being. Indiscriminate accusa-
tions of all sorts of crimes were lodged by these scoundrels
igainst the wealthier nobles, condemnation following as
matter of course ; whereupon their estates were seized by
the Emperor, who shared with the informers.*

But not content with executions of this sort, in which
lie could not personally participate, this brutalized off-
spring of the virtuous Antonines actually descended into
the arena, where, surroimde^' anA pcptected by Moorish
uid Parthian archers, and tt|l:H',fi£l§ohit:^ly without danger
to himself, he fought over; sev^ %Un^r€d''tx>mbats and
feirly glutted himself in blood. "Never," says Lampridius,
"did he appear in public with^Jit^being ^(^ed' with blood.
When he had mortally Ttoutxdea a' ^i^iiatdr, he would
plunge his hand into the wound and'tKeit wipe the blood
off on his hair." And Dion tells with shocking particularity
how he collected a nimiber of maimed and infirm persons,
had them disguised as fabulous monsters and then turned
into the streets of Rome, where this Divine Augustus fell
upon them with clubs and beat them to death, while the
degraded populace hailed him as Amazonius Victor I

As long as Commodus scattered gold among them and

maintained the amphitheatres with such extravagance, and

as long as it was only the nobles who were terrorized, mur-

* Man; noble women even suffered in the same way.

[ 287 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR
dered, and robbed, the populace had nothing but applause
for their flower-crowned darling. It was another thing
when they themselves were oppressed, and when the ex-
actions of the favorites, Perennis and Cleander, became
too grinding they rose in wrath and did some murdering
on their own account. While their frightened master seems
to have taken the hint and left the populace atone after
they had killed his two friends, his conduct towards the
rest of the State was if anything worse than ever; and it
soon became evident that expiation could not be much
longer delayed. The Empress Crispina, having been ban-
ished to Capri under a charge of adultery, was finally put
to death ; after which Commodus formed a passionate at-
tachment for a woman named Marcia, the widow of one
of the Emperor's victims.^ Marcia is said to have been
a Christian;^ and proof positive of the assertion may be
found in the fact that she it was who finally reUeved the
Roman world of its greatest monster. On the eve of the
Satmnalia,' while Commodus was making ready to pass
the night in a school of gladiators as final preparation
for the bloody deeds of the day to come, a child playing
about the palace discovered some tablets upon which the

1 The name of concubiDe seems to have had no disgrace attached to it.
A woman occasionally inscribed upon her husband's tomb Concubina et
haeret. Vespasian, Antoninus, Aurelius, Coustantius the Pale, and Con-
stantine the Great, all had maintained concubinage. It was really a kind
of marriage, not suppressed until the time of Leo VI, 988 a. d.

* The one good thing which may be attributed to Commodus — the free-
dom from persecution enjoyed by the Christians under his reign — is
doubtless in no small degree attributable to the influence of Marcia. But
it most be admitted that even before she came upon the scene, when the
Emperor first came to the throne (his ferocious cruelty not having been
yet aroused), he released from prison those Christians who had been in
carccrated by his &tber.

* The great festival of Saturn, celebrated December seventeenth.

[ 288 ]

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

Emperor had written the names of the victims who should
next perish. Among them were the chamberlain of the
palace, the prefect of the guards, and Marcia herself. It
was the last straw, and the hastily formed plan for self-
preservation was instantly carried out. Calling for wine,
according to his custom on leaving the bath, Commodus re-
ceived the fatal cup from Marcia herself, and the effect not
proving instantaneous, Lsetus and the others — including
the Emperor's own physician — promptly choked him to
death. So perished at last this Roman abomination in the
purple robe, in the thirty-second year of his age^ and
the thirteenth of his t3rranny. Writers who have preserved
the history of his reign have supplied us with a monoto-
nous account of the most shocking atrocities, without the
relation of one good measure of government or one single
act which shows care for the public interest And of the
five monsters whose hideous crimes render the perpetra-
tors unique in history — Caligula, Nero, Domitian, Cara-
calla, and himself — Commodus may fairly be accounted
the worst, both for what he did and what he failed to do.

Pertinax — DiDius JuLiANUs: 198 A. D. Following the
death of Commodus, six claimants for the imperial office
sprang up in different parts of the En^pire, and of the
five who were actually proclaimed only one died a natural
death.^

^ Nero died at the same age; Caracalla was two and Caligula three years
younger, while Domitian^ the other member of this precious quintette^
was forty-five. Caligula reigned four years, Nero fifteen^ Domitian fifteen^
Commodus eleven^ Caracalla six.

^ Septimius Severus. From the death of Marcus Aurelius to the time of
the Emperor Diocletian^ a period of about one hundred years^ out of fifty-
one Emperors^ with the exception of Claudius 11^ who died of the plague,
Septimius Severus is the only one who died from natural causes.

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The first to be invested was Pertinax, who was chosen
by the guard upon the motion of its prefect, Lsetus, who
had participated in the murder of Commodus. The son of
a charcoal dealer in Liguria, the new Emperor had risen
in turn through all the important public offices in both
the army and State, including command of the Danubian
army and the administration of four consular provinces.
At the time of his itelection he was prefect of the city,
and although now sixty-six years of age, the stem old gen-
eral, who seems to have been noted alike for his honesty,
simplicity, and severity in discipUne, at first gave promise
of accomphshing just what Rome needed, after the dis-
organizing reign of the besotted Commodus. But the
matter had gone too far; the antidote had been too long
delayed. Three days after his investiture the guards rose,
and Pertinax was able to quiet them only by an immense
donatwvmy which he secured by a forced sale of the luxu-
rious belongings of his predecessor. Shortly aft;er, it was
discovered that Lastus was himself forming a plot against
the Emperor, who, however, declined txJ approve the Sen-
ate's reconmiendation that Lastus should be put to death,
Pertinax declaring that during his reign no Roman should
be executed.

Such clemency was ill advised. The people were satis-
fied with their new Emperor, who ruled justly and well.
But the army, accustomed to the license and extravagance
of a Commodus, were ill pleased with the economy and un-
bending discipline which the upright old soldier imposed
upon Rome. Again the guard rose ^ — this time determined
to overthrow the government. The firiends of the Emperor

^ It is alleged that Leetus was responsible for the uprisings he having
put certain praetorians to death, throwing upon the Emperor the odium
of the execution.

[ 240 ]

Jl'LIA SABIXA WETK ()¥ HADHEAN

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR
urged him to fly, but the dauntless old man betook him-
self instead to the palace gates to meet the rioters, of
whom there were three hundred. At sight of their im-
penal master, some indeed sheathed their swords; but a
Tongrian soldier rushed in and wounded the Emperor,
whereupon the whole band fell upon him and hacked him
to pieces. JHe had reigned eighty-seven days.

At the first news of the insurrection, Pertinax had sent
his father-in-law, Sulpicianus, to treat with the prstorians,
into whose midst, whDe the envoy was still present, soon
came the rebels bearing the gray head of their Emperor
impaled upon a spear. "The King is deadl Long live the
Kingl" — and Sulpicianus, affecting no useless regrets for
his daughter's husband, immediately began bai^aining
with the guards for the blood-stained purple of his son-in-
law. Realizing that this was their opportunity, the pne-
torians now added to Roman disgrace its crowning shame
in a veritable sale at audSfor o^: the; Empire. A senator
named Didius Julianus, wtfo^Hiad^id^i^evied some promi-
nence in the State, inspired by his ambitious wife, entered
the list against Sulpicianus. ..^he latter iwas in the prae-
torian camp; Julianus :mblihted 'the wall,; and the bidding
proceeded. Soldiers ran" baCk Knd- forth- saying to the one,
"He offers four thousand drachmae; how much will you
give?" and to the other, "He will give twenty thousand
sesterces; will you go higher?" Julianus finally captured
the prize by offering to ^ve each soldier the equivalent of
H150, at the same time promising to rehabilitate the
memory of Commodus. The soldiers brought a ladder;
Julianus descended from the wall, and, having received the
oath and the imperial insignia from the guards, was con-
ducted by the latter to the palace, where, after sneering
at the simplicity of the repast which had been prepued
[241 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR
for Pertinax, he ordered another and then went calmly
to casting dice within sight of the spot where hty the
uncared-for body of the dead Emperor.

When the news of aU that was going on at Rome came
to the armies, there was an outburst of rage against the
Senate. Three famous generals were in the field, — Clodius
Albinus, who commanded in Britain, Fescennius Niger in
Syria, and Septimius Sevenis in Upper Pannonia.^ The
latter was by &r the more vigorous in action, and within
a short time, having skilfully secured the neutrality of
Albinus and made himself practically master of half the
military strength of the Empire, he marched rapidly on
Rome. The wretched Julianus declared Severus a public
enemy and made some feeble show of resistance. In the
vain hope of ensuring the support of tiie pnetorians, he
put to death Laetus, Marcia, and the other murderers of
Commodus; he despatched assassins to do away with
Severus, and sent other emissaries to detach and embroil
his troops. But his adversary was utterly resistless. Pro-
claimed at Vienna on April 18, he was at the gates of
Rome with an immense army in less than seven weeks.
Although the way was open to him, Severus shrewdly
avoided the spilling of blood, by sending a message to the
guard that he sought only the murderers of Pertinax. Im-
mediate compliance on the part of the pnetorians was fol-
lowed by a meeting of the Senate, which decreed the death
of Julianus, divine honor to Pertinax, and imperial power
to Severus. The miserable shadow of an Emperor was
found cowering in his bed and died saying "What wrong
have I committed?" — a question that might have been
answered by the famous remark of Chateaubriand, that

lion without ability is a crime. Julianus was sixty

Danubun provinces.

[ 2*2 ]

HIUS ANTONINUS

, i^HE «£»' r<M>r .
fUdUCUWAKV

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR
esrs old at the time of his death and had posed as Em-
leror sixty-six days.

Pescennius Niger — Clodids Albinus: 198-197 a.d.
Uthough from the death of Julianus, Severus is to be
onsidered as the actual Emperor, it was necessary to dis-
pose of the rival pretensions of Niger and Albinus, each
f whom had been proclaimed by his respective legions,
lefore Septimius might deem himself the undisputed mas-
er of the Roman world. Of the three competitors who
tarted with him in the race, one had been quickly over-
lirown, and with characteristic determination and enei^
ieverus set himself to the remainder of his task; which
1 the end he accomplished so well as to provoke the
istorian Herodian to say: "That one man should have
een able to overthrow three competitors already in pos-
ession of power; that he should have destroyed one of
hese in his palace in ^(U»n^,';t^.;se^ncl^in the remote
^ast, the third in the retn|ij^?ii)fcit^U^S6tfis^is a success al-
Qost unparalleled in hisfory." All of which^indeed stamps
he Emperor as a man yif action an j.^pver, but at the
une time plainly indicat^£(!t^w»«raMe^^emness which
?as to characterize his reigp,.^- „.^^_,;~— ■— •■

Pescennius Niger (the Black) was a soldier of fortune,
rhe son of a curator at Aquinum, he began his career as

centurion and worked his way up through all the mili-
ary grades. The death of Pertinax found Niger in com-
nand of nine legions and numerous auxiliaries in Syria,
Jid Roman Asia at once proclaimed him Emperor. Niger
eems to have been a man of stem virtues, affable in his
Banners and extremely popular with his army, albeit a
igid disciplinarian. He had been highly esteemed by Mar-
m Aurelius; while Severus not only considered him a
[248]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR
ormidable adversary, but during an illness in the
art of the war actually contemplated making Niger

two EmperoRS had been prockumed about the same
a April. On the second of June, Rome was in pes-

of Severus. He, however, tarried in the Imperial
irely long enough to remove somewhat of the sena-
Ustrust and to gain over the populace by gifts and
1^; and Julianus had been dead only thirty days
lis conqueror again set out upon an "imperial hunt."
ig the Hellespont, the troops of Severus engaged
ces of his adversary at Cyzicus, Nicaea,^ and Issus,
bree actions the Asiatic legions being defeated, with
laughter at the last Niger fled to Antioch, hoping

an asylum among the Farthians, but was overtaken
headed.^ Three years later, after the final overthrow
inus, Niger's wife, children, and six of lus near rela-
ere also put to death by the conqueror.
Ibinus had followed Severus to Rome, in the spring
1, the subsequent history of the Empire would
3ss have taken a widely different turn. From the
the Senate cherished a strong distrust of Severus,
Cer the death of Niger all the hopes of the opposi-
ere coitred in Albinus. So that if the latter had
t the seat of power while Septimius was warring
tiger in the East, the redoubtable Severus at least
not have had things so much his own way. But the
or was not only forceful and energetic — he pos-
no small degree of shrewdness. And before start-
pursuit of Niger he had sent messages to Albinus,

undred years before Alexander made himself master of Asia

r fail yUtory over the Greeks at Nicsa.

[ 2**]

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

eckring that he had adopted Clodius as his son, had
ranted him the title of Ctesar, and had designated him

0 share with himself the consulship of the next year.
Whether deceived by the fair promises of Severus, or
idifferent to the charms of imperial power, or merely
waiting the time when he should have won over suffi-
ient military support, certain it is that for nearly three
ears Albinus stopped quietly in the West, turning a deaf
ar to the entreaties of those who were urging him to set
p his standard.^ It was not until the summer of 196
tiat an open rupture occurred, and it is uncertain whether
; was precipitated by Albinus or Severus himself. The
itter was returning to Rome through the valley of the
)anube when he learned that Albinus had assumed the
itle of Augustus and was preparing to march into Gaul,
everus acted with usual promptitude. Albinus was de-
lared both by the army and the Senate a public enemy,
tie Emperor's son Caraealla similarly proclwmed Ctesar,
nd Severus, putting himself at the head of his entire
irces, threw himself into Gaul prepared for the supreme
fFort of his life.

If we may believe the historian of the time, three hun-
red thousand men were soon confronting each other on
iie banks of the Sa6ne, between Lyons and Tr^voux —
repared to teu* each other in pieces over the question
'hich of two brave men should be caUed the ruler of the
'orld. Both Albinus and Severus commanded in person,
)r each knew that all of his fortune was at stake and it
'Bs conquer or perish. The armies seem to have been
qually matched, the battle was bloody, and the issue long

1 doubt, A cavalry charge by Lietus decided the victory
1 favor of Severus, and Albinus, after an unsuccessful
Di«) Cossius, who was himself a member of the Senate.

[ 245 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

attempt at suicide, fell into the hands of the victorious
Romans, who carried him, still living, into the presence of
the Emperor, by whose orders he was at once beheaded.^
Little is to be found in regard to the family and early
life of Albinus. He is, however, known to have been of
pure African descent and his birth is said to have been
illustrious. He seems to have had command in Germany
as well as in Britain, and must have been a man of stamp
to have rallied so large and determined a force in support
of his claims. His wife and two sons were put to death by
the Emperor s orders, but the entire family could not have
been involved in his ruin, as one C. Albinus was prefect
of Rome under Valerian.

Septimius Severus: 198-211 a.d. Like the last of
his competitors, Severus was of African descent, having
been born at Leptis^ of a family which had refiised to
abandon its native province, even under the flattery of
high civic honors bestowed by the Roman State. Seve-
rus himself, although liberally educated in Greek and
Latin literature, never forgot his native tongue; and one
of his earliest public acts was the erection of a statue of
Hannibal, whose language he spoke and of whom he was
vastly proud.

When about fourteen years old he was . taken to Rome
and there completed his education, which included a course
of law under the eminent jurisconsult Scaevola, the cele-
brated Papinian being one of his fellow-students and
thereafter a lifelong friend. At the age of twenty-seven
he entered the Senate, and in time passed through all the
civil grades. From this branch of the public service he
turned to the army ; upon the death of Aurelius we find

1 Febniaiy 19, 187. » April 11, 146.

[ 246 ]

FAUSTINA WIFE OF PIUS ANTONINUS

► -•!

•I

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

him one of the chief commanders against the barbarians,
in 182 he had the Scythian l^on in Syria, and in the
following year he was at the head of the Danubian army,
by which he was proclaimed upon the death of Pertinax.*

The fomidation lines of his character were severity, a
love of order, and unbounded energy; and Fortune be-
ing kind to him — as she always is to men who have the
determination and ability to work out their own high
aims — Severus was able to at least stay for a few years
that degeneration of the Empire which, set in motion by
Commodus, was to be so accelerated by the Emperor's
own son.

The severity with which the name of Septimius has
been associated by posterity was justified by the Emperor
in his autobiography, upon the ground that it is better to
crash by a few heavy blows than ^to. .strike feebly and
often. In view of the times and the plsntiert of the Roman
world of his day, and judging by eveiiC; tll^'^inperor's
principle, at least from his own p6int of view, was npt un-
sound. Thus when he made his f^;;enl<y,jpto Roiie, the
three hundred murderers of Pertipax w§rie''>E*w:ut^d to a
man; while the rest of the guard, invitedTtrrwiie.out un-
armed and take the oath of allegiance, suddenly found
themselves surrounded by the Illyrian legions, and forth-
with received from Severus the sentence of banishment,
under penalty of death if found within the hundredth
milestone of Rome after a certain number of days. Jeered
at by both the soldiers and the populace, many of the
pratorians, overcome by shame, committed suicide on the
spot and the rest slunk away into obscurity. It was indeed
a heavy blow. But there was no more impoverishment of
the treasury to keep the guard quiet; brides which the

'Jkte, page S41.

[247]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

or was now free to pursue the campaigns agunst
and Albinus without fear of a pnetorian conspiracy

his back.^ So after the overthrow of Albinus, when
'-nine senators, convicted of a con^iracy in his favor,
Lunmarily put to death,* and at the same time every
le who had sided against the Emperor paid for the
7 with life or fortune, — Severus justified this whole-
struction of a faction in the laconic remark, "A man
je cruel once, that he may afterwards be merciful

rest of his life."

imius made some good laws, erected some noble
gs,^ and fought many hard battles in defence of the
z. With the learned and upright Papinian as his
ounsellor, his l^islation went hand in hand with
mirable administrative work which he himself in
lin directed. His highest gift to the State was the
>lishment of public order, which had flown to the
under Commodus. The chief reproach upon his
y is the cruel persecution of the Christians, which,
led even by the bloody tyrant who preceded him,
lewed with increased severity by Septimius.
ing his first campaign in Syria, Severus became ac-

two years, however, the guftrd was reorganised, and in the end
worse and more dangerous than ever, the Emperor having in-
the number to forty thousand. As originally constituted by Au-
here were three cohorts of one thousand men each, but from Ve»-
time there were ten cohorts. The number of the pnetorians was
educed by the Emperor Diocletian, and under Constantine the
ey passed out of history.

them was Sulpidanus, who had tried to buy the imperial robes
ad just been stained with the blood of his son-in-law. Ante,

them the peculiar Septizoniam, the rains of which are yet
at the southeast comer of the Palatine, and the magnificent
il arch which still dominates the Forum Romanom.
[ 248]

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR
quainted with the beautiful young daughter of Julius Bas-
sianus, a priest of the Sun at Emesa ^ ; and learning that it
had been foretold that she would become an empress, the
superstitious African married her forthwith. Julia Domna ^
proved herself a helpmate in the highest sense. Beautiful,
virtuous,^ intellectual, prudent, and yet ambitious withal,
we can well beUeve that the Emperor both respected and
leaned upon his wife, who accompanied him upon his ex-
peditions* and indeed is said to have first prompted him
to assume the purple. Supported by her sister and two
nieces,'' also famous for their beauty and mental giAs, the
Empress gathered about her a circle of learned men, and
so impressed herself upon the society of the times that her
intellectual tastes are said to have lingered upon the Pala-
tine long after "Julia the Philosopher" had followed her
husband to the grave. She was the mother of four chil-
dren: two daughters, of whom there is no trace in history,
' The name of thia deity vaa EUg&balua. See pott, page SS9-
'It is a question whether "Domna" ba Roman appellatioti meaning mis-
tress, or whether the word was merely a Syrian proper name.

* She was indeed reproached l^ the scandal-mongers of her day with
nuDy immoraliUes. But in view of what is actually known about her life,
the charge seems incredible. Certainly if the beautiful bust that we see in
the rotunda of the Vatican (No. 554 of the Catalogue) is indeed that of
"Julia Ra Domna," one need not be a physiognomist of any of the schools
fnim Aristotle to Lavater to insist upon something more than insinuation
before conceding immoralities to this pure, intellectual, and noble-looking
woman.

'From this fact she received the title "Mother of Camps," which
appellation, with a figure of the Empress standing in front of three
military standards, was actually impressed upon some of the coins of
the reign.

* These latter were Julia Sotemias and Julia Mamsa, each of whom af-
terwards became the mother of an flmperor, and their mother was the
celebrated Julia M«sa, who played an important part in the history of
■ nibseqaent reign. See poH, page S58.

[ 249 ]

THE HOUSE OF CESAR

and two sons, one the wild but unfortunate G^ta, the
other named Bassianus, afterwards inscribed upon the roll
of inffimy as Caracalla.^

In the year 208 Severus, although in his sixty-third
year, wearying of the inactive life at Rome, set out upon
what proved to be a last and disastrous campaign. Ac-
companied by the Empress and their sons, he proceeded to
Britain, where for three years he pursued a fitful and in-
effectual campaign against the northern barbarians, under
their legendary heroes Fingal and Ossian. The loss of fifty
thousand of his best troops compelled the Emperor to
make a rather humiliating treaty with the unconquerable
wild men of the north; and after partly rebuilding the
great wall by which Hadrian had endeavored to keep the
barbarians out, Severus, broken in health and spirit, re-
tired to York to die. It is said that Caracalla, having been
detected in a plot to dethrone his father and forgiven by
the latter, aft;erwards attempted to assassinate the Em-
peror while on the march. But the story, although not
at all improbable, rests upon insufficient evidence; and as
Duruy says, **To these doubtful legends we shall prefer
the truly imperial words of the old Emperor — *It is to me
a great satisfaction to leave in profound peace the Empire
which I found a prey to dissensions of every kind.'" He
died with the characteristic words — (an order to the guard
who came for the countersign) — "Go and see if anything
is to be done." He was sixty-five years old and had reigned
eighteen years.

Geta — Caracalla: 211-217 a. d. After the example
set by the lofty-minded Aurelius in the choice of his suc-
cessor, that a man of the type of Severus should also have

^ See Note 2 to Caracalla, page 25 L

[ 250 ]

MAKCUS AURELIL'S

[

-4

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR
yielded to the natural sentiment of heredity, even in favor
of Caracalla, excites no surprise. On the eve of the final
campaign against Alfainus, the Emperor having himself
previously taken the designation of "the son of Marcus
Aurelius,"^ the army was induced to proclaim Bassianus
Cffisar imder the name of Aurelius Antoninus.^ The act
was immediately confirmed by the Senate, and one year
later, when Caracalla was only eleven years old, his father
clothed him with the tribunitian power, equivalent to as-
sociation in the Empire, at the same time proclaiming his
younger son Geta as Caesar.

It was thus plainly their Other's intention that the
brothers should share the Empire, and all of the Em-
peror's dispositions were made accordingly. But he seems
to have assumed that Caracalla would be the dominant
spirit, and with a view of securing an experienced mentor
for his son, against the latter's wishes he had been com-
pelled to marry Flautilla, daughter of the prefect Plau-
tianus, an overbearing and./u(i9Q)It)tilmis official, in whom
the Emperor, however, reposed ii^i^tfV?Ofifidence. Cara-
calla was only about fifteen years of 'b^|.a)^ the time of
this marriage, which so etiffi^d.- him that ))e not only re-
fused to live with the yofmg Atjglosta, b'fat shortly after

* The act was preceded hy a Teritable adbptdonj'Mtti full legal forms, the
main object of Severus being to secure that portion of the immenae
wealth of Commodus which had not passed to the latter's sisters. In this
way becoming the brother of Commodus, Severus was in a measure forced
to rehabilitate the other's accursed memory; which perhaps more than
anything else occasioned the conspiracy in favor of Albinus.
' Bassianus has invariably been known in history as Caracalla, which was
the name of a Gallic garmeDt, a sort of tunic with a hood, which he dis-
tributed among his soldiers and the common people of Rome. The sur-
name of Caracalla, however, like that of Caligula and Elogabalus, was
□ever officially recognized, merely having passed into history from the
months of the people.

[2S1 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

the marriage himself actually killed her father in the
palace and very presence of the Emperor. He had in-
fluence enough with his father to procure the banish-
ment of the son and daughter of Plautianus to Lipari;
where a few years later Caracalla did not fail to perform
his "marriage vow" to Plautilla, that he would kill her
when he became Emperor — her brother perishing at the
same time.

Geta was twenty-two years of age at the time of his
father's death, while Caracalla had not yet completed his
twenty-third year. The two brothers had long been at
swords' points, even in the sports of their younger days
hating each other with bitter rivalry, which at one time
during a chariot race resulted in a broken thigh for the
elder. Shunning the refined surroundings and influences
of their mother, the wild and fiery young princes rushed
into every sort of pleasure, associating with the lowest
and roughest elements of the city. The Emperor, upon
his death-bed, had exhorted his sons to union; although
it is diflicult to believe that he did not foresee the inevi-
table tragedy from conferring equal rights upon two hot-
headed boys, of whom one at least had already disclosed
a base and wicked nature.

After their father's death the brothers set out together
for Rome, their jealousy and suspicion of each other be-
coming stronger as the journey progressed. Immediately
upon their arrival, the soldiers were apportioned between
them and stationed respectively on either side of the di-
viding line across the Palatine, which had been agreed
upon by the two Emperors and was picketed by their re-
spective guards. It was obvious that the explosion would
not long be delayed. The Empress Julia is said to have
inquired of her sons, "And will you also divide me?" to

[ 252 ]

FAUSTINA WIFE OF MARCUS AURELIUS

T'rtt

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

avoid the embarrassment of which situation and of its
recurrence, Caracalla speedily made his plans. Like his
renowned father, he believed in one strong blow. He
begged his mother to bring about a reconciliation, and
Geta having in this way been enticed into the apart-
ments of the Empress, Caracalla stabbed him, actually in
his mother's arms, where he had taken refuge, her gray
hair and widow's weeds being dabbled with the blood of
a son shun by his brother. Caracalla at once ran to the
guard and declared that he had barely escaped assassina-
tion at the hands of Geta; whereupon the latter was pro-
nounced a public enemy, his statues were overthrown, his
name was erased from the public monuments,* and the
sword with which he had been slain was "consecrated" by
the murderer, in the Temple of Serapis.

On the day following the ^nutder, hell — that is to say
the guard ' — was let loose, m^'pbm 4iiiat;tTKMnent a reign
of blood began. Twenty tht^usarid ftartifi^sv)^ Geta were
murdered in the palace alctne. The list of senatorial vic-
tims was also long, and ati tfps iiwp the noble Fapinian
and his son, the son of liiQ.ilnijJei^'-^^^l^ax, an own
cousin of Caracalla, and a daugKte1'*aBd.gi^dson of Mar-
cus Aurelius met the same fate.

Having made this clean sweep of his enemies, open and
suspected, Caracalla embarked upon a career of vice, out-
rage, and savage wickedness which for sheer brutality had
never been surpassed at Rome. Shameless orgies at the
palace, massacres in the amphitheatres, open murders in
the streets, a loose rein given to every form of vice, —
once again the devoted city found itself under the heel of

' Geta's name b said to be partly legible upon the Arch of Severus in
the Forum.

' The prstorians had been reestablished. See note, ante, page 248.
[ 253 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

a frantic madman ; ^ and this time there was no Marcia
either to stay the hand of persecution or rid the world of
its tyrant Acting upon a maxim attributed to his &ther, —
''Make the soldiers content and laugh at the rest," — he
practically turned the Empire over to the army, which
was enough to counteract what little virtue and virility
may have dared to show itself in the State.

After making a shambles of the Imperial City, in the au-
tumn of 215, it having come to his ears that his Egyptian
subjects had spoken ill of him because of G^ta's murder,
he set out for Alexandria in pursuit of vengeance. Inviting
the principal citizens to a banquet, at the end of the feast
he commanded that every guest should be put to death.
After personally seeing that not a man escaped, he ordered
out all the troops, and stationing himself in the Temple of
Serapis, he directed a massacre which in extent and cold-
blooded barbarity has perhaps never been equalled. For
days the carnage continued — without distinction of sex,
age, or condition — the slaughter ceasing actually not until
the strength of the butchers failed. And at Rome, when
the news was received, a complacent Senate commemo-
rated the event by a coin representing Egypt trampled
by the "Victorious Emperor"!

But the Erinyes were not dead ; ^ the tjrrant's dreams of
a figure threatening with sword in hand were about to be
fulfilled. In April, 217, Caracalla set out for Emesa to
consult the sun-god, of which his mother's father, whose

^ That Caracalla had intermittent attacks of insanity is asserted by many
writers^ who believe that^ like Nero and Caligula, the breaking-down of
his mind was caused by the secret administration of so-called ^^love
philters." Ante, page 91*

* The Erinyes were the Greek goddesses of Vengeance, of which the
Dirae of the Roman poets are an adaptation. They proceeded upon the
simple principle ^' An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."

[ 254 ]

EtJLKSTRIAN STATUE OF MAItCLS AlRELIl'S

ths

J^^^"*

.^oH.j'-roKTro^*'^

.ruo^t*''^^

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

name he bore, had been a priest. About this time there
had come addressed to him from Rome a letter in which
he was warned to beware of Macrinus, his prefect of the
guards, who was with him at the time.^ By chance this
letter fell into the hands of Macrinus himself, and though
apparently free from thought of treachery, he saw plainly
his impending fate and resolved to strike first. With the
help of a disgruntled soldier the act was readily accom-
plished. During the journey above mentioned, Caracalla
alighting from his horse one day was stabbed in the back,
and his future unrolled without calling upon the oracle of
the sun-god. His murderer deserved an apotheosis — in-
stead of which he was torn to pieces by the Emperor's
escort. Caracalla had reigned six years and was barely
twenty-nine years of age at the time of his death.^

Macrinus: 217-219 a: D.''>t«r^Opelius Macrinus was
a native of Ciesarea, in |AJfn6&%7b^^ hi wbs of the hum-
blest ori^ is evident from the fact Ihal^' he had fought
under the lanista, and had .hjs ears pierced for ear-rings,

' Severus not only reorganized the gfi^r(teJiy'.enrq]]ing picked men from
ill the legions, instead of irom Italy -aloiie as theVetofore, but he em-
ployed the new cohorts in all his wars, his successbre doing likewise.
' Apart from the horrora associated with his memory, the name of Cara-
calla recalls those magnificent baths whose stupendous ruins, next to the
Colosseum the moat remarkable in Rome, break upon the eye looking
southeast from the house of Severus on the Palatine. The enormous size
of the original structure is almost beyond comprehension; the themue
themselves, with marble seats for three thousand bathers, having been
nuTounded with a magnificent colonnade nearly a mile in length. The
premature death of Caracalla preventing his completion of this vast work,
it was finished by his successors, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus.
Among the masterpieces of art which adorned the baths were the Flora
Famese, the Hercules of Glycon, and the wonderJid Parncse Bull, now
in the Borbonlco Museum at Naples.

[ 2S5 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

which custom was afanost peculiar to the condition of sla-
very. By the favor of Plautianus, however, he had been
brought to the attention of the Emperor Severus, who
made him superintendent of the post service of the Fla-
minian Way. For some reason he was not involved in the
catastrophe which overtook his protector at the hands of
Caracalla,^ who elevated Macrinus to the important post
of prsetorian prefect. The accounts of his character are
contradictory; some writers asserting that he was mild
and just, while others describe him as severe, false, and
intriguing.

