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9. His death only lighted up the emperor's rage for farther
executions. Planci'na, the wife of Pi'so, and others, were put to
death for being attached to Seja'nus. He began to grow weary of single
executions, and gave orders that all the accused should be put to
death together, without further examination. The whole city was, in
consequence, filled with slaughter and mourning. 10. When one
Carnu'lius killed himself, to avoid the torture, "Ah!" cried
Tibe'rius, "how has that man been able to escape me!" When a prisoner
had earnestly entreated that he would not defer his death: "Know,"
said the tyrant, "I am not sufficiently your friend to shorten your
torments."

11. In this manner he lived, odious to the world, and troublesome to
himself; an enemy to the lives of others, a tormentor of his own.[12]
At length, in the 22d year of his reign, he began to feel the
approaches of dissolution, and his appetite totally forsook him. 12.
He now, therefore, found it was time to think of a successor, and
fixed upon Calig'ula:[13] willing, perhaps, by the enormity of
Calig'ula's conduct, with which he was well acquainted, to lessen the
obloquy of his own.

13. Still, however, he seemed desirous to avoid his end; and strove,
by change of place, to cut off the inquietude of his own reflections.
He left his favourite island, and went upon the continent; and at
last, fixed at the promontory of Mise'num.[14] There he fell into
faintings, which all believed to be fatal. 14. Calig'ula supposing him
actually dead, caused himself to be acknowledged by the Praetorian
soldiers,[15] and went forth from the emperor's apartment amidst the
applauses of the multitude; when, all of a sudden, he was informed
that the emperor was likely to recover. 15. This unexpected account
filled the whole court with terror and alarm; every one who had before
been earnestly testifying his joy, now reassumed his pretended sorrow,
and forsook the new emperor, through a feigned solicitude for the fate
of the old. 16, Calig'ula seemed thunderstruck; he preserved a gloomy
silence, expecting nothing but death, instead of the empire at which
he aspired. 17. Marco, however, who was hardened in crimes, ordered
that the dying emperor should be despatched, by smothering him with
pillows; or, as some will have it, by poison. Thus died Tibe'rius in
the seventy-eighth year of his age, after reigning twenty-two
years.

[Sidenote: U.C. 780 A.D. 37.]

18. It was in the eighteenth year of this emperor's reign that Christ,
(after having spent two years in the public ministry, instructing the
multitude in the way of salvation,) was crucified; as if the universal
depravity of mankind wanted no less a sacrifice than this to reclaim
them. Pi'late sent to Tibe'rius an account of Christ's passion,
resurrection, and miracles, and the emperor made a report of the whole
to the senate, desiring that Christ might be accounted a god by the
Romans. 19. But the senate, displeased that the proposal had not come
first from themselves, refused to allow of his apotheosis; alleging an
ancient law, which gave them the superintendence in all matters of
religion. They even went so far as to command, by an edict, that all
Christians should leave the city; but Tibe'rius, by another edict,
threatened death to such as should accuse them; by which means they
continued unmolested during the rest of his reign.

20. The vices of Calig'ula were concealed under the appearance of
virtue in the beginning of his reign. In less than eight months,
however, every trace of moderation and clemency vanished; while
furious passions, unexampled avarice, and capricious cruelty, reigned
uncontrolled; and pride, impiety, lust, and avarice, appeared in all
their native deformity.

21. Calig'ula's pride first appeared in his assuming to himself the
title of ruler; which was usually granted only to kings. He would also
have taken the crown and diadem, had he not been advised, that he was
already superior to all the monarchs of the world. 22. Not long after
he assumed divine honours, and gave himself the names of such
divinities as he thought most agreeable to his nature. For this
purpose he caused the heads of the statues of Jupiter, and some other
gods, to be struck off, and his own to be put in their places. He
frequently seated himself between Castor and Pollux, and ordered that
all who came to this temple to worship should pay their adorations
only to himself. 23. However, such was the extravagant inconsistency
of this unaccountable idiot, that he changed his divinity as often as
he changed his clothes; being at one time a male deity, at another a
female; sometimes Jupiter or Mars; and not unfrequently Venus or
Diana. 24. He even built and dedicated a temple to his own divinity,
in which his statue of gold was every day dressed in robes similar to
those which he himself wore, and worshipped by crowds of adorers.
His priests were numerous; the sacrifices made to him were of the most
exquisite delicacies that could be procured; and the dignity of the
priesthood was sought by the most opulent men of the city. However, he
admitted his wife and his horse to that honour; and to give a
finishing stroke to his absurdities, became a priest to himself. 25.
His method of assuming the manners of a deity was not less ridiculous;
he often went out at full moon, and courted it in the style of a
lover. He employed many inventions to imitate thunder, and would
frequently defy Jupiter, crying out with a speech of Homer, "Do you
conquer me, or I will conquer you." He frequently pretended to
converse in whispers with the statue of Jupiter, and usually seemed
angry at its replies, threatening to send it back into Greece, whence
it came. Sometimes, however, he would assume a better temper, and seem
contented that Jupiter and he should dwell together in amity.

