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diff --git a/old/60933-0.txt b/old/60933-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6daf955..0000000 --- a/old/60933-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13179 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Empresses of Rome, by Joseph McCabe - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: The Empresses of Rome - - -Author: Joseph McCabe - - - -Release Date: December 15, 2019 [eBook #60933] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMPRESSES OF ROME*** - - -E-text prepared by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 60933-h.htm or 60933-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60933/60933-h/60933-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60933/60933-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/cu31924028299075 - - - - - -THE EMPRESSES OF ROME - - -[Illustration: CRISPINA - -BUST IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM] - - -THE EMPRESSES OF ROME - -by - -JOSEPH McCABE - -Author of “The Decay of the Church of Rome” - -With Twenty-four Illustrations - - -[Illustration] - - - - - - -New York -Henry Holt and Company -1911 - - - - -NOTE - - -The period embraced by this work extends to the fall of the Western -Empire, or to the middle of the fifth century. It was felt that a more -extensive range would involve either an inconveniently large work or an -inadequate treatment. While, therefore, the Empresses of the East have -been included down to the fall of Rome, it seemed that the collapse of -the Empire in Rome and the West indicated a quite natural term for the -present study. The restriction has enabled the author to tell all that -is known of the Empresses of Rome within that period, to enlarge the -interest of the study by framing the Imperial characters in occasional -sketches of their surroundings, and to weave the threads of biography -into a continuous story. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - INTRODUCTION 1 - - CHAP. - I. THE MAKING OF AN EMPRESS 7 - - II. THE END OF THE GOLDEN AGE 23 - - III. THE WIVES OF CALIGULA 46 - - IV. VALERIA MESSALINA 60 - - V. THE MOTHER OF NERO 79 - - VI. THE WIVES OF NERO 105 - - VII. THE EMPRESSES OF THE TRANSITION 122 - - VIII. PLOTINA 136 - - IX. SABINA, THE WIFE OF HADRIAN 149 - - X. THE WIVES OF THE STOICS 163 - - XI. THE WIVES OF THE SYBARITES 179 - - XII. JULIA DOMNA 194 - - XIII. IN THE DAYS OF ELAGABALUS 210 - - XIV. ANOTHER SYRIAN EMPRESS 222 - - XV. ZENOBIA AND VICTORIA 233 - - XVI. THE WIFE AND DAUGHTER OF DIOCLETIAN 250 - - XVII. THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPRESSES 265 - - XVIII. THE WIVES OF CONSTANTIUS AND JULIAN 286 - - XIX. JUSTINA 306 - - XX. THE ROMANCE OF EUDOXIA AND EUDOCIA 322 - - XXI. THE LAST EMPRESSES OF THE WEST 340 - - INDEX 351 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - CRISPINA. Bust in the British Museum _Frontispiece_ - From a photograph by W. A. MANSELL & CO. - - FACING PAGE - LIVIA AS CERES. Statue in the Louvre 20 - - JULIA. Bust in the Museum Chiaramonti 28 - - AGRIPPINA THE ELDER. Bust in the Museum Chiaramonti 46 - - MESSALINA. Bust in the Uffizi Palace, Florence 70 - - AGRIPPINA THE YOUNGER. Bust in Museo Nazionale, Florence 82 - - OCTAVIA. Porphyry Bust in the Louvre 112 - - POPPÆA. Bust in the Capitoline Museum, Rome 118 - From a photograph by ANDERSON. - - DOMITIA. Bust in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence 130 - - PLOTINA. Statue in the Louvre 142 - From a photograph by W. A. MANSELL & CO. - - SABINA. Bust in the British Museum 154 - From a photograph by W. A. MANSELL & CO. - - FAUSTINA THE ELDER. Bust in the Louvre 164 - From a photograph by A. GIRAUDON. - - FAUSTINA THE YOUNGER. Bust (reputed) in the British Museum 172 - From a photograph by W. A. MANSELL & CO. - - LUCILLA. Bust in the National Museum, Rome 184 - From a photograph by ANDERSON. - - JULIA DOMNA. Bust in the Vatican Museum 202 - From a photograph by ANDERSON. - - JULIA MÆSA. Bust in the Capitoline Museum, Rome 214 - From a photograph by ANDERSON. - - JULIA MAMÆA. Bust in the British Museum 226 - From a photograph by W. A. MANSELL & CO. - - MARCIA OTACILIA SEVERA 236 - From a photograph by W. A. MANSELL & CO. - - ZENOBIA 248 - Enlarged from coin in the Berlin Museum. - - SALONINA AND VALERIA 262 - Enlarged from coins in the British Museum. - - FAUSTA AND FLAVIA HELENA 280 - Enlarged from coins in the British Museum. - - ÆLIA FLACCILLA AND HONORIA 316 - Enlarged from coins in the British Museum. - - EUDOXIA AND PULCHERIA 330 - Enlarged from coins in the British Museum. - - PLACIDIA AND EUPHEMIA 342 - Enlarged from coins in the British Museum. - - - - -THE EMPRESSES OF ROME - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - -The story of Imperial Rome has been told frequently and impressively in -our literature, and few chapters in the long chronicle of man’s deeds -and failures have a more dramatic quality. Seven centuries before our -era opens, when the greater part of Europe is still hidden under virgin -forests or repellent swamps, and the decaying civilizations of the East -cast, as they die, their seed upon the soil of Greece, we see, in the -grey mist of the legendary period, a meagre people settling on one of -the seven hills by the Tiber. As it grows its enemies are driven back, -and it spreads confidently over the neighbouring hills and down the -connecting valleys. It gradually extends its rule over other Italian -peoples, bracing its arm and improving its art in the long struggle. It -grows conscious of its larger power, and sends its legions eastward, -over the blue sea, to gather the wealth and culture of Egypt, Assyria, -Persia, and Greece; and westward and northward, over the white Alps, -to sow the seed in Germany, Gaul, Britain, and Spain. A hundred years -before the opening of the present era the tiny settlement on the -Palatine has become the mistress of the world. Its eagles cross the -waters of the Danube and the Rhine, and glitter in the sun of Asia and -Africa. But, with the wealth of the dying East, it has inherited the -germs of a deadly malady. Rome, the heart of the giant frame, loses its -vigour. The strong bronze limbs look pale and thin; the clear cold -brain is overcast with the fumes of wine and heated with the thrills -of sense; and Rome passes, decrepit and dishonoured, from the stage on -which it has played so useful and fateful a part. - -The fresh aspect of this familiar story which I propose to consider is -the study of the women who moulded or marred the succeeding Emperors -in their failure to arrest, if not their guilt in accelerating, the -progress of Rome’s disease. Woman had her part in the making, as -well as the unmaking, of Rome. In the earlier days, when her work -was confined within the walls of the home, no consul ever guided the -momentous fortune of Rome, no soldier ever bore its eagles to the -bounds of the world, but some woman had taught his lips to frame the -syllables of his national creed. However, long before the commencement -of our era, the thought and the power of the Roman woman went out into -the larger world of public life; and when the Empire is founded, when -the control of the State’s mighty resources is entrusted to the hands -of a single ruler, the wife of the monarch may share his power, and -assuredly shares his interest for us. Even as mere women of Rome, as -single figures and types rising to the luminous height of the throne -out of the dark and indistinguishable crowd, they deserve to be passed -in review. - -Some such review we have, no doubt, in the two great works which spread -the panorama of Imperial Rome before the eyes of English readers. In -the graceful and restrained chapters of Merivale we find the earlier -Empresses delineated with no less charm than learning. In the more -genial and voluptuous narrative of Gibbon we may, at intervals, follow -the fortunes and appreciate the character of the later Empresses. But, -no matter how nice a skill in grouping the historian may have, his -stage is too crowded either for us to pick out the single character -with proper distinctness, or for him to appraise it with entire -accuracy. The fleeting glimpses of the Empresses which we catch, as -the splendid panorama passes before us, must be blended in a fuller -and steadier picture. The tramp and shock of armies, the wiles of -statesmen, the social revolutions, which absorb the historian, must -fall into the background, that the single figure may be seen in full -contour. When this is done it will be found that there are many -judgments on the Empresses, both in Merivale and Gibbon, which the -biographer will venture to question. - -For the study of the earlier Empresses the English reader will find -much aid in Mr. Baring-Gould’s “Tragedy of the Cæsars” (1892). Here -again, however, though the Empresses are drawn with discriminating -freshness and full knowledge, they are constantly merging in the great -crowd of characters. The aim of the present work is to place them in -the full foreground, and to continue the survey far beyond the limits -of Mr. Baring-Gould’s work. It differs also in this latter respect -from Stahr’s brilliant “Kaiser-Frauen,” which is, in fact, now almost -unobtainable; and especially from V. Silvagni’s recent work, of unhappy -title, “L’Impero e le Donne dei Cesari,” which merely includes slight -and familiar sketches of four Empresses in a general study of the -period. - -The work differs in quite another way from the learned and entertaining -book of the old French writer Roergas de Serviez, of which an early -English translation has recently been republished under the title “The -Roman Empresses, or the History of the Lives and Secret Intrigues -of the Wives of the Twelve Cæsars”--an improper title, because the -work is far from confined to the wives of the Cæsars. The work is -an industrious compilation of original references to the Empresses, -interwoven with considerable art, so as to construct harmonious -pictures, and adorned with much charm and piquancy of phrase, if some -hollowness of sentiment. But it is so intent upon entertaining us that -it frequently sacrifices accuracy to that admirable aim. Serviez has -not invented any substantial episode, but he has encircled the facts -with the most charming imaginative haloes, and where the authorities -differ, as they frequently do, he has not hesitated to grant his -verdict to the writer who most picturesquely impeaches the virtue of -one of his Empresses. Roergas de Serviez was a gentleman of Languedoc -in the days of the “grand monarque.” His Empresses and princesses -reflect too faithfully the frail character of the ladies at the Court -of Louis XIV. For him the most reliable writer is the one who betrays -least inclination to seek virtue in courtly ladies. - -It need hardly be said that the present writer is indebted to these -authors, to the learned Tillemont, and to others who will be named -in the course of the work. But this study is based on a careful -examination of all the references to the Empresses in the Latin and -Greek authorities, with such further aid as is afforded by coins, -statues, inscriptions, and the incidental research of commentators. We -shall consider, as we proceed, the varying authority of these writers. -We shall find in them defects which impose a heavy responsibility -on the writer whose aim it is to restore those faded and delicate -portraits of the Empresses, over which later artists have spread their -sharper and more crudely coloured figures. One may, however, say at -once that it is not contemplated to urge any very revolutionary change -in the current estimate of the character of most of them. If a few -romantic adventures must be honestly discarded, we shall find Messalina -still flaunting her vices in the palace, Agrippina still pursuing her -more masculine ambition, Poppæa still representing the gaily-decked -puppet of that luxurious world, and Zenobia, in glittering helmet, -still giving resonant commands to her troops. - -But it will be well, before we introduce the first, and one of the best -and greatest of the Empresses, to glance at the development of Roman -life which prepared the way for woman to so exalted a dignity. The -condition of woman in early Rome has often been restored. We see the -female infant, her fate trembling in the hand of man from the moment -when her eyes open to the light, brought before the despotic father -for the decision of her fate. With a glance at the little white frame -he will say whether she shall be cast out, to be gathered by the -merchants in human flesh, or suffered to breed the next generation of -citizens. We follow her through her guarded girlhood, as she learns -to spin and weave, and see her passing from the tyranny of father to -the tyranny of husband at an age when the modern girl has hardly begun -to glance nervously at marriage as a remote and mystic experience. We -then find her, not indeed so narrowly confined as her Greek sister, -yet little more than the servant of her husband. Public feeling, -it is true, mitigated the harsher features, and forbade the graver -consequences, of this ancient tradition. For many centuries divorce was -unknown at Rome. Yet woman’s horizon was limited to her home, while -her husband boasted of his share in controlling the Commonwealth’s -increasing life. - -In the second century before Christ we find symptoms of revolt. The -wealthier women of Rome resent the curtailing of their finery by the -Oppian Law, now that the war is over (195 B.C.). Old-fashioned Senators -are dismayed to find them holding a public meeting, besetting all the -approaches to the Senate, demanding their votes, and even invading the -houses of the Tribunes and coercing them to withdraw their opposition. -The truth is that Rome has changed, and the women feel the pervading -change. The passage of the victorious Roman through the cities of the -East had corrupted the patriarchal virtues. Roman officers could not -gaze unmoved on the surviving memorials of the culture of Athens, or -make festival in the drowsy chambers of Corinthian courtesans or the -licentious groves of Daphne, without altering their ideal of life. The -splendour of Eastern wisdom and vice made pale the old standard of -Roman _virtus_. The vast wealth extorted from the subdued provinces -swelled the pride of patrician families until they disdainfully burst -the narrow walls of their fathers’ homes. The hills of Rome began to -shine with marble mansions, framed in shady and spacious gardens, from -which contemptuous patrician eyes looked down on the sordid and idle -crowds in the valleys of the Subura and the Velabrum. Rome aspired to -have its art and its letters. - -Roman women were not content to be secluded from the new culture, and -could not escape the stimulation of their new world. The Roman husband -must be kept away from the accomplished courtesans of Greece and the -voluptuous sirens of Asia by finding no lesser attractions in his wife. -So the near horizon of woman’s mind rolled outward. An inscription -found at Lanuvium, where the Empress Livia had a villa, shows that the -little provincial town had a _curia mulierum_, a women’s debating club. -The walls of Pompeii, when the shroud of lava had been removed from its -scorched face, bore election-addresses signed by women. The world was -mirrored in Rome, and few minds could retain their primitive simplicity -as they contemplated that seductive picture. - -By the beginning of the first century of the older era the women of -Rome had ample opportunity for culture and for political influence. -In the great conflicts of the time their names are chronicled as the -inspirers of many of the chief actors. They rise and fall with the -cause of the Senate or the cause of the People. They unite culture -with character, public interest with beauty and motherhood. At last -the conflicting parties disappear one by one, and a young commander, -Octavian, the great-nephew of Julius Cæsar, gathers up the power they -relinquish. A youth of delicate and singularly graceful features, of -refined and thoughtful, rather than assertive, appearance, he hears -that Cæsar has made him heir to his wealth and his opportunities; he -goes boldly to Rome, adroitly uses its forces to destroy those who had -slain Cæsar, forces Mark Antony to share the rule of the world with him -and Lepidus, and then destroys Lepidus and Mark Antony. It is at this -point, when he returns to Rome from his last victories, when the whole -world wonders whether he will keep the power he has gathered or meekly -place it in the hands of the Senate, that the story opens. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE MAKING OF AN EMPRESS - - -On an August morning of the year 29 B.C. the million citizens of Rome -lined the route which was taken by triumphal processions, to greet -the man who brought them the unfamiliar blessing of peace. From the -Triumphal Gate to the Capitol, past the Great Circus and through -the dense quarter of the Velabrum, with its narrow streets and high -tenements, the chattering crowd was drawn out in two restless lines, on -either side of the road, ready to fling back the resonant “Io Triumphe” -of the bronzed soldiers, bubbling with discussion of the war-blackened -stretch of the past and the more pleasant prospect of the future. The -hedges of spectators were thicker, and the debate was livelier, under -the cliff of the Palatine Hill and in the Forum, through which ran the -Sacred Way to the white Temple of Jupiter, towering above them and -crowning the Capitol at the end of the Forum. There the conqueror would -offer sacrifice, before he sank back into the common rank of citizens -of the Republic. Would the young Octavian really lay down his power, -and become a citizen among many, now that he was master of the Roman -world? - -Possibly one woman, who looked out on the seething Forum and the -glistening temple of Jupiter from a modest mansion on the Palatine -Hill, knew the answer to the eager question. Possibly it was unknown -to Octavian himself, her husband. She heard the blasts of the leading -trumpeters, and saw the sleek white oxen, with their gilded horns -and their green garlands, advance along the Sacred Way and mount the -Capitol. She saw the people rock and quiver with excitement as painted -scenes of the remote Dalmatian forests, where her husband’s latest -victories had been won, and the gold and silver of despoiled Egypt, -and the very children of the witch Cleopatra, were driven before the -conqueror. She saw the red-robed lictors slowly pass, their fasces -wreathed in laurel; she saw the band of dancers and musicians tossing -joyful music in his path; and she saw at last the four white horses -drawing a triumphal chariot, in which her husband and her two children -received the frenzied ovation of the people. - -Octavian was then in his thirty-fourth year. Fifteen years of struggle -had drawn a manly gravity over the handsome boyish face, though the -curly golden hair still seemed a strange bed for the chaplet of laurel -that crowned it. His full impassive lips, steady watchful eyes, and -broad smooth forehead gave a singular impression of detachment--as if -he were a disinterested spectator of the day’s events and the whole -national drama, instead of being the central figure. The busts which -portray him about this period seem to me, in profile, to recall David’s -Napoleon, without the slumbering fire and the hard egoism. Men would -remind each other how, when he was a mere boy, fifteen years before, he -had found his way through a maze of intrigue with remarkable dexterity. -Now, Mark Antony was dead, Brutus and Cassius were dead, Lepidus was -dead, and the followers of Pompey were scattered. It was natural to -assume that dreams of further power were hidden behind that mask of -strong repose. - -Behind Octavian went the body of Senators, with purple-striped togas, -and silver crescents on their sandals. The lines of spectators broke -into gossiping groups when the tail of the procession had passed on. -The white oxen fell before the altar of Jupiter. Octavian gave the -customary address to the Senate, and joined Livia in the small mansion -on the Palatine. But for many a day afterward Rome bubbled in praise -of him. Not for years had such combats reddened the sands of the -amphitheatre, such clowns and conjurors and actors filled the stage -of the theatre, such sports fired the 300,000 citizens at the circus. -Never before had the uncouth form of the rhinoceros or hippopotamus -been seen at Rome. Not since the beginning of the civil wars had so -much money flowed through the shops of the Velabrum and the taverns -of the Subura. Such wealth had been added to the public store by -the despoiling of Egypt that the bankers had to reduce the rate of -interest. To a people grown parasitic the temptation to make a king -was overpowering; and it was easy to point out, to those who clung to -the strict democratic forms, that Octavian was extraordinarily modest -for a man who had reached so brilliant and resourceful a position. So -within a few months Octavian was Imperator, and Livia became, in modern -phrase, the Empress of Rome.[1] - -Livia, unhappily for Rome, gave Octavian no direct heir to the purple, -and we may therefore speak briefly of her extraction. She came of the -Claudii, one of the oldest and proudest families of the Republic, -one that numbered twenty-eight consuls and five dictators in its -line. A strong, haughty race, more useful than brilliant, religiously -devoted to the old Republic, they had helped much to make Rome the -mistress of the world. Livia’s father, Livius Drusus Claudianus, had -taken arms against Octavian and Antony, and had killed himself, with -Roman dignity, when Brutus and Cassius fell, and he saw the shadow of -despotism coming over the city. - -Livia was then in her sixteenth year,[2] and had early experience of -the storms of Roman political life. Her husband, Tiberius Claudius -Nero, had been promoted more than once by Julius Cæsar, but, after the -assassination of Cæsar, he had passed into what he regarded as the -more favourable current. He seems to have steered his course with some -skill until the year 41 B.C., when, like many other small schemers, -he came under the influence of Mark Antony’s wife, Fulvia. Antony was -caught at the time in the silken net with which Cleopatra prevented -him from carrying out the ambition of Rome at the expense of her -country. Fulvia, a virile and passionate woman, tried to draw Antony -from her arms by provoking a revolt against Octavian. She induced -her brother-in-law and other nobles to rebel, and Nero, who was then -prefect of a small town in Campania, joined the movement. - -Octavian swung his legions southward, and scattered the thin ranks of -the insurgents. With her infant--the future Emperor Tiberius--in her -arms the girl-wife fled to the coast with her husband, and endured all -the horrors of civil warfare. So close were the soldiers of Octavian -on their heels that at one point the cry of the baby nearly destroyed -them. Octavian had little mercy on rebellious nobles before he married -Livia. At last they reached the coast, where the galleys of Sextus -Pompeius hovered to receive fugitives, and sailed for Sicily. They were -cordially received there by the Pompeians, but went on to Greece, and -were again hunted by the troops. Long afterwards in Rome they used to -tell how the delicate girl, the descendant of all the Claudii, fled -through a burning forest by night before Roman soldiers, and singed her -hair and garments as she rushed onward with her baby in her arms. The -troubled history of Rome for a hundred years was stamped on her mind by -a personal experience that she could never forget. With worn feet and -aching heart, she and her husband at last found shelter, until the feud -between Antony and Octavian had been composed. - -From the straits of exile they returned to their pretty home on the -Palatine Hill, and the story of her adventures ran, and gathered -substance, in Roman society. If the experts be right in assigning to -Livia a small mansion which has been uncovered on the hill, we find -that she was, in the year 38 B.C., living only a short distance from -the house of Octavian. Among the palatial buildings which now whitened -the slopes of the Roman hills, Nero’s house--later, Livia’s house--was -poor, but its mural paintings are amongst the most delicate that have -been discovered under the overlying centuries of mediæval rubbish. A -small portico gave shelter from the summer sun, and the small, cool -atrium (hall) led only to some half dozen modest rooms. But Livia was -happy in her husband, and sober in her tastes. She was then in her -nineteenth year, a young woman of regular and pleasing, though scarcely -beautiful, features and rounded form, one of those who happily united -the old matronly virtue to the new love of society and gaiety. All -Rome discussed her adventures, and the generous feeling which her -romance engendered made people give her an exceptional beauty and -wit--qualities which neither her marble image nor her recorded career -permits us to accept in any large measure. There was no whisper of -slander against her until the days of her power. From this peaceful and -happy little world she was now to be suddenly removed. - -Octavian, who mingled very freely with his fellows, and often supped -with the literary men who were now multiplying at Rome, heard the -gossip about the youthful Livia, and sought her. He was already -married, and a word may be said about the _impératrices manquées_ -before we unite him to Livia. - -In early youth he had been affianced to the girlish daughter of Publius -Servilius Isauricus, but a mere betrothal had little strength at a time -when even the marriage bond was so frail. When he came to face Mark -Antony, with many grim legions at his command, and a fresh civil war -was threatened, peacemakers suggested that the storm might be turned -from the fields of Italy by a matrimonial alliance. The soldiers, weary -of slaying each other, acclaimed the proposal. Servilia was sacrificed, -and Octavian was married to the young and hardly marriageable daughter -of Fulvia. As we saw, there was a fresh rupture with Antony in the -year 41, and Octavian sent back the maiden, as he described her, to -her infuriated mother. Some of our authorities declare that Fulvia had -tried to draw Antony from the arms of Cleopatra by making love to his -handsome rival, but one can only suppose that Antony would smile if he -were told that his unpleasant spouse--the woman who is said to have -gloated over the bloody head of Cicero, and thrust her hair-pin through -his tongue--was offering her heart to Octavian. We cannot, therefore, -accept the rumour that, when Octavian sent back her daughter to Fulvia, -he maliciously explained that he was anxious to spare Fulvia the -mortification of thinking that he had preferred the pretty insipidity -of Clodia to her own more assertive qualities. - -The marriage with Clodia had been frankly political, and it naturally -broke down in the new political dissolution. The second marriage had -the same origin, and the same welcome termination. He had married -Scribonia, a woman older than himself, during the rupture with Antony, -because her brother was one of the chief members of the Pompeian -faction. The leader of this party, Sextus Pompeius, held Sicily, and -not only welcomed fugitives from Octavian’s anger, but commanded the -sea-route to Rome. Through his devoted friend Mæcenas, the famous -patron of letters, Octavian proposed a marriage with Scribonia. It -would not be unnatural for a woman in her thirties, who had already -outlived two husbands, eagerly to espouse, and probably love, so -graceful, ambitious, and advancing a youth as Octavian; but to him the -alliance was only one more move in the great game he was playing. He -could bear the strain of a diplomatic marriage with ease, since there -is no reason to reject the statement of Dio and Suetonius that he found -affection among the wives of his nobler friends. - -It has been commonly held that Octavian masked a tense and -unwavering ambition with an affectation of simple joviality, and his -irregularities have been excused on the ground that he used them as -means to detect political whispers in Roman society. But this view of -Octavian’s character may be confidently questioned. His tastes, we -shall see, remained extremely simple when he might safely have indulged -any feeling for luxury, when every rival had been removed. That he was -ambitious it would be foolish to question; but his ambition must not -be measured by his success. There are few other cases in history in -which fortune so wantonly smoothed the path and drew onward an easy and -vacillating ambition. Octavian could well believe the assurances of the -Chaldæan astrologers that he was born to power. - -With all his simplicity, however, Octavian had some sense of luxury -in love-matters, and his imagination wandered. Scribonia’s solid -virtue was unrelieved by any of the graces of the new womanhood of -Rome, her sparing charms had already faded under the pitiless sun of -Italy, and she had a sharp tongue. Moreover, his marriage with her -had proved a superfluous sacrifice. Fulvia’s stormy career had come -to a close shortly after the return of her daughter, and Antony and -Octavian had divided the Roman world between them. Antony married his -colleague’s sister, but the pale virtue of Octavia had no avail against -the burning caresses, if not the calculated patriotism, of Cleopatra. -At the second rupture between Antony and Octavian she was driven from -Antony’s palace at Rome, where she was patiently enduring his distant -infidelity, and sent back to her brother. In the meantime Octavian had -discovered a pleasanter way of obtaining peace with the Pompeians than -by the endurance of Scribonia’s jarring laments of his infidelity. He -found, or alleged, that Sextus Pompeius did not curb the pirates of -the Mediterranean as he ought, and he determined to wrest from him the -rich appointments that he held. He was in this mood when, in the year -38 B.C., the young Livia came to Rome, and the exaggerated story of her -adventures and her beauty began to circulate among the mansions of the -Palatine. - -Some of the authorities describe Octavian as hovering about her for -some time, and say that the splendour with which he celebrated his -_barbatoria_, or first shave of the beard, was due to the generosity -of his new passion. It is more probable that he at once informed Nero -of his resolution to marry Livia. Tacitus expressly says that it is -unknown whether Livia consented or not to the change of husband. Great -as was the liberty then enjoyed by Roman women, they were rarely -consulted on such matters. Scribonia received a letter of divorce, in -which it was suggested that the perversity of her character made her -an unsuitable spouse for so roving a husband. She had given birth to -a daughter a few days before, and we shall find the later chapters of -this chronicle lit up more than once by the lurid hatred which was -begotten of this despotic dismissal. For the moment I need only point -out that later Roman writers borrowed their estimate of the character -of Livia from Scribonia’s great-grandchild, the Empress Agrippina, -and we must be wary in accepting their statements. Scribonia herself, -who came so near to being an Empress, we must now dismiss, save that -we shall catch one more glimpse of her when she follows her dissolute -daughter into exile. - -Roman law imposed a fitting delay on the divorced wife before she -could marry again, but Octavian was impatient. He consulted the sacred -augurs, and, if the legend is correct, the diviners gave admirable -proof of their art. They gravely reported that the omens were -auspicious for an immediate marriage _if_ the petitioner had ground -to believe that it would be fruitful. The verdict entertained Rome, -because Livia was well known to be far advanced in pregnancy, and -Octavian was widely regarded as the father. Whether that be true or no, -Octavian intimated to Nero that he must divorce Livia, and we cannot -think that she felt much pain at being invited to share the mansion in -the Palatine to which all Roman eyes were now directed. An anecdote -of the time lightly illustrates the ease with which such matrimonial -transfers were accomplished at Rome. Dio says that, during the festive -meal, one of those bejewelled boys who then formed part of a Roman -noble’s household, and whose vicious services were rewarded with an -extraordinary license, said to Livia, as she reclined at table with -Octavian: “What do you here, mistress? Your husband is yonder.” The -pert youngster pointed to Nero at another table. He had given away the -bride, and was cheerfully taking part in the banquet. - -Livia’s second son, Drusus Nero, was born three months after her -marriage, and was sent by Octavian to Nero’s house. Nero died soon -afterwards, and made Octavian the guardian of his sons, so that they -returned to the care of their mother. The extreme fondness of Octavian -for the younger boy lends no colour to the rumour that Drusus was -his own son. The probability is that Octavian, in his impetuous way, -married Livia as soon as his fancy rested on her. The accepted busts -of Drusus do not give any support to the calumny that Octavian was -his father. He loved both the boys, and assisted in educating them, -in their early youth. It is only when his daughter Julia brings her -handsome children into the household that we detect a beginning of an -estrangement between him and his successor, Tiberius. - -The household in which these first seeds of tragedy slowly germinated -was, in the year 38 B.C., one of great simplicity and sobriety. They -lived in the comparatively small house in which Octavian had been -born, and Livia adopted his plain ways with ease and dignity. In that -age of deadly luxury, when the veins of Rome were swollen with the -first flush of parasitic wealth, Octavian and Livia were content with -a prudent adaptation of the old Roman ideal to the new age. The noble -guests whom Octavian brought to his table found that his simple taste -shrank, not only from the peacocks’ brains and nightingales’ tongues -which were served in their own more sumptuous banquets, but even from -the pheasant, the boar, and the other ordinary luxuries of a patrician -dinner. Rough bread, cream cheese, fish, and common fruit composed his -customary meal. Often was he seen, as he came home in his litter from -some fatiguing public business, such as the administration of justice, -to munch a little bread and fruit, like some humble countryman. Of wine -he drank little, and he never adopted the enervating nightly carousal -which was draining away the strength of Rome. While wealthy senators -and knights prolonged the hours of entertainment after the evening -meal, and hired sinuous Syrian dancing girls and nude bejewelled boys -and salacious mimes to fire the dull eyes of their guests, as they -lay back, sated, on the couches of silk and roses, under fine showers -of perfume from the roof, sipping choice wine cooled with the snow of -the Atlas or the Alps, Octavian withdrew to his study, after a frugal -supper, to write his diary, dictate his generous correspondence, and -enjoy the poets who were inaugurating the golden age of Latin letters. -When there were guests, he provided fitting dishes and music for them, -but often retired to his study when the meal was over. After seven -hours’ sleep in the most modest of chambers he was ready to resume his -daily round. - -Since Octavian retained these sober habits to the end of his life, -years after they could have had any diplomatic aim, it is remarkable -that so many writers have regarded them as an artful screen of his -ambition. Nor can we think differently of Livia. If Octavian presents -a healthy contrast to the sordid sensuality of some of his successors, -his wife contrasts no less luminously with later Empresses, and is no -less unjustly accused of cunning. How far she developed ambition in -later years we shall consider later. In the fullness of his manhood, at -least, she was content to be the wife of Octavian. With her own hands -she helped to spin, weave, and sew his everyday garments. She carefully -reared her two boys, tended the somewhat delicate health of Octavian, -and cultivated that nice degree of affability which kept her husband -affectionate and the husbands of other noble dames respectful. Dio -would have us believe that her most useful quality was her willingness -to overlook the genial irregularities of Octavian; but Dio betrays an -excessive eagerness to detect frailties in his heroes and heroines. We -have no serious evidence that Octavian continued the loose ways of his -youth after he married Livia. The plainest and soundest reading of the -chronicle is that they lived happily, and retained a great affection -for each other, even when fate began to rain its blows on their -ill-starred house. - -But before we reach those tragic days, we have to consider briefly the -years in which Octavian established his power. His first step after his -marriage with Livia was to destroy the power of the Pompeians. Livia -followed the struggle anxiously from her country villa a few miles -from Rome. Sextus Pompeius was experienced in naval warfare, and, as -repeated messages came of blunder and defeat on the part of Octavian’s -forces, she trembled with alarm. Her confidence was restored by one of -the abundant miracles of the time. An eagle one day swooped down on a -chicken which had just picked up a sprig of laurel in the farm-yard. -The eagle clumsily dropped the chicken, with the laurel, near Livia, -and so plain an omen could not be misinterpreted. Rumour soon had it -that the eagle had laid the laurel-bearing chick gently at Livia’s -feet. As in all such cases, the sceptic of a later generation was -silenced with material proof. The chicken became the mother of a brood -which for many years spread the repute of the village through southern -Italy; the sprig of laurel became a tree, and in time furnished the -auspicious twigs of which the crowns of triumphing generals were woven. - -Whether it was by the will of Jupiter, or by the reinforcement of a -hundred and fifty ships which he received from Antony, Octavian did -eventually win, and, to the delight of Rome, cleared the route by which -the corn-ships came from Africa. Only two men now remained between -Octavian and supreme power--the two who formed with him the Triumvirate -which ruled the Republic. The first, Lepidus, was soon convicted of -maladministration in his African province, and was transferred to the -innocent duties of the pontificate, under Octavian’s eyes, at Rome. -Octavian added the province of Africa to his half of the Roman world, -and found himself in command of forty-five legions and six hundred -vessels. Fresh honours were awarded him by the Senate, in which his -devoted friend Mæcenas, who foresaw the advantage to Rome of his rule, -was working for him. - -Then Octavian entered on his final conflict with Mark Antony. I -have already protested against the plausible view that Octavian was -pursuing a definite ambition under all his appearance of simplicity. -Circumstances conspired first to give him power, and then to give him -the appearance of a thirst for it. He really did not destroy Antony, -however: Antony destroyed himself. The apology that has been made for -Cleopatra in recent times only enhances Antony’s guilt. It is said that -she used all that elusive fascination of her person, of which ancient -writers find it difficult to convey an impression, all her wealth and -her wit, only to benumb the hand that Rome stretched out to seize her -beloved land. The theory is not in the least inconsistent with the -facts, and it is more pleasant to believe that the last representative -of the great free womanhood of ancient Egypt sacrificed her person -and her wealth on the altar of patriotism than that her dalliance -with Antony was but a languorous and selfish indulgence in an hour of -national peril. But if it be true that Cleopatra was the last Egyptian -patriot, Antony was all the more clearly a traitor to Rome. The quarrel -does not concern us. Octavian induced the Senate to make war on Egypt; -and we can well believe that when, in a herald’s garb, he read the -declaration of war at the door of the temple of Bellona, the thought of -his despised sister added warmth to his phrases. The pale, patient face -and outraged virtue of Octavia daily branded Antony afresh in the eyes -of Rome. - -Livia and Antonia followed the swift course of the last struggle -from Rome. They heard of the meeting of the fleets off Actium, the -victorious swoop of Octavian, the flight of Antony and Cleopatra. What -followed would hardly be known to Livia. It is said that Cleopatra -offered to betray Antony to Octavian, and such an offer is in entire -harmony with the patriotic theory of her conduct. While his able but -ill-regulated rival, deserted by his forces, drew near the edge of -the abyss, Octavian visited Cleopatra in her palace. Her seductive -form was displayed on a silken couch, and from the slit-like eyes the -dangerous fire caressed the young conqueror. Cleopatra probably relied -on Octavian’s weakness, but his sensuous impulses were held in check by -a harder thought. He felt that he must have this glorious creature to -adorn his triumph at Rome. Cleopatra saw that she had failed, and she -went sadly, with a last dignity, before the throne of Osiris. Octavian -returned to Rome with the immense treasures of Egypt, to enjoy the -triumph I have already described and to await the purple. - -The domestic life of Livia and Octavian lost none of its plainness -after the attainment of supreme power. Some time after the Senate had -(27 B.C.) strengthened his position by inventing for him the title of -“Augustus”--a title by which he is generally, but improperly, described -in history after that date[3]--he removed from the small house which -his father had left him to a larger mansion, built by the orator -Hortensius, on the Palatine. This was burned down in the year 6 B.C., -and the citizens built a new palace for Livia and Octavian by public -subscription. At the Emperor’s command the contribution of each was -limited to one _denarius_. If we may trust the archæologists, it was -modest in size, but of admirable taste, especially in the marble lining -of its interior. On one side it looked down, over the steep slope of -the hill, on the colonnaded space, the Forum, in which the life of -Rome centred. On the other side it faced a group of public buildings, -raised by Octavian, which impressed the citizens with his liberality -in the public service. The splendid temple of Apollo, the public -library and other buildings, adorned with the most exquisite works of -art that his provincial expeditions had brought to Rome, stood in fine -contrast to his own plain mansion, of which the proudest decoration -was the faded wreath over the door--the Victoria Cross of the Roman -world--which bore witness that he had saved the life of a citizen. - -In this modest palace Livia reared her two children in the finer -traditions of the old Republic, while Octavian made the long journeys -into the provinces which filled many years after his attainment of -power. Livia was no narrow conservative. She took her full share in the -decent distractions of patrician life, and, like many other noble women -of the period, she built temples and other edifices of more obvious -usefulness to the public. A provincial town took the name Liviada -in her honour. We have many proofs that she was consulted on public -affairs by Octavian, and exercised a discreet and beneficent influence -on him. One of the anecdotes collected by later writers tells that she -one day met a group of naked men on the road. It is likely that they -were innocent workers or soldiers in the heat, and not the “band of -lascivious nobles” which prurient writers have made them out to be. -However, Octavian impetuously demanded their heads when she told him, -and Livia saved them with the remark that, “in the eyes of a decent -woman they were no more offensive than a group of statues.” On another -occasion she dissuaded Octavian from executing a young noble for -conspiracy. At her suggestion the noble was brought to the Emperor’s -private room. When, instead of the merited sentence of death, Cinna -received only a kindly admonition, an offer of Octavian’s friendship, -and further promotion, he was completely disarmed and won. We shall see -further proof that the wise and humane counsels of Livia contributed -not a little to the peace and prosperity which Rome enjoyed in its -golden age. - -[Illustration: LIVIA AS CERES - -STATUE IN THE LOUVRE] - -For it was in truth an age of gold in comparison with the previous -hundred years and the centuries to come. The flames of civil war had -scorched the Republic time after time. The best soldiers of Rome were -dying out; the best leaders were perishing in an ignoble contest -of ambitions. Corruption spread, like a cancerous growth, through -all ranks of the citizens of Rome, and far into the provinces. The -white-robed (_candidati_) seekers of office in the city now relied on -the purchase of votes by expert and recognized agents. Hundreds of -thousands of the citizens lived parasitically on the State, or on the -wealthy men to whom they sold their votes, and from whom they had free -food and free entertainments. The loathsome spectacle was seen of vast -crowds of strong idle men, boasting of their dignity as citizens of -Rome, pressing to the appointed steps for their daily doles of corn. -Large numbers of them could hardly earn an occasional coin to buy a -cup of wine, a game of dice, or a visit to the _lupanaria_ in the -Subura. By means of other agents the wealthy refilled their coffers by -extortion in the provinces, and paraded at Rome a luxury that was often -as puerile as it was criminal. Rome, once so sober and virile, now -shone on the face of the earth like some parasitic flower, of deadly -beauty, on the face of a forest. - -No man, perhaps, could have saved Rome from destruction, but Octavian -did much to clear its veins of the poison, and its chronicle would have -run very differently if he had not been succeeded by a Caligula, a -Claudius, and a Nero. He chastised injustice in the provinces, purified -the administration of justice at Rome, fought against the growing -practices of artificial sterility and artificial vice, and genially -pressed on the senators his own ideal of sober public service. From -his mansion on the Palatine he looked down without remorse on the idle -chatterers in the Forum, from whom he had withdrawn the power, of which -they still boasted, of ruling their spreading empire. Nor were there -many, amongst those who looked up to his unpretentious palace on the -edge of the cliff, who did not feel that they had gained by the sale -of their tarnished democracy. There was more than literal truth in -Octavian’s boast that he had found Rome a city of brick, and had left -it a city of marble. - -Yet all the augurs and soothsayers of Rome failed to see the swift -and terrible issue that would come of this seemingly happy change. -Corrupt and repellent as democracy had become, monarchy was presently -to exhibit spectacles which would surpass all the horrors of its civil -wars, and outshame the sordid reaches of its avarice. The new race of -rulers was to descend so low as to use its imperial power to shatter -what remained of old Roman virtue, and to embellish vice with its -richest awards. From the sobriety and public spirit of Octavian we pass -quickly to the sombre melancholy of Tiberius, the wanton brutality of -Caligula, the impotent sensuality of Claudius, the mincing folly of -Nero, and the alternating gluttony and cruelty of Domitian, before we -come to the second honest effort to avert the fate of Rome. From the -genial virtue of Livia we are led to contemplate the dissolute gaieties -of Julia, the cold ambition of Agrippina, the robust vulgarity of -Cæsonia, the infectious vice of Messalina, and the insipid frippery of -Poppæa. Had there been one syllable of truth in the divine messages -which augurs and Chaldæans saw in every movement of nature, not even -the beneficent rule of Octavian would have lured men to sacrifice even -the effigy of power that remained to them, and that they had lightly -sold for a measure of corn and the bloody orgies of the amphitheatre. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE END OF THE GOLDEN AGE - - -In tracing the further career of Livia we enter upon the opening acts -of the tragedy of the Cæsars, and we have to consider carefully if -there be any truth in the charge that Livia herself initiated the long -series of murders that now make a trail of blood over the annals of -Rome. With the coming of the Empire we more rarely find legion pitted -against legion in the horrors of civil war, but we have nerveless -ambition stooping to the despicable aid of the poisoner, autocracy -paralysing the best of the nobility with its murderous suspicions, -and folly growing more foolish with the increasing splendour of -the imperial house. We already know that the germs of this disease -were found in the quiet home of Livia and Octavian on the Palatine. -Scribonia had received her letter of divorce a few days after the birth -of her daughter Julia. As Livia bore no direct heir to the Emperor, -while Julia became the mother of many children, we have at once the -promise of a dramatic struggle for the succession. When we further -learn that the strain of Imperial blood, which takes its rise in Julia, -is thickly tainted with disease, we are prepared for a bloody and -unscrupulous conflict. And when we reflect that on this unstable pivot -the vast Empire will turn for many generations, we begin to understand -the larger tragedy of the fall of Rome. - -Let us first glance at the interior of the modest household on the -Palatine. Besides Livia and Octavian, with whom we are now familiar, -there is Octavia, sister of the Emperor and divorced wife of Mark -Antony, a gentle lady with the matronly virtues of the time when a -Roman could slay his wife or daughter for irregular conduct. With -her were her children, Marcellus and Marcella, of whom we shall hear -much. Then there were Livia’s two sons--the elder, Tiberius, a tall, -silent, moody youth, with little care to please; the younger, Drusus, a -handsome, buoyant, fair-headed boy, threatening the elder’s birthright. -Octavian closely watched the education of the boys. He taught them to -write on the wax-faced tablets in the fine script on which he prided -himself, kept them beside him at table, and drove them in his chariot -about public business. - -But the most interesting and fateful figure in the group was Julia. -Octavian had removed her at an early age from the care of Scribonia, -and adopted her in the palace. She learned to spin and weave, and -helped to make the garments of the family, under the severe eyes of -Livia and Octavia. The Emperor was charmed with the pretty and lively -girl, and would make a second Livia of her. Knowing well, if only from -his own youth, the vice and folly that abounded in those mansions on -the hills of Rome, and roared in its dimly-lighted valleys by night, he -kept her apart. None of the young fops who drove their chariots madly -out by the Flaminian Gate, and sipped their wine after supper to the -prurient jokes of mimes, were suffered to approach her. And, not for -the first or last time in history, the veiling of the young eyes had an -effect quite contrary to that intended. A Roman girl became a woman at -fourteen, a mother at fifteen. At that early age, in the year 25 B.C., -Julia was married to her cousin Marcellus, who was then seventeen. -Marcellus was so clearly a possible successor to the throne that -courtiers hung about him, and taught him the art of princely living. -The doors of the hidden world were opened, and the tender eyes of Julia -were dazed. - -The authorities are careless in chronology, and we may decline to -believe that Julia at once entered on the riotous ways which led her to -the abyss. Her marriage concerns us in a very different respect. All -the writers who adopt the view that Livia was a hard and unscrupulous -woman--a view that Tacitus must have taken from the memoirs of her -rival’s granddaughter, the Empress Agrippina, which were made public in -his time--consider that this marriage of Julia and Marcellus marks the -beginning of her career of crime. She is supposed to have been alarmed -at the marriage of two direct descendants of Cæsar, seeing that she -herself had no child by Octavian. Most certainly she was ambitious for -her elder son. The boy whom she had clasped to her breast, when she -fled along the roads of Campania and through the burning forests of -Greece, was now a clever and studious youth, and she wished Octavian to -adopt him. Unfortunately, Tiberius was of a moody and solitary nature, -and was easily displaced in Octavian’s affection by the handsome and -popular Marcellus and the beautiful and witty Julia. - -The first cloud appeared in the year 23 B.C. Octavian fell seriously -ill, and Livia’s hope of securing the succession for her son was -troubled by two formidable competitors. One was Marcellus, the other -was Octavian’s friend and ablest general, M. V. Agrippa. He was of poor -origin, but of commanding ability and character, and was suspected -of entertaining a design to restore the Republic. He was married to -Marcella, and had some contempt for the spoiled boy, her brother -Marcellus--a contempt which Marcellus repaid with petulance and -rancour. Octavian recovered, sent Agrippa on an important errand to -the East, and made Marcellus Ædile of the city. Marcellus was winning, -the eager observers thought, when suddenly he fell seriously ill and -died. The death was so opportune for Tiberius that we cannot wonder -that a faint whisper of poison went through Rome when his ashes were -laid in the lofty marble tower that Octavian had built in the meadows -by the Tiber. But we need not linger over this first charge against -Livia. Even Dio, who is no sceptic in regard to rumours which defame -Empresses, hesitates to press on us so airy and improbable a myth. -It was a hot and pestilential summer, and Marcellus seems to have -contracted fever by remaining too long at his post, before going to -Baiæ on the coast. - -The death of Marcellus, far from promoting the cause of Tiberius, -brought a more formidable obstacle in his way. Octavian sent for -Agrippa, and directed him to divorce Marcella and wed Julia. The -general, who was in his forty-second year, thought it immaterial which -of the two young princesses shared his bed, and Octavia consented to -the divorce of her daughter--as some conjecture, to thwart Livia’s -design. To the delight of Octavian the union of robust manhood and -amorous young womanhood was fruitful. During the ten years of their -marriage Julia gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Happily -unconscious of the tragedies which were to close the careers of these -children in his own lifetime, Octavian welcomed them with great -enthusiasm. During his whole reign he was engaged in a futile effort -to induce or compel the better families of Rome to take a larger -share in the peopling of the Empire. When he penalized celibacy, -they defeated him by contracting marriages with the intention of -seeking an immediate divorce. When he made adultery a public crime, -there were noblewomen--few in number, it is true; the facts are often -exaggerated--who enrolled themselves on the list of shame, and noblemen -who took on the degrading rank of gladiators, in order to escape the -penalties. He created a guild of honour for the mothers of at least -three children; but the distinction seemed to the ladies of Rome to be -an inadequate reward for so onerous an accomplishment, and they scoffed -when Livia was enrolled in the guild, though the only child she had -conceived of Octavian had never seen the light. - -Far greater, however, was the amusement of Rome when Octavian held up -Julia as a model of maternity, and ostentatiously fondled her babies -in public. A coarse and witty reply that she is said to have made, -when some one asked her how it was that all her children so closely -resembled her husband, was then circulated in Roman society, and is -preserved in Macrobius.[4] Beautiful, lively, and cultivated, the young -girl had exchanged with delight the dull homeliness of her father’s -mansion for the rose-crowned banquets of her new world. Her marriage -with Agrippa restrained her gaiety for a time, but her husband was -often summoned to distant provinces, and she was left to her dissolute -friends. Octavian was curiously blind to her conduct, but when Agrippa -was compelled to undertake a lengthy mission in the East, he ordered -Julia to accompany him. The journey would not improbably foster her -vicious tendencies. There is truth in the old adage that all light -came to Europe from the East, but it is hardly less true that darkness -came to Rome from the East. Julia would not be ignorant how the -ancient Roman puritanism had been corrupted by the introduction of -Eastern habits and types--the poisoner, the Chaldæan astrologer, the -Syrian dancer, the eunuch, the cultivated Greek slave, the priests of -orgiastic Eastern cults. A mind like hers would seek to penetrate the -depths from which these types had emerged. In Greece she would find the -remains of its perfumed vices lingering at the foot of its decaying -monuments. In Antioch there would not be wanting freedwomen to gratify -her curiosity in regard to its unnatural excesses and the world-famed -license of its groves. In Judæa she was long and splendidly entertained -at the court of Herod, a monarch with ten wives and concubines -innumerable. - -They returned to Rome in the year 13, and in the following year Agrippa -died of gout, and Julia was free. One of the most surprising features -of her wild career--one that would make us hesitate to admit the -charges against her, if hesitation were possible--is that Livia was -either ignorant of her more serious misdeeds, or unable to convince -Octavian of them. Livia would hardly spare her, as Julia was inflaming -Octavian’s dislike for Tiberius. Refined, sensitive, and studious, -the young man avoided the boisterous amusements in which other young -patricians spent their ample leisure, and his cold melancholy made him -distasteful to them. One of the Roman writers would have us believe -that Julia made love to him during the life of Agrippa, and that she -incited Octavian against him in revenge for his rejection of her -advances. The story is improbable. We need only suppose that Julia, in -speaking of Tiberius, used the disdainful language which was common to -her friends. Neither Livia nor Tiberius seems to have attempted to open -the Emperor’s eyes to Julia’s conduct. Octavian disliked her luxurious -ways, but was blind to her vices, though the names of her lovers were -on the lips of all. One day Octavian scolded her for having a crowd of -fast young nobles about her, and commended to her the staid example of -Livia. She disarmed him with the laughing reply that, when she was old, -her companions would be as old as those of the Empress. One writer says -that Octavian compelled her to give up a too sumptuous palace which -she occupied. One is more disposed to believe the story that, when he -remonstrated with her for her luxurious ways, she replied “My father -may forget that he is Cæsar, but I cannot forget that I am Cæsar’s -daughter.” - -In spite of their mutual aversion Octavian now ordered Tiberius to -marry her. He was already married to Vipsania, the virtuous and -affectionate daughter of Agrippa, and this enforced separation from -one whom he loved with an ardour that was fading from Roman marriage, -and union with one who contrasted with Vipsania as the wild flaming -poppy contrasts with the lily, further soured and embittered him. We -may dismiss in a very few words his relations with the woman who ought -to have been the second Empress of Rome. After a few years spent, as -a rule, in distant frontier wars, he returned to Rome in the year -6 B.C., to find that his wife had passed the last bounds of decency -and Octavian was as blind as ever. In intense disgust, and in spite of -his mother’s entreaties, he begged the Emperor’s permission to spend -some years in literary and scientific studies at Rhodes. Not daring to -open the eyes of Octavian to the true character of his daughter, he -had to bow to his anger and disdain, and seek consolation in the calm -mysteries of the planets and the fine sentiments of Greek tragedians. - -[Illustration: JULIA - -BUST IN THE MUSEUM CHIARAMONTI] - -Julia now cast aside the last traces of restraint. A half-dozen of the -young nobles of Rome are associated with her in the chronicles, and, -gossipy and unreliable as the records are, in this case the issue of -the story disposes us to believe the charges. Round such a repute as -hers legends were bound to grow, and the conscientious biographer must -be reserved in giving details. Dio tells us, for instance, that she -expected her lovers to put crowns, for each success she permitted them -to attain, at the foot of the statue of Marsyas--a public statue, at -the feet of which Roman lawyers were wont to place a crown when they -had won a case. However that may be, it is certain that in the nightly -dissipation of Rome, when plebeian offenders sought the darkness of the -Milvian Bridge, or wantoned in the taverns and brothels of the Subura, -Julia’s party was one of the boldest and most conspicuous. Not content -with the riotous supper, which it was now the fashion to prolong by -lamp-light, in perfumed chambers, until late hours of the night, Julia -and her friends went out into the streets, and caroused in the very -tribunal in the Forum--the Rostra, a platform decorated with the prows -of captured vessels--from which her father made known his Imperial -decisions.[5] - -The thunder of the Imperial anger scattered this licentious band some -time in the second year before Christ. In the earlier part of the year -Octavian had entertained Rome with one of the thrilling spectacles -which he often provided. To celebrate the dedication of a new temple of -Mars, which he had built, he had the Flaminian Circus flooded, gave the -people a mock naval battle, and had thirteen crocodiles slain by the -gladiators. Julia had hoodwinked the Emperor so long that she and her -friends seem to have abandoned all restraint, and their adventures came -to the knowledge of the Emperor. - -The charges against Julia must have been beyond cavil, since Octavian, -who loved her deeply, at once yielded her to the course of justice. A -charge of conspiracy was made out against her companions. One of the -young nobles killed himself, and the rest were banished. Julia was -convicted of adultery--the evil that her father had fought for ten -years--and from the glitter of Rome she was roughly conducted to the -barren rock-island of Pandateria (Ponza), in the Gulf of Gæta. In that -narrow and depressing jail, with no female attendants, no wine and no -finery, accompanied only by her unhappy mother, the fascinating young -princess spent five years, looking with anguish over the blue water -toward the faint outline of the hills of Italy, or southward toward -those rose-strewn waters of Baiæ, where she had dreamed away so many -brilliant summers. Rome, touched with pity for the stricken woman, -implored Octavian to forgive her; and when he swore that fire and water -should meet before he pardoned her, the people naively flung burning -torches into the Tiber. Hearing, after a few years, that there was a -plot to release her, Octavian had her removed to a more secure prison -in Calabria. There she dragged out her miserable life until her father -died, and Tiberius came to the throne. When he in turn refused to -release her, she sank slowly into the peace of death. - -There is no charge against Livia in connexion with this tragic fate -of Julia, but another possible rival of Tiberius had disappeared -during these years, and there is the usual vague accusation that the -Empress assisted the action of nature. Drusus, her younger son, died -in the year 9 B.C., and Livia is charged with sacrificing him to her -affection for her elder son. The charge is preposterous. Drusus had, it -is true, been much more popular than Tiberius at Rome. His genial and -engaging manner gave him a great advantage over the retiring and almost -sullen Tiberius. But the brothers loved each other deeply, and when -Tiberius, who was making a tour in the north of Gaul, heard that Drusus -was dangerously ill in Germany, he at once rode four hundred miles on -horseback, and held Drusus in his arms in his last hour. Livia was at -Ticinum, in the north of Italy, with Octavian when the news reached -them. That either Livia or Tiberius--for both are accused--should have -in any way promoted the death of Drusus is a frivolous suggestion. -The epitomist of Livy, Tacitus, and Suetonius, describe the death as -natural. Drusus was thrown and injured by a frantic horse. The libel -that his death was in some mysterious way accelerated may have been -set afoot by his partisans. It was generally believed that he favoured -a restoration of the Republic, and the corrupt officials who, at his -death, lost their faint hope of returning to the days of peculation -and bribery, may have begun the charge. No evidence is offered for it. -Livia and Octavian accompanied the remains to Rome with great sorrow. -Seneca says that the Empress was so distressed that she summoned one of -the Stoic philosophers to console her. - -The next charge against Livia requires a more careful examination. By -the beginning of the present era, when the poor health of Octavian -gave occasion for many speculations as to the succession, there were -only two rivals to the chances of Tiberius. These were the elder sons -of Julia, and Livia must have reflected gloomily on their fortune. -While Tiberius remained in retirement at Rhodes the young princes were -idolized by Octavian and by the people. Tiberius had proposed to return -to Rome after the banishment of Julia, but Octavian peevishly told him -to remain in Greece. Every astrologer in Rome must have read in the -planets that either Caius or Lucius was born to the purple. They were -spoiled by Octavian, enriched with premature honours, and, glittering -in silver trappings, appeared in the spectacles as “Princes of the -youth of Rome.” Let those youths be removed from the scene by any -accident, and so prurient a city as Rome will be bound to discover some -insidious action on the part of Livia; and later writers, brooding over -a chronicle in which ambition leads freely to the most brutal murders, -will be disposed to believe her guilty. - -It is somewhat surprising to find more recent writers caught by the -fallacy. We are not puzzled when the scandal-loving Serviez opens his -chapter on Livia with a glowing enumeration of her virtues, adopts -nearly every libel against her as he proceeds, and closes with a -very dark estimate of her character; but we are entitled to expect -more discrimination in Merivale. Even Mr. Tarver, in his recent -“Tiberius the Tyrant” (1902), does much injustice to the mother in -vindicating the son. He speaks of her as “hard, avaricious, and a -lover of power,” and, without the least evidence--indeed, against all -probability--suggests that it was Livia who urged Octavian to keep -Tiberius in retirement at Rhodes. He makes Livia hostile to Tiberius -in favour of Julia’s sons, on the ground that she would find them -more pliant than Tiberius. Every other writer suggests precisely the -contrary. They make her murder Julia’s sons in the interest of Tiberius. - -The death of the younger son, Lucius, is obscure. He was sent on a -mission to Spain in the year 2 A.D., and died at Marseilles on the -way. Since the only ground for the rumour that he was poisoned is the -indubitable fact that he died, we need not delay in considering it. -Octavian then sent the elder brother Caius on a mission into Syria -under the care of his old tutor Lollius. His counsellor unhappily died -in the East, and the young prince was left to the vicious companions -who regarded him as the future dispenser of Imperial favours. He fell -into Oriental ways, and was at length (A.D. 3) treacherously wounded -by a Syrian patriot. Instead of returning to Rome, he remained in the -unhealthy atmosphere of the East, indulged in its habits of languor -and vice, and died eighteen months after the death of his brother. -There is no obscurity about his death. It is beyond question that he -was severely wounded by a Syrian. But the deaths of the two brothers -happened so opportunely for Tiberius that one cannot wonder at the -suspicion, in certain minds, that Livia had had the youths poisoned. -Nothing more than this vague rumour is given us by Tacitus, Dio, -Suetonius, or Pliny; and it is from a sheer pruriency of romance that -later writers, like Serviez, have accepted and emphasized the suspicion -recorded in the Roman historians. Not on such slender grounds can we be -asked to sacrifice the conception of Livia’s character which is forced -on us by the plainer facts of her career. The youths were delicate; -Caius, at least, had undermined his frail constitution by luxury, if -not by vice; and the Roman world harboured death in a hundred forms. - -If we still hesitate to choose between the artifice of Livia and the -unaided action of natural causes in this removal of the obstacles to -the advancement of Tiberius, we have only to glance at the fate of -the rest of Julia’s children. The third son, Agrippa, was as robust -in body as his brothers were weak, but he was defective in mind and -devoid of moral control. His boorish conduct as a boy gave great pain -to Livia and Octavia, and his great physical strength broke out in -uncontrollable gusts of passion. In his adolescence he readily adopted -the worst vices that Rome could teach him, and Octavian was obliged -to condemn him to imprisonment and exile. There remained the two -daughters, Julia and Agrippina. The younger, the sanest of Julia’s -children, lived to intrigue for power, and greatly to embarrass Livia’s -later years; though we shall find the same tragic fate befalling her -after the death of the Empress, who protected her. The elder, Julia, -was banished (A.D. 9) for incest, and, like her mother, lacking the -courage or virtue to end her shame as the nobler Romans did, she -protracted her miserable life for twenty years, her hard lot only -alleviated by the charity of Livia. - -Fate had removed every possible competitor to the succession of -Tiberius. He returned to Rome, and his judicious and sedulous activity -removed the last traces of the Emperor’s resentment. Peace returned, -after many years of storm, to the mansion on the Palatine. But Octavian -had suffered profoundly from those terrible and persistent storms. -The Rome of his manhood was gone. All his friends and counsellors had -disappeared, and the future of his people filled him with apprehension. -The patrician stock was decaying from luxury and vice; the ordinary -citizens clamoured for free food and free entertainment with a blind -disregard of the laws of national health. He shrank from the public -gaze, and leaned affectionately on Livia and Tiberius. - -In the year 14 he remained at Rome in the early heat of the summer, -and became seriously ill. Livia and Tiberius went down with him to -the coast, where he rallied, and some pleasant days were spent on -the island of Capreæ (Capri), which he had bought. They passed to -the mainland, where Tiberius left them, but he was soon recalled by -a message from his mother that the Emperor was sinking. On the last -morning of his life Octavian dressed with unaccustomed care, and -summoned his friends to his bedside. Was Rome tranquil on receiving -the news of his dangerous condition? Did they approve of his conduct -and accomplishments? They gave him the assurance he desired, and were -dismissed. Could they have foreseen the line of rulers who were to -stain the purple robe with blood, and load it with shame, for so many -decades to come, they would have wept. The last moments were for Livia. -He died kissing her, and murmuring: “Be mindful of our marriage, Livia. -Farewell.” So ended, peacefully, a union that had lasted fifty-two -years in a city where divorce was as lightly esteemed as marriage. -There can be little serious doubt about the character of the first -Empress of Rome. - -Livia probably concealed the death of Octavian until Tiberius arrived -from Dalmatia. A report was given out that Tiberius arrived in time -to receive the last injunctions of the Emperor. This may be doubted -without any serious reflection on her character; if, indeed, it -was she, and not Tiberius, who spread the report. There were grave -fears--well-founded fears, as we shall see--that a plot, in the -interest of corruption, had been framed to prevent the succession of -Tiberius. In the coolness of the night, so as to avoid the intense heat -of August, they bore the remains with great pomp to the capital. There, -on a bed of ivory and purple, preceded by wax effigies of Octavian -and of earlier rulers of Rome, the body was carried to the temple of -Julius, where Tiberius read a funeral oration. The cortège went on -to the Field of Mars, by the Tiber, through lines of black-draped -citizens. The pile was fired, and zealous eyes saw the soul of Octavian -mount toward heaven in the outward form of an eagle. - -Livia, on approved custom, remained by the sacred ashes for five days, -and then returned to face the new life which opened for her. With -the especially wild suggestion that she had accelerated the death of -her husband we may disdain to concern ourselves. It was owing to her -devoted care that the ailing and delicate Octavian had lived to old -age. But a second libel in connexion with the death of Octavian must be -briefly considered. - -The apprehension, or the secret information, of the dying Emperor -was correct. No sooner was his death announced than a servant of the -imprisoned son of Julia hurried to the coast, and set sail for the -island of Planasia, with the intention of bringing Agrippa to Rome as -a candidate for the purple. He arrived only to find a bleeding corpse. -The centurion in charge had dispatched Agrippa as soon as the Emperor’s -death was made known to him. - -Who gave the order for this execution? One cannot call it murder, for -Agrippa was unfit to be restored to society, and any attempt to raise -him to the throne would have been disastrous to Rome. The authorities, -as usual, merely give us the rumours that circulated at the time, -and leave us to choose between Octavian, Livia, and Tiberius. We can -have little difficulty in choosing. It would be so natural for either -Octavian