The death of Caracalla was greeted with unequivocal
demonstrations of rage by the soldiers, and Macrinus hav-
ing won their favor by professing the greatest sorrow for
their common loss, the army was easily induced to pro-
claim him Emperor. He was invested with the purple on
the twelfth of April, 217, and at the same time his son
Diadumenianus was proclaimed Ccesar.

The widowed Empress was at Antioch when the death
of her son and the accession of Macrinus were noised
abroad. Her cup of bitterness was now full. Cast down
from her position of supreme authority, which, conferred
by her deferential husband, had, it must be admitted in
justice to Caracalla, been continued by the latter, she at
last found herself alone with her unhappy memories : the
thoughts of her dead husband, of the fratricidal murder of
one son and the assassination of the other, embittered by
the reflection that the low-born adventurer who had com-
pleted the destruction of her house had himself succeeded
to its power. She was suffering, too, from an incurable
malady, and in a fit of despair the proud Julia Pia Donma,
the ** Mother of Camps," "Mother Augusta," "Mother of

^ See ante, page 251.

[ 256 ]

COMBIOUVS

,::^^r'^-^-^^'''''^

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR
the Senate," "Mother of the Country," as she had been
variously entitled in the proud and happy days at Rome,
deliberately sought through the medium of suicide that
oblivion which, in her hour of supreme anguish and need,
was the highest consolation her Stoic philosophy could
supply.^

Although the new Emperor was both a man of ideas
and of good impulses, he was too timid in disposition and
too petty in method to secure himself in the high position
which he had so unexpectedly acquired. Prevented by a
Parthian invasion of Mesopotamia from hastening at once
to Rome, the flattering letters which, with a view to gain-
ing their fevor, he wrote to the Conscript Fathers, promis-
ing to reestablish then* influence over that of the army,
aroused the jealousy of the soldiers, already provoked by
some fitful discipUnary and economic measures which
Macrinus had instituted. Serious reverses which he met in
the war, necessitating a, .humiliating peace with the Ar-
menians, increased the discdBtept-!'C>^:ti|»e army, which was
further incensed by the p^f$tenf;i|9>':th^ Parthian King
of a large sum by way of a "pension," |^ called; money
which, it was openly declsr^ among tb^ soldiers, would
have come to tkem if: Carat!titai^ad.\h^Qi alive. The con-
ditions were ripe for the'dhahge-^which .was at hand.

After the death of Caracalla's mother, her sister Mtesa,
and the latter's two daughters, SoEemias and Mameea,^ had
been banished to their old Syrian home at Emesa, where
a le^on was also sent, presumably to keep an eye upon
these relations of the dead Emperor. This act of the tim-
orous usurper proved his undoing. He should either have
' A statement that Julia killed herself in obedience to a secret order
froia Macrinus cannot be BubstantiatedL
' See ante, page 8*9, Note 5,

[ 257]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

left the S3r]ians alone» or — as Severus would have done —
destroyed them as conspirators at a blow. The three
women were intelligent, courageous, and rich, and the
Temple of the Sun, of which their family had long been
priests, had the right of asylum and afforded shelter for
both their persons and their wealth. Soasmias, the elder
daughter, had a son named Bassianus — afterwards known
to history as Elagabalus.^ He was then fourteen years old,
of remarkable beauty, and had already been consecrated to
the priesthood of the God of Emesa. Through this boy
Maesa determined to avenge her race ; and for the success
of the intrigue, as Duruy says, '^Meesa sacrificed her gold,
Soaemias her honor; but neither of them cared for what
they lost." Servants of the palace spread the report that
Elagabalus was actually the son of Caracalla, and the im-
mense sum of money distributed among the soldiers at
the same time easily persuaded them of the truth of the
story and that Bassianus was the rightful heir to the
throne. The legion declared for Elagabalus, and on the six-
teenth of May, 218, he was proclaimed Emperor, as Mar-
cus Aurelius: Antoninus. The revolt spread quickly ; from
all points in Syria deserters from Macrinus came to Emesa,
and it was not long before the army of Elagabalus was
strong enough to take the field. A battle occurred on the
confines of Syria and Phoenicia. Macrinus might easily
have won, but he had no faith in his destiny and at an
early hour of the combat abandoned his troops, who there-
upon took the oath to Elagabalus. Intrusting his son to
some faithful servants who were to conduct him to the
Parthians, the father fled to Byzantium, hoping to escape
this way to Rome. He had nearly made an asylum when
the soldiers of Elagabalus overtook him. While they were

^ See next page.

[ 258 ]

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR
conducting him to the conqueror news reached the un-
happy Macrinus that his boy had been taken and killed.
In a paroxysm of despair he threw himself irom the
chariot and broke his shoulder; whereupon the guards put
him to death. He was fifty-four years old and had reigned
barely a year.^

ElagaSalus: 218-222 A. D. The new master of the Ro-
man world, Varius Avitus Bassianus, was of pure Syrian
descent, his relationship to the iamily of Severus having
already been expl^ned. Although his mother, Julia So»-
mias, who is represented on coins as the Heavenly Virgin,
was accused by Lampridius of mundane frailties, the re-
port that Caracalla was the father of her son was a pure
fabrication. And it is quite possible that this false report
was itself the basis of the historian's accusation against
the mother who apparently cared so little for virtue that
she willingly sacrificed her reputation to advance the in-
terests of her son.

Being high priest of the Sun at the time he was pro-
claimed, the Emperor chose to be called Elagabalus, which
was the name of the sun-god,^ the deity of his race. This
god, represented by a shapeless black stone which the
Emperor brought with him to Rome irom Emesa, he con-
stituted the supreme divinity of the Empire, honoring it
with barbarous songs, lascivious dances, and the immola-
tion of children. Upon this, impure and sensuous religion
as a foundation the effeminate young Syrian developed a
character which has ever remained in the memory of men

* He was defeated by Elagabalus on June 6, 218, having been proclaimed
April IS, 217.

* The Gnecised fonn of the word was Heliogabalus, by which name the
Emperor was sometimes called.

[ 259 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

as the symbol of enthroned infiuny. During the brief paiod
of his reign, the barbarians being quiet and public agita-
tion having subsided. Rome was at peace; and the nuister
of all things, human and divine, was accordingly free from
the necessily of self-restraint whatsoever. The pages of
Lampridius fiurly reek with the recital of his absurd ex-
travagances, abominable vices, and infamous debauchery.
Yielding absolutely to his mother and grandmother the
direction of the State, the effeminate young voluptuary
abandoned himself to a life which has been summed up as
''gluttony which would have driven Vitellius to despair,
lewdness such as to make Nero blush, scenes of infamy
which can only be told in Latin/' In the short space of
his reign — less than four years — he married and repudi-
ated in turn no less than five wives, all of eminent family,
one of whom, Annia Faustina, was a descaidant of Marcus
Aurelius, while another, Julia Aquilia Severa, he took by
force from the Altar of Vesta — a sacrilege which it is siud
made even the Romans of that time tremble.

WhUe Soaemias, rather than attempting to restrain her
contemptible son, if anything encouraged him in his
shameful excesses, his grandmother Maesa, who had lived
in the orderly administration of Severus, did not &il to real-
ize that the young profligate would not long be tolerated ;
and (perhaps fearing another Macrinus) she deliberately
set about supplanting him by her grandson Alexander, the
only son of her younger daughter, Julia Mamaea. Adroitly
inducing Elagabalus to confer upon his cousin the title of
Caesar and adopt him as his son, she at the same time by
large gifts, secretly made to the prsetorians, enlisted their
interest in favor of Alexander, who was as admirable in
character as Elagabalus was despicable. The plan gathered
force as its success became assured, and the besotted young

[ 260 ]

CHlSPfNA WIFE OF COMMODUS

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

boy who was dragging the purple in the mu*e began to
realize his danger. His first impulse was to strike openly ;
and he ordered the Senate to revoke the title of Caesar
which had been conferred upon Alexander, whom at the
same time he threatened to kill. But the order coming to
the ears of the praetorians, they raised such a tumult that
Elagabalus himself narrowly escaped death. He then
sought to accompUsh his purpose by secret means; but
the vigilance of Mamaea, who surrounded her son with
trusty guards and never even allowed him to partake of
food or wine that had not previously been tasted, proved
too much for the weak and irresolute Emperor. The latter
finally hit upon the device of circulating a report that
Alexander had died, thinking that when the soldiers
should have accepted the fact he would be free to assassi-
nate his cousin without danger. The result was as tragic
as the plan was absurd. Secretly informed through Mamaea
that the young prince was alive, the guard invaded the
palace, demanding that Alexander be produced. A tumult
broke out, Elagabalus, like the j^fnify^wretch he was, fly-
ing at the first outbreak. T^ie^'gl^^d^^^^ by
Mamsea, resolved to end ^e mau^* ^tlp^^^fol' all. The
miserable young Emperor /w^ found concealed with his
mother in an outhouse, Where 4Ji?y :W/^re bqsth slain, the
corpse of the former being dvagge^ t}Hro.ug)i the streets
and flung into the Tiber, while the Senati^ /consigned his
memory to infamy. He was barely eighteen^ and had
reigned (?) three years and nine months.

Alexander Severus: 222-285 a.d. The last of the
Syrian princes who ruled the Roman world was sixteen
years of age when he became Emperor. He was proclaimed

^ According to Herodian; Lampridius says he was twenty-one.

[261 ]

iiM'i'"

■f.

i?i-i

m '■■'](■ \'-

mm ■'

.:;'i

) ^

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

under the name of Marcus Aurelius Alexander,^ but has
passed into history as Alexander Severus; having taken
the name of the Macedonian hero from a temple in the
city of his birth consecrated to Alexander, while that of
Severus was added by the soldiers in memory of him who
was by many beUeved, although without ground, to be the
new Emperor's grandfather. And as if the black stone of
Emesa ^ had been tumbled into the Tiber and there dis-
appeared forever, with the mortal remains of its high priest,
the new Emperor added to his official designation the title
of Priest of Rome (Sacerdos Urhia)^ and the rule of the
sun-god, with all of its Oriental sensuousness, was at an end
During the reign of his predecessor, most of the impor-
tant hnperial fimctions were discharged by Soiemias, whose
name appeared with those of consuls and who subscribed
legislative decrees as a member of the Assembly. While
fully resolved to herself retain the substance of power, the
wise mother of Alexander discreetly procured the early
enactment of a law forever excluding women from the
Senate ; and by thus openly repudiating an odious innova-
tion of Elagabalus and his mother greatly strengthened
Mamcea's prestige, which continued throughout her son's
reign. Fortunately for the young Emperor, destined from
the beginning to the domination of his mother, Julia
Mamaea was a woman of liberal views and lofty character.
Her inquiring mind and political sagacity are indicated by
her correspondence with Origen,^ and with a single excep-

^ The Senate urged Alexander to also adopt the name of Antoninus; but
the Emperor nobly refiised ''the borrowed lustre of a great name."
s See oMte, V^^ ^^9.

* Her association with the great theologian of the andent Church ac-
counts in part for the supposition that Mamsea was a Christian. There
seems to be ground for the statement that she instructed Alexander in
the morality of Christianity.

[ 262 ]

I-T:~'ii:r.57»^i

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

tioD,^ she seems to have labored persistently, unselfishly,
and in the main wisely for her son's happiness and the
genuine welfare of the State. From early childhood Alex-
ander had been surromided by instructors of the highest
character and integrity ; thus developing by education the
boy s natural tendencies towards uprightness and morality.
As a result Rome once more beheld upon the Palatine the
virtue, simplicity, and pure example which were there
enthroned during the benign reign of Antoninus — a last
gleam of sunlight before the impending gloom should de-
scend. Amiable, simple in tastes, pure in morals, animated
by a genuine desire to benefit the people and to do good
in every possible way — in short, apparently basing his life
upon that fundamental maxim of the Gospels, *'As ye
would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to
them," — this Syrian boy, fresh fix)m the selfish, effeminate,
and sensuous influences of Oriental sun-worship, ^'in the
heart of depraved, rotten Rome, in the teeth of the de-
bauched coiutiers and reptile Senate, singling out this
golden rule of conduct," ^ inevitably challenges our admi-
ration and sympathy, whether our estimate of Alexander
is based upon the possibly exaggerated praises of Lampri-
dius or the apparently unjust severity of Herodian. Al-
though in the main following the latter, Gibbon's estimate
of Alexander may nevertheless be accepted as perhaps the
best possible smnming-up of his character in its relation
to the imperial office: "The abilities of the amiable prince
seem to have been inadequate to the difficulties of the sit-
uation, the firmness of his conduct inferior to the purity
of his intentions." ^

* See next page.

* Bonner's Rome, Vol. ii. page 192.

' The DecUne and Fall, Vol. L chap. ▼!

[ 268 ]

.-.

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

With the consent of Mamsea, Alexander first married
the daughter of a patrician, whose name has been for-
gotten. The young Augusta is said to have loved her hus-
band tenderly, which perhaps accounts for the jealousy
displayed by Mamcea; at least no other cause is assigned
for her cruelty towards the Empress, who, upon the request
of his mother, whom he dared not oppose, was banished
by Alexander while lamenting his hard lot^ Although the
Emperor remarried, history has not deemed his second
wife worthy of mention— the only proof of her existence
being her inscription, with the title of Attffusta, upon some
coins of the period, where her name appears as Gnea Seia
Herennia Sallustia Barbia Orbiana.

Although Rome was at peace during the first part of
his reign, the young Emperor was constantly being brow-
beaten, insulted, and robbed by the prsetorians, who on
one occasion actually tore in pieces before his face their
prefect, the great jurisconsult Ulpian, who had tried to
check their turbulence, and whom Alexander vainly en-
deavored to protect by covering him with the imperial
piuple. Neither rights nor property were respected; Em-
peror, consuls, Senate, and people were at the mercy of
the soldiers. Only the stem hand of a Severus could have
met the situation; the gentle and passionless Alexander
was utterly powerless to quell the turbulent spirits whom
he both feared and failed to imderstand.

In the tenth year of his reign the Persians under Ar-
taxerxes invaded Roman Asia, and Alexander set out in
defence of his Empire, returning after a two years' cam-

^ Her father^ having complained to the pnetorians of this severity, was
put to death; while she herself is thought to have shared the &te of
Plautilla. See Citracalla, ante, page 252.

• [ 264 ]

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

paign to celebrate at Rome a triumph which revived all
the glories of Trajan and Sevenis. But the dark days were
at hand. Germany had broken out into revolt, and the
barbarians were ravaging GauL After a few months spent
in preparation, Alexander, accompanied by his intrepid
mother, again took the field — like Severus upon a similar
occasion, never to return. His first act, when he came in
contact with the enemy, sounded his doom; he sent rich
gifts to the Germans with a proposal of peace — greatly
angering his soldiers, who preferred both to fight and to
keep the gold for themselves. Commanding the new levies
which the Emperor had intrusted to him to be drilled
was a gigantic Thracian named Maximin. Endowed with
just enough intellect to realize that it was a time for brute
force rather than for mildness and humane effort, he ha-
rangued the recruits, who were easily persuaded to accept
him as leader. Covering him with a purple mantle, they
inarched in arms to the Emperof*s tent, and the guard
standing aside at the rebels' hi^dji^dr tAlcxs^ader and his
mother were put to death upon the'Up^iJ VfUx for the
wise Mamiea and the virtuoijs^Alexander;'ijftith,all their
lofty aims, there came at l^*iEi£'^me dark fate which
had engulfed the consciencel&»~$oseftiias ttad hqt infamous
sea No turbid Tiber, indeed, bore their dishonored bodies
to the sea, and the Senate voted an apotheosis, instead of
a decree of infamy, while posterity has not foiled to accord
this remarkable Syrian woman and her half-Christian son a
high place upon the roll of those who have wrought nobly
and with honor to themselves. But who shall say that
to their pagan minds such thoughts could in any wise
assuage the pain and bitterness of such an end, or awaken
one single spark of resignation to their evil destiny?

[265 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

MaXIMIN I GOBDIAN I GORDIAN II PUPIENUS

— Balbinus — GoBDiAN III : 285-244 a* d. From the time
of Commodus to the reign of Diocletian the soldiers were
the actual masters of the Empire; and during the nine
years following the death of Alexander they exercised
their power by pulling down four Emperors whom the
Senate had ventured to proclaim, besides murdering ti^vo
others whom they themselves had selected. The reigns of
these six Emperors are so interwoven that they are to be
considered as merely incidents of a smgle admmistration.

Caius Julius Verus Maximin, the murderer of Alexan-
der, was the first barbarian to attain supreme power in the
State whose triumphant arms had imposed the yoke upon
the savage hordes from which he sprung. He was a native
of Thrace, but his father was a Goth and his mother be-
longed to the Alani^; so that the blood of many wild
races must have mingled in his veins. Distinguished by
his gigantic stature and truly herculean strength,^ — quali-
ties which especially appealed to the warrior Severus, — he
had been appointed by that Emperor, whose attention he
had attracted during some games in his native land, to a
position in the horse-guards.^ Under Caracalla he was ad-
vanced to the rank of centurion; but refusing to serve
either Macrinus, whom he hated, or Elagabalus, whom he
despised,^ he only returned to Court upon the accession

^ The Alani nation was made up of a number of nomadic tribes of ELast-

em origin.

' He was more than eight feet in height, and it is said that he could

drink seven gallons of wine and eat thirty pounds of meat in a single

day; that he could move a loaded wagon, break a horse's leg with his

fist, crumble stones in his hand, and tear up a small tree by the roots —

a veritable Porthos in the Antique.

' The horse-guards attended upon the person of the Sovereign.

^ Such discrimination does not entirely accord with his reputed lack of

intelligence. r 266 1

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

of Alexander, by whom he was appointed tribune to the
Fourth Legion, and in time to the first miUtary command.
Merciless in war and convinced that the welfare of the
army was the chief end of the State — here was just the
kind of man the soldiers wanted ; and as at all times and
in all ages, the man of the hour was accepted — bis son
Maximin at the same time being saluted as Caesar.

The reign of Maximin was precisely what might be ex-
pected from a man who could so ruthlessly destroy his
chief benefactor. All of the household of Alexander, his
friends and his councillors, were put to death, and cruelty,
oppression, robbery, and pillage were openly practised by
the Emperor, whose savage example was eagerly followed
by the soldiers, freed at last from the semblance of re-
straint which had been imposed upon them by Alexander.
The Emperor, however, did not venture to visit Rome,
where, as he knew, he was cordi^y hated both on account
of his low birth and his open Jb^skiSfey to the classes, but
seems to have deliberately sougm^lbiaiigjL a victory over
the barbarians to acquire ,^me pul)ti{: {^^on for his
power. It was the mistake of Albinus repeat^.^ For while
Maximin remained in tJpp^ I^aj^^onia to ,^ain some in-
ronsiderable successes over the'tt^iselM^ ^German rustics,
every opportunity for conspiracies (iecunfed at home; and
although the cowardly Senate did not dare to take the
initiative, Rome speedily became ripe to follow the leader-
ship of Carthage, where the explosion occurred. Enraged
by the tyranny of the Emperor's procurator for that prov-
ince, the people rose, put the governor to death, and pre-
vailed upon the aged Gordian to acc^t the purple. Gor-
dian was a patrician of the bluest blood ; his mother was
of the family of Trajan, while through his &ther he claimed

[267]

.\^\

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

State. Although at the time of his elevation to power re-
nowned only for his eloquence, Timesitheus {or Misitheus,
as he is sometimes spoken of) proved to be a man of ver-
satile genius ; and by his prudence, energy, integrity, and
genuine ability for administrative reform, speedily justified
his right to the formal salutation of "Tutor of the State,"
decreed to him by the Senate. The vile crowd which had
domineered the palace was suppressed, the restless praeto-
rians subdued and restrained, while order and discipline
were reestablished in the army, which had been greatly
disorganized under the turmoils and contentions of the five
rivals for the purple. So that when the Persians again in-
vaded the Empire under Sapor, guided by the wise coun-
sels and firm hand of Timesitheus, the young Emperor
gallantly reUeved Antioch, which had been invested, drove
the invaders back across the Euphrates and recaptured all
of the Syrian cities which the Pcfsiahs.;had. conquered.^

But alas for the wisdom and vil'^Ae ^hich in that evil
time ventured to dignify the purple. In th^J^iflst of their
triumphal progress the "Tutor.of the State'Vsuecumbed
to that dread imperial di§easif^ i%&ittA>:^hi^ neither a
spotless nor a shameless Ufe, n^Hhi^r ^sdom nor folly,
neither guards, gods, nor ingenuity of*^Hfan whatsoever
afTorded protection. Timesitheus was poisoned by a bold
adventurer named Philip; and the soldiers being easily
persuaded that Gordian was too inexperienced to rule and
command alone, Philip was associated with the young
Emperor, whose days had already been numbered. A
feeble effort which was undertaken in his behalf by a few
devoted friends resulted merely in hastening the inevitable :
the Emperor was put to death by his father-in-law's assas-

' GordUo'a departure from Rome upon this campai^ was signalised by

tbe opening of the Temple of Janus, for the last time recorded in history.

[271 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

thing but fortunate for the Empire, the praises of the old
historians were apparently merited by Dedus, who was
brave, energetic, straightforward, and, according to his
lights, genuinely concerned for the wel&re and gl<^ of
the State, in whose defence he laid down his life. He was,
however, narrow-minded and superstitious enough to ac-
count for the woes of the Empire upon the theory that the
gods were offended because tiiose who blasphemed them
were tolerated by the State. Dedus accordingly inaugu-
rated a widespread and shameful persecution of the Chris-
tians; and although it lasted only a few months,^ after
which all the imprisoned votaries were set firee, for the time
being it appeared to be a veritable war of extermination.

The reign of Decius was especially signalized by an in-
vasion of the GLoths, significant as the first great wave of
that immense sea of barbaric marauders i^diich gradually
submerged the Empire and at last actually inundated the
sacred city itsel£ There upon the Palatine where Romulus
had built and Augustus, Severus, and Trajan had lived,
this mi^ty force was destined to install a barbarian in-
vader as an earnest that Rome had indeed fallen.

After the death of Philip the new Emperor had jour-
neyed leisurely to Rome, where his two sons, Quintus
Herrennius and Valens Hostilianus, were each proclaimed
Caesar. But the advance guards of the invaders had ap-
peared in eastern Mcesia,^ while the main body was fast
approaching an important fortress on the Danube, which
guarded the approach to Thrace. Hastily assembling his
forces, Decius took the field and finally confironted the

^ The inyaskm of the Goths, which soon demanded the undivided at-
tention of the Emperor, explains why his other task was left unfinished.
' Moesia included two provinces north of the Htemus Mountains (now
the Balkans) in northern Thrace.

[ 274 ]

JULIA PIA DOMNA WIFE OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERU8

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

GU>thic leader, who had suffered a serious repulse by Gallus
(ad%erwards Emperor) near the city of Nicopolis, in what
is now Hiuigary. The barbarians at first retreated and the
Kmperor at one time might have annihilated the entire
host. But he seems to have been drawn into a trap; the
Ooths suddenly fell upon him with all their forces, and, as
it is aUeged, aided by the treachery of Gallus, they suc-
ceeded in completely routing the imperial troops, Decius
and his eldest son being among the killed. It was the first
time a Roman Emperor had fallen upon Roman soil at
the hand of an enemy; and the death of Decius, in its
moral effect, may be accounted the first great blow among
the disasters which finally crushed the Empire.

Gallus — .^mill^nus : 261-254 a. d. C. Vibius Trebo-
oianus Gallus, who succeeded Decius, was a native of the
island of Meninx in Afiica. The highest military position
i^hich he had previously attained yftp^'- ih&t s of dux in
IVloesia — the title designating only a geiil^l.'in^command
of a special expedition, with Xio-wmerium otKfer:1i>an that
exercised over his own soldiers; aAvjihence inferior to that
of an imperial legate at the heSBfcd. of the. legion^ Gallus
i^as plainly a man of mediocrity, ajid>..^eyiMid ' his first
slight advantage over the Goths, he seems "to have ren-
dered no assistance to Decius in the latter's emergency;
but the charges of treachery which were insinuated by the
fi-iends of his predecessor seem unwarranted. The Emperor,
nevertheless, sufiered under the taint of suspicion, which
he endeavored to remove by associating with him in the
Empire Hostilianus,^ the surviving son of Decius. The
latter, however, did not long escape the dread disease
^virhich infected the Palatine; whereupon the Emperor's

^ He had been created Cesar in his father's lifetime.

[275]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

son, VolusianuSt who had married a daughter of Decius,
was proclaimed Augustus. Other than a bust in the '^Hall
of Emperors'* this son of Gallus left no trace of his claim
to the imperial power.

The charms of a luxurious life at the capital city out-
weighed with Gallus either the dignity or safety of the
State; and after concluding a disgraceful treaty with the
Goths, who were not only permitted to retire with all their
prisoners and booty, but were also promised a krge annual
payment in money, the Emperor hastened to Rome. Al-
though between fifty and sixty years of age, Gallus re-
signed himself to a life of frivoUty and dissipation, turning
a deaf ear to all the appeals for aid which came pouring
into Rome from wretched Pannonia. For the insatiable
Goths had returned, and in their train stalked famme and
pestilence, those twin ghosts of barbaric war£Eu*e. But soon
the people began to murmur. Instead of the blasphemous
Christiaiis who had aroused the anger of the gods, it was
their "coward Emperor" who was now held responsible
for the national disasters ; so that when the army — which
had always resented the Senate's choice of Gallus — pre-
pared to vindicate its rights, all Rome stood ready to ap-
plaud what it lacked the spirit to inaugurate.

The governor of Pannonia at this time was a Maureta-
nian named iEmilianus. Having engaged the army's atten-
tion by some sUght successes over the Goths, he completely
won the approval of the troops by distributing among
them the gold which Gallus had sent for the promised
tribute to the barbarians. The enraptmed soldiers at once
invested him with the purple, and mustering all his forces
iEmiUanus set out for Rome. Roused by this personal
danger from the sloth and indifference which had been
proof agamst every peril of the State, GaUus hastily de-

[ 276 ]

CLODH'S AI.BEXUS

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

spatched Valerian to mobilize the Gallic and German
legions, while he himself set out for the northern frontier.
Sut his hour had struck. The Danubians had already
czrossed the Julian Alps, and the Emperor encountered
them at the city of Temi, scarcely seventy miles from
Home. No battle was fought, however. The imperial
troops, cherishing a hearty contempt for their effeminate
!Emperor, and attracted by the fame and liberality of
^mihanus, were ripe for revolt ; Gallus and his son were
put to death by their own soldiers, who united with the
provincial army in proclaiming the victor.

Gallus had reigned three years, but scarcely as many
months elapsed between the elevation and the downfrdl of
his successor.

M. iEmilius ^milianus was one of those men whose
intense personal conceit enables them for a time, at least,
to conceal indifferent ability by ah.dCeasipnal showy act.
His selection by the army was qtiii^dy cdnfinned by the
Senate, but both the Conscript Fathers '^d t9ie soldiers
reckoned without regard tQ Yal^rian and his )6gions, who
-were fast coming up from Oaiil aiid L^wer Glprinany . While
^milianus was composing boastfuL^d^^^^^ ^ ^he Sen-
ate, declaring his intention of driving ottt* ^e barbarians
from the northern and eastern portions of the Empire, —
to which the Conscript Fathers replied by the coinage of
both flattering medals and titles for "Mars the Avenger," —
the troops of Valerian suddenly debouched upon the plains
of Spoleto, where ^Emilianus had lain encamped ever since
the death of Gallus. The bloodless "battle of Temi" was
to be repeated. Awed both by the superior strength of the
eastern legions and the military reputation of their leader,
the murderers of Gallus themselves avenged that Emperor
by presenting to Valerian the head of ^Emilianus ; and the

[ 277 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

new Augustus (whose soldiers had several months earlier
decorated him with the purple) now became head of the
State by the unanimous voice of the Roman world.

Valerian — Galleenus — The TmRTY Tyrants : 254-
268 A. D. Publius Licinius Valerianus was of an old Roman
family, and if we may believe the ancient writers, the no-
bility of his character at least equalled that of his birth.
He seems to have invariably sided with the better elements
in the State, and as a friend of the elder Gk>rdian he acted
a spirited part in the struggle against Maximin. He had
worked his way up through the grades, but had passed his
sixtieth year when he attained the tribunate (under Gallus).
Of unblemished character, mild and vmssvawng in manner,
revered by Senate and people — if mankind had been al-
lowed to choose a master, sajrs an old writer cited by Gib-
bon, the choice would have fallen on Valerian. Indeed if
it had not been for those terrible barbarians, Rome might
well have believed that the Empire was once more to en-
joy the benignancy of the first Antonines.

By the Emperor Decius, Valerian had been chosen to
fill the office of censor, which had fallen into disuse since
the days of Titus, who was the last incumbent, the example
of Trajan, who modestly refused the honor, having become
a law to the Antonines. But however qualified he may
have been to maintain if not actually to restore the morals
of the State,^ and notwithstanding all the admitted ex-
cellencies of his character. Valerian proved to be anything
but the man for the times and his reign was one of the
most calamitous and miserable in the history of the State.

* The office of censor was very widespread in the line of its duty, in-
cluding thlit of punishing offences not only against morality but against
the conventional requirements of Roman custom.

[ 278 ]

PESCENNIL'S NIGER

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

His first important act was an index of the disasters to
come. Emboldened by their recent successes, and also by
the withdrawal of the frontier legions, many of which
during the civil war precipitated by iSmilianus had been
recalled to Italy, the barbarians were menacing the Em-
pire as never before. With Persians in the east, Gk>ths and
Alemanni at the north, and Franks on the west, all eager
to strike a deadly blow, it was apparent that one man, and
he already past the prime of life, could ill sustain the
weight of defending the Empire. A colleague was plainly
advisable ; but instead of selecting one of the many valiant
and able generals who were available, self-love proved
stronger than duty to the State, Valerian weakly choosing
his own profligate son to defend the Empire with him. It
was once more the case of Aurelius and Commodus, of
Severus and Caracalla; and Valerian and Gallienus have
passed into history as the virtuous, high-minded father,
laboring for the welfare and digjiity of the State, linked
with the degenerate and vicious',s<ai^unconcemedly yawn-
ing while the purple was being d^ed through the mire.

Turning over to his son the defenic6 of the west. Va-
lerian himself departed for the^ eastern frontier, already
being ravaged by Goths from the. Lower Danube and by
the Persians under Sapor, for nearly haljf a century one of
Rome's bitterest enemies. Greece was overrun by the
former, while Sapor, first taking possession of Armenia
and Mesopotamia, finally crossed the Euphrates and en-
tered Syria. Valerian, who had enjoyed not one moment
of rest or peace since the troops saluted him as "Master"
of the Roman world, hastened to Antioch shortly after-
wards, pushing Sapor back to the Euphrates, where upon
the old battle-ground an encounter occurred. Worn out
with the hardships of their protracted campaign, which had

[ 279 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

It is next to impossible to present a chronological st
ment of a reign so torn by faction and trampled by inva-
sion; the whole period, as pointed out in Gibbon, being
«ine uninterrupted series of confusion and calamity. And
while most historians agree that these so-called "Thirty
Tyrants" included only nineteen who were actually in-
vested with the purple, there is a diversity in the nomen-
clature of the pretenders,^ for the reason probably that
many of the usurpers barely flitted across the public stage,
leaving a certain fact but an uncertain personality.