26. Of all his vices, prodigality was the most remarkable, and that
which in some measure gave rise to the rest. The luxuries of former
emperors were simplicity itself when compared to those which he
practised. He contrived new ways of bathing, when the richest oils and
most precious perfumes were lavished with the utmost profusion. His
luxuries of the table were of immense value, and even jewels, as we
are told, were dissolved in his sauces. He sometimes had services of
pure gold presented before his guests, instead of meat, observing that
a man should be an economist or an emperor.

27. The manner in which he maintained his horse will give some idea of
his domestic extravagance. He built a stable of marble, and a manger
of ivory; and whenever the animal, which he called Incita'tus, was to
run in the race, he placed sentinels near its stable, the night
preceding, to prevent its slumbers from being broken.[16]


_Questions for Examination._

1. What was the first measure of Sejanus?

2. Did the emperor yield to his persuasions?

3. What consequences ensued from this measure?

4. Who were the first sufferers?

5. Did Sejanus increase his influence?

6. Was this elevation permanent?

7. To what punishment was he condemned?

8. What occurred at his execution?

9. Was this the only victim to the cruelty of Tiberius?

10. How did Tiberius aggravate his cruelties?

11. Did these cruelties long continue?

12. How did he act on this?

13. Was he resigned to his fate?

14. What followed on this?

15. How was this news received?

16. Did Caligula boldly meet the consequences?

17. How was this averted?

18. What highly remarkable event happened in this reign?

19. Was his desire gratified?

20. What was the conduct of Caligula on this occasion?

21. By what acts did he display his pride?

22. Did his arrogance carry him farther than this?

23. Under what name did he assume divine honours?

24. Of what farther absurdities was he guilty?

25. Relate other follies of his?

26. What was his principal vice?

27. Give an instance of his domestic extravagance?


SECTION V.

For him no prayers are poured, no paeans sung,
No blessings chanted from a nation's tongue.--_Brereton._

1. The impiety, however, of Calig'ula was but subordinate to his
cruelties. He slew many of the senate, and afterwards cited them to
appear. He cast great numbers of old and infirm men to the wild
beasts, to free the state from such unserviceable citizens. He usually
fed his wild beasts with the bodies of those wretches whom he
condemned; and every tenth day sent off numbers of them to be thus
devoured, which he jocosely called clearing his accounts. One of those
who was thus exposed, crying out that he was innocent,[17] Calig'ula
ordered him to be taken up, his tongue to be cut out, and then
thrown into the amphitheatre as before. 2. He took delight in killing
men with slow tortures, that, as he expressed it, they might feel
themselves dying, being always present at such executions himself,
directing the duration of the punishment, and mitigating the tortures
merely to prolong them. 3. In fact, he valued himself for no quality
more than his unrelenting temper, and inflexible severity, when he
presided at an execution. 4. Upon one occasion, being incensed with
the citizens, he wished that the Roman people had but one neck, that
he might dispatch them at one blow.

5. Such insupportable and capricious cruelties produced many secret
conspiracies against him; but they were for a while deferred upon
account of his intended expedition against the Germans and Britons.

[Sidenote: U.C. 793. A.D. 41]

6. For this purpose he caused numerous levies to be made, and talked
with so much resolution, that it was universally believed he would
conquer all before him. 7. His march perfectly indicated the
inequality of his temper; sometimes it was so rapid that the cohorts
were obliged to leave their standards behind them; at other times it
was so slow, that it more resembled a pompous procession than a
military expedition. 8. In this disposition he would cause himself to
be carried on a litter, on eight men's shoulders, and ordered all the
neighbouring cities to have their streets well swept and watered, that
he might not be annoyed with dust. 9 However, all these mighty
preparations ended in nothing. Instead of conquering Britain, he
merely gave refuge to one of its banished princes; and this he
described, in his letter to the senate, as taking possession of the
whole island. 10. Instead of conquering Germany, he only led his army
to the seashore in Gaul: there, disposing his engines and warlike
machines with great solemnity, and drawing up his men in order of
battle, he went on board his galley, with which coasting along, he
commanded his trumpets to sound, and the signal to be given as if for
an engagement. 11. His men, who had previous orders, immediately fell
to gathering the shells that lay upon the shore into their helmets, as
their spoils of the conquered ocean, worthy of the palace and the
capitol. 12. After this doughty expedition, calling his army together,
like a general after victory, he harangued them in a pompous manner,
and highly extolled their achievements; then, distributing money among
them, and congratulating them upon their riches, he dismissed them,
with orders to be joyful: and, that such exploits should not pass
without a memorial, he ordered a lofty tower to be erected by the
seaside.[18]