or Tiberius to crush the conspiracy by executing Agrippa that -the introduction of Livia is superfluous. Most probably Octavian had -left directions with Agrippa’s custodian. There is a curious story, -in several contradictory versions, but credible in substance, that -Octavian in his later years paid a secret visit to Planasia, to see -personally what Agrippa’s real condition was. Quite the most plausible -theory is that, after personal verification of his madness, Octavian -felt it best for Rome, and not inhuman to Agrippa, to have him put to -death as soon as the question of succession was opened. - -We come to the last phase of Livia’s career. Tiberius was now a -tall, handsome man, though slightly disfigured, with long fair hair -and features strangely delicate for one of his exceptional physical -strength. A better soldier than his predecessor, and not an inept -statesman, he was well enough fitted to wield the power which Octavian -had virtually bequeathed to him. But a retiring disposition, an unhappy -youth, and long years of study, had made him shrink from the society -of any but scholars, and he long hesitated to ascend the throne to -which the Senate invited him. We have not good ground to regard this -reluctance as feigned. At last he consented, and the critics of Livia -would have it that her ambition now passed such bounds as had been set -to it by the ability of Octavian. We may freely admit that she looked -forward to being closely associated in power with the son whose career -she had followed with such devotion and helpfulness. On the other hand, -we shall see how advantageous to the State her influence was; the evils -that at once begin to darken the life of Rome when Tiberius rejects -her counsels will plainly show this. Nor is there any evidence that -she sought power from any other motive than the good of the State. She -might take pride in what she did, and even exaggerate it, but such -a pride is not inconsistent with the view that she was ever gentle, -humane, and generous. - -The first searching test of her character occurs a few years after the -accession of Tiberius. As the news of the death of Octavian slowly -travelled over the Empire, there were mutinous movements among the -legions in many provinces. In Lower Germany, especially, the troops -considered that their commander, Germanicus, the nephew of Tiberius, -was entitled to the purple, and they asked him to lead them to Rome. -He was a handsome, engaging young general, of imperial blood, with -moderate ability and much conceit, and had won the regard of the -soldiers by visiting the sick and wounded, advancing their pay out -of his own purse, and other popular acts. He was married to Julia’s -daughter, Agrippina, who lived in camp with him. They dressed their -little son Caius in soldier’s costume, and his quaint appearance -in miniature military boots won for him the pet-name Caligula -(“Little-boots”) by which he is known to history. The legionaries -thought that they had with them a model Imperial family, and promised -to wrest the throne from Tiberius. Germanicus weakly composed the -mutiny--mainly by forging a letter in the name of Tiberius and then -treacherously executing the leaders--and endeavoured to cover his -blunders by vigorous and rather aimless attacks upon the Germans. -Tiberius recalled him to Rome to enjoy a “triumph,” and to keep him out -of further mischief. - -Merivale acknowledges that his conquests were “wholly visionary,” -but Germanicus had inherited the charm and popularity of his father, -Drusus, and Rome was easily won for him. People streamed out from -the gates to meet him, and gazed with awe on his gigantic blue-eyed -captives and on the large highly-coloured paintings of his victories in -Germany. It was a new source of concern for Livia and Tiberius, and, -to the satisfaction of Livia’s critics, the danger ended like all the -others. - -Germanicus and Agrippina were sent on a mission to the East. Tiberius -seems to have had some disdain for his spoiled and conceited nephew, -and he was well aware of the interested aims of those who affected to -see in him a restorer of the old republican liberty. He chose an older -statesman, Cn. Calpurnius Piso, to go out as Governor of Syria, to -watch and prudently direct the movements of Germanicus. With Piso was -his wife Plancina, an intimate friend of Livia. From these Tiberius and -Livia shortly heard exasperating accounts of the progress of Germanicus -and Agrippina. Piso found, on calling at Athens, that Germanicus had -been flattering the Greeks for their ancient culture, instead of -pressing the dominion of Rome. He made free comments on the young -general’s conduct, pushed past his galleys, as they dallied in Greek -waters, and was hard at work in Syria when Germanicus arrived. The -wives conducted the quarrel with more asperity than their husbands. - -Rome had now its party of Germanicus and party of Tiberius, and the -news from the East was heatedly discussed. Germanicus has gone to -Egypt, without asking the Emperor’s permission, and is patronizing -the Greek and Egyptian cults, which Tiberius represses, and going -about in Greek instead of Roman dress. Piso has had a violent quarrel -with Germanicus, and left Syria. And before they have time to discuss -this important intelligence there comes a report that Germanicus -is dangerously ill; that bones of dead men, half-burnt fragments -of sacrificial victims, leaden tablets with the name of Germanicus -scrawled on them, and other deadly charms, have been found under the -floors and between the walls of his house. At length the news comes -that Germanicus is dead, and that with his last breath he has urged -his friends to avenge him. Rome goes into mourning. All the shops are -closed, and crowds gather everywhere to discuss this fresh tragedy -of the Imperial house. In the middle of the night a rumour spreads -that Germanicus is not dead, and people fill the streets with the -glare of their torches, and break into the temples. But the fatal -news is confirmed, and, when at last Agrippina comes with the golden -urn containing his ashes, such mourning is seen as no living man can -remember. - -People observed that neither Livia nor Tiberius appeared at the -funeral. Livia had no reason to be present, and Tiberius knew that the -demonstration was due largely to a spirit of hostility to himself. -For the rest, it was merely the feeling of a frivolous people for a -handsome and unfortunate youth. But Livia incurred more serious censure -during the trial of Piso which followed. The ex-governor of Syria -defended himself resolutely for a day or two, and then, hearing that -his wife had deserted him, committed suicide. The anger of the citizens -now turned on the wife, Plancina. The Empress, with whom she had been -in close communication throughout, begged Tiberius to save her, and he -reluctantly checked the prosecution. Livia was, of course, accused of -sheltering a murderess. It must be recollected that the accounts of -the story are taken in part from the memoirs of Agrippina’s daughter, -and are coloured with prejudice against Tiberius and his mother. One -cannot see anything more serious than indiscretion in Livia’s conduct. -Her conviction of the innocence of Plancina is intelligible enough, and -one can equally understand how she would distrust a trial held at Rome -in the inflamed state of public feeling. There is no serious reason to -suspect, in the death of Germanicus, the action of any other poison -than the tainted atmosphere of the East. - -But the interference of Livia annoyed Tiberius, and the ten years that -follow are full of differences between mother and son. The Emperor’s -resentment of his mother’s share in public affairs had begun with his -reign. Livia had proposed to erect a statue to the memory of Octavian. -Tiberius interfered, and referred her to the Senate for permission. -She then proposed to give a commemoratory banquet to the Senators and -their wives. Tiberius restricted her to the wives, and entertained -the Senators himself. He reduced her escort, frowned on the public -honours that were paid to her, and resented her interference in public -affairs. On one occasion her friend Urgulania was summoned for debt, -and, presuming on her intimacy with the Empress, treated the process -with contempt. Livia asked Tiberius to quash the proceedings, and he -deliberately lingered so much on his way to the Forum that the case was -allowed to proceed. - -These are a few of the stories which illustrate the want of harmony -between them. For this Livia was largely to blame. It was not unnatural -that she, who had been so often and so profitably consulted by -Octavian, should expect a larger power under the young Emperor, but -she failed to take discreet account of the extreme sensitiveness of -Tiberius. If a story given in Suetonius is correct, she so far lost -her discretion in one of their quarrels as to produce old letters in -which Octavian had made bitter reflections on the defects of Tiberius. -The fault was not wholly on her side, however. Tiberius was jealous -when he contrasted the honour and respect paid to her with the general -feeling of reserve and distrust toward himself, and he pleaded the -old-fashioned idea of woman’s sphere as a pretext to restrain her. He -grumbled when he one day found her directing the extinction of a fire, -as she had done more than once in Octavian’s time, and he was seriously -angry when he found that she had placed her name before his on a public -inscription. - -But we may leave these lesser matters and come to the next tragedy in -the Imperial chronicle, the shadow of which darkened Livia’s closing -years. She had retired from the palace to the house which she had -inherited from her first husband, Tiberius Nero. Here she remained a -saddened and helpless spectator of the coming disaster. Tiberius, whom -she saw only once more before she died, had become a peevish and gloomy -old man. His tall spare frame was bent, his head bald, his face, which -had always been disfigured with pimples, now hideous with eczema, or -concealed with bandages. His large melancholy eyes so startled people -that they believed he could see in the dark. Astrologers and students -of the occult gathered about him in the palace he had built on the -Palatine, and the way lay open for adventurers. - -The two chief aspirants for power were Agrippina, the widow of -Germanicus, and Sejanus, Tiberius’s favourite general. Julia’s younger -daughter seems to have concentrated in her person all the masculinity -of her family. “Implacable,” as Tacitus says, proud, and ambitious, she -added to the gloom that was deepening on the Palatine. Merivale calls -her the “she-wolf.” It seems probable that she sought marriage with -the aged Tiberius in order to secure power for herself or her son. The -only son of the Emperor had been poisoned by Sejanus, as we shall see -presently, and her son had a plausible title to inherit the purple. The -authorities tell us that Tiberius one day found her in tears, and was -entreated, when he asked the reason, to find her a husband. She thought -it expedient to forget the supposed share of Tiberius in the death of -her husband. - -Her innocent manœuvres were met, however, by the sinister intrigues -of Sejanus, one of the most unscrupulous characters we have yet -encountered. Under a cloak of friendliness he was countering her -schemes and ruining her house. He had seduced her daughter Livilla, -the wife of Tiberius’s son Drusus, and had, with her connivance, -poisoned the young prince, and kept the secret from the Emperor for -many years. It is said that he then made proposals to Agrippina to -unite their ambitions, and, when these were rejected, he determined -to destroy her and secure the supreme power for himself. He put his -great ability astutely at the service of the Emperor, and once had -the good fortune to save his life, by arching his herculean body over -Tiberius when the roof of a cave fell on them. It is probable that -he inflamed the resentment of Tiberius against his mother, and then -used the estrangement to increase the unpopularity of the Emperor. -Scurrilous libels on “the ungrateful son” were current in Rome. These -are sometimes attributed to writers in the service of Livia, but it -would be a natural part of the scheme of Sejanus to spread them. On one -occasion a noble lady, Appuleia Varilia, was charged by the Senate with -accusing Tiberius and Livia of incest. Tiberius consulted his mother, -and declared to the Senate that they wished to treat the libel with -contemptuous indifference. - -To Sejanus also we must, on the authority of Tacitus, attribute a plot -against Agrippina, which other writers assign to Tiberius or to Livia. -At a banquet in the palace it was noticed that Agrippina, pale and -sullen, passed all the dishes untouched. Tiberius at length invited her -to eat a fine apple which he chose. Under the eyes of all she handed it -to a servant to throw away, and Tiberius not unnaturally complained of -her unjust suspicions. Tacitus, who gives the most credible version of -the story, says that the agents of Sejanus had warned her that she was -to be poisoned at the banquet, so that she would act in a way that the -Emperor would resent. - -Tiberius, weary of the violent passions of the capital, now lived -chiefly in Campania. It is not improbable that his disfigurement made -him sensitive. Rome would not spare the feelings of so unpopular -a ruler. It is not at all clear that he shrank from his Imperial -duties--Suetonius expressly says that he thought it possible to rule -better from the provinces--or that he wished to indulge in the wild -debauches which some attribute to him. Probably Sejanus, to secure -more power for himself, persuaded him that he could best discharge his -duties from a provincial seat. - -At this juncture, in the year 29, saddened by the estrangement from -her son, by his helpless surrender to an unscrupulous adventurer, and -by the increasing degeneration of Rome, Livia died. She had, by sober -living--Pliny adds, by the constant chewing of a sweetmeat containing -a certain medicinal root, and by the use of Pucinian wine--attained -the great age of eighty-six. She had seen her husband dispel the long -horrors of civil war, refresh the Empire, and adorn Rome; and she -had felt the gloom and chill of a coming tragedy in her later years. -Few of the Empresses have been so differently estimated as Livia. -Merivale regards her as “a memorable example of successful artifice, -having obtained in succession, by craft if not by crime, every object -she could desire in the career of female ambition.” He adds: “But she -had long survived every genuine attachment she may at any time have -inspired, nor has a single voice been raised by posterity to supply the -want of honest eulogium in her own day.”[6] - -The more concentrated research of the biographer has often to reverse -the verdict of the historian, and in this case it must acquit Livia of -either craft or vice. It is a singular error to say that Livia had no -“honest eulogium” in her own day. The Roman Senate is exposed to the -disdain of historians for its obsequiousness to the reigning Emperor, -yet, at the death of Livia, it sought to honour her memory in spite -of the resentment of Tiberius. The Emperor had refused to go to Rome, -either to see her before death or to attend her funeral. He gave to -Rome an example of silent indifference. Yet he had to use his authority -to prevent the Senate from decreeing divine honours to Livia, building -an arch to her memory, and declaring her “mother of her country.” -Dio remarks that the Senators were moved to do these things out of -sincere gratitude and respect. Few of the less wealthy members of the -Senate had not profited by her generosity. Their children had been -educated, and their daughters had received dowries, from her purse. Her -generosity is recognized by all the authorities. Her humanity is made -plain by the contents of this chapter. - -The adverse estimate of Livia’s character is chiefly based on the -“Annals” of Tacitus, and it has long been recognized that Tacitus -drew his account largely from the memoirs of the younger Agrippina, -daughter of the woman who hated Livia. Yet Tacitus adds, when he has -recorded the death of Livia: “From this moment the government of -Tiberius became a sheer oppressive despotism. While Augusta lived one -avenue of escape remained open, for the Emperor was habitually deferent -toward his mother, and Sejanus dared not thwart her parental authority; -but when this curb was removed, there was nothing to check their -further career.”[7] - -We have seen that Livia had used the same restraining influence on -the impetuosity of Octavian. With her died the attribute, or the wise -policy, of Imperial clemency, only to be revived by Emperors who -adopted that Stoic creed in which she found consolation after the -death of her son. That she was “hard” and “unscrupulous” is entirely -at variance with the most authenticated facts of her career. To say -that she was “avaricious” is a sheer absurdity. She maintained her -sober personal habits to the end, and took money only to bestow it on -the indigent and worthy, or expend it in raising public buildings. We -may grant that she had some ambition, but may claim that it was well -for Rome that she had it. She fell into many errors of judgment in her -later years, when Roman life was confused by such strong undercurrents -of intrigue; but these very errors tend to discredit the notion that -she employed a consummate art and strong intelligence in the furthering -of her own interests. In a word, it is the vices and follies of later -Empresses that have disposed historians to regard her sober virtues as -a mere mask. - - -NOTE - - For the guidance of the general reader it is advisable to add - a few words on the Latin authorities, whom we now constantly - quote. Tacitus, the chief source of our knowledge down to the - year 70 A.D., is not only weakened as an historian by the very - strength of his morality, but he has too lightly followed the - memoirs in which the later Agrippina defamed the rival Imperial - family. Suetonius, who takes us as far as Domitian, is no less - honest, but he has too genial and indulgent a love of anecdotes - to discard any on the mere ground that they are untrue or - improbable. Dio Cassius, who covers the first two centuries, is - usually described as malignant; but one may question if he does - more than indulge still further the same amiable preference of - piquancy to truth. The “Historia Augusta,” which is our chief - authority for the greater part of the Empresses and the richest - source of scandal, has been much and profitably discussed - since Gibbon placed such reliance on it. It is now thought - by some experts that the original writers of this series of - biographical sketches of the Roman Emperors lived at the - beginning of the third century, and had a comparatively sober - standard of work. Toward the close of the third, or beginning - of the fourth, century the work was written afresh by the - group of less scrupulous writers whose names, or pseudonyms, - actually stand at the head of its chapters. But a still later - writer once more recast the work, and lowered its authority. He - wrote frankly from the point of view of the piquant anecdotist, - omitting much that would interest only the prosy student of - exact facts, and filling up the vacant space with such faint - legends of Imperial vice or folly as still, in his time, - lingered without the pale of history, or arose in the field - of romance. The question is fully discussed by Otto Schultz, - “Leben des Kaisers Hadrian” (1905), and Professor Kornemann, - “Kaiser Hadrian” (1906). - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE WIVES OF CALIGULA - - -The remainder of the reign of Tiberius does not properly concern us, -but a very brief account of it will serve at once to confirm our -estimate of the influence of Livia, and to prepare us for the almost -incredibly degraded scenes that were witnessed under his successor. -We saw that two persons were intriguing for the purple mantle which -must soon fall from the shoulders of the aged and unhealthy Emperor. -One was a woman of great ability and masculine courage, who sought the -succession for one of her sons. The other was a strong soldier and -an astute minister, a man of the most unscrupulous and hypocritical -character. The change in the form of government had already betrayed -its evil. The fate of the vast Empire seemed but a ball tossed from -player to player. But the issue was even worse than the most sober -observer anticipated. Before Tiberius died both the strong man and the -strong woman were to be destroyed, and the Imperial power was to pass -to one who was grossly unfit to exercise it. - -[Illustration: AGRIPPINA THE ELDER - -BUST IN THE MUSEUM CHIARAMONTI] - -Less than a year after the ashes of Livia had been laid in the marble -tower by the Tiber, the Senate received a letter from the court -impeaching Agrippina and her two elder sons. According to Tacitus, it -was “commonly believed” that this letter had been written some time -before, and had been withheld through the influence of Livia. The -only reasonable interpretation that we can put on this rumour is that -people were so convinced of the humanity of Livia that they did not -think the letter would have been written or sent if she were still -alive. However that may be, Agrippina and her sons were put on trial -and condemned to exile, in spite of the angry crowds that gathered -about the court-house. Agrippina passed with dramatic suddenness from -her dream of ruling the world to a dreary exile in Herculaneum, and, -after a time, to the far more terrible prison of Pandateria, where her -mother had spent four years of agony. There, with all the strength of -her proud and ambitious nature, she awaited the death of Tiberius. But -the only messages which came over the sea to her gradually broke her -spirit. Her sons, Drusus and Nero, had been convicted of unnatural -vice, as well as conspiracy; and although we may entertain some doubt -about the conspiracy, the other charge is only too credible when we -know the habits of the class to which the youths belonged. Nero was -imprisoned on one of the islands of the Ponza group, and it was not -long before his mother, on the neighbouring island, heard that he had -starved himself, or been starved, to death. After some time she learned -that Drusus had followed his example, and the despairing woman refused -food in her turn, and went into the kindlier exile of death. The last -of Julia’s children did not escape the tragic fate which hung over the -family. We have yet to see how the curse falls on the third generation. - -Sejanus, whose action we may confidently see in the ruin of Agrippina, -now stood near the steps of the throne, waiting impatiently for the -passing of the despised Emperor. He was betrothed to Livilla, the widow -of Tiberius’s only son Drusus, whom he had poisoned, with Livilla’s -assistance. With a consort of Cæsarean blood he felt that he could -easily fill the place of Tiberius. And in the height of his corrupt -power and criminal hope the vengeance of the fates fell on him like a -stroke of lightning. It is said that the wife he proposed to divorce -disclosed to Tiberius that Sejanus was the murderer of his only son. -Within a few hours he was impeached, condemned, and put to death. -All who had gathered about him in the hope of his coming power were -scattered or destroyed by the frantic anger of Tiberius. Livilla was -urged by her mother to bury her shame in the grave. She refused, and -was banished. We shall meet her again in the chronicle of vice and -violence. - -After this terrible ordeal Tiberius withdrew to Capreæ, where he had -built a palace. Wandering, some years ago, among the ruins of what is -believed to have been the palace of Tiberius, I found that the echoes -still lingered there of the dark stories which men told in Rome of his -later years. Men said that he had shut himself in that sea-girt palace -only to indulge, unseen, in the grossest perversions of a sensual -nature, and that a new profession of ministers to lust, of which a -description may be found in Tacitus, had grown out of his weariness -even of unnatural vice. One does not readily admit such orgies in a man -between his seventy-second and seventy-eighth year, and it seems to me -that one may offer an explanation of the myth, which will also serve to -introduce the third Emperor of Rome and his wives. - -Suetonius describes Tiberius as surrounded by learned men and absorbed -in obscure problems of astrology, mythology, and letters. The most -resolute adherent of the more romantic story must have some difficulty -in reconciling this band of prosy pedants with the sensual orgies which -popular rumour located in the lonely palace. When, however, we learn -that two young princes of the least intellectual and most immoral -character formed part of the household, we see that there may have been -two entirely distinct lives sheltered by the palace at Capreæ. If we -suppose that these young men and their sycophantic attendants freely -indulged in the vices which were then common to Roman youths, while -their elders were intent on the glorious planets of a Neapolitan sky, -we have a satisfactory explanation of the legend. The horror of Rome -at the Emperor’s bloody avenging of the murder of his son would not -dispose people to discriminate conscientiously. - -One of these princes was Herod Agrippa, son of the King of Judæa, whom -Octavian had brought to Rome for security. The other, a year younger, -was “Caligula,” as the soldiers had nicknamed the surviving son of -Agrippina and Germanicus. Caius Cæsar--to give him his real name--was -in his nineteenth year when his mother was banished. Tiberius a few -years later took him to Capreæ, where he would prove an apt pupil to -Herod in Oriental ways. The vein of moral perversity, if not insanity, -which we trace in all the descendants of Julia, is most clearly -exhibited in Caligula, and the tragedy of the Cæsars deepens when, in -the year 37, Tiberius dies, and Caligula is called to the throne.[8] - -He had been married in 33 to Junia Claudilla, daughter of Junius -Silanus, a proconsul of eminent services and distinguished family. -She was happily spared the fate of sharing the throne with Caligula -by dying in childbirth. What her life in Capreæ must have been is -not obscurely suggested by her early death. No prospect in Europe is -more pleasant than that which unfolds its superb and far-lying beauty -to the spectator on the green summits of Capri, from which the eye -may wander over the broad blue bay, with its silver fringe of surf, -or round the crescent of evergreen land that begins with Sorrento, -and sweeps majestically, past the foot of Vesuvius, to the distant -haze in which Baiæ once lived. Yet to a refined and sensitive young -woman this splendid palace must have been a deathly jail. Repelled -alike by the purblind scholars and the licentious princes, the heavy -monotony of learning and vice unrelieved by visits to Rome, she sank -under her burden in three years--just missing by one year the title of -second Empress of Rome. Her father, a grave and illustrious Senator, -endeavoured to check Caligula’s extravagance in the first year of his -reign. The brutal Emperor bade him “take his greeting to the spirit of -the dead.” With a last sad glance at the future of his country, Junius -Silanus obeyed. - -We are credibly told that Caligula then made love to Ennia, wife of the -Prefect of the Guard. Sejanus had persuaded Tiberius to form a corps -of “Prætorian Guards,” an Imperial body-guard which was destined to -have a disastrous influence on the future of Rome. The actual prefect -or commander of this regiment, Macro, was the most powerful person in -the suite of Tiberius. With or without his connivance, his wife yielded -to Caligula, on the condition that he should marry her when he became -Emperor. Macro and Ennia accompanied Caligula when he bore the will and -the ashes of Tiberius to Rome. A gloom had settled over Italy during -the later years of Tiberius’s reign, and men hailed the young Caligula -as the sun and the blue sky are hailed after days of dark tempest at -sea. Standing by their flower-girt altars, coming out with torches -at night, people greeted him with frantic epithets of affection. He -was their “star,” their “chicken,” their “dear child,” as he had been -to the soldiers in Germany years before. Not that he was a handsome -youth. His frame was thin and lanky, and his movements awkward. He was -prematurely bald, and his sunken eyes looked out with a scowl from his -pallid face. But he was the son of Germanicus, the grandson of Julia. -All the follies which the family had perpetrated were forgotten. - -For a month or two he fulfilled the hope of his people. The reign of -terror was ended at once. He recalled his sisters from exile, and -brought to Rome, with great respect, the ashes of his mother and -brothers. The circus and the amphitheatre rang once more with the -cheers of the populace. The golden age of Octavian had been restored, -men said. But the emasculated system and feeble mind of Caligula were -unequal to the nervous strain. Early in his reign Ennia reminded him of -his written promise to marry her, and Macro had an air of patronage in -advising him. In a sudden blaze of ferocity he ordered Ennia and her -children to be executed, and graciously permitted Macro to end his own -life. He had found a wife--his sister Drusilla. - -His incestuous relation with Drusilla was soon the topic of Rome. It -had probably begun before she was banished, and when he recalled her -to his palace, a young and beautiful girl of about twenty summers, he -conceived a violent passion for her, divorced her from her husband, -and announced that he intended to marry her. The Emperor was above all -laws, he said. Rome laughed the laughter of fools. He was providing it -with stupendous entertainment. The games of the circus ran for twelve -hours, day after day, and the night was turned into fresh day with -illuminations, banquets, and such pleasures as they could get with the -money he freely distributed. In the midst of it all he fell ill; not -improbably he was paying with epilepsy the price of his wild excesses. -There was such sorrow in Rome as had rarely been felt at the illness -of its greatest citizens. Men vowed their lives for the life of the -beloved Emperor; and Caligula, when he recovered, saw that they kept -their vows. He was ill for many weeks, and, when his strength returned, -he had lost the little sanity and sobriety that nature had ever put in -his ill-compacted frame. The rest of his reign was a nightmare. - -Drusilla died during his illness, or soon after his recovery. Some -writers suggest that her malady was a feeling of deep shame, but the -description which Dio gives of her does not support this view, nor does -the single virtue of remorse seem to be known among the descendants -of Julia. The grief of Caligula was no less insane than his passion -had been. No illustrious Roman was ever honoured with such pomp of -funeral as this woman, whose incestuous life he cried over the world. -A Senator saw her soul mount to heaven from the burning pile, and was -rewarded with a million sesterces. The degraded Senate declared her a -goddess, and it was decreed that henceforward women should swear by -the divinity of Drusilla. Earth and heaven resounded with his demented -moans; and even before Drusilla was put among the gods he had married -again. - -Livia Orestilla, the second Empress of Rome, is one of those ladies who -are known to us only in the familiar phrase, that she was a young woman -of great beauty and illustrious family. In her case we need no ampler -portrait, as she was Empress only for a few days. Before the end of -the first year of his reign (37), and in the midst of his lamentation -over Drusilla, Caligula was invited to the wedding of Calpurnius Piso, -a noble of rank and wealth. Caligula fancied the bride, and at once -made her his Empress. With equal license he divorced her a few days -afterwards, and she learned what it was to fall from the height of a -throne. He forbade her to have any commerce with the husband of whom he -had robbed her, and then, alleging that his order had been disregarded, -banished both of them to remote and distinct parts of the Empire. - -The next lady on whom his unbridled imagination rested was Lollia -Paulina. Caligula was probably more attracted by her wealth than by the -remarkable beauty, the high character, and the distinguished ancestry -which the chronicles ascribe to her. The rich spoils of conquered -provinces had accumulated in her family, and her husband, the Governor -of Macedonia and Achaia, was industriously adding to their wealth. -People told at Rome that she once went to a marriage-supper in pearls -and emeralds that were valued at fifty million sesterces. Her high -virtue seems to have been consistent with a display that made her a -topic of table-talk, and that brought upon her a lamentable fate. -Caligula, piqued by the stories of her wealth and beauty, ordered her -husband to bring her to Rome, and she was soon afterwards established -in his palace as the third Empress of Rome. Within a year Caligula -divorced her on the ground that she gave no promise of perpetuating his -line. - -It is often said that Caligula had only married her for the purpose of -seizing her fortune, as his prodigal expenditure was rapidly emptying -the treasury. This seems to be an error, as we shall find her in the -next chapter incurring a miserable fate on account of her immense -wealth. The truth was that Caligula had in the meantime discovered a -lady whose temper wholly suited his own, and of whose fertility he was -actually assured. - -In the spring or early summer of the year 39 we find him perpetrating -one of his stupendous acts of folly at Baiæ. He was accustomed, in the -warmer weather, to cruise about the coast of Campania with his wife and -suite. He had two great Liburnian galleys built, each with ten banks -of oars, their prows blazing with gold and jewels, their decks adorned -with vines, colonnades, and divers freaks of irresponsible wealth. As -they cruised by the bay, some one reminded him of an old proverb which -spoke of riding from Baiæ to Puteoli, across an arm of the bay, as one -of the most certain impossibilities. At once he ordered a bridge to be -built across the water and elaborately decorated. In what was supposed -to be the armour of Alexander the Great, over which was thrown a mantle -of purple silk, the conqueror of impossibilities rode from Baiæ to -Puteoli. On the following day he drove his chariot across; and far into -the night, the hills around being lit up with immense fires, he carried -the debauch which celebrated his glorious feat. In their intoxication -numbers reeled from the bridge into the scented waters. - -Eager for fresh victories, he transferred his delirious court to Gaul, -and declared that he was proceeding against the fierce Germans. The -tribes were not in revolt, and the whole expedition was a comedy; some -of the Roman writers say that a few tame captives were conveyed across -the river and hunted, so that the Emperor might truthfully inform the -Senate that he had gained a victory and merited a triumph. Suetonius -even adds that, when he did eventually return to Rome and celebrate his -triumph, a few slaves were forced to learn a little German and dye -their hair, to pose as conquered tribesmen before his chariot. In the -meantime, events which concern us more closely were happening at Lyons. - -The extravagance of Caligula was rapidly emptying the treasury. In -twelve months he spent 2,700 million sesterces. His baths were of the -most precious ointments; his banquets were especially designed to -waste money--one alone cost £80,000, in modern coinage--and, when the -flow was not fast enough, he drank pearls dissolved in vinegar, and -had gold fashioned in the shape of food and served to his guests. He -disdainfully swept the palaces of Octavian and Tiberius, with other -mansions, from the Palatine, and erected a palace of extraordinary -proportions and barbaric splendour. Such habits drew about him a crowd -of ignoble parasites, and one can well believe that he had discovered a -conspiracy against him at Lyons. He had prostituted the honour of Rome -in a manner so childish and base that few could be unmoved. Observing -the wealth of the Gauls--for Lugdunum (Lyons) was then the centre -of a prosperous and cultivated region--he began to sell to them the -possessions of the Imperial house. He was present at the auction, and -the proceeds were so satisfactory that he sent to Rome for wagon-loads -of furniture, heirlooms, and curios from the Imperial palaces, and, as -they were offered for sale, pointed out himself the historical value of -each object. - -In his suite was the first husband of his sister Drusilla. This -distinguished noble, Lepidus, may have exchanged views on the insanity -of the Emperor with the disgusted Gauls. At all events, Caligula sent -word to the Senate that he had discovered a plot against his life, -and added that his sisters, Livilla and Agrippina, had been convicted -of adultery with Lepidus. He put Lepidus to death, and compelled -Agrippina, a proud and spirited young princess, to carry on foot to -Rome the urn containing the ashes of her alleged lover. We shall see -how, on his return to Rome, Caligula made atonement to vice for this -drastic punishment of adultery. In fact, he already had a mistress in -the Court at Lyons, and this lady now displaces Lollia Paulina, and -becomes the fourth Empress of Rome. - -Milonia Cæsonia is one of the oddest figures in the very varied gallery -through which our story conducts us. Julia and Messalina are imperial -in their vices. Cæsonia, whose vices are so little discussed, stands -entirely apart from the other Empresses--at least of the first century. -Wholly destitute of character or culture, already worn with the bearing -of three children, she seems to have won and retained the fancy--one -cannot call it affection or regard--of Caligula by a handsome figure, -a robust masculinity, and an entire lack of refinement. He often -exhibited her nude to his friends, and encouraged her to dress as -an Amazon and ride her horse before the army. His disordered mind -puzzled at times over the charm by which she held him. He would stroke -her strong white throat, and murmur pleasantly that at one word from -him the knife of the executioner would sink into it; and he would -sometimes, with the same brutal humour, threaten to have her tortured, -in order to discover what philtre she secretly administered to him. -She had much tact and no scruples. Their daughter Drusilla was born -on the day of their marriage, according to Suetonius, or thirty days -afterwards, according to more credible authorities. As the child grew, -it showed the temper of a wild cat. Caligula watched its frenzies with -delight, as it screamed and bit its nurse; there was, he said, no room -for doubt about the paternity. - -With such a spouse, and with his favourite courtesan Pyrallis, whom -also he had established in his new palace, Caligula indulged his -insane impulses without the least restraint. Within a few months of -inflicting so terrible a punishment on his sister, he was giving -imperial lessons in incest and adultery. So low had much of the Roman -nobility fallen that no sword was drawn on the Emperor, or employed -on its possessor, when he concluded his banquets with a command of -promiscuous intercourse to the men and women of patrician rank whom he -entertained. Nor were his excesses confined within the walls of his -palace, and known only by uncertain rumour. He developed a passion for -driving chariots, and frequented the company of grooms and gladiators. -Rome genially applauded, since it implied more and longer shows in the -circus and amphitheatre. The struggles of the different factions in the -races--of whom Caligula supported the Greens--more than ever enlivened -the dull days of an idle populace. Caligula forced nobles to exercise -the base and dangerous profession of the gladiator, and to drive -chariots before the mob in the circus. - -But the amusement of Rome reached its height when Caligula, in the -year 39, discovered his divinity. Other Emperors were content to leave -it to the flattery of their people to detect a divinity in them after -their very human careers were over. “I am turning into a god,” said one -of them ironically, as he died. Caligula believed that his splendour -was already divine. Vitellius, a contemptible courtier, father of the -later Emperor, shrewdly borrowed the idea from Oriental monarchs, and -suggested it to Caligula. Then were witnessed scenes in Rome which -even the wildest extravagances of Nero cannot rival. Its citizens had, -at the peril of their lives, to restrain their laughter, and bend in -respectful worship, when the slim, ungraceful youth--he was yet only in -his twenty-seventh year--with the weariness of dissipation on his pale -face, trod their streets in the garments of Jove, with a beard of gold -thread, or marched past them with the bow and quiver and golden halo of -Apollo, or dressed to the more congenial part of Venus. A machine was -made by which he could, in a puerile way, imitate the thunder of the -rival god; and he ordered the heads to be struck off the statues of the -Greek deities and replaced by copies of his own. A deity must have a -cult. Caligula appointed himself and his horse, for which he provided -a marble palace and an ivory manger, the high priests of his cult. -Cæsonia was associated in the priesthood, and the position of ordinary -priest of the cult was sold to various nobles at the price of eight -million sesterces each. Poor men were forced to ruin themselves and -put an end to their lives; wealthier men meekly posed as the ministers -of a divinity who gorged himself with food and wine at each meal, and -resorted to the vomit that he might return to the table. - -How long nature would have suffered this madness to debase the fallen -city one cannot tell, but the exhaustion of the treasury now led -Caligula to do things which roused a few Romans from their lethargy. He -repeated in Rome the auctions he had held at Lyons, and many stories -are told of his brutal irresponsibility. The truth of these stories -is always doubtful, but one may be quoted as an illustration of the -popular feeling. It is said that a Senator fell asleep during one of -the sales. Caligula malignantly called the auctioneer’s attention -to the fact that the sleeping man was nodding at every bid, and the -Senator awoke to find that he had bought thirteen gladiators and -other property at fabulous prices. Caligula even stood at his palace -door to receive gifts, pleading that the addition to his family had -impoverished him. - -He then discovered a new source of funds in the execution of the -wealthier nobles. Brutal and sanguinary from the first, his growing -madness and his delight in gladiatorial shows fostered his cruelty. He -had an actor burned alive in the Forum for venturing even to hint, in -an ambiguous phrase, that the Imperial behaviour was reprehensible. -Others he had tortured and executed in his presence, in order that he -might enjoy the sensation of seeing them suffer. But it was mainly in -quest of money to maintain his terrible expenditure that he stooped -to the lowest excesses. No man of wealth in Rome was safe. Informers -were eager for the fourth part of a victim’s property, to which they -were entitled after a successful impeachment; Caligula hungered for the -remaining three-fourths. Every ten days he would “clear his accounts,” -as he put it, or doom to death any wealthy Senators whom he had -chosen to put on his list of suspects. He would return from the court -boasting to Cæsonia of the heavy work he had done while she slept. A -great terror brooded over the city, and men talked of the Emperor in -whispers. Omens and signs multiplied. The statue of Jupiter Olympus had -been brought to Rome, and one day the workmen rushed in alarm from the -temple in which it was placed, crying that the marble god had burst -into a fit of laughter. - -On January 24th, in the year 41, this appalling gloom came to an end, -and the third Emperor and fourth Empress of Rome were justly removed. -The long hesitation of the Romans must not too readily be ascribed to -cowardice. The Prætorian Guards were now encamped at the edge of the -city, and were richly paid for personal loyalty to the Emperor; so that -there was very faint hope of a successful rising of the citizens. For -the greater part these formidable soldiers were mercenaries, caring -nothing for the honour of Rome, faithful as dogs to the liberal master. -It was not until an officer of this regiment headed a conspiracy that -any action could be taken with a prospect of success. This officer was -a favourite of Caligula, but the Imperial friendship was expressed in -such coarse and stinging epithets that he was driven to rebel. He and -his associates determined to assassinate Caligula when he attended the -Palatine games in the later part of January. A large wooden theatre -had been erected for the occasion, and Caligula presided with delight -at the repulsive spectacles. Such was the popular enthusiasm that the -conspirators surrounded Caligula day after day without daring to touch -him. His German guard, insensible to the grievances of the Romans, -would at once and blindly oppose a rising, and the people seemed to -have forgotten his tyranny in the blood-reeking show he had provided -for them. - -They came to the fifth and final day of the games. Caligula was unwell, -and wished to remain in the palace, but he was persuaded to make an -effort to attend the final performance. Before a vast audience the -actors represented the crucifixion of a band of robbers, and the stage -was washed with blood. The chief actor of the time had a trick of -pouring blood from his mouth, and the other actors clumsily imitated -him. When it was over, Caligula, elated with the wild applause of the -citizens, entered the narrow passage which led from the theatre to his -house on the Palatine. The conspirators seized their last chance, and -fell upon the Emperor with their swords. Within a few hours Rome so far -changed that it was the turn of the partisans of Caligula to tremble. -His body was removed and stealthily buried by Herod Agrippa. - -Cæsonia seems to have remained in, or preceded Caligula to, the palace, -with her little daughter. There the cries of the guard and the noisy -confusion in the palace would soon announce the disaster to her. She -had no time to escape, or devise any policy. A centurion rushed to -her room and stabbed her to death. Her infant was roughly seized by -a soldier, and its brain was shattered on the walls of the palace, -where the brief infamies of its father and mother had degraded the -civilization of Rome. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -VALERIA MESSALINA - - -The fall of Cæsonia was hardly less romantic than the succession -to her position of the woman who is known to every reader of Roman -history, and to many others, as Messalina. When Caligula entered the -narrow passage leading to the Palatine, after the performance in the -theatre, a few members of his suite walked before him. One of these was -his uncle Claudius, a slow-witted and despised man, in his fiftieth -year, whom Caligula had rescued from humiliation and put in office. He -had already entered the palace when the raucous cries of the German -guard and the flash of weapons informed him of the assassination of -the Emperor. The guards were cutting down such of the conspirators as -they could reach. In instinctive terror Claudius hid behind a curtain, -nor was he reassured when he saw the soldiers pass with the heads of -the nobles they had slain. Presently a soldier of the Prætorian Guard -noticed his feet below the curtain, and drew him out. Claudius fell to -the ground in terror, and implored them to spare his life. The soldiers -had recognized him, however. They put him in a litter, and carried him -on their shoulders to the camp. Citizens whom they passed in the street -pitied the harmless and, as was generally believed, half-witted prince. -At last some one learned, or divined, the purpose of the guards, and -Claudius awoke from his terror to hear the strange cry of “Salve, -Imperator,” and realized that he was to be made Emperor of Rome. - -He had been married three years before to Valeria Messalina, who thus -became the fifth Empress. As the youngest son of Drusus, brother of -Tiberius, and Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia, he was -the natural heir to Caligula. The Imperial power was in no sense -hereditary, but the attachment of the Prætorian Guards to the ruling -family, and their irresistible domination over Rome, for some time -ensured a kind of hereditary succession. There had, however, been no -deliberate proposal to put Claudius on the throne. While the future -of the Empire was being determined by the rough mercenaries in the -Prætorian camp, where Claudius promised a substantial largess for -his elevation, the Senate was actually discussing the question of -restoring the Republic. Somewhat deformed in person, clumsy in gait -and corpulent, stuttering in speech, deficient at least in the power -of expression, Claudius had always been regarded as a negligible -offshoot of the Julian stock. His mother had spoken of him as “a little -monster,” Octavian had genially treated him as half-witted, and, when -he arrived at early manhood, Tiberius had refused to give him any -rank or office. Caligula, however, had given him consular rank, and -promoted him in the palace, though he treated his uncle with the brutal -jocularity which his mental infirmity was held to justify. - -We shall see that this treatment was far from just, for Claudius had -some excellent qualities; but the disdain of his family threw him upon -the society of his servants, and led him to seek consolation in the -pleasures of the table and the dice-board. He had in early youth been -betrothed to a daughter of Julia. This contract was dissolved when -Julia’s vices were discovered, and he was married to a young lady of -distinguished and wealthy family, Livia Medullina Camilla. She died -on the wedding-day, and he married Plautia Urgulanilla, a daughter of -the Empress Livia’s intimate friend, Urgulania. Suspecting, after a -few years, that her friendship with his emancipated-slave friends was -warmer than he intended, he divorced her, and married Ælia Pætina, who -in turn was shortly divorced. - -In the year 38 he married the notorious Valeria Messalina, whose -name conveys to every student of history or morals a summary -impression of the worst features of the early Empire. The spirit of -our time is so resolutely bent on visiting the sins of the children -on their fathers--so determined to seek the secret of character -in heredity--that the older biographical practice of drawing out -genealogies cannot be entirely abandoned; though one may wonder whether -the tainted atmosphere of Rome may not have been more deadly than a -tainted stock. It is enough to say that both her parents were of the -Julian family, and were first cousins of Claudius. Her father, Valerius -Messala Barbatus, was a Senator of distinction. He is known to us as -the Senator who, in the old Roman spirit, made a futile effort to -restrain women from invading public life and the camp. Her mother has a -less reputable record. We shall see that she eventually falls under a -charge of conspiracy and magic; but we may find that her more serious -offence was an intense hatred of the Empress Agrippina, who brought the -charge against her. - -Messalina, as we may now briefly call her--with a passing protest -against that uncouth expression, “the Messaline”--was in her sixteenth -year at the time of her marriage. An indulgent imagination will be able -to appreciate the dangerous situation of the young girl. Entering, -in her teens, a world of the most seductive pleasure and the utmost -license, with so responsive and impulsive a nature as she had, she -needed the guidance of a man whom she could at least respect. Instead -of this, she found herself mated to a man of forty-eight years, whose -full paunch and long thin legs and tremulous head were the jest of the -Palatine, and who spent his hours in the company of Greek freedmen, -or in too prolonged an enjoyment of rich dishes and costly wines. -Claudius, it is true, adored her, but his adoration only made him the -surer dupe of her craving for indulgence. Her misconduct probably -began early. When, after the evening meal, she left her spouse -intoxicated and snoring over the emptied dishes, when his throat had -been tickled with a feather, so that he might disgorge and return to -the Imperial dainties, the young girl would naturally yield to the -counsels of the unscrupulous courtiers who abounded in such a palace. - -The path to the abyss was made smoother for her by her husband’s -reliance on his freedmen. In the later years of the Republic, when the -dominion of Rome was extended over the East, the practice had grown -of employing the more accomplished slaves of Greece and Syria in the -patrician palaces. Equally expert at keeping accounts or pandering to -vice, they won their emancipation and acquired large fortunes in the -service of their new masters. They were usually regarded with disdain, -but, as we saw, Claudius had been driven to associate familiarly with -them, and they attained great power when he ascended the throne. Rome -now discovered a new evil in the Imperial rule it had adopted. All who -wished to approach the Emperor with a petition had to flatter or bribe -the freedman Callistus, to whom this part of Claudius’s duties was -entrusted. His steward of finances, Pallas, his secretary, Narcissus, -and his adviser in letters, Polybius, stood at one or other avenue -of the palace, and exacted toll of all who approached. Offices were -distributed through their avaricious hands, and it was soon noticed -that they built magnificent villas in the neighbourhood of Rome. -Whether the rumour was true or not, it was believed in Rome that some -of the noblest ladies paid an ignominious price to these men for the -favours they sought, or were surrendered to them by the Empress. It is -at all events clear that Messalina soon came to an understanding with -them. Both they and she needed to dupe the purblind Emperor, and it was -felt that a friendly co-operation would be better than a precarious -contest for supremacy. - -Before the end of the first year of Claudius’s reign this corrupt -collusion began to show its influence. Claudius had begun well. He set -to work at once to redress the injustice and follies of Caligula. A -general amnesty was granted, the courts of justice were purified, the -administration was opened to the abler provincials, and the public -funds were expended on public works of solid usefulness. How far the -freedmen were responsible for these measures it is difficult to say, -but it seems that we must grant Claudius, not only good will, but some -quality of judgment. At the same time, there is evidence from the first -of some infirmity of mind. His work as a judge seems to have been more -remarkable for industry than enlightenment. On one occasion an angry -knight (_eques_) threw books at him in the court-house; on another, -during a shortage of corn, the people pelted him with mouldy crusts in -the Forum. Humane he was, apparently, in those early months, but he -does not seem to have shaken off his earlier repute and exhibited any -personal dignity. - -It was not long before even his humanity was warped by the malignant -persuasions of his wife and the corrupt connivance of his freedmen. -In our age of apologists there has been some effort to relieve the -character of Messalina from its heavy burden of infamy, or at least -to discredit the evidence adduced for it. I have already said enough -about the Roman authorities to justify one in making some reserve in -regard to the details transmitted to us about Messalina. When we read -Tacitus we have to remember that he had before him the memoirs of her -bitter enemy and successor, Agrippina. When we read Suetonius and -Dio and later writers we must not forget their love of vivid colours -and romantic details. Yet these writers had in their time official -records, and something like public journals, belonging to the earlier -period, which put the malignant and unscrupulous action of Messalina -beyond question; of the less startling stories of her infidelities we -have proof enough in the remarkable and authentic episode which will -close her career. It cannot reasonably be doubted that the traditional -estimate of the character of Messalina is substantially just, though -we must use some discretion in admitting particular statements about -her. - -With this reserve we may follow, in fair chronological order, the -career of this young girl of nineteen, who is dazed by the sudden -attainment of Imperial wealth and power, until, in her twenty-fifth -year, her childish efforts to pierce her bosom with a dagger are ended -by the manly thrust of a soldier’s sword. She had borne a daughter, -Octavia, before the accession of her husband, and she was far advanced -in child-bearing when Caligula was assassinated. Claudius, unable to -believe his good fortune, expecting daily that some fresh movement -would dislodge him from the throne, kept in the palace with her. A -month after his accession she bore a son, Tiberius Claudius Germanicus -(later known as Britannicus), and Claudius ventured out, to exhibit -his heir to the people and express his joy. He never entirely lost his -fear. Soldiers served him at table, and all who approached him were -searched. But his clement and comparatively enlightened rule won him -some popularity, his gluttony and weak wit were genially overlooked, -and he gave promise of a prosperous reign. - -The first indication of the evil of his feeble dependence on Messalina -and the freedmen occurred before the end of the year 41. Claudius had -recalled from exile Caligula’s sisters, Julia Livilla and Agrippina, -and restored their property. Agrippina, whose character and career will -occupy the next chapter, was in her twenty-fifth year, Livilla in her -twenty-third. Both had the beauty of the Julian women in its ripest -development. Agrippina quickly realized her situation and discreetly -concealed her ambition, but the younger woman was too proud to be -diplomatic, and she was suspected of an ambition which she possibly -did not entertain. Messalina became jealous, and denounced her to -Claudius for adultery. Claudius was persuaded that an open trial would -entail scandal on the Imperial family, and the unfortunate woman was -exiled without the chance of defence. She was starved to death in her -prison shortly afterwards, and, when the further course of this story -has been read, one will hardly hesitate to accept the assurance of -the chroniclers that this grave crime was committed by the orders of -Messalina. - -That the charge against Livilla was malignant cannot be doubted when we -learn that her lover was said to be the famous Stoic moralist, Seneca. -The disease of Rome had already evoked a natural remedy. The austere -code of morals which Zeno had formulated some centuries earlier in the -marble colonnade at Athens was now adopted by the best of the Romans. -Pointing to the enfeeblement and degradation which this epidemic of -Eastern vice and luxury had brought on their city, the philosophers -argued that the curb must be placed once more on sensual impulse, and -the old virility of Rome restored. Seneca was the most distinguished -representative of this growing school at Rome, and, ambiguous or even -reprehensible as his conduct may seem to us at a later stage, we should -in this case prefer to attribute his punishment to the known vice of -Messalina rather than to a frailty on his part of which we have no -indication. The wise and just counsel that he gave to Claudius was -probably distasteful to Messalina and the freedmen. Without trial or -defence he was banished to Corsica. It is sometimes said that, as -Seneca nowhere impeaches the virtue of Messalina, we may distrust the -charge of vice against her which we find in all the later chroniclers; -but Seneca also fails to refer to her greater and quite indisputable -misdeeds, so that the omission has no significance. Seneca remained in -exile six years, and had no more personal knowledge than Suetonius of -the debauches of Messalina. - -Her first success emboldened the Empress. Within a few months she -selected another lady, Julia, the daughter of Drusus, and denounced her -to Claudius. Such virtue or discernment as Claudius may have possessed -was now attenuated by the sensual excesses in which his wife and his -ministers encouraged him to indulge, and his humanity was contaminated -by the passion for gladiatorial displays which he gradually contracted. -We must not too hastily admit the lowest estimate of his powers. If -Octavian could be so long and so easily duped by Julia, we may admit -that Claudius’s ignorance was consistent with some measure of good -sense, which he still displayed in provincial administration and the -accomplishment of public works. But from the end of the first year of -his reign he lends himself so basely and ignobly to the schemes of -Messalina that it is impossible to defend him. No sooner did his wife -accuse Julia than she was banished, without trial, and it is easy to -believe that her speedy death at the hands of the centurion in charge -of her was due to the orders of Messalina. It was said that Julia had -excited the Empress’s suspicions by too tender a regard for Claudius. - -The more prudent Agrippina now sought the protection of a husband. She -is said to have chosen the future Emperor, Sulpicius Galba, and urged -him to divorce his ailing wife; but the wife’s mother took her part, -and ended the intrigue by boxing Agrippina’s ears in public. The wife -died soon afterwards, but Galba feared the resentment of Messalina too -much to wed Agrippina. She then induced Crispus Passienus, a wealthy -and distinguished noble and a famous orator, to divorce his wife -and marry her. She had inherited a moderate fortune from an earlier -husband--the father of her son, the future Emperor Nero--and the -great wealth and distinction of Passienus put her in a much stronger -position. Passienus died soon afterwards, leaving his fortune to -Agrippina and Nero. How the fortune was used for the advancement of -mother and son, and how Agrippina was eventually murdered by her son, -will be told in the next chapter. Serviez repeats without hesitation a -rumour, lightly reproduced in one of the chronicles, that she murdered -Passienus to secure the wealth. The charge is of the most frivolous -character. Her husband had afforded her some protection: a fortune -without a husband would rather attract than divert the passion of -Messalina. - -The year 42 was marked by a conspiracy that unhappily disposed Claudius -more than ever to confide in Messalina and the freedmen. The troops in -Dalmatia were to be employed in the dethronement of Claudius. At the -last moment, however, the soldiers were startled by so many and such -undeniable signs of the anger of the gods that they returned to their -loyalty and slew their officers. The standards could not be dragged out -of the ground--a not unnatural event, one would think, in a Dalmatian -winter--and the wreaths had fallen from the eagles. - -The plot was reported to the palace, and Messalina and the freedmen -drew up long lists of men whom it was desirable to remove or despoil. -Wealthier men redeemed their lives by paying considerable sums; others -were put to the torture, or were consigned to prison or the grave. A -story is told in the record of this persecution which should guard us -from admitting the common fallacy that the older spirit of Rome was -quite extinct. A distinguished patrician heard that his name was on the -list of the condemned. His wife urged him to escape the ignominy of a -public execution by ending his own life, and, when he hesitated, she -buried the dagger in her own bosom, and then handed it to him with the -words, worthy of a Corneille: “It does not hurt.” Another victim was -Appius Silanus, who had married Messalina’s mother, Domitia Lepida. -The chroniclers say that his crime was to have rejected the advances -which Messalina made to him. Whatever the motive was, she induced the -freedman Narcissus to tell Claudius that he saw, in a dream, Silanus -thrusting a dagger into the Emperor’s heart. Claudius nervously -consulted his wife, who confessed, with artistic horror, that the same -dream had frequently tormented her. They had meantime summoned Silanus -to the palace, and, as he entered at that moment, the Emperor ordered -him to be executed at once. - -Such are a few of the dark crimes attributed to Messalina that we -cannot seriously question, and that fully prepare us to believe the -less inhuman misdeeds which it might otherwise be possible to doubt. -In the following year (A.D. 43) Claudius went to Britain, leaving his -Empress at Rome. It seems to have been at this time that, unless we are -arbitrarily to set aside one group of charges in the records and admit -another, Messalina indulged in the practices which have secured for -her an unenviable immortality. The perfectly authentic sequel of the -story will show that she had so extraordinary a disregard for even the -pretence of moral feeling that the statements of the chroniclers cannot -for a moment be set down as improbable. In a word, Messalina surpassed -Caligula both in her own misconduct and in the propagation of vice. -Envying the trade of the lowest women of Rome, she had one of the rooms -at the palace equipped on the model of the chambers of the _meretrices_ -in the tenements of the Subura, put over the door the name of one -of the most notorious women of that caste, Lycisca, and offered the -lascivious embrace of an Empress to any who cared to pay the price for -which she stipulated. Others place the scene in an actual brothel. Not -content with her own abasement, she compelled the most distinguished -ladies of Rome to follow her example. She bestowed the honours and -offices, which Claudius left at her disposal, on the husbands who would -complacently witness the defilement of their wives, and offered the -alternative of her deadly lists to those who refused. Uncertain as we -must always be whether these statements are not mere exaggerations of -her conduct in the popular mind of the time, they are consistent enough -with the accredited facts of her career. - -In the year 44 Claudius returned with joy to what he still regarded -as the chaste and tender arms of his young Empress. So lively was his -esteem of her virtue that he obtained from the Senate permission for -her to ride in the ceremonious car (_carpentum_), an honour which was -restricted to the priestly rank and rigorously forbidden to women. He -granted her, also, the signal distinction of riding in his chariot on -the day of his triumphal procession. The ease with which she duped him -led her to fresh excesses. It is said that when she saw his wine-soaked -body laid to bed at night, she placed one of her maids with him, and -went with the companions of her debauches. If we may believe a story -which has no inherent improbability, and has some confirmation later, -she made the blind Emperor himself purvey to her vices. She one day -complained to Claudius that the popular actor, Mnester, would not obey -her when she commanded him to leave the stage and enter her private -service. Claudius forced him to do so; and three years later, when -Messalina’s conduct was exposed, Mnester exhibited to the Emperor the -scars on his body which gave proof of Messalina’s brutal familiarity. -Even when she used the bronze coinage of Caligula, which had been -withdrawn from circulation, to make a statue to Mnester, Claudius -suspected nothing. - -This licentious conduct continued until the year 47. Messalina was only -in her twenty-fifth year when her long impunity led her to take the -step which ruined her. A bust of her that is preserved at Florence, -and a cameo at Vienna, give a representation of her that we have no -inclination to distrust. The curly golden-yellow hair--Juvenal tells -us its colour--is elaborately dressed over the low forehead, and the -large deep-set eyes are abnormally close. There is some irregularity in -the undeniable beauty of the face; and the thin lips and small mouth, -drooping weakly at the corners, would irresistibly suggest a record of -adventure, if such a story were not assigned to her in the chronicles -of the time. With that record before us it is, no doubt, easy for -physiognomists to detect a moral distortion in the features, and to -discover unknown, as well as verify the known, vices of the Empress -in the truthful marble. Yet any thoughtful observer will be disposed -to see in those pitiless lineaments a revelation of the truth about -Messalina and her race. It is a picture of strength worn to decay by -reiterated storms of passion, of beauty fading with the disease -which foreruns death. - -[Illustration: MESSALINA - -BUST IN THE UFFIZI PALACE, FLORENCE] - -One last crime must be added to the record of Messalina before we come -to the crowning folly of her career. There remained one woman in Rome -more beautiful than she; and one distinguished patrician whose virtue -rebuked her, and whose wealth allured her. She resolved to bury the two -under a common ruin. - -Valerius Asiaticus, a patrician of consular rank and great merit, -had withdrawn from Rome to Crete as the madness of Messalina and the -blindness of Claudius increased. Unhappily for him, he owned the -beautiful and famous garden which Lucullus had laid out on the summit -of the Pincian Hill, and Messalina was now eager for it. She employed -the tutors of her children to declare to the Emperor that Asiaticus -was at the head of an important faction at Rome, and had gone to fire -the Eastern provinces with his rebellious spirit. The omens which were -reported from the East seemed to Claudius to make mere human testimony -superfluous. The moon had been darkened by an eclipse, and a new island -had risen from the Ægæan Sea. The Chaldæan sages interpreted these -signs with their customary art, and Asiaticus was brought to Rome. - -He listened in disdain to the charge of conspiracy and adultery which -the tutors, Sosibius and Suillius, brought against him, but, when they -proceeded to accuse him of unnatural vice, he broke into an angry -denial of the whole accusation. Messalina was present at the trial--a -wholly irregular proceeding, in Claudius’s chamber--and saw that the -Emperor was moved. She whispered to Vitellius, the sycophant who had -first discovered Caligula’s divinity and shaded his eyes from the -blaze, that Asiaticus must on no account escape, and left the room. -Vitellius, with ready wit, fell at the feet of the Emperor. He enlarged -at length on the great merits of the accused, and concluded with an -artful plea that Claudius would grant Asiaticus the favour of being -allowed to take his own life, instead of handing him over to the -public executioner. Easily confused by this stratagem, and fancying -that he was showing some clemency, Claudius assented. Asiaticus, true -to the finest traditions of his fathers, returned to his palace, -bathed and supped in perfect tranquillity, and then opened his veins. -Messalina secured the gardens of Lucullus. - -The lady with whom Asiaticus is said to have offended was Poppæa -Sabina, the only woman in Rome who surpassed Messalina in beauty. That -would be quite enough to arouse the jealousy of Messalina, but we are -told that she had the still greater mortification of believing that -Poppæa was too intimate with the actor Mnester, whom the Empress had -appropriated. The daughter of Poppæa will presently come before our -eyes in the gallery of Roman Empresses, and, if we may infer from her -conduct the nature of her mother’s precepts and example, we cannot set -aside the charge as improbable. There is, however, no need for us to -discuss it. No sooner was Asiaticus condemned than Messalina sent the -news to Poppæa, and she put an end to her own life. Sosibius received -a million sesterces, in the form of a special reward for his service -in instructing the young princes; and other ministers to the cruelty, -avarice, and passion of the Empress were richly endowed. - -Messalina now ventured upon so flagrant a violation, not merely of -decency, but of the moderate discretion that had hitherto concealed -her conduct from her husband, that her career of infamy was brought -to a violent close. She had for some time entertained and indulged a -passion for Caius Silius, one of the most handsome men among the Roman -nobility. Tacitus assures us that there was no secrecy in the amour. -She persuaded Silius to divorce his wife, visited his house with a -large retinue, and made him repeated gifts of slaves and other property -belonging to the Imperial house. An obscure passage in Tacitus seems -to imply that her impatience of all laws led her to form the design of -marrying Silius while married to Claudius, and the details of what -immediately followed have come down to us in contradictory versions. -It is said by some that Silius proposed to her to remove Claudius and -share the throne with him, and that she hesitated only from fear that -Silius might divorce her as soon as he had secured the purple. Other -writers say that the phœnix appeared in Egypt, as it had done before -the death of Tiberius, and that the nervous Emperor was further told of -a prediction that the husband of Messalina would die before the end of -the year. In order to cheat this decree of the fates, Suetonius says, -Claudius signed the divorce of Messalina, and went down to the coast, -leaving her free to marry Silius. He intended to return and recover her -as soon as Silius had fulfilled the prophecy by dying. - -It is clear that a good deal of legend has mingled with the true -account of the events which led to Messalina’s downfall, and one -can merely try to construct a plausible story out of the discordant -versions. Tacitus, the highest authority, knows nothing of the -prophecy, or the divorce which it is said to have occasioned. His -silence is not conclusive, and the course attributed to Claudius, -however extravagant it may seem, is not inconsistent with his -abnormally timorous nature. On the whole, however, one is disposed to -agree with Merivale, that Claudius heard of no prophecy, signed no -divorce, and knew nothing of the liaison until a later stage, as Dio -implies. But Merivale is plainly wrong in suggesting that the marriage -of Messalina and Silius is a libellous legend borrowed from Agrippina’s -memoirs. When he submits that such a marriage could not have taken -place without the Emperor’s knowledge, he forgets that, as all the -authorities state or imply, Claudius had left Rome and gone down to -the coast. The Emperor returned to the city as soon as he heard of the -marriage. - -The real course of events seems to be that Claudius was vaguely -informed of the existence of a conspiracy against him. He complained -bitterly to the Senate, confined himself for some time to the palace, -and then, in October, went to Ostia to inspect certain public works -which were in progress there. Delighted at his removal, Messalina -went through the form of marriage--the laxer, not the more solemn, -form (_confarreatio_)--with Silius, and cast aside the last shade -of reserve. Base as her nature was, she must have been weary of the -nightly spectacle of the repulsive old man sinking back in satiety on -his couch, while slaves tickled his throat with a feather to induce -a vomit. Silius was young, handsome, and not without wit. A better -future seemed to open before her. Perhaps the slow-witted Emperor would -make no struggle for his throne; perhaps the city and the guards would -gladly sacrifice him for this handsome young Imperial pair. There is -calculation in the carven face of Messalina. But the news was speeding -to Ostia, and the dreadful end was near. - -Shortly after the marriage came the festival of the vintage, the -Bacchanalia, which was celebrated by the bride and bridegroom and their -friends with the wildest merriment. That last scene in the licentious -career of Messalina must have made a deep impression on the feeling of -Rome, and it is lit up for ever by one of Tacitus’s most vivid flashes -of description. Messalina had bestowed on Silius the Imperial palace -and its contents, and in the garden of the palace they paid full honour -to the orgiastic cult of Bacchus. Wine-presses were set up, and the -women of Messalina’s company, their white limbs and bosoms scantily -covered with strips of fawn skin, sang and danced the Bacchic dance -round the large vats of grape-juice. Messalina, her golden hair flowing -loose under her ivy wreath, shook her thyrsus and led the wild dance. -Silius lay at her feet, crowned with ivy, nodding his head to the air -of the lascivious chorus. Wine flowed freely on that autumn afternoon, -and the gay world and distant Ostia were forgotten; or so little heeded -that when Vettius Valens, one of Messalina’s discarded lovers, had, -in boyish exuberance, climbed a high tree, and they crowded round and -asked what he saw, he gaily cried: “A hurricane from Ostia.” But -before the evening was out the hurricane came from Ostia and scattered -the revellers in terror. News was brought to the garden that Claudius -was hurrying to Rome to avenge his dishonour. - -The freedman Narcissus had disliked the idea of Silius obtaining power, -especially as Messalina had recently taken the ominous step of securing -the execution of his colleague Polybius. In the suite of Claudius -at Ostia were two female attendants, to describe them courteously, -Calpurnia and Cleopatra, who were taken into counsel by Narcissus, and -learned their parts in his scheme. Calpurnia flung herself at the feet -of the Emperor, crying, “Messalina is married to Silius.” Cleopatra and -Narcissus were summoned by the Emperor, and they assured him that his -life was in danger, and he must hasten to Rome. Other advisers, who had -been trained to their part by Narcissus, were drawn into the group, and -the dazed and vacillating Claudius yielded to their guidance. He was at -once placed in his chariot, and Vitellius and Narcissus rode with him. -Claudius feebly discussed the news as they travelled, and Vitellius, -not sure which party would triumph, remained silent; but the freedman -assiduously fed the slow-kindling anger of the Emperor. - -Silius had fled from the Bacchanalian garden to the Forum, and tried -to conceal his part by a zealous absorption in business. Messalina saw -all the companions of her revels fly for safety, and leave her to face -the storm alone in the palace-garden. From the disordered relics of the -feast she hurried to her Lucullan gardens on the Pincian. There her -courage seems to have revived, and she determined to make an effort -to disarm her husband. Directing the head of the Vestal Virgins to -follow with her children, she went out upon the road which entered Rome -from Ostia. The news had now spread over Rome. With three companions -only out of the gay throng of her followers, and Vibidia, the Vestal -Virgin, whose person was sacred, she braved the pitiless gaze of the -citizens, who had so long seen her chariot flash by in triumph, and -walked on foot to the gate of the city. There her strength failed, and -she was forced to mount the common cart of a gardener. When they had -covered a short distance from the gates, they saw the Emperor’s chariot -approaching, and she dismounted. Whether from real affection for her, -or from an indolent dislike of trouble, Claudius hesitated once more -when the piteous figure of his young wife appeared in his path; but -Narcissus reminded him of her marriage, and ordered the charioteer to -drive on. Her last despairing appeal was unheeded. The chariot galloped -on, and left her standing on the road. A little further on the Vestal -Virgin, relying on her high position, demanded that Claudius should -grant his wife an opportunity of defending herself, and thrust his -children before him. The sight of his beloved Octavia and Britannicus -again moved the wavering Emperor. Narcissus bade the charioteer drive -onward, and Messalina slowly turned to meet her fate in Rome. - -In order to dispel the last shade of tenderness from the Emperor’s -mind, Narcissus conducted him first to the house of Silius, and showed -him the treasures of the Imperial palace which Messalina had showered -on her lover. He then led him to the camp of the Prætorian Guards, and -induced him to make a speech to the soldiers. The feeble spirit of the -Emperor was cowed by the full revelation of Messalina’s perfidy. Now -completely docile to the masterful freedman, he took his place at the -tribunal, and passed sentence of death, which was at once carried out, -on Silius, Mnester, Vettius Valens, and all Messalina’s accomplices. -Mnester vainly stripped off his robe, to show that he had received -from the Empress rather the imprint of her anger than the embraces of -which he was accused. The Emperor signed the doom of all, and returned -wearily to the palace. Restored by food and wine, he began to resist -the dictation of Narcissus, and ordered him to inform Messalina that he -would hear her on the morrow. The freedman knew that a delay would ruin -his design. He left the room, and told the guard that the Emperor had -commanded the immediate execution of his wife. - -Messalina had returned to her garden on the Pincian, where she was -joined by her mother. Night had come on, and they sat in an arbour -debating the mad brilliance of the past and the terrible gloom of the -future. Domitia Lepida felt that there was no hope of recovering the -favour of Claudius, and urged her daughter to end her life as Roman -tradition prescribed. Strong only in her clinging to life, like most -of the other frail women of the Julian house, Messalina fell at her -mother’s feet and sobbed. Presently the stillness of the deserted -garden was broken by the tramp of soldiers and a summons at the gate. -Still Messalina shrank from the eternal darkness which she had so -suddenly confronted. Only when the officer of the guard told her the -order that Narcissus had given him, and the freedman who had come with -the guard began insolently to revile her for her crimes, did she take -the dagger from her mother’s hands. In the light of the single lamp of -the arbour the little group looked on with pity and disdain, as the -nerveless hands of Messalina lacerated her white bosom with futile -gashes. Then the tribune mercifully drove his sword through her heart. -Her children came up, and found their mother’s lifeless body in a pool -of blood. - -This authentic closing of the career of Messalina must dispose us -to think that there may be little or no exaggeration in the stories -that are told of her. Stahr, in his brilliant apologetic study of -the Empresses, ventures to say that Seneca did not reproduce these -stories about Messalina because he knew that they came from the pen -of an embittered libeller; and it is safe to assume that Tacitus did -derive much of his material from the memoirs of the woman who had -shrunk from the vindictive cruelty of Messalina, and came in time to -replace her. But so much crime is authoritatively laid to the account -of the Empress, and her last adventure reveals so shameless a disregard -of either law or decency, that not a single detail is incredible or -improbable. We shall find such excesses ascribed to later Emperors, by -writers who were not merely recording rumours that may have gathered -volume during decades of passage from mouth to mouth, that nothing can -be deemed impossible to a Messalina. The humane biographer can but -plead that she entered a world of the most dazzling allurement of vice -and crime with a nature already tainted and distorted by the sins of -her fathers, and that the horror of that last scene in the gardens of -Lucullus may be left as a merciful shroud over her unhappy memory. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE MOTHER OF NERO - - -Tacitus has given us a spirited picture of life in the Imperial palace -during the months which followed the execution of Messalina. Claudius -himself had sunk into a state of drowsy indifference when the storm -excited by his discovery had spent itself. “Where is the Empress?” he -asked, as he sat at supper the night after her death, and noticed the -empty place on the couch. Narcissus told him that she was dead, and he -asked no more. But the palace about his slumbering figure soon began -to hum with conflicting intrigues for the succession to her chamber. -Ladies who had visited the Palatine with nervous prudence while -Messalina lived now came to display their charms, and express their -tenderness, to the doting Emperor. From the sombre night of the tragedy -Rome passed with relief to the light enjoyment of the new comedy. -The freedmen, who surrounded and controlled Claudius, selected their -candidates. - -Claudius had inserted one sentiment of his own in the speech which -Narcissus had induced him to make to the Prætorian Guards. He had sworn -that he would not marry again. There were ladies in his household, such -as Calpurnia and Cleopatra, who would encourage the resolution; but the -freedmen decided that he was bound to capitulate under so fair a siege, -and it would be better to have some share in the making of the new -Empress. Each of the Greeks chose a different lady. Narcissus, who had -been promoted to high public service for his zeal, favoured the suit -of Ælia Pætina, whom Claudius had lightly divorced twenty-one years -before. Callistus took up the cause of Lollia Paulina, the wealthy -and beautiful woman whom Caligula had torn from her husband and used -so unjustly. The steward, Pallas, was more fortunate in his choice. -He advocated marriage with Agrippina; and, as the mind of Agrippina -coincided more decisively with that of her champion than seems to -have happened in the case of her rivals, his campaign succeeded. She -discovered a most tender and considerate affection for her uncle, -visited him assiduously, and persuaded him to betroth his daughter -Octavia to her son Lucius Domitius (later Nero). - -Octavia was already betrothed, and Agrippina is said to have removed -the first obstacle to her designs by a cruel and unscrupulous act. We -are told that she induced, and it is at least clear that she permitted, -the sycophantic courtier Vitellius, who favoured her suit, to accuse -the young man, to whom Octavia was betrothed, of incest with his -daughter-in-law. Tacitus has so mean an estimate of the young people -and their generation that he does not regard the charge as a serious -libel. He insists, however, that Agrippina had the case against them -forged, and thus opened her dark Imperial career with a crime. - -We are now approaching the generation in which the great historian -lived, and we are considering the very woman whose memoirs furnished -him with his more serious charges against her rivals and predecessors. -It may therefore seem strange that, if we are to follow our authorities -with docility, we must ascribe a very vicious and unscrupulous -character to Agrippina herself. We have rejected the rumour that -she poisoned her second husband, but that is by no means the only -charge that is brought against her before she married Claudius. The -authorities uniformly assert that she had had incestuous relations with -Caligula in her early teens, had been notorious for her amours during -the life of Messalina, and now very flagrantly placed such honour as -she had at the disposal of Claudius. These charges we cannot control. -We shall find even more serious accusations against her later, and -shall have to regard them with reserve or frank incredulity. It was -the literary fashion to make a consort of the Cæsars imperial in her -vices. On the whole, however, we are compelled to think that the eldest -daughter of Agrippina and Germanicus had the taint of her stock. She -inherited the virile ambition of her mother, and she had even less -scruple in pursuing it. The best that can be said for her is that she -aimed rather at making the future of her son than her own. And when -that son proves to be the Emperor Nero, the murderer of his mother, we -are disposed to read her record with the lenient eye of pity. - -When the elder Agrippina had been banished by Tiberius, as we saw, in -the year 12 A.D., her children were brought up in the house of their -grandmother Antonia. In this plain home of old Roman virtue Caligula -is said to have infected and corrupted all his sisters. Agrippina left -it, in her thirteenth year, to marry Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus. As the -authorities are sharply divided in regard to his character, we cannot -trace his influence in the development of her character. He died in -the year 40, leaving her with a three-year-old boy, Lucius Domitius. -Agrippina was still a young and beautiful woman, and is said to have -availed herself of the loose morals of Roman society until, as we -saw, the attitude of Messalina forced her to marry. She was soon a -widow for the second time, with considerable wealth. Her ambition -revived at the death of Messalina, and she paid the most winning and -flagrant attentions to Claudius. We should go beyond the letter of the -chronicles if we suggested that she bribed Vitellius and Pallas to -promote her suit. It is enough to say that they overcame the reluctance -of Claudius, and they profited materially by her accession to the -throne. - -Claudius professed that he had a scruple about marrying his niece, and -proposed to adopt her as his daughter. That empty honour was hardly -recompense enough for the daily contemplation of his senility and -sensuality. Vitellius induced him to submit his delicate feeling to the -Senate and the people, and then artfully represented to the Senators -that, if Claudius married Agrippina, she might rid them of the hated -influence of the freedmen. Tacitus, whose disdain for the obsequious -Senate of the early Empire always aggravates his comments on their -conduct, describes how they raced each other to the palace to inform -Claudius of their decision, and how the people not improbably incited -by Vitellius, assembled below the Palatine Hill and clamoured for the -marriage. The obtuse and weak-willed Claudius assented, and a few days -later, in the year 49, Agrippina became the sixth Empress of Rome. -Little did she dream that she was entering upon the last decade of her -eventful life, and that it would close with the most ghastly horror. - -She was in her thirty-third year, Claudius in his fifty-eighth. -Years of sensual indulgence had not improved his character or his -intelligence, and no one in Rome can have expected him to live more -than the few years which remained for him. Agrippina was looking to the -time when she would be sole mistress of the Empire. The fine statue of -her which is exhibited in the Lateran Museum has a moral physiognomy -so concordant with the authentic record of her career that we picture -her to ourselves with confidence. In face and figure she is all that -the word imperial suggests to the imagination. Haughty, strong, -and reposeful in her self-reliance, she has lost the last shade of -apprehension with the passing of Messalina, and has the majestic air -of a mistress of the world. Her low brow and large, finely-carved oval -face are said by some physiognomists to have every mark of purity and -refinement, but the close observer will discover in her features only -such a refinement of passion as her ambition would lead us to expect. -In a word, it is the face of a woman who will not stoop to vice or -crime to gratify a sensual impulse, but may have recourse to either -when her ambition lends it a certain expediency. - -[Illustration: AGRIPPINA THE YOUNGER - -BUST, MUS. NAZ., NAPLES] - -The career of Agrippina shows that she really was a moral opportunist -of this character. We need not pass any censure on her ambition. -Unhappy would be the State in which men and women were not at times -fired by the impulse to exert their powers more energetically than -their fellows. But it is impossible to ignore the persistent and -harmonious statements of the Latin historians in regard to the -way in which Agrippina pursued her ambition. We may overlook the -amorous adventures of her earlier years; we may reject, as a light -and implausible rumour, eagerly caught up by prurient diarists, the -charge that she made any dishonourable advances to Claudius before her -marriage, or to the steward Pallas or her son Nero at later dates; -and we may hesitate to admit that she was concerned in the murder of -Claudius. But we cannot find any other motive than a not too nice -ambition in her marrying the aged and repulsive Emperor, and we have -strong reason to suspect her of conduct that is little short of -criminal in many of the events that follow. - -The most formidable of her rivals for the throne had been Lollia -Paulina. Beautiful, wealthy, and popular, the former wife of Caligula -seemed to threaten Agrippina’s security. In their eagerness to avoid -the rock of hereditary power the Romans had steered their vessel into -the Charybdis of intrigue, and any prominent man or woman was regarded -with concern by the one who wore the purple, or aspired to wear it. -Agrippina had a strong and legitimate hope, but no guarantee, that -her son would succeed. Messalina’s son, young Britannicus, was ailing -and epileptic, and was generally ignored in the speculations as to -the succession. It was, therefore, quite natural that Roman gossip -should accuse Agrippina of destroying Paulina, and Tacitus is not less -generous in recording the charges against her than in admitting her -slanders against Livia. He affirms positively that it was the Empress -who persuaded Claudius to have Paulina prosecuted on the charge of -consulting oracles and astrologers as to the duration of his marriage, -and that, when her property was confiscated and she was sent into -exile, Agrippina sent a soldier to compel her to commit suicide. Dio, -as usual, improves upon the narrative. He describes Agrippina gloating -over the bleeding head of her rival, as Fulvia had rejoiced over the -head of Cicero, and opening the mouth to see certain peculiarities of -the teeth by which it might be identified. - -The fatal defect of Dio’s more vivid account is that, as we know -from Pliny, the double canine teeth, of which he speaks, belonged to -Agrippina herself, not to Paulina, and were regarded as a sure presage -of good fortune. The substance of the story, however, we cannot lightly -reject. A beautiful and happy woman was driven to death for no graver -cause than, at the most, an idle patronage of the Oriental charlatans -who then abounded in Rome; and, since this consultation of oracles was -common, there must have been a special reason for the selection of -Paulina. The motive suggested by Tacitus is only too probable. He adds -that Agrippina also banished a lady named Calpurnia. If we may identify -this lady with the Calpurnia whose services to Claudius were so amiable -as to embolden her to disclose to him the crimes of his beloved -Messalina, she would hardly remain long in the palace of Agrippina. - -Apart from such episodes as these, in which jealousy or avarice led -her to make an unworthy use of her power, she ruled judiciously and -serviceably. Claudius was in his sixtieth year. His poor mind was in -complete decay, and it was both fitting and useful that Agrippina -should rule in his name. The coinage of the time bears witness of her -activity. There is, in fact, a living memorial of her rule in the -city of Cologne, which, under the title of Colonia Agrippina, she -established as an outpost of civilization on the farthest confines of -the Empire. She gave dignity and etiquette to the easy-going court of -Claudius, had the right to enter the precincts of the Capitol and to -ride in the gilded imperial chariot of ceremony, and, when the famous -British prince Caractacus was brought to Rome, her throne was raised -by the side of that of the Emperor. The older Roman idea of woman’s -sphere was now discredited by the philosophers and contemptuously -ignored by the women themselves, but the citizens moved slowly, and -there was much discontent and consulting of astrologers. They were -expelled from the city, but in the guarded chambers of patrician -families they continued, in imposing Chaldæan dress, to scan horoscopes -and wave preternatural wands over their symbolical tripods--much as -they do in Bond Street to-day. The more enlightened reader, who is -disposed to regard the superstition with leniency, must reflect that -the prophets might at times, for the vindication of their art, be -tempted to lend a little human aid when nature tarried in bringing -about the deaths which the planets had so plainly foretold. - -Within the palace the whole care of Agrippina was centred in the -education of her son for the purple. To the delight of Rome, she -recalled the philosopher Seneca from exile, and gave him charge of -her son’s studies. When the real character of Nero was revealed in -later years, it was said that Seneca had always disliked his task, -and had even predicted that the boy would become a savage monster. -Seneca himself merely says that the boy was spoiled, and his training -thwarted, by his mother. Nero would fly to Agrippina when Seneca -had made some attempt to check his wayward impulses, and the whole -lesson would be lost in her injudicious caresses. Apart from this not -unnatural weakness, Agrippina made the most commendable efforts to -prepare her son for the throne. The corrupt tutor whom Messalina had -brought to the palace was dismissed--Dio says that he was executed -for attempting the life of Lucius Domitius--to make way for the most -distinguished moralist of the time, and the military instruction was -entrusted to Burrus, whose integrity we shall learn presently. Pallas -was rewarded with such honours as no freedmen had ever borne before, -and Vitellius was rescued from some obscure charge of conspiracy and -restored to his rank. - -Agrippina was now in a position of very great wealth and power. She -drove about Rome in a superb chariot, flaunted the stored jewels of the -Imperial house, and received presents from the ends of the earth. A -white nightingale, which had cost 6,000 sesterces, and a talking thrush -were amongst the rare presents sent to conciliate her. The lingering of -Claudius must have been irksome to her, but it was necessary to secure -the succession of her son before the Emperor died. The one apparent -obstacle was the boy Britannicus, who, as the son of Claudius and -Messalina, had a juster title to be chosen. He was, however, subject to -epileptic fits, delicate in health, and peevish in temper. Agrippina -had little difficulty in thrusting him aside in favour of her own -handsome and engaging boy. The _toga virilis_, or garment of the man, -was usually donned by the Roman youth in his seventeenth year, but the -age was anticipated in the case of princes, and Domitius was to receive -it at the end of the year 50. During the year, however, the convulsions -of nature so plainly portended some momentous event, probably the -passage of Claudius to join his divine forerunners, that Agrippina -pressed for the immediate performance of the rite. Three suns were seen -in the sky, an earthquake shook the solid earth, and birds of evil omen -rested on the temple. Claudius assented, and manhood and other high -distinctions were prematurely conferred on the future Emperor, whose -name was changed to Nero. He joined the priestly college, received -the authority of a proconsul, marched at the head of the guards, and -drew the attention of all at the games by the insignia of his manly -dignities, while Britannicus sat in the _prætexta_ and _bulla_ of the -boy. It was Nero who pleaded in the Senate for distressed cities, Nero -who was made prætor when Claudius was absent from Rome. In the year 52 -he was married to Octavia, and all Rome regarded him as the virtual -heir to the throne. - -There can be no serious doubt that Agrippina had no affection for -Claudius, and must have waited impatiently for his removal when the -succession was secured for her son. Certainly Rome held that view, -and interpreted the events of the succeeding years in accordance with -it. We must therefore be prepared to find much libellous conjecture -in the chronicles about this time. Serviez, who can never resist the -fascination of scandal, gives us a lively picture of Agrippina stooping -to any expedient course of vice or crime in the furtherance of her -ambition. We may have to tell a less romantic story, but it will be -romantic enough. - -It is clear that the Empress now entered into a conflict with -Narcissus, the freedman who had ruined Messalina, and had then favoured -the suit of Ælia Pætina in opposition to her own. Her critics suggest -that she wished to remove this faithful servant in order to attempt the -life of the Emperor more easily, but the suggestion is superfluous. -Narcissus had found the rival freedman Pallas raised to such high -honours, and felt that his own service in exposing Messalina had -been so soon forgotten, that he clearly intrigued against Agrippina. -Tacitus says that it was he who spread the rumour, which reached the -ears of Claudius, that Agrippina was too intimate with Pallas. We are -quite unable to examine the truth or untruth of this charge, and may -dismiss it. Agrippina took an early occasion to attack and discredit -the Greek. In the centre of the Italian hills was a sheet of water, the -Fucine Lake, which had no regular outlet, and often caused disastrous -floods. Claudius ordered that a channel should be made to conduct its -superfluous water to the river, and celebrated the opening of it, -in the year 52, with a naval battle on the lake. Three thrones were -erected: one for the nodding, heavy-paunched Emperor, who had somehow -been squeezed into glittering armour, one for Agrippina, in her robes -of gold cloth, and one for Nero. - -The play did not run smoothly, and Agrippina did not spare Narcissus, -who controlled it. The great ships drew up before the Emperor, and the -men who were about to risk or lose their lives to entertain him rang -out the usual salutation. Forgetting that if he returned the salute he -absolved them from their dangerous duty, Claudius hailed them, and they -claimed the right to abstain. The Emperor is described by Suetonius as -running alongside the lake, angrily urging them to fight. The battle -proceeded, but at the close it was found that the water could not be -released, and Narcissus was bitterly assailed. The performance was -repeated later, when the works were pronounced complete, but a number -of people were drowned, and the quarrel was renewed with spirit. -Agrippina suggested that the funds for the undertaking had been -diverted; Narcissus foiled the attack with a charge of ambition against -the Empress. - -The Emperor was visibly failing, and there was great excitement at -Rome when, at the beginning of the year 54, nature announced once -more that some stirring chapter was to run from the reel of the -fates. The standards and tents of the soldiers were enveloped in -mysterious flames; a rain of blood, in which a modern naturalist -would doubtless discover an innocent microbe, spread terror over one -part of the Empire, and the birth of a pig with claws like those -of a hawk caused equal consternation in another; while Rome heard, -with reiterated shocks, that the doors of the temple of Jupiter had -been opened by unseen hands, and a horrible comet, followed by the -customary pestilence, had appeared in its skies. More significant still -to prudent people, perhaps, was the report that Claudius, returning -to dine at the palace after presiding at the trial of an adultress, -gloomily observed that he had been unfortunate in his marriages; he had -punished one unfaithful wife, and would know how to deal with another. - -In this observation of Claudius we need see no more than an echo of the -whispers of Narcissus, but one can imagine how Rome must have throbbed -with expectation and abounded in gossip at the beginning of the year -54. Nor was this faith in natural oracles disappointed. Two tragedies -were added to the sombre chronicle of the city in that year, and in -both of them our Empress is accused of having acted criminally. - -The first was the condemnation to death of one of the greatest ladies -of Rome, Domitia Lepida, sister-in-law of the Empress; and in this -case there is every reason to suspect a guilty action on the part of -Agrippina. When Agrippina had been exiled by Caligula, her boy had -lived for a few years with his father’s sister, Domitia Lepida, the -mother of Messalina. Lepida was far more indulgent even than Agrippina -to the pretty and wayward child, and, when the mother returned to Rome -and he was restored to her, there was an acrimonious struggle between -the two women for his affection. As it became clear that he would -inherit the purple, the struggle became more passionate. Narcissus -saw in it an opportunity to escape the ruin which would befall him -if Agrippina obtained full power, and, on the ground of his charge -of inconstancy against the Empress, he urged Claudius to make Lepida -guardian of Nero. It is very probable that this intrigue of Narcissus -is the only source of the charge of license brought against the Empress -in her mature years. - -Angry and anxious, in view of the expected death of Claudius, she took -a bold step, and impeached Lepida of criminal conduct. How far Lepida -was guilty we cannot say, but as she was charged only with assailing -the Emperor’s marriage with imprecations, and exercising so little -control over her Calabrian slaves as to endanger the public peace, -the prudent reader will acquit Agrippina of anything more than an -exaggeration of the facts. That exaggeration sufficed, however, to ruin -her distinguished rival. Nero, schooled by his mother, gave witness -that his aunt had tried to alienate his affection; her very natural -comments on the Emperor’s marriage were made to assume the dark form of -magical imprecations; she was condemned to death. - -But those lively convulsions of nature had portended something more -momentous than the death of a noble matron, and Rome continued to wait -for the great tragedy. Before long it was announced that Narcissus had -retired to Sinuessa for the treatment of his gout.[9] The Emperor was -now entirely surrounded by adherents of Agrippina, and we can quite -understand the conviction of Rome when Claudius was taken seriously ill -at a banquet, and died within twenty-four hours. Tacitus emphatically -attributes his death to his wife. Suetonius alone says that, while -it was certain that Claudius was poisoned, it was not certain who -was guilty; a feeble reserve, since Agrippina was so predominantly -interested in his death. - -It is not surprising that recent historians have generally followed -Tacitus. Roergas de Serviez, who rarely has such ample authority for -the crimes he loves to attribute, fastens the murder on Agrippina -without the least hesitation. Merivale sees no ground to question -it, though he points out several inconsistencies in the pages of -Tacitus. Mr. Henderson follows the traditional story in his recent and -discriminating study of the reign of Nero.[10] But Mr. Baring-Gould -insists that the death of Claudius was quite natural, and any candid -student of the evidence must admit that it is inconclusive. - -The facts are that on October 12th, A.D. 54, Claudius attended a -banquet of the priestly college with Agrippina. After eating some -mushrooms (or figs, according to others) from a dish that was served, -he became violently ill and vomited. He was taken back to the palace, -attended by his (and Agrippina’s) physician, but gradually sank, -and died on the morning of the 13th. The theory of the opponents of -Agrippina is that she employed a notorious poisoner, Locusta--a Gaulish -woman, who was certainly in Rome at the time, and was afterwards -employed by Nero--to concoct a slow poison (“a drug that would disturb -his mind and inflict a slow death,” says Tacitus). This is supposed -to have been inserted in a fine mushroom (or fig), which was taken by -Claudius when Agrippina had eaten one from the dish to encourage him. -He fell back and began to vomit, and the theory runs that Agrippina, -fearing that he might recover and suspect her, called in the physician -Xenophon, a dependent of hers, who tickled the Emperor’s throat with a -poisoned feather and made an end of him. - -Mr. Baring-Gould points out that, since Tacitus expressly describes -the poison as “slow,” Agrippina could hardly be surprised and alarmed -when it did not take immediate effect. He concludes that Claudius -contracted a violent indigestion from eating too many figs. This is -no more convincing than the opposite theory. An attack of vomiting, -whether from a natural cause or as an unintended effect of poison, -might easily alarm Claudius, who was very suspicious, and so induce -Agrippina to act. An attack of indigestion, on the other hand, would -hardly have so violent and immediate an effect. The circumstance of -tickling his throat with a feather to cause a vomit, and at the same -time introducing poison, is puzzling; but it was an age of skill in -poisoning, and the feat may have been possible. The question must -remain open. The discrepancies in the narrative are not fatal to it, -but the story itself is no more than a retailing of Roman gossip, which -was at all times more prurient than scrupulous. The problem really -turns on the character of Agrippina, and this is ambiguous enough -to make us hesitate. One may scan the record of her career with the -most penetrating charity without discovering any plain indication of -high character, while the ruin of Lollia Paulina, Domitia Lepida, and -others, may be confidently traced to her. We can only conclude that she -was quite capable of accelerating the death of her husband, and would -have no light interest in doing so; but the circumstances of his death -are quite consistent with the kindlier view that it was due to his -own intemperance. We have not yet, however, reached the close of her -career, and it may be felt that her conduct after the death of Claudius -confirms the darker estimate of her character. - -The malcontents of Rome would be sure to agitate in favour of -Britannicus unless the succession was secured for Nero before the -death of Claudius was known. The art with which Agrippina averted -this danger may excite our admiration of her virility and astuteness, -but must inevitably lessen our appreciation of her sensibility. She -announced that Claudius was dangerously ill, and called an assembly -of the Senate. Conscious that the servants of a palace commonly draw -their pay from some one without, she put guards at every approach to -the chamber of the dead man, and devised and carried out a tragi-comedy -of the most extraordinary character. The clothes were drawn over the -lifeless body, bandages and poultices were ostentatiously applied to -it by her servants, and even the mimes, who had been wont to dance -and ring their bells and crack their jokes before the Emperor, were -brought in to perpetrate their follies in the chamber of death. In a -neighbouring room Agrippina joined her conjugal sobs with the laments -of the youthful Britannicus. We are asked to believe, and we have -little difficulty in believing, that while she clung in tears to the -weeping youth, she was merely, with cold calculation, preventing him -from leaving the palace, lest he should fall in the way of the Guards, -or some ambitious partisan, and be proclaimed Emperor. - -By noon the preparations of her agents were completed. The gates of the -palace were thrown open, and Nero was sent out, under the care of his -military tutor Burrus, the commander of the Guards. A few voices were -heard to mutter the name of Britannicus, but the cry was feeble, and -the response insignificant. The Guards were long accustomed to see the -superiority of Nero over the sickly young prince, and their support -was secured by a liberal promise of money. They conducted Nero to the -Senate, and bade that helpless body accept him. The same evening a -courier from Agrippina brought word to Sinuessa that Nero was Emperor. -Narcissus had lost, and his figure passes from the scene--with the -inevitable rumour that he was imprisoned or poisoned by Agrippina. - -When the Guards came to Nero that night for the watchword he gave -them “The best of mothers,” and Agrippina looked confidently from her -supreme height into the future. Within five years her son would put her -to death with horrible brutality, and jeer at her naked body. No one of -the hundreds of thousands who hailed him with the wildest delight, and -smiled at his amiable irregularities, can have foreseen so rapid and -portentous a degradation. He was then a youth of seventeen, strikingly -handsome both in face and figure, with blue-grey eyes and light curly -hair and finely proportioned limbs. His tutor in arms pronounced him -“a young Apollo.” But his moral and intellectual trainer had failed -as signally as his physical trainer had succeeded. Seneca had vainly -endeavoured to implant in his mind the germs of the noble Stoic -philosophy. Men have disputed from all time whether it was the teacher -or the doctrine that was at fault, while the eugenic school of our time -would relieve both from censure, and regard Nero’s mind as an incurably -corrupt soil. One may venture to differ from both, and wonder if -circumstances had not the greater share in his demoralization. However -that may be, his accession to irresponsible power at such an age, in -such surroundings as we shall discover about him, was a tragedy. His -real advisers were young men, slightly older than himself, and better -versed in the ways of luxury and vice; and the first use he made of his -Imperial power was to toss aside the treatises of the moralists, and -give his whole attention to art, to chariot-racing, and to dissipation. -What sinister use he made of the later hours, or earlier hours, of the -day, and in what melancholy condition his girl-wife must have been, -we shall see in the next chapter. Here we have to consider only his -relations with his mother. - -For a few years after Nero’s accession his mother willingly and -profitably ruled in his name. It must not be imagined that she -had, with the astuteness of a Marie de’ Medici, educated him in an -indifference to politics so that she might indulge her own ambition. -The appointment of Seneca as his tutor is the most creditable, though -unhappily the most futile, act of her career. When, however, the -young Emperor refused to be interested in any problem graver than -the art of driving a chariot or playing the flute, she undertook his -Imperial duties, or continued to have that share in the ruling of the -Empire which she had had under Claudius. She received embassies, was -surrounded by a special German guard when she went abroad, and was -associated with Nero on the coinage. It would be difficult to measure -with any precision the influence which she had on Roman affairs during -this period, since Seneca and Burrus had an equal, if not greater, part -in the government; but it may be recalled, with some honour to her, -that the first four years of Nero’s reign were amongst the happiest and -most prosperous that Rome witnessed during the first century. - -The first thing to trouble her prosperous and happy use of power was -a certain discontent arising from the old prejudice against women in -politics. The Senators were annoyed because she injudiciously listened -to their debates. They met at this time in the Imperial library, -and the Empress had a door pierced into it from the palace, and sat -listening behind a curtain. The Senators are said to have punished -her indiscretion by making unflattering remarks in the course of the -debates, though it is difficult to believe that they were still capable -of so courageous a protest. On one occasion an important embassy came -to Rome from Armenia, and Agrippina declared that she would sit by the -side of Nero when he received it. This seems to have been a startling -innovation, and Seneca had to avert trouble by advising Nero to descend -from his throne, when his mother entered, and lead her affectionately -from the room. - -An incident that shortly occurred gave a nucleus for the -crystallization of this diffused annoyance. A distinguished noble, -Junius Silanus, died, and the familiar whisper of foul play went once -more through all classes of the citizens. His brother Lucius Silanus -was the young noble who had been betrothed to Octavia, and had so -cruelly been separated from her by Agrippina. Was it not natural that -Junius Silanus should wish to avenge his younger brother, and that -Agrippina should detect his plot and have him removed? Tacitus and Dio -fully believed this. As in so many of these cases, however, the only -ground for the charge, as far as we know, is the fact that Silanus -undoubtedly died, and we will not waste time in discussing it. The -Senator had so little of the conspirator in him that even Caligula used -to call him “the golden sheep.” But Rome was convinced that the Empress -was guilty, and the story spread, and is fully accepted by Tacitus, -that she meditated a long series of executions of the men who had -opposed her progress, and that Seneca and Burrus had to restrain her -bloody vindictiveness. - -One may decline to accept this charge on such poor and disputable -evidence; but Agrippina now incurred the anger of her son, and -descended rapidly from the height of her power. The young Emperor had, -as I said, used his Imperial license to ignore his tutors and indulge -his low and sensual tastes. He attracted to his side a band of the most -dissipated youths in the city, and his nightly exploits were the talk -of Rome. One of the less hurtful of his indulgences was his passion for -Acte, a beautiful freed slave from the Eastern market, whom Dumas has -made familiar. Agrippina resented the liaison--apparently from a sense -of justice to Octavia--and rebuked Nero. He turned on her with violence -the moment she tried to check his licentious ways, and threatened -to discharge her favourite Pallas. Agrippina was alarmed. She saw a -powerful party, deeply hostile to herself, growing up about her son, -and she felt that the support of Seneca and Burrus was being withdrawn. -She ceased to speak of Acte, and regarded with silent distress the -coarse ways that her son was exhibiting on the streets every night. A -reconciliation at this heavy price could not last. Shortly afterwards -Nero sent her some rich jewels and robes from the Imperial treasures. -She chose to regard this as a reminder that the Imperial wardrobe was -no longer at her disposal, and angrily refused the gifts. - -Pallas was at once impeached for treason. The charge was so clumsy, and -Seneca defended him so ably, that he had to be acquitted; but Agrippina -forgot discretion in her victory. In the course of a quarrel with -Nero, she threatened to retire to the camp of the Prætorian Guard with -Britannicus and have him proclaimed Emperor. The only effect of this -was to open Nero’s long career of crime. The few months--we are still -at the beginning of the year 55--of unrestrained license and flattery -had destroyed the little moral restraint that Seneca had taught him, -and he determined to murder Britannicus. In the Roman prison was the -skilled poisoner, Locusta, whom Agrippina was believed to have employed -in the murder of her husband. Nero ordered her to prepare a deadly -poison, and, when the first preparation failed, he had her brought to -the palace. With blows and oaths he forced her to prepare a more deadly -drug under his eyes, and it was used the same evening. Britannicus -sat with his friends on one of the couches in the dining-hall at the -palace, and asked for a drink. It was winter-time, and the wine (not -soup, as Serviez says) was heated. He complained that it was too hot, -and the poison was administered with the cooling water, so that the -taster would not need to take a second sip. - -A great horror fell upon the room as Britannicus, writhing with pain, -sank to the floor. Octavia sat in silent terror by the side of her -husband, who carelessly observed that Britannicus had one of his usual -epileptic fits. Agrippina openly betrayed her horror and disgust, and -from that date was regarded by her son with bitter hostility. Whether -or no it be true that Nero whitened with chalk the spots which broke -out on the body, the substance of the story cannot be discredited. -It is true that Nero was yet in his eighteenth year only, but his -conduct had been vicious and unbridled to a criminal extent. Within -a very short time we shall find him sinking to the lowest depths of -brutality. The fact that he is praised in the treatise “On Clemency,” -which Seneca wrote about that time, can only show either that the too -indulgent tutor refused to believe the crime, or that, as we have too -many reasons to know, the distinguished Stoic came perilously close to -that art of casuistry in which moralists of many schools have been apt -to excel. - -In her abhorrence of the foul deed Agrippina drew closer to the tender -and virtuous Octavia, and confronted Nero with a sternness that had -been too long delayed. The breach between them widened. One day Nero -ordered that two and a half million denarii should be given to his -favourite secretary. Agrippina had the mass of coin brought under -the eyes of the Emperor, to make him realize his extravagance. He -laughingly observed that he did not think the sum was so small, and -ordered it to be doubled. The more lavishly he squandered, the more -carefully Agrippina saved, until the frivolous or malicious companions -of his revels suggested that she was gathering funds for the purpose -of dethroning him. He at once withdrew the guard he had given her, and -ordered her to leave his palace. - -Agrippina had enjoyed only for one year the power which she had sought -so long. She was yet only in her fortieth year. The envoys of kings -had sued humbly at her feet, and her litter and guard had flashed -through the streets of Rome with an impression of greatness that no -other woman then known had ever possessed. But the reins passed from -her hands to her brutal son and his despicable courtiers. From the -palace she passed, with a few devoted followers, to the small mansion -of her grandmother Antonia, and the sycophantic courtiers deserted her. -Graver citizens, watching the rapid degradation of the Imperial house, -followed her with sympathy, but few dared to visit her in the lonely -mansion. Unfortunately, she quarrelled with one of these few, and came -near to losing her life. - -Her old friend Julia Silana, a woman of great wealth but very faded -beauty, proposed to marry a handsome young Roman knight. Agrippina -imprudently advised him not to marry a woman of such advanced years -and so adventurous a record. Her words were repeated to Julia, and -friendship was exchanged for the most bitter animosity. Julia Silana -was childless, and it is conjectured that Agrippina hoped to inherit -her wealth if she died unmarried. Whether she believed this or no, -Julia conceived a deep hatred, and induced two of her clients to accuse -Agrippina of high treason. Nero seems to have been in an uncertain -mood, and an ingenious plot was devised to win him. - -One night when he lay, flushed with wine, after the banquet, his -favourite comedian Paris came to amuse him. Nero noticed that the man -was agitated and less merry than usual, and asked the reason. Paris, -who was acting in the service of the plotters, confessed with artistic -tears that there was a conspiracy afoot to dethrone his noble master; -that Agrippina was about to marry Rubellius Plautus, a Senator of -Imperial descent, and seize the throne. The inebriated Emperor at -once demanded their heads, but Seneca and Burrus restrained him, and -compelled him to hear Agrippina on the morrow. In her speech, which -Tacitus has preserved, she refuted and routed her assailants with such -vigour that she was, apparently, reconciled to Nero and restored to -some authority. Julia Silana was banished, Domitia’s chamberlain (who -had instructed the actor) was executed, and Agrippina’s own followers -were rewarded. - -The two years that followed this reconciliation are obscure, and we can -only dimly conjecture that Agrippina had some peace and prestige, but -no longer shared the Imperial rule. Then, in the year 58, another and -unexpected woman came into the field, and Agrippina sank rapidly toward -an abyss of tragedy. - -In an earlier chapter we saw that Messalina drove to death a very -wealthy and beautiful Roman lady named Poppæa Sabina. It was her -daughter, who had inherited her wealth and her beauty, that now -attracted the amorous regard of the Emperor. She had married one of -Nero’s favourite companions, who babbled in his cups of her dazzling -beauty, and inflamed the desire of Nero. In the next chapter we -shall read of her natural charms, of the singular art with which she -cultivated them and the coquetry with which she employed them, and of -the superb and fabulous splendour of her equipage. It is enough to -say here that Nero visited her, learned that she was willing to be -an Empress, but not the mistress of an Emperor, and resolved to make -any sacrifice to secure so unique a treasure. The first victim to be -sacrificed to the new passion was Octavia, and the delicate and timid -girl would make little resistance. But Agrippina had espoused her cause -with a spirit that redeems much of her irregular conduct, and she now -saw that her own interest, as well as that of Octavia, required that -she should oppose Poppæa with all her strength. In that resolution she -wrote her death-sentence, not ignobly. - -Even if we refuse to admit some of the incredible statements that are -made regarding it in the chronicles, it is clear that an extraordinary -struggle now took place about the person of the Emperor. The -antagonists were Poppæa and Agrippina. Octavia was one of those frail, -lily-like Roman women who never struggled; Poppæa’s husband was easily -set aside. Poppæa affected coyness, and refused to have any other -than conjugal relations with Nero, while she employed all her charms -to inflame him. Agrippina fought so desperately that Roman gossip, -and Roman historians, ascribed the most infamous devices to her. In -spite of his expression of doubt, it is plain that Tacitus shares the -popular belief, which he relates, that Agrippina used to sit with her -son in loose robes when he was heated with wine, and to ride in the -same litter with him. Against this charge, however, Dio defends her -(lxi, 11). He says that one of Nero’s courtesans resembled his mother, -and that a light remark of his on that circumstance gave birth to the -libel. Poppæa would not be indisposed to encourage the story. On -the other hand, Mr. Baring-Gould attempts an untenable defence when -he speaks of Agrippina as “the poor old lady.” She was only in her -forty-second year, and was a woman of great beauty and little scruple. - -Whatever arts Agrippina employed in the struggle, she rapidly lost -ground before so formidable a rival, and Poppæa incited Nero against -her. He harassed her with lawsuits when she was in Rome, and sent men -to insult her when she withdrew to her villa in the country. Before -long Agrippina became sensible that her struggle for power had passed -into the appalling experience of a struggle for life against her own -son. Nero made several attempts to poison her, but she was on her guard -against this familiar weapon. It is said that she had an antidote -compounded of walnuts, figs, rue, and salt. Then a freedman in Nero’s -suite suggested a more insidious scheme. Her country house was in -repair, and Anicetus directed the workmen to saw through the heavy -timber over her bed, so that the room would collapse when she went to -rest. Agrippina was warned, however, and the plot was defeated. - -By the early spring of the year 59 Nero had fallen into a mood of the -most sombre and bitter dejection. Poppæa continued to taunt him with -his dependence on his mother, and to display her maddening charms just -beyond the range of his eager arms. The better citizens of Rome, on -the other hand, now perceived his horrible design, and watched the -struggle with anxiety. As he sat at the theatre one day in this mood, -his attention was caught by one of the elaborate mechanical spectacles -which were often put on the stage at the time. A ship sailed into view -of the spectators, fell into pieces, and disgorged a number of wild -beasts upon the stage. Nero asked Anicetus, who was a skilful mechanic, -whether he could build a ship that would thus fall to pieces on the -water at a given moment. The man promised to do so, and Nero went down -to the coast in more cheerful temper. - -It was the month of March, when wealthy Romans were wont to forsake -the city for the marble villas which shone in the spring sun on the -flowered hills about the northern corner of the Bay of Naples. The -season began with the festival of Minerva on March 19th. With some -surprise and suspicion, Agrippina, who had gone down to her villa, -received an affectionate invitation to join her son at Baiæ for the -celebration; and she heard from other quarters that he had announced -a desire to be reconciled with her. She went on board the Liburnian -galley which lay off the gardens of her villa at Antium, and sailed to -Baiæ. Nero met her in the Imperial galley, kissed her affectionately, -and invited her to a banquet which his friend Otho, the husband of -Poppæa, would give that night in honour of their reconciliation. She -consented, but it is clear that she wavered between her consciousness -of the utter unscrupulousness of her son and the bright vision of a -return to happiness which he held before her. - -When the hour came for going, she was told that her galley had met with -an accident, but that a superb gilded galley, with sails of silk and a -military guard on board, had been sent as a love-gift from her son in -commemoration of their restored affection. She gazed with suspicion on -the beautiful object, as it lay mirrored in the waters of the little -haven, and decided to go overland, on a litter, to Otho’s villa. But -the amiable behaviour of Nero at the banquet dispelled the last shade -of her suspicion. In the joy which his caresses and his well-feigned -affection gave her, she did not notice the passing of the hours until -midnight, when she rose to go. The beautiful ship with the gilded -flanks and the silken sails awaited her once more, and this time she -embarked on it. Nero kissed her eyes and her hands, put his arms about -her and pressed her to his bosom, held her while he gave a last long -look into her eyes, and then--abandoned her to the murderer Anicetus. - -The galley shot out over the smooth scented waters under a canopy -of brilliant stars. Agrippina sat in her cabin, in the soft spring -air, and talked about the happy future with her one male attendant, -Crepereius Gallus, and her one maid, Acerronia Pollia. And suddenly, as -they reached the deep water, there was an ugly crack, and the roof of -the cabin fell on them. Gallus was killed outright, but the two women -were saved, as the stout walls failed to collapse, and there was some -misunderstanding among the crew in the dark. The maid rushed to the -deck calling for aid for the Empress--others say that she represented -herself as the Empress--and was slain. Agrippina listened with terror -to the crash of timber and the rush of armed men, and realized the -treachery of her son. Still she did not court death. She dropped -quietly over the side, and swam toward the distant shore. Her strength -gradually failed, and she was about to abandon the awful struggle, when -some men who were fishing by night picked her up and took her ashore. - -Wounded by the falling timbers, exhausted by the struggle, stricken -to the heart by the brutality of her son, she nevertheless rallied -at once, and devised a fresh plan. She calmly sent a message to Nero -that, by the favour of the gods, she had survived the wreck of the -galley which he had given her, but requested that he would not come to -visit her until her wound was healed. Without a word to her attendants -about the horrible plot, she ordered the remedies for her condition, -and trusted that Nero would repent. Through the remaining hours of -the night she lay on her couch, with one maid in attendance, her room -feebly lit by a single light. The whole country without was alive with -men. The shore was lit up with their torches, and they gathered about -the house to express their joy that Agrippina had escaped shipwreck on -the very night of so auspicious a reconciliation. As the first light -of dawn broke on the encircling hills, Anicetus and his men entered -the house with Nero’s reply. She read something of its tenor in their -faces, and said to their leader: “Hast thou come to visit me? Then tell -my son that I have recovered. Hast thou come to slay me? Then I say it -is not my son who sent thee.” A sailor struck her over the head with a -stick, and she saw that the end had come. Tearing aside her loose robe, -and baring her white body to the men, she said sadly: “Strike here, -Anicetus, for it was here that Nero was born.” She fell dead under a -shower of blows. - -Nero had heard that his mother had escaped. Dreading that she might -stir into flame the resentment of Rome, he called a council of his -friends. Seneca is said to have been silent, Burrus indignant. At that -moment Agrippina’s chamberlain entered with her message. In a flash of -cunning Anicetus threw a sword at his feet, and pretended that he had -been sent by Agrippina to kill Nero. The Emperor accepted the sordid -pretext, and, as Burrus bluntly refused to send his soldiers to execute -her, Anicetus gladly charged himself with the task. He was appointed -admiral of one of the fleets for his services. It is even recorded, -though details like this must always be regarded with reserve, that -when the servants bore their mistress’s body to the garden, and -stripped it for the pile, Nero stood by and said, jeeringly: “I had no -idea she was so handsome.” - -A report was issued, and a formal announcement made to the Senate, -that Agrippina had attempted the Emperor’s life, and that, when -Nero sent men to arrest her, she took her own life. And the Senate -licked the feet of Nero, decreed games and festivals in gratitude -for his preservation, and led the enthusiasm of the people. So well -known was the murder that an actor referred mockingly to it in the -theatre. “Farewell, my father,” he said, eating a mushroom--“Farewell, -mother,” he added, imitating the action of a swimmer. The common folk -repeated numbers of these grim jokes. But they enjoyed the games of -thanksgiving, and Senators and nobles took part in them on the stage -and in the arena, and Rome sank swiftly into the terrible degradation -of Nero’s later reign, which will occupy us in the next chapter. - -It is hardly necessary to add a summary estimate of Agrippina’s -character. In the view of Stahr and Baring-Gould and a few other recent -writers, she was “queenly, honourable, and pure,” and had only the -doubtful vices of ambition and pride. For Tacitus and the other Latin -writers she was capable of any enormity, and guilty of most. It will -be seen that I hold an intermediate view. She was a woman of great -distinction, ability, and strength. Had she lived in an age when virtue -was not inexpedient, she would have been an illustrious and virtuous -queen. But she had to struggle to obtain and retain power in an age -when a new and more intellectual moral standard was replacing an older -and more instinctive standard, and, where it seemed profitable, she -availed herself of the moral scepticism which such a change always -engenders. She was queenly, but she was not entirely honourable, and -she was almost certainly not pure. But she served Rome well, and left -it happy and prosperous; and her unselfish passion for the advancement -of her son, her chivalrous and fatal defence of his injured wife, and -the bravery with which she met his unspeakable brutality, do much to -outweigh her evil deeds in the scale of Osiris. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE WIVES OF NERO - - -Nero was no longer “the young Apollo” of his boyhood. Unbridled -dissipation and precocious crime had made their impress on body no -less than on mind. He was a little above the average height, but his -prematurely swollen paunch was poorly balanced on his slender and -ungraceful limbs, and his skin was blotched and repellent. The dull -grey eyes betrayed his unceasing indulgence, and the yellow hair, -dressed in stages of short curls, framed a face that was certainly no -longer handsome. His mind was in unmistakable disorder. Our kindly age -would invoke this mental trouble in extenuation of the brutal crimes he -had committed and the stupendous folly he is about to perpetrate. Were -this a biography of the Emperors, we might boldly essay to prove rather -that the insanity followed the matricide, but that does not concern us. -He was, as yet, only in his twenty-second year. - -To this precocious monstrosity of vice and crime was mated one of the -gentlest young matrons of the Cæsarean house, Octavia, the daughter -of Claudius and Messalina. Married at the very early age of thirteen -to Nero, her timid girlish nature was paralyzed by the coarse habits -of her husband, and she merely hovers about the stage, like a dimly -perceptible shadow, during the earlier part of Nero’s reign. It must -have been shortly after their marriage that Nero disdained her for -the beautiful Greek slave, Acte, to whom he was more constant than -to any other living thing, and who, in return, paid the last tribute -to his despised remains. At first one of Nero’s associates screened -the entanglement, but, as we saw, it became known in the palace, and -Agrippina made a fruitless effort to press the rights of his girl-wife. -The injustice was, however, one that Roman ladies were not unaccustomed -to bear. Nero soon fell into more disreputable ways. Octavia would see -him leave the palace after supper with his wild companions, and needed -little effort of imagination to follow his course when he returned, -in the early morning, with torn garments and flushed, if not bruised, -features and, occasionally, the painted signs that he had wrenched from -shop-doors, or the cups he had stolen in a raid upon some low tavern. - -He had gathered about him a band of older youths, who encouraged him -in the licentious use of his power, and endeared themselves to him by -the fertility of their imaginations. Chief among them was Salvius Otho, -a young noble of Etruscan descent, five years older than Nero--the -Emperor Otho of a later date. He had entered the palace in virtue -of an amorous relation with one of Agrippina’s ladies, and his wide -knowledge of adolescent amusements won him the regard of Nero, whom he -led into the wildest adventures. They would wander at night through the -streets, and revel in the taverns and brothels of the popular quarters -of the city, the mysterious dim-lit valleys on which patrician maidens -looked down from the mansions on the hills. In those centres of nightly -disorder Nero and his companions were the most daring Mohocks, if we -may use a phrase that belongs to later history. They violated women and -boys, and played the most brutal pranks upon unarmed folk. One night -Nero was severely thrashed by a Senator, whose wife he had insulted. -The man learned afterwards that it was the Emperor whom he had beaten, -and went to the palace to apologize. Nero forced him to atone with his -life for the injury he had done to the Imperial dignity. He withdrew -the guards from the Circus, in order that he might enjoy the fights of -the rival factions, and from the Milvian Bridge, at night, so as to -give complete liberty to vice in that nocturnal resort. - -The chaste and trembling Octavia, who was still only in her sixteenth -year, shrank from his brutal disdain. It was enough for her to have the -title of Empress, he said to his mother, when she urged the rights of -Octavia. Presently Nero declared that he would divorce her, and marry -the handsome Greek girl, but Seneca and Burrus succeeded in preventing -him. To check his disorders entirely they were quite powerless, and -they seem to have thought it better to direct, than to resist, his -vices. Suddenly, however, in the year 58, Nero transferred his passion -to the daughter of Poppæa Sabina, and began the long, tragic struggle -to secure her as his Empress. - -Poppæa, who will be the next figure in our gallery of Roman Empresses, -and therefore may at once be introduced, was one of the prettiest, -vainest, and most discussed ladies in Rome. Her mother, with whom -we are already acquainted as one of Messalina’s victims, had been -the daughter of a very wealthy and illustrious provincial governor, -Poppæus Sabinus. Poppæa’s father, Titus Ollius, had been a friend of -Sejanus, and had been swept away in the flood of Tiberius’s anger. -She was, therefore, of mature years, but she had protected her charms -so industriously that she still had the soft beauty and the fresh -complexion of a girl. She had inherited also the wealth, the wit, -and--it is said--the easy morals of her mother. The pretence of -modesty which she made, by wearing a veil whenever she went abroad, -was redeemed by the splendour of her establishment and the elaborate -culture of her fair skin and pretty face. The mules which drew the -litter of the veiled lady were shod with gold, and the traces of their -harness were woven from gold thread. When she moved to her country -house, or to Baiæ, five hundred she-asses ran in the train of her -litter and cars, to provide the milk for her daily bath. If we may -trust the busts to which her name is attached, she had a childish grace -and delicacy of feature, instead of the tense face of the adventuress; -and we know that her amber-coloured hair was so much admired that it -set, or revived, a fashion in amber. - -She had married a knight, Rufus Crispinus, by whom she had had a son. -This marriage was ended by divorce, and she became the wife of Nero’s -favourite, Salvius Otho. It is suggested, and not difficult to believe, -that she had married Otho on account of his intimacy with the Emperor. -He was by no means handsome, though he covered his baldness with a -wig, dressed sumptuously, and had wealth, wit, and taste for art. From -him Nero heard, over their cups, the piquant story of Poppæa’s beauty -and luxury, and it was not long before Imperial messengers were sent -to her mansion. They were not admitted, and even Nero, when he sought -entrance, was coyly reminded that Poppæa was married, and was devoted -to her husband. After a stormy siege she gracefully capitulated so far -as to receive innocent visits from Nero, and inflame him to madness -with the display of her cultivated beauty. He spoke bitterly of his -mother as an obstacle in the way of their marriage. Poppæa twitted him -with his dependence on her, and we have seen the outcome. - -When Agrippina had been removed, Nero proposed at once to divorce -Octavia and wed Poppæa. The silence of Seneca at all these critical -points in the degradation of Nero is painful to every admirer of the -distinguished moralist. It was the less courtly and less virtuous -Burrus who defended the young Empress. If Nero abandoned Octavia, he -brusquely said, he must also give up her dowry--the throne--and Burrus -was too generally respected to be flouted. Octavia therefore remained -in her lonely chamber at the palace, a helpless witness of the vices of -her husband. - -For a month or two after the murder of Agrippina he behaved as one -stricken with a wild and haunting remorse. He went feverishly from -place to place, and gathered about him a band of magicians and -charlatans. He feared to go to Rome until he was assured that Rome -was rejoicing at his escape from his mother’s plot. Few pages in the -story of that degenerate city are sadder than that which records -the reception, in the month of May, of the Imperial matricide. The -Senators and their families, dressed in their gayest robes, hurried -out along the Appian Way to meet him, and his route was lined deep -with cheering crowds. He rewarded them royally. Five or six theatres -opened their doors, day after day, to the degraded citizens. New -things--things that had never before been seen in the whole history -of the city--were provided for their entertainment. Men and women of -the highest rank played the most lascivious parts of the mimes on the -public stage, and drove their chariots in the public circus. Nero was -a champion of the “green” faction, and pitted his royal skill daily in -the circus against the charioteers of the other factions. He sang in -the theatre, and organized a band of five thousand handsome youths, -in splendid costumes, to lead the applause, and shower upon him his -favourite epithet of “Apollo.” He even ventured to win praise in the -amphitheatre, but the one young lion which he vanquished had been -prudently gorged and stupefied before he encountered it. He announced -that his skill might be hired for private banquets, and nobles paid -him a million sesterces for his services. Apollo, he reflected, had -no beard in Greek statuary, so he shaved his beard, and the handful -of yellow hair was enclosed in a golden casket studded with pearls, -and carried in solemn procession to the Capitol. In the mighty -rejoicing over this complete assimilation to Apollo of the tun-bellied, -lanky-legged, half-crazy youth, it is recorded that a noble dame in her -eightieth year danced on the stage in the theatre. The descendants of -the greatest Roman families voluntarily entered the base ranks of the -comedian and the charioteer. - -Mr. Henderson is reluctant to admit, in his study of Nero, that he was -insane. It would, no doubt, puzzle the most penetrating psychologist to -assign the respective portions of guilt and of irresponsible disorder -in his conduct; but that there was mental disorder it is at once more -natural and more charitable to assume. In any case, a year or so of -this delirious life wore out his robust frame, and a serious illness -suspended for a time the disgraceful performances. Unfortunately, when -he recovered, he lost the one man who had had some power to restrain -him, and sufficient honesty to use it. Burrus died in the year 62, and -at the same time the slender influence of Seneca was destroyed. This -is no place to discuss the difficult and delicate problem of Seneca’s -conduct in his association with Nero. Enough to say that he was now -accused of conspiracy, and, although he successfully defended himself, -he ceased to have any power at the palace. - -It was now possible for Nero to rid himself of the pale young prude, -who shrank in her apartments, and there were men enough to devise -the procedure. Salvius Otho had already been sent to a remote part -of the Empire, and his place had been taken by a horse-dealer, named -Tigellinus, of little culture and even less character. With this new -favourite Poppæa entered into alliance, and the young Empress presently -found herself accused, with brutal levity, of adultery with Eucer, -an Alexandrian slave and musician, and of covering her shame by the -crime of abortion. Tigellinus easily obtained witnesses, but most of -Octavia’s servants refused, even under torture, to belie the virtue of -their gentle mistress. The coarseness of Tigellinus had carried him too -far, and public feeling was strongly aroused in her favour. Nero fell -back upon the ground of her childlessness, of which he could probably -have furnished a simple explanation, and divorced her. In deference to -the sentiment of Rome, he at first gave her the house of Burrus and -the fortune of a noble whom he had executed. A little later, however, -probably under pressure from Poppæa, he banished her to Campania. He -had married Poppæa a fortnight after the divorce of Octavia. - -But the flagrant outrage quickened the better feeling that Rome had -not yet entirely lost, and Nero was forced to recall her. To the deep -mortification of Poppæa, the crowds invaded the outer court of the -palace, crying the name of Octavia. They removed the statues of the -new Empress from the temples and public places, and restored to their -positions, and crowned with flowers, the discarded statues of Octavia. -Poppæa angrily pressed Nero to assert his power, and the resourceful -Anicetus, the murderer of Agrippina, was summoned to Rome. Bolder -even than Tigellinus, he swore that he himself had had commerce with -Octavia, and, after a pretence of trial, she was banished to Sardinia. -Poppæa was not yet content, and Nero next announced that Octavia had -been detected in an attempt to corrupt the commander of the fleet. She -was taken to the rock-island of Pandateria that had already witnessed -tragedies. - -The good feeling of Rome seems by this time to have been exhausted, and -Octavia was lazily surrendered to the brutal band who now surrounded -Nero. There is a peculiar melancholy in the closing of that frail and -innocent career. Rough soldiers seize the timid form, carry her to the -bath, bind her limbs, and open her veins. Timid and shrinking to the -end, the young girl--even now she is only in her twentieth