(1) In the year 258, upon setting out for Rome firom
Gaul, where Postumus remained in command, oibtead of
intrusting to the latter his son Saloninus, Gallienus left
the young Csesar in the care of the tribune SUvanus at
Cologne. Offended by the Emperor's apparent distrust,
Postumus appealed to the legions, with whom he was im-
mensely popular, and who eagerly embraced his proposi-
tion to march against Cologne. After a stout resistance
the besieged city was taken, Saloninus and his protector
were put to death, and the conqueror was proclaimed
Augustus — Britain and Spain also taking the oath to him
a little later.

Like almost all of the provincial usurpers, Postumus was
of low birth; but possessing both courage and the confi-
dence of the Gallic provinces, where he was bom and had
always Uved, the new Augustus maintained himself for
ten years — withstanding even the imperial prestige when
in the year 265 GalUenus undertook, without success, to
avenge his son and recover Gaul. The Gallic Emperor
was finally killed during a tumult caused by refusing his
soldiers the pillage of Mayence, which had rebelled against

^ Gibbon, for example, in presenting his list of names, cites a different
one compiled by Captain Smyth in his Catalogue of Medals,

[ 282 ]

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

his authority. With a single exception he was the most
remarkable of the nineteen usurpers.

(2) Upon the death of Postumus, Laslianus was invested
with the Gallic purple, and according to his coins he won
some notable victories over the Germans. He was, how-
ever, soon murdered by his soldiers, angry at being com-
pelled to labor in rebuilding the Rhine forts.

(8) Two years before his death, Postumus had associated
with himself an Italian general named Marcus Piavonius
Victorinus, who had brought over several legions to the
support of the Gallic Caesar. Allied to a rich and influen-
tial family, and being very popular in Gaul, Victorinus
became so firmly established that he appears to have in-
spired Gallienus with a wholesome dread, and was allowed
to rule his province without opposition from Rome. He,
however, speedily paid the penalty of an evil life, having
been assassinated at Cologne by dhe v(>f his own officers
whom he had greatly wronged.^ Ii.ds$-jb]i^ a year had
elapsed since the death of his predecessS% ts^bf^e murder
Victorinus is said to have instigated. '^ /

(4) Another competitor foy £he Jpallic purplq was a
blacksmith named Marius, who clii»£ upon^^ ^Ehe scene just
before the death of Victorinus. The "Augustan History"
assigns to Marius the shortest reign in its annals, allowing
him only three days of imperial grandeur; "on the first
of which he was made Emperor, on the second he reigned,
and on the third he was dethroned." There is evidence,
however, that Marius held the boards for three or four
months. He is said to have been endowed with "match-
less strength, intrepid courage, and blunt honesty." But
he perished at the hand of an old comrade whom he had
slighted in his hour of dignity — struck down, it is said, by

^ Coins of Victorinus are said to have been found in England.

[ 283 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

a blade which the murderer and his victim had one day
forged together.

(5) Upon the death of Victorinus, his mother, Victorina,
who was a woman of masculine habit, took a hand at Em-
peror-making, the Gallic legions at her instance proclaim-
ing as Emperor Pius Esuvius Tetricus, who was a relative
of Victorina. Tetricus had been a senator, but without
military experience and of a retiring disposition he was
unfitted for the stormy life upon which those who then
adventured the purple were expected to embark. Tetricus
therefore wisely retired to Bordeaux and there "busied
himself about nothing"; so that not being esteemed a
dangerous character, he remained undisturbed during the
remainder of the reign of GalUenus and the four years fol-
lowing. After the death of Victorina, whose resolute soul
had theretofore largely upheld him, the peaceful-minded
Tetricus deliberately sought relief from his imperial func-
tions. In the third year of the reign of AureUan, he wrote
begging that Emperor to deliver him "from the miscreant
legions"; and when Aurelian came with his army Tetricus
betrayed his own troops to the conqueror. Although led
with Zenobia in Aurelian's great triumph at Rome after
the fall of Palmyra, Tetricus was afterwards admitted to
the friendship of the Emperor, receiving from him the
government of Lucania, while his son became a senator.
Looking back upon the fate of his eighteen associates in
imperial pretension, one imagines that Tetricus would re-
quire little time to answer Aurelian's question : Whether
it were not more desirable to administer a province in Italy
than to reign beyond the Alps ? It is possible that he died
a natural death.

(6) After the captivity of Valerian the all-powerftd Sapor
selected as a candidate for the purple in the East an ob-

[ 284 ]

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

scure adventurer from Antioch named Cyriades, who was
accordingly proclaimed by the cowed remnant of the im-
perial army. It is not improbable that Cyriades purchased
the favor of Sapor by an act of treachery ; at all events,
he straightway conducted the Persians to his native city,
which was surprised and sacked by the invaders. After the
fall of Antioch the Persians easily overran the adjoining
countries, and before long the entire East trembled at the
name of Valerian's oppressor, whose conquests were marked
by wanton and imrelenting cruelty.

(7, 8) For a long time the triumphal march of the Per-
sians was practically imopposed. The only two men in the
East who were capable of defending the Empire were
Macrianus, one of Valerian's generals, and Balista, who
had been the prcetorian prefect, and being totally without
assistance from Rome, they at first found it next to impos-
sible to rouse the courage of the provinces. They, however,
finally succeeded in collecting the scattered remnants of
the Syrian army and were fortunately assisted at a critical
moment by the Prince of Palmjn^, who, after being in-
sulted and threatened by Sapor, had decided to cast in his
lot with the Romans; Odenathus also inducing a large
band of Arabs from the southern deserts to enlist with
him. The Persians, being now both outnumbered and par-
tially surrounded, were forced to retreat, being finally
thrust across the Euphrates with great slaughter and with
not only the loss of their booty but — what was probably
of far more importance to Sapor — with the capture of a
large part of the Persian harem. Cyriades, the renegade
Augustus, was taken and burned alive by the enraged
Syrians ; Balista and Macrianus assumed the purple, while
Odenathus, to whom the credit of the Persians' expulsion
was largely due, contented himself with the title of King

[ 285 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

bestowed by the Arabs, and the position of chief of the
imperial forces in the Elast, conferred upon him by Gal-
lienus.

Macrianus was a soldier of fortune who had risen from
the ranks to a hi^ position both in the army and in the
confidence of Valeiian. But he lacked the essential quali-
ties of a ruler; instead of restoring order and safety in
the provinces and thus consolidating his power, he reck-
lessly resolved to at once gain possession of the whole Em-
pire; and with an army of only thirty thousand men, he
set out for Europe. Warned doubtless by Odenathus, who
was both prudent and loyal, Gallienus despatched his Em-
peror-killer Aureolus^ to intercept the Eastern usurper.
The matter was easily accomplished; the forces of Mac-
rianus were routed and their leader, with his son of the
same name, put to death.

(9) Upon his departure from the East, Macrianus had
left his son Quietus, who had also been proclaimed Au-
gustus, and his colleague Balista to govern Asia. Upon
news of the defeat of the Sjnrian army, Odenathus at once
marched against Quietus, who shut himself up in Emesa,
but was quickly overcome and sujSered the usual fate;
while Balista was shortly afterwards assassinated.

(10) The confidence reposed in Odenathus was strength-
ened materially by his services in the revolt of Macrianus
and his colleagues, and two years later the Arab chief suc-
ceeded to the purple by proclamation of Gallienus himself
— probably the most popular act of his entire reign. Ode-
nathus interests us both as the only one of the provincial
Emperors whose personality attracts attention, and as the
husband of the celebrated Zenobia. Not excepting Cleo-
patra, from whom she traced her descent and whom she is

^ See poH, page 290.

[ 286 ]

CARACAI.LA

f»f<<

fuc>^'^

.•*o

"^^S^'fC^^^

»^.^s>f^'

T\U

.p«

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

said to have surpassed in beauty, as she certainly excelled
her in morality and valor, the Queen of Palmyra is easily
the most remarkable woman who has come down to us
in Roman history. Combining the charms of beauty and
femininity with a masculine ardor and understanding,
highly educated and with a constitution inured to fatigue,
thus enabling her to accompany Odenathus upon his cam-
paigns, it is easy to beheve that both the fortitude and in-
spiration of the Palmyrian were drawn largely from his
beautifril and devoted wife, who, in the language of an
eminent historian, ''soon became the friend and companion
of a hero."

According to some writers Odenathus was a prince of
the Saracens ; other authorities merely accord him descent
from a noble family in Palmyra. At all events, he was the
chief person in the "City of Palms" at the time of Sapor's
invasion; and after their splendid victories over the "Great
King," Odenathus and his illustnous consort found in
every quarter a ready acquiescence in his designation as a
colleague of GaUienus. But he was ilbt Icing tp enjoy the
fruits of his reward fix)m Rome. Returning frora a success-
fril expedition against some (^rOi^c invfiders of Asia Minor,
he stopped near Emesa to <»igage in his Havorite pastime
of himting, and was there assassinated by a. nephew smart-
ing imder a justly administered rebuke fix)m his uncle. His
death occurred perhaps a year before that of GaUienus,
and without awaiting authority frt)m the latter, Zenobia
herself assumed the government, which some years later
she surrendered only to AureUan in person.^

While the bloody purple was thus being tossed about
in the East and the West, the other provinces were also
indulging, although to a less extent, in the excitements of

^ Post, page 298.

[287]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

Emperor-making. In Illyria and Fannonia three of these
sham rulers were set up and pulled down ; while Thessaly
and Achaia in Europe, Fontus and Isauria in Asia Minor,
and Carthage and Egypt in Africa each furnished one.

(11, 12) About the time that Macrianus was preparing
to cross over into Europe,^ the fever of unrest which was
abroad had reached Achaia and Thessaly, and these prov-
inces resolved to participate in the imperial foundations
which had come into vogue. In the former the pro-consul,
a talented general named Valens, was proclaimed Em-
peror, while in Thessaly the purple was bestowed upon
Calpumius Piso, a man of the highest rank, belonging to
an illustrious family which from Augustus to Alexander
Severus had furnished a consul in every generation — the
only family, as Gibbon observes, which had survived the
tyranny of the Caesars. But the moment was inopportune
for Emperor-making in that part of the world ; the prov-
inces were poor, there were few troops, and on either side
were the approaching forces of GaUienus and the Eastern
usurper. Valens became suspicious of Fiso, and the de-
scendant of Numa' was assassinated by emissaries of the
low-bom Achaian, who, thinking to consolidate his power,
assimied the name of Thessalicus. He was soon put out
of the way by his own soldiers.

(18) Of Satuminus, who was proclaimed in Fontus, be-
yond the fact that he perished in the traditional manner,
we know nothing except the remark he is said to have
made to the soldiers who invested him: ^* Comrades, you
lose a good general and create a worthless Emperor.'' His
philosophy doubtless prepared him for the inevitable stroke
of the sword.

(14) Trebellianus was another usurper who donned the

^ AwU, page M6. * The Pisos claimed descent from Numa PompOius.

[ 288 ]

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

purple in Asia Minor. The province of Isauria, lying over
against the Taurus Mountains, had never been fully civil-
ized by Rome ; and Trebellianus was chief of the robber
mountaineers who had always existed, but whose depre-
dations became more widespread under the present disor-
ganization. He did not long escape the sword, at the hand
of one of the Roman lieutenants. But his savage followers,
having tasted again the sweets of independence, resolved
to forever shake off the imperial yoke; and for centuries
thereafter the Isaurians remained a nation of barbarian
robbers and pirates. It was the one lasting change effected
by the provincial usurpations.

(15, 16) When Celsis was being proclaimed at Carthage,
no purple mantle being available, the robe of the dea
celestis was placed upon him ; whereupon some of the by-
standers, scandalized by such impiety, resolved to kill the
new Augustus. The deed was accomplished by some of his
own soldiers on the seventh day of his reign. His Egj^tian
colleague ^milianus succumbed almost as quickly under
an attack by Theodotus, who was in quest of wheat for
Rome. The Nile Emperor was made prisoner and strangled
in his dungeon.

(17) In the same year that witnessed the elevation of
Postumus the troops of Pannonia bestowed a similar
honor upon their general Ingenuus, whose designation
was enthusiastically ratified by the entire province. In-
genuus was a skilAil soldier who had won renown in the
border warfare with the Goths and Sarmatians, and it was
expected that like Postumus he would find no difficulty
in upholding the imperial dignity of his warlike province.
But for some reason the Emperor at Rome, ordinarily so
indifferent to rival pretensions, took speedy note of the
revolt on the Danube, and sent Aiureolus, one of his best

[289]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

lieutenants, to punish the usurper. Defeated in the first
encounter, Ingenuus conunitted suicide, the victor, under
an explicit order from his imperial master, inflicting a
bloody punishment upon the unfortunate Fannonians. The
order, which is still extant, may be quoted as illustrative
of the occasional savageness displayed by Gallienus : *^ It is
not enough that you exterminate such as have appeared
in arms; the chance of battle might have served me as
effectually. The male sex of every age must be extirpated ;
provided that in the execution of the children and old
men you can contrive means to save our reputation. Let
every one die who has dropped an expression, who has
entertained a thought against me, against mej the son of
Valerian. Remember that Ingenuus was made Emperor;
tear, kill, and hew to pieces." The soft cruelty of a Tibe-
rius, the fierce egoism of a Nero, and the unrestrained
savagery of a CaracaUa are all foimd in this unrivalled
mandate of Gallienus.

(18) Nothing daunted by the fate of his predecessor, a
Dacian named Regalianus (who claimed his descent from
the celebrated Decebalus of Trajan's reign), after gaining
some military successes over the Sarmatians, accepted the
imperial office from the army and the provincials, alike for-
getful— or perhaps because of the retribution which had
overtaken their last act of rebellion. He met the usual
violent death, presumably in a revolt of his own people. *

(19) As a reward for canying out his master's orders
against Ingenuus and the Fannonians, Aureolus received
the government of lUyria. The overthrow of Macrianus ^
increased his prestige, and after strengthening his power in
every possible way, towards the end of the reign of Gal-
lienus when the general disorder was at its climax, Aureo-

1 AnUy page 286.

[ 290 ]

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

lus accepted the title of Emperor from the army on the
Upper Danube, and crossing the Alps marched rapidly to
Milan, which he occupied as a base for his intended opera-
tions against Rome itself. As long as the pretenders had
contented themselves with provincial grandeur, Gallienus
saw no reason to interfere with their ambition, which never
in the slightest interfered with his personal pleasures and
diversions. But when the standard of revolt was erected
upon the sacred soil of Italy, even this imperial trifler was
awakened from his habitual indolence; and wrenching
himself from the luxurious life on the Tiber, the Emperor
gathered together the Italian troops and marched towards
the Po. The armies met about thirty miles from Milan,
and after a stubborn conflict the invaders were defeated,
Aureolus, who was severely wounded, barely escaping with
his life to Milan, which was at once besieged by Gallienus.
The usurper was indeed in sore straits, but it was not for
him that the Parc» were first preparing; it was the life-
thread of the dissolute and carele^'-i;^'^^ which
had unwound, and for which the sheiu^ l^pe rjiady. Again
the Roman purple was to be rent by a bl6^ from behind.
Disgusted at last with a £M.$tef-^ho inspired* neither re-
spect, nor love, nor fear, the prtetprfei^BL^d^cidfed to resume
their time-honored trade. Late at'^l^bt^ .While the Em-
peror was still at table, the false alar^^was raised that
Aureolus was attacking in force, and GalUenus, rushing
from his tent, was stabbed in the back by the assassins.
Aureolus himself perished a little later when Milan sur-
rendered to the next Emperor, by whom the lUjrrian
pretender was promptly executed. Thus of the nineteen
individuals who during the reign of GaUienus had flaunted
the purple in various parts of the Empire which most of
them helped to drag through the mire, Tetricus was the

[ 291 ]

:%^^

.\N

DECLINE OF SPLENDOR

lus accepted the title of Emperor from the army on the
Upper Danube, and crossing the Alps marched rapidly to
Milan, which he occupied as a base for his intended opera-
tions against Rome itself. As long as the pretenders had
contented themselves with provincial grandeur, Gallienus
saw no reason to interfere with their ambition, which never
in the slightest interfered with his personal pleasures and
diversions. But when the standard of revolt was erected
upon the sacred soil of Italy, even this imperial trifler was
awakened from his habitual indolence; and wrenching
himself from the luxurious life on the Tiber, the Emperor
gathered together the Italian troops and marched towards
the Po. The armies met about thirty miles from Milan,
and after a stubborn conflict the invaders were defeated,
Aureolus, who was severely wounded, barely escaping with
his life to Milan, which was at once besieged by GaUienus.
The usurper was indeed in sore straits, but it was not for
him that the Parc» were first preparing; it was the life-
thread of the dissolute and careless'-^^h-^-Yalerian which
had unwound, and for which the sheari^ i^pe rjfeady. Again
the Roman purple was to beibent by a bl6^ froih behind.
Disgusted at last with a itkA^tet jvfho inspired- neither re-
spect, nor love, nor fear, the prfetor&k^^d^cid^d to resume
their time-honored trade. Late at 'lai^tj .n^hile the Em-
peror was still at table, the false akmh^was raised that
Aureolus was attacking in force, and Gallienus, rushing
from his tent, was stabbed in the back by the assassins.
Aureolus himself perished a little later when Milan sur-
rendered to the next Emperor, by whom the lUyrian
pretender was promptly executed. Thus of the nineteen
individuals who during the reign of Gallienus had flaunted
the purple in various parts of the Empire which most of
them helped to drag through the mire, Tetricus was the

[ 291 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

importuned to ''deliver himself from Tetricus and Zeno-
bia** — as if these pretenders were the only enemies who
were abroad; to which the Emperor nobly replied, "The
matter of the usurpers concerns myself alone ; that of the
Goths is of importance to the State,"

Fortunate indeed it was for the Empire that Gallienus,
who thought always of himself and of the State not at all,
had been replaced by a leader who was at least concerned
for the State and himself. For never since the great Cim-
brie invasion had Rome been in such danger from without,
and a second Marius only could meet the emergency.
Nearly half a million savage invaders who had "burned
their ships behind them" were in motion, resolved to take
permanent possession of the mild and sunny provinces of
the south, which offered such a wide contrast to their own
bleak and wind-swept countries. If the invaders had acted
in unison, the Empire, sorely weakened by its self-inflicted
wounds, might perhaps have been swept away. But the
Alemanni,^ too impatient to await their Sarmatian allies,
all of whose ships were not yet completed, crossed the
Alps alone. Although this invasion occurred only a few
months after his accession, Claudius had already reformed
the Italian army to a large measure of its old-time effec-
tiveness and the Germans were completely routed. Elated
by their victory, the imperial troops enthusiastically fol-
lowed their intrepid leader to lUyria; and after crossing
that province and Macedon by forced marches, approached
the valley of the M argus, in Moesia, where the main body
of the Goths were operating, totally unaware of their
enemy's presence. But the dangers of the undertaking
were great. " I must tell you the truth. Conscript Fathers,"
Claudius wrote the Senate ; "three hundred thousand bar-

1 "Men of aU races."

[ 294 ]

ELACJABALfS

\*^$*^

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

barians have invaded Roman territory. If I am successful
you will acknowledge we have deserved well of our coun-
try. If I am not victorious remember whom I follow. The
State is exhausted and we fight after Valerian, after In-
genuus, after Regalianus, after Lcelianus, after Fostumus,
after Celsis, after many others who have been detached
fi"om the State on account of the contempt inspired by
Gallienus. We are deficient in bucklers and swords and
javelins. Tetricus is master of the Gallic and Spanish prov-
inces, which are the strength of the Empire; and — I am
ashamed to say it — our archers are all serving under
Zenobia. Whatever Uttle we may do, our successes will
be as great as you have a right to expect."

It was an admirable statement of the situation, and
overwhelmed Rome with both shame and apprehension.
But the result far exceeded what might reasonably have
been expected, from the modesty of the Emperor's ex-
pressions. Skilfully occupying" 'a ; strong position directly
between the two divisions of the inam^nse Gothic host,
Aurelian was at once despatched against the southern
enemy, and when he returned' successful, Claudius crossed
the mountains and encouiit^ed 'tha^main body of the
Goths at Naissus (Nissa). The conflict,, was long and san-
guinary, but the victory finally was with the Romans.
Fifty thousand of the barbarians were left upon the field
of battle, the remainder taking refuge in the mountain
&stnesses, where, after many had succumbed to famine
and exposure, the wretched remnants were successively
overtaken by Claudius and put to the sword. The Gk)thic
host was actually annihilated.

The message to the Senate in which Claudius announced
his victory might well have served as a model for some
of those "Homeric strophes fix)m the field of battle," as

[ 295 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

Victor Hugo terms the bulletins of the Grand Army.
"We have destroyed," says Claudius, **a hundred and
twenty thousand Goths and sunk two thousand vessels.
The water of the river is concealed under the budders
that it bears along with it, the banks under broken swords
and lances, the fields under the bones of the dead. The
roads are all choked with the enormous baggage the enemy
has left behind."

The Empire went wild with joy; such a triumph for
Roman arms had not been known in centuries. And might
not this second M anus also be expected to prove himself
"less great in having overcome the Cimbri than in having
quelled in Rome the aristocracy of the nobility ? "^ But ahis
for Claudius ; the hopes which he had inspired were to meet
their full fruition only under the great general who came
after him. In the flush of his triumph he contracted the
plague which was ravaging the northern provinces, and
died in the fifty-fourth year of his age and the third of his
reign. High upon the scroll of Rome's ablest defenders
history has written the name of Claudius Gothicus, which
was bestowed by a genuinely grateful Senate and peo-
ple; while the army mourned its hero by at once com-
pl}dng with his dying wishes in proclaiming Aurehan as
his successor.

QuiNTiLLUS — AuKELiAN I 270-275 A. D. When Claudius
was setting out upon his campaign against the Gk)ths, he
had left his brother, M . Aurelius Quintillus, with a few
legions at Aquileia, to guard that important gateway of
Italy.2 With the news of the Emperor s death, the Aqui-

^ Mirabeau.

* Aquileia was situated at the northern extremity of the Adriatic, aboat

midway between Venice and the Julian (now the Camic) Alps.

[ 296 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

leian legions proclaimed Quintillus, who, being nearer
Rome than Aurelian, was acknowledged by the Senate.
Aiirelian was on the Danube with the Emperor at the
time of the latter's death. Shortly afterwards he started
for Rome, and upon learning of his approach to Aquileia,
Quintillus opened his veins, according to the old fashion.

L. Domitius Aurehanus was well fitted to take up the
sword which his predecessor relinquished. He was bom in
lUyria, his father having been a freedman of the Senator
Aurelius, while his mother was a priestess of the Sun, in
the small Danubian village where they lived. Aurelian was
a bom fighter, and in some respects proved himself as
great a general as the Empire ever produced. Severe in
discipline, exacting for the service, of the strictest personal
morality, which he also insisted upon in his soldiers, dis-
dainful of pleasure, of unbounded energy, and apparently
concerned alone for the glory of the State, the destruction
of its enemies domestic and foreign, and the rehabilitation
of the dignity and power of an undivided imperial office,
his reign produced the same results which came from that
of Septimius Severus, whom Aurelian in fact greatly re-
sembled. The times were right for just such a character.

Scarcely had the Emperor returned to Rome when the
Juthungi and Vandals invaded Pannonia, where Claudius
had been in widting for them at the time of his death.
Returning in all haste to the northern border, Aurelian
first defeated the enemy and then cut their line of retreat
to the Danube ; when completely humiliated and promis-
ing submission, they were finally allowed to return home.
But after a few months the Vandals returned and although
again victorious, Aurehan, hard pushed by a fresh invasion
of Italy by the Alemanni, reluctantly purchased peace with
the Vandals by ceding Dacia, the Danube thus becoming

[ 297 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

the boundary for the first time since Trajan's conquest
So that at last ^'the God Terminus'' had fallen back. In
the meantime the Germans had traversed Cisalpine Gaul
with fire and sword, and it required all of the Emperors
energy and courage to turn the tables and destroy the in-
vaders. Almost immediately followed a formidable revolt
at Rome, in which it is said seven thousand soldiers alone
perished; and after punishing these home disturbers with
his custonutry severity, the indefatigable Emperor set out
for the Elast, where Zenobia yet maintained her imperial
court. Arrived at Palmyra, he sent a message commanding
the widow of Odenathus to recognize his sovereignty ; to
which the Queen haughtily replied, ''No person has ever
dared demand what your letter asks. You wish me to sur-
render myself as if you did not know that Cleopatra pre-
ferred to die rather than owe her life to a master.'* Palmyra
was strongly fortified and was stubbornly defended ; but it
was no upstart provincial who was now knocking at the
gates, and in the end the city fell. Zenobia, flying upon
her swiftest dromedary, was overtaken near the Euphrates
and brought into the presence of the conqueror. " Why,"
sternly demanded Aurelian, ''do you insult the majesty
of the Roman Emperor ? *" to which this daughter of the
desert naively answered, " I acknowledge you as an Em-
peror, since you are able to conquer ; but the Gallieni, the
Aureoli, and others like them were not Emperors."

Leaving a small garrison in the captured city, the Em-
peror set out upon his return. Halfway across Thrace the
news overtook him that the Saracens had revolted, had
murdered the garrison and proclaimed one Antiochus as
Emperor. Without an instant s delay this man of iron
determination raced back through Asia Minor, entered
Palmyra like a whirlwind, and, as in the case of Caracalla

[ 298 ]

JULIA M^SA

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

at Alexandria, although, of course, with greater provoca-
tion, turned the city over to his troops. For three days
the beautiful oasis of the Palms was plundered and partly
burned; it never recovered from the blow and now lies
buried beneath the sands of the desert

From the smoking ruins of Palmyra, Aurelian jour-
neyed to Eg3rpt, where his general, Probus, had been
fighting it out with a sham Emperor named Firmus, who
had been ^'proclidmed" by the inhabitants after the ex-
pulsion of Zenobia*s representatives. The Emperor made
short work of this impostor, whose army was cut to pieces,
he himself being crucified ; and after establishing a strong
Roman garrison, to overawe the populace, the imperial
restorer returned to Europe leaving a tranquillized East
behind him. Everything being in order at Rome, Aurelian
at once set out against the last remaining rebel — the Gal-
lic Emperor Tetricus. It was his easiest task,^ and in the
fourth year of his reign he jouhie^ed once more to Rome
and there celebrated one of thi; t^^^tn^^CTiiicent of the
three hundred and fifty triumphs whl^H h^ hitherto been
counted in the history of the Eternal City/* !^ehind the
chariot of the conqueror c»ni^',Z^obia,^ staggering be-
neath the weight of three iflimeQse gblcj^^hainrs, and Tetri-
cus and his son, '*who walked clad in the scarlet chlamys^
and wearing the Gallic braccae^ that the people might

^ Ante, page 284.

' Aurelian bestowed upon Zenobia a handsome villa near that of Ha-
drian^ and here the beautiful Queen of the East passed the rest of her
days^ her children marrying into the most illustrious Roman houses. The
happy ending of Tetricus has been pointed out. Ante, page 284.
' The chlamys was an oblong piece of cloth thrown over the left shoul-
der, the open ends being fastened with clasps on the right shoulder.
* A loose garment resembling modem trousers, worn by Gauls and Asi-
atics.

[ 299 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

shall rule with and through you/' Tacitus had said. The
act was both puerile and in the end fatal to the aspirations
of the Senate, the election of Tacitus having been not ex-
travagantly termed the last political act of the Roman
Republic.

The new Emperor had barely time to accomplish the
one thing for which posterity owes him its lasting grati-
tude before the inevitable tragedy overtook him. Tracing
his descent from the great historian ^*who ranks beyond
dispute in the highest place among men of letters of aU
ages,"^ the Emperor caused the "Histories" and "Annals"
to be placed in all the public libraries; and but for this
act, as Duruy has pointed out, the tragic history of the
Csesars might have been lost forever.^ Upon the heels of
this noteworthy deed and the enactment of some well-
meaning but ineffectual statutes, came the news that the
barbarians had again broken loose. Quickly appreciating
the change that had occurred at Rome, the Alani and
Goths had invaded Asia Minor; and thither p^nfully
journeyed the poor old Emperor to show himself to the
army. An immense donative to the troops caused them
momentarily to overlook the contrast which they could
not fail to draw between the enfeebled old civilian and
the martial figure which had so recently filled their ho-
rizon. But when a little later the pacific old man sent
more of his gold to the barbarians themselves, it was too
much for men who under Claudius and Aurelian had paid
tribute with the sword. Once more the old disease broke
out and at the hands of his soldiers Tacitus yielded up
the purple robe which had been forced upon him barely
six months before.

When he became Emperor the sons of Tacitus were

^ Encyc. Brit. Tit Tacitus. ' Hist. Rome, VoL viL chap. xcviiL

[ 802 ]

ALEXANDER SEVEHt^S

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

only boys, their father having married late in life, and he
accordingly requested that his brother, M. Annius Floria-
nus, be made consul. But the Conscript Fathers, jealous
of their new-found power and averse to a step which
might thereafter impair its free exercise by unduly digni-
fying the new Emperor s family, replied that the lists were
full. Tacitus had thereupon appointed his brother praeto-
rian prefect, and with tiie news of the Emperor's death
came that of Florian's investiture by his soldiers. So that
by refusing him the consulship and thus leaving him to
find preferment through the army, the Senate had actually
opened the door to that which they intended to bar out.

But in naming Florian the troops had apparently pro-
ceeded more from a desire to forestall action on the part
of the Senate than from any personal regard for their
commander, who, although an estimable character, was not
one who would naturally be chosen as leader by soldiers
in the field. The real candidate of the army was a general
named Probus; and as soou a%. his consent to accept the
purple had been obtained by the Syrian legions of which
he was in command, the unfortunate Florian, after a reign
of barely three month^, exchanged; Ws imperial robe for a
shroud, bestowed by the-samcLjiands which had tendered
him the purple*

Probus: 276-282 a. d. M. Aurelius Probus was an-
other of the famous Illyrian generals who rolled back the
great waves of barbaric invasion which swept the fit>ntier
provinces during the last half of the third century. Al-
though he claimed to be of Roman origin, Probus was a
compatriot of Aurelian, having been bom at Sirmium, not
far from the little Danubian village where the boyhood
of his great predecessor had been passed. His father, com-

[ 808 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

mencing life as a peasant, finally became a tribune; and
Probus had obtained the same rank at an miusuaUy early
age under Valerian, by whom the young soldier was highly
esteemed. He fought with growing distinction through all
the border wars, until at last as a special mark of fiEivor
the Emperor Aurelian intrusted him with the Tenth Le-
gion, whose leaders, as he significantly reminded the young
general, had usually become Emperors. He was in fact the
only logical candidate for the purple when Aurelian died ;
which Tacitus himself acknowledged by writing him **The
Senate has appointed me Emperor; but know this, that
the greater part of the burden will rest upon your shoul-
ders. We all know your worth and you will share with
me the consulship of the coming year. Aid us then in our
times of need/*

By his first public acts after being saluted by the le-
gions, Probus indicated that the measure of his abilities
was not limited by mUitary accomplishments. In a letter
to the Senate he modestly declined to accept the titie
which his soldiers had conferred, until the Conscript Fa-
thers should approve; and when informed of the acclama-
tions with which he had been proclaimed at the Capitol,
he despatched another message to the effect that hence-
forth all imperial ordinances would be subject to the Sen-
ate's confirmation. The cup of the Fathers was now over-
flowing— the restoration of senatorial authority seemed so
complete ; and the tactful Probus was thus assured of the
active cooperation of the city as well as the army in the
arduous undertakings which he had planned.