13. Cassius Cher'ea, a tribune of the Praetorian bands, was the person
who at last freed the world from this tyrant. Besides the motives
which he had in common with other men, he had received repeated
insults from Calig'ula, who took all occasions of turning him into
ridicule, and impeaching him with cowardice, merely because he
happened to have an effeminate voice. Whenever Cher'ea came to demand
the watch-word from the emperor, according to custom, he always gave
him either Venus, Adonis, or some such, implying softness and
effeminacy.

14. Cher'ea secretly imparted his design to several senators and
knights, whom he knew to have received personal injuries from
Calig'ula. While these were deliberating upon the most certain and
speedy method of destroying the tyrant, an unexpected incident gave
new strength to the conspiracy. 15. Pempe'dius, a senator of
distinction, being accused before the emperor of having spoken of him
with disrespect, the informer cited one Quintil'ia, an actress, to
confirm the accusation. 16. Quintil'ia, however, was possessed of a
degree of fortitude not frequently found even in the other sex. She
denied the fact with obstinacy; and, being put to the torture, bore
the severest tortures of the rack with unshaken constancy. 17. Indeed,
so remarkable was her resolution, that though acquainted with all the
particulars of the conspiracy, and although Cher'ea was the person
appointed to preside at her torture, she revealed nothing; on the
contrary, when she was led to the rack, she trod upon the toe of one
of the conspirators, intimating at once her knowledge of their
conspiracy, and her resolution not to divulge it. 18. Thus she
suffered, until all her limbs were dislocated; and, in that deplorable
state, was presented to the emperor, who ordered her a gratuity for
what she had endured.

19. Cher'ea could no longer contain his indignation, at being thus
made the instrument of a tyrant's cruelty. After several deliberations
of the conspirators, it was at last resolved to attack him during the
Palatine games, which lasted four days,[19] and to strike the
blow when his guards should not have the opportunity to defend him.
20. The first three days of the games passed. Cher'ea began to
apprehend that deferring the completion of the conspiracy might be the
means of divulging it; he even dreaded that the honour of killing the
tyrant might fall to the lot of some other person bolder than himself.
At last he resolved to defer the execution of his plot only to the day
following, when Calig'ula should pass through a private gallery, to
some baths near the palace.

21. The last day of the games was more splendid than the rest; and
Calig'ula seemed more sprightly and condescending than usual. He
enjoyed the amusement of seeing the people scramble for the fruits and
other rarities by his order thrown among them, being no way
apprehensive of the plot formed for his destruction. 22. In the mean
time the conspiracy began to transpire: and, had he any friends
remaining, it could not have failed of being discovered. A senator who
was present, asking one of his acquaintance if he had heard any thing
new, and the other replying in the negative, said "you must know, that
this day will be represented the death of a tyrant." The other
immediately understood him, but desired him to be cautious. 23. The
conspirators waited many hours with extreme anxiety; and Calig'ula
seemed resolved to spend the whole day without any refreshment. So
unexpected a delay exasperated Cher'ea; and, had he not been
restrained, he would suddenly have perpetrated his design in the midst
of all the people. 24. At that instant, while he was hesitating,
Aspore'nus,[20] one of the conspirators, persuaded Calig'ula to go to
the bath, and take some slight refreshment, that he might the better
enjoy the rest of the entertainment. 25. The emperor, rising up, the
conspirators used every precaution to keep off the throng, and to
surround him themselves, under pretence of great assiduity. Upon his
entering a little vaulted gallery that led to the bath, Cher'ea struck
him to the ground with his dagger, crying out, "Tyrant, think
upon this." The other conspirators closed in upon him; and while
the emperor was resisting, and crying out that he was not yet dead,
they dispatched him with thirty wounds.

26. Such was the merited death of Calig'ula, in the 29th year of his
age, after a short reign of not four years. His character may be
summed up in the words of Sen'eca; namely, "Nature seemed to have
brought him forth, to show what mischief could be effected by the
greatest vices supported by the greatest authority."