year--starts -back with horror from the great darkness, and piteously implores them -to spare her life. She faints, and the flow of her blood is arrested. -The last pretence of pity is tossed aside, and she is stifled in the -vapour-bath. - -Poppæa, Tacitus says, sent for her head. It is difficult to decide -whether the frequent repetition of this horrible detail in the -chronicles increases or lessens its credulity. But we can have no -hesitation in believing Tacitus when he says that the Senate ordered -services of thanksgiving in the temples for this fresh preservation of -the life of the Emperor. - -Another Empress had stepped in blood to the throne, and was in turn -to stain it with her blood after a few years of imperial folly. We -have seen what type of woman it was whom Nero put in the place of -Octavia. Wealthy, coquettish, and beautiful, Poppæa saw in life only -a sunny path for the pursuit of butterflies. When she is represented -to us as licentious we must remember that no definite scandal attaches -to her name, and that she is actually described as “pious” by no -less an authority than the Jewish historian Josephus. In fact this -circumstance, and a peculiar feature of the disposal of her body, which -we will consider, gave birth to a speculation in early times that she -had become a Christian. Serviez finds the story of her conversion by -St. Paul, and subsequent “return to her abominations,” too piquant to -admit of doubt. But the conversion is even more disputable than the -abominations. It is now much disputed among our leading divines whether -St. Paul ever visited Rome, and there is a simpler explanation of the -phrase used by Josephus. The Roman governor of Judæa--the biblical -Felix, a brother of Agrippina’s favourite, Pallas--had dealt harshly -with the Jews, and sent some of their priests in chains to Rome. -Josephus and others went to intercede for them, and luckily met a -Jewish comedian who was in the favour of Poppæa and Nero. The historian -was received with distinction at the palace, and was so successful in -his suit that he might well ascribe piety to Poppæa. We may agree that -the incident probably argues some culture on her part. But we shall -discover her later in conduct that makes it undesirable to count her as -a disciple of St. Paul. - -Before the end of the year Poppæa presented Nero with a daughter, and -a few weeks of wild rejoicing restored her to general favour, and -obliterated the memory of Octavia. The title of “Augusta” was, in an -excess of flattery, bestowed upon both the mother and the infant. -Senators raced each other to the Imperial villa at Antium, to express -their joy at this substantial promise of a continuance of the Cæsarean -house which had dragged them in the mire. The whole of Italy was lit up -with rejoicing. Poppæa felt that her position was at last secure. And -then, by one of those dread changes which were almost as common in the -life of Rome as in the tragedies of Greece, and made men assume that -there was a stern and mighty fate behind their puny and indulgent -gods, the storm broke over Italy once more. The child withered and -died, and Nero’s mind fell once more into dark disorder. He glanced -round with insane suspicion for possible aspirants to the throne, and -Poppæa’s remaining son was the first victim. One day he saw her boy -(by her former husband) playing at being emperor in his games with the -other children. In a few days Poppæa heard that the boy had lost his -life while fishing. Many another execution was ordered with the same -levity. - -[Illustration: OCTAVIA - -PORPHYRY BUST IN THE LOUVRE] - -As before, these terrible deeds were mingled with the most splendid -and the most licentious entertainments. Noble dames of the highest -rank wrestled and fought in the amphitheatre before the frivolous -crowds; the city abounded in schools where the nobility learned to -ape the Emperor’s folly, and contribute to the gaiety of Rome with -the flute, the zither, or the dance. Nero conceived a new idea, and -pursued it with zeal. He would contest the crown with the artists of -Greece. Poppæa saw him training in the palace, lying for hours with -heavy plates of lead on his chest, restricting himself to a diet of -leeks and oil. She saw him exhibit his skill in the theatre, lifting -up his blotched and swollen body, in extraordinary contortions, on his -thin legs, as he strained after the high notes. Woe to the man who -openly laughed, or who excelled him! One of his masters was put to -death because Nero perceived that he could not equal the man. At last -his training was complete, and Rome sighed with relief as the thousand -carts, drawn by silver-shod mules, and the five thousand youths of -the Augustan band, set out for the coast. They gratified Naples with -a show as they passed through. For several days Nero kept the amazed -citizens in the theatre, and took his meals in the orchestra, so as to -lose no time. Then came the inevitable epilepsy; and it was announced -that Nero, perceiving the grief of his subjects at the prospect of his -departure, had postponed the Grecian tour. - -On his return to comparative health, and to Rome, he once more -kept the citizens agog with alternate bursts of frantic dissipation -and sanguinary melancholy. From the death of her child until her -own violent end, two years later, Poppæa appears very little in the -chronicles; but, as we shall see that, willing or unwilling, she -supported her husband in his bloody crimes, we may assume that she -joined him in his less criminal orgies. One instance will suffice. He -ordered that a banquet should be given on a raft, on the large sheet -of water known as Lake Agrippa. When the citizens crowded to the shore -on the appointed evening, they found the great raft towed by vessels -plated with ivory and gold, manned by youths who had won distinction -in infamy. Round the shore taverns, brothels, and dining-rooms had -been erected. And when the night fell, and the beautiful scene was -lit by the light of innumerable torches, the public found that women -of the highest rank were no less accessible to them than prostitutes -in the houses by the lake, and the slave was at liberty to embrace -his mistress under the eye of her husband. Nero even outdistanced -Caligula in the Imperial teaching of vice. In the garb of a bride, he -went through the religious ceremony of marriage with a man of base -character, named Pythagoras. He had nude children fastened to stakes, -and rushed upon them fittingly clad in the skin of a wild beast. -And round the frontiers of that vast Empire, which the strength and -sobriety of his ancestors had created, the weary soldiers watched the -barbarians who prepared to invade it. - -It was about this time that the great fire occurred which turned the -laughter of Nero’s subjects into resentment. For six days and seven -nights the flames ate their way through the blocks of tall tenements, -divided only by narrow streets, in the parching heat of July. Nero was -in the provinces at the time, and from the conflicting accounts it is -impossible to pass an opinion on the rumour that he had ordered the -burning of Rome. Dio gives us the familiar picture of Nero twanging -his zither, and chanting the “Fall of Troy” from the summit of a high -tower on the hill. Others declare, however, that he at once ordered -the most expedient methods for checking the conflagration. But it was -angrily whispered among the camps of the homeless that men had been -seen throwing torches upon their houses, and that they were acting -under orders from the palace. Nor were the citizens appeased when he -threw the blame on the obscure and unpopular devotees who went by the -name of Christians, and afforded them the brutal spectacle of driving -round the circus to the light of burning men and women, whose living -bodies had been wrapped in tow and soaked in wax and tar. Few believed -in their guilt. Even Seneca at length broke his casuistic or diplomatic -reserve, and retired in disgust from Rome. Nero went down in great -dejection to Baiæ, leaving orders that, in the restoration of the city, -a new palace should be built for him that should transcend anything -within the memory of Rome or of history. - -This “golden house,” which Nero raised round the more modest palaces of -his predecessors, gave a fresh grievance to discontent. The great and -unselfish Octavian had been satisfied with a small patrician mansion; -Tiberius had built a palace; Caligula had enlarged it; Nero flung out -its wings over a vast space. It seemed that Emperors squandered the -money of the State in proportion to their uselessness. The colossal -edifice and its wonderful park stretched from the Palatine to the -Esquiline, across the intervening valley, and was surrounded by a -triple colonnade in marble. Citizens huddled in the crowded blocks -of the Subura and the Velabrum, while Nero created a miniature world -within his marble girdle. There was a great lake, filled with salt -water from Ostia, with a small town on its shore; there were vineyards, -cornfields, groves in which wild beasts ran loose, fountains, and -gardens. The palace itself was of such proportions that a statue of -Nero one hundred and twenty feet high could be conveniently lodged in -its porch. Some of the rooms were plated with gold and adorned with -precious stones. The supper-room had a ceiling of ivory, with openings -through which flowers and costly perfumes might be shed upon the -guests. The Egyptian roses whose beauty withered in one banquet in this -chamber had a value of £35,000 in our coinage. - -There now dawned on Rome some consciousness of the price that the -Empire was paying for the stupendous folly it had so long applauded. -While the treasury was being exhausted in entertainments that all could -enjoy, the murmuring was confined to the sober few. From the moment -when this colossal symbol of Nero’s selfishness towered above the city, -the murmurs became audible and were multiplied. Nero, alarmed at the -sullen looks and the vague reports of plots, went down angrily to the -coast. Then a slave brought a definite accusation of conspiracy against -his master, and the stream of blood began to flow. - -It is an unhappy fact, and one that confirms the darker view of -Poppæa’s character, that almost the only detail related of her in the -chronicles, after the death of her child, is that she was one of the -council of three who directed this horrible series of executions. Nero -would not trust the ordinary procedure of Roman justice. With Poppæa -and Tigellinus as associate-judges, he himself examined, or endorsed, -every charge that cupidity or malignity brought to the palace. Rome was -reddened for weeks with torture, murder, and suicide. Students of the -decay of Rome have, perhaps, not sufficiently appreciated the effect of -this periodic effusion of the best blood in the city. In the earlier -wars, both civil and foreign, the good and the base alike had fallen. -In these inquisitions for conspiracy, which fill Rome with mourning -time after time from the death of Octavian to the accession of Trajan, -it is chiefly the men and women of honour who suffer. They constitute a -natural selection of the cowardly and the sycophantic. - -The city “teemed with funerals,” in the terse phrase of Tacitus, and -the gatherings of its citizens were black with mourning. Large numbers -of officers and patricians were executed or driven to suicide, and -their children were scourged or banished to the provinces. Seneca paid -the penalty of his tardy outspokenness, and his admirable end sustains -our trust that his character may, in spite of our unconquerable -hesitations, have been not inconsistent with his high creed. He and his -wife, who nobly asked permission to quit the world with him, had their -veins opened, and Seneca passed into the silence with quiet dignity; -his wife was, to her regret, recalled to life by the soldiers. - -Poppæa did not live to share the punishment which these crimes brought -upon Nero. Her end came more swiftly and in more terrible form. The -carnage had been interrupted by a fresh outburst of rejoicing. A man -declared to Nero that he knew where the fabulous treasures of the -Carthaginian queen Dido, which Vergil had so recently sung in the -“Æneid,” were buried. A fleet was sent to Africa to recover them, -and from his sombre brooding Nero passed into a new fit of prodigal -entertaining. He emptied the last depths of his treasury in spectacles -and donations. When the fleet returned at length without a single cup -or coin, his anger stormed with ungovernable fury, and one day, when -Poppæa expostulated with him, he kicked her in the abdomen. The outrage -proved fatal, as she was pregnant, and Nero’s light mind turned from -rage to the most extravagant lamentation. Her body was not burned, as -was usual at Rome, but embalmed, and vast quantities of rare perfumes -were sacrificed on the funeral pile. This peculiarity of her funeral -has been thought to strengthen the interesting legend of her conversion -to Christianity. It was more probably due to Nero’s frenzied desire to -give a unique burial to so unique a goddess, as the Senate declared her -to be. It is unthinkable that Nero should make such a concession to -Christian ideas, even if she had shared them in any measure, and her -life does not dispose us to claim that honour for her. The legend has -no foundation in history, and the early Church may easily be relieved -of the stain of having counted Poppæa among its adherents. - -It is not our place to pursue the insanity of the Emperor through -all the forms it assumed after the death of Poppæa, but he took a -third wife, whom Mr. Baring-Gould seems to have overlooked, and we -must briefly relate the story of her experience. Immediately after the -death of Poppæa Nero took a consort whom the pen almost shrinks from -describing. It seemed to him that he discovered a resemblance to his -beloved Poppæa in one of his freedmen, Sporus. The man was entrusted to -the surgeons for a loathsome operation, and then solemnly married to -the Emperor. Dressed in the Empress’s robes and jewels, he travelled in -Nero’s litter, and was publicly kissed and caressed by him. - -This abominable comedy soon lost its interest, and Nero decided to -marry Octavia’s sister, Antonia. Recollecting the recent fate of her -sister, she boldly refused, and she was put to death on a charge -of aspiring to the throne. Nero then chose Statilia Messalina, the -granddaughter of a distinguished and wealthy Senator who had been -driven to take his own life under Agrippina. The last part of the -“Annals” of Tacitus, which would cover this date, is missing, and if we -are to believe the less reputable chroniclers, Messalina had already -been familiar with Nero, and had married, as her third husband, one of -his close companions in debauch, Atticus Vestinus. She is described as -beautiful, witty, wealthy, and lax; but the description is applied to -so large a proportion of the ladies of the time that it gives little -aid to the imagination. From some later details we shall conclude -that she had more culture, and probably more character, than most of -the courtly ladies of Nero’s time. One is disposed to think that she -married Nero on the maxim, literally interpreted, that it is better -to be married than burned. Her husband was one night entertaining his -friends when soldiers from the palace entered the room. They took him -to his bath, opened his veins, and let him bleed to death; and Statilia -Messalina became the tenth Empress of Rome. - -[Illustration: POPPÆA - -BUST IN THE CAPITOLINE MUSEUM, ROME] - -There is every reason to believe that she shrank, with prudence, -from the executions and entertainments which again proceeded with -ghastly alternation. Her five predecessors had been murdered; the -preceding lady of Nero’s choice had been murdered; and she had herself -been divorced by murder. Messalina seems to have concentrated her -resources upon remaining alive, until a last and most just murder -should release her from her odious connexion. Men were wearying even -of Nero’s ridiculous performances, and were stung by his cruelty. He -put soldiers amongst his audience, to note the absent and detect the -scoffer, so that his festivals became an affliction. Men were driven -to the subterfuge of shamming death, and being borne out by their -slaves, to avoid the exacting part of admiring spectators. Nero swore -that he would exterminate the whole senatorial order; it is the most -honourable mention we find of them in the chronicles for many decades. -To their relief he now announced that he would proceed with his Greek -tour. The silver-shod mules and the gay regiment of the Augustans were -set in motion, Nero’s hair was permitted to attain an artistic length -and negligence, and the comedy was transferred for a time to the land -of Aristophanes. How he won every prize for which he competed, how he -plundered the temples and the mansions of the Greeks, how his retinue -passed like a flight of locusts over the helpless province, must be -read elsewhere. After some eighteen months he was recalled to Italy by -grave tidings. - -It has been impossible to refrain from speaking in accents of disdain -of the way in which Rome had silently witnessed, or joyously acclaimed, -the successive follies of Nero, but, as I have previously noticed, it -was in a peculiarly difficult situation. The Prætorian Guards were -an army of twenty thousand disciplined soldiers, and were paid for -personal service to the ruling house, and blind to any other interest -than their own. They kept an irresistible check upon every impulse to -rebel. That there were such impulses, and probably some attempt to -seduce the Guards, the unfailing stream of blood at Rome justifies us -in believing. The hope of the Empire was in the more sober and more -industrious provinces, and it was here that the revolt began. The -leader of the troops in Gaul, Vindex, entered into correspondence with -the troops in Spain. The Spanish commander, Servius Sulpicius Galba, -was a Roman of illustrious family, venerable age, and stern character. -Nero had heard that the purple had been offered to Galba, and that the -legions of Gaul and Spain were preparing to advance on Italy. - -On his return to Italy, however, Nero hears that the German legions are -advancing against those of Gaul, and that Galba is hesitating. He gaily -resumes his follies, and is deaf to political exhortations. At last a -manifesto is put into his hands, in which Vindex refers to him as a -“miserable player,” and the insult to his art cuts deeply. He writes -to the Senate to demand redress, and sets out for Rome. Nothing in the -whole of his extraordinary career is so tragi-comic as this penultimate -scene. Clothed in a mantle of purple embroidered with gold stars, -wearing the Olympian chaplet on his head, he enters Rome as the god -of art. Servants bear before him the 1,800 crowns or chaplets he has -won in Greece; the five thousand Augustans march behind his chariot. -A sacrifice is made to Apollo, and the games resume their familiar -course. Then Nero is told that, though Vindex has committed suicide, -the German and other legions have joined Galba, and the fire of revolt -is spreading round the Empire. He announces that he will advance on -Gaul. The ladies of his harem, who form a fair regiment, have their -hair cut short, and, with toy shields and other theatrical properties, -masquerade as Amazons. - -The last scene is brief and inevitable. Galba is marching on Rome, -the Prætorian guards have been won for him, the nobles find it -safe to desert Nero. The nerveless brute whimpers and weeps in his -helplessness. He will fly to Alexandria, and earn his living as a -musician. The great “golden house” is silent and deserted. Rome is -openly deriding him. His servants have fled; one has even stolen the -box in which he kept poison for such an emergency. The faithful Acte, -Sporus, and a very few of those who fed on his folly, remain with him. -Messalina has deserted him, and will appear later as the friend of one -of his successors. - -In the great silent house, with its walls of gold and its ceilings of -ivory, he puts off the purple robes and clothes himself in an old shirt -and a ragged cloak. On a miserable horse he rides with them across the -vast deserted park, and makes for the house of one of his dependents, a -few miles from Rome. There they admit him by a hole they have made in -the wall, give him black bread and water, and cover him with a blanket. -They discuss the situation, and conclude by offering him a dagger. -He shrinks, like Julia, like Messalina, from the horrible darkness, -and vainly strains his eyes for a ray of hope. At last they hear the -clatter of cavalry on the road, and Nero feebly points the dagger -at his breast, for a servant to drive home. And when the customary -cremation is over, there are none but Acte and a faithful old nurse to -lay the degraded ashes in the tomb. - -So the tenth Empress of Rome laid down her brief dignity. Statilia -Messalina had had little reason to follow Nero in his humiliation. -Whether the charge of laxity that is brought against her be true or -no, she was a woman of exceptional intelligence and culture, and -had probably only married Nero out of fear. We meet her again, at a -later stage, in the chronicles. After Galba’s short hour of supremacy -we shall find an equally short reign of Salvius Otho, the man who -once pillaged taverns with Nero in the Subura. Provincial government -had sobered him, and he wrote affectionate letters to Messalina. He -would, no doubt, have made her Empress once more if he had lived, but -the throne was wrested from him, and Messalina retired to the calmer -world of letters and rhetoric. Our last glimpse of her discovers -her delivering orations of great eloquence and learning among the -intellectual ladies of Rome. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE EMPRESSES OF THE TRANSITION - - -The house of Cæsar had perished with Nero, and few sober folk can have -regretted that it had no living representative to win the fancy of the -frivolous people or the blind cupidity of the Guards. There must have -been men living in Rome who had witnessed the whole of that appalling -degradation, so swift it had been. The Cæsars had sunk in little over -forty years from the sobriety of Octavian to the insanity of Nero; -their consorts had fallen from the strong standard of Livia to the -insipidity of Poppæa; the resources of the Empire had been squandered -in spectacles that had left its people nerveless and debauched; the old -Roman ideal of character had been almost obliterated in the Imperial -city. It was our concern to see what part the Empresses played in this -lamentable history of four decades. It is, on the whole, one that their -biographer must blush to acknowledge. We must remember, however, that -corrupt rulers would necessarily choose weak or corrupt wives, and we -cannot affect surprise or disappointment when we find them floating in -the swift current. - -We have now to open a new and more attractive gallery of Imperial -portraits, to pass in review the wives of those great Emperors who -restored the high character of Rome and strengthened anew the fabric -of the Empire. A very brief summary of events will suffice to link the -Cæsars with the Antonines, and introduce to us one or two curious types -of Empresses who dimly figure in the transition. - -For a year after the fall of Statilia Messalina the throne of the -Empress was vacant, and that of the Emperor had three successive -occupants. Galba was a widower at the time of his elevation to the -throne. We saw in an earlier chapter that Agrippina had wished to marry -him twenty-six years earlier, and he had refused. His wife, Lepida, was -a delicate woman, of high character, and he refused to divorce her. She -had an energetic champion in her mother, who fought Agrippina sturdily -and, if the story be true, laid fair patrician hands on her. But Lepida -died long before her husband was made Emperor, and he refused to marry -again. His reign was brief. Tradition has blamed him for an excessive -sternness and parsimony. They were not inopportune vices, but Rome had -been too long habituated to indulgence, and Galba was too confident. -The discontent at Rome was inflamed by the news of the revolt in the -provinces, and within a few weeks the Guards, to whom he had refused -the customary donation, set up a new Emperor, and put Galba to death. - -The new ruler was no other than the first husband of Poppæa, the -companion of Nero’s revels, Salvius Otho. Rome acclaimed the choice, -and expected that the circus and theatre were about to reopen their -doors. But Otho, who had matured during his years of office in Spain, -turned from them in disgust. He did, it is true, restore the statues of -Poppæa, and contemplated restoring the discarded statues of Nero, but -the alienation of Roman feeling from him is a proof that he intended -to rule with sobriety. The same spirit is seen in the fact that he -corresponded affectionately with Statilia Messalina, and apparently -thought of marrying her. But the legions in the provinces almost -immediately rebelled against him, and, in the midst of the struggle, he -committed suicide. - -There had been no Empress of Rome for twelve months. With the death of -Otho, and the accession of Vitellius, we come to the eleventh Empress, -Galeria Fundana, a very new and incongruous type in the series of -Imperial women. - -The name of Vitellius is already familiar to us. His father was the -fulsome courtier who had inspired Caligula with the idea that he was -a god, and who had worn one of Messalina’s little silk shoes under -his tunic. His wife, Sextilia, was a woman of strict morality and -unambitious temper, but their son, the younger Vitellius, lived in -too tainted an atmosphere to prefer the plainness of his mother to -the craft and greed of his father. He had learned vice in the band of -young men who brought so evil a fame on Tiberius’s villa at Capri, and -had made his way astutely through the successive reigns of Caligula, -Claudius, and Nero. He had made a considerable fortune as proconsul of -Africa, and had, on his return to Rome, married Petronia, the daughter -of a wealthy consul. She settled her large fortune on her son, and when -Vitellius, having consumed his own wealth in luxury and riot, went on -to sacrifice his son for the purpose of securing the fortune held in -his name, Petronia angrily remonstrated, and was divorced. - -He then married Galeria Fundana. She was, says Tacitus, “a pattern of -virtue,” and since this defect--as Vitellius would find it--was united -with plainness of person, modesty of taste, and dull, if not defective, -conversation, the match was a singularly unhappy one. Vitellius had -so far squandered his money that he was unable to pay his expenses to -Lower Germany when Galba gave him the command of the troops there. -How he obtained that important appointment is not clear. Some say -that Galba selected him because he was not ambitious; others that he -secured it through the influence of the “blue” faction at the Circus, -of which he was a partisan. He mortgaged his house, and Sextilia sold -her jewels, to obtain funds for the journey. Fundana and her child were -left in a poor tenement at Rome, little dreaming that they would be -summoned from it to Nero’s “golden house” in a few weeks. - -It is expressly recorded that Sextilia and Fundana had no ambition, and -dreaded lest Vitellius should aspire to reach the dizzy heights which -some early prophet had promised him. They were, therefore, dismayed -to hear, shortly after his arrival on the Rhine, that the troops -were offering to secure the throne for him. His genial and indulgent -treatment of the soldiers was a betrayal of his trust to the stern -Galba, and may have been deliberately effected to win their support. -He became very popular, and was hailed as a second “Germanicus.” Galba -was presently murdered, and, as the German legions had had no part in -the choice of Otho, they urged Vitellius to lead them against him. -Vitellius wavered for a time between the safe and considerable means -of self-indulgence, which he had as commander, and the uncertain, -but immeasurably greater, prospect which the throne suggested to his -sensual dreams. The officers conquered his hesitation, and he set out -for Rome in the rear of the eight legions who had declared for him. - -Sextilia and Fundana seemed to be in peril when the news came to Rome -that Vitellius was marching upon the city. It is said that Vitellius -threatened reprisals if his family were injured, but there is no -indication that Otho would stoop to take a revenge on women and -children. They saw him march out at the head of his troops to give -battle to Vitellius, and waited anxiously, with all Rome, to hear the -issue of the civil war. And while Senate and people were enjoying the -mummery of the theatre, a horseman rode in with the news that Otho -had taken his own life, and Vitellius was leading his German troops -upon Rome. Senate and people united at once to receive him, and sent -him the title of Augustus. He politely declined it for the time, and -continued his leisurely march upon the city. There had been many a -triumphant march over the roads of Italy in the annals of Rome, but -never one so singular as that of the new monarch. “The roads from sea -to sea groaned with the burden of his luxuries,” says Tacitus; and, if -we distrust Tacitus, as an admirer of Vitellius’s rival and successor, -all the Roman writers agree that his first use of supreme power was -to command a stupendous ministration to his sensual appetites. He -ordered his legions to move slowly southward, while he, in their train, -exhausted each successive region of its delicacies, and filled the days -and nights with his princely feasting. His example encouraged his wild -German troops, and their line of march could be traced across Gaul and -Italy by their pillage, cruelty, and debauchery. - -The repeated messages from the provinces filled Rome with laughter, -in spite of its anxiety. People remembered this princely epicure -sheltering, a few months before, in the poorer quarter of the town and -evading the duns. The modest and virtuous Sextilia and Fundana shrank -in pain from the hollow flattery which was paid them, and followed -the march of the Emperor with disgust. He was approaching Rome at -the head of sixty thousand men. Legions of tall, fierce, fur-clad -Germans, with heavy javelins, were thundering along the Italian -roads and terrifying the peasantry. In their rear was a vast army of -slaves, cooks, comedians, charioteers, and other ministers to the -Imperial appetite. He had sent for the whole of Nero’s servants and -appointments. It was said that he even intended to outrage one of the -most sacred traditions of the city by entering it in full armour, at -the head of an army with drawn swords; but the friends who met him at -the Milvian Bridge persuaded him to change his costume, and sheathe -the swords of his soldiers. He entered, in civil toga, at the head -of the terrible Germans, his officers clad in white as they bore the -eagles. After visiting the Capitol, and addressing the Senate in terms -of pleasant submissiveness to that body and of somewhat nauseating -praise of himself, he settled in Nero’s magnificent palace with Fundana -and her child. His troops, debauched with the license of their march, -scattered in disorder through the city; and Rome resigned itself to the -inauspicious rule of its eighth Emperor. - -We may dismiss the nine months in which Galeria Fundana was Empress -of Rome in a phrase: she was a helpless and disgusted spectator of -the most imperial debauch that Rome had yet witnessed. Dio strangely -accuses her of haughtily complaining of the poverty of the robes she -found in Nero’s golden house, but the testimony to her modesty is -too strong for us to admit this. A more credible statement in the -chroniclers is that she begged to be allowed to retire to a humble -dwelling of her own, and Vitellius refused. His mother did not long -survive her mortification. One rumour preserved in Suetonius is that -Vitellius had her starved to death, as it was predicted that she would -outlive him; another version says that he sent her poison, at her own -request. Fundana was left alone to bewail his colossal gluttony. She -saw his chief officers encourage him in his stupefying orgies, while -they enriched themselves; and she had to submit in silence while his -sister-in-law, Triaria, “a woman of masculine fierceness,” goaded him -to continued excesses. During the few months of his reign he spent -900,000,000 sesterces (about £7,000,000) in eating, drinking, and -entertainment. He had three meals during the day, and ended with a -costly and drunken supper. His brother one day entertained him at a -banquet, at which two thousand choice fishes and seven thousand rare -birds were served. Vitellius in return gave a banquet, at which one -dish--a compound of the livers of pheasants, the tongues of flamingoes, -the brains of peacocks, the entrails of lampreys, and the roes of -mullets--cost more than the whole of his brother’s dinner. - -From this loathsome and stupid dream of Imperial power Vitellius was -at length awakened by the echoes of rebellion in the provinces. After -a few futile executions, and several relapses into his besetting -gluttony, he was forced to set out for the north. He quickly returned, -however, and wandered about Rome in hysterical impotence, while the -followers of Vespasian closed upon the city. Civil war had broken out, -and the Romans gazed with horror on the sacred Capitol besieged by the -German troops and bursting into flames. At last Vitellius came out with -Fundana and her child, in mourning dress, and announced that he would -resign. The consul refused his sword, and the mournful procession -directed its steps towards his brother’s house. He was persuaded to -return to the palace, but the Vespasianists captured Rome, and he was -taken to Fundana’s house on the Aventine. From this he somehow wandered -back to the palace. “The awful silence terrified him; he tried the -closed doors, and shuddered at the empty chambers,” says Tacitus. Dazed -and incapable of flight, he hid in the sordid room where the dogs were -kept. Here the soldiers found him, torn and bleeding, and forced him -to walk the streets, while they kept his head erect with the point of -a sword, and the people flung filth and epithets at him. They then -inflicted on him a slow and painful death, and flung his remains in the -Tiber. - -Fundana was spared, and her daughter honourably given in marriage, by -his magnanimous successor. From the brief and unwelcome splendour of -the “golden house” she passed into private life, and lived only to -bemoan the cruel fate that had lifted her husband to the intoxicating -height of the Roman throne. - -There was no Empress in the reigns of Vespasian and Titus, but a word -may be said of the two remarkable women who shared their power to some -extent. Vespasian, whose sober and solid administration it would be -pleasant to contrast with the orgiastic reigns of his predecessors, was -a rough soldier, of humble extraction and homely ways. He had, in the -time of Caligula, married the mistress of a knight, Flavia Domitilla, -who remains little more than a name in the chronicles. He had won -distinction under Narcissus, but the triumph of Agrippina drove him -and Domitilla into exile. Nero employed him to crush the rebellion in -Judæa, and it was during this campaign that his wife died, leaving -him with her two sons--his successors--Titus and Domitian. He was, -therefore, a widower when the Eastern troops made him Emperor, but he -took into his palace, and treated as Empress, an emancipated slave of -the name of Cænis. - -The mistress of Vespasian has the distinction of being -associated--actively and usefully associated--with him in one of the -soundest attempts to restore the decaying Empire. She had been in the -service of Antonia, the grandmother of Agrippina, and is said to have -been the one who first disclosed to Tiberius the perfidy of Sejanus. -From the first she was a dangerous rival of Domitilla, and, when his -wife died, Vespasian entered into the quasi-matrimonial relation with -her which is known in Roman law as _contubernium_. She would probably -have been Empress if the law had permitted him to contract a solemn -marriage with her. She had considerable ability, but an unhappy -reputation for extortion and the sale of offices. It is not clear, -however, that the wealth she obtained did not contribute to Vespasian’s -rehabilitation of the resources of the Empire. They abandoned and -destroyed the golden house of Nero, the central site of which is now -marked by the Flavian Amphitheatre, or Coliseum. In their quiet gardens -in the Quirinal they received any citizen who cared to visit them, and -maintained no timorous hedge of soldiers between themselves and their -people. They wished to see money spent on public purposes, or hoarded -for public emergencies, rather than squandered. “My hand is the base of -the statue: give me the money,” Cænis is said to have told a wealthy -man who proposed to raise a statue to her; but Dio informs us that this -and other stories of Cænis’s avarice properly belong to Vespasian. She -died, however--if the date assigned in Dio is correct--in the second -year of Vespasian’s reign, and must not be credited with too large a -share in that great purification of Rome and reinvigoration of its life -with healthy provincial blood which Tacitus regards as the beginning of -the recovery of the Empire. - -Titus, who succeeded his father in the year 79, and reigned for two -years, threatened at one time to give Rome an even more singular and -unwelcome type of Empress. He had in early youth married Arricidia -Tertulla, who died soon afterwards, and then Marcia Furnilla, a lady -of illustrious family. He left his wife in Rome when he took command -under his father in Judæa, and became infatuated with a brilliant -princess of the Herod family, Berenice. He divorced Furnilla, and -brought Berenice to live with him at Rome. But the Romans resented the -prospect of a Jewish Empress, and she was forced to return. On his -accession to the throne he made no attempt to enforce her on them. He -reigned alone for two years, “the love and delight of the human race,” -and maintained the sober administration of his father. - -With the accession of his younger brother, Domitian, Rome received -a new Empress, and, by an unhappy coincidence, saw the imperial -palace return to the evil ways of the Cæsars. Those of our time who -attach almost the entire importance to stock or birth, and little to -circumstances, in the formation of character, will find a peculiar -problem in Domitian and his wife. The Emperor was the second son of -the “plain Sabine burgher” and sturdy soldier, Vespasian, and of the -lowly provincial woman, Flavia Domitilla. The Empress, Domitia Longina, -was the daughter of Domitius Corbulo, one of the strongest and ablest -generals that Rome produced in the first century. Yet of these sound -and vigorous stocks came, in one generation, one of the most morbid of -the Emperors and an Empress who, in some respects, rivalled Messalina. -Rome knew them both, and had no false hope. - -Domitia--as she is usually called--makes her first appearance as a -young girl of great beauty and promise, caressed and protected by the -wealth and prestige of her distinguished father, who, it is interesting -to note, was a brother of Caligula’s masculine wife Cæsonia. She was -married to a noble of distinction and character, Lucius Ælius Lamia -Æmilianus, and she seems to have been an estimable young matron until -her father incurred the anger of Nero and was forced to commit suicide. -Procopius and Josephus, indeed, represent her as virtuous to the end, -but there seems to be little room for doubt that the nearer and less -indulgent authorities are correct. Her young mind opened on the sordid -scenes of the closing part of Nero’s reign and the folly of Vitellius. -She then met the fascinating and effeminate Domitian, and very speedily -capitulated to his assaults. - -[Illustration: DOMITIA - -BUST IN UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE] - -Gibbon speaks of him as “the timid and inhuman Domitian,” while Dio -opens his biographical sketch of the Emperor with the deliberate -epithet, “bold and wrathful.” We shall find a very natural dread -of assassination in Domitian’s later years, but he was undoubtedly -bold and crafty in the service of Venus, and a stranger to moral -sentiment. His elder brother Titus had developed the manly qualities -of their father on the battlefields of Judæa, and had proved strong -enough to crush his irregular feelings on his accession to the throne. -Domitian had remained at Rome, discharging only civic duties, and had -become one of the most heartless dandies in the group of degenerate -young patricians. During the civil strife of the Vitellianists and -Vespasianists on the streets of Rome he had made his escape in the -fitting disguise of a priest of Isis. Titus knew his vicious and -luxurious ways, and endeavoured to check him by offering him his own -charming daughter Julia in marriage; but Domitian was engaged in -fascinating the pretty and accomplished wife of Lamia Æmilianus, and -refused. Titus, on his accession, associated him in the government, and -his first act was to separate his mistress from her husband, and marry -her. - -Domitia’s triumph was quickly tempered with mortification. Julia -married her cousin Sabinus, and, out of pique or devilry, Domitian -now discovered her charm and seduced her. To such a pair as these the -attainment of supreme power meant an occasion of Imperial license, and -sober Romans saw their community rapidly lose the ground that had been -won in the previous reigns. It was even rumoured that Domitian had -hastened his brother’s death by putting him in a box of snow during -his last illness, though this remains no more than an idle rumour. -At all events, Domitia soon discovered the despicable character for -whom--or for whose prospects--she had abandoned her saner husband. -While the affairs of the Empire needed his most strenuous attention, -he would spend hours catching flies and spitting them with a bodkin; -and from the spitting of flies he presently passed to the larger -sport of murdering men. He conducted his little frontier-wars from -safe and luxurious quarters, and came home to enjoy a triumph and -erect a colossal bronze memorial of his valour. He banished eunuchs -from Rome, and kept them in his palace; waged war against vice in -all forms, and practised it in all forms. In the general relaxation -of Roman manners even the Vestal Virgins had been for some decades -permitted an alleviation of their onerous vows. Domitian posed as -a moralist, on no other apparent ground than that he was closely -acquainted with every shade of immorality, and drastically punished -them. He raised fine public buildings, and depleted the public treasury -by reckless expenditure and incompetent administration; prosecuted -officials for extortion, and put men to death for their wealth; gave -brilliant entertainments, and darkened the city and the Empire with his -sanguinary brooding. - -If we were to accept Josephus’s estimate of the virtue of Domitia, we -should conceive her as living in melancholy isolation in the gloomy -palace, an outraged spectator of her husband’s relations with Julia. -But there is good evidence that she sought relief with something of -the freedom of a Messalina. An authentic occurrence in the third year -of Domitian’s reign puts her guilt beyond question. He had the actor -Paris murdered in the street, and divorced Domitia. The people boldly -sympathized with her, and covered with flowers the spot on which Paris -had been killed. The Emperor had a number of them executed, but public -feeling seems to have been expressed so strongly that he was forced to -recall Domitia to the palace, and the sordid comedy ran on amid the -jeers of Rome. A poet was put to death for making it the theme of his -verse; Domitia’s former husband and others were executed for their -freedom of speech. Then the beautiful and captivating Julia perished -miserably in an attempt of Domitian’s to destroy the too obvious proof -of their incest, and he became more sombre than ever. - -This is not the place to tell the long and dreary story of the reign -of Domitian, of which, for twelve further years, the Empress remains -an inconspicuous, and perhaps a sobered, spectator. For a few years he -maintained his singular and obscure mixture of good and evil, but the -brighter features of his administration gradually faded, and a horrible -gloom settled on the palace and the city. Hosts of spies and informers -sprang up; large numbers of nobles, of both sexes, were executed or -banished, on the slightest suspicion, and their wealth divided between -the informers and the Emperor’s shrinking treasury. So great was his -dread of assassination that he lined the portico at the palace, in -which he used to walk, with white glazed tiles that would reflect the -approach of any person behind him. But an extraordinary incident that -Dio relates will suffice to give some idea of the reign of terror under -which the Empress and all Rome suffered. - -A number of the leading citizens of Rome were summoned to a banquet -at the palace at a late hour of the night. They were frozen with -horror when they found that the entire dining-room--walls, ceiling, -and floor--was draped in black, and a miniature tombstone, with his -name engraved on it, was placed opposite each guest. As they gazed, a -number of nude boys, whose bodies were washed with ink, burst into the -room and danced amongst them, and then the dishes of a funeral banquet -were served. The guests sat silent and shivering; the Emperor grimly -discoursed to them of deaths and executions. When the banquet was over, -they were relieved to find themselves dismissed. They found, however, -that their litters had been sent away, and they were put into strange -vehicles, with strange servants. The gloomy journey ended at their own -houses, and they were beginning to breathe, when they were thrown into -fresh alarm by the news that a messenger had come from the palace. The -messenger to each guest was one of the dancing boys, now cleaned, -perfumed, and clothed with flowers, bearing the gold and silver vessels -which the guest had used at the banquet. The boys and the dishes were -presented to them with the Emperor’s greeting. - -Unhappily, Domitian did not confine himself to intimidation. The -heads of the wealthier nobles fell in quick succession, and, in great -secrecy, amid an army of spies, the Empress and a few others came to an -understanding. The story of the actual fall of the tyrant has clearly -been embroidered with a good deal of unauthentic detail in popular -gossip, but even in its most sober version it does not lack romance. - -The version which Dio assures us he “had heard” is one that the -conscientious historian must hesitate to accept. The Emperor, he says, -had been informed of the conspiracy, and had drawn up a list of those -who were to be executed for taking part in it. He put the list under -his pillow, with the sword which he always kept there, and went to -sleep. We have previously seen something of the bejewelled boys who -used to run with great freedom about the palaces of the Romans of the -first century. Domitian, the great censor of other people’s vices, had -a number of them, and the legend is that one of them, playing in his -bedroom, noticed the parchment under his pillow, and took it out into -the palace. Domitia met the boy, and idly glanced at the parchment. -She saw her own name at the head of the list of the condemned, and at -once summoned the other conspirators. They entered the Emperor’s room, -snatched the sword from under his pillow, and despatched him. - -Pretty as the story is, we must prefer the more prosaic account given -us by Suetonius, who lived in the next generation. Domitia felt that -the Emperor had at last conceived a design on her life, and she sent -her steward to despatch him. He offered Domitian a fictitious report -of a plot, and stabbed him while he read it. Other servants rushed in -at the signal, and completed the assassination. It is the one action -that historians have recorded to the honour of the twelfth Empress of -Rome, and we leave her company with little regret. She was an ordinary -woman of the patrician world at the time--fair, frail, accomplished, -and luxurious. With the death of her husband she merges in the -indistinguishable crowd of selfish and wayward ladies on whom Juvenal -was then beginning to pour his exaggerated rhetoric. - -It remains to describe very briefly how the sceptre passes into the -nobler hands of the Stoic Emperors and their wives. The throne was -offered to, and accepted by, M. Cocceius Nerva, an aged noble of known -moderation and long public service. He at once removed all traces of -the hateful reign of his predecessor, and entered upon a sober and -useful administration of the Empire. He was in the later sixties of -his age, and we find no mention of a wife. But the task of enforcing -sobriety on so corrupted a population was too great for his age and -moderate ability. A conspiracy against him was discovered. He disarmed -the conspirators by inviting them to sit by him in the theatre, and -even putting a sword in their hands and asking them what they thought -of its keenness; but he saw that a stronger man was needed, and he -chose as his colleague Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajanus, a Spaniard of -great military ability and commanding personality, who was then at the -head of the troops in Germany. Nerva died soon afterwards, and, with -the accession of Trajan, we come to the thirteenth Empress of Rome and -the commencement of a new and more splendid chapter in the story of the -Empire. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -PLOTINA - - -“If,” says Gibbon, “a man were called to fix the period in the history -of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most -happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which -elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus”; and -he observes of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius that “their united -reigns are possibly the only period of history in which the happiness -of a great people was the sole object of government.” - -This monumental eulogy of the period which we now approach--a eulogy -which the more penetrating study of Renan and the more recent research -of M. Boissier and Dr. Dill have not materially lessened--will suffice -to warn the inexpert reader against the ancient and popular legend that -Rome continued to sink under the burden of its vices until it tottered -into the tomb of outworn nations. Under the Empresses whom we have now -to consider there was a great improvement of character and recovery of -vigour in the Roman Empire, but before we pass to that brighter phase -I would enter a brief protest against the general exaggeration of the -darkness of the period we have traversed. Even under its worst rulers -Rome was far from being wholly corrupt. The vices of a Messalina, the -crimes of an Agrippina, and the follies of a Poppæa, stand out so -prominently in that period only because they were perpetrated on the -height of the throne. Even they were hardly worse than the crimes and -follies of the wives or mistresses of kings in many a less censured -period of history; and, if you care to count them, the lilies were as -numerous as the poppies in this first series of Empresses, but the -lilies drooped earlier, and have been less noticed. Whenever, in the -course of our story, the light has passed from the throne to the less -elevated crowd, we have found fine character mingled with the corrupt -even in the darkest years of the early Empire. The heads that fell -before the Imperial monsters were as many as the heads that bowed. - -The truth is that, if we are not misled by the hasty generalizations -and plebeian diatribes which Juvenal, in his “Satires,” founds upon -the dubious bits of gossip that he picked up on the fringe of Roman -society, and against which historians now warn us, there was much -the same diversity of conduct in the early Empire as in most of the -corresponding periods of luxury. The wealthier women of Rome assuredly -fell far short of the cloistered virtue of the maid and the matron of -Greece; but Greece had only succeeded in maintaining that standard of -domestic virtue in its wives and daughters by cultivating a high caste -of courtesans for their roaming husbands. It may be admitted, too, that -the Roman woman was morally inferior to the wife of the Egyptian noble, -and to the wife of the noble or the wealthy merchant of Babylonia. But -the patrician women, even of Cæsarean Rome, will compare with the women -of most of the later civilizations at the same stage of development; -at the stage, that is to say, when the nation relaxes from the strain -of empire-making, and its veins are flushed with the wealth of its -conquests. I would instance the women of the early Teutonic nations as -soon as they settle on southern Europe; the women of Italy in the early -Middle Ages; the women of England under the Stuarts and, after a later -expansion, under the Georges; the women of France under Louis XIII and -Louis XIV; the women of Russia in the nineteenth century. At Rome, in -spite of the positive insistence on vice of Caligula, Messalina, and -Nero, in spite of their determined effort to weed out the good, we -have found virtue and courage springing up afresh in each generation. - -We now come to a period when, three centuries before the fall of Rome, -the Empire is purged of its exceptional corruption, and character -assumes the normal diversity that it has in any old and wealthy -civilization. The city of Rome was assuredly vicious and in decay. But -the city was not the Empire, as those rhetoricians forget who talk -of its entire demoralization. Rome had been drenched with degrading -agencies for half a century; but there was a quite normal amount of -stout will and high character in the provinces, and this is now infused -more freely into the metropolis. It is only by a similar influx of -sounder blood from the provinces that any great city survives the -feverish waste of its tissue. The remedy was retarded in Rome because -the provincials, even of Italy, but especially of Gaul and Spain, were -of alien race. Rome jealously remembered that it was the conqueror; the -rest were the conquered. Under Vespasian, however, the provincials were -admitted more freely, and with the accession of a Spaniard, Trajan, the -process increased. - -In the remote and primitive settlement which Agrippina had established -on the banks of the Rhine, where the towers of Cologne Cathedral now -keep watch over a splendid city, there dwelt, in the year 97, the -commander of the forces in Lower Germany, Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, -with his wife and a few female relatives. Trajan was of a moderate -Spanish family, and had, like his father, cut his own path in the -military service of the Empire. He was unambitious, but popular. A -large, handsome man, in his forty-fifth year, of singularly graceful -bearing and serene features, he charmed everybody by his simplicity and -affability of manner, and liked a good carouse and a rough soldierly -jest. His wife Plotina was a plain, honest matron of unknown origin. It -has been conjectured that she was related to Pompeius Planta, at one -time Governor of Egypt, but the only ground for the conjecture seems -to be that Planta was a friend of Trajan’s. As she had neither beauty -of person nor romantic defect of character, the chroniclers have left -her largely to our imagination; but she was a type of woman whom it is -not difficult to picture--a woman of plain features, level judgment, -and of what is euphemistically called grave but agreeable conversation. -She was by no means brilliant, but her close friendship for Hadrian -suggests that she was not too dull and prosy, and had pretensions to -culture. Her ways were simple, and her character can be relieved of -the one imputation made against it. She compares well with Livia, but -as a higher _bourgeoise_ compares with a _grande dame_. In a word, she -had none of the autumnal colour, the beauty of decay, of the Cæsarean -women, but she had the less æsthetic and more useful quality that they -lacked, conscientiousness. To the courtly Pliny (“Panegyr.,” 83) she is -the embodiment of all the virtues. - -With her at Cologne was Trajan’s sister Marciana, a widow of much -the same complexion as Plotina, and Marciana’s daughter Matidia, who -in turn had two daughters, Sabina and Matidia. We can imagine the -agitation of this tranquil establishment among the forests of Germany -when a courier came from Rome with the news that Trajan was chosen -as colleague of the Emperor. They had left Rome six years before, in -the middle of Domitian’s reign. However, they seem to have received -very sedately the prospect of a removal from the camp on the Rhine -to the Imperial palace. Although Nerva died in the following January -(98), Trajan remained for the year in Germany, completing his task of -strengthening the frontier against the northern barbarians. Then the -family set out on the long journey to the capital. - -The fame of Trajan’s simplicity and geniality of manner had preceded -him, but Rome looked with surprise on an Emperor who could wait a year -before occupying the palace, enter the city on foot, without guards, -and talk so affably with any of his subjects. Nor was Plotina long -before she showed that they had received a new type of Empress. As she -ascended the steps of the palace, she turned round and said to those -below: “As I enter here to-day, I trust I shall leave it when the time -comes.” The refreshing amiability, simplicity, and moderation of the -Imperial couple captivated the Romans, and Trajan responded to their -good will with the most judicious and untiring exertions in the public -service. He trod out at once the hideous brood of informers, checked -corrupt officials, and appointed the best men to public offices. -Indifferent to the splendour and luxury of even the modest palace of -Vespasian, he spent most of his reign in frontier-wars or in long -journeys for the purpose of bracing the relaxed frame of the Empire; -and he enriched and adorned Rome as no Emperor had done since Octavian. - -That he was vigorously supported by Plotina is quite certain, and there -is evidence that she was much more than a sympathetic witness of his -labours. It is related by the Emperor Julian that Trajan often sought -the advice of Plotina, and that it was always sound. At the beginning -of his reign she had occasion to use her influence. Trajan’s dislike -of informers was carried so far that, when a case of real extortion -occurred in the provinces, the injured were prevented from bringing -it to his notice. They appealed to Plotina, and she put the case -judiciously to her husband and secured relief. In many other ways she -gave useful assistance, so that the Senate offered the title of Augusta -to her and Marciana. They declined, as Trajan had refused the special -title offered to him, but he relented, and they followed his example. - -The reign of Trajan and Plotina was thus one long episode of strenuous -and enlightened public service, but before we enter into the -particulars of their achievements it is proper to endeavour to obtain -a nearer view of their personalities. In this the chroniclers give us -little assistance, and the result cannot be very interesting. It is -ever the painful reflection of the biographer that the description of -a sober life--a life which neither sinks to the lower levels of vice -nor soars to some unaccustomed height of virtue--has little interest -for the majority of his readers; and this was the life of the Imperial -court during the twenty years of Trajan’s reign. The Emperor himself -was no paragon. Preferring the easy ways of a camp, he drank somewhat -deeply of nights, his jests were apt to be coarse, and he was popularly -accused of the vice which so generally infected the men of the Empire. -Yet he had this distinction in a long line of Emperors, in the prime of -life, that no woman ever shared, or sullied, his affection for Plotina. -Gibbon has remarked, in extenuation of the conduct of his successor, -that “of the first fifteen Emperors, Claudius was the only one whose -taste in love was entirely correct.” That would be a high compliment to -Messalina, but in point of fact, as we saw, Claudius was not entitled -to that distinction. The charge against Trajan is vague, and we must -rather award the distinction to him. Merivale somewhat harshly speaks -of him as only maintaining his self-respect because of the bluntness -of his moral sense. If we put his strong sense of public duty and his -fidelity in the scale against his one certain indulgence, in drink, we -shall hardly agree to that verdict. - -The virtue of Plotina, on the other hand, has been more seriously -assailed by both ancient and recent writers. In the service of the -Emperor was a very handsome and accomplished youth named Hadrian, an -orphan, with great taste and skill in art and letters. He had been -employed by Trajan at Cologne, both in military service and in filling -up the long nights with an occasional carouse, and, after their return -to Rome, he was a great favourite of the ladies at the palace. They -formed a little circle in which letters were discussed and literary men -were patronized. There was something of a literary revival; it was the -age of Juvenal, Martial, Quinctilian, Pliny, Suetonius, Celsus, and Dio -Chrysostom. Hadrian was a brilliant student, and he appreciated this -open and easy way to distinction. Trajan is represented as using the -young man for companion, but not regarding him as fitted for promotion, -so that it fell to Plotina to urge, and ultimately to make, the fortune -of the future Emperor. The magnificent mausoleum which Hadrian raised -in memory of her long testified to his ardent and grateful attachment. - -There is a good deal of exaggeration in this conception. We shall -see that Trajan promoted Hadrian in such a way as to mark him in the -eyes of all as his successor; and his chief advisers in this were -the statesmen Sura and Attianus. In any case, there is no proof that -Plotina, who must have been twenty years older than Hadrian, felt -more than a very natural fondness for the gifted and charming youth. -Pliny mentions that her friendship for him gave rise to gossip, but -insists that she was “a most virtuous woman.” The “Augustan History” -leaves her unassailed. Suetonius has no scandal to record. Dio alone -describes their attachment as “erotic love”; but on an earlier page -Dio has expressly said that her career was stainless. When he has -described her standing at the top of the palace steps, to say that she -trusted to leave that palace just as she entered it, he adds: “And she -so bore herself throughout the whole reign as to incur no blame.”[11] -The remarkable eulogy of Pliny, the silence of the other authorities, -and the conduct of Trajan, must enable us to choose between these -contradictory statements of Dio, and indeed compel us to reject this -unsubstantial charge against the virtue of Plotina. - -The other ladies of the Imperial household were equally without -reproach, and life at the palace was harmonious and uneventful. Emperor -and Empress moved about Rome without guards, and entertained, or were -entertained by, their friends in a simple and unceremonious way. But -Trajan had little love for the atmosphere of a palace, and an outbreak -in Dacia, two years after his arrival in Rome, gave him an excuse to -return to the camp. He took Hadrian with him, and remained in Dacia a -year. In the year 103 he rejoined Plotina at Rome, but the war broke -out afresh shortly afterwards, and it now took him three years to -subdue the province and link it to the Empire by a great bridge over -the Danube. He returned in 107, and spent seven years in Rome before -he set out on his final journey in the year 114. - -[Illustration: PLOTINA - -STATUE IN THE LOUVRE] - -The prolonged absence of the Emperor threw a good deal of -responsibility on Plotina, and it would be of great interest, if it -were possible, to trace her share in the vast work which was done for -the city and the Empire at that time. This, unfortunately, we cannot -do. There were able counsellors left at Rome in Trajan’s absence, and -no doubt most of the work was directly controlled by Trajan during his -stay in Rome from 107 to 114. We know only that he conferred freely -with Plotina, and that he left great power to her when he went abroad. -We can, therefore, only regard her, in a general way, as contributing -to the prosperity and progress that characterize the reign of her -husband. She kept Rome tranquil and content, and no doubt followed with -close interest the great improvements which Trajan commanded. The neck -of hill which linked the Capitoline to the Quirinal, in the heart of -Rome, was cut away, and a fine Forum, or broad street with sheltered -colonnade on either side, was constructed on the cleared ground between -the hills. As previous Emperors had already made slight extensions -of the old Forum, the citizens of Rome now had, in the centre of the -city, a magnificent _corso_ running out toward the great Circus, in the -porticoes of which the packed dwellers of the Subura on one side, and -Velabrum on the other, could lounge and take the air with comfort. Nor -was this a mere meretricious concession to their entertainment. Trajan -was equally attentive to their education. A beautiful basilica, two -public libraries--one for Greek and one for Roman letters--and other -splendid buildings were raised along the sides of the new Forum, and -statues of marble and bronze were brought from all parts, even from the -palace, to adorn it. - -Other cities of the Empire shared in the generosity and public -spirit of the new reign. Harbours were constructed for the increase -of commerce, fresh roads were flung across the intervening country, -and many towns were enriched with stimulating public edifices. Nor -were the social needs of the Empire less regarded than the material. -Previous Emperors had given a scanty practical expression to the -doctrine of the brotherhood of men, which the Stoic philosophy was -disseminating. Trajan gave a great extension to this new philanthropy, -as we learn from the inscriptions that have been found in the soil -of Italy. It is estimated that 300,000 poor and orphaned children -were fed by charity or Imperial aid in Italy alone. The lot of the -slave was improved, and the school system of the Empire became better -than any that has since appeared in Europe until the second half of -the nineteenth century. Men were returning to the sobriety of their -fathers, and were tempering it with the new spirit of peace and mercy, -and a regard for culture. Morality improved, and character became a -qualification for office. The one open scandal of the long reign--an -intrigue of the Vestal Virgins with three young knights--was punished -with all the rigour of the old Roman law. - -We must be content to know that Plotina had her part in this noble work -of restoring the jaded frame of the Empire, and refrain from attempting -to measure her particular influence. By the year 114 the administration -ran so smoothly, and the Western world was so settled, that Trajan -turned his attention to the East. The Parthians had been interfering -in the affairs of the Ethiopians, who were vassals of Rome, and Trajan -saw in this a pretext of establishing more strongly, if not enlarging, -the eastern frontier of the Empire. He had never been in the East, -and the deep attraction of its ancient cities and decadent mysticism -gave a cultural interest to his expedition. He took with him Plotina -and Matidia, his niece. Marciana seems to have died before this time, -and Hadrian had married Sabina, the daughter of Matidia. Hadrian, and -probably his wife, accompanied them. - -The path to the East for the Roman lay through Athens, where Plotina -and her companions would survey the decaying splendour of the Greek -civilization in which they had long been interested. Envoys from the -Parthians met Trajan there, and tried to disarm him, but he dismissed -them, and pushed on to the field in which he trusted to win fresh -laurels. They reached Antioch at the end of the year, and had, during -their stay in that metropolis of Oriental vice and luxury, a novel -experience. A great earthquake shook the city, and even the house in -which the Emperor lodged. He was forced to make his escape by the -window. The accounts of their later movements are meagre, and we can -only imagine Plotina passing with wonder through the strange spectacles -of western Asia. During the spring and summer an indecisive campaign -was waged against the Parthians, and Trajan returned to Antioch for the -winter. In the spring of the year 116 the Emperor set out again for -Mesopotamia. He passed down the Euphrates, took the Parthian capital, -sailed on the Persian Gulf, and even directed a longing eye over the -ocean in the direction of India. The spirit of Alexander breathed -in him as he trod this theatre of the historic conquerors, but the -burden of age and an increasing infirmity put a reluctant limit to -his ambition. He had, in fact, passed the range of his powers, and -distended too far the frontier of the Empire. In the following year he -became weaker, and the Eastern tribes advanced with spirit. Leaving the -task to his generals, the Emperor turned towards Italy. - -How far Plotina had accompanied her husband on these remote journeys we -are not informed. It would not be surprising, or out of harmony with a -general custom of the time, if she covered the whole, or the greater -part, of the territory with him. However that may be, we find her with -Trajan and Hadrian at Antioch once more in the course of the year 117. -Trajan was seriously ill, and had to abandon all hope of settling -the Eastern question. He maintained the troops at the frontier, left -Hadrian at Antioch as legate of the East, and slowly and sadly moved -towards Europe. His tall frame was bent with age, his hair was white, -his limbs made heavy with dropsy and numbed with incipient paralysis. -When they arrived at Selinus, a small town on a precipitous rock of -the Cilician coast, only a few hundred miles from Edessa, his illness -increased, and he died, in the month of August, 117, in the sixty-third -year of his age. - -The exact truth about Plotina’s conduct at the time of Trajan’s death -will never be known, but an impartial analysis of the statements -made by the chroniclers cannot discover any clear ground for -dissatisfaction. Dio, whose authority on this point is claimed to be -considerable, since his father was then governor of the province of -Cilicia, first insinuates a suggestion of poison, in the usual form of -an unsubstantial rumour, and then insists that Plotina forged a letter -in Trajan’s name, nominating Hadrian his successor in the Imperial -power. The writer of the sketch of Hadrian in the “Historia Augusta,” -Spartianus, carries the legend further. He describes how Plotina put -a confidant in the bed of the dead Emperor, drew the clothes about -him, and directed him to murmur, in a feeble voice, to the assembled -officials that he wished Hadrian to succeed him. This second version is -wholly negligible. It comes only from an anonymous writer of the fourth -century who excites our distrust at all times by his extravagant and -unsupported statements. The latest commentators on his work warn us -that his aim is prurient and his method devoid of scruple. - -The authority of Dio, on the other hand, must not be exaggerated. His -father might purvey gossip to him, like any other Greek or Roman, and -his story of the forged letter--or forged signature to a letter--might -easily be a piece of local gossip. Plotina was evidently anxious to -secure the succession for Hadrian, and one may well admit that she -concealed her husband’s death until Hadrian arrived at Selinus. That -concealment would easily give rise to conjectures. Serviez naturally -forces on his readers the more romantic version, but more sober writers -acquit Plotina of anything more than a formal use of Trajan’s name -after his death. - -The suggestion of poison is frivolous. Trajan had been ailing for -months, and his assiduous travelling in a climate so different from -that to which he had been accustomed all his life must have worn -him out. He arrived in Asia Minor in the sweltering and dangerous -month of August, and a touch of the enteric fever which so commonly -overcame the European in the insanitary East of the time put an end -to his life. Plotina had for some time urged him to nominate Hadrian -as his successor. We must not hastily infer from his reluctance that -he thought Hadrian unfit to succeed him. He had just left him in a -position of the gravest responsibility, and must have appreciated -what a great historian calls Hadrian’s “vast and active genius.” But -he may not have deemed it proper for him to dictate to the Senate how -they should exercise their power of choice. What actually occurred -is certainly obscure. A letter was dispatched to the Senate, after -Trajan’s death, in which Hadrian was nominated, and Dio says that -the signature was put to this letter by Plotina. One would imagine -that such a deception, as Dio represents it to be, would easily be -detected and resented by Hadrian’s powerful enemies in the Senate. It -is probable that, as Merivale supposes, the letter was really dictated -by Trajan, and the signing of it by Plotina was only formal. We may -admit Dio’s narrative of facts, yet believe that the Empress was merely -carrying out Trajan’s will. - -On the other hand, there is no reason to quarrel with, or put a base -interpretation on, her zeal for the succession of Hadrian. We shall -see how well he maintained the sound work of Trajan. He was at once -summoned to Selinus, to consult with Plotina and with the elderly -Senator Attianus, who had been his guardian together with Trajan, and -had been as zealous as the Empress in urging his advancement. They -decided that Hadrian must return to his post at Antioch, and Plotina -set out for Rome with the ashes of her husband in a golden urn. The -last resting-place of Trajan was under the magnificent column which -still bears witness in Rome to his many victories, and for centuries -afterwards the most flattering compliment that the Senators could pay -to an Emperor was to cry that he was “more fortunate than Augustus, and -better than Trajan.” - -Plotina lived at Rome for four years after the death of her husband. -The first year was, as we shall see, one of great anxiety and trial. -There was much discontent at Hadrian’s accession, and before long his -reign was stained by the execution of four of the most distinguished -nobles. Matidia died in the following year, and it was known to all -Rome that Sabina lived unhappily with Hadrian. It is said that Plotina -continued to have an active share in the administration of the Empire, -though she must now have been in, or near, her seventh decade of life. -Dio places her death in the year 121. Hadrian was in Gaul at the time, -and the luxuriance of his mourning gave encouragement to the libellers. -He went into deep mourning, breathed a passionate grief in a beautiful -poem, and ordered the building of a temple for the cult of the divinity -which he conferred on her. In Nîmes, where he was staying at the time -when her death was announced, he raised the superb mausoleum which kept -her name for ages in the mind of Europe. - -It is both pleasant and legitimate to believe that there was neither -rhetorical display nor the memory of an irregular love in the princely -mourning of Hadrian over the death of his patroness. Apart from his own -indebtedness to her, the world owed her much. She had been at least -a most worthy and helpful companion of a great Emperor, a type of -womanhood to which the eyes of Roman matrons might happily be directed. -On the day when her inanimate frame was borne from the palace to the -funeral pile, men could repeat that she had in truth left that home of -temptation as she had entered it. The saner and sunnier life of the -vast Empire was, in part, her monument.