After a brief stay in Rome, the Emperor proceeded to
Gaul, where he drove out the Franks and Alemanni, who
since the death of Aurelian had been devastating that
province ; and to prevent future incursions constructed a

[ 804 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

massive wall, flanked by huge towers, from the Danube
to the Rhine. He thence passed along the entire Danu-
bian frontier, destroying many scattered bands of barba-
rians who had been terrorizing the northern provinces —
among them a fierce Grerman tribe called Lygians, which
he absolutely obliterated.^ From Thrace he journeyed to
Asia Minor, with sword still in hand, and finally returned
to Rome by way of Egypt, thus completing one of those
fit>ntier inspections which Severus and Aurelian had con-
sidered a sine qua nan to the maintenance as well of in-
ternal order as efficient defence.

The suppression of some revolts in Britain, Gaul, and
Egypt left the Empire entirely tranquillized ; and the Em-
peror was at last free to devote his energies to his long-
planned work of building up those provinces which had
suffered the most seriously in the wars and insurrections
of the past forty years. In Thrace, which was almost com-
pletely devastated, he colonized one hundred thousand
Germans called Bastamse, who were seemingly glad in
this way to escape the uncertainties of their nomadic life ;
in certain parts of Gaul which fire and sword had turned
into a desert, he inaugurated the planting of vineyards,
some of which are said to be still existing ; while every-
where he engaged in the most extensive public works
tending to the physical improvement of the Empire.

But Probus was too good for Rome. And in the midst
of his labors for the restoration of that which he had so
largely aided in staying from collapse, death overtook the
valiant general, at the very prime of his hopes and ener-
gies. Unwilling that the immense army should continue a
dead weight upon the State, during the interim of war he

^ The Lygii^ who lived between the Oder and the Vistuhi, never again
appeared in histoiy.

[ 805 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

had largely employed the soldiery in the building of roads
and canals. Unlike their general, the legionaries were un-
willing to change the sword for the pickaxe ; and enraged
at being compelled to toil in the heat of a summer day,
they mutinied, attacked the Emperor in a tower from
whence he was superintending the work, and put him to
death. He was mourned by all classes, including even his
murderers, who are said to have wept over his body. Pro-
bus was fifty years old and had reigned six years.

Carus : 282-288 a. d. Upon the death of Probus an-
other lUyrian succeeded to the purple in the person of
Marcus Aurelius Carus, who was proclaimed by the army,
the Conscript Fathers being entirely ignored in the trans-
action. Carus was an able general as well as a man of
rank, having filled many high offices, including that of
pro-consul. He had been a favorite of the late Emperor,
whose murderers received no mercy from the man who
had profited by a crime in which he had no part.

At the news of the death of Probus, who had so eflfectu-
ally cowed the northern hordes, the latter again set their
faces towards the south, and Upper Pannonia was once
more overrun. Leaving his son Carinus in charge of the
West, Carus set out from Rome with a formidable army,
and speedily convinced the invading Quadi that Rome's
present defender was a worthy successor to Aurelian and
Probus, whose names had become a byword of fear to all
the savage tribes. After soundly punishing the marauders
and restoring order in the province, Carus determined to
carry out the project which Probus is said to have formed
of conquering Persia. At the head of a vast army he
traversed lUyria and Thrace, and passing swiftly through
Asia Minor, crossed the Tigris and captured Ctesiphon —

[ 806 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

beyond which it had been foretold that no Roman Em-
peror could go. The saying proved a convenient prophecy
for the army, who began to find the forced marches and
fierce Eastern sun quite as irksome as the ditch-digging of
Probus ; indeed it is supposed that in this case the soldiers
were themselves the oracle. However this may have been,
the news one day came to Rome that while Cams was
resting in his tent during a storm he had instantly been
killed by a "flash of lightning," which also set fire to the
tent, the dead body of the Emperor being entirely con-
sumed. It is impossible to deny that this may have been
true; and lightning or prsetorian steel, it was all one to
Cams, dead at Ctesiphon after a reign of fifteen months.

Carinus — NuMERiANUs: 288-285 a. d. Numerianus,
the younger son of Cams, had accompanied his father to
Persia; and after the fulfilment of the oracle, Numerianus
received the title of Augusti)6 ^m the army. Carinus,
who was at Rome, also assum^'^.tlbM^.^urple — which in-
deed had practically been a^cord^^^ix^JJuring his father's
lifetime. . * v*.;/- »

The transition from ^ariK *to. Numerianils Avas quite as
abmpt as was the succes^on ''of^tl^e age4/and scholarly
Tacitus to the vigorous and warljike'iVurejplkn. Numerianus
had a delicate constitution and wa^of sl^ and retiring dis-
position. Utterly wanting in mUitary instinct, he was only
too glad to intrust the conduct of the army to his father-
in-law, the prsetorian prefect Aper, who hastened to lead
the willing soldiers back into Roman territory, after re-
gaining which they slowly journeyed towards Europe. The
young Emperor, who was suffering ftom an affection of
the eyes, travelled in a closed Ktter and was rarely visible
even when the army was at rest. Just as the European

[ 807 ]

THE HOUSE OF CJSSAR

frontier was reached a rumor was circulated that Numeria-
nus was dead; and the guards, rushing to the imperial
tent, found that for several days they had been carrying
the mortal remains of their unfortunate young ruler.

Suspicion naturally rested on Aper, who had not re-
vealed his son-in-law's death, of which he must necessarily
have been aware. The prefect was seized and led in chains
before a tribunal of generals organized to try the prisoner
who was accused by the army. Among the judges was a
young general named Diodes, who as commander of the
bodyguard must have known what was taking place in his
imperial master's tent. Selected by his associates to pre-
side, he permitted no time to be wasted in proving what
every one believed. First volunteering an oath that he
himself neither was concerned in the murder nor desired
imperial honors, Diocles then turned to Aper and shout-
ing in a loud voice, ^'This man is the assassin," sheathed
his sword in the prefect's breast. How like a modem mur-
der trial — this "justice of Diocletian !" And yet perhaps in
the long run quite as much real justice and not less mercy
than results in some of these later-day causes celebres.

Carinus in the meanwhile had been playing the parts of
Domitian and Elagabalus at Rome, which was now long-
ing for a deliverer. The elder son of Cams had ingratiated
himself with the populace by declaring that the wealth of
the aristocracy belonged to them as being the true Roman
people. Fifteen hundred years later this doctrine bore
bloody fiiiit in France; but in the third century of the
Empire it was naturally very shocking to the Conscript
Fathers, by whom its author was accordingly detested
quite as much as he was hated by the soldiers on account
of his cruelty and despised by the best citizens because of
his sensuality. But for all his love of pleasure, Carinus was

[ 808 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

a good fighter and had won some notable victories over
the barbarians during the year of his father's campaign
in the East. At his back were the tried legions of Italy
and the West, before whom the Asiatic army had rarely
been able to stand. So that when Diodes came marching
over from the East with aU his forces, his task proved
anything but easy. Carinus was successful in some pre-
liminary skirmishes along the Danube and in southern
G^ermany, and finally won a decisive battle over his East-
em competitor at Margus in Upper Moesia. But the force
of events was against the profligate son of Carus, and in
the hour of victory he was murdered by one of his own
officers whom the Emperor had greatly wronged — the
assassin having the hearty support of the soldiers of Italy,
who hailed the defeated conqueror as the deliverer of Rome.
Carinus had reigned only a month longer than his father.

Diocletian — Maximian: 285-305 a. d. Marcus Aure-
lius Valerius Diocletianus, as his name appears in the in-
scriptions, was only thirty-nine years of age at the time
of his accession. His parents had been slaves in the house
of a Roman senator, and it was from the obscure Dalma-
tian village of Dioclea from whence his mother came, that
lie acquired his original name of Docles, which he himself
''first lengthened to the Grecian harmony of Diodes, and
afterwards to the Roman majesty of Diocletianus."

Entering the service at an early age, Diocletian had won
the rapid advancement which in those stormy days was the
sure reward of personal courage and ability, having passed
tlirough all the higher grades in the army at the time he
was selected to assume the purple which had fallen from
the murdered son of Cams. And now from this offspring
of the lowest class in Roman society, the spirit of the gov-

[ 809 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

eminent was to receive as profound an impression as that
which had been created by the imperial institutions of the
first Augustus, whose ftindamental idea of military des-
potism, after enduring three centuries, at last gave way to
the Diocletian idea of military partition.

Since the death of Gallienus, who had come perilously
near destroying the inheritance of Augustus, it had been
the Empire's good fortune to enjoy a succession of able
military chiefs as its rulers. But even the matchless cour-
age, ability, and energy of Claudius, Aurelian, and Probus
had sufficed merely to keep in momentary check the count-
less foes of the State, whose aggressiveness gradually re-
vived as the warlike spirit tapered off under Cams, Cari-
nus, and Numerianus. The new Ejmperor, while a man of
great native ability both as a soldier and statesman, was
lacking in those extraordinary ^fts of military and ad-
ministrative energy which had enabled his two great pre-
decessors to cope single-handed with all the swarming
enemies of the State and at the same time maintain a
firm control of its internal affairs. But he possessed in
a high measure one great gift of all really great men,— a
perfect self-mastery based upon a thorough self-knowledge.
Thus wisely appreciating that the task was beyond his
single power, he conceived the idea of organizing a vigor-
ous defensive by a division of the power and consequent
sharing of the responsibilities which attached to the impe-
rial office. Selecting first an associate who was proclaimed
Augustus with authority equalling his own, each of the
Augusti then chose for himself an assistant (and future
successor), who was proclaimed Caesar, with the tribuni-
tian power and the military imperium;^ whereupon the

^ See Eusebius's Life of Constaniine for a dissertation on the office of
Caesar, under the system of Diocletian.

[810 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

Empire was apportioned among the four, who ruled — or
at least were supposed to rule — "all for one and one for
alL"

Such, in brief, was the so-called system of Diocletian, as
it was finally perfected. But at the outset its founder per-
haps contemplated only a division of the Empire into
halves, which, based upon natural and geographical Unes,
would become Greek in the East and Latin in the West.
At any rate, it was only after Maximian and himself had
struggled seven weary years in defence of the State that
Diocletian saw fit to complete his political system by
creating the two additional subdivisions and their rulers.
From which it is not unreasonable to conclude that the
"system ** was stretched to meet the increasing dangers of
the State.

Maximian, who became the Emperor's first colleague,
was peasant-bom, a native of Sirmium, which, having
already supplied the Empire with two rulers, was now to
present it with two more. Maximian was a good soldier,
but outside of his fighting potv^i^ was without ability,
bdng utterly ignorant of letters and in. appearance and
manners always displaying««ijic^. meanness of his birth and
coarseness of his nature. H^ wasV^jt even a great general,
his victories proceeding rathe^•froto.^^utlJ force and cour-
age than military strategy and dispositions. Rough and
brutal as he was, he never failed to recognize the superi-
ority of his imperial patron, who held him in easy check
as long as he himself remained at the helm. Of the two
Caesars, Galerius, who had commenced life as a herdsman,
was a native of the same territory as Maximian, whom he
so much resembled in character and manners that he was
not infi^quently spoken of as the younger Maximian. The
other assistant. Flavins Constantius, sumamed Chlorus

[811 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

ished throughout the Empire, Constantius alone protect-
ing them to some extent in Gaul.

At the time Maximian was elevated to the purple, it
had been stipulated that he should abdicate whenever Dio-
cletian should do so. The great Roman triumph and the
persecution of the Christians occurred in the twentieth
year of their reign, and at the end of that year Diocletian
decided that the time had come to lay aside the purple.
His strength, he said, was decreasing and repose was need-
ful after so many labors. On the &st of May, 805, Max-
imian^ at Milan proclaimed as Cassar one of his generals
named Severus, while on the same day at Nikomedeia the
senior Augustus laid his mantle upon a nephew of Gale-
rius named Maximin Daza, and ''Diocles" once more, he
quitted the scene of his power forever. Upon the Dalma-
tian coast on the Adriatic, he had prepared a magnificent
palace, covering a space of more than eight acres.^ Here
the old Emperor Uved in seclusion for a period of eight or
nine years. His life was embittered towards the end by the
sufferings and death of his wife and daughter at the hands
of his successors;^ other than which he lived in compara-
tive peace and happiness. To an appeal of his former col-
league Maximian that he should reassmne the purple, he
philosophically replied, '' If you could see the cabbages I
am raising, you would not ask me to abandon my happiness
for the piusuit of power 1 " Sensibly persisting in his retire-
ment, he died peacefully in his bed in the sixty-ninth year
of his age, and was decreed an apotheosis by direction of
Constantine, who speaks of him as ''our lord and father";

^ For the futare life and death of Maximian, see pari, pages 317 to 320.
' The site of this palace is now occupied by the little town of Spalato,
which was largely erected from the materials of its forerunner.
• See past, page 324.

[814]

GOKDIAN 1

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

while an inscription of the time calls him '^the father of
the Emperors." AU this was very distasteful to the Chris-
tians, by whom were circulated various reports that the
Emperor, after a wretched old age, died by either poison
or voluntary starvation, and that his statues were over-
thrown and his memory execrated by Constantine ; all of
these misfortunes, including the miseries of the Empress
Prisca and her daughter, being of course attributed to the
divine retribution.

Twelve centuries later the vengeance of the oppressed
Christians worked itself out in a more poetical way. At
Rome the name of Diocletian will always be associated
with the magnificent Thermae,^ which were completed in
the year of his abdication, tradition ascribing the execution
of the work to condemned Christians. From the windows
of a great modem hotel, with all of its twentieth-century
luxuries, one looks out to-d&y upon the low, quaint en-
trance to the Church of S. jyfepsk .degU Angeli, the Tepi-
darium of seventeen centiuies a^^'^hK^h about the year
1560 was converted into' a Carthiisliap* ii^diivent by Pope
Pius IV at the hands of Michael Angeii^^ /

Diocletian to Constant^e :l^ft6^j8^4 a.d. During the
twenty years which immediately fq^owed the abdication
of Diocletian, Rome was under the sway of eight Em-
perors, not one of whom was momentarily supreme ; while
on two occasions no less than six men were both exercis-
ing imperial functions and acknowledged throughout the

^ The Baths of Diocletian are said to have been twice as large in circum-
ference as those of Caracalla. See arde^ page 9.^by Note 2.
'The church was consecrated August 5, 156l. Most of the remaining
parts of the Therms are preserved and occupied for charitable, religious,
and educational purposes.

[815]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

State as August!. Pretenders were also flourishing in dif-
ferent parts of the Roman world, so that for a while con-
ditions resembled somewhat those which obtained during
the reign of Gallienus and the Thirty Tyrants. But the in-
evitable jealousies and clashings incident to such a division
of power gradually cleared the way for a consolidation of
the Empire under the strong arm and master mind of Con-
stantine, who emerged at last as the sole survivor of this
double decade of imperial contention and strife, in which,
with the exception of his father Constantius, all of his
seven competitors miserably perished. The eight Emperors
who bridged the period from Diocletian to Constantine
were as follows :

CoNSTANTius Chlorus : proclaimed 805, died 806.

Galerius: proclaimed 805, died 811.

Maximin Daza : proclaimed 805, died 818.

Severus : proclaimed 805, died 807.

Constantine : proclaimed 806, became sole Emperor 824.

Maxentius : proclaimed 806, died 812.

Maximian : proclaimed (the second time) 806, died 810.

LiciNius : proclaimed 807, died 824.

When Diocletian and Maximian laid aside the pur-
ple, Constantius remained in charge of Gaul, Spain, and
Britain, which had been his from the b^inning, Galerius
likewise retaining his Danubian provinces, to which were
added a large part of eastern Europe formerly controlled
by Diocletian ; while of the new Caesars, Maximin received
Egypt and Syria, Severus Africa and Italy. At Nikome-
deia with Galerius was a handsome vigorous youth, who
had been held by Diocletian as a sort of hostage. He was a
son of Constantius, who had frequently begged the former
Emperor that the young man might be allowed to join

[816]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

him in the West ; to all which entreaties Diocletian had in-
variably turned a deaf ear. Constantius was now in feeble
health, and in response to his urgent appeal the young
Constantine by a bold stratagem escaped from Galerius
and made his way by forced marches to GauL Constantius
ivas barely able to muster enough strength to accompany
him to Britain, where father and son were received by
the army with acclamations. The Emperor did not long
survive this journey, and a few days after his death,^ in
the city of York (Eboracum), Constantine was proclaimed
Augustus by his father's devoted legions.

The idea of hereditary succession was directly opposed
to the principles of Diocletian's system ; and the senior Au-
gustus— having no sons of his own — was at first greatly
enraged by the news from Britain. But the offenders were
too far away — and too powerful; so that Galerius finally
accepted the situation, merely relegating Constantine from
the rank of Augustus to the fourth place ; Severus being
raised to the second place, with the title of Augustus,
Maximin remaining the first Csesar. Constantine had the
good sense to acquiesce, and for a while ever3rthing moved
smoothly, under the reestablished tetrarchy. But a storm
was brewing at Rome — out of patience with a set of rulers
who seemed to scorn the Imperial City, which, shorn of its
importance, its authority, and its grandeur, was already
fast becoming merely a stopping-place in the journeys
from one provincial palace to another. Rome clamored for
an Emperor of its own and found one ready made at hand
in the person of Maxentius, the son of the old Emperor
Maximian, and the son-in-law of Galerius. Under cover
of an obnoxious tax measure, a riot broke out, Maxentius
was proclaimed Augustus, and Maximian, recalled from his

» In July, 306.

[817]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

retirement, was also persuaded to accept the purple from
the Senate, the people, and the soldiers. So that now there
were six Emperors instead of four, and Rome went wild
with joy — a sure earnest of sorrows to come.

Italy was supposed to be under the special direction of
Severus, who was accordingly at once instructed by Gale-
rius to put down the Roman usurpers. He arrived before
the Imperial City with a large army; but before a blow
was struck the troops went over to Maxentius in a body,
Severus barely escaping to Ravenna, from whence he soon
surrendered to Maxentius. He was taken to Rome, and
there imprisoned in a villa on the Appian Way ; and after
having been induced to resign the purple (which ought
never to have been bestowed upon him) by Maxentius,
who promised solemnly that his life should be spared, the
hapless prisoner was ordered to commit suicide, which he
did by opening his veins.

Maxentius and his father were now masters of Italy,
and the situation was serious enough to compel the per-
sonal attention of Galerius. He came down from Illjrria
with a powerful army and forced his way to within sixty
miles of Rome — the nearest he had ever been to his Im-
perial City. But his adversaries were active and had the
united support of the Italian troops and people, to whom
this unknown Eastern Emperor was merely an invader. So
that in the end Galerius, fearfrd that Constantine, in league
with the Roman Augusti, might attempt to intercept his
retreat, abandoned his attempt and retired in hot haste,
burning and ravaging the Italian provinces as he went.

Upon setting out to chastise the Roman usurpers the
Eastern Augustus had intrusted to his friend Licinius
the defence of the Danube. Licinius had been an old com-
rade in arms of Galerius, and like the Emperor was the son

[ 818 ]

GOKUIAN II

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

of a peasant, although he claimed to be descended from
the Emperor Philip. He had long been destined to succeed
Galerius, and immediately upon the latter's return from
the unsuccessful Italian expedition, Licinius was pro-
claimed Augustus and received Illyria as his share of the
government The Empire was now divided into two great
hostile powers ; Maximian, his son Maxentius, and his son-
in-law Constantine controUing the West, while Galerius,
his nephew Maximin, and his comrade Licinius ruled the
'East The system of Diocletian was utterly destroyed, and
with it had vanished all semblance of harmony in the Em-
pire. While the two great forces of which Constantine and
Galerius were the exponents were contending for suprem-
acy, the various elements in each were struggling among
themselves. Scarcely had Galerius withdrawn from Italy,
thereby practically sanctioning the Roman Augusti, before
Maximian and his son had a serious quarrel ; and the fiery
old man, deprived of what he considered* his due share of
power, betook himself to the Court of Constantine. Soon
after his arrival he formaUy resigned the ^le; and hav-
ing thus disarmed possible suspiajiiai)^ he cotnmepced to
plot the overthrow of his son-in-law/^aj^g advitntage of
the latter's absence in repulsing an injjra^tk of the Fr;anks,
he seized and distributed among the sbldie^^ the imperial
treasure, and having spread a false report of Constantine's
death, caused himself to be once more proclaimed Augus-
tus. But Constantine, returning by forced marches from the
Rhine, drove his traitorous father-in-law into Marseilles
and was preparing to carry the city by assault when the
gates were opened and the usurper given up by the sol-
diers. Deprived of his imperial honors, Maximian lived a
while in seeming humility at the Court of his son-in-law,
but finally tempted Fate once more by engaging in a fi'esh

[ 819 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR -

plot The forbearance of Constantine was exhausted, Max-
imian was condemned to be executed, but allowed, like
Severus, to choose the instrument of his death ; and in the
year 810 the turbulent spirit of the old warrior, who had
enjoyed the unique distinction of having been three times
invested with the purple, was forever stilled by the cus-
tomary method of self-destruction.

After the unsuccessful attempt to destroy the Roman
Augusti, Galerius seems to have given up his former pro-
jects for imiversal Empire, and relying upon Licinius as
a bulwark against the possible ambitions of Maxentiu^, the
elder Augustus devoted himself to a life of pleasure in his
Eastern city of Nikomedeia. He survived Maximian barely
a year, and a month before his death performed the best
act of his reign, — the issuance of an edict of toleration,
thus ending the era of the martyrs which Diocletian and
himself had inaugurated. His death was occasioned by a
terrible disease, the repulsive details of which are related
by the ancient writers with undisguised pleasure. To the
persecuted Christians it was the divine retribution — un-
tempered by the tyrant's display of eleventh-hour mercy.

The dominions of Galerius were shared between Maxi-
min and Licinius, Asia falling to the former, who already
had the far East, while Licinius acquired the European
provinces. But the crafty and far-sighted Constantine, who
now began to see his opening, took advantage of the op-
portunity to break up the old combination of forces, by
forming a secret alliance with Licinius; whereupon Max-
entius in Italy and Maximin in Syn& threw in their lots
together. It was once more a tetrarchy, but lacking in
that essential cohesiveness which could result only from
harmony among the rulers held in check by one master
mind, as in the case of Diocletian's government.

[820]

• \

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

During the greater port of the time which had elapsed
since Rome had given way to such unbounded joy upon
the acquisition of a resident Augustus in the person of
Maxentius, that Emperor had conducted himself in a way
to arouse the bitterest hostility and detestation of his sub-
jects. By natiu^ cruel, rapacious, and licentious, it needed
only the defeat of Severus and the banishment of Maxim-
ian to bring into action all the vicious instincts which until
his power had become thus firmly established Maxentius
had wisely kept in check. In the abominable pursuits to
which his life was thereafter abandoned, he displayed him-
self a veritable tyrant. The noblest Romans were robbed
of their goods, despoiled of their wives and daughters, and
deprived of their lives at the whim of the dissolute and
evil-minded young ruler, who had protected himself from
their resentment by filling the city with armed troops
whose devotion was secured both by immense largesses
and immunity to plunder and massacre the defenceless
people. No wonder an appeal went out to tiqsistantine to
relieve Italy of this incarnated Domitian.

The self-poised Gallic Emperor at* fir^ refused to inter/-
fere; but when Maxentius, affecting a fifialajiiger at the
death of the father he had himself driveirawsf;^ ,rCl6stroyed
the statues of Constantine, erased his titles from the pub-
lic monuments, and announced his intention of invading
Gaul and possessing himself of the Western Empire, the
son of Chlorus knew that the hour which he had been
awaiting had struck. Disregarding the timid counsels of
his generals, Constantine selected fit)m his total available
forces of one hundred thousand men, about forty thousand
of his best-seasoned troops ; and leaving the remainder to
guard the Rhine, he crossed the Alps by way of Mont
Cenis so expeditiously that his little army was deployed

[ 821 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

ing more difficult Maximin had captured Byzantium and
penetrated as far as Adrianople, where he was confix>nted
by Licinius with an army of thirty thousand men. The
Eastern Emperor had more than twice that number, and
for a time Licinius did not venture to test the issue. He
was, however, a skilful soldier, and his legions had been
well hardened and disciplined in the continuous border
war&xe. A battle finally took place, in which the Sjrrian
forces were completely overthrown, their leader escaping to
Tarsus, where he soon perished by that so-called "divine
justice'' which the profane mind accounted for through
the medium of poison. The whole East accepted his defeat
with complacency, Maximin as to ability and virtue hav-
ing proved a rather more than faint echo of Maxentius.
Licinius celebrated his victory by an act which could
have been based alone upon a determination to extirpate
every individual who might thereafter advance hereditary
pretensions to his power. Having first destroyed the two
children of Maximin, a boy of eight and a girl of seven,
he next put to death Severianus, the harmless son of the
deceased Emperor Severus (whose death had made room
for the elevation of Licinius), Candidianus, the natural
son of his friend and benefiEU^r Galerius, and finally — the
most shameful act of all — the virtuous and unhappy
Valeria, widow of Galerius, and her aged mother Prisca,
who were ruthlessly beheaded in Thessalonica. Prisca was
the wife and Valeria the daughter of Diocletian, and
before the ashes of Galerius were fairly cold, the brutal
Maximin, whose wife was still ahve, coveting the posses-
sion and charms of the widowed Empress, endeavored to
force her into a marriage with himself. Upon her dignified
refrisal, the tyrant had confiscated her estates and con-
demned the Empress and her mother to exile. The old

[ 824 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

Emperor Diocletian pleaded in vain that his wife and
daughter might be permitted to minister to his declining
years at his retreat in Salona; Maximin had been obdu-
rate, and his conqueror indicating if anything still greater
inhumanity, the wife and daughter of Diocletian escaped
in disguise from their former asylum in exile, only to per-
ish miserably after fifteen months' hiding in the utmost
wretchedness and privation.

The tetrarchy of Diocletian had thus fmally been re-
placed by a dyarchy, in which Constantine controlled
Italy, Africa, and all of the West, while the remainder of
the Empire was subject to Licinius. It is true that the
title of Cassar was conferred by Constantine upon Bassia-
nus, who had married the Emperor's sister Anastasia;
while Valens, the Illyrian general of Licinius, was by the
latter raised to the same rank. But in the war which
speedily ensued between the riv^ Augusti, these imim-
portant Csesars were speed^y **yt^jf^ -Spf -^^th title and
power, which Constantine then plaml^f 4^$6ii^^ should
ultimately be possessed byiiiiq^elf alone. A%u* i^o bloody
battles had been fought-4ron^"MJi;^ J^a^ tne other in

Thrace — between the Augiislti^ ^9k^^ wHich Constan-
tine was victorious, although Licu)iu3.^^'i^/^ot absolutely
conquered, a peace was patched up between the contes-
tants, Licinius remaining in possession of Thrace, Egjrpt,
and the East, while Constantine added to his former pos-
sessions all of the European provinces between Italy and
the extremity of Peloponnesus. With this accretion of
dignity and power the conqueror contented himself for
eight years, during which the Roman world enjoyed in-
ternal peace. But after his great victories over the Goths
and other northern barbarians, Constantine ^^ in his exalted
state of glory found it impossible to longer endure a part-

[ 825 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

ner in the Empire"; and assembling a formidable army,
he marched for the last time against his associate. The
old Emperor, notwithstanding his effeminate life in the
East, was still warlike, and the contest was long in doubt
Constantine won the memorable battle of Adrianople, in
which three hundred thousand combatants were engaged ;
but Licinius immediately shut himself up in Byzantium,
which was able for a long time to withstand all the efforts
of the conqueror. Before the city fell, Licinius escaped
into Bith3mia, where he organized a new army of sixty
thousand men ; and it was only after the decisive battle
of Chrysopolis, in which more than half of his troops
perished, that the sturdy old soldier could be persuaded
that the candle was burned out. It is said that his wife
Constantia played the part of Octavia in the negotiations
between her vanquished husband and the victorious Au-
gustus. After resigning the purple, and accepting his par-
don from Constantine, Licinius was sent into confine-
ment in Thessalonica, where he soon passed away among
the shadows which so commonly settled down upon the
dethroned rulers of the Roman world — once more united
aft;er thirty-seven years of divided power under a leader
whose memorable accomplishments have conferred upon
him the appellation of Constantine the Great.

Constantine : 806-824-887 a. d. Flavins Valerius Au-
relius Constantinus was bom about the year 278, on the
day that his father under the Emperor Aurelian gained a
great victory over the Alemanni. His father, Constantius
Chlorus, a nephew of the Emperor Claudius,^ had married
Flavia Jtdia Helena, the daughter of an innkeeper of un-
known nationality, who became the mother of Constan-

1 Ante, page 312.

[ 826 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

tine, all of whose successors in the fourth century took his
gentile name of Flavins. Although compelled to submit
to a divorce from her husband upon his elevation to the
rank of Caesar,^ Helena lived to see her own son become
the sole ruler of the Empire and to be herself saluted
as Augusta by the soldiers. The mother of Constantine
was a zealous Christian, and on the occasion of her pious
pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the year 827» was accredited
with the discovery of the holy sepulchre and the true
cross, which in later years won for her the honor of a
canonization.

Constantine was probably bom at Naissus,^ in Dacia,
and during his youth and early manhood concerned him-
self more about the pursuit of arms than the acquisition
of knowledge. At the time of his mother's divorce he was
eighteen years of age, and instead of allowing him to re-
main in the service with his father and thus naturally ac-
quire hopes of future power, Diocletian, whose poUcy for-
bade the idea of hereditary succession, took the young man
with him to the East, where he served with distinction in
the Persian wars and finally attained the office of tribune.
He remained with Diocletian, practically as a hostage,
until the abdication; soon after which, having escaped
from Nikomedeia, where Galerius had assumed control,
he rejoined his father, and after the latter's death gradu-
ally worked his way up to supreme power, as previously
related.^

Constantine is represented as having been tall and hand-
some, skilled in all manly exercises, affable in manners,

^ Helena is by some thought to have been united to Constantius by a
mamage of the second order only; as to which see ante, page 238, Note 1.
* The legend that Constantine was bom in Britain has been abandoned.
*Ante, pages 3l6 to 326,

[ 827 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

and of a kindly disposition when not opposed. Possessed
of high ambition and a masterful will, he was not over-
scrupulous in the attainment of his ends; and although
apparently free from cruel and revengeful instincts, he
never hesitated to sweep out of his path every one — man,
woman, or child — who impeded or in the slightest degree
threatened his progress. The unvarying patience and self-
control manifested by him during all the years of his asso-
ciated reign proves that he had early mastered the grand
philosophy of life by learning to wait. But the successive
steps in his march to absolute power also demonstrate that
when the time for action had unmistakably arrived, not
even the great Cassar was more prompt and vigorous in
striking.