_Questions for Examination_.

1. Of what enormities was Caligula guilty?

2. How did he heighten his cruelties?

3. On what did he chiefly value himself?

4. What monstrous wish did he express?

5. What was the consequence of such atrocities?

6. What preparations did he make?

7. How did his disposition display itself on this occasion?

8. How did he sometimes travel?

9. What exploits did he perform?

10. Did he not make a show of some great enterprise?

11. How did it end?

12. Of what farther follies was he guilty?

13. By whom was he assassinated, and by what provocations was his fate
hastened?

14. Were others made privy to the design?

15. Relate this incident.

16. Did Quintilia confirm the accusation?

17. What rendered this resolution more remarkable?

18. What was the result?

19. Was the _crisis_ much longer deferred?

20. Was this resolution put in practice?

21. Was Caligula at all apprehensive of what was in agitation?

22. Was the secret inviolably kept?

23. How was the design nearly frustrated?

24. What induced Caligula to alter his intention?

25. Relate the manner of his death.

26. Repeat the summary of his character as given by Seneca.


SECTION VI.

U.C. 794.--A.D. 42.

Old as I am,
And withered as you see these war-worn limbs,
Trust me, they shall support the mightiest load
Injustice dares impose.--_Mason's Caractacus_.

1. As soon as the death of Calig'ula was made public it produced the
greatest confusion. The conspirators, who only aimed at destroying a
tyrant, without attending to the appointment of a successor, had
all sought safety by retiring to private places. 2. Some soldiers
happening to wander about the palace, discovered Clau'dius,
Calig'ula's uncle, lurking in a secret place where he had hid himself.
Of this person, who had hitherto been despised for his imbecility,
they resolved to make an emperor: and accordingly they carried him
upon their shoulders to the camp, where they proclaimed him at a time
when he expected nothing but death.

3. Clau'dius was now fifty years old. The complicated diseases of his
infancy had, in some measure, affected all the faculties of his mind
as well as body, and he seemed, both in public and domestic life,
incapable of conducting himself with propriety.[21]

4. The commencement of his reign, however, as had been the case with
all the bad emperors, gave the most promising hopes. It began by an
act of oblivion for all former words and actions, and by disannulling
all the cruel edicts of Calig'ula. 5. He showed himself more moderate
than his predecessors with regard to titles and honours. He forbade
all persons, under severe penalties, to sacrifice to him, as they had
done to Calig'ula. He was assiduous in hearing and examining
complaints; and frequently administered justice in person with great
mildness. To his solicitude for the internal advantages of the state,
he added that of a watchful guardianship over the provinces. He
restored Jude'a to Her'od Agrip'pa,[22] which Calig'ula had taken from
Her'od Antipas, his uncle, the man who had put John the Baptist to
death, and who was banished by order of the present emperor.[23]

[Illustration: Triumph of Claudius.]

6. He even undertook to gratify the people by foreign conquest.
The Britons, who had for nearly a hundred years been left in quiet
possession of their own island, began to seek the mediation of Rome,
to quell their intestine commotions. 7. The principal man who desired
to subject his native country to the Roman dominion, was one Ber'icus,
who persuaded the emperor to make a descent upon the island,
magnifying the advantages that would attend the conquest of it. 8. In
pursuance of his advice, therefore, Plau'tius, the praetor, was ordered
to go into Gaul, and make preparations for this great expedition. At
first, indeed, his soldiers seemed backward to embark, declaring that
they were unwilling to make war beyond the limits of the world; for so
they judged Britain to be. However, they were at last persuaded to go,
and the Britons were several times overthrown.

[Sidenote: A.D. 46.]

9. These successes soon after induced Claud'ius to go into Britain in
person, under pretence that the natives were still seditious, and had
not delivered up some Roman fugitives, who had taken shelter among
them. 10. However, this exhibition seemed rather calculated for show
than service: the time he continued in Britain, which was in all but
sixteen days, was more taken up in receiving homage than extending his
conquests. 11. Great rejoicings were made upon his return to Rome: the
senate decreed him a splendid triumph; triumphal arches were erected
to his honour, and annual games instituted to commemorate his
victories. 12. In the mean time the war was vigorously prosecuted by
Plau'tius, and his lieutenant Vespasian, who, according to
Sueto'nius, fought thirty battles, and reduced a part of the island
into the form of a Roman province.