[12] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -SABINA, THE WIFE OF HADRIAN - - -We are already familiar with the extraction and the training of the -next Empress of Rome. Sabina was the elder daughter of Trajan’s -niece Matidia, and came of the sound and sober stock of the Spanish -provincials. We first meet her in the little settlement on the Rhine, -where she lived with her widowed mother and grandmother, in Trajan’s -house, during the reign of Galba and Nerva. She was in her early teens, -a grave and modest child, easily directed by the three sedate ladies -of the house. Very shortly after the accession of Trajan, a charming -young officer burst into the camp to offer his congratulations. He had -a romantic story to tell, how a jealous brother-in-law had bribed his -servants to break down the chariot on the way, and he had crossed the -great forests on foot to greet his guardian and cousin. It was the -future Emperor, and her future husband, Hadrian. - -The wicked brother-in-law, Ursus Servianus, presently arrived, and -put before Trajan a proof of his ward’s enormities in the shape of -a list of his debts. But Trajan was charmed with the handsome and -brilliant young officer, kept him in his suite, and took him to Rome -when he went up to occupy the throne; and we saw that he became a great -favourite of the Imperial ladies. His father had been a first cousin -of Trajan, but Hadrian lost him at the age of ten, and was committed -to the guardianship of Trajan and Attianus. The finest masters of -Rome directed his studies in letters, art, rhetoric, and philosophy, -and he became a most accomplished and learned, as well as, by hunting -and exercise, a graceful and energetic youth. The “Historia Augusta” -expressly says that Trajan “loved him,” and he advanced quickly, and -enjoyed the brilliant literary society of the palace and the capital. -About two years after their coming to Rome he married Sabina. One -chronicler represents him as spending large sums of money to win her, -and so incurring the annoyance of Trajan; another states that he -turned with disdain from her plain propriety, and had to be persuaded -by Plotina that the marriage was to his interest. It was, at all -events, clearly a _mariage de convenance_, and was destined to have the -customary sequel. - -Sabina would be in her twelfth or thirteenth year at the time, and we -can imagine the mating of the prim little maiden with the brilliant -scholar and promising officer of twenty-four. For many years she is -no more than the silent shadow of her husband, and we can only dimly -follow her movements as she accompanies him about the Empire. Whether -she accompanied him on the Dacian wars between 101 and 106, or, as -seems more probable, remained at Rome to develop a taste for letters in -the palace of Plotina, we cannot confidently say, but it is recorded -that she did lean to culture. Hadrian was back in 106, high in the -favour of Trajan, who gave him the diamond ring he had received from -Nerva. He could both fight and carouse to the Emperor’s satisfaction. -He was made prætor on his return, and gave brilliant games--at Trajan’s -expense--in which 11,000 beasts were slain. In quick succession he -became legate in Lower Pannonia and consul. The aged statesman Sura -told him that he was destined for the throne; the rumour went about -Rome, and the nobles, at first disdainful of his provincial accent and -jealous of his progress, began to respect him. He, and most probably -Sabina, accompanied Trajan on his fatal journey to the East, and we -have seen what happened. - -In the year 117, in about the thirtieth year of her age, Sabina found -herself Empress of Rome, but the elevation seems to have brought her -little happiness and impelled her to no exertion. There is little room -for doubt that, either in the camp or in the tainted atmosphere of Rome -or Antioch, Hadrian had contracted the vice which prevailed among Roman -men. There is another reason, however, why Sabina remains in obscurity -in the chronicles. Hadrian’s biographer, Gregorovius, has relieved him -of the common charge that he relinquished the conquests of Trajan, and -neglected Imperial interests, in a less enlightened zeal for art and -letters. Hadrian had a clear, commendable, and vast policy. He believed -that the Empire would only be weakened by extension, and that it was -a saner ambition to enrich and uplift the life within its frontiers -than to enlarge them. His life was spent in a magnificent realization -of this design; and it was a design so far beyond the modest range -of Sabina’s political intelligence that she was forced to remain a -spectator of his work. She seems, very naturally, to have carped at -his one frailty, which so nearly concerned her, and Hadrian replied -peevishly, and merely conveyed her as an uninterested encumbrance in -the remarkable voyages which fill the twenty years of his reign. - -Hadrian was then in his fortieth year, a tall, very handsome and -athletic man, of brilliant conversation, untiring energy, and great -public spirit. The most artistic of all Roman Emperors, one of the most -artistic and cultured of monarchs, indeed, he could nevertheless endure -the plain bread-and-cheese of the soldier for weeks together; and he -so much discarded his horse and his chariot, for their encouragement, -that a chronicler describes him as having covered the entire Empire on -foot. By diplomacy and by bribes, which we may or may not admire, he -secured an almost unbroken peace for the Empire during two decades; -and the works of use or adornment with which he enriched every -province of the Empire during those twenty years make up an almost -fabulous achievement. Much as we must sympathize with the Empress in -her resentment of the practice into which his Greek-Oriental tastes -betrayed him, we cannot deny that Hadrian was a great and beneficent -ruler. The sketch of his life in that prurient work, the “Historia -Augusta”--the _chronique scandaleuse_ of the middle Empire--is a -monumental, if unconscious, panegyric. - -The biographer of the Empresses cannot escape the conclusion that -Sabina was not a fitting mate for so versatile and constructive -a genius. Her superiority in decency is enormously outweighed by -Hadrian’s magnificent work for the Empire. The natural alienation of -the two in sentiment would not encourage her to co-operate in his work, -in the fashion set by Livia and Plotina, but one feels that this is -not the sole explanation, and that her mediocre faculty was entirely -absorbed in a small pursuit of culture. It is not impossible that, if -there had been cordial co-operation between them, she would have saved -Hadrian from the only serious stains on the record of his reign. - -The first of these occurred in the year following his accession. -Bringing to the Imperial task a fresh and vigorous mind, untainted by -mere military ambition--though he was an excellent soldier--Hadrian -glanced round the Empire, and saw that peace must first be established -on its frontiers. The East was aflame with revolt, the African and -German boundaries were disturbed, and trouble was announced from -Britain. He at once sacrificed the conquests beyond the Tigris and -Euphrates, appeased the Jews and the other peoples of the East, and -passed to Lower Germany to still the restlessness of the northern -frontier. There had been some discontent among the older soldiers -and statesmen of Rome at his being forced on them. From Judæa he had -imprudently sent one of Trajan’s most fiery commanders, the Moorish -prince Lusius Quietus, back in some disgrace to the capital, and this -man and others formed a party of opposition. When they saw that he was -sacrificing Trajan’s conquests and reversing his policy, and especially -when he proposed to evacuate Dacia also, they entered, it is said, -into something of the nature of a conspiracy. - -How far Hadrian was really responsible for the execution of the leaders -of this party we cannot say, and his emphatic denial of responsibility -is entitled to consideration. We know that, when the aged statesman -Attianus wrote to urge him that the Roman prefect and other -distinguished malcontents ought to be removed, he refused to take any -action. The Senate now announced that a plot to assassinate Hadrian had -been detected, and it put to death, without trial, four men of consular -rank, Nigrinus, Palma, Celsus, and Lusius Quietus. A sullen murmur -passed through the city, and Hadrian hastily composed his affairs on -the Danube and went to Rome. He resolutely denied that he had consented -to the executions, and the question remains open. - -With this public resentment in view, Hadrian at once lavished the -most princely favours on Rome, and swore that he would never execute -a Senator without the consent of his order. He remitted debts to the -treasury to the extent of £9,000,000, extended the existing charities -to orphans and widows, provided magnificent spectacles for the people, -and made a sacrifice of Attianus, by deposing him, to the anger of -the malcontents. When the Senate offered him the triumph which had -been due to Trajan for the Eastern victories, he refused it, and -placed a wax image of the dead Emperor in the triumphal chariot. The -citizens of Rome may have been less impressed when he showed a zeal for -public morals, and forbade the mixed bathing that had hitherto been -permitted; but he succeeded, by two years of untiring public service, -in removing the earlier resentment. That he wished to kill Attianus, -and did actually execute the architect Apollodorus, are idle legends. -Serviez seriously reproduces the story that the architect had snubbed -him--telling him to “go and paint his pumpkins”--when he had made a -suggestion to him in earlier years, and that Hadrian avenged himself -when he came to the throne. The truth is that the “Historia Augusta” -describes him in consultation with Apollodorus on some building project -ten years later. - -The details of this vast activity of Hadrian’s do not concern us, as -Sabina seems to have taken no part in it. The busts we have of her -seem to show a cold and irresponsive temper, as if the Empress were -contemplating disdainfully the figure of the beautiful Oriental youth -on whom Hadrian’s affection became concentrated. There is distinction -in the smooth lines of the face and in the lofty forehead, and there -is a proud strength that might very well make her “morose and harsh,” -as Hadrian described her, when he gave her such palpable cause for -resentment. Her mother died in 119. In a florid oration Hadrian praised -her beauty of person and character, but the death would not be likely -to improve the relations of the Imperial spouses. - -In the year 120 or 121 Hadrian set out on the first of the long -journeys which fill the rest of his career, and Sabina made the tour of -the world with him. Had their intercourse been more pleasant, the lot -of Sabina during the next fifteen years would have been one of great -fortune. They passed together over the whole Roman world from Eboracum -(York) to Arabia and Egypt, surveying the ruined Empires of the past -and the young nations of the future in the light of whatever culture -the age afforded; and so beneficent was their passage that myriads -of inscriptions and coins, bearing such legends as “Golden Age” and -“Restorer of the Earth,” handed on to posterity the memory of the great -works which Hadrian everywhere inaugurated. Through Gaul--probably -through the flourishing Greek colony of Massilia (Marseilles), the -solid and cultured city of Lugdunum (Lyons), and the little trading -centre, Lutetia, that would one day be brilliant Paris--they passed -on to Germany, and traversed the boundless forests that hid the soil -of a great modern nation. No glittering pomp of guards surrounded the -Emperor. Bareheaded alike in the snows of Germany and under the sun -of Syria, marching commonly on foot in the dress of a soldier, and -living on soldier’s fare, he restored the rigid discipline of the -legions wherever he went. Bridges, aqueducts, roads, temples, and -colonnaded squares sprang up in the rear of his march. His staff was a -band of engineers and architects. - -[Illustration: SABINA - -BUST IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM] - -In this novel and admirable company Sabina made the round of Gaul and -Germany, and crossed over to Britain in the Imperial galleys. From the -little colony of Londinium (London), which had been destroyed sixty -years before, and was now restored by Hadrian, they passed along the -solid Roman road to Eboracum (York), the last great station from which -civilization looked out on the turbulent waves of Scottish barbarism. -It was then that Hadrian ordered the building of the great wall, to -keep off the Caledonian marauders, of which the traces still exist. -Sabina may have remained in York while Hadrian surveyed the rough -territory to the north, and it seems to have been on the Emperor’s -return that an episode occurred which must have greatly embittered her. - -One of Hadrian’s secretaries was the historian Suetonius, whose work -on the Emperors has provided us with much material. With him and -the cultivated commander of the Prætorian Guards Sabina maintained -a close friendship, and Hadrian made a grievance of it. So closely -did he pry into the affairs of his friends that the rumour was set -about that he had many mistresses among their wives. It was reported -to him that Suetonius and Septicius Clarus “were behaving with more -familiarity than the dignity of the Imperial house permitted,” as -Spartianus puts it, and they were dismissed. There is no suggestion of -grave irregularity on her part. The idea of divorcing Sabina, which -Hadrian is said to have discussed, is expressly connected with what -he called her “moroseness and asperity”; and we can well believe that -her asperity took the form of bitter complaints about his own conduct. -Nothing further was done, and, though we may regard with reserve the -statement that Sabina deliberately prevented herself from having a -child, lest she should put a new monster on the throne, the Imperial -couple continued their uncongenial companionship.[13] Some of the coins -which were struck in commemoration of their passage ventured to bear -the legend, “Concordia Augusta”--struck in honour of the harmony of the -Imperial household. - -From Britain they returned to Gaul, where Hadrian excited comment by -the opulence of his mourning over the death of Plotina. They then -passed to Spain, where Roman civilization had taken deep root, and on -to the land of the Moors. The colonies which Rome had planted along the -strip of territory descending from the mountains to the sea had been -devastated by the barbarians, and the frontier had been obliterated. -Hadrian drove back the tribes, restored the towns, and returned, after -an absence of more than a year, to Rome. The city was tranquil, and -the building of the great villa which still, in its ruins, excites the -amazement of the visitor at Tivoli, was proceeding. After a year or two -of peaceful administration, seeing that the west, north, and south of -the Empire were secure and prospering, Hadrian turned his face towards -the east. - -We need not follow him in this journey to Greece and Asia Minor, since -it is not clear whether Sabina accompanied him, but it had a sequel -of melancholy interest to the Empress. From the cities of Greece he -made his way along the coast of the Black Sea to the region of the -Parthians, where he again restored peace, and back through Asia Minor -and the islands to Rome. Two or three years had been occupied in this -journey, and Hadrian had become less Roman in taste than ever. He -came home surrounded by Greeks, and with a great zeal for Greek and -Eastern institutions. In particular he brought in his train a beautiful -Bithynian youth whose name is from that time inseparably connected -with his. Hadrian’s passion for Antinous is the chief stain on his -character, and was probably the chief ground of Sabina’s resentment. -The Emperor had visited Bithynia, and presumably met the youth there. -Every traveller among rude and healthy nations is aware that such -practices are by no means confined to decadent civilizations, nor does -the student of contemporary morals see in them anything distinctive -of the life of ancient Syria, Greece, or Rome. Nevertheless, the -remarkable beauty of Antinous, which is familiar to us in many a -statue, and the wanton openness of his association with the Emperor, -attracted general attention and greatly embittered Sabina. - -When, therefore, she set out with Hadrian, at the end of 128 or the -beginning of 129, for a fresh and more extensive tour in the East, -her enjoyment must have been heavily clouded by the daily and hourly -presence of the Emperor’s companions. The young Adonis was not the -only source of offence in Hadrian’s suite. Closer still to Hadrian -was a young Roman noble of the most effeminate charm and the most -dissolute life. Lucius Ceionius Commodus was later taken into Imperial -partnership by Hadrian, and, although he did not live to attain supreme -power, his descendants will more than once enter and disturb our -story of the Empresses. Spartianus ascribes to him a “regal beauty” -of face and person, a manner of great charm, a witty and sparkling -conversation, and an utter depravity of morals. He had won the regard -of Hadrian, not so much by the famous new dish which he had invented -for the epicures of Rome--a boar, ham, pheasant, and peacock pie--as -by the sensuous charm of his person and the exotic sensuality of his -life. He would lie, washed in exquisite Persian ointments, on a couch -strewn with roses, with a coverlet of lilies drawn over himself and his -companion. Such ways were entirely foreign to the nature of Hadrian, -but his robust vigour was singularly united with a fine artistic -sensibility and a love of the softer east, which led him into many -inconsistencies. - -Sabina had for companion a Greek poetess, Julia Fadilla, of such virtue -and attainments that a statue was somewhere raised to honour her as -a pattern of integrity. The incongruous party, with its conflicting -groups of virtue and vice--a fitting symbol of the unhappy union of -West and East--crossed the sea to Athens, and then visited Corinth, -Eleusis, and the other surviving cities of Greece. The frame of that -superb civilization still gleamed, almost intact, on the soil of -Hellas, though the soul of Greece had departed. It was as if one gazed -on the smooth white corpse of a beautiful woman. Groups of sophists -still disputed in the gardens or under the shady colonnades; but they -were puny mimics of Socrates, Zeno, and Epicurus. Politicians still -babbled in the Agora; but they blessed the hand of Rome that had closed -brutally on the throat of their fair country. The Acropolis still shone -in its panoply of Parian marble, and Hadrian had restored the harbour -and repaired many of the ravages of time and violence. He regretted the -greed of his forerunners, and sought to restore the ancient spirit. But -the poor revival of art and letters and religion, which he succeeded in -effecting, was only the last flicker of the vitality of Greece. - -They crossed the sea to Ephesus, which at that time rivalled Antioch -and Alexandria as a metropolis of the decaying civilizations of the -East. Its great Temple of Diana, a teeming store of art and treasure, -drew men from all parts, while priests of all religions mingled in its -streets with panders to all vices and ministers to every form of art -and luxury. Smyrna, another flourishing city of Asia Minor, attracted -them next, with its magnificent assemblage of temples, colonnades, -baths, and theatres, and they passed on to Sardis and the other cities -of that fascinating and repellent Greek-Oriental region, where new -mysticism ran like veins of gold in the old volcanic deposits. The -winter was spent in the luxury of Ephesus and Smyrna, and with the -spring they traversed the successive provinces of Asia Minor, admiring -and restoring the remains of Greek and Persian grandeur. Through Syria, -where famous Antioch detained them for a time, they went on, probably, -to the ruined cities of Tyre and Sidon, and returned to Heliopolis, -Damascus, and Palmyra. In Palestine they found the survivors of the -scattered Jewish nation living in great poverty and dejection among the -ruins of their cities, or still scrutinizing the prophets and looking -for the Messiah in the larger communities on the coast. On the site -of Jerusalem, where a few broken towers gave a melancholy reminder of -their former prosperity, Hadrian ordered that a new Roman colony should -be established. - -From Judæa they moved to Arabia, and then to Egypt. Alexandria was then -the second city of the world in importance, the first in interest. All -the exhausted streams of the older civilizations had poured into it. -Never before or since was there so cosmopolitan a population, such a -gathering of old vices and new moralities, dead religions and fresh -religions, cults six thousand years old and the latest gospels of -Judæa and Persia. Its harbour still held the ships of every port in -the Mediterranean, its Serapeum, Museum, and Cæsareum sheltered the -art and culture of the world, and its deafening streets rang with the -tongues of the world. But the soul of Egypt, too, was dead, and the -Imperial party moved up the Nile to admire the surviving relics of its -past. No doubt priests and learned men from Alexandria would attend as -interpreters. They wandered in Memphis, which the sand of the desert -was beginning to bury, passed through Heliopolis, and reached Besa, -where they experienced the great sensation of the tour. The beautiful -Bithynian youth was drowned in the Nile, and Sabina had to regard -with disdain the womanly tears and the extravagant mourning of the -Emperor. It is not clear to this day whether the death was accidental -or voluntary. Hadrian, of course, said that it was accidental; but -a rumour lingers in the chronicles that the Emperor, in his new zeal -for Oriental superstition, had learned that his life was doomed unless -some loved being was sacrificed for him, and Antinous offered himself. -Hadrian has taken the secret with him, but the temples and statues he -raised all over the Empire kept the memory of the pretty youth fresh -for centuries. - -This occurred about the month of October. The dates of these journeys -of Hadrian are much disputed, but a trivial detail has determined -this part of the tour. They went on to Thebes, and, in accordance -with custom, cut their names and the date in the great statue of -Memnon. They probably pushed on as far as Philæ, to see the temple of -Isis, but we find them back in Syria at the end of the year, or the -beginning of 132, and soon afterwards in Rome. The great villa had now -been completed at Tivoli, and we must assume that Sabina lived there -during the three or four years that remained for her. They were years -of continued melancholy. Hadrian was sobered, but soured. The Jews had -disturbed his cherished peace by rebelling, on account of his design -to cover the site of their holy city with a Roman colony, and he had -ruthlessly destroyed what remained of their cities, and erased the name -of Jerusalem by calling the new town Ælia Capitolina. Illness began -to enfeeble his frame, and he brooded darkly over the question of a -successor, which men were discussing. He passed in heavy dejection -through the lovely gardens and marble temples of his villa, still -mourning the loss of Antinous. An obelisk has been found there with the -inscription that it was raised to the youth by Hadrian and Sabina--a -fiction that must have angered the Empress, if it were done before her -death. But she did not live to see the darker gloom of his closing -years. She died in, or about, the year 136, “not without a rumour of -poison,” says Spartianus; the rumour is not worth considering. She had -been entitled “Augusta” by the Senate in 127, but Hadrian refused her -the divine honours which were usually bestowed on dead Empresses. They -were awarded by his successor. - -The busts of Sabina which we have suggest just such a personality as -we have gathered from the meagre references to her in the chronicles. -She was a woman of smooth and regular features and fine person, without -beauty or charm. Her face gives an impression of intellect, virtue, and -silent suffering. She is the kind of woman who would neither overlook -the vice of her husband nor actively resent it, or assert herself in -any way; the kind of woman to retreat in disdain to her books. That she -was “treated as a slave” by Hadrian, as Aurelius Victor says, we may -decline to believe, and regard the statement as a popular exaggeration; -nor, on the other hand, can we agree with Gregorovius that a letter -in which Hadrian invites his mother to dine with him on his birthday, -and says that Sabina has gone into the country, shows their “mutual -dislike.” Duruy quotes this very letter in disproof of the belief -that they were estranged, and points out that it goes on to say that -Sabina had “sent her share for the family dinner.” The French historian -believes that the legend, “Concordia Augusta,” on some of the medals of -the time expressed a fact. We cannot, however, imagine Sabina resigning -herself to her husband’s passion for youths, and the few authentic -details left us about her relations with Hadrian generally indicate a -mutual aversion. As an Empress, she was a nonentity; as a woman, an -admirable blend of old-world sobriety and new-world culture. - -Hadrian survived her for two unhappy years. The whole Empire was -covered with monuments of his public service, the coinage of every -province proclaimed his beneficence, the slave, the widow, and the -orphan gratefully told of his magnanimity. But the illness and -depression of his last year permitted him to commit a crime, and, -so accustomed was the new generation to good conduct in its rulers, -the recollection of his great deeds was almost obliterated. To the -astonishment of all, and the indignation of the thoughtful, Hadrian -announced that he had chosen as Cæsar his dissolute and decadent -companion, Lucius Verus. His brother-in-law Servianus, now an old man -of ninety, and the grandson of Servianus, a youth of nineteen, seem -to have been among the murmurers, and, on trivial pretexts, they were -put to death. These cruel murders brought a deep shadow over Hadrian’s -last year, but a last opportunity was given him to repair his action. -Lucius Verus, worn and consumptive from debauch, died, and Hadrian now -made choice of the most worthy man in the Senate, Titus Antoninus; -adding, however, in his quaint way of mingling good and evil, that he -must in turn adopt the son of Lucius Verus and young Marcus Aurelius, -a Sybarite and a Stoic, two antithetic types of Roman life. He went -down to Baiæ, suffering acutely from dropsy. The pain and weariness -were so great that he tried to secure poison or a sword, but Antoninus -prudently guarded and nursed him. He died in the year 138, “done to -death by physicians,” he ironically said. In his last days he composed -some slight verses, which I may translate: - - Little soul, so tired and still, - Guest of this decaying flesh, - Whither, now, will thy flight be? - Pale and cold and reft of speech, - Never more to utter joke. - -It was the note of the time-spirit, which was so strangely incarnated -in Hadrian. He united in his person all the contradictions that were at -strife in his era of change--asceticism and sensuality, public spirit -and selfish sensibility, Stoicism and Cyrenaicism. He needed a stronger -Empress. But the better spirit prevailed in him at the end, and the -Stoics came to the throne. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE WIVES OF THE STOICS - - -On the twenty-fifth of February, in the year 138, Hadrian had -summoned the Senators to the palace. Verus was dead, and the whole -world wondered on whom the erratic fancy of the ailing Emperor -would rest next. Among the Senators was a distinguished, able, and -amiable statesman and commander, Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius -Arrius Antoninus, whose great merit had--as the long series of names -implies--been richly rewarded by older relatives. He had been much -consulted by Hadrian in his last years, and was respected by all. To -the great relief of the Senate the wavering finger of the Emperor fell -on this man, and he was acclaimed Cæsar. He attended Hadrian devotedly, -prolonged the useless life which lingered between him and the throne, -and--it was rumoured--saved many a noble head from execution in the -last frenzies of Hadrian. Early in July that great traveller set out on -his last journey, and Aurelius Antoninus--a name to which the Senate -soon added the appellation of Pius--ascended the throne. - -The new Empress of Rome was Annia Galeria Faustina, a matron in her -thirty-fourth year, of an ancient and distinguished Italian family. -It is of some interest to regard the extraction of Faustina. Through -her the Imperial throne is about to pass once more to one of its most -ignoble occupants, and Rome will sink rapidly from the reign of Marcus -Aurelius to the riot of Commodus. The two opposing tendencies of Roman -life meet in her family, and the Stoic succumbs to the Epicurean--or, -rather, to the Sybaritic or Cyrenaic, for the gospel of Epicurus -was one of dignity and sobriety. Rome might have said, in the later -language of Goethe, as he depicted himself passing through a similar -phase: - - Zwei Seelen wohnen, ach, in meiner Brust. - -One soul leaned to sloth, sensual and selfish indulgence: one, with -larger horizon, was for temperance, vigour, and Imperial duty. The -curious feature of this critical stage in the fortunes of Rome is -that the two tendencies are developed within the same family, and -the Stoic yields to the Sybarite. Annia Galeria Faustina was born of -the same parents as the father of Marcus Aurelius, and was reared in -the same atmosphere of old Roman virtue, or manliness, as the word -signifies. The great-grandfather of Marcus Aurelius was Annius Verus, -a Senator of great merit and of Spanish extraction. His son Annius -Verus was twice consul, and both his sons in turn--the father and -uncle of Marcus Aurelius--were promoted to the consulate. Everything -we know of the family suggests a fine and sober patrician type, and -confirms the beautiful picture of it given us by Marcus Aurelius in his -“Meditations.” - -The one element of possible weakness in the ancestry of the Faustinas -and of Commodus is in the mother of Annia Galeria Faustina. Annius -Verus had married Rupilia Faustina. Her family is obscure, and, though -one must hesitate to trace to her this strain of weakness and vice on -such slender grounds, one is disposed to believe that she was married -for her beauty, and brought into that strong family the tainted germ -which ripened in more than one of her descendants. It may, however, -very well be that the strength of the stock was decaying--Marcus -Aurelius himself was delicate--and its later descendants succumbed to -the evil influences about them. A genealogical table will show how the -fate of Rome hung on this family for more than a generation:-- - -[Illustration: FAUSTINA THE ELDER - -BUST IN THE LOUVRE] - - Annius Verus (twice consul) - and Rupilia Faustina - | - +--------------------+----------------------------+ - | | | - Annius Libo Annius Verus (consul) Annia Galeria Faustina - (consul) (marries Domitia Calvilla) (marries Antoninus Pius) - | | - +-----------------+ ------+------- - | | - Annia Cornificia Marcus Aurelius Annia Faustina - (marries Annia Faustina) | - | | - +--------------+---------------+ - | - Commodus - -Faustina had inherited her mother’s beauty, and was reared in a very -conscientious home. It was the home in which Marcus Aurelius learned -his first lessons in virtue, as his father died early, and all the -chroniclers speak of it with great respect. We know very little about -her, however, until she becomes Empress, and, as she died three years -afterwards, we have not much concern with her. She is believed to have -married somewhat late for a Roman girl, in or about her sixteenth year -(120). Titus Aurelius Antoninus was then in his thirty-fourth year, a -tall, graceful, and handsome man, of quiet and captivating manners, -good cultivation, fine character, and a face of great dignity and -sweetness. He was of good family, and was advancing rapidly in the -public service. Shortly after the marriage he became consul, and he -remained in Rome in one or other civic capacity until 128 or 129. He -was very wealthy and greatly esteemed. - -One of the chroniclers has charged her with light behaviour, and, as -this is the only period in which we can plausibly entertain it, we may -regard the charge for a moment. The book of Dio’s history for the reign -of Antoninus Pius is lost, so that neither he nor his commentators -throw any light on Faustina. Aurelius Victor and Eutropius say nothing -of her character. The one hostile witness is “Julius Capitolinus,” the -anonymous writer of the fourth century who provides the sketch of the -life of Antoninus Pius in the “Historia Augusta.” He says (c. 3): “Many -things are said of his wife’s excessive freedom and looseness of life, -which he had painfully to overlook.” Serviez enlarges on this with his -usual license. But as he makes Faustina the sister of Ælius Verus, and -says that she neglected the education of her children, which is also -untrue, we may ignore him. - -It is now more customary to reject this charge against the elder -Faustina, on the ground that the single witness is a light anecdotist -of the fourth century. Moreover, when the tutor Fronto wrote a glowing -panegyric of Faustina after her death, Antoninus Pius answered that it -was even more true than eloquent, and swore that he “would rather live -with her at Gyaros [a barren island, to which criminals were deported] -than in a palace without her.” Nevertheless, we must leave the question -open. Antoninus Pius was not a puritan. When the Emperor Julian -introduces him before the gods, in his charming contest of the Emperors -for the highest praise (“The Cæsars”), he calls him “a moderate man, -not indeed in love-affairs, but in the administration of the Empire.” -Faustina was probably charming enough to merit his sincere lament. But -as Capitolinus mingles truth and untruth with a very light hand, and -the relevant book of Dio is wanting, we cannot decide the issue. - -In the year 128 or 129 Antoninus was appointed Proconsul of Asia, -and he and Faustina went to Smyrna. The elder of their two daughters -died about the same time. An amusing incident in connexion with their -arrival is narrated by Philostratus in his “Lives of the Sophists.” -The Proconsul at once occupied the finest house in Smyrna, the home -of the teacher Polemo, who was absent. Polemo was the idol of Smyrna, -and was proportionately conceited. He drew youths from all parts to -his school, and had won much favour from Hadrian for the city. He -travelled in a superb Phrygian chariot, and his mules had silver -trappings; and when some grumblers had hinted that he had diverted to -his own pocket some of Hadrian’s subsidies, he had pompously written -to the Emperor: “Polemo has given me an account of money given by -you to him.” This conceited sophist reached his house in the middle -of the night, and found the Proconsul and Faustina abed there. He -promptly turned them out, and roundly abused them. Years afterwards, -when the genial Antoninus was Emperor, and Polemo came to the palace, -he said laughingly to an attendant: “See that Polemo has a chamber in -the palace, and that no one turns him out.” Later an actor came from -Smyrna to complain that Polemo, the autocrat, had turned him out of the -theatre. “At what hour?” asked the Emperor gravely. It was at midday. -“That is nothing; he turned me out at midnight,” said the Emperor. - -The amiability and solid work of Antoninus must have won Polemo, as -Hadrian is reported to have said in his will that it was he who advised -the adoption of Antoninus. But the East generally so much appreciated -the Proconsul that, when he returned to Rome, he stood very high in the -favour of Hadrian. We again lose sight of Faustina until he becomes -Emperor, and then there are one or two brief references to her before -she dies in 141. At his accession he refused the greater part of the -money (_aurum coronarium_) which was due to him, by custom, from the -provinces, and drew very liberally on his private fortune for paying -the great expenses entailed. Faustina naturally demurred. “Foolish -woman,” he is said to have answered, “when we obtained the Empire -we lost what we previously possessed.” The only other reference is -contained in a letter of the younger Faustina to Marcus Aurelius: “In -the defection of Celsus my mother exhorted Antoninus to be concerned -first about his own family.” We know nothing of this revolt. Apparently -Antoninus, like Marcus Aurelius, was disposed to be dangerously -lenient. The final reference to Faustina is that she died in the third -year of his reign (141), and was deeply mourned by him. Nominated -“Augusta” in life, she was deified at death, and Antoninus built in her -honour the beautiful temple of which traces are still seen in Rome. He -also instituted in her honour a fresh charity for orphans, the “Puellæ -Faustinianæ,” and ordered that gold and silver statues of her should be -borne in the processions. - -This sincere tribute of the Emperor tells at least of a great affection -and esteem, but the literary references to Faustina are too meagre -and disputable to bring her clearly before us. The busts that are -believed to represent her do not, unfortunately, assist us much. In the -Capitoline Museum at Rome is one that may depict her in her twenties -or earlier. It has a round and tranquil face, not devoid of strength, -but more directly suggesting an even and sober character. Another bust, -in the Vatican Museum, shows the same features at a later age; but a -third, in the same Museum, has not so pleasant an expression. The oval -face is hard and querulous. The loose lips droop at the ends; the large -eyes, prominent cheekbones, and strong chin have an expression that is -very far from tender or spiritual. The bust that is attributed to her -in the British Museum is between the two. The elder Faustina remains in -obscurity, and we pass to her more notorious daughter and successor. - -For twenty years after the death of Faustina there was no Empress of -Rome. Antoninus, who was in his fifty-fifth year, refused to marry -again, and took a concubine--an arrangement recognized in Roman law -and practice, in which marriage had several degrees. It was an era -of general peace and great prosperity. The group of Stoic lawyers -that the Emperor gathered about him humanely moderated the rigour -of the laws, medical service was supplied to the poor in the towns, -the school-system was further endowed, and works of mercy continued -to multiply. The armies usually rested--and, it is to be feared, -rusted--the treasury was again filled, the Empire was happy and -prosperous. In the year 161 the cheerful, benevolent Antoninus passed -away, and the two men whom Hadrian had compelled him to adopt came to -their joint reign. With them are introduced two new Empresses of no -little interest. - -The two boys whom Hadrian had lightly designated as the heirs to the -throne after Antoninus were Annius Verus, or Verissimus, as Hadrian -genially called him on account of his precocious gravity and piety, -and Lucius Verus, son of Hadrian’s dissolute companion. Annius was a -great favourite of the Emperor. He received office in his sixth year, -and donned the philosopher’s cloak in his twelfth. He was the pet of -his grandfather’s palace, but so serious in his Stoicism that his -mother had difficulty in persuading him to sleep in a bed instead of on -the floor. In his sixteenth year Hadrian gave him the manly toga, and -betrothed him to the daughter of Lucius Verus. In his eighteenth year -he was “terrified” to hear that he had been chosen for the succession, -and must go to live in the palace. Then Hadrian died, and Antoninus -adopted him. - -Gibbon has greatly praised Antoninus for preferring the welfare of the -State to the interest of his family in this adoption. It is true that, -as we know from coins, Antoninus and Faustina had had two sons, as well -as two daughters, but they must have died before the year 138. Dio -expressly says that Hadrian ordered Antoninus to adopt the two youths -“because he had no male children at the time.” His boys, like his -elder daughter, must have died before that time; and indeed we have no -further mention of them. But if this particular grace cannot be allowed -to Antoninus, we must admire his careful control of their education and -his discriminating guidance of their fortunes. The best masters in Rome -instructed each of them, and it was only the deep-rooted difference -in their constitutions--the moral strength of the one and weakness of -the other--that led them to diverge so widely. The vigilant eye of the -Emperor observed the dissimilarity of promise. He left Lucius Verus out -of the way of promotion, and destined Marcus for the great advancement. - -No sooner was Antoninus on the throne than he approached Marcus, -through Faustina, with a proposal of marriage with his daughter. She -had been promised by Hadrian to young Lucius Verus, and Marcus was to -marry Ceionia. The Emperor proposed to cancel these contracts, and -marry the younger Faustina to the young Stoic. It would be extremely -interesting if we could penetrate the feelings of the young princess at -the time. The later busts of her suggest a pretty, round-faced girl, -probably in her early teens, with small eyes and a lively temperament. -The grim and austere young scholar would not attract her, and one -can imagine her feelings when he asked time to consider whether he -would accept the hand of the Emperor’s charming daughter. Marcus -philosophically weighed the proposal in his mind until the time he -asked had expired, and then he consented to betrothal. He was appointed -Cæsar and consul designate, and given the palace of Tiberius for a -dwelling. A bust that we have of him, in the Capitol Museum, represents -him about this time--a face of singular beauty and refinement framed in -a mass of short curly hair. - -Their marriage--a superb ceremony--did not take place until about seven -years later (145), a circumstance which we may regard as a further -philosophic error. During the years of waiting, and during most of the -reign of Antoninus, Marcus was absorbed in study. He was penetrated -with the aphorism of Plato, that the State would be happy whose prince -was a philosopher. What the effect was on Faustina we may be in a -better position to say later. Her mother had died in 141, her womanhood -was fully born, and the eye of her father had an Empire to survey. At -the death of Antoninus the throne was at once offered to Marcus. In his -last moments Antoninus had ordered the golden statue of Fortune, which -he kept in his chamber, to be conveyed to Marcus. From a sense of duty -he, unluckily for Rome, associated Lucius Verus with him in the Empire. -Somewhat delicate himself, he relied on Verus for such work abroad as -was immediately necessary, and continued to frequent the schools. - -His peaceful studies were quickly interrupted. Fatal floods and -scarcity of food disturbed the capital; the eastern frontier was again -aflame, and the German frontier was threatened. Marcus sent Verus to -take command in the East, after betrothing him to his daughter Lucilla, -held off the northern barbarians with bribes and diplomacy, and worked -hard for the relief of Rome. For a time his policy seemed to triumph. -The Germans were pacified, and the eastern peoples repressed. Verus, -indeed, advanced no farther than the voluptuous palaces of Antioch and -the licentious groves of Daphne. Once only during the campaign did -he quit the luxury of Antioch. He heard that Marcus was coming East -with his daughter Lucilla, and hastened to meet him otherwhere than -in garrulous Antioch. Marcus did not leave Italy, however, and Verus -wedded Lucilla, and returned to his perfumed vices. Happily, there was -in the East a Roman general of the old stamp, Avidius Cassius, a strong -and blunt man, disdainful of luxury. He lashed the debauched troops -into a state of discipline, pacified the East, and let Verus return to -Rome to enjoy his triumph. - -Here begin the stories that have gathered about the memory of the -younger Faustina, and have persuaded many a writer that, as one of the -authorities says, she became a second Messalina. If we are to believe -the “Augustan History,” she behaved with the most abominable license -throughout her whole married life. Four Roman nobles are specifically -named as notorious lovers of the Empress, and she is charged with -general license. One of the four was named Tertullus, and it is said -that one day, when Marcus was in the theatre, an actor made flagrant -reference to this liaison. Asked for the name of a certain lover, he -said three times (_ter_), “Tullus, Tullus, Tullus.” It is added that -Marcus--who might very well miss a point in the theatre, as he read and -wrote letters there--was quite aware of the liaison, because he one day -surprised Faustina at breakfast with Tertullus. The Empress is further -charged with adultery with the voluptuous colleague of her husband, and -with wantoning among actors, gladiators, sailors, and others of the -baser sort. - -The more sober writers on Faustina have generally been unwilling to -admit this debauchery. Duruy rejects the stories altogether, Merivale -recommends reserve, and Renan thinks that “careful research has reduced -to very small proportions the accusations which scandal was pleased to -bring against the wife of Marcus Aurelius.” It seems to me that we can -only come to the same conclusion as we did in regard to Messalina; we -must regard particular legends with reserve, but must conclude that -the general opinion of Faustina at the time, which the stories embody, -must have had a serious basis. Some of the stories put on record by -Capitolinus in the “Augustan History” are palpably false. One runs that -she confessed to Marcus her passion for a certain gladiator, and that -Marcus was directed by the Chaldæan sages, whom he consulted, to kill -the man and bathe the Empress in his blood. Her passion was cured, but -her next child was the brutal Commodus. This story is so gross--I do -not reproduce all the details--that the writer does not insist on it, -but he continues: “Still, as her conduct with the gladiators is well -known, Commodus probably was the son of a gladiator.” Now the tutor of -the princes, Fronto, remarks in one of his letters, and the surviving -busts bear him out, that Commodus had a striking likeness to Marcus -Aurelius. I may add that Commodus was born in the year of the Emperor’s -accession, when such conduct is incredible. - -[Illustration: FAUSTINA THE YOUNGER - -BUST (REPUTED) IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM] - -Other parts of the legend are just as vulnerable. Thus it is said that -Faustina poisoned Verus when he boasted to his wife of his relations -with her. He died a very natural death, as we shall see later. On the -other hand, Dio, who lived shortly afterwards, and had no dislike for -scandal, knows nothing whatever about this looseness on the part of the -Empress, and there is nothing in Eutropius or Aurelius Victor. The only -other writer who, in a general way, accuses Faustina of dissoluteness -is the Emperor Julian (“Cæsars,” c. 28). We are therefore in a dilemma, -and must not too readily speak of Faustina as a second Messalina. -The quiet assumption of her guilt in Julian, and the fact that the -stories in the “Augustan History” are professedly taken from Marius -Maximus, an historical writer not far removed from her time, imply a -very general belief in her guilt. In one place Capitolinus says (c. 23) -that the Emperor “cleared her by his letters” of the charge of loose -behaviour with actors, and in another represents him as saying, when -he is urged to divorce her on account of her vices: “If we send away -the wife, we must give up her dowry,” though the Empire could hardly -be called Faustina’s dowry. In a third place, however, Capitolinus -leaves it open whether Marcus “was ignorant of, or ignored,” his -wife’s misconduct. For many writers, in fact, the attitude of Marcus -is decisive. If such things had been done he must have known, and, -with such knowledge, he could not have spoken so highly of his wife in -his “Meditations,” and would not have dared to set up, in her memory, -an altar on which the maidens of Rome should offer sacrifice before -marriage. - -The scale, in truth, is somewhat evenly balanced, yet one cannot easily -conceive that the heavy charges of Marius Maximus and the deliberate -verdict of Julian had no foundation. Whether from weakness, or from an -excess of casuistry, Marcus Aurelius lacked decision or penetration -in such matters. He married his daughter to a profligate, whom he -afterwards deified, and he committed the Empire to a son who had given -early promise of vice. His grave and ascetic ways probably repelled the -gay and beautiful woman whom he had diplomatically married, and she -seems to have sought relief. None of the busts, medallions, or coins, -which more or less convey an image of her to us, suggest character or -culture, but rather a weak control and a sensuous temper. From her -Commodus derived the enfeebled will that put him at the mercy of his -more dissolute courtiers, and the sensuality that made his short reign -an indescribable debauch. Much as we should like to relieve Marcus -Aurelius of the shame of having begotten such a monster, we must admit -his parentage, and cast what blame there is on the mother. - -In this unsatisfactory haze we must leave the conduct of the Empress -during the years in which her husband wrought for the safety of -the Empire, bequeathed his austere reflections to later ages, or -contemplated the golden images of his teachers in his _lararium_. The -triumphant return of Verus was quickly followed by years of gravest -anxiety. In the pestilential East the legions had absorbed the germs -of plague, had strewn them along their route, and had now disseminated -them throughout Rome. Thousands of victims, rich and poor, succumbed -to the subtle malady. Marcus vainly summoned the ministers of every -religion and the medical men of all schools, and sacrificed those -obscure Christians on whom popular anger was ever ready to visit a -calamity. His trouble increased when it was announced that the fierce -Marcomanni of the north had burst into the Empire, and were driving -the Romans before them. With great energy he mustered the demoralized -legions in the north, and set out with Verus against the enemy. In -the middle of the war (168) Verus, who had repeatedly tried to return -to the comfort of the capital, died. He had an apoplectic fit on the -journey, and we may ignore the various suggestions that either Lucilla, -or Faustina, or Marcus put an end to his useless career. - -Marcus continued for several years the task of settling the frontier -tribes. It seems that Faustina went with him on these arduous -campaigns, though whether we may see in the circumstance any merit -on her part, or a device of the Emperor to control her conduct, it -is impossible to say. She at least earned a title--“Mother of the -Camps” and “Mother of the Legions”--which is found on few coins of the -Empresses. It is probable that her disorders belonged to an earlier -date, before and in the early part of the Emperor’s reign. It is -chiefly at Gaeta, the pretty bay on the coast where many Romans had -villas, that Capitolinus places her familiarity with gladiators and -sailors. Possibly the sobriety of her later years was accepted by her -husband as an expiation, and held to justify his eulogy of her. - -Those later years were full of trouble and anxiety. Not only did two -of their children die, and their daughter Lucilla become the widow -of a notorious profligate, but the gods seemed to have entered upon -a contest with the virtue of Marcus Aurelius. A great earthquake -shook the East, the plague left a blackened trail over the Empire and -infested the camps, and other disasters were crowded into a few years. -The treasury ran short, and Marcus was obliged to put up the Imperial -treasures at auction to obtain funds for carrying on the war. His one -consolation was that the Eastern frontier was tranquil, yet in the -year 175 a messenger came to announce that his great general, Avidius -Cassius, was in revolt, and claimed the Empire. - -Verus, who must have felt the scorn of the stronger man, had warned -Marcus years before that Cassius was dangerous, but the actual revolt -is persistently connected in the chronicles with Faustina. Cassius had -ambition, and had only been prevented by his father in earlier years -from rising against Antoninus Pius. In 174 or 175, it is said by Dio, -he received a message from Faustina, proposing that, in the event of -Marcus dying, he should marry her, and occupy the throne. Shortly after -this a false message reached him that Marcus was dead, and he at once -announced to the legions that he assumed the Empire. The message was -quickly contradicted, but Cassius thought it too late to retire, and he -prepared for a struggle. Marcus sadly moved towards the East. Before he -had gone far, however, he learned that the soldiers, who hated Cassius -for his rigour, had put him to death. - -The position of Faustina is once more in grave ambiguity. The writer -on Cassius in the “Historia Augusta” gives the rumour implicating her, -but rejects it. Unfortunately, his rejection is in this case no more -weighty than his acceptance in others. He admits that his source, -Marius Maximus, believes Faustina guilty, and ascribes it to “a wish -to defame” the Empress. Except that the hatred of Commodus at Rome -may have for some time been extended to the woman who had borne him, -there is no clear reason why Maximus should calumniate Faustina. Dio, -who lives very close to the time, gives it as a positive fact that -Faustina secretly urged Cassius to marry her, and occupy the throne, -if Marcus died. We may concur in the verdict of most of the writers on -the matter. Marcus was ailing, delicate, and overburdened with work. It -seemed to Faustina that he would not live long, and, as Commodus was a -callow and unpromising youth, and by no means sure of succession, she -sought an arrangement by which she should remain on the throne if her -husband died. - -It is not generally felt that there was anything gravely reprehensible -in this, but a secret negotiation of such a character does not -present her to us in an attractive light. Her subsequent zeal for the -punishment of Cassius and his friends is equally unpleasant, even -if we recall that she had no intention of raising him against the -Emperor while he lived. Several letters which passed between Marcus -and Faustina have been preserved in the “Historia Augusta,” from -Marius Maximus, and there seems to be little ground to doubt their -genuineness. They suggest that Marcus was in the habit of consulting -with Faustina on matters of grave importance. “Come up to the Alban -Mount,” he writes her, after telling of the sedition, “and by the -favour of the gods, we will discuss the affair in safety.” Faustina -replies: - - “I will set out to-morrow for the Alban Mount, as you command, - but I at once implore you, if you love your children, to visit - these rebels with the utmost severity. The soldiers and their - leaders have fallen into evil ways, and they will crush us if - we do not coerce them.” - -In another letter she presses him again: - - “My mother Faustina urged your father [by adoption] Pius, at - the time of the secession of Celsus, to feel first for his own - family.... You see how young Commodus is, and our son-in-law - Pompeianus is older and is abroad. Do not spare men who have - not spared you, and would not spare me and the children if they - won.” - -A later letter of Marcus tells that he has read her exhortation in his -villa at Formiæ (on the Gulf of Gaeta). By that time he has heard that -Cassius is dead, and he will hear of no further revenge on his family. -He will spare his wife and children, and beg the Senate to be moderate -in punishing the accomplices, because “there is nothing that so much -commends the Emperor of Rome to the nations as clemency.” We know, in -fact, that he treated the family of Cassius with great generosity. - -The Emperor and Empress then went to the East to complete the work -of pacification. In the course of the voyage, in a little village at -the foot of Mount Taurus, Faustina met her end in the year 175. As a -matter of course she was placed among the gods, but Marcus was not -content with the customary honouring of her memory. He gave the village -the name of Faustinopolis, founded a fresh charity with the title of -“Puellæ Faustinianæ,” and built a beautiful temple at Rome, which, when -he died a few years later, was dedicated in their joint names by the -Senate. As if to obliterate all the rumours about her infidelity, he -went on to ask extraordinary honours for her of the Senate. He set up -a special altar, with a silver statue of her, in the temple of Venus, -and directed that maidens about to marry should offer sacrifice on it; -and he had a golden statue of her placed on her seat in the theatre -whenever he attended its performances. - -Dio gives two versions of the death of Faustina which were current in -his time. Some said that she died of gout, from which she suffered; -others held that she put an end to her life in fear lest her complicity -with Cassius should be discovered by Marcus in the East. The second -theory is superfluous. The natural cause of death seems adequate -enough, nor would she be in any serious danger if Marcus heard that -Cassius had made her the pretext of his rebellion. Her chief misdeeds -were to live after her. Frivolous, and probably licentious, in her -early married life, she seems to have settled in sober ways when she -became Empress, but we find no influence of hers in the ordering -of affairs. Had she only reared healthy children to succeed her -husband, she might have contributed worthily to the mighty task of -supporting the shaken Empire. Instead, she gave to the Empire Lucilla -and Commodus, her two surviving children, and it fell into a fresh -degradation. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE WIVES OF THE SYBARITES - - -As Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus had been equal in Imperial power, -and both were married, we have one more Empress to regard before we -pass on to the wives of Commodus; and the account we have already given -of Verus will justify us in relegating her to this distinct chapter. -Verus had married Lucilla, the eldest daughter of Marcus and Faustina; -but the ambiguous repute of her mother will warn us not to expect -a painful spectacle of vice in alliance with lofty virtue. Lucilla -carries a step further the unhappy disposition which we have suspected -in her grandmother, and more palpably detected in her mother. By her -union with Lucius Verus vice was once more decked with the Imperial -purple and justified in the eyes of Rome. We may briefly consider -Lucilla as Empress before we follow her lamentable career under the -reign of her brother. - -Lucilla was born in the first year of the married life of Marcus and -Faustina. Marcus was then a pale and thin-blooded scholar, Faustina -in the full warmth and sensuousness of young womanhood, and it was -not unnatural that the child should inherit the temper of her mother -without the spiritual restraint of her sire. She was educated with -the greatest care, and was betrothed to Verus in her sixteenth year. -Presumably by the will of her father, and certainly with the full -assent of Verus, she remained two further years in the palace, while -Verus wore out his strength in the dissipations of Antioch. Marcus -heard of his conduct, and sent out Lucilla to marry him; as if a union -with a young woman of seventeen or eighteen would be apt to have a -sobering influence on a man of Verus’s habits and parentage. Verus met -her at Ephesus, married her there with great pomp, and returned with -her to his pleasures at Antioch. - -They came to Rome at the peace of 166, and Marcus could not fail to -learn in full the character of the man to whom he had entrusted his -daughter and half his power. The villa which Verus occupied in the -Clodian Way was the most notorious house of debauch in Rome. It swarmed -with the dancing-girls, boys, Eastern slaves, musicians, conjurors, -etc., that Verus had brought from the East. One room was fitted up as -a popular tavern, and we must leave under the veil of a dead language -the abominations that were perpetrated there. One can only repeat such -comparatively decent details as that Verus would have gladiators to -fight in his house during dinner, and prolong the carouse until his -slaves had to bear away his stupefied form on his couch; or that, on -other occasions, he would emulate the early feats of Nero, and revel at -nights in the wine-shops and brothels of the popular quarter. One night -he gave a superbly furnished banquet, and at the close, in a drunken -fit, presented to his guests the costly plate, and even the litters, -with silver-harnessed mules, in which they were taken home. - -Marcus made several futile attempts to brace him by a campaign in the -north, and must have been sincerely relieved when he at last paid, by -a premature death, the price of his excesses. Lucilla had then been -Empress for eleven years. As she is barely noticed in the chronicles, -we are left to imagine the effect on her of living through her early -womanhood in such a palace as that of Verus. Probably disgust saved her -very largely from the taint. Verus’s sister Fabia lived with them, and -was generally believed to be intimate with her brother. She at least -usurped the place of Lucilla in authority, and the Empress must have -been as much relieved as her father when Verus died. He was rumoured -to have been poisoned by Lucilla because of his relations with Fabia; -by Faustina, for betraying his relations with her; and by Marcus, to -rid the Empire of his sottishness. But an apoplectic fit would be so -natural a crown to such a career that we can dispense with so much -poison. - -Lucilla was then married by Marcus to an elderly and worthy Senator, -Claudius Pompeianus. She and her mother strongly resented the marriage, -and demanded a younger and more attractive husband; but the Emperor -was unusually firm. Unhappily, his firmness was misplaced, for the -austerity or age of Pompeianus effected what the profligacy of Verus -had failed to do, and Lucilla fell into vicious ways. We may conjecture -that this did not happen until after her father’s death. Marcus had -returned to the war against the Marcomanni, and, after three years of -great exertion and sacrifice, was within sight of victory when death -carried him off. He had not married again, in spite of Fabia’s efforts -to win him. In the fashion approved even by philosophers, he took a -concubine to his bed, and virtuously refused to put a stepmother over -his children. At his death a new Empress comes upon the scene, and, as -Lucilla still retained her Imperial dignities and privileges, we shall -have to consider them in an unamiable conjunction. - -The last and most fatal blunder of Marcus Aurelius was to leave the -Empire in the very uncertain hands of his son Commodus. War had drained -the treasury; plague, famine, and sloth had thinned and weakened -the population; vice had again been enthroned for all to admire and -imitate; the lusty barbarians were thundering at its gates. A new -Vespasian or Trajan was needed to restore its vigour, if such a -restoration were possible. Yet Marcus persuaded himself that the pretty -youth, with bright eyes and curly golden hair, who played at soldiering -in his suite in Germany, could bear this enormous burden. Herodian, -whose history of the Emperors now opens for us, tells us that Marcus -was really concerned on the matter as he lay in his last illness. -There were disquieting stories about the character of Commodus. It was -said that in his twelfth year he had, at Centumcellæ (Civita Vecchia), -ordered the bath-attendant to be thrown into the furnace because the -water was not hot enough. On another occasion Marcus had driven away -certain corrupting attendants, but had recalled them at the petulant -tears of his son. They were with him in Pannonia. We may at least -assume that even the fond eye of a father must have discerned the -weakness of character which, in the course of a year or two, would let -Commodus sink to indescribable depths. Marcus, however, trustful to -the end in the sublime truths of his philosophy, was content to summon -Commodus to his tent, make a pretty speech to him in the presence of -his counsellors, and hand over to him the reins of government. - -For a time Commodus remained in the camp, and let the elders govern. -Before long the lighter courtiers hint that it is more comfortable in -Rome, and he talks of going. The elders frown, and Pompeianus lectures -him. He bows submissively, but it is not long before he decides to go. -Numbers of officers discover a similar call to the capital, and a gay -cavalcade sets out. Rome is enchanted, and goes out miles along the -road to meet Commodus, and strews flowers and laurel in his path, and -enthuses over his handsome face and the curly hair that shines like -gold in the sun. It was the coming of Caligula and Nero over again. -The Roman people--_quantum mutatus ab illo!_--had come to appreciate a -pretty face, and a prospect of endless games, immeasurably more than -the security of the frontier. - -When Commodus had set out with his father for Germany, he had been -married--“hastily married,” the chronicle says--to a lady as young and -thoughtless as himself. Crispina was a very beautiful girl, and of -distinguished family. Her father, Bruttius Præsens, was a Senator of -great merit. It seems that she accompanied Commodus to the camp, and -returned with him to Rome. In his train were the evil counsellors whom -Marcus had banished and recalled. Their hour had come. - -For three years Commodus enjoyed the pleasures which they provided or -invented for him, and left the administration in the capable hands of -his father’s servants. Possibly this was the highest virtue Marcus had -expected of him. But the ambition of his confidants steadily grew, -and a bitter feud in the palace now came to a head and gave them an -opportunity. Crispina and Lucilla were violently opposed to each -other. The Imperial title of Lucilla paled beside that of the wife of -the ruling Emperor. The fire which had been borne before her when she -went abroad now passed to Crispina, and she had to yield precedence in -the palace and the theatre. Crispina, on the other hand, resented the -familiarity of Commodus with his sister, and would hardly be ignorant -of the interpretation that was generally put on it. The adherents of -the palace were thus divided into two parties, and the Empresses fought -for the monopoly of Commodus’s favour. At last Lucilla despaired of -gaining her end through Commodus, and resolved to have him murdered. - -There is no room for doubt that the daughter of Faustina and Marcus -Aurelius was an abandoned woman. Dio declares that she was “no better -than Commodus.” We may trust that this is an exaggeration, but the -other authorities speak of the looseness of her conduct, and are -emphatically agreed that she inspired the plot to murder her brother. -No one doubts that her purpose was to recover supreme power. The -inferences and impressions we draw from Imperial portraits are not very -substantial, but it is interesting that the statue of Lucilla, which we -have, suggests just the type of woman that the historians represent her -to have been. It is the figure of a full-bodied woman, of strong and -imperious temper, sensual to the limit of grossness. In her the beauty -of her mother, instead of being enhanced by the purity of her father, -is blighted by a general expression of coarseness and self-assertion. - -Her criminal design was gradually imparted to her lovers. Among these -was a young noble named Quadratus, whom she soon fired with a sense of -her grievances, and a conspiracy was framed. The actual assassination -was undertaken by her stepson, Claudius Pompeianus. Herodian says that -his name was Quintianus, and he may have had this name in addition. Dio -gives a confused and contradictory account--he describes Pompeianus -as married to Lucilla’s daughter, whereas Lucilla was married to his -father, and he says that she was intimate with him, yet hated him and -wished to destroy him--but, as he lived in Rome at the time, we must -accept the substance of his story. The young Senator Pompeianus was -an intimate friend of Commodus, and only an infatuation for Lucilla -could have drawn him into the plot. He spoiled it, and ruined the -conspirators, by his melodramatic display. As Commodus entered the -amphitheatre, he rushed upon him with a drawn sword. But he announced -his purpose by crying out: “The Senate sends thee this sword,” and the -guards arrested him. - -The plot gave Commodus an opportunity to make a bloody clearance of -those who hampered his plans, and caused him to regard the Senate with -dark suspicion. The male conspirators were executed, and Lucilla was -banished to Capreæ. But Crispina had no triumph by the removal of her -rival. She had herself been tainted in that atmosphere of vice, and -was detected in one of her liaisons by Commodus. She was banished to -Capreæ, and there both she and Lucilla were put to death. - -[Illustration: LUCILLA - -BUST IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, ROME] - -The conspiracy took place in the year 182, the third year of Commodus’s -reign. The remaining ten years of his life it would be more agreeable -to leave in the untranslatable language of the chroniclers, but he -virtually shared his throne with a woman of a singular and interesting -type, and we must include her in the gallery of wives of the Emperors. -Among the property of the wealthy young conspirator, Quadratus, -which was at once confiscated, was a very handsome and engaging -concubine of the name of Marcia. The _concubinatus_ was, as I have -said, a legal and recognized union in Rome, and we must not regard -these women, who enter our chronicle in that capacity, in quite the -same light as the mistresses of later Christian princes. They were -sometimes of moderately good family, though they seem generally to -have belonged to the class of emancipated slaves, and were included -in the man’s property. Marcia was of the latter class. Probably an -orphan at an early age, she was brought up by a eunuch, and sold by -him to Quadratus. At the dispersal of his property, or even during his -life, she attracted the notice of Commodus, and was transferred to the -populous harem of his three hundred concubines. - -A few years later (185) an event occurred that greatly increased her -growing power over the Emperor. The chief favourite of Commodus was -a low-born and despicable courtier named Perennis, who encouraged -the Emperor to pursue his morbid sensual impulses, while he himself -accumulated wealth and power. He flattered and indulged every fancy -of his besotted master, and controlled all the resources of the -State in his own interest. He was commander of the guards, and seems -to have at length conceived an ambition to displace Commodus. One -day, when Commodus presided at the games, which he very liberally -provided, before an immense crowd, a mild-looking man--said to be a -philosopher--rushed into the centre of the stage and roared out a -warning to the Emperor that Perennis was acquiring wealth and aiming at -the throne. The prefect had him burned alive, and escaped the Emperor’s -suspicion; but the end was nearer than he expected. A regiment of -fifteen hundred men from the legions of Britain marched into Rome, -demanded the head of Perennis, and forced Commodus to recognize and -punish the faults of his minister. - -From that time Marcia occupies the place of _prima inter pares_ in the -harem of Commodus. A good deal of research has been expended on this -leading concubine of the Emperor, because there was a tradition in -early Christian literature that she favoured and protected, if she did -not herself belong to, the new religion.