Constantine was an intrepid soldier and an able general,
but unlike all his predecessors in the purple who had been
great military leaders, he achieved no important victory
outside of the civil wars. His magnificent triumphal arch
between the Colosseum and the Palatine, the best-pre-
served monument of its kind in Rome,^ was erected, not
after any victory over a foreign foe, but in commemoration
of the defeat of Maxentius, at Saxa Rubra, and of his final
disbandment of the prcetorians — acts, however, for which
the long-suffering. Romans might with genuine reason
accord a trimnph to their Uberator.

The foundation of a New Rome on the Bosphorus and
his religious poUcy were Constantine's most important
contributions to imiversal history. In the establishment of

^ Roman art was at so low an ebb in the fourth centuiy that in default of
competent sculptors the Arch of Constantine was embellished with orna-
ments ruthlessly torn from a monument of Trajan, whose head in marble
can still be discerned amidst the rude and unskilful decorations of Con-
stantine's builders.

[ 828 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

Constantinople as the imperial centre of a government
which had legalized Christianity, the ultimate triimiph of
Eastern barbarism was retarded ten centuries ; while Rome,
thus finally and formally discarded by her temporal rulers,
became the natural heritage of the pontifical authority. Of
comrse neither of these results was intended by Constantine,
who, in creating a Nova Roma, was actuated purely by a
desire to mark in a visible and concrete form tiie glory of
his personal achievements and at the same time establish
for himself a fitting home far from the polluted atmos-
phere of despised Rome. The great city which he founded,
after playing a most important part in the history of civil-
ization and again and again becoming the key to European
diplomacy, has retained nothing but the name of the first
Christian Emperor, whose sarcophagus even has been re-
moved to the city he had scorned and abandoned — that
pagan city which in the end surviving all assaults, became
the living centre of the Christian world.

Concerning the nature of the great Constantine's rela-
tion to Christianity volumes have becBr .^viitten^-^it .being
perhaps the most hotly disputed sub^^db^ my.'ibQnnected
with the lives of the Roman Emperors. But, after all, the
historically significant fact is not his personal acceptance
or rejection of Christianity, but that W eftdowed it with
worldly power sufficient for its'iievelapment int* "the
strongest social and political agent that affects the destinies
of the human race.'' Viewed in this light, it is largely im-
material whether we are to believe the story of Eusebius
that Constantine was converted while on the march to
meet Maxentius by the apparition of a luminous cross, or
the relation of the pagan authors Libanius and Zosimus,
who respectively date the conversion after the defeat of
Lidnius (828) and after the death of Crispus (826). The

[ 829 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

facts are that although doubtless imbibing his father's in-
clinations towards the new religion, statesman as he was
he had from the beginning treated the question as one of
statesmanship. It is therefore occasion for no surprise that
side by side with his decrees in favor of Christianity were
others in favor of the gods, that throughout his reign new
temples were built, as well as basilicas, and that pagan as
well as Christian observances received the imperial sanc-
tion. In all these acts we see the wisdom of the great ruler,
devoting himself to the lofty aim of compelling men to
live in peace, and trusting to time and habit to efface rad-
ical differences of a kind which can never be destroyed by
arbitrary decree. As Stanley remarked, Constantine was
entitled to be called Great in virtue of what he did, rather
than what he was. Whether he was actually a convert to
Christianity as early as 818 is perhaps uncertain, but we
do know that in that year he promulgated the Edict of
Milan ; which has been called the grandest legislative act
in all history, — a declaration of the equality of all cults
and the establishment of complete liberty for religious
observances. The Christian Church doubtless accords him
a higher place because of the Council of Nice, which he
summoned and whose conclusions he adopted. The for-
mulation of a credo was, to be sure, a high necessity for the
Church in the face of the first great heresy with which it
had been confronted. But infinitely grander, to the stu-
dent of human greatness, is the solemn declaration over
the signature of an Emperor bearing the pagan title of
Pontifex Maximus, that Christian believers should enjoy
peace and tranquillity equally with the worshippers of the
old gods.

Although the marriage of the first Constantius with
Theodora had resulted in six children, of whom three were

[ 880 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

sons (who were thus of imperial descent on both sides),
the father seems never to have hesitated in according the
right of succession to the child of his earlier marriage.
The d3dng Emperor nevertheless solemnly commended his
other children to the protection and care of Constantine,
and with a single exception ^ the latter proved faithful to
the trust, Theodora's children receiving constant proofs of
their imperial brother's affection. He married Constantia
to the Emperor Licinius, and the other two sisters re-
ceived husbands of the highest rank. Of the three brothers,
one died without a name or posterity ; the other two mar-
ried daughters of wealthy senators, and the son of one of
them attained the purple after the last descendant of Con-
stantine had perished.

Constantine himself was twice married. His first matri-
monial relations, however, were of the conjugium inequale
order ; and the fact that Minervina was still living did not
therefore stand for a moment in the way of his second
marriage to Fausta, daughter of the Emperor M aximian,
a connection which promised to materially advance his in-
terests. By his first wife he had a son named Crispus, who
was about six years old when Constantine became Caesar.
Crispus himself received the title some fifteen years later
and proved a useftd auxiliary to his father by winning
some considerable victories over the Franks and Alemanni.
In time, however, factions were 4>i'i^^d about Crispus on
the one side, and his half-brothers on the other; and the

^ This was the murder of the only son of Constantia and Ldcinius. After
the latter's overthrow^ the joung Licinianus was for a time spared through
the entreaties of his mother. When he had attained the age of twelve
years, however, the Emperor imagined that his nephew had become a
dangerous element, and notwithstanding the tears and supplications of
his widowed sister, Constantine ordered the boy's death.

[881 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

former, accused of a conspiracy against his &ther, was
imprismed by the Emperor. The unhappy youth, who is
said to hflYC been highly amiable, soon perished by his &^
ther's commands. Constantine had akeady put to death his
&ther-in-law, the old mischief-maker Maximian; his wife's
nephews, the two sons of Maxentdus (whom he had killed
in battle) ; Bassianus, who had married his sister Anasta^;
the Emperor Licinius, husband to his sister Ctuistantia,
and the latter's young son Licinianus — all "for the good
of the State."^ It remained only to round out this &niily
tragedy by a still grosser domestic crime — to which his-
tary declares he was incited by "Saint" Helena hersel£
The aged mother of the Emperor had been greatly at-
tached to Crispus, and enraged by his murder, which she
perhaps rightly attributed to the jealous dislike of Fausta,
by whom Crispus had been accused of meditating parri-
cide (or a worse crime, according to some historians), she
seems to have persuaded her son that the Empress had
been guilty of "abominable machinations." Under her hus-
band's orders Fausta was thereupon seized by her women
and stifled in a hot bath, and her name was effaced from
the public edifices.'

The murder of his wife and son marked the culmination
of Constantine's prosperity; indeed, with the exception of
the foundation of Constantinople, the period of eleven
years during which his life was prolonged after the death
of Fausta was barren of important events. Since his tri-

' "--- ' deserves no pity, having ctHUpired with Lidnios

<rother-in-Uw, who hwl given him his sirter in mar-
m to the rank of Ciesar.

tn expressed in regard to this stoiy, but the weight
) confirm It The Church of St. John Lateian occu-
a's palace, which alter her death was bestowed hy
Bishops of Rome.
[ 882 ]

GALLIENUS

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

umphal entry into the city after the overthrow of Maxen-
tius, the Emperor had visited Rome only to celebrate the
solenm festivals of the tenth and twentieth years of his
reign. It was during the vicennalia celebration ^ that the
deaths of Fausta and Crispus occurred ; and the Romans^
by whom Constantine was disliked both on account of his
studied absences fiom the ancient city and the favor which
he had shown the Christians, taunted him with the murder
of Fausta, declaring that "Nero had come back to Rome."^
Satirical verses were affixed to the palace gates, and the
crowds indulged openly in sarcasms and insolence, while
the Emperor, upon the Palatine, was himself contemptu-
ously watching a celebration by the knights of the an-
cient rite of offering to Jupiter the prayers of the Roman
youths. Deeply incensed at this treatment, Constantine
determined to tmn his back upon Rome forever. Milan,
Treves, Sirmium, and other pro\nux;^ial cities had been the
occasional places of his residen6ii^^butr^hi!& now set his face
squarely towards the East, and the town, of Byzantium
was finally selected as the i^to of a new capital'

Constantine spent imm^sieNnilSisiQ biiildii^ and beau-
tifying his imperial city, for^llfe-ii4offiltoeirt Rome,
Athens, and the East were despoil&d^f tljfeir sculptures.
The Emperor never again visited his ancient city on the
Tiber. After devoting four years to the building of Con-
stantinople,^ he spent the last seven years of his life in
making a few good laws and indulging in some desultory
wars with the Goths, but in the main ^* reposing to all

^ The twentieth aimivenaiy of his accession.

' The death of Fausta had been accomplished bj a similar method to that

adopted bj Nero in ridding himself of Octavia. See cade, page 151.

' The old B3rzantium was not destroyed by G>nstantine, whose edifices

were built in the new quarters of the city.

[ 888 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

eternity on the bosom of Indolence.**^ In the year 387,
which was the thirty-first of his reign, a war broke out
with Rome's traditional foe, the Persians, mider a new
Sapor. The Emperor left Constantinople at the head of
his army; but death was upon him, and at Diocletian's
old city of Nikomedeia the end came. Just at the last he
was baptized by the Arian Bishop Eusebius, and it was
therefore said that he died a Christian. It certainly cannot
be averred with any degree of truth that he had lived like
one. His body was conveyed to the city he had founded
and there interred near that of his mother in a magnificent
tomb of porph3rry in the Church of the Holy Apostles
which he had built. He had lived sixty-three years, during
one-half of which he wore the purple — thus marking the
longest reign of any Emperor since Augustus.

The Sons of Constantine : 887-861 a. d. It was Con-
stantine's intention that his three sons should share the
Empire — with the exception of Pontus, and of Thrace,
Achaia, and Macedon, which the Emperor had converted
into separate kingdoms for his respective nephews, Dalma-
tius and Hannibalianus.^ At the time of their father's death
Constantine II was twenty-two, Constantius II twenty,
and Constans seventeen. The elder brothers had become
intensely jealous of their relatives of the half-blood, and
in disr^ard of their father's wishes determined to secure
for themselves the entire inheritance, beyond the possi-
bility of reclaim. The funeral of Constantine had occurred
in June; and early in September following Constantius,
who appears to have been the family plotter, having en-
ticed his uncles and cousins to Constantinople under a

^ Julian in the Ccesars.

' They were the sons of his second half-brother Hannibalianus.

[ 884 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

solemn pledge of safety, incited the soldiers to a whole-
sale massacre of the Flavians. Constantine's two surviving
brothers and seven of his nine nephews perished on the
same day; the only male descendants of the first Con-
stantius (other than Constantine's own sons) who escaped
were the two youngest sons of Julius Constantius (the
youngest son of Chlorus), Gallus, aged twelve, and his
half-brother Julian, a boy of six. Immediately after this
great family murder, the three brothers were proclaimed
Augusti under the imperial division which their father had
indicated: Constantine II taking the West; Italy, Africa,
and lUyria falling to Constans; while Constantius II, who
had engineered the crime, added to his original share of
the Eastern provinces the kingdoms of Thrace and Pontus,
whose rulers were among the slain.

This ^'family affair,'' as D'Artagnan and his friends would
have termed it, was commemorated by the erection of
statues inscribed "To the brothers who love each other";
but the sentiment, if it ever existed, was of short duration.
Scarcely two years elapsed before Constantine, in emula-
tion of his father, crossed the Alps with the intention of
appropriating Italy and incidentally of pushing his youngest
brother into the Adriatic. Successful in his first operations,
still following in the footsteps of the great Constantine, but
lacking his ability and military experience, he turned to
the north and rashly attempted the capture of Aquileia,
which was defended by a strong force under an able gen-
eral Constantine was defeated and killed; so that it was
his body which upon the currents of the river Alsa was
finally cast into the Adriatic, while his provinces of Gaul,
Spain, and Britain reverted to his intended victim.

Constantius was too deeply engaged in a desperate strug-
gle with the Persians to oppose this aggrandizement of his

[ 885 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

younger brother, who thus became master of two-thirds
of the Roman world, a dignity which he retained thirteen
years. Little is known of the reign of Constans, who has
been variously represented by the ancient writers as a saint
and a tyrant, a lazy profligate and a successful campaigner.
But he seems to have at last thoroughly disgusted his sub-
jects; for when in the year 850 a rough Gallic soldier of
German extraction, named Magnentius, during a drinking
bout of the guards donned the purple robe in a spirit of
bravado, the soldiers received him with a cheer, while not a
voice was raised in favor of the Emperor. When the news
reached Constans, who was hunting in a forest near Autun,
he fled towards the Pyrenees, but was speedily overtaken
by the bloodhounds of the usurper and put to death.

The claims of Magnentius were at first strengthened by
an alliance with Vetranio, an lUyrian general who had
himself been induced to assume the purple by Constantina,
a sister of Constantius II, and the widow of the murdered
Hannibalianus, King of Thrace. The usurpers sent an em-
bassy to Constantius, proposing a division of the Empire.
The Emperor declined to negotiate, and glad of an excuse
to withdraw from the East, where he had been almost in-
variably worsted by the Persians, came marching into Pan-
nonia, with the avowed purpose of aven^g his brother.
He soon craftily detached his sister fix>m the cause of Ve-
tranio, who thereupon at once surrendered. Magnentius,
however, maintained himself nearly a year. After destroy-
ing Nepotianus, a nephew of Constantius, who with his
mother, Eutropia, was killed at Rome, which he was en-
deavoring to hold against the usurper, Magnentius, who did
not lack for courage, set out for the Danube in quest of
his adversary. It was Constantius who now proposed an
accommodation, and Magnentius who reAised. The issue

[ 886 ]

SALOMNA WII F, OF GALLIENUS

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

was decided in favor of Constantius, who won the bloody
battle of Mursa, in which fifty thousand of the best soldiers
in the Empire perished. Magnentius fled to Italy, thence
escaping to Gaul — only to learn that the Gallic and Italian
cities had repudiated his brothers, who had been created
Cassars and left in charge of the West during his absence
in Pannonia. One of his brothers had already conunitted
suicide, and Magnentius in a wild fit of rage and despair
killed his mother and surviving brother and fell upon his
sword. The curtain was rung down to a wholesale slaughter
of his friends and partisans ordered by his conqueror.

Constantius II, in whom the imperial power was united
for a period of seven years,^ has come down to us as small
in stature and mind, and in character timid, crafty, sus-
picious, and cruel, but with the redeeming traits of so-
briety and a taste for literature. After the death of his first
wife, who was his cousin,^ Constantius j^nxned a lady of
consular rank, who is spoken of by 5^|ji^ as f^the good
and beautiful Eusebia." The Emperor, h'crWeVjei:/ had no
children, and when the rebeUion . pfC, ^agnentiiis be^eame
formidable, he appointed his coui^n Ga(((is» Caesar wv^ the
government of the far East, and ga'Vt^.Jiimf tii^sist^ Con-
stantina ^ in marriage. Gallus, who was Tww t^nty-six
years of age, had lived in a state of practical captivity
since the murder of the Flavians, fourteen years before.
His character was too weak to support this sudden change
from a prison to a viceroyalty ; and making a complete fail-
ure of his charge, he was ordered back to Italy. Upon his
arrival he was deprived of his office and after a mock trial
beheaded. Constantina had died upon the way.

^ Magnentius died in 353, and Julian was proclaimed in S60, the year

preceding Constantius's death.

* She was sister to Julian. * Ante, page 335.

[ 887 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

In the meantime Gaul had been completely overrun by
an immense horde of Germans, who permanently occupied
the left bank of the Rhine ; and in default of a trustworthy
leader, Constantius, who was in perpetual fear of another
M agnentius, was induced by the Empress to appoint his
cousin Julian, the last male Flavian, Csesar and prefect of
the Gallic provinces — as in the case of Gallus, at the
same time bestowing upon him a sister (named Helena) in
marriage.^ But the notable victories soon won by Julian
speedily awakened the jealousy and suspicions of the Em-
peror, who ordered the Gallic Csesar to despatch the flower
of his army to assist the Emperor in the Persian war which
had again broken out. The troops, unwilling to be trans-
ported to the deadly sands beyond the Euphrates, openly
rebelled; Constantius was publicly execrated, and Julian,
strongly against his will, compelled to accept the title of
Augustus which the army conferred. Although the Gallic
Emperor seems to have honestly endeavored to avoid civil
war, it soon became evident that no reconciliation was
possible, and both sides prepared for the struggle. Julian
first took the offensive by occupying Illyria, while Con-
stantius was still in the far East. The latter at once set
out for Europe, but at Tarsus was overtaken by a fever
and a few days later died. He was in his forty-fifth year,
having reigned a fuU quarter of a century. Like his father,
he was baptized in his last illness.

Julian : 861-868 a. d. Measured both by character and
accomplishment, and considering the fact that he died
before completing his thirty-second year, the last of the
Flavian dynasty must be considered as one of the greatest

^ No children resulted from this marriage^ which Helena, much older
than Julian, did not long survive.

[ 888 ]

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOU

of the Roman Emperors. Pure in morals, even to austerity,
intellectual and scholarly in taste, successful in war, and
possessing administrative ability of high order, Uke that
other pagan philosopher-Emperor, Marcus AureUus, whom
he indeed in many respects resembled, JuUan commands
the respect and esteem of an unbigoted posterity.

Constantius, the father of JuUan, was the youngest son
of Constantius Chlorus and Theodora. He perished with
his eldest son in the Flavian massacre,^ leaving a son
Gallus, by his first wife, Galla, and by his second wife,
Basilina, a daughter, who married Constantius II, and a
son JuUan. The latter was only six years old when his
father died, and during the eighteen years following he
endured a sort of captivity at the hands of Constantius,
to whom the young Flavian, at an early period in life, be-
came an object of both suspicion and fear. But the Em-
press Eusebia, who fully appreciated his talents and worth,
never ceased to intercede for him with Constantius, who
was finally persuaded by the Empress to install his cousin
in the GaUic prefecture with the title of Caesar.^ Prior to
this event, which occurred in his twenty-fifth year, Julian's
life had been devoted to study and meditation; and we
find him writing to one of his philosopher fiiends, "I could
have wished to have no other occupation but to converse
with you, as heavily laden travellers sing on the road to
lighten the weight of their burdens.*' He tells us that as a
boy he "often left his books to follow with devout gaze
the triumphal march of the sun, or to contemplate by
night the wonders and splendors of the starry sky"; and
as a modem writer observes, in the worship of "the divine
star," the noblest of idolatries, he recognized the reUgion
of his fathers and in Christianity he grew to hate the re-

> Ante, page 335. * Ante, page 338.

[ 889 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

ligion of his persecutors. Short and thick-set in person and
awkward in manner, it is said that when in answer to the
Emperor's smnmons after the death of Gallus Julian came
to Milan,^ wearing his philosopher's cloak, his strange ap-
pearance made him an object of ridicule to the entire
Court This fact not improbably counted for more than
the persuasion of the Empress in overcoming the uneasi-
ness and suspicion with which Julian had been regarded by
the Emperor. For his own security, however, Constantius
might wisely have yielded to his instinctive fears of his
cousin. For this uncouth dreamer, whose conception of
the duties of an Emperor were embodied in his statement
to Themistius, **A king should have the nature of a god,"
had in him the stuff of which true Qesars are made— re-
quiring only opportunity to disclose the fires which were
burning beneath his indifferent exterior.

Aft^r several months' arduous study of the science of
war, the yoxmg lieutenant exchanged his philosopher's
cloak for the harness, and in a series of most brilliant
campaigns,^ in which he never met a reverse, he com-
pletely freed Gaul from the barbarians and demonstrated
himself as consmnmate a general as he afterwards proved
a statesman in the speedy reestablishment of public order
which he effected.

After the death of Constantius, Julian, who had already
been invested with the purple by the Gallic army, was
decreed the imperial honors by the Roman Senate, and

^ Constantius had resided there since the death of Magnentius.

* These campaigns extended over a period of five years, and during

the enforced idleness of the winter months, the joung general led the

life of an ascetic philosopher in his Palace of the Thermes at Lntetia

(Paris), the remains of which are still to be seen on the Boulevard

St. Michel, passing his time in study and the administration of pubtic

affairs.

[ 840 ]

■r

REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

every one who believed in the old gods took heart of grace
to believe that the ancient religion was to be reestablished.
The Emperor had received Christian teaching during his
boyhood, and until his twentieth year was supposed to
have accepted the new religion. But at heart he seems
to have always cherished the gods of his forefathers, and
during a residence in Achaia — to which he had once been
banished by Constantius — his dreamy and superstitious na-
ture finally capitulated to the allurements of the old Greek
religion ; so that he returned to Italy despising Christianity
more than ever. The reestablishment of the ancient cult
became to him a sacred cause. But in the main he sought
rather to accomplish it under the wise policy of the Edict
of Milan ^ than by the intolerant methods of some of
his pagan predecessors. And while some persecutions un-
doubtedly occurred as soon as it became evident that the
Christians were no longer to receive the special protec-
tion hitherto accorded them, it is eettain that the Emperor
neither abetted nor approved any i^t))^ .acts of violence.
His order compelling the Christian churclieiSfrtQ.. restore all
the property that had been pillaged from the pagan tem-
ples was founded upon the &inipl6st principles of justice ;
although to despoil the churches ^for. any reason was per-
haps not unnaturally considered an utter-sacrilege by the
Christians. On the other hand, the Emperor's decree for-
bidding Christians to hold public office and expelling their
instructors from the public schools was a manifest iniquity
and in strange contrast with his general religious policy,
in regard to which the worst to be said is that throughout
his reign the indulgence of the government was towards
the pagans and its severity towards the Christians. And
"the great Apostate'' (as with a degree of injustice he has

1 Ante, page 330.

[ 841 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

been generally tenned ^) seems at least to have been in-
variably animated by a genuine humanity in his heroic
effort — the most important fisurt of his reign — to restore
the gods he adored with such ardent piety, and revive the
superstitious practices which were a part of his religion.

Dining the first six months of his reign Julian remained
at Constantinople ; and then assured that the tranquillity
which obtained throughout the Empire^ would not be
affected by his temporary absence, he concluded that the
time was opportune for a decisive victory over Rome's
perennial foe in the East, and set out for Antioch to pre-
pare for an expedition against the Persians. In the spring
of 853 he left Antioch with the largest force that ever
invaded the East, and, dividing his troops into two armies,
despatched one contingent under his kinsman and favor-
ite general ^Procopius, who was expected to pass through
Upper Mesopotamia aiid operate on the left bank of the
Tigris towards the souISl Julian himself with the main
body sailed down the Euphrates and crossed over to Ctesi-
phon. Failing to capture this time-honored bulwark of the
sun-god's domain, the Emperor turned aside and rashly
advanced into the burning deserts to the north, in hope of
efiecting a junction with his other division. But the old
prophecy ^ had not yet spent its force. In repulsing an at-
tack in force, Julian, who had carelessly exposed himself
without a breastplate, was struck by a random spear, which
bore him to the ground. He made a gallant attempt to re-

^ The assertion of St. Cyril that Julian had been baptized by Eusebius,
Bishop of Nikomedeia, who had directed his early studies^ is considered
extremely improbable — it being customary at the time to receive baptism
very late in life.

* ^^ While this great monarch reigned/' says the historian of the period,
'^not a barbarian crossed the frontier."

* See Carui, ante, page 306.

[ 842 ]

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REVIVAL OF SPLENDOR

enter the fights-even attempting to pull out the spear with
his own hands — but the eflfbrt was bey^^Md his strength.
He was borne to his tent, and after an affecting leave-tak-
ing with his generals and friends, to whom he reaffirmed
his confidence in an immortal life in heaven and among
the stars, he quietly passed away, in the twentieth month
of his reign and the thirty-second year of his age. With
him disappeared the last expiring gleams of that imperial
splendor which, checked in its decline by the second Clau-
dius, and revived by his immediate successors, had been
again steadily diminishing since the reign of Diocletian.
Paganism had fought its last battle; the final triumph of
Christianity, as a State religion, had come at last; and the
disjointed evidences of a past imperial grandeur were soon
to disappear forever beneath the great waves of barbaric
invasion, already rolling up against the horizon.

The dying Emperor had expressed the wish to be buried
in a city where the old gods still reigned supreme ; and in
the city of Tarsus, far from the sepulchre of his two Chris-
tian predecessors, the body of Rome's last pagan Emperor
was tenderly laid at rest by his fiiend Procopius. It was
declared by a Christian Bishop of the day that "the earth
shuddered at contact with the Apostate's body, and cast
out the sacrilegious dust"; while Procopius engraved this
epitaph upon his tomb: "Here lies Julian, killed beyond
the Tigris, a good Emperor, a brave soldier" — in which
simple eulogium at least all fair-minded men must concur.^

^ The Emperor Julian was a prolific writer. Many of his works are lost —
destroyed it is supposed by the Christians — including his History of the
Gallic War and the Refutation of the Gospels, But in his satirical drama of
The Ccesars — which Gibbon pronounces one of the most agreeable and
instructive productions of ancient wit — and in some of his Letters and
Orations, we find evidences of more than ordinary Hteraiy taste and
ability.

[ 843 ]

CHAPTER IV

THE FINAL DECLINE

FlOM JOTIAN TO RoKULCm AUGUflTVLCB : 86S-476 A.D.

JOVLA.N: 86a-^864 a. d. The death of Julian, which was
hailed with extravagant joy by the Christians, was the
signal of disasters to the anny in the East, which soon
found itself in sore straits. On the day after the Emptor s
death a grave council was held in the camp. The friends
of Procopius, the general in command of the northern con-
tingent of the imperial army, who was believed to have
been Julian's choice as his successor, urged that the selec-
tion of a leader should be postponed until the two forces
were united. The proposal was, however, rejected by the
majority, and the purple first tendered to Sallust, the prse-
torian prefect, who declined the honor on the score of
advanced age. The choice then fell upcm the chief officer
of the guards, a young man named Jovian, who was ex-
tremely popular in the ranks, from which, under the in-
fluence of his frither, who was an officer of the imperial
household, he had risen to the highest grades without
losing the democratic qualities which had endeared him
to his humbler associates. Like all of his predecessors since
the second Claudius, Jovian was a native of Pannonia, and
although deficient in character as well as talent, to none
more than the Christians was h^ persona grata as candi-
date for the purple — doubtiess because of the significant
fact that immediately after his election he madeapubUe
confession of Christiamty.

The imperial convert, however, had no scruples against
obeying the voice of superstition when in the entrails of

[ 844 ]

O M

THE FINAL DECLINE

the sacrifice the priests of the army discovered that the
gods counselled an immediate retreat from Persia; and in
the greatest disorder the army prepared to recross the
Tigris. But at a critical moment Sapor, informed by a de-
serter of the disorganization which followed Juhan's death,
appeared upon the scene with an "offer of peace" — which
was practically a demand for the capitulation of the Roman
army. A leader of ordinary courage and ability might safely
have scorned such an overture, but the cowardly and plea-
sure-seeking Jovian, whoise only desire was to reach Con-
stantinople and there indulge his profligate propensities,
did not hesitate to accept the shameful conditions im-
posed. As a result Rome lost all the advantages gained by
Diocletian in his memorable campaign in 297» including
the five provinces on the right bank of the Tigris and ulti-
mately the Armenian alliance, that kingdom being speedily
overthrown by the triumphant PersiijOxs^ Thus the limits
of the Empire began to contrjict^ii^', g$ in the case of
Aurelian's abandonment of Dacia, fird&V ki deliberate act
of policy, but because of tbb^iiQid and utiiiecessary con-
cession of a weak and incom^tent»^y, who caried more for
a good dinner than for the glory^^cf^d^lbty of an Empire.
Early in October Jovian reenteite4». ^^tjOch with the
disheartened and humbled fi'agments of^ the great army
which had marched out so vaingloriously a few short
months before. Unable to endure the reproaches and sar-
casm of the inhabitants, he hastily resumed his march, and
passing through Cappadocia about the middle of Febru-
ary began to approach his imperial city on the Bosphorus,
for whose pleasures and excitements his profligate soul
had so yearned, but which he was destined never to en-
joy. Arriving one night at a little village in Bithjniia, he
indulged so freely in his favorite vice of gluttony that be-

[ 845 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

fore morning dawned his feeble and melancholy reign had
ended. As one historian laconically observes, *'He was a
Christian, overate himself, and died."

Proclaimed on the twenty-seventh of Jmie, his death
occurred on the sixteenth of February following. At Ti-
gris he had redeemed one day by a pilgrimage to Julian's
tomb, for which he ordered some decorations; so that it is
not an extravagant summing-up of his character as Em-
peror to say that he had reigned just seven months and
eighteen days too long.

Vajlentini AN I AND Vauens : 864-878 a. d. After the
death of Jovian the army marched to Nicsea, where the
question of a successor was debated. The aged Sallust
again declined the honor of an election, and it was only
after the discussion had been prolonged ten days that an
agreement was reached in the selection of Valentinian, the
tribune of the second company of the imperial guards.
The new Emperor was in his forty-third year, a bold and
skilful soldier and in high credit with the Christians— it
having been related of him that during the reign of Julian
he had openly declared his contempt for the ancient religion
and refused, under threat of exile, to sacrifice to the old gods.

Valentinian was bom in Pannonia, that perpetual battle-
ground of the Empire which had produced so mfinj of his
warlike predecessors — unlike most of whom, however, the
successor of Jovian had acquired some education in letters
while mastering the art of war. A stem lover of discipline,
his irascible temper frequently led him to impose the se-
verest penalties for trifling negligences ; and his harshness
in this respect soon degenerated into absolute cruelty. Thus
a boy, who, having been bitten by a hunting dog of which
he was in charge, idlowed the animal to escape, was whipped

[ 846 ]

THE FINAL DECLINE

to death ; a circus charioteer guilty of a slight breach of the
rules perished at the stake; a provincial governor having
ventured to request an exchange in the line of prefennent,
Valentinian brutally ordered that "his head be changed
instead." And it is related under what must be considered
sufficient corroboration, that in a cage near his bed-chamber
the Emperor kept two bears which were fed upon the liv-
ing bodies of condemned criminals ; one of these grim exe-
cutioners named " Innocence," ^ as a reward for her services,
being at last set free and allowed to range the forests under
an hnperial decree of protection.

In view of the tales of imperial cruelty and murder with
which the histories of his reign fairly bristle, posterity is
compelled to withhold much of that profound respect
which the religious policy of Valentinian commands. Con-
stantine and Jovian, the great jphampions of Christianity
and paganism, had each declare4r in favor of toleration.
But Constantine, nominally unbi&isftd} ^as by turns severe
and gracious to pagans and Christians, as policy demanded ;
while Julian, intensely pagan, ..was not broad enough to
establish and maintain an absolutely equal bill of rights
for both parties. It remained for "the bloodthirsty Valen-
tinian" to both decree and compel the actual observance
of a genuine religious liberty. Pagan and Christian were
alike protected in their religious rights and observances,
the scales being so evenly held that neither party might
fairly claim imperial partiality. And this Emperor, who
delighted in the spectacle of living criminals torn to pieces
by a caged bear, seems actually to have based his religious
policy upon the broad foundations which had been outlined
in the remarkable defence of toleration which had been
addressed to Jovian by the orator Themistius : " Gk)d, who

^ The name of the other was ^'Golden Camel" !