[Sidenote: A.D. 51]

13. However, this war broke out afresh under the government of
Osto'rius, who succeeded Plau'tius. The Britons, either despising him
for want of experience, or hoping to gain advantages over a person
newly come to command, rose up in arms, and disclaimed the Roman
power. 14. The Ice'ni, who inhabited Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, and
Huntingdonshire; the Can'gi, in Wiltshire and Somersetshire; and the
Brigan'tes, in Yorkshire, &c. made a powerful resistance, though they
were at length overcome; but the Silu'res, or inhabitants of South
Wales, under their king Carac'tacus, were the most formidable
opponents the Roman generals had ever yet encountered. 15. This brave
barbarian not only made a gallant defence, but often claimed a
doubtful victory. He, with great conduct, removed the seat of war into
the most inaccessible parts of the country, and for nine years kept
the Romans in continued alarm.

16. Upon the approach of Osto'rius, however, Carac'tacus, finding
himself obliged to come to a decisive engagement, addressed his
countrymen with calm resolution, telling them that this battle would
either establish their liberty, or confirm their servitude; that they
ought to remember the bravery of their ancestors, by whose valour they
were delivered from taxes and tribute; and that this was the time to
show themselves equal to their progenitors. 17. But nothing that
undisciplined valour could perform availed against the conduct of the
Roman legions. After an obstinate fight, the Britons were entirely
routed: the wife and daughter of Carac'tacus were taken prisoners; and
he himself, seeking refuge from Cartisman'dua, queen of the
Brigan'tes, was treacherously delivered up to the conquerors. 18. When
he was brought to Rome, nothing could exceed the curiosity of the
people to behold a man who had, for so many years, braved the power of
the empire. Carac'tacus testified no marks of base dejection. When he
was led through the streets, and observed the splendor of every object
around him--"Alas!" cried he, "how is it possible that people
possessed of such magnificence at home, could think of envying
Carac'tacus a humble cottage in Britain!" 19. When he was brought
before the emperor, while the other prisoners sued for pity with the
most abject lamentations, Carac'tacus stood before the tribunal with
an intrepid air, and though he was willing to accept of pardon,
was not mean enough to sue for it. "If," said he, "I had yielded
immediately, and without opposing you, neither would my fortune have
been remarkable, nor your glory memorable; you could not have been
victorious, and I had been forgotten. If now, therefore, you spare my
life, I shall continue a perpetual example of your clemency."
Clau'dius generously pardoned him, and Osto'rius was decreed a
triumph.

20. In the beginning of his reign Clau'dius gave the highest hopes of
a happy continuance; but he soon began to lessen his care for the
public, and to commit to his favourites all the concerns of the
empire. This prince, weak from his infancy, was little able, when
called to govern, to act but under the direction of others. 21. One of
his chief instructors was his wife Messa'lina: whose name is become a
common appellation for women of abandoned character. By her was
Clau'dius urged on to commit cruelties, which he considered only as
wholesome severities; while her crimes became every day more
notorious, and exceeded what had ever been in Rome. For her crimes and
enormities, however, she, together with her accomplice Cai'us Sil'ius,
suffered that death they both had so justly deserved.

22. Clau'dius afterwards married Agrippi'na, the daughter of his
brother German'icus, a woman of a cruel and ambitious spirit, whose
only aim being to procure the succession of Nero, her son by a former
marriage, she treated Claudius with such haughtiness, that he was
heard to declare, when heated with wine, that it was his fate to smart
under the disorders of his wives, and to be their executioner. 23.
This expression sunk deep in her mind, and engaged all her faculties
to prevent the blow; she therefore resolved not to defer a deed which
she had meditated long before, which was to poison him. She for some
time debated within herself in what quantity the poison should be
administered, as she feared that too strong a dose would discover the
treachery, while one too weak would fail of its effect. 24. At length
she determined upon a poison of singular efficacy to destroy his
intellects, and yet not suddenly to terminate his life; it was given
among mushrooms, a dish the emperor was particularly fond of. 25.
Shortly after he had eaten, he dropped down insensible; but this
caused no alarm, as it was usual with him to eat till he had stupified
his facilities, and been obliged to be carried from the table to his
bed. 26. His constitution, however, seemed to overcome the
effects of the potion; but Agrippi'na resolving to make sure of him,
directed a wretch of a physician, her creature, to introduce a
poisoned feather into his throat, under pretence of making him vomit,
and thus to dispatch him, which had its intended effect. Thus died
Clau'dius the First, the complicated diseases of whose infancy seemed
to have affected and perverted all the faculties of his mind. He was
succeeded by Nero, the son of Agrippi'na by her first husband. Nero
had been adopted by Clau'dius.

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