[14] It was said that she sent -the eunuch, who had reared her, to liberate the repressed Christians -of Sardinia, and the peace which they enjoyed at Rome during the reign -of Commodus is attributed to her influence. But if Marcia had ever -belonged to the austere sect of the early Christians, we must, for -its credit, entirely dissociate her from it in her Imperial days. She -seems to have been to the brutal Commodus what Cæsonia had been to the -equally licentious Caligula. She dressed willingly as an Amazon, and is -actually represented on the coins, with Commodus, in the helmet of a -female warrior. If we may put any trust in that meagre portrait of her, -she seems to have been of much the same type as Cæsonia: a handsome, -strong, vulgar woman, owing her influence to her masculine robustness. - -For seven years she occupied, without a quarrel, the chief place in -a palace in which all the orgies of Caligula, Nero, and Verus were -concentrated. At her persuasion Commodus changed the name of Rome to -“the Colony of Commodus.” One might almost suspect her of genial irony -in thus removing the venerable name from the Imperial city during -the years when it was degraded by Commodus. Evil as the practices of -Caligula and Nero had been, they were surpassed by the insanities and -obscenities of the son of Marcus Aurelius. We must leave the veil over -the life that was witnessed in the palace during those ten years; but -the crimes of Commodus were not confined to the wild indulgence of his -unbridled appetites. The company of gladiators and the daily pleasure -of killing degraded him to the character of a mere butcher. He forced -the priests of orgiastic Eastern cults to perform on themselves the -mutilations which their ritual described; he beat them with the emblem -of Anubis which he carried in their processions. On one occasion he -had all the citizens of Rome with some infirmity of the feet gathered -in one place, and more or less dressed as dragons. Then the Roman -Hercules--as Commodus loved to be called--fell upon them with a club, -and killed numbers of them. This and other stories of his indescribable -lust and cruelty are told by an historian who saw Commodus daily. - -In the year 189 Marcia obtained even greater power over her insane -lover. The place of Perennis had been at once occupied by another of -the Emperor’s despicable courtiers, Cleander, a Phrygian slave who had -risen, by base means, to be the first minister of the Empire. Like his -predecessor, he encouraged Commodus to wallow in his vices, while he -took advantage of his insanity to enrich himself. The highest positions -in the State were sold by him, and men could even purchase from him -the right to take vengeance on their enemies, or the privilege not -to be executed for their wealth. The treasury was again diminishing, -and noble blood poured out freely to refresh it. A great pestilence -swept over Italy, exacting thousands of victims daily in Rome alone. A -terrible famine succeeded it. The people, observing that the avaricious -minister was endeavouring to make a corner in corn, now broke into -rebellion and pressed to the palace of the Emperor. - -Commodus was enjoying himself at the beautiful palace of the -Quintilians in the suburbs, which he had obtained by murder, when the -crowd surged up to the gates. Cleander turned the cavalry upon the -people, but the infantry sided with them, and they returned in a storm -of anger to the palace. None of his ministers dare approach the room in -which Commodus wantoned with his companions, but his sister Fadilla and -Marcia broke in with the news that his life was in danger. Some writers -say that it was Fadilla who informed him, some that it was Marcia. We -may suppose that both of them endeavoured to awake him. The voluptuous -coward at once sacrificed Cleander to the crowd, and returned to his -vices. - -Marcia had now the leading influence over Commodus, and Rome sank -lower and lower. The butcheries of the amphitheatre were his chief -concern. He consorted daily with the gladiators, killed vast numbers -of beasts in the arena, and even fought with men who had meekly to -submit to be slain by him. Numbers of distinguished or wealthy Romans -were put to death on the most frivolous pretexts, yet the Senators were -compelled to view and applaud his daily slaughters with such cries as: -“Thou conquerest the world, O brave Amazonian.” Dio, who sat among -the Senators, tells us that one day Commodus made a grotesque attempt -to intimidate them. He had just killed an ostrich, and came toward -them with the head in one hand and the bloody sword in the other. He -grinned and wagged his head, without saying a word, as he approached -them, as if intimating that it would be their turn next. Dio says that -his appearance was so ludicrous that he had hastily to pluck a leaf of -laurel, and chew it, to prevent him from laughing. We nearly missed the -writing of one of the most valuable histories of the period. - -The “Golden Age,” as the Senate was compelled to describe this -appalling decade, came to a close through a fresh excess on the part -of Commodus Pius, as he was now styled. They had reached the last -day of the year 192, and were preparing for the great festivities of -the morrow. Commodus informed Marcia that he would spend the night -in the house of the gladiators, and issue from it on the morrow at -their head. He ordered his chamberlain Eclectus and his commander of -the guard Lætus to make the necessary preparation. Marcia and the -officers were horrified at his proposal, and besought him to abandon -it. After reading the disgusting details of his career in the “Historia -Augusta”--even if we make allowance for exaggeration--one has some -difficulty in realizing their indignation. Apparently, however, this -proposal to identify himself so intimately with the degraded caste of -public gladiators was regarded by them as something of an entirely -different nature from the filth and obscenity of his practices in -the palace, and they boldly opposed him. He angrily shook them off, -and put their names on his condemned list. The “Augustan History,” -recalling a story we have heard before, introduces an element of -romance into the adventure. It makes Commodus tie the tablet to his -bed, and go to sleep, when the tablet is playfully removed by one of -his jewel-decked boys, and delivered accidentally into the hands of -Marcia. - -It is better to follow the version of Dio, who was in Rome at the time. -The two officers and Marcia, realizing that they had incurred his -anger, discussed the matter, and decided to assassinate him. Marcia was -directed to poison him. She put the poison in the meat he ate, but its -effect was spoiled by the quantity of wine he had drunk, and it caused -him to vomit. He became suspicious and threatening, and went to the -bath. They then hastily took into their confidence his powerful and -athletic bath-attendant, Narcissus, and he entered and strangled the -Emperor. - -One reads with something like amazement that the successful -conspirators, instead of gladly announcing that they had rid Rome of -such a brute and tyrant, deliberated anxiously how they should proceed. -So blind was the attachment of the troops to their paymaster, and -of the common citizens to any generous provider of games, that they -concealed the deed. Commodus had himself fought 735 times in the public -amphitheatre, and on those performances alone had spent 200,000,000 -drachmas. The temper of the demoralized people and soldiers was -uncertain, and they decided to put the Empire at once in the hands of a -strong soldier. - -In the romantic story of the accession of the various Empresses of -Rome there are few cases so dramatic as that which introduces the -next Empress in the series. There was living in Rome at the time an -experienced commander, in his sixtieth year, of the name of Pertinax. -His father had kept a kind of tavern in a village of Liguria. The -son had obtained some education, and rapidly climbed the ladder of -promotion. He had married Flavia Titiana, the accomplished daughter -of a very wealthy and distinguished Senator. Himself enamoured of -Cornificia, the sister of Marcus Aurelius, he had overlooked the -vivacity of his wife, and she had at one time attracted comment by her -open regard for a musician. At the time of the murder of Commodus, -Pertinax was Prefect of Rome. He retired to bed on that last night of -the year 192 with no suspicion of the great events that were happening -in the Domus Vectiliana, to which, it seems, Commodus had gone. - -In the middle of the night he was awakened with the message that the -captain of the Prætorian Guards wished to see him. He calmly said -that he had for some time expected to be executed by Commodus, and he -continued to lie, in quiet dignity, when Lætus entered to tell him that -they offered him the Empire. He begged Lætus to abandon his unseemly -joke, and carry out his orders. He was at last convinced that Commodus -was dead, and, through the darkness of the stormy winter night, they -made their way to the camp. They announced to the guards that Commodus -had died of apoplexy, and that Pertinax was submitted to be chosen -by them as Emperor. The soldiers listened with no enthusiasm. Under -the license of the reign of Commodus they had been permitted to take -the most extraordinary liberties, and they dreaded the accession -of a commander. The news had, however, spread by this time through -the city. People crowded into the torch-lit streets, and poured out -toward the camp, hailing the name of Pertinax and execrating that of -Commodus. A promise of 3,000 denarii to each man overcame the last -opposition of the Guards, and they coldly consented to the choice. In -the Senate, too, there was hesitation. “We see behind you,” said the -consul Falco, “the ministers of Commodus’s crimes, Lætus and Marcia.” -Pertinax himself, indeed, was still very reluctant; but the Senate -urged the Imperial power upon him, and the new year dawned at Rome upon -a people angrily scattering the statues and memorials of Commodus, and -expressing a wild rejoicing over the advent of its new ruler. - -Titiana never bore the title of Augusta, and we may dismiss very -briefly her few months of residence in the palace. The Senate offered -the title of Augusta to Titiana, and that of Cæsar to their son, but -Pertinax refused both. “Let the boy earn it,” he said of his son; and -Dio says that he kept the title from his wife, either because of the -insecurity of his position, or “because he would not let his lascivious -consort stain the name of Augusta.” Titiana was evidently not the kind -of woman to co-operate with Pertinax in his reforms, and she probably -shared the disdain with which her friends regarded his ways. Although -he at once began to undo the evil wrought by Commodus--to banish -the informers, regulate the taxes, and purify the administration of -justice--he alienated the Romans by passing to an extreme of sobriety. -The palace he purified in very summary fashion. He had the whole -apparatus of Commodus’s luxury sold by auction, and Rome looked on -with delight as the three hundred pretty boys and three hundred choice -concubines, the gold and silver plate, the precious vases and silks -and chariots and wonderful machines of the Sybarite were exposed to -their view. But Pertinax carried his economy too far. Patricians told -with contempt that he would put half a lettuce on the Imperial board, -and would make a hare last three days; the people missed the unceasing -stimulation of the amphitheatre; the soldiers chafed at the discipline -he sought to enforce. Within three months of his remarkable accession -to power Pertinax was assassinated by the Guards, and Titiana fell back -into the obscurity from which she had momentarily emerged. - -Another Empress of a day, and one that came to the throne under no less -romantic circumstances, claims our attention for a moment before we -pass on to a more imposing figure. - -It was on the 28th of March, 193, that the soldiers brutally -assassinated Pertinax. On the rumour of trouble Pertinax had sent -his father-in-law, Sulpicianus, to secure tranquillity in the camp. -As he lingered there the soldiers returned with the dripping head of -the Emperor, and he recognized that the throne was vacant. With a -callousness that is almost incredible, but is fully attested, he at -once made an offer of money to the soldiers for the Imperial power. It -occurred to some of the soldiers that a higher bid might be secured, -and they announced from the rampart of their camp, in which they had -enclosed themselves, that the throne was, virtually, on sale. In -particular, they sent word to one of the wealthiest citizens, Didius -Julianus, and invited him to make an offer. Whether or no it be true -that he yielded to the vanity of his wife and daughter--he does not -seem to have needed pressure--Julianus went to the camp, and made a -higher offer than that of Sulpicianus. - -It was the early evening, and a crowd had gathered to witness the -appalling spectacle of the sale of the Empire. Julianus pointed out -that his rival was the father-in-law of the man they had killed, and -might be expected to have some design of revenge. The soldiers admitted -Julianus by a ladder, and the two Senators made bids against each -other, the soldiers on the wall announcing their offers. At length -Julianus made an offer equal to more than £200 to each soldier, and he -was greeted as Emperor. Under the close guard of the soldiers he was -conducted, amid an angry people, to the Senate, and forced upon the -Senators. They then concluded their bargain by conducting him to the -palace, and the vain old man had time to reflect on the extraordinary -situation he had suddenly reached. His wife, Manlia Scantilla, and -daughter, Didia Clara, joined him “in fear and concern” (the “Historia -Augusta” says), and he finished the day with a prolonged entertainment. - -His wife and daughter were decorated with the title of Augusta on -the morrow, but they soon found that Julianus had squandered his -comfortable wealth on a dangerous bauble. Not only did the Roman people -jeer at him whenever he appeared, but the news soon came that the -distant legions were aflame with anger, and were about to march on Rome -to wrest the Empire from him. Presently he heard that the commander of -the troops in Pannonia had begun his march at the head of a formidable -army. Julianus first had him declared a public enemy, and sent men -to assassinate him; then he offered to share the Empire with him. -Severus and his hardened troops passed relentlessly over the Alps, and -proceeded along the plains of Italy. Julianus stung the demoralized -soldiers who had sold him the Empire into some pretence of resistance, -threw up earthworks in the suburbs, endeavoured to train his elephants -for the fight, and, as a last resort, fortified the palace. But his -effeminate troops quailed before the seasoned legions from Germany, -and, when Severus reached Rome, Julianus found himself deserted. The -Senate decreed his death, and he was beheaded in the palace which he -had enjoyed, at the price of his fortune and his life, for sixty-six -days. And the two broken-hearted Augustæ laid down their dignity, and -bore the body of Didius Julianus to the tomb of his ancestors. - -Marcia, too, had ended her semi-imperial career with a violent death. -After the assassination of Commodus she had married the chamberlain -Eclectus, with whom she had long been intimate. Eclectus became the -chamberlain of Pertinax, and perished, not ignobly, with his master. -Marcia did not long survive her husband, however. Julianus had promised -the soldiers that he would avenge the murder of Commodus, and he sought -the remaining members of the conspiracy, Lætus, Narcissus, and Marcia, -and put them to death. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -JULIA DOMNA - - -With the accession of Septimius Severus to the throne, we find -ourselves confronting one of the most dominant personalities in the -long line of Roman Empresses--a woman of the standard of Livia, -Agrippina, and Plotina--and passing again into one of the brighter -periods of the life of the Empire. The degradation of Commodus’s -reign will disappear like a mist on a summer morn; the jaded frame of -the Empire will seem to recover all its vigour in a few years. These -periods of rapid recovery are not sufficiently appreciated by the -rhetorical censors of the morals of Rome, whose investigations are -almost entirely confined to the reigns of Caligula, Nero, Commodus, -Caracalla, and Elagabalus; as if it were just to define the climate of -a region by its worst days only. Let a strong man rise to power, let -an imperial encouragement be given to virtue and manliness, and even -the city of Rome takes on a normal moral aspect. The throne is but an -electric point, and, according as it is positive or negative, it draws -into the light of history either the good or the bad elements of Rome. -Both are there all the time. And if the good rulers had made as drastic -a purge of evil types, as evil rulers made of good types, when they -came to power, the Empire might not have provided so much material to -the censors of extinct civilizations. - -The Empresses whom we have hitherto considered were, with a few -exceptions, the daughters of Roman patricians, or of distinguished -provincials who had lived in Rome for a generation or two. In Julia -Domna, the wife of Severus, we have for the first time a woman of -the East on the throne; and, as her family will for some time deeply -influence the fortunes of the Empire, it will be interesting to glance -at her origin. - -On the bank of the Orontes in Syria, at the large village or small town -of Emesa (now Hems), there was in the second century a very ancient -and prosperous religious centre. At some early date in the history -of the land a mysterious stone had been cast on the country from the -home of the gods--a meteorite, modern science would call it--and it -had been set up as a symbol of the Regenerating God (Elagabal, which -the Greeks improperly turned into Heliogabalus, or Sun-god). A fine -temple was in time built to shelter it, pilgrims sought it from the -whole country, and the richest gifts were made to the god and his -living representatives. About the middle of the second century the -priest in charge was a certain Bassianus, who had two handsome and very -clever daughters. The planets which presided at the birth of the elder -promised her, according to the astrologers, a throne; and, as there -was a camp of Roman soldiers near Emesa, and the temple was a great -attraction to the soldiers in their exile, the pretty Syrian girl and -her horoscope came to be known very far away. In the year 186 or 187 an -offer of marriage came to the priest’s daughter from one of the highest -officials, the _legatus_, of the rich province of Lower Gaul, and she -crossed sea and land to accept it. Within six years this officer, -Septimius Severus, was Emperor of Rome, and Julia Domna was Empress. - -Some doubt has been thrown on this pretty story, and Serviez, whose -chapter on Julia Domna is a piece of irresponsible fiction, describes -her as coming to Rome, on her own account, in search of adventure. -But we have abundant evidence that Severus was a most enthusiastic -astrologer, and there is nothing improbable in the story. Severus was -of the province of Roman Africa, of humble family, and, like so many -energetic men in the days of Antoninus and Marcus, had earned promotion -from office to office. He had first married a certain Paccia Marciana -at Rome. He was then made Prætor, had a military command in Spain and -Gaul, spent some years in study at Athens, and became Legate of the -Lugdunian province. At Lyons he lost his first wife, and sought a -second. Hearing that there was a maid in Syria with a royal horoscope, -he sent for her, and married her at Lyons. A child was born the first -year, and, although Bassianus (more popularly, Caracalla) is described -by Eutropius and Aurelius Victor as her stepson, he was undoubtedly her -first child. Geta, his brother and co-Emperor, was born two years later. - -By that time they were living in Rome, where Severus was Consul. -Commodus, whose follies excited his ambition no less than his disdain, -gave him the command in Lower Germany. Immediately afterwards Commodus -was assassinated, and about three months later came the news of the -murder of Pertinax. It was easy to inflame the troops with anger on -this occasion, and, as Severus offered a more than usually heavy bribe, -he was acclaimed Emperor, and, as we saw, led the legions upon Rome. -We do not know whether Julia had remained at Rome, or accompanied him, -but she would be present when Rome greeted its new ruler. He rode in -full armour, in the centre of a picked body of six hundred men. When, -however, he saw that Rome had entirely deserted Julianus, he entered -the city in civic costume, on foot. Flowers and laurel and gay hangings -decorated all the houses, and the early summer sun shone on the -white-robed masses of the citizens. Another splendid, but less joyous, -spectacle was offered on the morrow, when a wax image of Pertinax -was honoured with an Imperial funeral. Then he set about the stern -business of securing his Empire. He had no title to it but his sword, -and there were two other able generals--Albinus in Britain and Niger in -Syria--urging the same title on their own behalf. - -We do not know whether Julia accompanied Severus during the long civil -war that followed. Some of the authorities represent her as egging on -her husband to the destruction of his rivals. The advice would not -be unnatural, but it would be so superfluous that we disregard the -statement. With a craft that has not won him the regard of historians, -Severus held Albinus in Britain with the empty title of Cæsar, while -he proceeded to crush Niger in the East. As there are coins of the -year 196 which entitle Julia “Mother of the Camps,”[15] she probably -accompanied Severus to the East, but we need not pursue the long -campaign. Severus committed the work to his generals, and kept watch -over Rome and the West. Several years were absorbed in pacifying the -East, and he then turned toward Britain. Acting under the strain of -African barbarism which undoubtedly existed in the nature of Severus, -he sent men with a treacherous commission to murder Albinus, and the -discovery of the plot brought the British legions thundering over Gaul. -The rivals met decisively at Lyons, and a titanic conflict ended with -the triumph of Severus. - -Rome had followed the even struggle with suspense, and some had -ventured to take sides. The omens were ambiguous. A strange light--the -aurora--flickered in the northern sky, and a rain mixed with -silver--Dio soberly assures us that he plated several bronze coins -with it--fell upon the city. Human judgment had been as uncertain as -that of the gods, and many of the Romans had espoused the “white” -(Albinus) or the “black” (Niger) cause, instead of that of the “grey,” -to put it in the language of the hour. For Severus to have abstained -entirely from punishing those who had supported his rivals, after the -years of anxiety they had caused him, is too much to expect; but it -must be admitted that his vengeance was cruel, and that his plea of the -security of the State was little more than a cloak for a very human -resentment, The “Historia Augusta” gives a ghastly list of forty-one -Senators whom he put to death, and crowds of lesser folk suffered from -his vindictiveness. From Syria to Gaul he marked the progress of his -triumph with a trail of human blood. - -Of the attitude of Julia in regard to these executions we have no -knowledge. Severus was a cruel and passionate African, and we have no -reason to think that any one impelled him to commit these deeds. His -whole behaviour in the hour of triumph was injudicious and unworthy. -He made a most unpleasant speech to the Senate in praise of Commodus, -and directed that the highest honours should be paid to his memory. It -may be that the consciousness of his lowly origin--which his sister -tactlessly irritated by coming to Rome, and displaying her rural -innocence to the amusement of the nobles--made him more suspicious of -the patrician order than he need have been. Albinus, however, had come -of a most ancient and honourable, if somewhat decayed, stock, and his -finer blood may have influenced the Senate. - -Leaving Rome under a painful impression of his harsh use of power, he -set out for the East, where the Parthians were again in arms. Julia -accompanied him on this campaign, but it is of little interest. The -Parthians retired before his advance, and he pursued them down the -Euphrates, and for a time held Babylon and several of the ancient -cities of the East. Foiled, and incurring heavy losses, in the siege -of Hatra, he retired sullenly from Mesopotamia, and sought consolation -in a pleasant tour through Palestine and Egypt. They returned to Rome, -about the beginning of the third century, for their first long stay in -the capital. - -The remarkable number of inscriptions that still survive in the most -distant parts of the Empire bear witness that Julia was already -regarded as an active Empress, not merely as the companion of Severus. -Probably she comes next to Livia--some would place her before Livia--in -the general recognition of her political existence. But on her return -to Rome she found a bitter opponent in the person of Severus’s chief -minister, and for a time she confined herself to personal concerns. -This minister, Plautianus, was a fellow-townsman, possibly a relative, -of the Emperor, and enjoyed and abused his entire confidence. He -was promoted to the command of the Prætorian Guards, whom Severus, -after punishing them for the murder of Pertinax, had reorganized and -enormously increased. Finding himself at the head of fifty thousand -picked men, and entrusted, during the long absence of the Emperor, with -the supreme affairs of State, Plautianus indulged his vanity in the -strangest excesses. When his superb chariot drove through Rome, runners -were sent ahead to warn the common folk that they must turn away, and -not gaze on his august person; and there were more statues of him in -Rome than of the Emperor. He even had a hundred Romans, of all ages, -including many of noble birth, emasculated, in order that his daughter -might be attended with all the splendour and security of an Oriental -harem. Severus begged the hand of this privileged maiden for his elder -son. Bassianus was then (203) in his sixteenth year, and had just been -nominated Cæsar by his father. Plautianus consented, and a princely -wedding took place. People remarked, as the rich gifts were borne -through the Forum to the palace, that the Prefect of the Guards had -been able to give his daughter a dowry that would have sufficed for the -daughters of fifty kings. - -Two circumstances conspired to wreck this auspicious marriage. -Bassianus disliked Plautilla, Julia hated her conceited and overbearing -father. A third circumstance, in the opinion of Rome, was that -Bassianus was already too intimate with a fiery little Syrian cousin, -then living at the palace, of whom we shall see much in the next -chapter. At length Plautianus brought a formal charge against the -Empress, and there was agitation in the palace. The charge seems to -have been one of adultery, and, though it was not established, some -of the later historians declare that she owed her escape only to the -fondness of Severus. Aurelius Victor (“De Cæsaribus,” xx) says that -“his wife’s infamies robbed Severus of the height of his glory”; and he -charges her with, to the Emperor’s knowledge, loose ways and treason. -Lampridius (“Historia Augusta,” “Severus,” c. 18) affirms that she was -“notorious for her adulteries and guilty of conspiracy.” Eutropius and -Herodian join with them in bringing an even graver charge against her -later. Dio, however, who was on the spot, brings no charge against her -character, and many hold that his silence is more instructive than the -chatter of later compilers. We may add that Severus was very eager -to stamp out adultery, and, although his efforts were frustrated by -the unwillingness of the citizens to use his law--Dio, when he was -consul, found three thousand charges lying unheeded in the offices--his -known temper must be taken into account. On the other hand, Dio wrote -his history in the reign of a member of Julia’s family, and may have -omitted much out of discretion. - -The evidence is, as usual, perplexing, and there is no need to press -for a verdict. The Oriental religion, to which Julia adhered, was not -one to lay bonds upon the passion of love, and the removal from the -guarded seclusion of the East to the free life of the West would not -engender scruples. The charge, in fact, was not admitted by Severus -to be proved, though noble dames were tortured to wring evidence from -them. After this scorching ordeal, however, Julia moderated her open -hostility to Plautianus, and sought consolation in a close application -to letters and philosophy. Her sister, Julia Mæsa, had by this time -come from Emesa to join her in the palace, and had brought two married -daughters, of whom we shall hear more.[16] With these, and the literary -men of Rome, she formed an intellectual circle, and withdrew from -politics. - -But there can be little doubt that Julia encouraged her son’s dislike -of Plautilla. Herodian declares that the young wife was “a most -shameless creature.” We may refuse to accept this description of the -unhappy young princess, and see in it only an echo of the attack upon -her. Bullied and threatened by Bassianus, she at last returned in tears -to her father’s mansion, and the Prefect renewed his attacks with -great warmth. Severus refused to hear complaints against him, until -his brother Geta suggested to him, on his death-bed, that Plautianus -was acquiring his enormous wealth with a view to seizing the throne. -From that hour Severus behaved more coldly to his minister, and Julia’s -party took courage. At length Bassianus persuaded his father that -the minister was plotting. If we may believe the romantic version, -Plautianus sent a man to assassinate Severus and his sons. The man -betrayed him at the palace, and was directed by Bassianus to return and -pretend to bring the Prefect to see the dead bodies. At all events, -Plautianus came in haste to the palace, was alarmed to see the gates -close behind him, and was led to the presence of the Emperor and -Bassianus. Shortly afterwards, the head of Plautianus was tossed on to -the street from the roof of the palace. Dio adds that a man plucked a -handful of hair from the bleeding head, and rushed with it to Julia -and Plautilla, crying: “Behold your Plautianus!” The unhappy girl was -banished to Lipara, and was executed there by Bassianus after the death -of his father. - -It was perhaps inevitable that a series of executions should follow -the fall of the favourite, but in a short time the life of the palace -fell into a quiet routine. Severus, a big, powerful man, with a crown -of grey hair above his venerable features, set an example of sobriety -and industry. He was generally at work before dawn, and would return -to work after a frugal midday-meal with his boys. They were years of -peace and prosperity, and he made admirable use of the opportunity to -restore the decaying buildings and institutions of the Empire, and to -replenish the treasury. He regretted his lack of culture, and listened -with deference to the learned discussions in which his wife and her -relatives engaged. His one accomplishment in the way of science was a -thorough command of the mysteries of astrology, as the golden stars -with which he decorated the ceilings of his palace informed the visitor. - -Julia joined with him in the work of restoration. We know that at -Rome she rebuilt the temple of Vesta, and the numerous provincial -inscriptions suggest a much wider interest. Under her lead the women of -Rome were encouraged to look beyond their homes. Sabina had erected, -or dedicated, a meeting-hall for women in the Forum of Trajan, but it -had fallen into decay. Julia restored this early “women’s club,” and -no doubt introduced into it the enthusiasm for letters and philosophy -which she still had. Her “circle,” as Philostratus calls it, probably -included the historian Dio, who was still at Rome, and the poet -Appian, who had some years before described her as “the great Domna.” -Philostratus himself, a Greek writer and rhetorician, one of the most -learned men of the time, was closely associated with her. It was at -her request that he wrote his famous “Life of Apollonius of Tyana.” In -his “Lives of the Sophists” (Philiscus) he speaks of her as “Julia the -Philosopher,” and in one of his letters (lxxiii) he refers with high -appreciation to her learning. - -Julia was then in the prime of her life, and in her happiest days. The -bust of her that quickly catches the eye in the Vatican Museum--the -largest surviving portrait-bust of the period--will hardly be deemed to -possess the beauty with which the historians invest her. The thick lips -and large nose, which betray her ancestry, do not compare well with the -features of other Empresses. But the grave, strong, thoughtful face -and large eyes, which we may imagine instinct with Syrian fire, are -undeniably handsome. Her sister, Julia Mæsa, was with her--a woman of -similar strength, moderation, and judgment. But the younger generation -in the palace gave them concern. The young men, Bassianus and Geta, -were loose and luxurious in their ways; and one of the daughters of -Mæsa, Julia Soæmias, was a fit companion for Bassianus. Severus, noting -the advance of his gout, looked with grave eyes on the soft habits and -the constant quarrels of the sons whom he wished to leave partners in -the Empire. - -[Illustration: JULIA DOMNA - -BUST IN THE VATICAN MUSEUM] - -An irruption of the Caledonians in the north of Britain led him to -think that a campaign under his eyes would alter the evil ways of his -sons, and he set out for the West. Julia accompanied them, but we can -hardly suppose that she ventured further north than Eboracum (York). -The mist-wrapped hills and watery lowlands beyond were to the Roman a -shuddering wilderness, fit only for the breeding of savages who were -as amphibious as rats. Dio unflatteringly describes the north Britons -and Scots of the time as “inhabiting wild, waterless mountains and -desolate, swampy plains,” and “dwelling in tents, without coats or -shoes, possessing their wives and rearing their offspring in common.” -We may find some consolation in the assurance of Lampridius that -Britain (south of this region) was “the greatest glory of the Empire.” -Even the Scots, however, had their glories. When Severus returned to -York, after having pushed to the extreme north of Caledonia, and lost -50,000 men without bringing the elusive enemy to battle, he brought -with him envoys of the Caledonians to discuss the terms of peace. -Among them was the wife of the chief “Argentocoxus”--should it be -Macdermott?--with whom the philosophic Empress held converse through -an interpreter. Julia insinuated that their matrimonial arrangements -were not all that could be desired. “We satisfy the needs of nature in -a much better way than you Roman women,” said the hardy Scot. “We have -dealings openly with the best of our men, whereas you let yourselves be -debauched in secret by the vilest.” Eugenics is an ancient practice, if -a modern theory. - -Severus was borne back, weary and dispirited, on his litter to York. -Bassianus, impatient to reach the throne that he would soon disgrace, -had attempted his father’s life, and fully exhibited the brutality of -his character. Yet Severus, who had often censured Marcus Aurelius -for entrusting the Empire to Commodus, listened in turn to the fond -pleading of his parental feeling, and designated his sons as his -successors. He died at York in February, 211, and a hasty settlement -was made of affairs in Britain that they might return at once to the -capital. They placed the ashes of the Emperor in an alabaster urn, and -set out with it for Rome. - -From that day the life of Julia Domna was one of anxiety, and we may -trust that it was one of pain. Even on the journey homeward her sons -were ostentatiously armed against each other’s designs. Bassianus--or -Antoninus, as he had now been named--was a strong, brutal, and -imperious youth, as eager to murder his brother as he had been to -shorten his father’s life. Geta was brighter, gentler, and more -cultivated, and the affection of the legions for him kept Antoninus in -check while they were with the army. When they arrived in Rome, their -first business was the funeral of Severus. His pale wax image was laid -on a lofty ivory couch, and the black-robed Senators and white-clad -matrons watched it for seven days. Then it was borne to the old Forum, -where the chorus of sons and women of the nobility sang the old funeral -chants, and on to the great wooden tower, stuffed with spices and -inflammable matter, in the Field of Mars; where, from the midst of the -flaming pile, the released eagle symbolized the passage of the soul of -Severus to the home of the gods. - -The quarrel between Antoninus and Geta at once broke out with greater -menace than ever. They kept their separate apartments rigidly guarded -in the palace, and a troop of soldiers and athletes watched day and -night over the person of the younger Emperor. Some one suggested that -the Empire should be divided, as it was later, and that Geta should -take the Asiatic half. Herodian says--though one reads with suspicion -his full reports of speeches that were made a century before--that -Julia opposed this plan passionately. They must divide their mother, -she declared, before they should divide the Empire. The gloom grew -deeper over the palace, and the inevitable end did not tarry long. -Antoninus one day professed that he wished to be reconciled, and -invited Geta to meet him in his mother’s room. As soon as Geta entered, -the officers whom Antoninus had at hand drew their swords. Geta flew -to his mother’s bosom, and she put her arms about him; but they killed -him in her embrace, and even cut the arm in which she clasped him. -Once more the channels ran with the best blood of Rome, as Antoninus -turned vindictively upon the supporters of his brother. Even ancient -nobles who had survived several of these massacres, such as Claudius -Pompeianus, the second husband of Marcus Aurelius’s daughter, now came -to a violent end. The aged sister of Marcus Aurelius, Cornificia, was -put to death for weeping at the news of the brutal crime. Dio assures -us that no less than 20,000 men and women, including some of the finest -of the time, were put to death in that awful carnage. Surely one of the -chief causes of the deterioration of Rome--these repeated purges of its -best elements--has been overlooked in the endless speculations about -its fall! - -The “Historia Augusta” tells us that Julia herself was discovered in -tears by Antoninus, and only escaped death because the Emperor feared a -rebellion if he killed her. Curiously enough, the same historian, and -several others, go on to give us a far different and less honourable -account of her conduct after the death of Geta. In the general horror -with which his abominable deeds were contemplated, Antoninus had -the astuteness to purchase the favour of the army. He bestowed an -extraordinary donation on the Guards, and entered upon a systematic -policy of enriching and indulging the troops. From the pale faces of -the citizens of Rome he retired to the military quarters on the Danube, -and endeavoured by a year of hard hunting and carousing to banish the -ghosts which, he confessed, haunted him. Inscriptions have been found -in Germany which suggest that his mother was with him. However that -may be, she joined him when he crossed the Hellespont to Asia--and -was nearly drowned in the passage--and began to take a most important -part in the administration. With the Senate, over whom he had set in -authority a Spanish juggler, he was too disdainful to deal, except on -the most important subjects. His chief aim was to wring money out of -Rome and the provinces, and spend it on the troops. He “plundered the -whole earth,” says Dio. He wore the long rough cloak of a Goth--from -which he was given the nickname of “Caracalla” (the name of the -garment)--and ate the rough food of a soldier on campaign; though he -gave himself wildly to the luxurious life of the cities of Asia Minor. - -Julia settled in Nicomedia, where she spent a good part of 214 and -215, and then in Antioch. Caracalla never married again; indeed, there -can be little doubt that venereal disease was the chief cause of his -madness and brutality during these years. As a boy, “reared by a -Christian nurse,” says Tertullian, he had been most gentle and humane. -Julia, therefore, was still Empress, and she undertook the greater part -of Caracalla’s work. All letters from Rome were forwarded to her, and -she dealt with them all, except a few that had to be submitted to the -Emperor. The inscriptions cut in honour of her during these years were -remarkably numerous, and from them and the coins we learn how great -were her authority and influence. Her official title grew until it at -length became: “Julia Pia Felix Augusta, Mater Augusti et Castrorum et -Senatus et Patriæ.” All the several epithets that were ever bestowed on -other Empresses were gathered together in her name. - -This intimate association with so foul an Emperor as Caracalla lent -colour to the current belief that she was linked with him in another -capacity than that of mother. Herodian (iiii), Eutropius (viii), and -Aurelius Victor (“Epitome,” xxi), give the charge as an undoubted fact. -Spartianus (“Historia Augusta,” “Caracalla,” x) gives a circumstantial -story of the mother leading the son astray, and Aurelius Victor gives -the same anecdote in his “De Cæsaribus,” xxi. She is said to have -presented herself to Caracalla in what Serviez calls “an exceedingly -magnificent and becoming dress”--_se maxima corporis parte denudasset_, -is the text--and yielded with ease. The anecdote is too common a sample -of the salacious gossip of the time to be taken seriously, but the -substantial charge is not so easily set aside. Dio, it is true, does -not give it. When he speaks (c. 10) of Caracalla having “possessed the -rascality [πανοῦργον] of his mother,” he does not indeed pay a tribute -to her character, but the word he employs seems to indicate craft, -perhaps unscrupulous craft, rather than lasciviousness. - -But even Dio relates an adventure which fairly shows that this grave -charge against Julia was widely credited in his day. In the year 216, -during his tour in the East, Caracalla announced that he would honour -Alexandria with a visit. Unsparing as the Alexandrians had been in -their witticisms on the ugly, bald, and prematurely old young man, -with all his brutality and folly, they had no suspicion of his real -intention, and they prepared to receive him with great honour. Once -inside their gates, however, he savagely precipitated his troops on the -unarmed citizens and for several days directed the carnage and pillage -from the temple of Serapis. This savage onslaught is said by Dio to -have been a punishment for the jibes of the Alexandrians, and we know -from Herodian that one of their most deadly shafts was to speak of him -and his mother as Œdipus and Jocaste. - -It cannot therefore be said that Dio is unaware of the current belief, -nor can we follow Miss Wilkins when she suggests that the “elderly -Empress” was incapable of such conduct. Julia had been married only -twenty-nine years before, and may very well be presumed to have been in -her early forties in the year 216. She was in “the full flush of life,” -as Dio expressly says, and is not known to have embraced any system of -ethics or religion which would lay a stigma on incest. But the general -moderation of her career and the repellent character of Caracalla, -unrelieved by a single grace of person or disposition, must weigh -heavily in the scale against the gossip of Rome. - -We know, at least, that she endeavoured to curb the wild excesses that -were bringing a doom on her son and endangering the stability of the -Empire. When he debased the coinage, and despoiled his subjects, she -remonstrated, but he laughingly drew his sword and said: “Courage, -mother, while we have this, money will not fail us.” “In such things,” -says Dio, “he paid no heed to his mother, who gave him much excellent -advice.” She continued to act as the first minister of her son, -while he wandered from region to region in search of adventure. One -of his exploits will suffice to illustrate his peculiar method of -winning glory. From Egypt he advanced against the Parthians. He sent a -flattering letter to the Parthian king, submitting that the two great -Empires ought amicably to divide the world, and asking for the hand of -his daughter. His persistent lying disarmed even the crafty Parthians, -and he was admitted into their kingdom with a body of troops. He at -once flung his troops upon the vast unarmed multitude that came out to -greet him, mingled their blood with the flowers they had strewn in his -path, and sacked a large part of Medea and Parthia. - -But the end of his infamous life was rapidly approaching. He had -written to Rome, some time previously, to direct that the Chaldæans -should be consulted as to the name of his successor, so that he might -slay the man named. The minister to whom he wrote had some grievance -against one of the officials in the East, Opilius Macrinus, and he -wrote to inform Caracalla that Macrinus was designated by an African -soothsayer. The more romantic historians say that this letter reached -Caracalla just as he was engaged in directing a race, and that he -gave it, unopened, to Macrinus himself to deal with. More plausible -is the story related by Dio. The letter went, as all letters went, to -the Empress at Antioch, and a delay was caused. Macrinus had, in the -meantime, learned from Rome the danger that threatened him, and he set -energetically to work. A discontented soldier in Caracalla’s body-guard -was secured, and on the 8th of March, 217, he ended that Emperor’s -infamies with the thrust of a dagger. It was a timely release for Rome. -It was discovered after his death that he had bought great quantities -of poison in Asia. - -Julia indulged in an unusual display of violence when the news reached -her at Antioch. She mourned little over the removal of her son, says -Dio, as she “had hated him when he was alive”; but the prospect of -laying down her Imperial power, and retiring into private life, in -the prime of her womanhood, filled her with anger. She learned that, -after a brief hesitation, Macrinus had promised the usual bribe to -the troops, and obtained the Empire. Rumour quickly recognized in him -the assassin of Caracalla, and Julia made the most violent attacks on -him. Meantime, he had written to assure her that he would recognize -her Imperial status, and not remove her guard of honour. He feared the -attachment of the soldiers to Caracalla, and disavowed his share in -the assassination. Julia perceived his weakness, and, abandoning her -first resolve to take her life by refusing food, she entertained a -hope of unseating the upstart. But the soldiers, however much attached -to Caracalla, had little idea of putting a Semiramis on the throne of -Rome. Her plan miscarried, and Macrinus heard of her invectives. He -ordered her to leave Antioch, and go where she willed. Her sister and -nieces returned to the paternal temple at Emesa, where we shall soon -rejoin them, but Julia, failing entirely to foresee the extraordinary -adventure by which they would shortly return to power, racked with the -pain of a cancer, which she had aggravated by a blow on the breast in -her first anger, decided to leave the world. She refused food, and died -in May or June, 217. Her remains were afterwards buried with great pomp -at Rome, and her name was added to the quaint list of the Imperial gods -and goddesses. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -IN THE DAYS OF ELAGABALUS - - -The fates were now preparing as strange a revolution, and bringing -upon the Imperial stage as grotesque a figure, as any that have yet -come under our notice. Three women--the sister and the nieces of Julia -Domna--are the engineers of this revolution, and, clothed with the -Imperial dignity, control the fortunes of Rome in the extraordinary -period that followed it. But before we introduce the tragi-comic figure -of Elagabalus, we must clear the stage of the temporary Emperor and his -faint shadow of an Empress. - -Opilius Macrinus was a weak, vain, and unimpressive old man. Accident -had put the Empire within his reach. He timidly grasped it because no -other offered to do so, and held it until another desired it. He was in -his fifty-third year, a man of obscure African origin, an adventurer -in the public service. He was married to Nonia Celsa, of whom we know -only that her qualities were not generally believed to include the -possession of virtue. Their son Diadumenianus was a tall and handsome -youth, with black eyes and curly yellow hair. When his father made him -Cæsar, and he donned a purple robe, the spectators are said to have -melted with affection. He lived long enough to show, by urging his -parents to deal more drastically with rebels, that his heart was not so -tender as his pretty looks had suggested. - -“How happy and fortunate we are,” Macrinus wrote to his family, when -his accession was secured. In little more than a year he would be -flying over the hills of Asia Minor, and he and his handsome boy would -be cruelly put to death. He set out at once, with great display, -against the unruly Parthians. But he soon purchased an ignoble peace -from them, and repaired to the banquets and pleasures of Antioch. -Anxious as he was about his position, he made the fatal error of -keeping the troops in camp, and there soon passed from legion to -legion an ominous murmur. The soldiers contrasted his luxury with -Caracalla’s sharing of their march and their cheese, and chafed under -the discipline he rightly sought to enforce. The rumour spread, too, -that Macrinus had given offence to the Senate; and that a mule had -borne a mule at Rome, and a sow had given birth to a little pig with -two heads and eight feet. The apparition of a comet and an eclipse of -the sun made it yet more certain that something was going to happen, -and confirmed those who were preparing the event. In the month of May -Macrinus heard that a boy of fourteen, supported by three women and -a eunuch, had claimed the throne, and seduced some troops. He sent a -general, with a moderate force, to bring him the boy’s head. In a week -or two a messenger returned with a head--his general’s head. He roused -himself from the drowsy luxury of Antioch, and set out with his army. - -The three women were, as I have said, Julia Mæsa, sister of Julia -Domna, and her daughters, Soæmias and Mamæa. At the death of Julia -Domna they had retired to the ancestral home at Emesa, in Syria, but -with a very considerable fortune, which Mæsa had gathered at the court -of Severus and Caracalla. The two daughters seem to have lost their -husbands, though each had a son. Soæmias had a child of fourteen -years, named Varius Avitus Bassianus, a strikingly pretty boy.[17] His -cousin Alexianus was three or four years younger. Avitus was therefore -clothed with the dignity of priest of the temple, which seems to -have been hereditary, and the little group resumed the life they had -quitted, twenty years before, to dwell in the Imperial court. Mæsa, -and probably Soæmias, found this rustic tranquillity unendurable, and -followed political events with interest. The one retained dreams of -Imperial power, the other of Imperial indulgence. Their chief servant -was a clever eunuch, Gannys by name, who is strangely described by Dio -as “practically living with Soæmias.” A geographical accident brought -their vague dreams to a practical issue. - -Near the little town of Emesa was a camp of the Roman soldiers. -Cosmopolitan as they now were in race and religion, and fretting at -their detention in the dull countryside, the soldiers took a close -interest in the temple of the strange god. The great wealth and fame -of the shrine, the peculiar nature of its deity and its ritual, often -attracted them, and the knowledge that these rich and handsome women of -the priestly family had been so closely connected with their popular -Caracalla increased the interest. But the chief feature that drew -their attention was the beauty of the young high-priest. The soft and -feminine delicacy of his form and features was enhanced by a long robe -of Imperial purple, fringed with gold, and a crown that flashed back -the rays of the Syrian sun from its precious gems. The romance was not -lessened when they reflected that the great Severus had often fondled -this boy in his arms, and that he might have inherited the throne. The -women, or their servants, now doubled the interest of the soldiers by -insinuating a whisper that he was the son of their Caracalla, and when -Mæsa’s gold began to pass freely into their purses, they contrived -to see a resemblance to the dark and repellent features of the late -Emperor in the girlish beauty of the boy. Soæmias had no difficulty -in paying the poor price of her reputation for a return to court. -Lampridius bluntly calls her a _meretrix_. - -On the night of May 15th, 218, the three women and the two boys were -transferred to the camp. Mæsa’s fortune went with them, as the price of -Empire, and on the following day the soldiers announced that Bassianus, -as he was now called, was Emperor. The camp was fortified, and in a few -days Macrinus’s general, Julianus, appeared before it with his troops. -Their companions in the camp exhibited the young son of Caracalla on -the rampart, and, as they exhibited also the bags of Mæsa’s gold, they -convinced and seduced the assailants. Julianus’s head was cut off, and -sent to Antioch. Macrinus now marched against them, and the two armies -met in the intervening country on June 8th. The softened troops wavered -on both sides, and it looked as if Macrinus might win, when Mæsa and -Soæmias sprang from their chariots in the rear of the army, rushed into -the ranks, and spurred their flagging followers on to victory. Macrinus -fled, in an ignominious disguise, across the hills and valleys of Asia -Minor, and within a few weeks Nonia Celsa learned that she had lost her -throne, her husband, and her boy. The Emperor of Rome was the pretty -boy-priest of Elagabalus. - -Imperial power, however, meant to the Syrian youth an unrestrained -indulgence of his sensual dreams, not a grave concern with the affairs -of a mighty people. He dallied in the East, and willingly left his -duties to his grandmother, while he devoted himself entirely to his -rights. He gathered about him the ignoble company of ministers to lust -which the cities of Asia Minor were at all times ready to supply, and -there was no depth or eccentricity of vice in Antioch or Nicomedia -which he did not explore. Before the end of that year the boy’s nature -was completely perverted, and the last trace of masculinity eliminated -from it. Mæsa was alarmed, for the cities of the East were wont to talk -freely of the vices they implanted or cultivated in their visitors, -and the sentiment of Rome could not be ignored. But Bassianus laughed -at her timidity, and lingered throughout the following winter in the -voluptuous chambers of Nicomedia. As to this Roman Senate, of which she -spoke, he sent the grey-beards a painting of himself in his flowing -sacerdotal robes and womanly jewels, to be placed over the altar of -Victory in their meeting-place. - -In the following spring he condescended to visit the capital of -his Empire. Rome had received many a strange procession during the -centuries of its Imperial expansion, but no spectacle had aroused so -much curiosity as the arrival of the young monarch on whose picture -the Senators had gazed with bewilderment. The original was even more -extraordinary than the portrayal. For the entry into Rome the young -priest-Emperor stained his cheeks with vermilion, and artfully enhanced -the brilliance of his eyes, like a Syrian courtesan or an actress. He -wore his loose robes of purple silk trimmed with gold, his delicate -arms were encircled with costly bracelets and his white neck with a -string of pearls, and a tiara of successive crowns, flashing with -jewels, surmounted his strange figure. And, as the alternative and -real power in administration, the Romans regarded with anxiety the -two women who rode with him--the grave and dignified Mæsa, and the -richly sensuous and evil-famed Soæmias. There is in the Vatican Museum -a statue of the mother of Elagabalus as she appeared at this time. -She has chosen to be portrayed in the costume, or lack of costume, of -Venus; and the voluptuous body and soft round limbs, the low forehead, -thick lips, and large nose, combined with the hard and shameless -expression, reconcile us to the coarsest epithets the historians have -attached to her memory. - -[Illustration: JULIA MÆSA - -BUST IN THE CAPITOLINE MUSEUM, ROME] - -To the horror of the Senate this woman was at once associated with him -in a character that no Empress, or no woman, had ever assumed in the -long history of Rome. At his first visit to the Senate the Emperor -demanded that she should be invited to sit by his side and listen to -their deliberations. Even Livia had been content to listen behind -the decent shade of a curtain. Soæmias, however, had not the wit or -seriousness to interfere in any way. She was appointed president of -the Senaculum, or “Little Senate,” of women, which Sabina had founded, -and Julia restored, in the Forum of Trajan; and she found an easier -and more congenial occupation in controlling the grave deliberations -of the matrons of Rome on questions of etiquette, precedence, costume, -and jewellery. It was left to Mæsa to wield the political power, and -she did so with sobriety and judgment. Unhappily, the Emperor was more -willing to listen to the easier counsels of his mother than to Mæsa, -and he began at once to entertain or disgust Rome with the appalling -license which makes his short reign an indescribable nightmare. - -He had brought from Emesa the celestial stone, the emblem of Ela-gabal, -to which all his prosperity was due, and his first care was to provide -the god with a worthy home. A magnificent temple was raised to it, and -the stone, encrusted with gems, was borne to it on a chariot drawn by -six white horses, the Emperor walking backwards before it in an ecstasy -of adoration. In the temple a number of altars were set up, and rivers -of blood--even the blood of children--were poured out on them; while -the Emperor and his family croned the barbaric chants of primitive -Syria, and the highest dignitaries of Rome stood in silent respect. As -the earlier officials were soon replaced by men of infamy, chosen, very -frequently, on a qualification that one may not describe, we need pay -little attention to their feelings. If we suppose that the Emperor, or -Elagabalus, as he now called himself, was aware that the conical stone -was really a phallic emblem, we may find a clue to some of the stranger -vagaries of his erotomania. - -Rome had long been accustomed to the barbarism of the more ancient -Oriental cults, and had indeed taken a willing part in the orgiastic -processions of the mysterious Mother of the Gods, whenever their rulers -permitted them. But the security of the Empire seemed to them in danger -when Elagabalus went on to place every other idol in a position of -subordinate respect in the temple of his fetich. Jupiter, Juno, Venus, -and Mars, were not at that time favoured very widely with a literal -belief; nor were the Romans concerned when he stole the Astarte of -the Carthaginians, and married her, in a magnificent festival, to his -lonely deity. The temples and cults of Rome were like the temples -and cults of modern Japan. They contributed to the gaiety of life. -But if there was little sincere polytheism at Rome--the educated -world was divided between an Epicurean Agnosticism and an eclectic -Monotheism--there was much superstition, and few could regard without -concern a desecration of the ancient Palladium, or statue in the temple -of Vesta, to which the fortune of the city was peculiarly attached, and -other ancient emblems. Elagabalus despotically overrode their feelings. -He broke forcibly into the home of the Vestal Virgins, and bore away -the sacred Palladium; since we may regard the later boast of the -Virgins, that they cheated him with a substituted statue, as insincere. - -Of the Empresses whom he made by marriage we have little knowledge. -In less than three years he married, and unmarried, either four or -five women. The first was Julia Cornelia Paula, a woman of very -distinguished family and, if we may trust the bust in the Louvre, -a woman of dignity, refinement, and some strength of character. We -may see the action of Mæsa in the choice. A few months later he -divorced her and, to the horror of Rome, married one of the Vestal -Virgins. Possibly the beauty of Julia Aquilia Severa had caught his -fancy when he broke into their sacred enclosure. The Senators were -deeply concerned at this sacrilege, for the fate of Rome was still -closely connected with the integrity of the noble virgins who tended -the undying fire before the altar of Vesta. Elagabalus, who, it was -generally known, had no hope of progeny, brazenly argued with the -Senate that he was consulting the future of the State, since a union -of priest and priestess gave promise of a family of divine children. -In any case, he said, he was a maker, not an observer, of laws; and -he established Severa in his palace. The coins give her the title of -Augusta. - -His roving eye soon afterwards was attracted by the charms of Annia -Faustina, the great-granddaughter of Marcus Aurelius. The portrait-bust -of her in the Capitol Museum has a round full face of great beauty -and an expression of sweetness and modesty. She seems to have escaped -the taint of the Faustinæ. She was married to Pomponius Bassus, and -Elagabalus released her by the familiar device of executing her -husband, and transferred her, leaving no time for mourning, to the -palace. Her beauty seems to have been too tempered with refinement to -engage his affections long. She was dismissed, and replaced by some -unknown victim. Then Elagabalus returned to his priestess of Vesta. In -all, he seems to have married four women in three years, not counting -Severa, whose marriage Dio does not seem to regard as valid. - -Severa was the chief associate of his life in the palace, and it is -quite impossible to convey an impression of the sordid scenes into -which she had passed from the austere sanctuary of Vesta. Twelve -condensed pages of the “Historia Augusta” are occupied with his -enormities, and at the close of what is probably the most appalling -picture of unrestrained license in any literature--even if we admit -exaggeration--Lampridius assures us that he has, from a feeling of -modesty, omitted the worst details. It would seem that the human -imagination, in its most diseased condition, could devise nothing -lower. We do not know whether Severa was an Octavia or a Poppæa, but -the circumstance that she consented to live is grave enough. In that -vast colony of vice, to which a system of pandars, spread over the -Empire, dispatched every man who had some special physical or moral -feature to fit him for the orgies, no decent woman would have clung to -mortality. A Cæsonia or a Marcia might laugh when Elagabalus returned -at night, dressed as a common female tavern-keeper, from the low -wine-shops in which he had been rioting--might even smile when she saw -Elagabalus’s “husband,” a burly slave, beating and bruising him for his -infidelity, or when she heard at night the rattle of the golden rings -and the shameful appeal of the new Messalina behind his curtain--but -Severa was of noble birth, the daughter of a man who had twice been -consul. - -One of the unpardonable sins of Rome was that it hesitated so long -to assassinate some of its rulers. The very excesses of Elagabalus -protected him for a long time, as he urged the people to share or -imitate his pleasures. No screen was drawn about his vices. He would -discuss them with the Senate, or collect all the _meretrices_ of Rome -in a hall, and address them on those various schemes of vice which -we find to-day depicted on the walls of the _lupanar_ in Pompeii. -He would invite the common folk to come and drink with him at the -palace, where they might see the furniture of solid silver, the beds -loaded with roses and hyacinths, the swimming-baths of perfume, the -gold dust strewn in the colonnades, the paths paved with porphyry. He -provided for them the spectacle of naval battles in lakes of wine, -and a mountain of snow, brought from the remote mountains, in the -middle of summer. But his chief device for cajoling the citizens was -to distribute tickets, as for a lottery, and see them press for the -sight of the gifts corresponding to their numbers. You might get ten -eggs or ten ostriches, ten flies or ten camels, ten toy balloons or -ten pounds of gold; and the mania grew until your chance lay between a -dead dog, a slave, a richly caparisoned horse, a chariot, or a hundred -pounds of gold. At times he would invite a crowd to dinner, and smother -them, with fatal effect to some, under a thick shower of flowers; or -seat them on inflated bags, which slaves would deflate in the middle of -the banquet; or have them borne away intoxicated at the end, to find -themselves in the morning sleeping with bears or lions. - -The frivolous Romans were so much entertained by these vagaries that -they overlooked his personal luxury, and made no inquiry into the state -of the treasury. No dinner could be placed before him that had not cost -thirty pounds of silver. Robed in a tunic of pure gold or pure Chinese -silk, sitting under perfumed lamps, amid masses of the choicest blooms, -he picked delicately at the tongues of larks and peacocks, the brains -of thrushes, the eggs of pheasants, the heads of parrots, or the heels -of camels. He fed his horses with choice grapes and his lions with -pheasants. His chariots were of gold only, studded with gems, and they -were drawn through the streets by strings of nude women, or by stags. -Delicate in every detail, he had cords of silk and swords of gold -prepared for inflicting death on himself in case of need. He little -knew that he would die in the latrine of the soldiers’ camp. - -Soæmias seems to have enjoyed this orgiastic life, but the more prudent -Mæsa was concerned. Finding that remonstrances were quite useless, she -cunningly persuaded Elagabalus to associate his cousin with him in the -government. Alexander--as Alexianus had now been named--was three or -four years younger than the Emperor, and did not share his disease. His -mother, Mamæa, inherited the prudence and sobriety of Mæsa, and guarded -her boy from the contamination with the utmost care. His excellent -disposition ensured the success of their plan, and Elagabalus began to -perceive that the younger boy was winning a dangerous popularity. It -is said that a judicious distribution of money by Mamæa fostered the -growing esteem for him, especially among the soldiers. - -From suspicion Elagabalus passed to hatred, and from hatred to a design -on his cousin’s life. Mamæa secured the favour of the guards with great -adroitness, and watched the actions of Elagabalus. He first, in order -to test public feeling, sent word to the Senate and the camp that he -had withdrawn the title of Cæsar from his cousin; and he directed -that the boy should be put to death if this announcement created no -disorder. In the anxious hour that followed, Alexander waited in a -room of the palace with his trembling mother and Mæsa; Elagabalus went -down to the gardens to supervise the preparations for a chariot-race, -and await impatiently the news that his cousin was dead. Presently a -tumultuous crowd of the guards rushed across the city, and burst into -the gardens of the palace. Elagabalus fled to his room, and covered -himself with a curtain; and the soldiers conveyed the two women and the -boy in triumph to the camp, many of them remaining in the garden to -threaten Elagabalus. - -Soæmias, seeing the Empire slip from her, awoke to energetic action. -She hastened on foot to the camp, and pleaded passionately for her son. -They did not wish to take his life, the guards said, but must have -a security for the life of Alexander and a promise of reform. They -returned to the gardens, and the young autocrat, in his purple silks -and jewelled shoes, had to plead with the rough soldiers to spare the -favourite ministers of his vices. He had filled the highest posts with -men whose only qualifications were such that we cannot describe them, -and his army of attendants were the scum of the Empire. The guards -forced him to dismiss the most obnoxious, preached him an inglorious -sermon on his infamies, and directed their officers to watch over the -life of Alexander. - -The swords of gold and the cords of variegated silk were not employed, -but Elagabalus could never forgive the degradation he had experienced. -He made several attempts to remove the obstacles to his design: sent -the Senate from Rome, and removed or executed several of the soldiers. -Mamæa watched him assiduously, and Mæsa easily penetrated his secrets. -Not a particle of food or drink from the Imperial kitchen was allowed -to pass the lips of Alexander. Rome knew that the end was near. It was -only a few years since Bassianus and Geta had disgraced the palace -with a similar quarrel. Mæsa attempted in vain to conciliate them. On -January 1st, 222, they were both to receive the consular dignity from -the Senate. She had to threaten Elagabalus with a fresh mutiny of the -guards before he would go. - -Some ten weeks later the feud came to a crisis. Elagabalus, to test -the soldiers, sets afoot a rumour that Alexander is dead. The guards, -believing the rumour, withdraw their contingent from the palace, -and shut themselves in the camp. Elagabalus takes his cousin in his -golden chariot to the camp, to show that the rumour is false, and loses -control of himself when the guards burst into exclamations of joy at -the sight of Alexander. Mamæa and Soæmias come upon the scene, and an -angry altercation follows, each mother making a wild appeal to the -soldiers. Either there is a division of feeling among the soldiers, -or some of Elagabalus’s ministers are present, for swords are drawn -and are soon at work. Elagabalus and Soæmias, the Sybarites, rush into -the latrine of the camp for safety, and are slain there by the guards. -Their bodies are disdainfully thrown out to the mob, who have gathered -outside. The effeminate frame of the young Emperor, with its soft limbs -and large pendent breasts, and the voluptuous body of his mother, are -dragged through the streets, and, as the opening of the sewer is too -narrow to receive them, they are thrown into the Tiber. And the cry of -“Ave, Imperator!” rings in the ears of Mamæa and her boy. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -ANOTHER SYRIAN EMPRESS - - -To the thoughtful Roman the name of Syria must have suggested an abyss -of corruption, and the extension of the Empire over that swarm of -Asiatic peoples to whom the name was vaguely applied must have seemed -an infelicitous triumph. From the cities of nearer Asia, in which the -senile energies of the older civilizations seemed incapable of rising -above the ministry to vice, luxury, and folly, had come the larger -part of the taint that had infected the blood of Rome. It is therefore -singular to observe that, of the five women whom Syria placed on, or -above, the Roman throne in the third century, four were distinguished -for sobriety of judgment and concern for the common weal. The family -from which the first four of these women sprang is variously described -as “humble” and “noble.” We may reconcile the epithets by a conjecture -that the family which controlled the wealthy shrine of Emesa descended -from some branch of the fallen nobility of the East. Both Soæmias and -Mamæa had married Syrians, and we may assume that Mamæa had done the -same. In those circumstances, the public spirit with which Julia Domna, -Julia Mæsa, and Julia Mamæa used the great influence they had is not a -little remarkable. - -Of the three--to whom we must presently add a fourth remarkable woman -of the East--Mamæa had the greatest power, and made the best use of -it. She is not blameless, as we shall see; but even if it be true, as -is commonly said, that she was unduly covetous of money and power, we -must at least admit that she employed them solely to restore peace and -prosperity to the Empire, and prolong the reign of a high-principled -ruler. - -Mamæa entered upon her work with all the shrewdness which we have -already recognized in her. Instead of claiming the right, which Soæmias -had enjoyed, to sit in the Senate and sign its decrees, she preserved a -discreet silence when the Senate abolished the innovation, and poured -out their long-repressed annoyance on the memory of its author. The -Senators ostentatiously enjoyed their shadow of power: Mamæa quietly -possessed the substance. She provided the finest preceptors for the -education of her son Alexander, who was in his fourteenth year, and -selected sixteen of the most distinguished Senators and lawyers as a -Council of State. With these she worked energetically and harmoniously -for the renovation of the Empire. The palace was purged of the quaint -and the loathsome officers that she found in it, Rome was relieved of -Ela-gabal and his ghastly ritual, competent officials were substituted -for the ministers to the lust of the late Emperor, and the heavier -taxes of the previous two reigns were remitted or lessened. In this -work, which extends over the thirteen years of the reign of Alexander -Severus, Mæsa had little part. She died soon after the beginning of -this happier era, and Mamæa alone guided the willing hands of her son. -It is remarked by all the authorities that Alexander was singularly -subservient to his mother. - -Troops and Senate had been happily united in the elevation of -Alexander, and all the epithets of Imperial dignity were at once -conferred on him. The title of Severus he accepted from the soldiers, -but he declined the name of Antoninus, which the Senate pressed on -him, since that revered name had been so impiously disgraced by his -predecessors. He spontaneously discarded the womanly silks and jewels -of his cousin, covered the rough shirts of Severus with the Roman -toga, and gave equal attention to manly exercises, the lessons of his -tutors, and the wise counsels of his mother. He thus grew into a -handsome and virile youth, with the piercing black eyes of his race, -but with a moderation of temper that delighted his Stoic teachers. -When we read the account of his career in the “Historia Augusta”--an -account that might have been written by a Xenophon or a Fénelon for the -edification of a young prince--we are tempted to feel that, either the -gossipy Lampridius had for the moment a more serious object than the -entertainment of Rome, or Alexander Severus was more virtuous than the -circumstances required. - -Mamæa is described by the same writer as “holy, but avaricious.” -Avarice was a not inopportune vice. Elagabalus had squandered the -treasury on his follies; the troops, encouraged by him and by -Caracalla, were becoming more and more exacting; while Mamæa had, by -lightening the taxes, spared the Empire a substantial share of its -contribution. In these circumstances it was prudent to cultivate a -close concern about money, and no single writer ventures to say that -the Empress--the Senate had at once entitled her Augusta--spent much -on her personal service or pleasure. It is said that her zeal for the -accumulation of money was carried to a stage of offensiveness. But -it was necessary for her murderers to detect or invent some vice in -extenuation of their foul deed, and the position in which the charge is -found in the historians reveals that it came from that tainted source. -“Avarice” means little more than that she would not yield to the -improper demands of a demoralized army. - -When we reflect that both her parents were Syrians, we notice with -some surprise that the portrait-bust of Mamæa has a singularly Roman -face; and in her strength, solidity, and sobriety she recalls the old -Roman type rather than accords with the general conception of a Syrian -woman. She had the defect of her type, and an incident that occurred -early in her reign is regarded as a grave betrayal of it. It is not -at all clear, however, that Mamæa acted with the “jealous cruelty” -which Gibbon sees in her conduct. For the wife of her son she had -chosen Sallustia Barbia Orbiana--we find the name on coins, though the -historians do not give it--daughter of the Senator Sallustius Macrinus. -Alexander, not an exacting husband, seems to have lived happily with -his bride, and her father was promoted to the rank of Cæsar. Before -long, however, we find Macrinus executed on a charge of treason, and -his daughter banished to Africa. - -Gibbon believes, on the authority of Dio, that this was entirely due -to Mamæa’s unwillingness to share the power and the affection of -her son with another woman. The word of an historian and a member -of the Senate, whom we may almost describe as an eye-witness, must -assuredly have weight, yet we cannot ignore the assertion of the other -authorities that Macrinus was betrayed into acts which easily bore -the construction of treason. We may recall Merivale’s just warning, -on another occasion, that a contemporary Roman writer is particularly -apt to reproduce the unsubstantial gossip of his day. Herodian, who -nevertheless believes that Macrinus had no treasonable intention, says -that Mamæa was so cruel to Orbiana that the girl went in tears to her -father, and he repaired to the Prætorian camp with bitter complaints -against Mamæa. Such a course very strongly suggests a treasonable -design. The troops, chafing under the rule of Mamæa and her son, whom -they eventually murdered, were notoriously discontented; and flying -to the camp was commonly the first overt act in a plot to displace -the ruling Emperor. When we further find that Lampridius (“Historia -Augusta”) says, on the authority of Dexippus, an Athenian writer of -the succeeding generation, that Macrinus was expressly attempting -to replace Alexander, we must at least suspend our censures. We -know nothing of the character of Macrinus and his daughter, and are -therefore unable to say how far Mamæa’s interpretation of their conduct -may have been influenced by her feelings, and how far her harsh -treatment of Orbiana may have been justified. - -The charge against her is further weakened by a circumstance that -Gibbon has overlooked. Lampridius says that Alexander married Memnia, -the daughter of the ex-consul Sulpicius, and speaks incidentally -of “his boys.” It seems, then, that the jealousy of Mamæa did not -prevent Alexander from marrying again, and that Memnia must have -shared the palace with the Empress-mother for a number of years. Of -her character we know nothing, except that, together with Mamæa, she -remonstrated with Alexander on account of his excessive affability with -his subjects. No guards, it seems, barred the entrance of the palace -against them. The austere character of the life which adorned it was -the only test of the integrity of those who approached him. After a -day of exertion he would spend the evening in the refining enjoyment -of letters or the exercise of his musical skill. He sang and played -well, but guarded his Imperial dignity by admitting none to hear him -except his young sons. Actors and gladiators he avoided, nor would he -spend much in exhibiting their skill to the public. His one luxury was -a remarkable collection of birds, which included 20,000 doves; his -one weakness a delight in the puny and almost bloodless combats of -partridges, kittens, or pups. His baths were of cold water, and his -table was regulated by the most minute directions, admitting even the -slight luxury of a goose only on festive occasions. When a string of -costly pearls was presented to Memnia, he ordered that they should be -sold, and, when no purchaser could be found in Rome, he hung them upon -the statue of Venus in the temple. - -[Illustration: JULIA MAMÆA - -BUST IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM] - -From such details as these we may construct a picture of the quiet -and temperate life of Alexander’s palace, and we shall be disposed to -think lightly of the quarrels which are said to have disturbed the -relations of mother and son. We can hardly believe that one so frugal -as Alexander would profess much indignation at his mother’s assiduous -nursing of the treasury, nor can we suppose that Mamæa greatly resented -the young monarch’s accessibility to his subjects. Their frugality, -indeed, must not be exaggerated, as they were generous in gifts. -Instead of sending men to extort their incomes from the provinces -in which they took office, Alexander provided them, when they -left Rome, with an outfit so complete as to include a concubine. His -deference to his mother may, in fact, be said to be the only consistent -charge against him. The Emperor Julian (“The Cæsars”) insinuates that -he showed a mediocrity of intelligence in allowing his mother to -accumulate money, instead of prudently spending it. In a sense Julian -was right; though it was not weakness of intelligence, but severity -of principle, that restrained Alexander and Mamæa from this prudent -expenditure. Had they lavished their funds upon the troops, the history -of Rome during the next ten years might have run differently. - -From an early period in the reign of Alexander the attitude of the -troops cast a shadow over the palace and the Empire. Five successive -Emperors, besides earlier ones, had received the purple from the hands -of the troops, and had been compelled either to refrain from pressing -the necessary discipline upon them, or to compensate the rigours of -discipline with excessive rewards. The soldiers became conscious of -their power, and sufficiently demoralized to abuse it. Less exercise -and more pay led to a lamentable enervation; and the filling of the -ranks from the more distant peoples, who had not contributed to the -making of the Empire and were insensible to its prestige, dissolved in -the legions the old spirit of nationality. From the lonely forests, the -frozen hills, or the blistering deserts of the frontiers, they sought -ever to be withdrawn to the comforts and pleasures of the cities. And -when they found that a fresh effort was being made to restrict their -indulgences and restore the earlier discipline, when they reflected -that it was only the feeble hands of a woman and a youth that would -enforce this austerity, they broke into sullen murmurs of discontent. - -The most dangerous part of the army was the extensive regiment of -Prætorian Guards, which, from its camp at the walls, overshadowed -Rome with its power. Over these men Mamæa had placed a civilian, the -distinguished jurist Domitius Ulpianus. It was natural that Ulpian -should wish to extend to the guards the valuable reforms which he was -introducing into every department of the State; equally natural that -the soldiers should chafe under his discipline. The citizens took the -part of Ulpian and Mamæa, who protected him, and the irritation at -last erupted in a bloody struggle, in which the populace fought for -three days against the soldiers in the streets of Rome. The quarrel -was arrested, but some time afterwards--not in the fight, as Gibbon -says--the angry guards put an end to the reforms of Ulpian. The -statesman fled before them into the palace, and sought the protection -of the Emperor; but the insolent guards penetrated the sanctuary of the -royal house with drawn swords, and murdered, in Alexander’s presence, -the most eminent and enlightened of his counsellors. The provincial -troops were giving little less concern. We take our leave at this stage -of the historian Dio. His work closes with a mournful lament of the -condition of the army, and a just presentiment of impending calamity. -He too had endeavoured to enforce discipline on the legions, and had -found the authority of the Emperor insufficient to protect him from -their murderous resentment. - -As if this lamentable situation had been communicated to the countless -peoples who pressed eagerly against the barriers of the Empire, we -find a new boldness arising amongst them, and a serious beginning of -those raids which will at last put the mighty power under the heel of -the barbarian. The tragedy of the fall of Rome reaches a more certain -stage. It is a singular and melancholy reflection that Rome suffered -most under its most virtuous rulers. During the reign of Marcus -Aurelius the gods had seemed to make a war upon virtue. The new Stoic -and his virtuous mother were destined to see the enemies gathering -fiercely about their enfeebled frontiers, and to perish tragically in a -futile effort to repel them. - -The gravest trouble arose in the East. The ancient kingdom of Persia -revived, and its vigorous rulers determined to regain the provinces -which Greece and Rome had shorn from their once vast empire. -Alexander, and probably Mamæa, went to the East. If we may believe -the panegyrist of Alexander in the “Historia Augusta,” he displayed -an admirable firmness in enforcing discipline upon the troops when -he arrived at Antioch. Gathering their sullen and spoiled officers -from the haunts of Antioch and the licentious groves of the suburb -of Daphne, he punished a number of them severely, boldly confronted -the drawn swords of their demoralized followers, and set the legions -in motion against the Persians. But the plan of the campaign was -injudicious, and the execution weak. The Romans suffered a heavy -reverse, and, before they could recover and check the advancing spirit -of the Persians, Alexander was recalled to Europe with the news that -the Germanic tribes were bursting through the northern frontier. - -From the sunny lands of their native East the Emperor and his mother -passed, in the year 234, to the banks of the Rhine. They had passed -through Rome, where the citizens were easily persuaded to celebrate his -triumph over the Persians. From the Capitol they had carried the young -Emperor on their shoulders to his palace, his chariot with its four -elephants walking behind them, and a great wave of enthusiasm went with -him as he started for Gaul. He was now in his twenty-sixth year, and -Mamæa must have felt that he was at the beginning of a glorious career. -They little suspected that they were going to meet their deaths at the -hands of their own troops. - -One of the commanders on the Rhine was a gigantic and powerful -barbarian, half Goth and half Alan, of the name of Maximinus. More than -eight feet in height, with a thumb so large that he wore his wife’s -bracelet on it as a ring, the giant had made his way in the army by -sheer strength. A man who could eat forty pounds of meat in a day, -drink a proportionate quantity of wine, and fell you with a finger, had -the respect of the barbarian soldiers. Elagabalus had repelled him, -when he sought office, with salacious questions about his strength; -Alexander had eagerly welcomed him, and put him in command of the -younger troops. But Alexander had afterwards refused him an honour, -which Mamæa desired to confer on him, and he probably heard this. He -had given his son a good Roman education, and Mamæa thought that the -young man was a suitable match for her daughter Theoclea. Alexander -protested that his sister would find the father-in-law too boorish, and -the young Maximinus, now a tall, handsome, cultivated, and dissolute -noble, married a granddaughter of Antoninus Pius, Junia Fadilla. - -Whether this affront was remembered, or whether Maximinus acted -from mere ambition, we cannot say. He began, in any case, to spread -discontent in the army. When Alexander practically bought peace from -the barbarians, instead of conducting a vigorous campaign against -them, the whispers were changed into open murmuring. These effeminate -Syrians, it was said, were unable to endure the sturdy North, and were -eager to return to the East. The Emperor was a maudlin youth, who -could not act without his mother’s permission. He had abandoned the -war against Persia in order to return to her side, and he was again -sacrificing the honour of Rome out of regard for her comfort. Her -palace at Rome was full of hoarded treasure, while the hard-worked -soldiers were insufficiently paid. These complaints circulated freely -in the camp during the long German winter. A lavish distribution -of money might have defeated the plot of Maximinus, and a speedy -retirement to Rome would certainly have saved the lives of the Emperor -and Empress. But they remained in camp until the middle of March, 235, -and then the end came. - -They were at, or in the neighbourhood of, the small frontier town which -is now known as Mainz. One morning, when Maximinus rode out to control -the exercises, he was greeted with the name of Emperor. He feigned -surprise and reluctance, but the soldiers--probably in pursuance of -an arranged plan--drew their swords, and threatened to kill him if he -did not take the power from the hands of the effeminate Syrians. He -consented, promised a liberal donation in honour of his accession, and -said that all punishments that had been inflicted on the soldiers would -be remitted. He then led them toward the tent of Alexander. The young -Emperor came out to meet them, and made an appeal that seems to have -divided the followers of the usurper, as they went away to their tents. -At night, however, the guards at the Imperial tent announced that the -mutinous troops were gathering about it. Alexander rushed out, and -called upon the loyal soldiers to defend him, making a tardy promise -of money and concessions. Many of them came to his side, but at last -the massive figure of Maximinus was seen to approach at the head of a -strong body of troops. For the last time the soldiers were urged to -choose between the strong, generous man and the avaricious woman and -her child. Alexander saw the faithful few pass sullenly to the side -of Maximinus, and he returned to his tent. It is said that the last -moments were spent in a violent quarrel between mother and son about -the responsibility for the disaster. There was little time for it. The -soldiers of Maximinus entered at once, and slew Mamæa, Alexander, and -their few remaining friends. - -A popular and spirited work of the fourth century described “the deaths -of the persecutors,” or the terrible fate which befell every Emperor -who persecuted the Christians. No fate in the terrible series of -Imperial calamities was so tragic as that of Alexander, though he had -favoured the Christians, and had cherished a bust of Christ among those -of the heroes and sages in his _lararium_. No other Empress in the long -line of murdered women so little deserved a violent death as Julia -Mamæa. During the fourteen years of her son’s reign she had solely -studied the welfare of the Empire. The one charge that her murderers -could bring against her was that she had hoarded money instead of -spending it on, or giving it to, the troops. On public buildings, -public works, and civic administration she had spent freely; she, or -Alexander, had even expended large sums in providing surer sustenance -and more effective transport for the troops themselves. The charge -is little, if at all, more than a cowardly subterfuge. But it needed -half-a-dozen strong and unselfish generals to restore the efficiency -and docility of the legions, and they were not to be found. We pass -into a period of anarchy, in which Emperors and Empresses rise and -wither like mushrooms, and Rome stumbles blindly onward towards its -doom. In that period of confusion, when every section of the army makes -its Emperor, only two dominant personalities are found, and they are -two Empresses of barbaric origin. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -ZENOBIA AND VICTORIA - - -The Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother were murdered in the year -235. We may convey a just impression of the period that followed this -odious crime by the brief observation that in forty years nearly forty -Emperors appeared on the darkened stage of the Roman Empire, and that -nearly every one of them perished at the hands of Roman soldiers. The -anarchy was arrested for a time when, in the year 270, the energetic -Aurelian came to the throne. People and Senate greeted the strong -man with genuine enthusiasm, and among the cries of joy or hope with -which the Senators hailed him we find this singular aspiration: “Thou -wilt deliver us from Zenobia and Vitruvia.” It is a piquant contrast -with the disdain that their fathers had had for women--a confession -that their vast Empire was now dominated by two women, without male -consorts. But for the timely appearance of Aurelian there was a -prospect that they would divide the rule of the world between them. -One was a Syrian, the other a Gallic, queen; but each of them bore the -title of Augusta, and they are the next commanding personalities to -engage our interest. - -Many years were to elapse between the death of Mamæa and the appearance -of these two remarkable women, but we need do no more than glance at -the many Empresses of an hour whose names are hardly discernible in -that turbulent era. The huge barbarian who had purchased the throne by -a brutal murder did not long enjoy it. The Empire heard with horror -and disdain that this Thracian shepherd had seized the mantle of -Antoninus and Marcus. The people of Rome, in particular, recollected -with alarm the contempt they had shown him in his earlier years, and -offered prayer in the temples that the gods might divert his steps -from the south of Italy. He met their disdain with vindictiveness, -and ruthlessly executed those who remembered his humble origin, or -whose wealth could add to his revenue. His Empress, Paulina, vainly -endeavoured to restrain his bloody hand, and succeeded only in drawing -it upon herself.[18] At length his exactions struck a spark of -rebellion in Africa, and a new Emperor was appointed. - -The African Proconsul, Gordianus, was an excellent Epicurean of the -fine old Roman type. He had wealth, culture, character, and taste. -After filling the highest offices at Rome with grace and applause, he -was now quietly discharging the duties of Proconsul, and relieving the -long hours of leisure with a tranquil enjoyment of letters, at the -little town of Thysdrus, about a hundred and fifty miles to the south -of Carthage. With him in Africa was his son Gordianus, an epicure -rather than an Epicurean, who solaced his exile from Rome with the -engaging company of twenty-two ladies. Their respective pleasures were -violently interrupted in the beginning of the year 238. The father, a -white-haired old man, with broad red face, was resting in his house -after his judicial labours, when a band of men, with blood-smeared -swords, burst into the luxurious villa, told him that they had rebelled -against the tyrant, and peremptorily informed him that he was Emperor. -His objections were unheeded, and he set out, with misgiving, for -Carthage. But the pride of the Carthaginians was quickly chilled by the -news that Maximinus’s commander in Africa was advancing against their -city. An armed force was hastily equipped, sent out under the lead of -the younger Gordian, and cut to pieces. The younger Emperor had died -on the field: the white-haired old man hanged himself. - -Rome, meantime, had recognized the rule of the Gordians, and was now -throbbing with a just apprehension of the vengeance of Maximinus. The -certainty of punishment inspired it with a measure of courage, and -two new Emperors were created--a vigorous son of the people, Pupienus -Maximus, and a perfumed representative of the nobles, Balbinus. The -choice did not please the people, who beset the Senate with sticks -and stones, so a handsome boy, such as Rome loved, was associated -with them. He was a Gordianus, the fourteen-year-old son of the elder -Gordian’s daughter. The city rang with preparations for war, and in -the early summer Maximus led out his weak and apprehensive force. -The terrible Maximinus and his legions had crossed the Alps, and -were descending on the plains of Italy. Luckily for Rome, they met a -desperate resistance at Aquileia. Protected by strong and well-equipped -fortifications, with ample provisions, the inhabitants repelled the -fiercest attacks of Maximinus, and jeered at him and his dissolute son -from the walls. When the thongs of their slinging-machines wore out, -the women of Aquileia gave their long tresses to the soldiers to weave -into cords. Maximinus vented his temper on his own troops, and one -morning the besieged were delighted to see the soldiers advancing with -the grisly heads of Maximinus and his son on the tips of their spears. - -Maximus returned to gladden Rome with the news, but it was decreed that -six Emperors were to die that year. The soldiers, who had had another -fight with the Romans during the war, were sullen and treacherous. -Balbinus they hated for his effeminacy, Maximus for his rigour. The -returning troops brought grievances of their own, and it was only the -loyalty of the German soldiers that held the guards off the palace. -Then there came a day when the delight of the games drew most of -the soldiers away, and the guards marched upon the palace. Maximus -hastily ordered the loyal troops to be summoned: Balbinus cancelled -the order. Their relations had been strained for some time, and each -looked upon this sudden onslaught as a device of the other. The German -troops arrived at last, to find the palace empty, and learn that the -three Emperors were in the hands of the guards. They started at once -for the camp, and found the bleeding remains of Maximus and Balbinus -on the street. With them another ephemeral Empress passes dimly before -us. The coins seem to indicate that Maximus was the husband of Quintia -Crispilla at the time of his death. - -The youthful Gordian had been taken to the camp, and Rome was forced to -acknowledge him as sole Emperor. Intoxicated, as so many had been, by -the sudden obtaining of so vast a power, he seemed at first inclined -to the model of Caligula. His uncle’s concubines and his mother’s -eunuchs were in a fair way to rule the ruler. But a wise tutor, -Timesitheus, obtained a better influence over him, and he soberly chose -his daughter, Furia Sabina Tranquillina, as his Empress. The whole -prospect of the Empire changed with his marriage, in 241 or 242, but -the evil genius of Rome intervened once more. The Persians had again -crossed the eastern frontier, and the Emperor and his father-in-law -went to Asia to take command. The war was proceeding with success, when -Timesitheus contracted a mysterious illness and died. Gordian gave his -command to a dashing cavalry leader named Philip--the man who, we have -strong reason to think, had poisoned Timesitheus. Philip was a handsome -Arab, whose father had led a band of robbers in the desert. But the -son was astute, and Gordian suspected nothing. Before many months the -camps were simmering with discontent. Pay was reduced, and the troops -were reluctantly informed by Philip that it was the command of the -Emperor. Regiments found themselves quartered in districts where it was -impossible to obtain sufficient food, and Philip begged them to regard -the youth and military inexperience of Gordian. The plot culminated in -the early spring of 244. Gordian was slain, and the son of the Arab -pillager of caravans received the purple from the soldiers. - -[Illustration: MARCIA OTACILIA SEVERA] - -The new Empress of Rome, Marcia Otacilia Severa, attracts our attention -for a moment on account of the claim of the early Christian writers -that she belonged to the new religion. The claim must have had some -foundation, but the story on which it is generally based is regarded -with reserve by historians. St. Chrysostom and others declare that, -when Philip and Otacilia passed from the Euphrates, where Gordian -had been murdered, to Antioch, they went to the Christian church for -service on Easter-eve; and that the bishop refused to admit them in -any other character than that of penitents expiating a foul crime. -Duruy ridicules the idea that a bishop would have dared so to address -an Emperor in public before the middle of the third century, and it is -certainly difficult to believe. Indeed, historians generally suspect -that, as the story itself implies, Otacilia supported her husband in -his criminal ambition, and are reluctant to regard her as a Christian. -Her nationality is unknown, and she hardly emerges from the obscurity -in which the scanty chronicles have left the reign of her husband. - -Let us hasten through the pages of ghastly adventure, and come to more -interesting women. In the year 249 the troops in Mœsia pressed the -purple on one of the ablest Roman generals, Decius, and Philip was -slain in the contest that followed. Otacilia fled with her son to the -Prætorian camp, but the guards killed the boy in her arms, and sent -her back sadly into the common ranks from which she had so unhappily -risen. The wife of Decius, Herennia Etruscilla, who is known to us -only from coins and an inscription, had little better fortune, since -Decius perished in a war with the Goths two years later (251). His son -and successor, Hostilianus, died in the following year, not without a -suspicion of crime. The colleague of Decius and successor of his son, -Gallus, was murdered in 253, together with his son Volusianus, with -whom he had shared the Empire; and the rival and successor of Gallus -was assassinated within four months. Then Valerianus, an aged and -distinguished Senator, came to the throne, and we begin to have less -fleeting glimpses of the ladies of the court, and to make acquaintance -with the two remarkable women who will especially occupy us. - -The elder Valerian does not long remain on the stage. The weakness -into which the Empire had fallen was soon observed by its enemies -on every side, and the frontier provinces were being devastated. -Investing his elder son, Gallienus, with the purple, Valerian went -to the East to oppose the Persian monarch, Sapor, who threatened the -whole of Roman Asia, and after a time fell, with his army, into the -hands of the enemy. Whether or no it be true that the proud Persian -used to step on the person of the aged Emperor to mount his horse, it -is at least certain that Valerian died among the Persians after some -years of ignominious captivity, and his skin, stuffed and padded to -the proportions of a man, was long exhibited as the most glorious of -Sapor’s many trophies. There are later writers who assert that his -second wife, the Empress Mariniana, was captured with him, and brutally -treated until she died, but the authority is slender. Cohen, the great -authority on Roman coins, warns us that, though there are coins of a -certain Mariniana, who seems to have been a lady of Valerian’s court, -it is not certain that she was his wife. - -So feeble did the Empire now become that its enemies made the most -extensive and destructive inroads. The Persians advanced so far as -to sack Antioch, the Franks overran Spain and reached Africa, the -Alemanni spread terror in the north of Italy and even threatened Rome, -and the Goths poured over Greece and Asia Minor. Gallienus received -the news of each successive disaster with an insipid joke. Glittering -with the jewels which encrusted his belt, his dress, and even his -shoes, his hair powdered with gold dust, he dined from dishes of solid -gold, in the company of his concubines, while his father suffered in -captivity, and his subjects groaned under the hardship of invasion, -famine, pestilence, and earthquake. His Empress, Cornelia Salonina, -seems to have disdained his cowardly luxury, and she was replaced in -his affection, though not in her position, by a charming barbarian. -Attalus, King of the Marcomanni, had a beautiful daughter named Pipa or -Pipara, whose attractiveness was brought to the notice of Gallienus. -He frivolously submitted to the Senate that, since Rome had so many -enemies, it were wise to disarm some of them; and he asked Attalus -for the hand of his daughter. The shrewd barbarian stipulated for a -large part of Pannonia, and in return for that valuable slice of the -Empire permitted his pretty daughter to be the concubine of the Roman -Emperor. She never appears on the coinage, while Salonina--whose grave, -intellectual features suggest that she found solace in culture--remains -Augusta to the end. Serviez finds an admirable trait of Salonina’s -character in the punishment of a man who had sold her some false -jewels. He was sentenced to the lions; but when the terrible gates were -opened, a harmless fowl flew out upon him, and he was discharged with -the fright. The Roman historian, however, ascribes the trick expressly -to Gallienus.[19] - -In the eight years of Gallienus’s complete control of the Empire -(260–268) it was distracted and worn with misery and anarchy. The -“Historia Augusta” estimates that “thirty tyrants” arose in that short -period to dispute the power of the corrupt Gallienus; Gibbon reduces -the number to nineteen; Duruy counts twenty-eight claimants to the -throne. There was, in any case, a period of profound demoralization, -and as nearly all these generals met with a violent death, involved -many others in their fall, and very frequently led their troops in -civil warfare, the drain on the impoverished system was disastrous. It -is amongst these “thirty tyrants” that we find Zenobia and Victoria. - -Zenobia was the wife of Odenathus, the ruling man in the independent -town of Palmyra. The town, which had become an important commercial -centre, lay on the edge of the Syrian desert, and had long maintained a -position of neutrality between the Romans on the west and the Parthians -to the east. It had the title of a Roman colony, and Odenathus cannot -have been more than its leading citizen and, perhaps, head of its -Senate. To this little State came the news that the Roman Emperor was -detained in ignominy by the King of Persia. Odenathus sent to Sapor -a most polite suggestion that his conduct was improper, and gilded -his remonstrance with a caravan of valuable presents. The presents -were disdainfully thrown into the Euphrates, and the blustering Sapor -threatened to punish his insolence. With great boldness the leading -citizen of Palmyra formed an irregular army out of the neighbouring -villages and the Arabs, with a few Roman troops, and inflicted a -substantial reverse on the Persian troops. Gallienus gracefully -acknowledged his service, and extended the Imperial title to him and -his wife Zenobia, who became the representatives of Roman power in the -East. - -Zenobia was, says Trebellius Pollio in the “Historia Augusta,” “one of -the most noble of all the women of the East, and also one of the most -beautiful.” Her nobility rests upon her claim that she descended from -Cleopatra, a point that we are unable to examine. The portrait-bust -of her in the Vatican does not so much suggest exceptional beauty as -exceptional power. It is a face of extraordinary strength and peculiar -features. We can very well imagine her, as she is described for us, -riding out on horseback before the assembled troops, her piercing black -eyes aflame with spirit, a military helmet on her head, and a purple -robe, embroidered with gems, so attached to her person as to leave -naked the fine arm with which she emphasized her orders. She maintained -a court of Persian magnificence, but was far removed from Persian -insolence. She did not disdain to drink with her officers, and even to -endeavour to surpass them in drinking. Yet it is uniformly stated that -this remarkable independence of Syrian ideas as to a woman’s position -was united with a chastity of the most sensitive and peculiarly -scrupulous character. When we add that she was a woman of exceptional -culture, spoke Latin, Greek, and Egyptian, had so complete a command -of the history of the East that she wrote a book on it, and enjoyed -the daily companionship of the philosopher Longinus, who was tutor to -her sons, we seem to have exhausted possible merit, and ventured into -the province of legend. But we have still to say that her military -and political ability was no less than her beauty, her culture, or -her virtue. We shall see later that the finest Emperor of the age, -Aurelian, spoke with extraordinary appreciation of her skill in warfare -and in polity. - -Even as the wife of Odenathus, Zenobia was not inactive. She is said -to have urged his bold attack on Persia, and she shared the longest -marches of the soldiers when the campaign began. But she was soon the -sole ruler of the East, in the interest, at first, of Rome. During -the Persian war Odenathus quarrelled with a relative and officer, -named Mæonius, and was only prevented by the intercession of his son, -Herodes, from putting him to death. Herodes was the son of Odenathus by -a former wife, and would be the natural heir to his dignity. The two -sons whom Zenobia had borne him, Timolaus and Herennianus, were mere -boys, but Zenobia had an older son, Vaballath, by a former husband. We -can understand that there would be some jealousy in the family, now -that the Roman purple and a practical sovereignty of the East were -conferred on the “king of Palmyra.” Zenobia could not but dislike -and despise Herodes. He adopted the voluptuous ways of the East, and -received from his father, as an immediate share of his heritage, the -jewels, silks, and fair ladies which he had detached from the baggage -of Sapor when that monarch retired before him. - -Yet there is no ground for the assertion that Zenobia was privy to the -conspiracy which removed Odenathus and Herodes. Mæonius was consulting -his own ambition, as well as appeasing his hatred, in having them -assassinated. For a moment Zenobia was in a position of some anxiety, -but she acted with vigour. She thrust her son Vaballath--the “Historia -Augusta” at first says her two younger sons, but afterwards corrects -this--before the Palmyreans as the most worthy heir of the power of -Odenathus, and Mæonius passes into a significant obscurity. Vaballath -was declared Augustus, and Zenobia became “Queen of the East,” as she -liked to call herself. The two younger boys were entitled Cæsars. -Within a short time it was felt at Rome that a new and rival power had -arisen in the East. - -The voluptuous Gallienus could at times start from his rose-strewn -couches and the arms of his mistresses, and conduct an energetic raid -upon the opponents of his Empire. The victories of Odenathus seem to -have inspired one of these fits of vigour. The legions in Gaul had cast -off their allegiance to their degraded ruler, put his son Saloninus -to death, and chosen as Emperor their able and upright commander, -Cassianus Postumus. Gallienus marched against him, pressed him hard for -a time, and then returned to Rome to enjoy a magnificent triumph. One -hundred white oxen, with gilded horns, two hundred white lambs, several -hundred lions, tigers, bears, and other animals, and twelve hundred -gladiators, in superb costumes, preceded his car. The more serious -Romans looked on in disdain. Some of the mimes, or comedians, dressed -as Persians, and went about in the procession, staring in each other’s -faces, and saying that they were “looking for the Emperor’s father.” -Gallienus had them burned alive. - -But the chief interest of this dash into Gaul is that it first brings -to our notice the famous Gallic princess Vitruvia or Victoria.[20] -We find her supporting Postumus against Gallienus. When he is hard -pressed, she persuades him to associate her son, Victorinus, with him -in the Empire, and presently she herself becomes Augusta and “Mother -of the Camp”--a proof that she accompanied the army. Victorinus is -said by one of the contemporary writers to have been more manly than -Trajan, more clement than Antonine, graver than Nerva, and a better -financier than Vespasian; but this paragon of excellence had the one -serious defect that he could not withhold his covetous eyes from the -prettier wives of his officers. The responsibility of power sobered -him for a time, but before long he led astray the wife of one of his -officers, and was assassinated. At his mother’s suggestion he, with his -dying voice, named his young son his successor, but the angry soldiers -murdered the boy. - -Victoria now put forward as candidate one of the soldiers themselves, a -brawny officer named Marius, who had at one time been armourer or smith -to the camp. He was accepted, but a slight that he was imprudent enough -to put upon one of his old associates led to his receiving in his own -breast one of the swords he had himself forged, after enjoying the -delirious dignity of the purple for two days. The “thirty tyrants” were -playing their parts with great rapidity. Tetricus, the commander of the -troops and a Senator, was next put forward by Victoria, and he left her -in control of the affairs of Gaul while he led the army into Spain. -Victoria’s power was not of long duration, and the references to her in -the chronicles are too meagre to enable us to picture her remarkable -personality. For many years her power in Gaul was so great that her -fame ran through the Empire, and Zenobia, as she afterwards told -Aurelian, had the design of communicating with her and proposing to -divide the Roman world between them. Her end is obscure. When Tetricus -returned from Spain, he is said to have resented her domination and put -her to death; though it is elsewhere said that her death was due to -natural causes. She did not live to witness or share the humiliation of -Tetricus a few years later. - -We return to Zenobia, who had in the meantime become an independent -sovereign. Gallienus had taken alarm at the growth of her power, and -sent his general Heraclian with secret instructions to dislodge her. -Zenobia divined the real intention of Heraclian and his troops, treated -him as an invader, and destroyed his force. An invitation was then -received, or obtained, from Egypt, and Zenobia sent 70,000 men to expel -the troops of Gallienus from what she regarded as the kingdom of her -fathers. Egypt was added to her dominions. Rome was now fully alarmed -at the success of the two barbaric women, while every other province -of the Empire was overrun by invaders or detached by locally-chosen -Emperors. One of these rivals at length drew Gallienus from his palace -once more, and gave an opportunity to remove his insolent weakness from -the throne. The Emperor was besieging the pretender to the throne in -Milan, when some of the leading officers conspired to assassinate him. -He was drawn from his tent one night in March (268) by a false alarm -that the besieged had made a sally, and, devoid alike of guards and -armour, he was soon stricken with a mortal wound. Salonina is said by -some to have perished with him, but of this there is no evidence. - -His successor, Claudius, an experienced soldier of obscure descent -but great personal merit, decided to leave Zenobia and Victoria in -possession of their power until he had rid the Empire of the formidable -Goths. They were said to have an army of 320,000 men, and the whole -of Greece and the north of Asia Minor had been plundered by them. The -instruments of Roman comfort or luxury that they took back into the -bleak forests of the north seemed to be drawing an inexhaustible stream -of marauders upon the debilitated south. Two years were occupied by -Claudius in destroying their power, and he had just cleansed the Roman -territory of their presence when he died of the pestilence, in the -spring of 270. The obscure brother of so virtuous and valorous a ruler -was deemed a worthy successor to the purple, but the army made choice -of a strong and capable commander, Aurelian, and, after two or three -weeks’ timid enjoyment of his power, Quintilius opened his veins and -gracefully yielded the throne. - -The new Emperor was the bold and sturdy son of a provincial peasant, -who had cut his way to the position of commander. Marriage with the -daughter of a wealthy noble had further improved his position, and his -temperance, zeal for discipline, skill, and bravery had made him a -most effective leader. His first care was to complete the victory over -the Goths, who were again advancing. After an exhausting struggle he -entered into friendly alliance with them, drove back the other barbaric -tribes who threatened or ignored the northern frontier of the Empire, -and then turned his eyes toward the East. Gibbon makes him first apply -himself to the restoration of Gaul, but the historians Vopiscus and -Zosimus expressly say that he dealt first with the Queen of the East. - -Zenobia had now, in 272, enjoyed her remarkable power for about -four years, and seemed, owing to the preoccupation of Rome with the -northern barbarians, to have established a solid and durable kingdom. -Parthia and Persia respected her southern boundaries; Egypt peacefully -acknowledged her rule; and even the cities of Asia Minor were beginning -to bow to her title. But Palmyra was not a Rome, and provided too -slender a base for so vast a dominion. As Aurelian and his formidable -legions marched across Asia Minor, the cities returned at once to the -Roman allegiance, and Zenobia prepared for a severe struggle. She led -her army out in person from Antioch, and met the Romans near the river -Orontes. Modern historians usually follow the account of the battle -which describes Aurelian as stealing a victory by stratagem. He is said -to have noticed the weight of Zenobia’s heavily-armoured cavalry, drawn -them into a wild gallop by a feigned retreat, and then wheeled his -troops, when they showed signs of fatigue, and scattered them. But the -“Historia Augusta,” the nearest authority, tells us that Aurelian’s -troops were really routed at first, and then recovered--owing to a -miraculous apparition--and won. - -Zenobia retired to Antioch. Her general, Zabda, deluded the inhabitants -with a false report of victory, and trailed through the streets a -captive whom he had dressed as Aurelian. But the Emperor was advancing, -and they fled during the night to Emesa, where they were still able to -put 70,000 men in the path of Aurelian. The second battle proved as -disastrous to Zenobia as the first, and it was decided to retire at -once on Palmyra. For a long time the city held Aurelian at bay, and -he magnanimously allowed that its successful resistance was due to -the sagacity of Zenobia. In the midst of the long siege he wrote to a -friend at Rome: - - “I hear that it is said that I do not the work of a man in - triumphing over Zenobia. Those who blame me have no idea what - kind of a woman she is--how prudent in counsel, how assiduous - in arrangement, how severe with the troops, how liberal when it - is expedient, how stern when there is need for sternness. I may - venture to say that it was due to her that Odenathus put Sapor - to flight, and advanced as far as Ctesiphon. I can assure you - that she was held in such terror in the East and in Egypt that - the Arabs, the Saracens, and the Armenians were afraid to move.” - -So difficult and protracted did the siege prove that Aurelian at length -wrote to her, offering to spare her life if she would surrender. The -answer seems to have been preserved in one of those libraries of -valuable documents at Rome, from which the writers of the “Historia -Augusta” obtained their material, as they tell us. It ran: - - “Zenobia, Queen of the East, to Aurelius Augustus. No one has - ever yet made by letter such a request as you make. In matters - of war you must obtain what you want by deeds. You ask me to - surrender, as if you were unaware that Cleopatra preferred to - die rather than lose her dignity. We are expecting auxiliaries - from Persia, and the Saracens and Armenians are with us. The - robbers of Syria beat your army, Aurelian. What will happen - to you when our reinforcements come? You will assuredly have - to lay aside the pride with which, as if you were a universal - conqueror, you call on me to surrender.” - -The expectation of reinforcements was sincere, but was destined to be -disappointed. Day after day Zenobia and her officers looked out over -the desert from their invincible walls, and descried no sign of the -deliverers. Persia was distracted by the death of Sapor; the Armenians -and the Saracens had been seduced from her by Aurelian. Food began to -fail, and the iron legions clung tenaciously to the little strip of -country and intercepted whatever aid came to her. Zenobia resolved to -go to Persia herself in quest of aid. Under cover of the night she -stole out of the town, and fled toward Persia on a dromedary. - -Within a few days the anxious Palmyreans again saw their Queen--a -captive in the hands of the Roman soldiers. It is probable that she had -been betrayed. Aurelian, at all events, heard of her flight, and sent -a company of horse in pursuit. They reached the banks of the Euphrates -just as Zenobia and her attendants had entered a boat, and brought -her back to the camp. She was one hour too late to save her liberty, -or sacrifice her life. Palmyra sadly opened its gates, and Aurelian -transferred its priceless treasures and rare curiosities to his wagons. -Its chief officers and Zenobia he led away to Emesa, and put them on -trial for rebellion. - -The reader of Gibbon will expect that we have now reached a point -where the virility of Zenobia faints and the eternal feminine reveals -itself. Gibbon records, indeed, the bold answer which Zenobia made to -Aurelian’s complaint of her infidelity to Rome; but he goes on to say -that, as the fierce demands of the soldiers for her death fell on her -ears, she tremblingly pleaded for life, and, with a cowardice that her -sex only could palliate, insisted that Longinus and the others had -seduced her from her duty. Happily, we have a clear right to quarrel -with the procedure of the great historian at this point. There are two -versions of the behaviour of Zenobia: that of the Latin historians, -Trebellius Pollio and Vopiscus in the “Historia Augusta,” and that of -the Greek historian Zosimus. The Latin writers, who lived at Rome in -the generation after Zenobia, make her reply boldly to Aurelian, and do -not say a word about her casting the blame on others. The Greek writer, -a much later compiler, represents her as, in the words of Gibbon, -“ignominiously purchasing life by the sacrifice of her fame and her -friends.” Gibbon affects to reconcile the two by making the woman’s -weakness follow upon the momentary show of courage. - -To this method of reconciling contradictory and unequal authorities we -may justly demur. The much later version of Zosimus is not only less -entitled in itself to acceptance, but it is seriously enfeebled when -he goes on to make the wildly erroneous statement that Zenobia died on -the way to Rome, and her companions were sunk in the Bosphorus. We have -every right to follow the Latin historians. Zenobia was brought before -Aurelian, and the soldiers fiercely demanded that she should be put -to death. Exasperated as the Emperor was, he refused to slay a woman, -and asked her why she had dared to resist the majesty of Rome. “In -you,” she replied, “I recognize an Imperial majesty, because you have -vanquished me, but I saw none in Gallienus.” Her life was spared. What -Roman general could have resisted the wish to grace his triumph at Rome -with a greater than Cleopatra? The troops, with their vast treasures -and their captives, moved slowly homeward, after executing Longinus and -some others. - -[Illustration: ZENOBIA - -ENLARGED FROM THE COIN IN THE BERLIN MUSEUM] - -In the triumph which Aurelian had so splendidly earned, and no less -splendidly celebrated, we catch our last certain glimpse of the Queen -of the East, one of the most notable women of all time. Along the -flower-strewn lane between the dense walls of citizens passes one of -the longest and grandest processions that ever led a victor to the -Capitol. An immense number of tamed elephants, lions, tigers, leopards, -bears, and other beasts move slowly and sullenly along, and eight -hundred pairs of gladiators give promise of the impending spectacles. -Then there are cars heavily laden with the gold, silver, and jewels -of Palmyra, the rare presents of Persia, the purples of India, and -the silks of China. Then there is the long and extraordinary train of -captives, representing the nineteen nations which Aurelian has subdued, -even women who have been taken, in male costume, in the sternest -battles. At last the melancholy line is closed by the lithe bronzed -figure, with brilliant black eyes and teeth like pearls, of the woman -whose beauty, genius, and daring have been on the lips of Rome for -several years. Clothed for the last time in the heavily-jewelled robes -of a queen--she had complained that she was not strong enough to walk -under the load of jewels--she drags along the golden chains which bind -her hands and feet, and a slave sustains the weight of the gold band -round her throat. Beside her, in scarlet cloak and Gallic trousers, -is Tetricus, Victoria’s last Emperor in Gaul. The whole Empire is -again subject to Rome. And before the car of the conqueror three empty -chariots are driven: one is the gold and silver car of Odenathus, one, -of gold studded with gems, is a present from Persia, and the third is -the car which Zenobia had made for her triumphant entry into Rome. -Never had Emperor looked from his car on so superb a triumph. In less -than a year Aurelian would be assassinated. - -The last phase of Zenobia’s life is not quite clear. Zosimus is -certainly wrong in his reproduction of a story that she died, or took -her life, before she reached Rome. Still later and equally negligible -writers ventured to say that she became a Christian, and even that -Aurelian married one of her daughters. The “Historia Augusta,” which -we may follow, as it was written in Rome a generation later, tells us -that Aurelian gave her a villa near Hadrian’s palace at Tivoli, where -she spent the rest of her life in the education of her children and the -prosy duties of a Roman matron, and, we may conjecture, in looking back -with sad but proud recollection on the stirring romance of her career. -Bishop Eusebius observes briefly in his “Chronicle” that she lived to a -great age, and was held in the greatest regard at Rome. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE WIFE AND DAUGHTER OF DIOCLETIAN - - -Although we have already indicated the fate of Aurelian, we have not -yet referred to the woman who shared his Imperial title and his great -renown. Her personality is, in fact, entirely unknown; even her name is -preserved for us only on the coinage. We may fairly conjecture that she -disliked the plebeian ways of her husband, and discharged the duties -of a consort without enthusiasm. Daughter of a wealthy and prominent -noble, Ulpius Crinitus, she had conferred a useful distinction on the -ambitious peasant at a time when he was making his way in the Imperial -service, and it is conjectured, on somewhat slender grounds, that she -accompanied him on his campaigns. But his life at the palace was short -and inglorious. He disliked its pomp and luxury, and found his chief -delight in pitting his comedians against each other in eating-contests. -He pampered the common citizens by increasing their free ration of -bread, and adding pork to it. When he went on to meditate a free -distribution of wine, one of his ministers sarcastically suggested that -he might add geese and chickens. When the Empress, Ulpia Severina, -thought it fitting that she should wear silk mantles, her husband -forbade her to indulge in that rare and costly product of a precarious -commerce with China. - -Aurelian was, in fact, essentially a soldier. His manner, and even the -reforms which he endeavoured to make, caused grave dissatisfaction -at Rome, and a conspiracy against him was discovered within a few -months of the magnificent triumph he had enjoyed. He crushed it with a -fierceness that almost obliterated the memory of his great services, -and then returned to Asia to meet the Persians. On his march he was -assassinated, in the beginning of the year 275, and the great promise -of his reign was unfulfilled. Ulpia Severina seems to have died before -him, as the historian speaks only of a daughter who survived him. - -Once more we pass swiftly over a number of turbulent years until we -come to an Empress of whom we have a comparatively ample knowledge. -It is generally admitted, though not entirely beyond doubt, that the -throne remained vacant for the greater part of the year 275. The -“Historia Augusta,” at least, which was written in the next generation, -describes a situation in remarkable contrast to the earlier haste in -appointing Emperors. We are asked to believe that the Senate and the -army spent many months in a most edifying encounter, each endeavouring -to induce the other to choose a ruler. At length the Senators chose -one of their number, the aged and upright Tacitus, who set out to take -command of the troops in Asia. Within a few weeks, worn by the unwonted -fatigue and pained by the unruly behaviour of the soldiers, he passed -away. Some of the historians declare that he died of actual violence. -There is no trace of an Empress. We read that Tacitus, like Aurelian, -forbade his wife to wear sumptuous clothing, but this was probably in -earlier days. The absence of coins leads us to think that she had died. - -He was succeeded by a young and vigorous officer, of peasant -extraction, named Probus, under whom the Empire recovered much of -its strength. For six years he laboured successfully to restore the -prestige of Rome, but his severity led at length to assassination. -During a mutiny of the soldiers, in the year 282, “a thousand swords -were plunged at once into the bosom of the unfortunate Probus,” as -Gibbon too floridly expresses it. From the absence of coins we may -almost gather that his wife had died before his accession. Carus, who -succeeded him, was an aged general of sixty years. He died after a -year of strenuous warfare, and left the Empire to his sons Carinus and -Numerianus. The younger Emperor was dispatched to the East, and Carinus -virtually reigned alone. - -Even the experience of our own time has so frequently taught us to -expect a mediocre or effeminate issue from a distinguished and virile -stock that we do not wonder at this happening constantly in the history -of Rome. We need not refer it to the mystery of heredity. The vigorous -sire had developed and enhanced his strength in the laborious climb -to the heights of his chosen world. The son, finding the paths to -the summit smoothed, and an engaging luxury at his command without -exertion, allows it to degenerate. The finest steel and the purest gold -yield and crumble in a corroding atmosphere. We cannot, therefore, -affect astonishment at the almost invariable failure of the Roman -practice of eagerly welcoming a son to the place of his gifted father. - -The reign of Carinus affords one of the worst illustrations of the -evil. Indolent, insolent, and luxurious, he saw in his Imperial power -an opulent ministry to his depraved tastes. He did indeed provide Rome -with the most splendid entertainments. The amphitheatre rang once more -with the coarse applause of the ninety thousand spectators of its -bloody contests; the Circus was transformed into a forest, in which -the strange or beautiful beasts of remote lands lived under the eyes -of three hundred thousand Romans. But this indulgence of the people’s -appetites was held to excuse an unbridled ministry to those of the -prince. The whisper went once more through the fetid depths of Roman -life that there were rich awards for the ingenious and industrious -pandar to a sated voluptuary, and the palace exhibited again the -loathsome spectacles that had long been expelled from it. - -They have little interest for us, as although Carinus made and unmade -nine Empresses in little over a year, they are lost in the riot of -the time. One poor name, that of Magnia Urbica, has survived on a -few coins. She is given by Serviez as the wife of Carus, because she -is represented with two children on one of the coins. Cohen points -out, however, that the group does not properly consist of a mother -and two children, and he concludes that she was one of the nine wives -of Carinus. In the number of his consorts Carinus surpassed the high -record of Imperial license, and he was not less original in the grounds -for his divorces. Sterility has often been pleaded by monarchs as a -fit reason for repudiating their wives; it was reserved to Carinus to -dismiss them the moment they gave proof of fertility. So the women of -Rome succeeded each other rapidly in the dissolute palace, where the -Emperor, surrounded by his courtesans, glittering down to his shoes -with diamonds and emeralds, sat on rose-strewn couches to his costly -banquets. - -The new pestilence was blown out of the Imperial city by a storm from -the East. The younger Emperor, Numerianus, was a gentle, cultured, and -delicate youth. As he led the troops home from the East, he sheltered -his eyes from the burning sun by keeping to his tent or his closed -litter. At length his complete seclusion gave rise to suspicion, and -the soldiers broke into his tent, only to find a mouldering body. The -ambition of Aper, his father-in-law, who commanded the guards, fastened -the guilt upon him, and a general assembly of the soldiers appointed -one of their abler officers, Diocletian, to judge him. Diocletian, -possibly with reason, preferred to execute rather than to try Aper, and -he was at once saluted as Emperor by the troops. The son of two slaves, -he had educated himself and pushed his way to the highest offices and -commands; and he now composedly donned the purple mantle which the -soldiers offered him, and led the legions toward Rome. Carinus marched -out against him, but was assassinated by an officer whose wife he had -appropriated, and a new chapter opened in the annals of Rome. A strong -man and judicious statesman had come to the throne, and he would occupy -it for twenty years. - -From our point of view it is disappointing that the wife of Diocletian -does not come to our notice until his reign is nearly over. Her very -name was disputed for ages; even now her personality is only faintly -illumined by the adventures of her later years. Her daughter is a -more commanding figure, and other Imperial ladies stand out in the -chronicle of the times. Some of these, such as the mother and wife of -Constantine, we reserve for the next chapter; and we may compress into -a few lines the story of the twenty years’ reign of Diocletian. - -A year after his accession, which took place in the year 285, -Diocletian chose a colleague to share the control of the vast Empire. -This friend and partner, Maximian, was the son of peasants, rough, -ignorant, and unscrupulous, but an effective commander. He was -entrusted with the care of the West, Diocletian passed to the East, -and several years were profitably spent in restoring the crumbling -frontiers. The task proved so formidable that, in 292, they chose two -officers for the inferior dignity of “Cæsars”--a title which implied -that they would probably one day be Augusti, and should meantime wear -the purple, but have no power to make laws or control finance. Of the -two, Galerius again was a child of the soil, while Constantius was the -son of a provincial noble; and they were compelled to dismiss their -humbler wives, and wed the daughters of the Emperors. Four courts -were thus set up within the Empire, while Rome found itself coldly -neglected, its palace deserted, and its Senate impotent. - -To the court of Galerius we shall return presently, while we leave the -affairs of Constantius and his wife to the next chapter. The court and -the Empress of Maximian need not detain us. He chose Milan as his seat, -and began to adorn the northern town with the marble edifices that -befitted its new dignity. His wife was a very attractive Syrian woman, -Galeria Valeria Eutropia. Her name has led some to conjecture that -she was related to the father of Constantius, Eutropius, one of the -chief nobles of Dardania, though the connexion is feeble. She seems, in -any case, to have regarded her uncultivated husband with disdain, and -sought more genial company. Her son Maxentius is said by some to have -been the issue of a liaison with a compatriot, while others declare -that he was a boy substituted for the daughter she bore, because -Maximian desired a son. We may leave these disputable scandals and come -to the court of Diocletian. - -The son of a Roman slave had created a glittering court at Nicomedia. -His palace, round which the city quickly grew in size and magnificence, -was adorned and served with an Oriental pomp. The successive approaches -to the chamber of the Emperor were guarded by splendid officials, -and when the suppliant or ambassador penetrated at length to the -inner apartment, he found the stately Diocletian in purple and gold -robes, his brow encircled by a glistening diadem, and was compelled -to prostrate himself before the divine majesty. It was not, however, -the vanity or folly of a Caligula, but a calculated policy, that had -prompted Diocletian to clothe himself with this Olympic dignity. -Earlier Emperors, of the same mean extraction, had refused to put -a barrier of royal ceremony between themselves and their subjects -or soldiers, and had invariably fallen by the hand of the assassin. -Diocletian was too shrewd, too much attached to life, and too sensible -of his beneficent use of power, to incur the risk. He had restored -Egypt to obedience, humiliated the Persians, and devoted an even -greater ability to the reform of the administration. Co-operating with -his vigorous colleague in the West, he had brought peace and prosperity -back to the Empire. - -In the settled years of his reign we begin again to recognize the -various personalities of the court. The Empress herself is more or -less involved in a piquant obscurity. Until the end of the seventeenth -century her name was unknown, and a great deal of romantic legend -was reproduced in regard to her. Cardinal Baronius found in “Acts of -St. Susanna” that her name was St. Serena, a martyr for the Christian -faith. Other “Acts” of the martyrs furnished a St. Eleuthera and a St. -Alexandra as consorts of Diocletian. He seemed to have been an Imperial -Bluebeard. But in 1679 the manuscript was found of an early Christian -work, “On the Deaths of the Persecutors,” and the earlier writings -were proved, in the words of the learned Franciscan, Father Pagi, to -be fictitious and full of untruths. The many saintly martyrs gave way -to an Empress Prisca, who broke down lamentably at the first test of -her faith. It is very curious that we have no coins whatever of Prisca, -though she must have lived through the whole reign of Diocletian. This, -and the fact that she left him many years before his death, suggest -either that she was not married to him at all or that he had little -regard for her. She was, in any case, a woman of weak and retiring -character, and is mentioned only in association with her daughter. - -Valeria was a beautiful, attractive, and spirited young woman, with a -good deal of the strength, and not a little of the ambition, of her -father. She was married to Galerius, the Cæsar whom Diocletian had -chosen, and remained with him by the side of the Emperor. Galerius was, -as I said, of peasant origin, and never laid aside the uncultivated -roughness of his class. Diocletian had, by diligent education, erased -the traces of his own lowly origin, but his peasant colleagues had -gone straight from the soil to the camp, and the work of a soldier had -not given them the least inclination to seek culture. The character of -Galerius has been painted in the most lurid colours on account of his -persecution of the Christians, but it is significant that both Valeria -and Prisca clung to his court when Diocletian retired. His mother, -Romula, and other rustic relatives were attracted to his court. There -was, it is clear, a most incongruous group of personalities about the -court of Diocletian, and in the nineteenth year of his reign they were -shaken by a severe storm. The great and final struggle began between -the old faith and the new, and Prisca and Valeria favoured the latter. - -Christianity had not been persecuted for half a century, and had made -great progress. The cult of the old gods was palpably insincere, -and half-a-dozen Asiatic creeds were steadily supplanting it. On -the streets of Nicomedia, as on the streets of Rome or any other -large city, one might meet any day the white-robed shaven priests of -Isis, the painted and effeminate ministers of Cybele, the Persian -representatives of the popular cult of Mithra, and--until they were -expelled by Diocletian--the black-garbed clergy of the Manichæans -and the Christians. The Christians were now advancing. There had -been some slight and irregular repression of them from time to time -since the days of Nero, but more than forty years of toleration, and -the knowledge that their adherents were now occupying high places in -the camp and the court, and that even the wives of the Emperor and -the Cæsar favoured them, gave them strong confidence. One of their -churches occupied a central and commanding position in Nicomedia. -Four influential officers of the court attended it, and it seems that -Valeria and Prisca were, if not Christians, openly disposed to the new -religion. All we know in that regard is that they were “compelled” to -sacrifice when the persecution began. - -Persecution on account of religion, as such, was not natural to -the cosmopolitan builders of the Pantheon, and Diocletian was a -broad-minded statesman, so that the origin of the persecution is not -so clear as it was once held to be. The literary remains which we -have to use have to be handled with caution. The “Historia Augusta” -has ended with Carinus, and we shall greatly miss its minute and -gossipy descriptions. Zosimus, a pagan writing in a Christian age, has -an appearance of sullen reticence at times and a perceptible bias. -Aurelius Victor and Eutropius are scanty, and the immediate Christian -writers are used very cautiously by modern historians. Bishop Eusebius -says frankly, in his “Life of Constantine,” that he will write -only what tends to edify, and the little work “On the Deaths of the -Persecutors” is obviously imaginative in many pages and inaccurate in -others. Experts still differ as to whether it comes from the pen of the -brilliant Christian rhetorician Lactantius, but all warn us to take -account of its strong feeling. Our authorities, in a word, now belong -to two antagonistic and bitterly hostile creeds, and, as all subsequent -historians favour one side or the other, we have to proceed with -caution. I have endeavoured, in the remaining chapters, to make my way -between them with more than ordinary care and independence. - -A few incautious hints given in Lactantius throw a faint light on -the origin of the great persecution. The writer of the treatise has -himself a very positive theory. The root of the evil was, he says, -Romula, the peasant-mother of the Cæsar. Fanatically attached to the -gods of her native mountains, she inspired her son with a hatred of -Christianity, and Galerius bullied the older Emperor into issuing the -Edict of Persecution. We feel that the policy of Diocletian would -hardly yield to the prejudice of a superstitious woman. There is more -enlightenment in the incidental statements that Romula was stung by -the disdain of Christian officers in the palace, and that Diocletian -was greatly annoyed at seeing Christian soldiers disturb the harmony, -if not the efficacy, of his sacrificial ceremonies by making the sign -of the cross. Galerius may have been moved by the growing reluctance -of Christians to bear arms, and the very pronounced rejection by -some of the arms they bore. There is no need to trust the imaginary -conversation which Lactantius puts in the mouths of Diocletian and -Galerius. They agreed that the zeal of the Christians was impertinent -or dangerous, and, in the month of February (303), a troop of soldiers -was sent to raze to the ground their large and commanding church. On -the following day Diocletian published an Edict forbidding the cult -under grave penalties. When the Imperial decree was torn down by a -zealous Christian, and this act of treason was openly applauded by his -fellows, Diocletian was embittered, and blood began to flow. During the -next fortnight the Emperor’s quarters in the palace were twice found -to be in flames. Diocletian was convinced that the fire was kindled by -Christian officers, and gave a full sanction to the work of repressing -them. - -Prisca and Valeria were not among the heroines of the persecution. -Lactantius destroys all the myths of martyred Empresses by telling -us that they consented to burn a few grains of incense in honour -of Jupiter, and impotently witnessed the dark roll of the wave of -persecution through the provinces. He does not even say that they -joined, or rejoined, the Church when the persecution was over, and we -lose sight of them for a few years. Probably they went with Diocletian -to Rome for his triumph in November, and returned with him to Nicomedia -in the summer of 304. He was confined to the palace by a serious -illness during the following winter, and as soon as he recovered he -abdicated the throne. It is untrue that the threats of Galerius forced -him to do this. He had expressed the intention years before. - -On a wide plain near Nicomedia the army assembled on May 1st, 305, for -the unexampled ceremony of the abdication of an Emperor. A little hill -in the centre was surmounted by a lofty throne and a statue of Jupiter, -and the ageing Emperor--he was in his fifty-ninth year--surrendered the -power he had wielded so well for more than twenty years. By a previous -arrangement, Maximian was abdicating on the same day at Milan. The two -Cæsars became Augusti, and two new Cæsars were appointed. In their -selection we recognize the partial and unskilful hand of Galerius. He -handed his own Cæsarean dignity to a rustic nephew, Daza--“who had just -left his herds in the forest,” Lactantius scornfully says--and sent a -loyal and undistinguished friend to receive that of Maximian in Italy. -From that selfish act would develop one of the greatest civil wars -since the founding of the Empire. In the ranks of the officers by the -platform was the tall, handsome, gifted, and disappointed young man who -would one day be known as Constantine the Great. - -Diocletian retired to Salona, in his native province of Dalmatia, and -built, close to the town, what was for the age a magnificent palace. -Valeria remained in the palace of Galerius, and it seems that Prisca -stayed with her, as we shall presently find her sharing the hard lot of -her daughter. Why the mother, at least, chose to remain in Nicomedia is -left to our imaginations. The religion they had favoured was cruelly -suppressed, and, if we are to believe Lactantius, their virtue must -have been outraged by the unbridled license of the new Emperor. He is -described as an ogre, dragging the noblest women of Nicomedia from -their husbands, feeding his bears on innocent citizens, and “never -taking a meal without a taste of human blood.” Yet Valeria clung to -her husband even through the painful and repulsive illness which ended -his life; and her name was given by him to a part of his Empire. The -picture is evidently overdrawn, yet life in the palace, with Galerius -and his boorish relatives, cannot have been very congenial, and the -temper of Galerius would be soured by the events that followed. - -The first mishap was the flight of Constantine. He had been living for -some years at the court of Diocletian, and was deeply disappointed and -rightly indignant at the choice of the new Cæsars. By birth and ability -he had the clearest title to the purple. He was now a tall and manly -young officer, handsome, popular, and successful, and anxious to join -his father Constantius in Gaul. There is little doubt that he fled -during the night, though the romantic story told by Lactantius is now -generally regarded as a clumsy piece of fiction. It describes Galerius -as failing to take the youth’s life by engaging him in dangerous -contests, and at length devising an ingenious scheme. He one night -gives Constantine permission to depart after he has seen him in the -morning, and warns him that he will be put to death if he is still in -Nicomedia at noon. Then the ogre gives orders that he is not to be -awakened before noon on the morrow; but the young hero steals all the -horses in the stables--there were probably hundreds--cripples all other -horses along his route, and flies to his father. The only authentic -point is that Constantine fled. He would wade back through a sea of -blood. Within a few months his father was dead, Constantine was chosen -by the army to succeed him, and Galerius was forced to recognize him as -Cæsar. - -Galerius gave the title of Augustus, which Constantius had left vacant -at his death, to his loyal Severus, but he was soon informed that the -troops, the people, and the Senate had chosen another Emperor at Rome. -A brief outline of the stirring events that followed will suffice here. -The new Emperor was Maxentius, son of the retired Maximian. The father -issued from his retreat to join in the fray, and Galerius was bound -to support Severus. Diocletian looked on quietly from his gardens at -Salona. When Maximian urged him to return to power, he said that if -Maximian could see the vegetables he was growing he would not make -such a request. Briefly, Severus was treacherously taken by Maximian, -and induced to ease the complication by taking his life. Maximian, -Galerius, and Diocletian met at Carnuntum, on the Danube, and it was -settled that Galerius and Licinius (one of his officers) should be -recognized as Emperors, and Constantine and Maximin (Daza) as Cæsars. -Maxentius was disregarded, and Maximian was persuaded to retire once -more. How the restless and ambitious old man then clung to Constantine, -and attempted to murder and displace him, we shall see later. - -The expedition of Galerius into Italy proved disastrous, as he returned -in bad health and temper to his dominions. He died in 311, of an -unpleasant disease, of which the morbid reader may find a luxurious -description in Lactantius. Valeria remained with him to the end, and -then a new and more romantic chapter opened for her and her mother. -The two Emperors of the East made rival offers of their hospitality; -for Maximin had exacted an equal dignity with Licinius. Valeria was -at that time in her early thirties, and her mourning garments did not -detract from her ripe beauty of face and figure. She is represented -as weighing the respective immoralities of the two Eastern Emperors, -and considering to which of the two it would be the less dangerous to -entrust her virtue. Lactantius does not tell us why she was forced -to choose at all; why she and her mother did not retire to the -luxurious and unsullied palace of Diocletian. The end of his life was -approaching, it is true, but the palace would still shelter them. On -the other hand, Maximin and Licinius are both very thickly tarred -with the brush of Lactantius. We shall see something of the conduct -of Licinius later. As to Maximin, if one half of what Lactantius and -Eusebius say is true, he must have been known over the whole Empire as -an erotic maniac. He may not have been this romantic combination of -Nero, Elagabalus, and Carinus, but we know from other writers that he -was much more vicious than Licinius. When, therefore, we find Valeria -choosing to live in his palace, we cannot repress a suspicion that the -beautiful widow was not quite so unworldly as she is represented to -have been. - -She had not been long in her new home when certain officers came to -tell her that Maximin loved her, and was prepared to divorce his wife -and wed her. When she refused, the baffled passion turned to rage, -and mother and daughter were expelled from the palace. When we learn, -from a later passage, that Valeria refused to yield her right to the -property of Galerius, the episode seems more human. A story of adultery -was invented, a Jew--the villain of early Christian literature--was -suborned to give false evidence, and several of Valeria’s friends were -implicated. A number of ladies of high rank were publicly executed, -and the Empresses, spoiled of their goods, were driven from province -to province, until they found themselves lodged in a mean village -on the edge of the Syrian desert. Valeria contrived to acquaint her -father with their situation, but the rough Maximin rejected his -feeble entreaties. They seem to have spent the winter (312–13) in -this miserable exile. The only comfort was that they had with them -Candidian, a natural son of Galerius, whom Valeria had adopted, and -Severian, the son of Severus. - -[Illustration: SALONINA - -VALERIA - -ENLARGED FROM COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM] - -In the early spring the little group were inspirited by the news that -the tyrant had fallen in a struggle with Licinius, who was now sole -Emperor in the East. What follows, in the narrative of Lactantius, -is even more obscure, and suggests still more strongly that much is -concealed from us. Candidian went openly to the court of Licinius, and -was cordially received and promoted. The other young man followed. -Licinius was naturally hostile to all who had taken the side of -Maximin, but he could hardly be angry with these poor victims of -Maximin’s rage. Valeria, however, went in disguise to Nicæa, where the -court was, to follow the fortunes of her adopted son. - -Suddenly something happened which brought upon them all the sword of -the executioner. What it was we can only conjecture. A writer like -Lactantius is so accustomed to regard a savage outbreak on the part of -one of the last pagan Emperors as a natural event that he disdains to -enlighten us. A part of the story has been concealed, and it would not -be fantastic to suppose that the spirited, young, and ambitious Valeria -meditated an intrigue for the advancement of Candidian to the throne. -It is plain that Licinius suspected this. The royal birth and manly -bearing of the youth might suffice to draw such a suspicion on him, but -do not plausibly explain the treatment of the Empresses. Nor is there -any apparent reason for her disguise. She was willing, Lactantius says, -to cede her rights to Licinius, and the sentence unjustly passed on her -by Maximin would have no weight with him. - -Whatever the cause of the trouble was, Valeria learned one day -that Candidian and Severian were arrested, and they were presently -executed. She fled to the remote Syrian village, but she was so plainly -implicated, in some way, that she dare not remain there. Dressing -in the rough robes of the common people, the aged mother and her -brilliant daughter set out on a painful and aimless journey. Either -a sentence of death had been passed on them, or they had ground to -apprehend one; for their flight would certainly elicit it. Lactantius -says that they wandered in this disguise for fifteen months, but it is -difficult to believe that they could so long evade the Imperial troops -who hunted them.