[847]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

has put the rehgious sentiment m the hearts of men, is
wiUing to be worshipped in the way which each man pre-
fers. The right of going to him as a man pleases, cannot
be destroyed by confiscations, tortures, or death. From the
lacerated body the soul escapes and carries with it a finee
conscience."

The death of Julian had been the signal for war through-
out the whole Roman world, and within a year following
the assaults upon the Empire had become so terrible that,
as Marcellii^us observes, *4t seemed as if the Furies were
throwing everjrthing into conftision.** In October, 865, the
necessity of a vigorous defence of his frontiers called the
Emperor from Milan to Gaul, where he was fated to pass
the ensuing ten years, sword in hand. At the end of that
time, having secured the left bank of the Rhine by a chain
of strong fortifications, he determined to establish a similar
Ime of defence along the Danube. To prepare the way for
this work, Valentinian crossed the river and engaged in an
expedition against one of the border nations, in the course
of which he destroyed many villages, all of whose inhabi-
tants— men, women, and children — were put to the sword.
But in the very passions which prompted this merciless
extermination, the murdered Quadi speedily found an
avenger. During his interview with a delegation which
came begging for peace, Valentinian gave way to such a
violent fit of rage that he ruptured a blood-vessel and ex-
pired within a few hours. He was in his fifty-fifth year, and
had nearly completed the twelfth of his reign.

Valentinian was twice married. Five yeaxs after he be-
came Emperor he repudiated his first wife, Valeria Severa,
in order to marry the Arian Justina. Both Empresses sur-
vived him, and each of their respective sons, Gratian and
Valentinian, lived to wear the purple.

[ 848 ]

THE FINAL DECLINE

At the time of his election Valentinian had been urged
to associate some fitting person with himself in the de-
fence of the Empire. The spokesman of the army had sig-
nificantly remarked, "O Excellent Emperor, if you love
your kindred, you have a brother; if you love the State,
then seek the fittest man." The Emperor gravely promised
to reflect, but almost immediately proclaimed his brother
Gratian Augustus, with authority over the Eastern prov-
inces. Three months later the brothers separated forever;
Valentinian remaining at Milan, Valens proceeding to
Constantinople. This proved to be the final and irrevocable
division of the Empire, thereafter united only during the
brief interval (following the death of Valentinian II) in
which Theodosius, the Emperor of the East, remained at
Milan. The death of the latter has, however, been so gen-
erally regarded as the period when the Empire actually
split in two, that both Theodosius and his predecessor may
not improperly be counted among the Emperors of the
West

Valens was six years yoimger than his brother, whom
he seems to have resembled ^ojily in the cruelty of his dis-
position. Small in stature, ilej^lsiye in coimtenance, rude,
indolent, avaricious, and of a coWaidl)r natiu*e, it is a mat-
ter for wonder that neitiie^ of the rebellions against him
was successftd. Procerus— the friend end trusted lieuten-
ant of Julian — did make some headway in his resistance,
and for a time actually pretenddd tp exercise imperial func-
tions ; but in the end his generals deserted and traitorously
surrendered their leader to the vindictive young t3rrant, by
whom he was put to death and his head despatched to
Valentinian, as a gory emblem of his brother's triumph.
All of the fiiends of Procopius also suffered a cruel death
at the Emperor's hands. Theodorus, another competitor,

[ 849 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

met a similar fate, while a great nmnber of the honorati
perished in "a promiscuous execution of the innocent and
the guilty," to which Valens was prompted as well by rage
as by his anxious suspicions. His reign was a time of
brutality 'and bloodshed, but he "was a Christian," which
presumably reconciled the people to all the rest

In the year 876 the great Gothic nation which ruled the
north country from the Don to Transylvania found itself
hard pressed by a new and savage people called Huns^;
and after one great division of the Goths had been over-
come,^ the other despairingly appealed to Valens for leave
to cross the Danube and settle in the waste lands of Thrace.
The Emperor weakly consented, and in a short time be-
tween one and two himdred thousand fighting men with
their wives and children — perhaps a million souls in all —
had crossed the frontiers and established themselves in the
Roman provinces. The result was precisely what might have
been foreseen. Disputes arose between the fair-haired, blue-
eyed warriors of the north and the swarthy inhabitants
who found themselves gradually pushed backwards by the
hungry newcomers. Soon a battle was fought in which the
Romans were badly beaten ; whereupon the greedy barba-
rians, tempted by the prospect of rich booty, quickly over-
ran the entire country which is now Turkey in Europe.

Despatching an urgent appeal for aid to his nephew
Gratian, who had succeeded Valentinian, Valens assem-
bled an army and set out for Adrianople, which the Gk>ths
were menacing. Gratian sent word that he was tempora-

^ The Huns were a nomad people of Asia, and belonged to the great
Mongolian race.

' The Gothic nation was divided into the Ostrogoths, or ''Steppe Dwell-
ers," in the east, and the Visigoths, or ''Dwellers in the Woods," on the
west The former bore the brunt of the Hun invasion from the northeast.

[ 850 ]

THE FINAL DECLINE

rily detained by illness at Sirmium and begged Valens to
await his arrival, when by their combined forces the bar-
barians might be completely destroyed. Ambitious to se-
cure all the glory, Valens foolishly resolved to proceed
alone and force a battle at once. On the ninth of August
he attacked the Goths about twelve miles from Adrian-
ople, and after a series of misfortunes on the part of the
imperial forces, the latter were utterly routed. In actual
losses incurred, as well as in the fatal consequences, the
defeat was the most disastrous which had befallen any
Roman army since Hamiibal won the battle of Cami« in
the Second Punic War.^ Almost all of its generals, thirty-
six tribunes, and two-thirds of the Roman army« are said
to have perished. Valens, woimded by an arrow while at-
tempting to escape, took refuge in a neighboring cottage.
A band of the enemy speedily attacked the building,
and repulsed by a few archers who had accompanied the
wounded Emperor, set fire to the structiure, all of whose
inmates perished in the flames. Valens was forty-eight
years old and had reigned fourteen years.

Gratian — Maximus — Valentinian II : 878-892 a. d.
In the year 867 the Emperor Valentinian, during a severe
illness, had conferred upon Gratian, the son of his first
wife, Severa, the title of Augustus.^ Gratian was then only
eight years of age ; so that upon his father's death the piur-

^ August 2, 2l6 B. c.

> Valens had from eighty to ninety thousand effective men.

' Julian was the last '^Caesar." This name, the hereditary cognomen of

the Gens Julia, originally belonged to all related on the father's side

of that house. From the time that Verus, the adopted son of Hadrian,

assumed the name, it designated the heir-apparent, but conferred no

special authority. The Caesars of Diocletian, heirs of the Augusti, were

invested with extensive authority; each had his capital city^ his army,

[851 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

pie descended to a lad of fourteen. The army, however,
insisted that the title of Augustus should be given also to
Gratian's half-brother, Valentinian, a boy of five, to whom
were assigned the provinces of Illjrria, Italy, and Africa,
as his share of the Empire. Strangely enough, neither jeal-
ousy nor rivalry seems to have been at any time mani-
fested by either the boy Emperors or their mothers. Al-
though not consulted in the division of his Empire, Gratian
and his friends accepted the result with complacency, the
former quietly proceeding to Lutetia (Paris), where he
fixed his headquarters, leaving Valentinian and his mother,
the Empress Justina, at Milan.

Gratian was of a mild ai^l kindly disposition, but with-
out any strength of character and utterly wanting in tact.
He soon lost the affection with which he had first been
received by his subjects, who became more than ever es-
tranged when the young man surrounded himself with
barbarians, whose customs and dress he even adopted.
During the eight years of his reign this son of the vigor-
ous and warlike Valentinian seems to have devoted him-
self almost entirely to boyish trifling and hunting; and by
this inattention to even the artificial duties of sovereignty,
he himself prepared the way for a successfrd revolution.
In the year 888 his subjects in Britain rebelled and pro-
claimed an ambitious young Spaniard named Maximus,
who forthwith gathered together such an immense army
that its departure was long remembered as ''the emigra-

and his treasuiy, and exercised executive, judicial, and military functions.
Under Constantine the Caesars were bojs designated for the imperial
station; under Constantius they were lieutenants with very limited au-
thority; after Julian the title and position ceased to exist. Duruy, Hui,
Rome, Vol. viii page 76, note. Gibbon, however, asserts that Valentinian
III ''was promoted to the rank and dignity of Caesar" by Theodosius II,
Emperor of the East.

[ 852 ]

THE FINAL DECLINE

tion of a considerable part of the British nation." Gratian
made some feeble show of defence, but upon the approach
of Maximus the Gallic legions deserted en masse and the
usurper entered Paris unopposed. Gratian fled to Lyons,
whence he might easily have escaped to the East ; but he
foolishly allowed the governor to detain hhn with prom-
ises of approaching succor until the arrival of Maximus's
cavalry, the commander of which immediately put him to
death. Gratian had reigned eight years and was twenty-
four years of age. His one service to the State had been
his appointment of Theodosius to the Eastern Empire,
after the death of his uncle Valens in 878.

The marriage of Gratian at an early age to Flavia Con-
stantia, daughter of the Emperor Constantius II, had
awakened great hopes that the noble Flavian line might
be reestablished. But no children were bom to Constantia,
who did not survive her husband. She is believed to have
been the St. Constantia of the ^Gl^areh; . whose sarcopha-
gus, obtained from the Church of Sat^ Constantia fiiori
le mura, may still be seen in'tlfe Vatidfe,- ^ ;

The conqueror of Gratian .w4&^f( Spanieb^by birth, who,
although apparently a man of« both* ability a)ad integrity,
had achieved no high position; eith^ civil. -or military,
prior to his investiture by the artay.^Tlvere is reason to
believe that the purple was forced upoh him against his
wishes. In an embassy to Theodosius — the recognized
head of the State, Valentinian II being a weak boy
of thirteen, in leading-strings to his mother — Maximus
denied responsibility for Gratian's death, which he af-
fected to deplore; and proposed that the division of the
Western Empire which had been established between
Valentinian II and Gratian should be continued imder the
former and himself as the latter's successor. Theodosius,

[ 858 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

exhausted by his struggle with the Goths, and thus forced
to dissemble his resentment, agreed to these proposals and
Maximus permanently established himself in GauL Here
he might have ended his days in peace had he been able
to resist that ^'lust for greater and greater power'' which
so commonly follows its first taste. At the end of four
years, under cover of despatching auxiliaries to aid Valen-
tinian in a Pannonian war, Maximus seized the fortresses
of the Alps and unexpectedly appeared before Milan, the
boy Emperor and his mother barely escaping before the
invaders entered the city.

The Empress Justina, who was a woman of spirit, has-
tened to Constantinople to beg aid fix>m Theodosius. She
had a powerfiil advocate in her beautiful daughter GaUa,
of whom the Emperor of the East soon became so enam-
ored that he requested only the favor of an immediate
marriage, before setting out to avenge the family of his
benefactor. The wedding was accordingly celebrated, and
Theodosius prepared with equal promptitude to fulfil his
promise. Assembling a great host of Goths, Huns, and other
barbarian mercenaries, as auxiliary to his regular troops, he
set out for Italy in May, 888, and three months later, after
winning two decisive battles fix>m Maximus, crossed the
Julian Alps and drove the usurper into Aquileia, whence
he was speedily deUvered up to the conqueror and by the
latter beheaded. His young son was also put to death,
while his mother and daughters were condemned to exile.
Maximus had ruled five years. His reign is memorable as
that of the first Christian ruler who shed heretical blood,
under due process of law.

After the overthrow of Maximus, Theodosius reseated
the yoimg Emperor upon the throne of Milan, adding to
his original domain all of the Western provinces which had

[ 854 ]*

THE FINAL DECLINE

been held by Maximus. The Emperor of the East, how-
ever, himself remained three years in Italy, bending all his
energies to the restoration of public order and a reforma-
tion of the abuses which had grown up since the death of
Valentinian I, although the name of the boy Emperor was
invariably written in the pubUc acts. The Empress Justma
had died shortly after the restoration; and upon his final
departure for Constantinople Theodosius selected a brave
Frank named Arbogastes to act as guide and proctor for
Valentinian, then seventeen years old. The latter is repre-
sented as a most amiable and engaging youth, virtuous,
temperate, and industrious. But like his elder brother he
had no stability of character, and the ambitious and strong-
willed Frank easily and quickly made himself supreme in
the State. Boy that he was, the Emperor seems to have
realized the situation, and egged on by his courtiers, who
were restive under the imchecked power of a barbarian,
Valentinian one day handed a rescript to Arbogastes de-
priving him of his office. The proud Frank coolly tore the
paper to fragments with the remark, "My authority does
not depend on the smile or frown of a monarch." The
young Emperor angrily reached for a sword, but the guards
interposed and Arbogastes contemptuously left the room.
A few days later the body of Valentinian was found hang-
ing from a tree; and although the fact was strenuously
denied by Arbogastes, there seems little doubt that the
Emperor was murdered at the instigation of his minister.
Valentinian had just become twenty-one and had reigned
sixteen years.

Theodosius: 892-895 a. d. The Emperor Theodosius
was the son of a skilful general of the same name,, who
had been one of the most usefrd Ueutenants of the first

[ 855 ]

■r

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

5ntinian. The son himself rendered valuable services to
same Emperor, from whom he in return received sub-
itial favors ; and to the latter's son Gratian he owed his
elevation to the throne of Constantinople after the over-
throw of Valens. To his credit be it said he never Mled in
loyalty to the family which had established his fortunes;
and this notwithstanding the fact that the elder Theodo-
sius lost his life through the unjust anger of Gratian's
mother, after her return to power following the death of
Valentinian, who had previously divorced her.

Theodosius was thirty-two years of age when appointed
to the Western Empire, and from that time on his life
was for the most part intensely active, and in his military
efforts at least crowned with invariable success. The last
Roman Emperor to whom any measure of greatness may
with certainty^ be accorded, his character was a singular
blending of cruelty and kindness, passion and benevolence,
Uberality and narrowness. The massacre in Thessalonica
was scarcely exceeded in brutal cruelty by that of the
Alexandrians under Caracalla. The Emperor was himself
painfully conscious of his passionate temper, to which
rather than any innate vicious tendencies his occasional
cruelties are pi^perly asmbed. Apart from these, his im-
placable hatred of "heretics" and his intolerance of expir-
ing paganism, Theodosius seems to have merited much of
the extravagant praises of the "Panegyrics." A good hus-
band and father, a good friend, and on the whole a good
ruler, it may be conceded that he really aimed to be "a
faithful guardian of the happiness and dignity of the Ro-
man people." The author of the "Decline and Fall" de-
clares that Theodosius has deserved the singular commen-
dation "that his virtues always seemed to expand with his

^ See Miyarian, poH, page 870.

[ 856 ]

DIOCLETIAN

THE FINAL DECLINE

fortune ; the season of his prosperity was that of his mod-
eration ; and his clemency appeared the most conspicuous
after the danger and success of a civil war." In such an
eulogy are many of the elements of true greatness.

During the first year of his reign Theodosius was over-
taken by a serious illness, and in the expectation of death
he accepted baptism in the Orthodox Church. His recov-
ery to health was signalized by some particularly intolerant
decrees against heretics — one of his laws even declaring
that ''whoever by ignorance or negligence offends against
the divine law commits sacrilege"; with the penalty of
death at the stake, in the arena, or on the cross. But tiiese
edicts were as nothing compared with his rescripts against
the pagans. Under successive decrees, the privileges of the
priests were abolished, the instruments of idolatry were
seized and destroyed, the temples were closed, and the
consecrated property was confiscated for the benefit of the
State or the Church or the army? )vhile the sacred edifices
themselves, although not efiiciallj^condemned to destruc-
tion, gradually disappeared under the ^eal of the Christian
reformers and the fiiry of * the monks, which the Emperor
did nothing to check.^ And as a Iiist and final blow to the
ancient rehgion, the use of sacrifices and the practice of
divination by the entrails of the victim were declared to
be both infamous and a crime against the State, pun-
ishable by death. Under this master stroke, superstition,
wounded in its most vital part, succumbed so rapidly that,
as we are told, "only twenty-eight years aft«r the death
of Theodosius the faint and minute vestiges of paganism
were no longer visible to the eye of the legislator." This
absolute destruction of the pagan religion (said to be the

^ In this blind fanaticism many priceless works of art and literature were
lost to the world forever.

[ 857 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

only instance of the total extirpation of any ancient and
popular superstition) was the most memorable event in
the life of Theodosius.

After the death of the second Valentinian,^ Arbogastes,
who had vainly endeavored to convince the world that his
imperial master had committed suicide, deemed it prudent
to perpetuate his power under cover of another name, and
accordingly designated for the purple his former private
secretary Eugenius. The latter was a man of obscure origin,
who had at one time been a teacher of rhetoric ; evidently
endowed with both ability and character and possessed of
enough common sense to accept his unexpected honors
with extreme reluctance. The army interposed no objec-
tion to the wishes of Arbogastes, but the Emperor Theo-
dosius refiised to accept Eugenius as a colleague (incited
perhaps by GaUa, who implored him to again ^ avenge a
murdered brother) and prepared for another expedition to
Italy. Arbogastes was, however, recognized as a formidable
adversary, and it was quite two years before Theodosius
succeeded in organizing an army with which he felt will-
ing to hazard his fortunes. Arbogastes had not been idle
in the meantime, and when the opposing forces finally
came together near Aquileia in September, 895, the re-
sult of the first day's combat was so doubtful that the
generals of Theodosius urged him to retire. The Emperor
stubbornly refiised, and on the following day, after a most
desperate struggle, achieved a complete victory. As in the
case of Maximus,^ the usurper Eugenius was delivered up
to Theodosius by his own soldiers, and while in the very
act of begging forgiveness upon bended knees his head

^ Ante, page S55.

* The murderer of her brother, Gratian, had been overthrown by Theo-
dosius at her instigation. Ante, page 354. * Ante, page 354.

[ 858 ]

THE FINAL DECLINE

was stricken off by order of the conqueror. Two days later
Arbogastes, a fugitive in the mountains, committed sui-
cide. His pretence of power had lasted two years. The
Emperor himself survived his victory scarcely five months.
He died at Milan in January, 895, having lived forty-nine
years and reigned sixteen. His death marked the final sepa-
ration of the Empire.

Theodosius was twice married. By his first wife, Mha,
Flaccilla, he had two sons, Arcadius, who succeeded him
as Emperor of the East, and Honorius, who received the
Western Empire. His second wife, Galla, the sister of the
Emperor Gratian and Valentinian II, died in childbed leav-
ing an only daughter, Placidia, who lived to play a singular
and eventful part in the future history of the State.

HoNOMUS : 895-428 a. d. The younger son of Theodo-
sius was only ten years old when he became Emperor.
His authority, under what promised to be the final and
permanent division of the Empire, extended over Italy,
Africa, Spain, Gaul, Britain, and half of the lUjnrian prov-
inces, the remainder fEdling to Arcadius, then eighteen years
of age. The sons of Theodosius were accepted eagerly by
their respective subjects in old and new Rome» and there-
after each of the brothers pursued his feeble and meaning-
less course without in the slightest concerning himself
about the other.

Honorius proved in every respect a most degenerate
son of his forceful and vigorous father. Ignorant, efienu-
nate, utterly devoid of ambition, and apparently a stranger
even to every s6rt of passion, the chief amusement, if not
actually the sole occupation of his life, seems to have been
the feeding of poultry. With the death of Theodosius the
genius of Rome may indeed be said to have perished.

[ 859 ]

THE HOUSE OF CAESAR

The partiality of a father which led to the designation of
this unworthy successor to Theodosius did not blind that
Emperor to the necessity of providing an efficient guar-
dian to direct the State at least during the immaturity
of his son ; and with his usual penetration he selected for
that purpose a brave and energetic soldier named Stilicho,
who had married the Emperor's niece, Serena, their only
daughter, Maria, being at the same time betrothed to Ho-
norius. The marriage occurred when the boy Emperor at-
tained the age of fourteen, Maria being two or three years
younger. Ten years later this play-marriage was dissolved
by the death of Maria, and about the same time Stilicho,
who had consistently devoted his great energies and com-
manding abilities to the defence of the Empire, now en-
gaged in a death-grapple with its countless foes, was mur-
dered through the jealous spite of an unscrupulous minister
of Honorius. Stilicho was perhaps the only man who might
have prolonged the existence of the State, and his fall
gave the signal for such an invasion of wild races that the
Roman provinces were reduced to the verge of ruin. Upon
news of his death Alaric and his Goths, who had been
twice defeated and finally driven out of Italy by the in-
trepid StiUcho, came rushing back across the Alps and
made straight for Rome. After sustaining three separate
sieges, the first two of which were terminated by the pay-
ment of a heavy tribute to the invaders, through the
treachery of some slaves who opened the Salarian gate at
midnight, the city was finally taken by Alaric, and for the
first time in eight hundred years ^ a foreign army entered
the proud city of Romulus ; which was speedily given up
to plunder and destruction by the ruthless conqueror. It
is said that when a terror-stricken courier rushed into the

^ Rome was burned by the Gauls in the year 390 B.a

[ 860 ]

CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS

iMl

Sf^

fc- tD

•^

§^

THE FINAL DECLINE

presence of the Emperor at Ravenna with the cry, "It
is all over with Romel" Honorius rejoined, "Why, how
can that be when I have just this moment fed her?" his
thoughts being engrossed with a pet hen which he had
named after the now dethroned mistress of the world.

Alaric did not long siurive the sack of Rome, but under
his half-brother Adolphus, who succeeded him, the Goths
overran Italy, to whose sufferings and misery Honorius
remained supremely indifferent. In fact, the personahty of
the Emperor played so small a part in the history of the
eventfiil twenty-eight years of his so-called reign that there .
remains slight cause for wonder at his escape from a vio-
lent death during a period choked with such terrible deeds
of bloodshed ; a fSact which one historian nevertheless pro-
nounces "the most remarkable occurrence * of his lifel"
He died finally of dropsy in his fortieth year. During his
reign Britain had become independent, Spain also was lost
forever, and the terrible Goths tcad gidneda foothold in
Italy from which they were to 'Jie dislodgj^nl only after
Rome itself had perished. ^ ; i •

John : 428-425 a. d. During the reign of Honorius, Ra-
venna on the Adriatic had been the nominal seat of the
Western Empire ; and from that city messengers were at
once despatched to announce the Emperor s death to the
Court of Constantinople, which was expected to designate
a successor. Italy was of course in a state of chaos at
the time; and while the Eastern Court was deliberating,
the late Emperor's confidential secretary, an unscrupulous
character named John, found no difficulty in arrogating
to himself the pitiful remnants of imperial power. Forti-
fied by the acquiescence of the Italians and a promise of
support from the Huns, the usurper sent an embassy to

[ 861 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR .

named as the last of the Romans." An enduring alliance
between the three might have accomplished much for the
State. But Placidia, who was weak and incompetent, could
not control her lieutenants, whose mutual jealousies soon
led to a personal encounter in which Boni&ce was killed.
Aetius was exiled for the offence, but within a few years
was recalled to defend a threatened invasion by the Huns,
under the terrible Attila; and fix)m that time until his
death he was the actual master of what remained of the
Western Empire.

A historian of the time declares that AStius was bom
to be the salvation of the Roman Republic. He was cer-
tainly a man of remarkable vigor and ability, and during
the entire seventeen years of his virtual reign substan-
tially protected Italy and Gaul fix>m the barbarians. About
the year 450 the Scourge of God} after threatening both
the Eastern and Western Empires and demanding sub-
mission to him as ^^ their master," invaded Gaul with a
mighty host. The heroic AStius was prepared for him, and
at Ch&lons, in one of the bloodiest battles of antiquity, the
Huns were defeated and Attila forced to retire fix)m the
Roman provinces.^

Placidia, who died about the time of Attila*s defeat,^
had a daughter named Honoria, who had angered her

I Attila had been so named by a pious monk who believed that his rav-
ages were a direct punishment for the awful sins of Rome.

* The number killed in this memorable battle has been variously esti-
mated at from one hundred and sixty thousand to three hundred thou-
sand. Even the lowest number is doubtless an exaggeration — although
one historian observes that ''whole generations may be thus swept away
by the madness of kings in a single hour."

* She died at Rome November 27, 450, and was buried at Ravenna, where
her sepulchre and even her corpse, seated in a chair of cypress wood,
were preserved for ages.

[ 864 ]

COXSTANTINK THE C;HEAT

THE FINAL DECLINE

£Eimily by selecting as a lover her chamberlain Eugenius.
The princess, who was only sixteen, was first publicly dis-
graced by her resentful mother and then banished to Con-
stantinople, where she passed ten or more years in irksome
seclusion. Despairing of other relief, she at last conceived
the remarkable idea of appealing to Attila; and just be-
fore the battle of Chylous managed to transmit a letter to
him, enclosing a ring as pledge of her love and earnestly
entreating him to claim her as his wife. The astonished
Hun, nothing loath to include an Emperors sister in his
train, actually made a demand for the princess just before
his invasion of Gaul ; whereupon her indignant relatives at
Constantinople sent the misguided woman back to Rome.
There she was compelled to marry an obscure person, as
a nominal husband, and immediately afterwards was con-
denmed to perpetual imprisonment — as the historian says
*'to bewail those crimes and misfortunes which Honoria
might have escaped had she not beep bom the daughter
of an Emperor." ^ • . '

After his defeat by Aetius, Attila renA^ed hii$ demand for
Honoria, and being again refused at once iilv^ded Italy,
laid siege to Aquileia, which hie destroyed so completely
that after fifty years its site even coiild 'not be' found, and
marched on Rome. Valentinian, wild with fright, at once
despatched Pope Leo to promise that Honoria should be
given up. The savage destroyer, of whom it was said that
the grass never grew on a spot where his horse had trod,
agreed to stay his conquest until the condition of its en-
tire abandonment should be fulfilled by Honoria's release.
In the meantime he consoled himself by manying a beau-
tiful girl named Hilda; and in a debauch incident to the
nuptial ceremonies his wild barbarian life went out — leav-
ing one weeping woman by his bedside and another in the

[ 865 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

Roman prison fix)m which she was now destined never to
escape.

The death of Attila, which might be thought to have
marked Rome's salvation, was actually the signal for its
final downfall. The miserable Emperor, who had cringed
to Aetius while the formidable invader was alive, now de-
cided that he could rule alone, and '^the last Roman'' was
openly murdered by Valentinian himself, supported by his
guards. As one of his courtiers had the courage to tell
him, the imperial assassin had acted '4ike a man who cuts
off his right hand with his left" He himself did not long
survive the outrage. Incensed by a most shameful crime
which Valentinian had committed against his domestic
happiness, a wealthy senator named Petronius Maximus
determined to rid the State of its degenerate head. He
employed for the purpose two servants of the murdered
Aetius, who were easily induced to avenge their master,
and while observing some military sports Valentinian was
stabbed to death in the very midst of his guards, not one
of whom lifted a hand or voice in defence of their despised
ruler. Thus perished the last Roman Emperor of the family
of Theodosius, in the thirty-sixth year of his age and the
thirtieth of his reign.

Valentinian was married at an early age to his cousin
Eudoxia, daughter of Theodosius II, Emperor of the East,
and the beautiful and celebrated Athenais.^ She bore him
two daughters named Placidia and Eudoxia, and lived to
destroy her husband's murderer, although she herself per-
ished in the catastrophe.^

^ Athenais was the daughter of an Athenian philosopher named Leontius.
Before her marriage to Theodosius she renounced paganism and was bap-
tized with the Christian name of Eudoxia, which had been that of her
husband's mother. * Post, page 368.

[ 866 ]

THE FINAL DECLINE

Petronius Maximus : 455 a. d. In the assassination of
the Emperor, Maximus was doubtless actuated as much by
ambition as revenge. Possessed of ability, wealth, and rank
— he had been twice consul and thrice prsetorian prefect
of Italy — his vanity was easily stirred by the plaudits of
a large following of clients, who were prepared to salute
him as Emperor as soon as the royal house of Theodosius
should be extinct ; and over the bleeding corpse of his vic-
tim Maximus was unanimously proclaimed by Senate and
people* His short reign of three months, fall of misery for
himself and for the family of the imfortunate Valentinian,
ended in a terrible disaster which he indirectly brought
down upon Rome.

Upon the death of his wife, who did not long siu^ve
his elevation to the purple, Maximus at once compelled
the widowed Empress Eudoxia to marry him, her eldest
daughter Eudoxia being at the same time married to the
Emperor's son Paladius. Havmg thus, as he supposed, es-
tablished the hereditary succession of his family and at the
same time humiliated that of his enemy, the revenge of
Maximus appeared complete. But in this hour of his ap-
parent triumph, all was imaginary, as it proved. Gnawed
by remorse and a prey to terror, the Emperor mourned
his lost happiness, exclaiming to a friend, ^'O fortimate
Damocles, thy reign began and ended with the same
dinner."

The proud Eudoxia, whose mourning, whether real or
apparent, had been so shamefrdly outraged, determined
herself to play a hand in the game of revenge. Unable to
secure assistance from her family, whose power had been
destroyed, she made secret overtures to Genseric, King of
the Vandals. Assured that neither the soldiers — with whom
Maximus was unpopular — nor the confederate barbarians

[ 867 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

would oppose, the African monarch landed a powerftil
force at the mouth of the Tiber and sunmioned Rome to
surrender. Maximus attempted to escape, but in his flight
through the streets he was assaulted by the frenzied popu-
lace and stoned to death, his mangled body being cast into
the Tiber. Three days later Genseric entered the defence-
less city, which during fourteen days was given over to
pillage and rapine by the Moors and Vandals. When the
barbarians finally set sail again, they took with them nearly
all that had thus far been left of the splendor and magnifi-
cence of public and private wealth ; including the wonder-
ful bronze roof of the Capitol,^ and the holy instruments
of Jewish worship which four centuries earlier had been
brought by Titus from Jerusalem. Eudoxia herself did not
escape the ruin which she had caused. Stripped of her
jewels, the twice -widowed Empress, with her two daugh-
ters, the only surviving descendants of the great Theodo-
sius, was dragged an unhappy captive to Carthage. Six
years later, soon after the death of the Emperor Majorian,
Eudoxia and her yoimgest daughter, Placidia, were restored
by Genseric, who, however, retained the eldest daughter as
the wife, or rather captive, of his son, Hunneria Placidia
afterwards married the Emperor Olybrius, through which
connection the family of Theodosius was propagated in the
female line as far as the eighth generation.^

AviTUS : 455-457 a. d. After the death of Aetius, whose
vigor and military fame had kept the foes of the Empire
in check, the barbarians soon became restless, and when
Valentinian followed his great general to the grave, the

^ The external gilding is said to have cost Domitian two miUion five hun-
dred thousand pounds sterling. The ship which carried these relics was
the only one of the fleet to suffer shipwreck. * Gibbon.

[ 868 ]

SARCOPHAGUS OF SAINT HELENA

V* ■ -A

%'■-.*..

THE FINAL DECLINE

storm broke. Realizing his personal unfitness to cope with
the danger, Maximus wisely selected for that purpose a
Gallic general named Avitus» who had been one of the
ablest lieutenants of the murdered Aetius.

After a lifetime of active emplojonent in the public ser-
vice, where he had distinguished himself alike in the civil
and military branches, Avitus had withdrawn to a beauti-
ful estate near Clermont, having determined to devote his
remaining years to literature and the simple pleasures of
rural life. But at the threshold of this peaceftil existence
he was overtaken by the messengers who bore the imperial
rescript creating him prsetorian prefect of Gaul. Unable to
resist the temptation of an ambitious ftiture, he immedi-
ately assumed the military command, and after quelling
the disturbance in Gaul proceeded to Toulouse, where
he efiected a solid alliance with Theodoric, King of the
Goths. About this time news of the death of Maximus
reached Gaul, and the provincials and barbarians, with
whom Avitus had always been popular; at once proclaimed
him Emperor. The consent of the ISsag^&p of the East
was readily obtained ; but Rome and Italy; 't^ *^h|eh the
Western Empire was now practically reduced, although
formally assenting, were iU-pleased "i^tlr the idea/ of being
governed by the so-called "GallicdSHrper. ■*■..•

In the hope of overcoming the hostility ^tbe Romans,
the new Emperor decided to fix his residence in the old
capital, and announced his intention of accepting the con-
sulship for the ensuing year. But in Rome loyalty to the
sovereign had long been a dead idea. Scorned and disliked
as a "foreigner," Avitus speedily became an object of gen-
uine hatred to the Romans ; and supported by Count Rici-
mer, the principal military commander in Italy, the Senate,
disclosing a last glimmering spark in its bed of ashes, de-

[ 869 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

manded its right, founded upon the ancient constitutions,
of choosing an Emperor. Separated from liis Gothic allies
and his provincial supporters, Avitus, after a feeble show
of resistance, abdicated the purple, in lieu of which he re-
ceived from Ricimer the bishopric of Placentia. But the
Senate, flushed with victory, decreed otherwise, and Avitus,
in his flight towards the Alps in search of sanctuary, was
overtaken and put to death. He had reigned about a year.

Majorian : 457-461 a. d. The apparent triumph of the
Senate, in the deposition of Avitus, as matter of teuct left
the State at the complete mercy of the barbarian com-
mander of the Italian troops. Without troubUng himself
to first advise with the Conscript Fathers, Ricimer placed
upon the throne another retired general named Julianus
Majorianus. The new Emperor derived his name from
his maternal grandfather, who in the reign of Theodosius
had commanded the Ill3rrian troops. His father had been
a loyal friend and faithful officer of Aetius, under whom
Majorian received his military education. His rise had
been so rapid and his successes so great, that he incurred
the enmity of the wife of his patron, jealous for her hus-
band's reputation, which at times was eclipsed by that of
the able and intrepid young officer, who was for that rea-
son forced out of the service. Recalled and promoted after
the death of Aetius, at the time of the deposition of Avitus
he held the post of master-general of the cavahy and in-
fantry, from which he was elevated to the purple by his
friend the King-maker.

The appointment was not only popular in its immediate
results, but eminently wise ; and for the last time in its his-
tory Rome was blessed with an Emperor brave, virtuous,
and capable. "The successor of Avitus," says Gibbon, "pre-

[ 870 ]

THE FINAL DECLINE

sents the welcome discovery of a great and heroic char-
acter, such as sometimes arise in a degenerate age to vin-
dicate the honor of the human species/' And while the
history of his reign is imperfectly related, enough is known
of his pubUc and private actions to convince posterity that
there was at least some foimdation for the extravagant
encomium of the historian Procopius, who declared "that
he was gentle to his subjects, terrible to his enemies ; and
excelled in eoery virtue all his predecessors who had reigned
over the Romans."

Appreciating, apparently, not only the fact of Rome's
decay but as well the causes of its decline, Majorian cour-
ageously undertook the task of reform. It is known that
he made many admirable laws, that he lightened the bur-
dens of taxation, which had become unbearable, and that
he even infused the degenerate Italians with some show
of pubUc spirit. At the same time he quelled the disorders
in Gaul and displayed such vigor against the marauding
Vandals who had long terrorized Rome, that Genseric was
forced to promise that he would molest Italy no more. But
for Rome, alas ! all this was at best only the flickering fires
of a long-spent energy. The love and respect which the
Emperor inspired and the hold which he was acquiring
upon the people at last aroused the jealousy of Ricimer,
who was unwilling to be so entirely obscured by the glory
of his friend. The King-maker's influence with the army
was stiU supreme, and with the help of his soldiers he
speedily mastered the unsuspicious Emperor, whose virtue
could not protect him against an unscrupulous ambition
at the head of the guards. Majorian was compelled to ab-
dicate, and by his death from poison five days afterwards,
the fateful history of his immediate predecessor was re-
peated. He had reigned four years.

[ 871 ]

THE HOUSE OF C^SAR

The Six Shadows : 461-476 a. d. During the fifteen
years which followed the death of Majorian, the ragged
outlines of imperial power were rapidly obliterated by an
almost uninterrupted series of invasions, revolutions, and
frantic social convulsions. No less than six masqueraders
in the imperial rdle emerged momentarily from the fast-
gathering darkness, and one by one vanished in the flames
which were licking up the last fragments of the structure
of Augustus. A few brief references may suffice to consign
these ghostly shadows to their several graves.

While Ricimer preferred to rule under the personality of
another, he determined not to again jeopardize his power by
"the imprudent preference of superior virtue and merit."
Disclahning for himself the title of either King or Em-
peror, he bestowed the purple upon an obscure individual
named Libius Severus, of whose birth arid character noth-
ing is known. " It would be useless," says Gibbon, "to dis-
criminate his nominal reign in the vacant interval of six
years between the death of Majorian and the elevation of
Anthemius, since during that period the government was
in the hands of Ricimer alone." Severus expired as soon
as his life became inconvenient to his patron; which oc-
curred when the latter found himself imable to further
withstand rebellion at home and the alarmingly increas-
ing depredations of Genseric and his terrible Vandals.
Himself destitute of ships, Ricimer was compelled to ap-
peal for assistance to the Emperor of the East, which was
accorded by Leo upon condition that the ancient preten-
sions of Constantinople to the right of naming the sov-
ereign of the West should be recognized. Ricimer was
forced to consent — saving a bit of his pride by demanding
and receiving as his wife the daughter of Anthemius, the
new Emperor of Rome. The latter was a man of high

[ 872 ]

■

THE FINAL DECLINE

birth and station. His father, Procopius, had obtained the
rank of general and patrician, his grandfather was the cele-
brated prefect who directed affairs during the infancy of
the younger Theodosius, while he himself had married the
daughter of the Emperor Marcian. His elevation to the
purple was universally approved, and the alliance with
Ricimer seemed to ftimish an enduring promise for the
union and happiness of the State. But the King-maker
soon tired of both his bride and his subordinate position
in affairs. Retiring to Milan, he opened a treasonable corre-
spondence with Anicius Olybrius, an ambitious noble who
had married Placidia, the younger daughter of Valentinian
III, after she had been restored by Genseric.^ Olybrius
was quite willing to exchange a peaceful residence at Con-
stantinople for the hazards of the Roman people ; landing
at Ravenna he joined Ricimer and together the conspira-
tors marched on Rome. After a terrible battle^ Anthemius
was slain, the city was taken and given over to pillage, and
Olybrius declared Emperor. The ^King-maker, however,
died in the midst of his trium^pb^r, and Olybrius himself
followed in less than six months (0(aobery ^72 a. d.).

Ricuner had bequeathed the command 'o^ his army to
his nephew Gundobald, a Biirgujbfidian prince ^ and assum-
ing that his prerogatives ihcki4ed' that of nommating a
successor to the purple, Gundobald ^ected for that pur-
pose an obscure soldier named Glycerius.' In the mean-
time the Emperor of the East at the instance of his wife
was persuaded to nominate for the Roman purple Julius
Nepos, who had married a niece of the Empress. Accom-

^ Ante, page S68.

' It was in this battle that the statues and bronzes which embellished the
tomb of Hadrian were thrown down by the Goths, whose ammunition
had been exhausted in defence of the bridge of St Angelo.

[ 878 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

panied by a few troops Nepos came over from the Eastern
capital and easily became master of what was left of Rome
— including the miserable Glycerins. To the latter Nepos
offered the choice between death and a bishopric. Glycerins
accepted the see, and, more fortunate than Avitus,^ lived
to enjoy both the dignity and an ultimate revenge.^

The reign of Nepos was short and inglorious. Vainly
endeavoring to purchase immunity from barbaric invasion
by ceding Auvergne to the Visigoths, within a year from
his accession the Emperor fled in dismay frx>m a fririous
onslaught by the barbarian confederates under Orestes.
Escaping to his ships, Nepos crossed the Adriatic and re-
tired to his Dalmatian principality, where five years later
he was murdered by Glycerins, who shortly afterwards be-
came the Archbishop of Milan.

After the expulsion of Nepos (475 a. d.) Orestes, with
the consent of the army, of which he had been made the
master-general by the last Emperor, presented the purple
to his son Romulus Augustus — or Augustvlus (Little Au-
gustus J, as he was called on account of his youth. The
boy Emperor, who was noted for his extreme beauty (and
apparently for that alone), took his name from his mother,
who was the daughter of Count Romulus of Petovio, in
Noriciun. The name of Augustus was, at this time, a not
uncommon surname ; and the appellations of the two great
founders of the city and of the Empire were thus strangely
united in the last of their successors.^

Orestes had now attained the siunmit of his ambition —

* Ante, page 870. * See below.

* Gibbon, Decline and FaU, Vol. iii. page -5 IS. The aathor notes a £unous
and similar case: ''The meanest subjects of the Roman Empire assumed
the illustrious name of Pairiciui, which^ by the conversion of Ireland, has
been communicated to a whole nation."

[874]

THE FINAL DECLINE

in the same moment at which the Empire reached the
last stair in its descent. Scarcely had Romulus been pro-
claimed before the troops, whose insolence had become un-
bounded after years of unbridled license, demanded of their
general that one-tMrd of all the lands in Italy should be
divided among them 1 Orestes sharply reftised ; whereupon
the troops, under a huge warrior named Odoacer, marched
against Orestes, besieged him in Pavia, which finally
yielded, and the father of Augustulus was put to death.
The helpless young Emperor was taken to Rome by the
conqueror, who, however, spared the inoffensive youth and
dismissed him from the imperial palace with his whole
family, to enjoy a pension for life in the castle of Lucul-
lus, in Campania (476 a. d.). Odoacer and his barbarians
remained at last the masters of the Palatine. Their royalty
was acknowledged by Senate and people ; it was decreed
by the former that no more Emperors should be chosen,
and that the Emperor of the East might take also the
title of Emperor of the West, which Rome repudiated
forever.

Thus ended the Empire of Rome, in strange coincidence
with the prophecy of the early augurs that the twelve vul-
tures which Romulus had seen represented twelve centu-
ries before the downfall of the city would occur.^ But as a
great philosopher has observed, the fall of the Empire was
announced **by a clearer omen than the flight of vultures :
the Rorruin government appeared eojch day less formidable
to its enemies^ more odious and oppressive to its subjects.''

^ These interpretations of the augurs were current as early as the time of
Cicero and Varro. According to the latter the twelfth century would ex-
pire 447 A. D. ; there was^ however, enough uncertainty as to the true era
of the city to bring the fact of its overthrow in remarkably dose accord
with the prophecies.

[ 875 ]

THE HOUSE OF CiESAR

Freedom, virtue, power, and honor had long been lost
The name of Roman citizenship, which formerly excited
the ambition of humanity as the highest guaranty of indi-
vidual safety and dignity, and of personal rights, had been
scorned and abjured as a badge of servility and personal
wretchedness. Towards the end nothing remained to indi-
cate that Rome claimed a place among the sovereignties
of the world except the bare idea of the imperial office
which a few mad actors in the conspiracy for power at-
tempted to keep alive by a bit of purple doth, a diadem,^
and title. This last frail thread had snapped at last A bar-
barian was firmly established upon the Palatine, as King.
The proud title of Augustus had been forsworn. The name
of the last Emperor of the West had been written. The
might of Caesar was broken. Rome was dead.

Romulus Augustus and Romulus Augustulus, with their
connecting links of Kings, consuls, tyrants, and Emperors,
had spanned one of the most tremendous episodes in world
history. But what remains to-day of all that mighty power
which had enthroned itself so massively upon the Seven
Hills of the sacred city? Cemented by the misty tradi-
tions of the Age of Fable, by the refulgent glories of the
Republic, by the grandeur and magnificence of Augustus,
to the successors of the first Julian it may well have ap-
peared forever impregnable. But in the irresistible march
of events, and under the relentless hand of time, as in the
case of every other human creation, in all ages, decay set
in, it crumbled, gave way, its fragments were destroyed,
its very dust scattered to the four winds. So that to-day
a few impressive ruins, a few discolored and mutilated

^ The Emperor Aurelian first introduced the Oriental custom of wearing
the royal diadem, which was bound upon the forehead.

[ 876 ]

THE FINAL DECLINE

marbles, a handful of corroded coins, alone reward the
curious search for material proof of the purple mantle, the
curule chair, and the august Emperors of Rome. So true
indeed it is

^TTie bu9t ouilagts the throne.
The coin, Tiberius^

THE END

• ♦- ♦-

J-

INDICES

INDEX: PART I

ACERRONiA^ Agrippina's freedwo-
^ man, gives her life for her
mistress, 145, 146.

Acts, a favorite of Nero, 159; said
to have become a Christian, per-
forms the last offices for Nero,
167.

Adoption, the fiction of, 55.

Afer, Domitius, the orator, accuses
Claudia Pulchra of witchcraft, 64.

Afranius, Burrhus, conmiands the
praetorians, 180; helps Nero se-
cure the purple, 131; influence
over Nero, 140; death of, 147.

AoRippA, Marcus Vipsanius, minis-
ter of Augustus, marries Pompo-
nia, S6; marries Marcella and at
(M>mmand of Augustus divorces
her and marries Julia, the Em-
peror's daughter, 84; his high
character and ability, 35; his
death, 86.

Agrippa, Postumus, son of Agrippa,
S6; his coarse nature and unruly
disposition, banished by Augus-
tus, 42 ; disinherited by Augustus,
put to death by livia and Tibe-
rius, 45.

AoRiPPiNA, Vipsania, daughter of
Agrippa, marries Tiberius, di-
vorced by him, marries Asinius
Gallus, S6.

Agrippina (1), granddaughter of
Augustus, 36; marries Germani-
cus, 41 ; care of her children, 63;
falsely accused by Sejanus and
Livia, banished by Tiberius, her
two eldest sons murdered, starves

herself to death, 64. S. Baring-
Gould's Estimate of. Note to
Chap. XII, 182.

Agrippina, mother of Nero, daugh-
ter of Germanicus and the elder
Agrippina, 60; banished by Ca-
ligula, 87; recalled by Claudius,
117; marries Passienus, 117; poi-
sons her husband to secure his
wealth, 118; her character, 118;
her marriage to Claudius — in-
duces him to betroth Octavia to
Nero, and to adopt the latter,
118-121; her hatred of Lepida,
121 ; procures the death of Lepida
and confiscates her great estate,
128; poisons Claudius, 124; plots
to supplant Britannicus with Nero,
121, 129; overcomes all obstacles
and her son is proclaimed, 180,
181; compared with Livia Au-
gusta, 180; heartless conduct of,
towards Octavia and Britannicus,
181 ; at the summit of her power
receives the name of ''Best of
Mothers" from Nero, 182; her
power over Nero undermined by
Seneca and Burrhus, 140; dismay
at murder of Britannicus, 142;
attaches herself to Octavia, 148;
accused of conspiracy by Domitia
Lepida, ibid.; successfully defends
herself, 144; narrow escape from
death, 145; murdered by Anice-
tus at Nero's command, 146; her
great fortitude, ibid.; her mem-
oiy execrated by Nero, 147. S.
Baring-Gould's Estimate of. Note
to Chap. XII, 182.

[ 881 ]

INDEX: PART I

Ahenobarbu8, cognomen of the fiun-
ily of Nero, derivation of the
word, 125.

Ahbnobarbd8, Lucius Domitius, the
founder of the fiunily, 125.

Ahenobarbu8, Cneius Domitins,
great-great-grandfather of Nero,
126.'

Ahbnobarbu8, Cneius, great-gnmd-
father of Nero, 126.

Ahenobarbus, Domitins, gnmd-
father of Nero, 126.

Ahenobarbus, Cneius Domitius, fa-
ther of Neio, 126.

Ahenobarbus, Domitius. See Nero.

Alexander, son of Mark Antony
and Cleopat^^ 23 (noU).

Ancharia, first wife of Caius Octa-
vius, 20.

Anicetus, Nero's adminl, attempts
to drown Agrippina, 145; mur-
ders Agrippina, 146; lodges a false
and shameful accusation against
Octavia, his reward therefcnr, 151.

Antistia, wife of Plautus, murdered
by Nero, 159.

Antonia, wife of Antony, 23 (noU),

Antonia, the elder, daughter of
Antony and Octavia, marries
Drusus, brother of Tiberius, 33;
poisoned by Caligula, 88.

Antonia, the younger, daughter of
Antony and Octavia and grand-
mother of Nero, marries Aheno-
barbus, 106.

Antonia, daughter of the Emperor
Claudius, marries Cneius Pompey
and after his death Cornelius
Sylla, 113; after the murder of
Sylla by Nero, she refuses to
marry Uie latter and is put to
death, 154.

Antony, Mark, the triumvir, 21;

marries Cleopat^^ his fiunily, his
death, 23.

Antony, Julius, son of Mark An-
tony and Fulvia, 23 (noie), 35.

Antony, Lucius, illegitimate soil of
the fifth Julia, is exiled, 41.

Antyllus, son of Mark Antony and
Fulvia, 23 (noU),

Apicata, divorced wife of Sejanns,
commits suicide upon learning of
murder of her children, 67.

Arria, wife of Thrasea Pietus, offers
to share her husband's fiite, 162.

Arria, mother of the wife of Paetus,
heroic anecdote of, l62 (note),

AsiATicus, Valerius, the consul, his
fine gardens on the Pincian Hill
coveted by Messalina, his bravery
and high bearing, his murder by
Messalina, 114.

Atticus, Pomponius, the friend of
Cicero, &ther-in-law of Agrippa,
16,36.

Augusta. See Livia.

Augusta, infimt daughter of Nero
and Poppna, 154.

Augustus. See Ceesar Augustus.

Barratus, M. Valerius Messala, £&-
ther of Messalina, lOa

Barbatub, Messala, consul, husband
of Marcella Minor, 109.

Baring-Gould, S., his attempt to
vindicate the characters of Tibe-
rius, Livia, and Agrippina Minor,
Note to Chap. XII, 182.

Blandus, Rubellius, husband of
Julia, granddaughter of Tiberius,
111.

Bologna Compact, 22, 25, 30.

BRrTANNicus (Tiberius Claudius
Germanicus), son of Claudius and
Messalina, 110; supplanted by

[ 882 ]

INDEX: PART I

Nero, 120, ISl ; grief of, upon his
father's death, 151 ; poisoned by
Nero, 140 (note), 141, 142.

Brutus, one of Caesar's muider-
ers, 8.*

BuRRHus. See Afranius.

CiESAR Augustus, first Roman Em-
peror, adopted by his great-
uncle, Juhus Caesar, and assumes
the name of Caius Caesar, in
place of Caius Octavius, 20; his
birth and ancestry, ilnd.; plans
to acquire supreme power and
forms the Second Triumvirate,
21-2 ; Plutarch's estimate of his
first great crime, 22; the Tri-
umvirate enlarged, 23; seizes the
entire power, establishes the
praetorian guard, declines the of-
fice of dictator for life, assumes
the title of Augustus, and be-
comes first Roman Emperor, 24,
27; personal appearance and
traits, military talents, 24-5;
his character, 25-6 ; accomplish-
ments of his reign, 26-7; ac-
corded the titles of ''Father of
his Country" and ''Imperator"
and most of the important offices
of the State united in him for
life, including that of Pontifex
Maximus, 27-8 ; marries Claudia,
divorces her and marries Scri-
bonia, 30; birth of his only
daughter, Julia, divorces her
mother and marries Livia, 31;
great solicitude about Julia, his
only direct heir, 33; marries her
to Marcellus, and after his death
to Agrippa, 34; his great regard
for Agrippa and joy at births
of his five grandchildren, 35-6;
adopts his grandsons, Caius and
Lucius, 37 ; after death of Agrippa
marries Julia to Tiberius, 37 ; be-

cause of her immorality divorces
and banishes her, harsh remark
about Julia, 38; murder of his
adoptive sons, 38-9; banishes his
granddaughter Julia, 40 ; evil fate
of his posterity, 39^ 40; induced
by livia to adopt Tiberius jointly
with his grandson Postumus
Agrippa, banishes Postumus, 42 ;
compels Tiberius to adopt Ger-
manicus, 43; circumstances of
his death, in regard to which
there were conflicting rumors,
43-4; probably not murdered,
44; death-bed remark, popular
estimate of his character, his
true place in history, 28-9; his
last will, speaks of his daughter,
grandson, and granddaughter as
"the three cancers," 43, 45.

CssAR, Caius Julius, pedigree of,
4-5; etymology of name, 5; his
birth and early youth, tender re-
lations with his mother, 6; first
betrothed to Cossutia, repudiates
the engagement and marries Cor-
nelia, 6; refuses to divorce Cor-
nelia at command of Sylla and
is outlawed, Sylla's prophecy in
regard to him, 7 ; birth and mar-
riage of his daughter, death of
Cornelia, marriage to Pompeia
and divorce from her, 7; marries
Calpumia, 8; after death of his
daughter adopts Caius Octavius,
his grandnephew, and names him
in his will as chief heir, 20;
his assassination, 3, 8; Goethe's
characterization of his murder,
4; founder of the Empire, 8, 9;
personal appearance and habits,
10, 12; never lost a battle, 13;
personal traits, 13; commenced
life as a lawyer, his remarkable
energy, ability, and versatility,
Cicero's estimate of his powers
of oratory and literary abilities.

[ 888 ]

INDEX: PART I

14; hiB place in the roll of great
men, 15; claim to preliminent
greatness questioned, his im-
mense debts, moral defects, 15,
l6; his love of power — com-
pared with Washington, Lincoln,
Cromwell, Napoleon, 17, 19; re-
fuses to be made King, Walpole's
estimate of, 19; popular estimate
of, remaricable demonstration at
his funeral, 17 (note); his true
place in the evolution of man-
kind, S, 4, 19.

Cmsar, Caius, the Emperor, com-
monly called Ca&guia, 75 ; adopted
jointly with Tiberius Gemellus
by Tiberius, ibid.; murders Ge-
mellus and assumes entire sov-
ereignty, 76; his birth, ancestry,
and early life, ibid.; personal
traits and character, 77-81 ; mar-
ries Junia Claudia, 82; murders
Silanus, Gradnas, Ennia Nevia,
Macro, and Ptolemy, 84; marries
Livia Orestilla, tmd.; divorces
Orestilla and marries his sister
Drusilla, 85; murders Lepidus
and Gsetulicus, 87; banishes his
sisters Julia and Agrippina, 88 ;
poisons his grandmother, ibid. ;
his horse Incitatus, 89; marries
Lollia Paulina, 89; dismisses her,
90, and marries Milonia Csesonia,
91; his mental and bodily un-
soundness caused by '^love phil-
ters" administered by Csesonia,
91 ; birth of his only child, Julia
Drusilla, 92; a plot formed to kill
him, 92; his death and burial,
93 ; his death termed a ^'virtuous
slaughter" by the historian Jo-
sephus, 96.

CssAR, Caius, grandson of Augus-
tus, S6; marries Livia, niece of
Tiberius, 39; his death, 38.

Cjbsar, Lucius, uncle of Mark An-
tony, 22.

Cjesar, Lucius, grandson of Augus-
tus, 36 ; his death, 38.

Ci»ARio, reputed son of Julius
Caesar and Geopatra, 8.

CfisoNiA, Milonia, wife of Caligula,
her sensuality, administers ''love
philters" to her husband, 91;
murdered by Lupus, 94.

Casar, Tiberius. See Tiberius.

Cjesar, House of, establishes the
imperialistic idea, 24; causes of
its destruction, 179 ^ *eq.

Cauoula. See Caius Caesar.

Calpurnia, wife of Julius Caesar, 8.

Calvina, Junia, great-great-grand-
daughter of Augustus, marries
the son of Vitellius (afterwards
Emperor), is banished by Clau-
dius, 119.

Cassius, one of Caesar's murderers, 8.

Cassius, Lucius, husband of Drusilla,
daughter of Germanicus, 85.

Cassius, Longinus. See Longinus.

CHiBRBA, Cassius, conspires against
Caligula, 92; kills the Emperor,
93 ; put to death by Claudius, 101.

Christians, persecuted by Nero, 1 52.

Cicero, his estimate of Caesar, 14;
his attack upon the Triumvirate,
21; his murder at the instance
of Antony, 22.

CiNNA, the consul, colleague of the
younger Marius, father-in-law of
Julius Caesar, 6.

Claudia, first wife of Augustus, 30.

Claudia, Junia, wife of Caligula, 82.

Claudia, daughter of the Emperor
Claudius, murdered by him, 105.

Claudianus, Livius Drusus, father-
in-law of Augustus, 31.

Claudius Casar, the Emperor, pro-
claimed by the preetorians after
the death of Caligula, 9&-7: his

[884]

INDEX: PART I

birth and early education, 98^
101; personal traits and char-
acter, 100, 103; marries .£milia
Lepida, is divorced from her and
marries Medullina, after whose
death he marries Urgulanilla,
104; repudiates his third wife
and marries Paetina, 105; divorces
Petina, 106, and marries Messa-
lina, 109; who prompts him to
&mily murder. 111; murders his
two nieces. 111, and Appius J.
Silanus, US; murders his son-
in-law Pompej, Crassus Frugi,
and Scribonia, 113; unconcerned
at Messalina's death, but declares
he will never many again, ll6;
marries his niece Agrippina, 118;
marries his daughter to Nero,
ISO; adopts Nero, ISl; consents
to the murder of Lepida, 123; is
poisoned by Agrippina, 1S4.

Claudius, Publius, father-in-law of
Augustus, 30.

Claudius, Tiberius. See Britannicus.

Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, 8.

Cleopatra, daughter of Antony and
Cleopatra, S3 (note).

Clodius, the quaestor, whose con-
duct caused the divorce of Caesar's
wife Pompeia, 7.

CoRNEiJA, second wife of Julius
Caesar, 6.

CossuTiA, first wife of Julius Caesar, 6.

CoTTA, Aurelia, mother of Julius
Caesar, her tender relations with
her son, her death, 5, 6.

Crassus, triumvir, SI.

Crispinus, Rufius, commander of the
praetorians, removed by Agrip-
pina, 1S9 ; murdered by Nero, 1 53.

Crispinus, Rufinus, son of Poppaea,
drown^ by Nero, 153.

Cromwell, compared with Caesar,
18, 19.

Descent, difficulty of tracing
through the female line, 106-7.

Domestic murder among the Ro-
mans, 10, 24, 32, 61, 167, 173.

Drusilla, Livia. See Livia Augusta.

Drusilla, sister and wife of Calig-
ula, 85 ; marries her cousin Lepi-
dus, 86; her death and apotheo-
sis, 87.

Drusilla, Julia, daughter of Calig-
ula, murdered by Lupus, 9^-

Drusus, brother of Tiberius, 31 ; his
birth, 47; his military exploits
and great reputation, 77 ; marries
Antonia, SS; his death in Ger-
many and magnificent funeral at
Rome, 77.

Drusus, son of Tiberius, his early
life, 55-6; marries Livia, 56; birth
of his three children, ibid.; poi-
soned by his wife Livia, 6S,

Drusus, son of Claudius, his death,
105.

Drusus, son of Germanicus, marries
.Emilia Lepida, murdered by Ti-
berius, his frenzied imprecations
against the Emperor, 69.

EpAPHRonrrus, secretary of Nero,
assists the Emperor to commit
suicide, I66.

EuDEMUs, physician employed by
Livia, the younger, to poison her
husband, confesses the crime, 6S.

Favia, wife of Mark Antony, 23
(note),

Fruoi, Crassus, murder of, 113.

FuLViA, wife of Mark Antony, 23
(note).

[ 885 ]

INDEX: PART I

GirruucuB, Lentulas, consul^ con-
spires against Caligula and is
put to deaths 87.

Gallvs, AsiniuSf husband of Vip-
sania Agrippina, 36 ; his death, 37.

Germanicus, his birth^ ancestiy, and
character, 57-8; adopted by Ti-
berius, 43; marries Agrippina,
60; sent to Syria by Tiberius,
poisoned by Fiso at instigation
of Livia, 59; his children, w, 6l.

GonuB, his chaiacterization of Cae-
sar's murder, 4.

Golden House of Nero, 134.

Gracchus, Semptonius, one of the
lovers of Julia, 37; killed by or-
der of Tiberius, 38.

GRiBciNAS, Julius, £iither of Agricola,
put to death by Caligula, 84.

HcRBDrrARY succession among the
Romans, 74, 130 (note 2).

House of Cflesar. See Caesar.

Impbrial Disease, 173.

Imperial Marriages, Analysis of,
173-6; conclusions in regard to,
176-9; tables of, 202-4.

Imperial Murders, Analysis of,
168-73; conclusions in regard
to, 173; tables of the victims,
195-9; of those who escaped a
violent death, 200, 201.

JuuA (1\ aunt of Julius Caesar,
¥nfe ox Marius, 4.

Julia (2), sister of Julius Caesar, 21.

Julia (3), only child of Julius Caesar,
her marriage to Pompey, her
death, 7.

JuuA (4), daughter of Augustus,
birth of, eany life, beauty and
great ability of, extreme profli-
gacy, SS'f marries Marcellus, then
Apippa, 34; her five children,
So; marries Tiberius, her great
depravity, repudiation by her hus-
band, her banishment aind miser-
able death, 37-8.

JuuA (5), granddaughter of Augus-
tus, So; marries L. ^milius Pau-
lus, S9; her descendants, S9, 40;
her dissolute life, banishment,
and death, 40.

Julia (6), granddaughter of Tibe-
rius, 56; marries Nero, son of
Germanicus, betrays her husband,
66; marries Rubellius Blandus,
71 ; put to death by Clandius and
Messalina, 111.

Julia (7), daughter of Germanicus,
her birth, ol; put to death by
Claudius, 111.

Juuus, Caius, grand£Etther of Julius
Caesar, 5.

Juuus, Caius Julius, father of Julius

Juuus, Sextos, unde of Julius Cae-
sar, 5.

Lepida, Emilia, granddaughter of
Augustus, marries Qaudius, 104;
marries Silanus, 40; their chil-
dren, Und.

Lepida, 2£milia, wife of Drusus,
son of Germanicus, murdered by
Tiberius, 69.

Lepida, Domitia, Nero's aunt, fre-
quently confounded with her
dder sister of same name,
106-7; marries Crispus Passienus,
108; put to death by Nero^ 148.

Lepida (Domitia), Nero's aunt, fre-
quently confounded with her
younger sister of same name.

[ 886 ]

INDEX: PART I

106-7; usually spoken of as Lep*
ida, more brilliant and notorious
than her younger sister^ marries
M. Valerius Messala Barbatus,
108; marries Silanus, IIS; ad-
vises Messalina to commit sui-
cide^ 1X6; rivaliy between her-
self and Agrippina^ 122; accused
of ^'magic^' by Agrippina and
put to death by Claudius^ 123.

Lepida, Junia, aunt of Lucius Junius
Silanus^ wife of Cassius Longinus,
157; shameful accusation against^
her banishment and death, 158.

Lepidus, Caesar's master of the
horse, one of the triumvirs, 21;
high priest of Rome, 23.

Lepidus, Marcus, great-grandson of
Augustus, 40; marries his cousin
Drusilla, 86; put to death by
Caligula, 87.

Lex Julia, severe workings of, 83.

LiBo, P. Scribonius, father-in-law of
Augustus, 30.

Lincoln, compared with Caesar, 18.

LiviA Augusta, the Empress, wife
of Augustus, 30; muries the Em-
peror while her first husband, Ti-
berius Nero, is hving and undi-
vorced from her, 31; introduces
the practice of domestic murder
among the Romans, 32; its per-
nicious consequences, 10, 24, 6l,
l67, 173; her great beauty, 32;
poisons Marcellus, 34; suspected
of poisoning her stepsons, 38;
alienates Augustus from his
daughter, 37; instigates Piso to
poison Germanicus, 59 ; fatal con-
sequences to the &mily of Au-
rus, 6l ; accuses Agrippina,
suspected of poisoning Au-
gustus, 43; her death, 70. S.
Baring-Gould's Estimate of. Note
to Chap. XII, 182.

LiviA, daughter of Drusus and An-

[

tonia, marries first Caius Caesar,
second, her cousin Drusus, son of
Tiberius, 39; her disgrace, 62;
poisons her husband, 6S; her
wretched ending, 66, 67.

LocusTA, court poisoner of Agrip-
pina and Nero, 124, 141, l64.

LoNoiNUs, Cassius, preceptor of the
last Silanus, 157; fabely accused
of conspiracy, is banished, his
death, 158.

Lupus, Julius, a tribune, kills the
wife and daughter of Caligula,
94; is put to death by Claudius,
101.

Macro, captain of the guards, mur-
ders Tiberius, 73; put to death
by Caligula, 84.

Marcblla, daughter of Octavia,
6xst wife of Agrippa, 34.

Marcblla, second daughter of Oc-
tavia, 201.

Marcellus, first husband of the
younger Octavia, 20.

Marcellus, Claudius, nephew of
Augustus, celebrated by Virgil,
marries the fourth JuUa, his
death, 34.

Marcia, grandmother of Julius Cae-
sar, 5.

Marcius, Ancus, fourth King of
Rome, an ancestor of JuUus Cae-
sar, 5.

Marius, Caius, husband of the first
Julia, 5.

Marius (the younger), colleague of
Cinna, cousin of Jtdius Caesar, 5.

Medullina, Livia, wife of Caligula,
104.

Messauna, the Empress, her ances-
try and marriage to Claudius, 109;
her great beauty, immorality, and
influence over her husband, 109>

887 ]

INDEX: PART I

110; instigates the Emperor to
commit various crimes^ 111; poi-
sons Vinidus^ US; compels Si-
lius to divorce his wife^ 114; her
infamous marriage to Silius dar-
ing the absence of Claudius, 115;
her flight to the gardens of Lu-
cullus, upon the return of Clau-
dius^ 115; the visit of her mother
and her death, 116.

Messauna, Statilia, last wife of
Nero, 155; survives his death,
156.

Milady Clarik, cited against con-
clusions of character drawn fiom
physiognomy, 184 (note).

NiBviA, Ennia, Macro's wife, mis-
tress of Caligula, who engages
to marry her when he shall be-
come Emperor, 78 ; murder of, 84.

Napoleon, anecdote of, S ; compared
with Caesar, 18.

Nero, Tiberius Claudius, first hus-
band of the Empress Livia, 81 ;
his life, 46; his death, 47.

Nero, Tiberius. See Tiberius.

Nero, son of Germanicus, marries
his cousin Julia, fidsely accused
by her, 66; is banished by Tibe-
rius, his death, 67.

Nero, fifth Roman Emperor, 125;
inherits a cruel disposition fiK>m
his paternal ancestors, 126; the
product of a remarkable ances-
,try, 127; his birth, early signs of
promise, sa3dng attributed to his
father, 128; after banishment of
his mother and death of his fa-
ther, lives with his aunt, Lepida,
ibid.; Messalina seeks to destroy
him, 129; his early hatred of
Britannicus, marriage with Oc-
tavia, 129; supplants Britannicus,

[ 888

proclaimed Emperor by the Sen-
ate and the guard, 131 ; personal
appearance, 138; love of the fine
arts, 133; performs upon the
stage, drives his chariot in the
Circus Maximus, 133-4; great
extravagance, 134; wonders of
his palace, called the '^ Golden
House," 135; early years of his
reign distinguished by mildness
and clemency, 135-6; malign in-
fluence of Poppaea largely respon-
sible for his later wickedness,
136; Augustine's opinion: ''the
most finished pattern of wicked
rulers," ibid.; popular belief that
he survived as ''Antichrist," ibid, ;
marries Octavia, 137 ; despises his
beautiful wife and forms a con-
nection with Acte, 139; breaks
away from his mother's influence,
140; alarmed by his mother's
threats, he poisons Britannicus,
141; attempts to drown his
mother, 145 ; murders his mother,
146; execrates her memory, 147;
murders Seneca and Burrhus,
147; murders Plautus, Sylla, and
Domitia Lepida, 148; divorces
Octavia and marries Poppeea,
149, 150; banishes Octavia, but
forced to recall her by the peo-
ple, 150; murders Octavia, 151;
birth and death of his only child,
152; persecutes the Christians,
152; horrible crimes committed
by him, 153; murders Poppeea,
her first husband and son, 153;
is refused in marriage by Antonia,
half-sister of Octavia, and mur-
ders her, 154; murders Piso —
"the City thronged with funerals,
the Capitol with victims," 155;
marries Statilia Messalina, mur-
ders her husband Vestinus, 1 55-6 ;
banishes Cassius Longinus and at-
tempts to kill him, murders Junia

]

INDEX: PART I

Lepida and Ldciqs JnniosSilnnng,
bis last nude reLMiTe of the blood
of AvtgastoB, 158; mmders La-
cios Vetos, Antistia, and Sextia,
160 ; muiden Baieas Scnranas^Ser-
▼yjayandThnsea P8etii8,l6l,l62;
revolt of the Gank, l6£; Nero's
onconeem, revolt of Galba and
the Spanish province^ his fear and
remorse, l6S; procures poison as
a final resource, plans escape to
Parthia, abandoned by his fnends
and servants, leaTes the Golden
House forever, l64; escapes to
Phaon's villa, bis abject sufferings
and miserable deaUi on the an-
niversaiy of Octavia's murder,
165-6; his remains buried by
Acte on the Pincian Hill, l67.

OcTAViA Major, daughter of Octa-
vius and Ancharia, 20; confused
with her half-sister, Octavia, the
sister of Augustus, 20, 120.

Octavia Minor, sister of Augustus,
wife of Marcellus, and of Mark
Antony, 20; mother of the two
Antonias, 108; estimates of her
character, 19O; died from natural
causes, 200.

Octavia, daughter of the Emperor
Claudius, betrothed first to Lu-
cius Silanus, 119; then to Nero,
120; her birth, grief of, upon her
father's death, 137; married to
Nero, 139; her sweet disposition
and elevated character, was prob-
ably a Christian, 139; grief at the
murder of her brother, 142; di-
vorced by Nero, 1 49 ; banished, re-
called by Nero because of the rage
of the people, 1 50 ; falsely accused
by Anicetus, banished to Panda-
taria and there brutally mur-
dered, 151; said to have been bap-
tised by the Apostle Peter, 152.

OcTAvroa^Caios. See Caaar AQgutns.
OcTAVfira, CaioSy fiUher of Augustus,

Oluus, Titus, father of Pof^MM,
murdered by Sejanns, 153.

Ormtilla, Livia,wifeof Caligula, 84.

PiniNA, JElia, wife of the Emperor
Claudius, is divorced by him, 106L

PiBTUs, Thrasea, his elevated char-
acter, rouses the hatred of Nero^
l60;condemned todeath^'on gen-
eral principles," I6I; his heroic
death, I62.

Paris, an actor, accuses Agrippina
of conspiracy, 143.

Passiknus, Crispus, the orator, mar*
ries Domitia Lepida, 108; after
her death marries Agrippina, 117;
poisoned by his wife, 117.

Paulina, LoUia, wife of Caligula, 89>
90 ; her murder by Agrippina and
her immense fortune, 120.

Paulus, Lucius .£milius, husband of
the fifth Julia, 39; his death, 41.

PBDius,Quintus, cousin of Augustus,
20.

Phaon, freedman of Nero, offers the
deposed Emperor an asylum, 1 64.

Physiognomy tv. Tacitus and Plu-
tarch, 183-4, 190.

PiNARius, Ludus, cousin of Augus-
tus, 20.

Piso, Caius, husband of Livia Orcs-
tiUa, who is taken from him bv
Caligula, 84; regains his wife
after her divorce by Caligula,
85.

Piso, Cneius, governor of Syria,
poisons Germanicus, 59> 6O; com-
mits suicide, 60.

Piso, conspires against Nero, put to
death, 154-5.

[ 889 ]

INDEX: PART I

Plancin A^ wife of Cneiiis Fiao, death
of, 60.

PLAUTINU8, Aulus, mentioned by
Suetonius, probably Rubellius
Plautus, 148 (note).

Plautu8, Rubellius, great-grandson
of Tiberius, 71; murdered by
Nero, 72, 148.

PoLuo, Asinius, the orator, 36,

PoMPEiA, third wife of Julius Cse-
sar, 7.

PoMPEius, Sextos, triumvir, his mur-
der, 23.

PoMPEius, Cneius, triumvir, 21.

PoMPiius, Quintus, father-in-law of
Julius Caesar, 7.

PoMPONiA, first wife of Agrippa, S&

Pontifex Maximus, the office of,
held by Julius Caesar and Augus-
tus, 6, 28.

PoppiBA, wife of Otho, marries Nero,
149; instigates him to destroy
Octavia, 144; falsely accuses Oc-
tavia, induces Nero to murder
her rival, 150; her character,
149; death of her daughter, 152;
brutally murdered by Nero, 153.

PopPiBA, Sabina. See Sabina.

PtOLBMY, grandson of Mark Antony
and Qeopatn, put to death by
Caligula, 84.

PuLCHRA, Claudia, imcertainty of
her relationship to the flunily
of Caesar, put to death by Tib^
rius, 64, 65,

QuiNnuA, conapiies against Calig-
ula and tortured fay nim, 9^.

Regulus, Memmius, the consul, his
wife Lollia taken ^m him by Ca-
ligula, 89; his high character and
Nero's remarkable tribute, 90.

Sabina, Poppeea, mother of Poppaea,
murdered by Messalina, 153.

SciPio, first husband of Scribonia, 30.

ScRiBONiA, wife of Augustus, 30-1.

ScRiBONiA, mother of Crassus Frugi,
murder of, 113.

Sbjanus, JElivis, praetorian prefect
under Tiberius, his unscrupulous
character and evil designs, 62;
seduces Livia and induces her
to poison Drusus, 63; destroys
the fiunily of Germanicus, 63-5 ;
persuades the Emperor to with-
draw to Capri, is suspected, ac-
cused, condenmed to death and
his wife and children murdered,
66,67.

Sbneca, Nen>'s preceptor, 133 ;exiled
because of an intrigue with Ju-
lia, daughter of Germanicus, 140
(note £) ; participates in murder of
Agrippina, 146; death of, 147.

Serviua, daughter of Soranus, mur-
dered by Nero, l6l.

Skztia, mother of Lucius Vetus,
murdered by Nero, l60.

SiLANA, Junia, the divorced wife of
Caius Silius, accuses Agrippina
of conspiracy, 144; her unhappy
life, her death, ibid,

SiLANus, Appius Junius, husband
of Emilia Lepida, great-grand-
daughter of Augustus, compelled
by Messalina to many Lepida,
incurs the displeasure of the
Empress, who instigates Claudius
to put him to death, 112; the
fate of his children, 112.

SiLANUs, Marcus, put to death by
Caligula, 83.

SiLANUs, Decius, a lover of Julia,
granddaughter of Augustus, ban-
ished by the first Emperor, 82.

[ 890 ]

INDEX: PART I

SiLANUs, Lucius, betrothed to Oc-
tavia, the daughter of Claudius,
disgraced and compelled to com-
mit suicide by Agrippina, 119.

SiLANus, Marcus Junius, the '' Golden
Sheep/' 137; proconsul of Asia,
poisoned by Agrippina, 138.

SiLANus, Torquatus, suicided by
Nero's order, 138.

SiLANUs, Lucius Junius Torquatus,
the last male Caesar excepting
Nero, 157; murdered by Nero,
his noble death, 158; his high
character, his ancestry, ^' the last
spark of virtue," 157, 159.

SiLius, Caius, brother-in-law of Ca-
ligula, 83, 114; is compelled by
Messalina to divorce his wife and
marry the Empress, 1 1 4, 1 1 5.

SoRANUs, Bareas, his high character,
l60 ; falls a victim to Nero's deter-
mination to '^ extirpate virtue,"
161.

Sylla, the Dictator, banishes Julius
Caesar, spares his life, prophesies
his future greatness, 7.

Sylla, Cornelius, son-in-law of
Claudius, murdered by Nero,
148.

Taurus, Statilius, great-grand&ther
of the second Messalina, wife of
Nero, 155.

The Three Men, 23.

TiBBRius, the Emperor, his birth
and ancestry, 46-7; esteemed
by Augustus, early public ap-
pointments, military successes,
47; marries Agrippina, reluc-
tantly divorces her and marries
Julia, daughter of Augustus,
48-9; repudiates Julia and re-
tires ^m Rome, 49; returns to
Rome, is adopted by Augustus
and engages actively in affairs

of State, 50; his hypocrisy upon
being tendered the purple, 51;
personal appearance, traits, and
habits, his militanr ability, 51,
53; estimate of his character,
prophetic remark of Augustus,
53, 54; adopts his nephew Ger-
manicus, 43; his posterity, 55
et seq.; pride in his grandchil-
dren, 56; considered an acces-
soiy in murder of Germanicus,
60; appoints Sejanus praetorian
prefect, 62; Sejanus poisons his
mind against Agrippina, 63; ban-
ishes Agrippina and drives her to
suicide, shameful remarks about
her, 64, 70; hatred of the chil-
dren of Germanicus and murder
of Nero and Drusus, 65, 68-9;
his remarkable conduct upon the
death of Drusus, 69 ; withdraws
to Capri, distrust of Sejanus, who
is charged with conspiracy by the
Emperor and put to death, 67;
puts to death his daughter-in-law
Livia, unconcern at death of his
son, 68; unconcern at death of
his mother, 70; his great cruelty
and depravity, 70, 72; retires to
Misenum, his despairing letter
to the Senate, 72; smothered to
death by Macro, his body thrown
into the Tiber, 73. S. Baring-
Gould's Estimate of, Note to Chc^,
XII, 182.

Tiberius Gemellus, grandson of
Tiberius, 56; named by Tiberius
as one of the imperial heirs,
with Caligula, but dispossessed
and murdered by the latter, 71.

TiGELLiNus, prompts Nero to many
crimes, 147. ^

TiRiDATBs, the Parthian King, lav-
ishly entertained by Nero, 134.

Triumvirate, the First, 21.

Triumvirate, the Second, 22.

[891 ]

INDEX: PABT I

104-5.

of
wife of

155; T
ofkk

if Sero^ ^

17.

of P"i> ■!!■■■ T%mmimtpumt to
^taA bf Sao, 159.

m 124u

[ 892 ]

INDEX: PART H

"Thirty Tyrants," 286, 289, 290,
291.

A DOLPHU8,sacce88or of Alaric, S6h
-^^ Adrianople, battle of, 326.
JEmuANUB, M. Aurelins, Emperor, ^^™«> Emperor, S68, 870.

276-7.

^!!I^!l%^^i«n'''' ""^ ^^ BAUiiNU8,DecimusC«liu8,Emperor,

Thirty Tyrants," 289.

268-70.

AiBTius, Roman general, under Pk. Bausta, Emperor, one of the

Thirty Tyrants," 285.

Afer, Domitius, historian of Tibe- Bassianus, C«sar, brother-in-kw of

rius, 230.

Constantine, 325, 332.

^^l^'^l'oi^^'''' ^"^^ '^^''''^ ^ Bassianus, Julius, priest of the Sun
""'" at Emesa, 249.

Bassianus. See Caracalla and Elaga-

Spain,. 222.
Alaric, invasion of Italy, 360.
Anoelo, Michael, 315.
Anthemius, Emperor, 372, 373.

balus.
Blj»us, poisoned by Vitellius, 212.

Antinous, favorite of the Emperor Biutannicus, educated with the

Hadrian, 227.

sons of Vespasian, 217.

Antiochus, proclaimed Emperor by Byzantium, capital of the Empire
the Saracens, 298.

Antoninus, Titus Aurelius Fulvus

Boionius Arrius (''Pius" Antoni-
nus), Emperor, 227, 230.

of the East, 333.

CiBCiNA, consul under Vitellius, 213.

Apkr, pnetorian prefect under Nu- CiBNis,a mistress of Vespasian, 217.

merianus, 307, 308.

Arbooastbs, general under Valen-
tinian II, 355, 358, 359.

CANomiANus, son of the Emperor
Galerius, put to death by Licin-
ius, 324.

Arcadius, Emperor of the East, 359. ^^""^> Statilius, a Roman knight,

XA I •

Arch of Titus, 217.

Artaxkrxes, invades Roman Asia.,
264.

Attila, invasion of Italy, 364, 365.

Augustine, St, 2l6.

CAPrro, Fortenis, assumes imperial
rights in Lower Germany, 211.

Caracalla (Bassianus), Emperor,

250-5.
Carinus, Emperor, 307-9*
AuGusTULus, Romulus, last Roman Carus, Marcus Aurelius, Emperor,

Emperor, 374.

306-7.

AuREUAN (L. Domitius Aurelianos), Castle of St Angelo, 228.

Emperor, 297-300.
Aurelius, Marcus, Emperor, 230-3.
AuRBOLUs, Emperor, one of the

Cclsis, Emperor, one of the ^'Thirty

Tyrants," 289.
Chilons, battle of, 364.

[ 898 ]

INDEX: PART II

Chxysopolis, battle of, 326.

Claudius II (Marcus Aurelius Gau-
dius). Emperor, 293-€.

Clbandbr, favorite of Commodiis,
238.

Clodius Albinus, Emperor, 243-6.

CoimoDUs, Marcos Lucius .£lios.
Emperor, 235-9.

CoNSTANS, Emperor, 334-6.

CoNSTANTiA, Emprcss, wife of lidn-
ius, 323.

CoNSTAMTiA, Flavia, Empress, wife
of Gratian, 353.

CONSTANTINA, SlStCT of CoDStaO-

tius II, 336, 337.

CoNSTANTiNB, Flavius Valerius Au-
relius (the Great), Emperor, 3l6,
326-34.

CoNSTANTiNK II, Empcror, life of,
334-5.

CoNSTANTiNB, a Roman soldier, res-
cues and marries Pladdia, 362.

Constantinople, building of, SSS.

CoNSTANTius I (Flavius ''Chlorus"),
Emperor, 31 1-l6.

CoNSTANnus II, Emperor, life of,
334-8.

Council of Nice, 330.

Crassus, a Roman senator, attempts
to assassinate Trajan, 224.

Cremona, destroyed by Flavians, 214.

Crispina, Empress, wife of Commo-
dus, banished to Capri, 238.

Crispus, son of Constantine, 331;
put to death by Constantine, 332.

Cyriades, Emperor, one of the
''Thirty Tyrants," 285.

Dalmatius, nephew of Constantine,
334.

Daza. See Mazimin Dasa.

Decius, C. Messius Quintus Tm-
janus. Emperor, 273-5.

DiADUMENIANUS, SOU of EmpeTOT

Macrinus, proclaimed Caesar, 256.

DiDius, Emperor, 241-2.

Diocletian (Marcus Aurelius Vale-
rius Diodetianus), Emperor, 308—
315.

Dion, statement of murders under
Commodus, 237.

DoLABBLLA, Comclius, victlm of Vi-
tellius, 212.

DoMrriAN, Emperor, 217-18.

DoMmLLA, Flavia, Empress, wife of
Vespasian, 21 6, 222.

DoMNA, Julia, Empress, wife of Se-
venis, 249> 252.

Edict of Milan, 330.
Elagabalus, the sun-god, 249.

Elaoabalus (Varius Avitus Bassia-
nus), 258-01.

Emesa, black stone of, 259> 262.

EuDoxiA, Empress, wife of Valen-
tinian II, 366, 368.

EuDoxiA, wife of Theodosius II,
Emperor of the East, 366 (moie).

EuDoxiA, daughter of Valentinian
III, 366.

EuGENius, tool of Arbogastes, 358.

EusEBiA, Empress, wife of Constan-
tins II, 337, 338.

EusEBius, baptiaes Constantine, 334.

EuTRopiA, killed by Magnentius,
336.

Fausta, Empress, wife of Constan-
tine, 331.

Faustina, Annia, Empress, wife of
Ekgabalus, 260.

[ 894 ]

INDEX: PART II

Faustina^ Empress^ wife of Titos
Antoninus^ 229> 232.

Flacx:illa^ ^ia. Empress^ wife of
Theodosius^ $59.

Florian (M. Annius Florianus)^
Emperor^ SOS.

Galba^ Servius SulpiduSy Emperor^

207, 212.
Galerius, Emperor, 311, 320.

Galla, Empress, wife of Theodo-
sius^ 354, 358, 359.

Galuenus, Emperor, 278-91*

Gallus, C. Vibius Trebonianus,
Emperor, 275-8.

Gbnseric, King of the Vandals, Eu-
doxia makes overtures to, 367;
promises to molest Italy no more^
371.

Geta^ Emperor, 250, 251.

Glycbrius, Emperor, 373.

Gorman I, Emperor, 267-8.

GoRDiAN II, Emperor, 268.

GoRDiAN III, Emperor, 270-2.

Gratian, Emperor, 348-53.

GuNDOBALD, succeeds Ricimer, the
'^ King-maker," 373.

Hadrian (Publius ^lius Hadria-
nus). Emperor, 225-8.

Hannibalianus, nephew of Constan-
tine, 334.

Helena, Julia Flavia (''St He-
lena"), mother of Constantine,
326, 327.

Herrennius, Quintus, son of the
Emperor Decius, proclaimed Ctt^

sar, 274.

HoNORiA, granddaughter of Theodo-
sius, romantic career of, 364, 366.

HoNORius, Emperor, 359-61.

HosnuANUs, Valens, son of the
Emperor Decius, proclaimed G^
sar, 274; associated in the Em-
pire, 275.

Inoenuus, Emperor, one of the
"Thirty Tyrants," 289, 290.

John, Emperor, 361-3.

Jovian, Emperor, 344-€.

JuuA, daughter of Titus, 218; mar-
ries her uncle Domitian, 220.

Julian, Emperor^ 335, 338-43.

JusTiNA, Empress, wife of Valen-
tinian, 348, 352, 354.

Ljelianus, Emperor, one of the
"Thirty Tyrants," 283.

Ljetus, assists in killing Commodus,
239; moves to make Pertinax
Emperor, 240; his great cavalry
charge, 245.

Lampridius, characterization of
Commodus, 235, 237; accuses
Julia Soeemias, 259.

LiciNiANus, Piso, murder of, by
Otho, 209.

LiciNiANus, ' son of the Emperor
Lidnius, put to death by Con-
stantine, 332.

LiciNius, Emperor, 316-26.

LoNoiNA, Domitia, Empress, wife
of Domitian, 220.

LuciLLA, mother of Marcus Aure-
lius, 230.

LuaLLA, sister of Commodus, wife
of Lucius Aurelius Verus. 231.
236.

Macrianus, Emperor, one of the
Thirty Tyrants," 285, 288.

[ 895 ]

INDEX: PART II

Macrinus, Marcos Opelius, Em-
peror, 255-9>

Mm8a, Julia, sister of the Empress
Julia Domna, 249; banished to
Emesa, 257.

Maonentius, Emperor, SS6, 337.

Majorian, Julianus, Emperor, 370,
371.

Mamjba, Julia, sister of Empress
Julia Domna, 249; banished to
Emesa, 257 ; saves the life of her
son Alexander, 260, 26l ; charac-
ter of, 262.

Marcblunus, grand&ther of the
Emperor Hadrian, 225.

Marcia, mistress of Commodus,
238 ; poisons Commodus, 239.

Maria, Empress, wife of Honorius,
360.

Marius, Emperor, one of the
^Thirty Tyrants," 283.

Maxentius, Emperor, 31 6, 323.

Maximian, Emperor, 311-24.

Maximin I (Caius Julius Verus),
Emperor, 265, 266, 269.

Maximin II (Dasa), Emperor,
314-24.

Maximus, Emperor, 352-4.

Maximus, Petronius, Emperor, 367-
368.

Mbnestheus, chief conspirator
against Aurelian, death of, 300.

Minbrvina, first wife of Constan-
tine, 331. '

Mursa, battle of, 337.

Nepos, Julius, Emperor, 373.

Nepotianus, nephew of Constan-
tius, SS6.

Nerva, Cocceius, Emperor, 220-2.

Niger, Pescennius, Emperor, 236,
242, 246.

NioRiNus, Caius, put to death for
his conspiracy against Hadrian,

227.

Nissa, battle of, 295.
NuMERiANUS, Emperor, 307-0.

Odbnathus, Emperor, one of the
**Thirty Tyrants," 285-7.

Odoacer, conqueror of Rome and
master of the Palatine, 375.

Olybrius, Emperor, 373.

Orbiana, Gnea Seia Herennia Sal-
lustia Barbia, Empress, wife of
Alexander Severus, 264.

Orestes, Roman general, 374-5.

Orioen, correspondence with Julia
Mamea, 262.

Otho, Emperor, life of, 208, 211.

Papinian, counsellor of Severus, 248 ;
death of, 253.

Pkrennis, fiivorite of Commodus,

238.
Pbrtinax, Emperor, 236, 239> 243.

Philip (M. Julius Philippus), Em-
peror, 271-3.

Phiuppus, M. Junius, son of the
Emperor Philip, proclaimed Cce-
sar, 272.

PiPA, &Torite of Gallienus, 281.

Piso, Calpumius, Emperor, one of
the ''Thirty Tyrants," 288.

Placidia, daughter of Theodosius,
359; detained by Alaric as hos-
tage, 362; delegated to exercise
imperial power, 363, 364.

Placidia, Empress, wife of Oly-
brius, 368.

Plautianus, prefect under Severus,
251.

[ 896 ]

INDEX: PART II

PukimLLA^ Empress^ wife of Cara-
calla, 251.

PuNY^ panegyrics of, 223.

Plotina, Empress, wife of Trajan,
223, 225.

PoMPBiANus, son-in-law of Marcus
Aurelius, 232.

PoMPONius, general under Maxen-
tius, 322.

PosTUMUs, Emperor, one of the
"Thirty Tyrants," 282.

Prisca, Empress, wife of Diocletian,
315, 324.

Friscus, brother of the Emperor
Philip, 273.

Probus, Emperor, 299^ 303-6.

Procopius, favorite general of Ju-
lian, 342, 343, 349.

PupiENus, Clodius, Mazimus, Em-
peror, 268-70.

QuADRATUs, friend of Ludlla, sister
of Commodus, 236.

Quietus, Emperor, one of the
"Thirty Tyrants," 286.

QuiNTiLLUs, M. Aurelius, Emperor,
296-7.

Ravenna, battle of, 36l.

Rboauanus, Emperor, one of the
"Thirty Tyrants," 290.

RiciMER, Count, the "King-maker,"
869, 373.

Rome, sacked by the Goths under
Alaric, 360.

Sabina, Empress, wife of Hadrian,
225.

Sallust, praetorian prefect, tendered
the purple, 344, 346.

Salonina, Empress, wife of Gallie-
nus, 281.

Saloninus, Csesar, son of the Em-
peror Gallienus, 282.

Sapor, King of Persia, captures the
Emperor Valerian, 280.

Saturninus, Emperor, one of the
"Thirty Tyrants," 288.

Saxa Rubra, battle of, 322.

Scavola, jurisconsult, 246.

Serena, niece of Theodosius, 360.

Severa, Marcia Otacilia, Empress,
wife of Philip, 272.

Severa, Julia Aquilia, Empress, wife
of Elagabalus, 260.

Severa, Valeria, Empress, wife of
Valentiiiian I, 348.

Severianus, son of the Emperor
Severus, coadjutor of Galerius,
324.

Severus, Septimius, Emperor, life of,
236, 239, 242, 246, 250.

Severus, Alexander, Emperor, 260,
261, 265.

Severus, Emperor, 314, 316, 318.

Severus, Libius, Emperor, 372.

Six Shadows, 372, 376.

SoiEMiAS, Julia, mother of Elagaba-
lus, 249, 257, 259, 260, 262.

Stephanus, assassinates Domitian,
220.

SnucHo, a celebrated Roman gen-
eral under Honorius, 360.

SuLPiaANUs, father-in-law of the
Emperor Pertinax, bids for the
pittple, 241.

TAcrru8,ihe historian, 207, 209, 212.

TAcrrus, M.Claudius, Emperor, 300-
303.

Tetricus, Pius Esuvius, Emperor,

[ 897 ]

INDEX: PART II

one of the "Thirty Tyrante," 281,
284.

Theodora, Empress, wife of Con-
stantius Chlorus, 812, 880.

TiuoDosivs, Emperor, 855-9; Em-
peror of the East, 849.

Thbodosius, son of Arcadius, Em-
peror of the East, 862.

Theodotus, conquers the usurper
.fimilianus, one of the ''Thirty
Tyrants," 289.

Thessalonica, massacre in, 356.

Thirty Tyrants, the, 282.

TiMBsmiEus, counsellor of Gordian

III, 271.
Trrus, Emperor, 216-18.

Trajan (M. Ulpius Trajanus), Em-
peror, 222-5.

Tranquiluna^ Empress, wife of
Gordian III, 270.

Trebbluanus, Emperor, one of the
"Thirty Tyrants," 288, 289.

U
Ulpian, jurisconsult, 264.

Valbns, consul under Vitellius, 21 1,
218.

VAiJENs,Emperor, one of the^Thirty
Tyrants," 288.

Valens, Emperor, 849-51.

Valeria, wife of Galerius, 812, 824.

Valerian (Publius Lidnius Vale-
rianus)^ Emperor, 277-80.

Valenttnian I, Emperor, 846, 850.

Valentinian II, Emperor, 849-51.

Valentinian III, Emperor, 868-6.

Vbrus, Lucius Aurelius, adopted by
Hadrian, 227; associated in im-
perial power with Marcus Aure-
lius, 281 ; death, 282.

Vbrus, Marcus Annius. See Aure-
lius, Marcus.

Vespasian (Titus Flavins Vespasi-
anus). Emperor, 218, 214, 217,
219.

Vetranio, an Illyrian usurper, 336.

VicroRiNA, mother of the Emperor
Victorinus, 284.

VicroRiNus, Marcus Piavonius, Em-
peror, one of the "Thkty Ty-
rants," 288.

ViNius, murdered by Otho, 209.

VnvLLius, Aulus, Emperor, 21 0, 211,
214.

VoLUsiANUs, son of the Emperor
Gallus, proclaimed Emperor but
does not reign, 276.

Zbnobia, Queen of Palmyra, 286,
298, 299.

>«

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