[21] At length they were recognized and arrested in -Thessalonica, and the tragedy of their unfortunate and, so far as we -know, innocent lives was brought to a close. Under the eyes of the -assembled citizens the wife and daughter of the great Emperor were -beheaded, and their remains were contemptuously flung into the sea. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPRESSES - - -The fourfold power which Diocletian had prudently set up ensured for -the Empire twenty years of uneventful prosperity. The two Emperors -and their Cæsars guarded and repaired the frontiers, at which the -strong young nations of the hills and the forests were now gathering -in ominous numbers, while the body of the Empire tranquilly pursued -its sluggish and debilitated life. But no sooner had the balanced -mind and the firm hand of Diocletian relinquished their control than -the system revealed its weakness. The multiplication of dignities led -to a multiplication of aspirants; the distribution of power inflamed -the ambition of the stronger and less scrupulous. In one year eight -generals claimed and bore the title of Augustus, and our stage is -crowded with Empresses. Most of them, however, are so poorly outlined -in the records of the time that we may neglect these faint conjugal -shadows of inconspicuous rulers, and select for consideration the three -or four more prominent consorts of the Emperors. - -Possibly the most widely known of all the Roman Empresses, more -familiar even than the very different figure of Messalina, is Helena, -the mother of Constantine. The first Christian Empress, the generous -supporter of the early Church, the first royal woman to find a place in -the list of the canonized, we turn to her with eagerness to discover -the contrast with her pagan predecessors. She does not bear the -Imperial title, and does not properly fall within our range, until she -is advanced in years, but we cannot understand her character unless we -glance first at her earlier years. - -In one of his more important sermons (“De Obitu Theodosii,” § 42) St. -Ambrose observes that she “is said to have been a maid at an inn,” -and he so clearly accepts the statement that historians, sacred and -profane, have not hesitated to follow him. The claim of another Roman -writer, that Constantine had illumined Britain “by originating there,” -gave rise at one time to a theory that she was British, and our learned -commentators furnished so august a lady with a royal pedigree. The -phrase is, however, generally understood to refer to the beginning of -Constantine’s Imperial career, and the native town of Helena is sought -either in Dacia or in Nicomedia. Since Constantine gave her name to -Drepanum, in Nicomedia, we may presume that her first humble home was -in that town, and that she moved from there to Naissos, in Dacia, where -the birth of Constantine is usually placed. - -A _stabulum_ was, in the language of the time, one of the meaner inns -in the towns through which the Roman roads ran. A _stabularia_--the -epithet used by St. Ambrose--was a woman or girl connected with the -inn; and those temporary resting-places for soldiers or merchants on -their journeys were so easy in their ways that the word was sometimes -used in an unpleasant sense. We may follow the early tradition that -Helena was the daughter of a man who kept one of these inns, possibly -a quite respectable establishment, at Drepanum, on the way to the city -of Nicomedia, which Diocletian had made his capital. Here, in or about -the year 273, the young Roman officer Constantius--later, for some -obscure reason, called Constantius the Pale (Chlorus)--saw and fell -in love with Helena. The road that ran through Drepanum was much used -by the troops, and the encounter is placed at the time when Aurelian -was conducting his campaign against Zenobia. Constantius, an excellent -officer and the son of a provincial noble of some distinction, would -then (273) be in his twenty-third year. Helena, who was over eighty at -her death in 328, must have been two or three years older. - -Historians have left us a lengthy and learned debate on the question -whether she was the wife or the concubine of Constantius, and the -grouping of the combatants is singular. In the Migne edition of the -works of the Fathers we find a note appended to the passage of St. -Ambrose, which I have quoted, in which the Benedictine commentators -observe that “all the writers on Roman affairs declare that Helena was -the concubine, not the wife, of Constantius,” and they adopt that view. -Yet the critical Gibbon defends “the legality of her marriage” with a -rare and edifying chivalry, and Mr. Firth, in his recent biography of -Constantine, asserts that it is “beyond question.” With such weighty -encouragement ecclesiastical writers have confidently deserted the -Benedictines and followed Gibbon. Let us first hear the authorities, -and we may not find the problem insoluble. - -Bishop Eusebius, the chaplain of the Imperial family, as one may -term him, would not mention such a circumstance in his “Life of -Constantine,” even if he knew it to be true; but it is not quite -accurate to say peremptorily that the bishop _never_ mentions it. -In the second book of his “Chronicle” (_ad annum_ 310) we read that -Constantine was “the son of Constantius by his concubine Helena.” We -have no means of determining if these words were written by Eusebius -or added by St. Jerome.[22] Even in the latter case it is a weighty -testimony. - -Another Christian historian of Jerome’s time, Orosius--who does not -follow Zosimus, as Gibbon says, but precedes him--makes the same -statement (c. xxv), and it is later repeated in the “Chronicle” of -Cassiodorus. A writer of the generation after Constantine, commonly -known as “Anonymus Valesii,” says (c. ii) that Constantine was “born -of Helena, a very common [_vilissima_] woman, in the town of Naissus.” -Zosimus, a century later, and a pagan critic of Constantine, says (ii. -8) that he was “born of a woman who was not respectable σεμνή and not -legally married to Constantius,” and he later observes that Maxentius -resented the raising to the throne of a man whose mother was “not a -matron.” Finally, the early mediæval monk, Zonaras, says (“Annals,” -xiii. i): “Some say that she was lawfully married to Constantius -and divorced ... others that she was not a legitimate wife but a -paramour.” The grave and weighty Eutropius, writing in the generation -after Constantine, says that he was born of “a somewhat ambiguous -[_obscuriori_] marriage.” - -The Benedictines had an ample authority, both Christian and pagan, -for their view, and only one argument is advanced in disproof of -it by modern writers. Several of the historians tell us that, when -Constantius was made Cæsar, he was compelled by the Emperor to -“divorce” Helena, and, it is said, divorce implies marriage. The -argument is hardly conclusive. When Eusebius (or Jerome) tells us that -the Cæsars were compelled to dismiss their “wives,” he adds, on the -same page, that Helena was not a wife, but a concubine. He means merely -that Constantius was forced to dismiss Helena and wed the daughter -of Maximian, and does not imply that any legal form of divorce was -employed. It is quite open to us to interpret the other authority, -Aurelius Victor, in the same way; and Zonaras, the only other writer -who could be quoted, expressly leaves it open whether Helena was -married or not. In any case, the single authority of Aurelius Victor -cannot outweigh the others, and even his words do not necessarily imply -a legal divorce on the part of both Cæsars. - -But there is another aspect of the question, which is usually -overlooked. Could there be a valid marriage between Helena and -Constantius in Roman law? When we regard the subject from this point of -view, we see that Constantius could not possibly have married Helena -before the birth of Constantine, and, unless her legal condition was -subsequently altered by a special enactment, their union could never -become a valid marriage. As I have earlier observed, the strict and -ancient forms of Roman marriage had fallen very generally out of use -under the Emperors. They had had the effect of putting the wife under -the despotic power of the husband, and Roman feeling in regard to the -position of woman had entirely changed. Looser forms of marriage, which -evaded the older tyranny of the husband, were generally employed and -legally recognized. If a man and woman lived together uninterruptedly -for twelve months--without three nights’ interruption--their union -might become a valid marriage. Below this was the legally recognized -concubine. The ease with which Christian writers admitted that Helena -was a concubine is due to the fact that the Church, as well as the -law, permitted a concubine, if a man had no wife. As late as the year -400, the important provincial Council of Toledo decided that such a -man and his concubine were to be admitted to communion. St. Augustine, -we shall see, went even further. Below these, again, were the ordinary -paramours, the mistresses of a month or the playthings of an hour, -which Stoic and Christian equally condemned. - -The real question we have to decide is, therefore, whether the long -association of Constantius and Helena could ever be recognized as -a valid marriage in Roman law. That they went through any form of -marriage in 273 could only occur to a writer who knows nothing of -Roman law or practice. A young officer, taking a girl from a tavern -in a small provincial town on his route, would not dream of any such -ceremony; and no ceremony would have been valid in Roman law. Whatever -the legal condition of Constantius was, Helena was, to Roman law, a -barbarian, or _peregrina_, and could not contract a valid marriage.[23] -We need little acquaintance with Roman life to imagine what happened. -Constantius felt for the young woman he found at the country inn a more -tender sentiment than that usually entertained by the young centurion -or tribune on travel, and he took her to live with him. I do not see -how this relation ever could become a valid marriage, nor is there any -clear proof that they were ever _legally_ divorced. At the most, it -remains “a questionable marriage,” as Eutropius calls it, and it began -as a free union. - -From Nicomedia Constantius’s troop seems to have passed, possibly after -sharing Aurelian’s triumph at Rome, to Thrace, where Constantine is -said to have been born in the year 274. Helena narrowly missed the -dignity of Empress a few years later, as Carus had some disposition to -leave the purple to Constantius. The mother of Constantius had been -a niece of the Emperor Claudius, and his father was one of the chief -nobles of Dardania. But the accession of Carinus dispelled this hope, -and Helena followed her husband from province to province, and grade to -grade, until, in 292, he was selected for the lofty position of Cæsar -of the West. But with the purple came a command that he must dismiss -his concubine, and marry the stepdaughter of Maximian, Flavia Maximiana -Theodora. From that date until the year of her son’s brilliant triumph -Helena passes into complete obscurity. - -Meantime other Empresses occupy the pages of the historian. Theodora, -of whom we have just spoken, is one of those Empresses whose propriety -of conduct and mediocrity of person have not attracted the lamp of -the historian. She was the daughter of Eutropia, the Syrian wife -of Maximian, by a former husband. Three boys and three girls came -of her union with Constantius, and she seems to have been a worthy -consort of that judicious and happy ruler. The full Imperial title -passed to them when Maximian abdicated in 305, and the handsome and -spirited Constantine joined them at Gessoriacum (Boulogne), after his -romantic flight from Nicomedia, in that or the following year. They -crossed to Britain, and suppressed a rebellion that was in progress. -But Constantius died at Eboracum (York) in the summer of 306, and the -unambitious Theodora passes from our sight. - -Constantius had, with a last display of prudence, preferred his eldest -son to the legitimate children of his wife, and probably little money -needed to be distributed among the legions to ensure that they should -recognize his superiority. Constantine was then in his early manhood, a -commanding and graceful figure, in the finest phase of his character, -and the troops followed him with alacrity from the cold mists of north -Britain to more genial and more cultivated Gaul. From Gaul the young -Cæsar watched with close interest the quarrels in which his colleagues -prepared to devour each other. In February of 307 he heard that Severus -had opened his veins, and left the purple in the hands of the crafty -Maximian and his son Maxentius. Within a few weeks Maximian was in -Gaul, seeking an alliance with Constantine. He brought with him his -pretty and charming daughter, Fausta, and presently she was married at -Arles, with great pomp, to Constantine, the stepson of her half-sister. -The old man returned to his intrigues in Italy, from which he was -shortly ejected by his son: Galerius expelled him from Illyricum, where -he had taken shelter; and he returned to the court of his son-in-law in -Gaul. - -The portrait-bust of Maximian might be confused with that of a modern -pugilist, but he had, in addition to strength and ambition, a restless -disposition to intrigue. To rust in a court full of women--for we -may confidently place in the court of Constantine his wife, mother, -stepmother, mother-in-law, and three young half-sisters, if not also -his concubine--was to him an intolerable experience, and he took the -first opportunity of enlivening his surroundings. An inroad of the -barbarians in the north drew away the young Emperor with much of his -army, and Maximian rebelled. He gave out a report that Constantine -was dead, emptied the treasury into the hands of the soldiers, and -assumed the purple mantle once more. But Constantine returned with the -stride of a giant, and Maximian shut himself in Marseilles, which was -presently surrendered. The aged intriguer returned to the palace, tried -to corrupt the loyalty of his daughter, and brought upon himself the -punishment of his crimes. - -It is a peculiarity of the time that, the more remote an historian is -from an event, the more he knows about it. Eutropius and Zosimus merely -know that Fausta revealed her father’s plots to her husband; Zonaras, -of the twelfth century, is able to tell us the whole story. Maximian, -he says, persuaded his daughter to have the guards removed from the -Imperial chamber at night. Then, telling the night-attendants that -he wished to relate to Constantine a remarkable dream he had had, he -entered the chamber and plunged his dagger into the sleeping figure on -the bed. Rushing out to announce the fall of the tyrant, however, he -found himself in face of Constantine, Fausta, and the guards. Fausta -had been true to her husband, and it was “a vile eunuch” that Maximian -had slain in the Emperor’s bed. Whatever truth there may be in this -romance, we may accept the statement that Fausta betrayed his plots, -and Maximian came to the end of his career. Zosimus sends him into -exile, and makes him die a natural death at Tarsus. Lactantius, with a -stronger sense of propriety, tells us that he strangled himself, and it -is the general belief that Constantine did not permit him to leave Gaul -alive. - -Galerius died in the following year (311), leaving the Eastern Empire -to Licinius and Maximin, while Maxentius ruled in Italy and Africa. -Four Empresses now lived in the court of Constantine, but before we -seek to penetrate the mystery of their relations to each other, we -must briefly accompany Constantine in his rise to the position of -supreme monarch. Maxentius, who had expelled his father from Italy, -now affected a filial anger against his destroyer, and, after some -exasperated correspondence, sent toward Gaul an army of nearly 200,000 -men. Constantine boldly led 40,000 of his soldiers across the Alps, -wore down the strength of his opponent in successive encounters, and, -within a few months, exhibited the grisly head of Maxentius to the -astonished and delighted Romans. He was now master of the Western -Empire. Devoting two months to the settlement of Roman affairs, -he returned to Milan to meet his Eastern colleague Licinius. His -half-sister Constantia was married there to Licinius, who returned to -Asia with his bride, to crush Maximin, and to perpetrate the melancholy -tragedies over which we shuddered in the last chapter. Anastasia, the -second daughter of Constantius, was married to the Senator Bassianus. -Constantine made him Cæsar, but put no troops at his command--he had -just suppressed the Prætorian Guards at Rome--and refused to grant -him the authority that had hitherto been associated with the title of -Cæsar. Bassianus corresponded angrily with Licinius, and before the -end of 315 the Emperors of the East and West were in arms against each -other. - -It would be interesting to know what share the daughters of Constantius -had in promoting these disorders. The correspondence of Bassianus -and Licinius suggests a correspondence of their wives, and, when -Bassianus was deposed and disgraced, we may assume that Constantia was -not insensible of the misfortune of her younger sister. The superior -age and ability of Constantine would hardly reconcile the legitimate -children of Constantius to their position of dependence. Constantia is -sometimes represented as a pious peacemaker, but we do not find her -in that character until her husband’s power is irremediably broken, -after the second war with Constantine. She fled in great haste with her -husband after the first defeat, and returned with him to Nicomedia, to -rule his reduced dominions. - -The court-life of the West flowed with uneventful smoothness in the -eight years between the first and second war with Licinius. The only -break in the monotony is the birth of three sons and three daughters in -quick succession. Zosimus emphatically asserts that these were not the -children of Fausta, but of a concubine, whom Constantine put to death -on a charge of adultery. We are naturally disposed to regard this as -a piece of reprehensible malice on the part of the pagan writer, but -even the most cautious judgment will find ground for reflection in the -circumstance that Fausta had borne no children whatever for the first -nine years of her marriage, and then children begin to appear with -astonishing rapidity. We know that Constantine had had a concubine, -named Minervina, before he married Fausta. Her son Crispus lived at the -court. It would not be entirely surprising if Minervina had returned -to the court, to rear the Imperial dynasty which Fausta failed to -provide, and was eventually destroyed in one of Constantine’s bursts of -temper.[24] - -In the Eastern court the young Empress had, if we trust the -authorities, a more adventurous career. Constantia cannot have been -more than seventeen or eighteen at the time of her marriage, but she -was a woman of spirit and ability, as well as virtue and beauty. It -is said that she, with the whole court, became a Christian after -Constantine’s victory over Maxentius, but the story of the miraculous -sign in the heavens--a story that is not found in any form until thirty -years afterwards--is now rejected, and the conversion of Constantine -is spread over many years. At Nicomedia, however, where Constantia -occupied the magnificent palace built by Diocletian, she met the -accomplished and courtly Eusebius, and induced Licinius to allow him -the position of Bishop of Nicomedia. Two things, it is said, then -transpired in the character of Licinius to excite her disgust. He not -only persecuted the Christians, but made equal war upon virtue. In -brief, he, like all the other persecutors, is depicted by the flowing -pen of Lactantius as an erotic ogre. His eye falls on a Christian -maiden, of dazzling beauty and virtue, in the suite of Constantia, -and he sends an officer to corrupt her. She tells Constantia, who -dresses her as a young military officer, and sends her, with a splendid -equipage, to take an imaginary Imperial commission to a remote region. -In the distant city of Amasia she is embarrassed by her masculine -hosts, and confides in the bishop. Finally, a letter of hers to -Constantia is intercepted, and she escapes by a very timely death from -the embraces or the tortures of Licinius. - -Of these wicked ways, and of her husband’s hostility to the Christians, -Constantia is said to have kept her brother well informed, and, when -Licinius committed the greater enormity of refusing to surrender -fugitive offenders to the vengeance of Constantine, the legions were -once more led toward the Bosphorus. Several disastrous battles crippled -the power of Licinius, and he retired sullenly to Nicomedia. Whether -at his request or no, Constantia interceded for him, and Constantine -swore to respect his life. In assigning the blame for the war we may, -perhaps, hesitate between the contradictory charges of the opposing -schools of historians, though modern writers usually follow the neutral -and sober Eutropius, and ascribe it to the ambition of Constantine. But -there is a sharper indictment of Constantine’s conduct after the war. -Licinius, in surrendering, had relied on the oath of the conqueror. -He had been stripped of the purple, and exiled to Thessalonica, but -he was put to death there shortly afterwards. Zosimus and Eutropius -say that this was done “in spite of the oath,” and the statement of -Constantine’s more resolute admirers, that Licinius was discovered -in treasonable intrigue, has not carried much conviction with later -historians. - -Constantia passed, with her daughter Helena and her boy Licinius, to -the court of her brother, who was now (324) master of the whole Empire. -The remark of Zosimus, that Constantine degenerated into the most -wilful license after his attainment of supreme power--a remark feebly -supported by the assurance of the cautious Eutropius that “prosperity -somewhat altered his character”--contrasts quaintly with the -circumstance that he now became the Imperial patron of the Christian -religion. Here, again, we hesitate between conflicting accounts, or -rival romances. According to the mediæval Christian writer Zonaras, who -supplies a remarkable amount of detail that was unknown to contemporary -historians, the conversion of Constantine had a picturesque origin. -On his return to Rome, after crushing Licinius, he was afflicted with -a painful eruption, and his pagan physicians prescribed a bath in the -warm blood of children. “At once,” says the lively writer, “children -were collected from the whole Empire,” and dispatched to the palace. -The lamentations of the mothers fell on the ear of Constantine, touched -his heart, and he left paganism in disgust for Christianity. - -The pagan Greek, Zosimus, who at least faithfully reproduces the pagan -gossip of his time--as, on this point, we know from Sozomen--gives us -the legend of _his_ school. After committing certain murders, which -will occupy us presently, Constantine applied to the priests of the -temple of Jupiter for purification. The priests sternly replied that -their lustral water had no power to obliterate the trace of such a -crime, and Constantine turned in despair to an Egyptian who was known -to “the women-folk” of the palace. The Christian priest, as he seems to -have been, declared that his religion contained the desired remedy, and -Constantine embraced it. - -It will be seen that we now pursue our biographic way amid a forest -of legends. Happily, we may reject both these stories as, at least, -anachronisms. Constantine was already a Christian in 324. He had -abolished the decrees of persecution in the year 313, and had taken -a keen interest in Church matters for some years. The whole court -gradually accepted the new faith. Helena, Eusebius tells us, and Fausta -for some time opposed the change of religion, but Helena at least was -converted. Eutropia appears in the East a few years later as a zealous -opponent of paganism. From their several and ample purses the money -poured into the lean coffers of the Church, and the conversion of the -Empire proceeded rapidly. Villages that embraced Christianity were -raised to the dignity of cities; nobles and officers were encouraged by -promotion; and ordinary citizens were rewarded with a baptismal robe -and a piece of gold. - -It is not for us to inquire into the obscure question of Constantine’s -real attitude. Professor Bury and other eminent authorities believe -that his creed was a liberal, or vague, one until his death. Years -afterwards we find him building pagan temples at Constantinople, and -he did not disdain the Imperial title of Sovereign Pontiff of the old -religion. On the other hand, the details collected by Mr. Firth show a -very real interest in the Church. He opened the great Council of Nicæa -in the year 325, and reverently kissed the wounds of those who had -suffered in the persecution. Yet even amid this evidence of orthodoxy -the hesitating student will find trace of his liberality. In the letter -which he sent to the Catholic bishops he complained that the subject of -their vehement quarrel with the Arians was “quite insignificant, and -entirely disproportionate to such a quarrel.” The question at issue was -the divinity of Christ. His experience at the Council would give him a -larger sense of its importance. - -From the benedictions of the prelates and the embraces of the martyrs -Constantine returned to Europe, and, within a year, apparently, his -court was rent by a tragedy that has left an irremovable cloud on his -memory. He had gone to Rome, with the court, to celebrate the twentieth -anniversary of his accession. The city exulted in the rare indulgence -of his presence, and the games and festivities warmed it with its old -enthusiasm. The Empire was united and at peace, and the growing brood -of children gave promise of an unending dynasty. Crispus, Constantine’s -eldest son, was now a popular and promising commander, clothed in the -mantle of a Cæsar. Two of the sons of Fausta, or her substitute, were -Cæsars. Then there was the twelve-year-old son of Constantia. Over -these watched the aged Helena and Eutropia, and the mothers and aunts -of the younger children. - -In the middle of the festivity Rome was startled to hear that Crispus -had been arrested, by his father’s command, and exiled to Pola, in -Istria. From that remote and solitary region the report at length came -that he had been put to death. Every eye was turned on the palace, -and before long--most of the historians say--the gay figure of the -beautiful young Empress disappeared, and the report spread that she -had been brutally suffocated in the steam of a dense vapour-bath. The -horror was increased, and the prospect of a humane interpretation -lessened, when it was learned that the innocent child of Constantia -also had been put to death. Such is the grave and mysterious tragedy -of Constantine’s mature years. As Fausta has been heavily indicted by -those who have sought to defend her husband, and Helena impeached by -his accusers, we may glance at the evidence on which one’s verdict must -be based. - -There are partisan historians who would cast doubt on the whole story; -there are more serious historians, such as Gibbon (who again gallantly -opposes the critics), who say that Fausta, at least, was not slain; and -the rest are divided in opinion as to whether it was a just execution -or a ghastly crime. The first two opinions are now untenable. There -is no serious dispute that Crispus and Licinius were put to death. -That Fausta was killed is now equally established. Gibbon relied -upon a certain anonymous writer to show that Fausta was living long -afterwards, but it has been shown that the writer is not speaking of -Fausta and Constantine. Moreover, Dr. Seeck, in a special study of the -evidence (“Die Verwandtenmorde Constantins des Grossen,” _Zeitschrift -für Wiss. Theol._, Bd. 33), has shown that the coins of Fausta and -Crispus, unlike those of the other members of the Imperial family, end -before the year 330. Dr. Görres, who held Gibbon’s view, consents that -this proof is decisive. The only serious question is that of motive or -justification. - -Let us glance at the authorities, in the order of their nearness to the -event. Bishop Eusebius is naturally silent; he professes to give only -the things that edify in the life of Constantine, and is writing almost -in his son’s court. Eutropius, the soundest and most impartial writer -of the next generation, says (x. 6) that the character of Constantine -“was somewhat changed with prosperity,” and that “following the -exigencies of the situation [_necessitudines rerum_], he put to death, -first his excellent son and the son of his sister, a boy of promising -character, then his wife and a number of friends.” St. Jerome, in his -Latin version of the “Chronicle” of Eusebius, writes, at the year 329, -that “Crispus, the son of Constantine, and Licinius the younger, the -son of Constantia, are most cruelly put to death in the ninth year of -his reign,” and three years later we read: “Constantine put to death -his wife Fausta.”[25] Dr. Seeck believes that we have here only an echo -of Eutropius, but Jerome would hardly add “most cruelly” on so cautious -a narrative. Aurelius Victor, a contemporary of Eutropius, says that -Crispus “was put to death by his father for some unknown reason,” and -Orosius, the Christian historian, merely observes that Constantine put -Crispus and Licinius to death. - -From these earlier writers we learn only that the deaths were cruel, -and the motive unknown, but later writers have successively built up -a story that has provoked endless discussion. Sidonius Apollinaris, -the most cultivated and liberal Christian writer of the fifth century, -says, with the confidence of a parenthesis (Ep. v), that Crispus was -poisoned, and Fausta killed in a vapour-bath; and that a couplet -was fixed on the palace-gate recalling the crimes of Nero. The -epitomist of Aurelius Victor declares that Crispus was put to death -at the instigation of Fausta, and Fausta was “thereupon” killed in a -vapour-bath, as Helena bitterly reproached Constantine for the death of -Crispus. Zosimus (ii. 29) says: “With no regard for the law of nature -he put to death his son Crispus, on the ground that he was suspected -of intimacy with Fausta,” and, when Helena heavily reproached him, -he, “as if to console her,” suffocated Fausta in an overheated bath. -Philostorgius, a Christian writer of the same (fifth) century, declares -that Fausta was put to death because she was caught in adultery with a -groom. The story culminates in the twelfth-century annalist Zonaras. -After telling his incredible legend about Constantine and the babies, -he represents Fausta in the character of Potiphar’s wife. She conceived -a passion for the handsome Cæsar, was repelled by him, and then -denounced him to Constantine as having offered violence to her. Crispus -was put to death. Then Constantine learned in some way--Helena is left -to the imagination--that he had been deceived, and he angrily killed -Fausta in a vapour-bath. - -It is remarkable how many grave writers have favoured this legend of -the mediæval writer,[26] yet, besides its obvious growth through the -centuries, it has the fatal weakness of throwing no light whatever on -the murder of Licinius, the son of Constantine’s most cherished sister. -We are reduced to conjecture in face of this mysterious and terrible -tragedy. That the youths met with some violent death at the hands -of the Emperor, that Helena bitterly remonstrated with him, and that -the savage suffocation of Fausta followed this remonstrance, seems -to be clear. We may further conclude with some confidence, from the -persistent rumour of amorous relations, that this charge was allowed -to reach the outside world in extenuation of the murders. But it is -suspected by many historians, and seems to be suggested by the obscure -language of Eutropius, that the real motive was political. - -[Illustration: FAUSTA - -FLAVIA HELENA - -ENLARGED FROM COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM] - -Crispus was in great favour with both the people and the troops, -and had distinguished himself in the war with Licinius. If anything -happened to Constantine, who was in his fifty-second year, Crispus -had a clear prospect of the throne. It would not be unnatural for -Fausta to resent this, and one is tempted to see, either an effect -of her importunity or a proof of Constantine’s jealousy of his son, -in the fact that Constantine took away the province of Gaul from -Crispus, without compensation, in 323, and gave it to the eldest of -his legitimate sons. From that time Crispus was retained in idleness, -and probably discontent, under the eye of his father. He would be -a natural focus for all the dissatisfaction in the Empire, and the -Romans, and pagans generally, regarded Constantine and his family with -anger and disdain on account of their abandonment of the old religion. -By the year 326 Constantine was in a state of extraordinary nervousness -and suspicion. Before going to Rome he issued an edict in which he -revealed his frame of mind to the whole Empire. At Rome he flouted the -most cherished customs of the city, and may well have incurred fresh -murmurs. Something occurred that brought his suspicion of Crispus--who -may not have become a Christian--to an acute stage, and he condemned -him to exile and death. This theory is also the only one to explain, -with any plausibility, the execution of young Licinius. He was the only -other rival of Constantine’s legitimate sons. It is impossible for us -to say whether Crispus had incurred any guilt or no, but the silence -of the earlier writers and panegyrists is a grave circumstance. If -there had been plausible evidence of conspiracy they would not have -remained silent. In any case, the sentence on Crispus was harsh and -unjustifiable, and the execution of a twelve-year-old boy was a piece -of brutality that only the worse Emperors would have perpetrated. - -The murder of Fausta is even more perplexing. Even if the late and -negligible stories of Philostorgius and Zonaras were true, she was -not executed, but brutally murdered. The only firm point in the -conflicting evidence is the persistent association of her death with -the anger of Helena. We have no evidence of any value in regard to -her relation to Crispus; but the words of Zosimus, which are not -inconsistent with the earlier writers, enable us to extend the above -theory to her. Constantine, on this view, put Crispus and Licinius to -death because they were possible nuclei of the conspiracy which he -believed to pervade the Empire. Adopting a familiar device, however, -he concealed his motive under a charge of amorous irregularity, or too -great a familiarity with the Empress. Helena, who was greatly attached -to Crispus, seems to have insisted that, if there was any guilt, both -were guilty, and Constantine savagely completed his work by murdering -his wife. The Christian historians describe Fausta as opposing -Constantine’s progress in his new faith, and, as we have no evidence -that Crispus had embraced it, one may not implausibly wonder whether -the two did not attract the favour of the pagan Romans, to the extreme -anger of the Emperor. No charge against Fausta was made public. During -the lifetime of Constantine’s eldest son, Julian described her, in one -of his orations, as not only one of the most beautiful, but one of the -most virtuous and noble ladies of her time. Even if we make allowance -for the licensed flattery of a panegyrist, the description would be too -glaringly inconsistent with any Imperial theory of her infidelity. She -was probably in her thirty-fourth or thirty-fifth year at the time when -she met her appalling death. - -Constantine hastened to remove the gloomy, stricken court from the -disdainful eyes of Rome. The pagans pointed with fierce scorn to these -fruits of the new religion, as they expressed it. One day it was found -that some one had fastened a Latin couplet--written, the pagans of -a later day boasted, by the hand of the Emperor’s chief counsellor, -Ablabius--on the gate of the palace: - - Say ye the Golden Age of Saturn breaks again? - Of Nero’s bloody hue these jewels are. - -Either at once, or in the course of the next year, the court broke -up. Constantine went to direct the building of the new capital of -the West, which was to bear his name. Later pagans said that he fled -from the theatre of his crimes and the scorn of Rome, but the ample -lines of Constantinople had been traced long before, and the site had -been chosen for its strategical importance. Helena sought the land in -which Christ had lived and died, and her pious munificence won for her -the halo of sanctity. The legend of her finding the cross does not -appear until seventy years afterwards, and Eusebius tells us that it -was Constantine, not she, who found the sepulchre and built a church -over it. But Helena, who had now great wealth, covered the land with -churches, and returned with a great repute for piety. She died soon -after her return--in 328, Tillemont thinks--having passed her eightieth -year. - -Europia also went on a pilgrimage to Palestine, and seems to have -settled in the East. We find her a few years later urging Constantine -to scatter the pagans who are defiling some sacred spot with their -impure ceremonies. Theodora seems to have died, at some unknown date, -before the year of the murders. Constantia died in, or about, the year -329. Her Arian friend Eusebius had been banished, at the triumph of the -Athanasians, but she obtained his recall, and adhered to his Unitarian -creed. In her last hours she succeeded in recommending an Arian priest -to Constantine, and prolonged the religious struggle. We pass to a new -generation of Empresses, and may dismiss briefly the ten years which -remain of Constantine’s rule and introduce us to the events of the next -chapter. - -In the month of May of the year 330, the new city of Constantinople -was solemnly dedicated. The curious reader will find in Gibbon a -splendid restoration of its princely proportions, its stores of art -gathered from all parts of the Empire, its superb palace, its great -hippodrome, its churches and temples, its spacious fora, and its lofty -column of porphyry, surmounted by a gigantic statue, in which the head -of Constantine replaced that of Apollo, and the various attributes -of the god he still admired were hesitatingly redeemed by emblems of -the jealous God of his new faith. The enormous sums absorbed in the -building of the new city were regarded by the pagans as one of the -causes of the decay of the Empire, and the bitter strife of Arians and -Athanasians, which distracted it, irritated their resentment. But their -day was closing. The arguments with which they clung to a Jupiter and -a Venus in whom they no longer believed were hollow; the rewards of -conversion were great. The grey gods saw their crowds of worshippers -becoming thinner and less joyous. The Empire lifted the humble cross -into the sunlight from Persia to Britain. - -The last decade of Constantine’s life was inglorious. We might distrust -the partial and severe accusations of Zosimus, but the substance of -his charge is found in the other authorities. His vast and hurried -enterprise in building forced him to lay heavy burdens on his enfeebled -Empire, and we have the authority of Ammianus Marcellinus that he -“encouraged those about him to open devouring jaws” in a lamentable -degree. Conversion was the first right to favour and wealth. The later -Emperor Julian, we are not surprised to find, pours acrid satire on -him. In the treatise (“Cæsares”) in which he introduces the Emperors -of Rome to the Olympic court, he makes Constantine turn to the -goddess Luxury, as the one congenial deity, and she introduces him -only to her sister Prodigality. He ridicules Constantine’s womanly -finery in dress and jewels, his elaborate crown of false hair, his -complete lapse into effeminate ways. Aurelius Victor gives us the -proverbial judgment of the next generation on Constantine: in his first -decade he was admirable, in his second decade thievish, in his third -decade a squanderer. He made the final blunder of--without naming a -successor--dividing the Empire among his sons and nephews, of gravely -unequal character, and died in 337, leaving them and their supporters -to engage in a murderous struggle for supremacy. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE WIVES OF CONSTANTIUS AND JULIAN - - -When the announcement of Constantine’s death had been borne by swift -couriers to the distant provinces, and the body, in its golden coffin, -had been transferred to Constantinople, there was a nervous rush of -aspiring Emperors and Empresses to the capital. The unification of the -Empire under Constantine had cost the State some hundred and fifty -thousand of its finest soldiers, who perished in civil warfare while -powerful nations pressed against its yielding frontiers. In his later -years he had so distributed these provinces, whose unity had been so -dearly purchased, among his sons and nephews, worthy and unworthy, -that dismemberment was certain to follow his death. His eldest son, -Constantine, now in his twenty-first year, ruled Gaul and Britain; -Constantius, the second son, a youth of twenty, was the Cæsar of the -East; the third son, Constans, aged seventeen, held sway over Italy -and Africa. His nephew Delmatius, also entitled Cæsar, controlled -Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece, and the younger nephew Hannibalian bore -the ornate title of King of Kings in Pontus and Cappadocia. The two -brothers of Constantine, and the husbands of his two sisters, were not -left without a share of the Imperial provision. - -The race to Constantinople after the death of the Emperor may be -imagined, but the suddenness and horror of the consequent tragedy must -have sobered even the most frivolous. Constantius, the second son, was -the first to arrive, and to him the conduct of the impressive funeral -was entrusted. The members of the family gathered round the marble -palace from all quarters of the Empire, and the shade of Constantine -continued for some months to rule the State, until their conflicting -claims should be adjusted. Julius Constantius and Delmatius, the -legitimate heirs of Constantius Chlorus, who had been thrust aside -thirty years before by the vigorous son of Minervina, were now men -in the prime of life. The younger son of the latter, Hannibalian, -the “King of Kings,” strutted in a scarlet and gold mantle, and had -married the fiery and ambitious young daughter of the late Emperor, -Constantina. Anastasia, Constantine’s sister, brought her husband, the -“Patrician” Optatus. The partition of power seemed a formidable task. -But in the weeks that succeeded Constantine’s death a new and sinister -power arose, and its secret designs prepared a ghastly simplification -of the problem. - -Constantius became insensibly the central figure of the drama. A -callous youth, with little strength of character, he was selected -by the eunuchs and corrupt officers of Constantine’s court as a -likely instrument of their plans. It was agreed that the interests of -these officers and of the sons of Constantine would be best served -by a removal of all the other competitors, and a diabolical plot -was devised. The details are given at length only by the Christian -historian Philostorgius, of the next century, and are regarded with -reserve; but an Arian writer would hardly inculpate an Arian bishop -and an Arian monarch without some just ground. His story is that -Constantine left a will in which he declared that he had been poisoned -by his two half-brothers. The will was given to Bishop Eusebius. When -the brothers were eager to see the will of Constantine, Eusebius is -said to have discovered a fine piece of casuistry. He put the will -in the hands of the dead Emperor, and covered it with his robes, so -that he might, without injury to his delicate conscience, assure the -brothers that Constantine had indeed shown him a will, but he had -returned it into his hands. The will--or a will--was now produced, and -the people and army were assured by their dead ruler that he had been -poisoned by his family. - -The story is regarded with suspicion by most historians. For the reason -I have given, and because it is the only plausible explanation of what -followed, it seems probable that such a will was produced and published -by Constantius. It was probably forged by the palace officials. Whether -they and the sons of Constantine used this device or no, they somehow -directed the tempestuous anger of the troops upon the older princes and -their families, and extinguished their claims in a brutal massacre. -Julian casts the blame on Constantius, admitting that he acted under -compulsion, and the other fourth-century writers do not differ. -Constantius “permitted,” rather than “commanded.” The corrupt power -behind the throne directed the murders, and the sons of Constantine -purchased a larger dominion by the blood of their uncles and cousins. -The two uncles, seven cousins, and other distinguished men, were -included in the bloody list. Then the three Imperial youths divided the -Empire between them, and departed to their provinces. - -The wives of the eldest and the youngest of the brothers are unknown -to us, and the first wife of Constantius is so little known that we -may pass rapidly over a number of years. The Imperial sisters of -Constantine--except Constantia, whom we have considered--enter little -in the history of the time. Anastasia disappears after the murder of -her husband. Eutropia will presently mingle her blood with that of -her insurgent son on the soil of Italy. Constantina, the daughter of -Constantine who had married Hannibalian, and who already bore the title -of Augusta, retired into a long widowhood, from which we shall find her -emerging later in a monstrous character. - -Constantius had been married to his cousin Galla in 336. She seems to -have been the daughter of Julius Constantius, since Julian says that -her father and brother were included in the massacre. Her personality -is never outlined for us in the historical writings of the time, and we -are left to imagine her shuddering or languishing in the arms that were -stained with the blood of her family. She died some time before 350, as -Magnentius offered his daughter to Constantius in that year. We have, -therefore, no Empress who can engage our attention until 353, and may -be content with a slight summary of the events which lead on to the -appearance of Eusebia and the reappearance of the repulsive Constantina. - -Three years after the partition of the Empire Constantine and Constans -quarrelled about their territory. The elder brother led his troops into -the dominion of Constans, and was slain; and his provinces were added -to those of Constans. The character of the youngest son of Constantine -was gross and intolerable. He revived the lowest vice of his pagan -predecessors, and his open parade of the handsome barbarian youths -whom he bought, or attracted to his frivolous court, disgusted his -officers. In the beginning of the year 350 they rebelled against him. A -banquet was given at Augustodunum (Autun) to the notables of the town -and the officers of the camp, and at a late hour, when the abundant -wine had warmed the hearts and obscured the judgment of the diners, -the commander of two of the chief legions, Magnentius, was brought -before them in a purple robe. Constans awoke from his vices to find -that he had lost the throne and the army, and fled toward Spain. He was -overtaken and slain. Some blood-curse seemed to hang over the house of -Constantine. Constantius, who had been long occupied in resisting the -Persians, now wheeled round his troops, and faced the usurper. - -In the long struggle that followed there were two incidents of interest -for us. Constantina, the Imperial widow, was living in restless -impotence at the time. Between the rebellious provinces of the West and -the loyal provinces of the East was the intermediate district between -the Danube and the Greek sea. Constantina, it is said, instigated the -commander of the troops in these regions, Vetranio, to assume the -purple. What we shall see of her character presently will dispose us -to believe that she meditated a return to power through Vetranio, -but Constantius astutely disarmed and exiled him, and accepted her -explanation that she had acted with the pure aim of resisting the -advance of the Western usurper. Constantine’s sister Eutropia also -appears in the struggle. Her son Nepotian assumed the purple at Rome, -and led out a motley army to attack Magnentius. They were quickly -annihilated, and mother and son--two of the few remaining members of -Constantine’s family--were slain. - -The interest of the student of the time is divided between the clash -of armies and the not wholly bloodless conflicts of theologies. We are -concerned with neither, and need only observe that Constantius defeated -Magnentius, after a long and costly struggle--in one battle 54,000 -Roman soldiers perished in civil warfare--and reunited the Empire under -his sole dominion. The young Empress of the defeated Magnentius retired -into widowhood, and will be restored to us in the next chapter. In -the meantime Constantina has returned to the field, and her Imperial -adventures call for our notice. - -Two children, the sons of Julius Constantius, had survived the massacre -at Constantinople. Gallus was in his twelfth year, Julian in his sixth. -They were hidden until the fury of the soldiers had abated, and then -their tender age induced the murderers to overlook them. The jealous -eye of Constantius fell on them when they approached manhood, and they -were confined in a fortress, or ancient palace, in Cappadocia. In the -solitude of Macellum no company was offered them but that of slaves and -soldiers. Julian, in whose mind the seeds of an elevated philosophy had -taken root, resisted the pressing temptations, and devoted the long -days to culture; but Gallus, a sensual and ill-balanced youth, adopted -the coarse distractions of his spacious jail. After six years (in -351) they were not only set at liberty, but Gallus was amazed to find -himself clothed with the dignity of Cæsar and married to the Emperor’s -sister Constantina. Constantius was compelled to leave the East in -order to face Magnentius, and he needed a Cæsar to rule in his name. - -The three years’ rule of Gallus and Constantina was an Imperial -scandal. Unscrupulous and unbridled, the daughter of Constantine lives -in the literature of the time as a monstrous perversion of womanhood. -With her begins the historical work (as we have it) of Ammianus -Marcellinus, a retired general, one of the most scrupulous and ample -chroniclers of his time. He bursts at once into a vivid denunciation -of her vices. She was “a mortal Megæra,” an ogre, swollen with pride -and thirsting for human blood. It is unfortunate that Ammianus gives -us no personal description of the women of his time. His work contains -charming vignettes of the Emperors and princes, but he seems never to -have looked on the face or figure of their wives. Gallus, he tells us, -was a superb youth in figure and stature, his handsome features crowned -with soft golden hair, and bearing a look of dignity and authority, -in spite of his vices. The strain of cruelty and coarseness in him -was provoked to excesses by his wife. When his savage conduct had -exasperated his subjects he used to send his spies, in the disguise -of beggars, to gather the secret whispers of discontent; and he even -stooped to the practice of wandering himself, in disguise, from tavern -to tavern on the well-lit streets of Antioch to discover his critics. -Antioch had been noted for centuries for its freedom of speech, and the -prisons and torture-chambers of Gallus were busy. - -Constantina not only encouraged this criminal conduct, but enlarged on -it. A woman of vicious character came one day to disclose some plot, -or pretended plot, to her. She rewarded her heavily, and sent the -harlot out into the city in the royal chariot, to encourage others. -An Alexandrian noble distinguished himself by resisting the guilty -passion of his mother-in-law. The woman presented Constantina with a -pearl necklace, and the noble was put to death. We need not prolong -the disgusting narrative. Flavia Julia Constantina, a beautiful and -able woman, who can scarcely have passed her thirtieth year, was one of -the worst Empresses in the Imperial gallery. One can but suggest, in -some attenuation of her guilt, that the murder of her husband by her -brother when she was a young girl in her early teens, and the fourteen -years of young widowhood that followed, had provoked the worst elements -of her nature. - -As long as Constantius was occupied with the struggle against -Magnentius, he overlooked the excesses of his Cæsar and his sister in -the East. His opponent, Magnentius, was not so compliant, though he -wasted no legions in an effort to dethrone him. He sent a soldier to -assassinate Gallus and seduce the troops. As the man resided, however, -in a tavern near Antioch, he became less cautious over his cups, and -boasted to his associates of his mission. The old woman who kept the -tavern seemed too far removed from politics to be taken into account, -but she promptly denounced her guest at the palace, and he was put to -death. Then Magnentius fell, and committed suicide, and Constantius -turned to consider the scandalous conduct of his viceroy and his sister. - -Constantius proceeded, as he usually did whenever it was possible, -by craft instead of force. The Prefect of the East had been slain by -the people of Antioch, with the guilty connivance of Gallus, and a -new Prefect, named Domitian, was sent to Antioch, together with the -Prefect of the Palace, Montius. Domitian had orders to secure, by the -most tactful and seductive means, that Gallus should visit Italy, and -walk into the pit dug for him. He was, however, a sturdy officer, more -sensible of the just substance than the form of his instructions. -Gallus and Constantina were at once insulted because, on the day of -his arrival, he drove insolently past the gate of the palace, and -went straight to his villa. They then condescended to invite him to -the palace. In the presence of the hated rulers he laid aside all -pretence of diplomacy, and roughly ordered the Cæsar to proceed at once -to Italy, or incur the just resentment of the Emperor. Gallus, stung -by his insolence, at once gave the Prefect into the custody of the -soldiers. Montius, who was present, and who also had lost all feeling -for diplomacy in the passionate encounter, remonstrated with Gallus, -adding the taunt that a man who had no power to dismiss one of his -magistrates had no right to imprison a Prefect of the East. We are -assured by Philostorgius that Constantina flew at the official, dragged -him from the tribunal, and pushed him into the hands of the guard. -We may prefer the more sober version of Ammianus. Gallus impetuously -called upon the troops and the people of Antioch to defend their ruler, -and they responded with surprising alacrity. The distinguished officers -of Constantius were bound hand and foot, dragged through the streets -until the last spark of life was extinct, and then flung into the river. - -Still Constantius hesitated to enter upon a civil war with the East, -and the unscrupulous cunning which dictated his policy discovered an -alternative procedure. First, the commander of the cavalry in the East -was summoned to Milan, that the danger of a rising might be lessened. -Then, a series of letters, couched in the most friendly and mendacious -terms, were sent to the Cæsar. Constantius was eager to see his beloved -sister once more, and to confer with his Cæsar. For some time they -resisted the invitation, but at length Constantina, less apprehensive -of personal injury, set out for Italy. She died on the journey, at -Cœnum in Bithynia, of fever, and her remains were buried at Rome. She -was still in her early thirties at the time of her death. The single -deed that is recorded in praise of her is that she and Gallus planted -a Christian church in the dissolute grove of Daphne, and drew the -austerity of the new faith upon that region of sensuous superstition -and sensual license. Her share in that act of piety may be put in the -scale against her avarice, cruelty, selfishness, and unbridled temper. - -The fate of her husband may be briefly recorded. Lured at length by the -deceitful professions of Constantius, he set out for Milan with his -princely retinue. As soon as he reached Europe, the retinue was brushed -aside, and he discovered himself a captive. When the little party -arrived in Pannonia, he was stripped of the purple, and conducted to -the remote prison at Pola, where Crispus had been executed. There he -was “tried” by a eunuch of Constantius’s court, and within a few days -a breathless courtier--he had ridden several horses to death--rushed -into the presence of Constantius with the shoes of the slain Cæsar. -The Empire was reunited under Constantius, at a cost of the deaths -of twenty princes and princesses of his house and their dependents, -and fifty thousand soldiers; and the eunuchs and courtiers filled the -palace at Milan with the incense they offered to the young conqueror. - -Constantius had, meantime, married again, and a more worthy and -commanding Empress engages our attention. Toward the close of his -struggle with Magnentius, in the year 352 or the beginning of 353, -the Emperor married a Macedonian lady, Aurelia Eusebia, of remarkable -beauty, no little ability, and dignified personality. Her father and -brothers had had consular rank in their province; her mother had been -distinguished for the propriety of her conduct and the careful rearing -of her children after the death of her husband. The language in which -the Emperor Julian describes her is enhanced by gratitude, and enjoys -the license of a panegyric; some would say that it is warmed by a more -tender sentiment. But Ammianus, who also knew her, pronounces that the -beauty of her character was not less splendid than that of her form, -and, beyond a peevish complaint of a later writer that she did not -confine herself to the proper and restricted sphere of a woman, she -maintains her high repute among the conflicting writers of the time. -The one grave imputation, which Ammianus seems to find quite consistent -with his superlative praise of her, we will consider later. - -We find Eusebia established in the court at Milan at the time when the -heads of the last of Constantius’s rivals are falling. When Gallus has -disappeared, he proudly takes the title of “Lord of the World,” and -endeavours to live up to it, amid his company of eunuchs and fawning -attendants. In the hands of those astute and concordant schemers the -weak and vain monarch was easily persuaded to arrive at decisions -which he attributed to his own judgment, and it is, perhaps, the most -indulgent plea that we can make for him that he was governed by a power -so subtle and insinuating that he never perceived it. The high merit -of a scrupulous chastity is claimed for him; but the monastic writer -Zonaras somewhat detracts from this by affirming that his coldness -deprived him of a dynasty and forced his beautiful and accomplished -wife into a fatal decline. His piety, at least, might be praised; but -it rested on a basis of Arian creed and is exposed to the scorn of the -orthodox, who called him Antichrist. - -We may concur in the strictures of Zonaras so far as to admit that -Eusebia cannot have been happy in his court. The eunuch Eusebius, who -had tried and executed Gallus, was the most powerful man in the Empire. -Ammianus observes, with heavy irony, that Constantius was believed to -be not without influence with his emasculated chamberlain. A hierarchy -of lesser, but hardly less corrupt, officials led up to this favoured -minister, and Ammianus, from personal acquaintance with the court, -assures us that their rapacity and unscrupulousness grew with the power -of Constantius. A Persian officer, Mercurius, had the nickname of “The -Count of Dreams,” from the skill with which he could make the most -innocent fancies of the night bear a treasonable complexion, and bring -destruction and spoliation on the dreamer. Paulus, who had risen from -the lowly position of table-steward, was called “The Chain,” because -of the art with which he could involve a man in a charge of plotting. -Torture and confiscation became common experiences once more, and men -began to shrink from even the most innocent conversation. - -This unpleasant tenor of the Imperial life at Milan was relieved by -the great controversy of the Arians and Athanasians, which was brought -to Italy for decision. How Constantius and his officers induced the -Latin bishops to condemn Athanasius, in 355, by “stroking their bellies -instead of laying the rod on their backs,” to use the vigorous phrase -of St. Hilary, does not concern us, but it is interesting to see how -Eusebia came in contact with the prelates. When the Roman bishop, -Liberius, bravely--for a time--incurred exile rather than condemn -Athanasius, Eusebia sent him a sum of money. He returned it with the -suggestion that her husband might find it useful for his troops or his -Arian bishops. A new power, besides that of eunuchs, was rising. Suidas -preserves a story that may be given here, though it may or may not -refer to this Council. As the bishops, he says, came to the town where -the court was, for the purpose of holding a Council, they called to -salute the Empress. Leontius, Bishop of Tripoli, refused to visit her, -and she sent word that, if he would call, she would give him the funds -to build a large church. The saintly prelate replied that he would -condescend to visit her if he were assured that she would receive him -with fitting respect--if, he explained, she would rise from her throne -at his entrance, bend for his benediction, and remain standing, while -he sat, until he permitted her to resume her seat. - -In the same year (355), however, a more pleasant diversion alleviated -the weariness of Eusebia, and another Empress is introduced to our -notice. We have already said that the unhappy Gallus had for companion -in his Cappadocian jail a young half-brother of the name of Julian. -Imbibing his early culture at the alternate hands of Bishop Eusebius -and the philosophical eunuch Mardonius, Julian had come to prefer the -Greek culture of the latter to the theological lore of the prelate. He -had come out untainted from the lonely fortress at Macellum, and had -passed to Constantinople and then to Nicomedia. There the distinguished -pagan Libanius attracted his allegiance, and from the three years in -which he studied at Nicomedia his mind was wholly given to the older -culture, however much he might be compelled to dissemble his aversion -for the new religion. After the execution of Gallus he was brought -to Milan. With growing apprehension he awaited the decision of “the -eunuch, chamberlain, and cook” who, he says, directed the bloody -counsels of Constantius. But he found an unexpected and powerful friend -in the Empress. - -It seems clear that Eusebia first espoused his cause in a pure feeling -of humanity. The officials had impeached the innocent youth of -twenty-three or twenty-four, chiefly on the ground of having visited -Gallus, and his life was gravely threatened. Eusebia threw all her -influence in the scale against the malignant officials, and, though -they prevented Constantius from hearing him, she saved his life. He was -housed in the suburbs of Milan, and was taken one day to see Eusebia. -“I seemed to see, as in a temple, the image of the goddess of wisdom,” -he afterwards wrote in his “Letter to the Athenians.” The splendid -figure of the beautiful Empress can easily be imagined to have made a -remarkable impression on the bookish youth. Eusebia was differently, -but favourably, impressed. Julian was a well-made youth, of moderate -stature and broad shoulders. He had the soft curly hair of his brother, -a straight nose, large mouth, and brilliant eyes. The humane feeling of -the Empress assumed a more tender and personal complexion, and she set -to work to make Julian’s fortune. - -He was sent for a time to Como, and, as her influence prevailed, -recalled to Milan, and permitted to reply to his accusers before the -Emperor. He was then permitted to retire to his mother’s small estate -in Bithynia, but Eusebia induced Constantius to impose on him the -pleasant sentence of an exile to Athens. From the beloved schools of -Athens he was, after a few months, recalled to Milan, to hear the -astounding news that he was to receive the purple robe of Cæsar and -the hand of the Emperor’s sister Helena. He shrank in tears from the -political world that opened to him, but Eusebia tactfully overcame his -opposition and guided his conduct. Her eunuchs ran continually between -the palace and his lodging. The beard and cloak of the philosopher -were laid aside, and Julian blushed to find himself accoutred in the -splendid trappings of a commander. The jeers and intrigues of the -court were at length silenced, and, on November 6th, 355, he stood on -a lofty platform before the troops while Constantius invested him with -the purple and exhorted him to sustain the honour of Rome. The marriage -with Helena followed, and in December Julian and his bride, with a -valuable collection of books as the gift of Eusebia, set out for Gaul. - -Julian never saw Eusebia again, and cannot have had the least -correspondence with her. Even in Milan he had, on reflection, torn -up a letter in which he modestly wished his patroness the reward -of a succession of children. On his side there was nothing but a -pure feeling of gratitude and reverence. She was, says Zosimus, “a -woman of erudition and prudence above her sex”; a shining example -of spiritual and bodily beauty, according to Ammianus. She had most -probably saved his life, and most certainly made his fortune. But it -is believed by many writers that Eusebia’s feeling for Julian was -of a less ethereal nature. Gaetano Negri, whose life of Julian is -one of the most distinguished biographies of a Roman Emperor, justly -repudiates the suggestion of improper feeling on her part, and it -is a superfluous inference. But one may, without casting the least -reflection on her virtue, hesitate to think that the only link between -them was a sympathy of culture. Such sympathy we may well assume -between a cultivated Greek lady and an ardent Hellenist, but so cold -and spiritual a relation may very naturally and pardonably have been -strengthened by a warmer feeling. Julian had no sensuous attractiveness -for a beautiful woman. But his manly person and character, his vast -superiority to the crowd of ignoble parasites she daily encountered, -and to her weak and mediocre husband, must have excited an admiration -less purely intellectual than an appreciation of his learning. - -The person of Flavia Julia Helena remains faint and elusive in the -ample chronicle of the time. She was much older than Julian, who was -in his twenty-fifth year, while Helena cannot have been less than -thirty.[27] She had not been previously married, Ammianus says, and the -long maidenhood would not tend to make her attractive. The marriage -was arranged by Eusebia in the political interest of Julian, and it -probably retained the chill that a _mariage de convenance_, with such -disparity of age, would naturally bear. In Julian’s abundant, and -largely autobiographical, writings she is barely mentioned. It was -the marriage of an old maid--for the Roman world--with an austere, if -conscientious, philosopher. The gradual discovery of Julian’s secret -loyalty to the old gods would not make their relations more cordial. - -We may, therefore, regret that the single line of inquiry which we -pursue will compel us to leave almost unnoticed the brilliant episode -of the reign of Julian. The more liberal taste of our time has removed -the violent and conflicting colours which the partisan writers of -the fourth century laid upon the portrait of Julian. To Gregory of -Nazianzum he was a faint impersonation of Antichrist; to the pagan -writers a modest incorporation of Apollo. In modern history he is -a most conscientious thinker, a humane and unselfish ruler, a very -capable commander, a conceited and unattractive personality. His -character, in spite of the shade that clings to it as a trace of the -enforced dissimulation of his early years, is great: his ability and -achievements are just entitled to be called brilliant. - -Helena and Eusebia appear little in the years that follow, and we -must narrate the necessary events very briefly. The frame of mind in -which Constantius sent Julian to Gaul as Cæsar is not at all clear. -The frontier was obliterated; the barbarians overrunning the country -in formidable strength; the military force inadequate, except with -fine control. Some writers are disposed to think that Constantius was -sending his cousin to death. At all events, the faith of Eusebia, that -her young and shrinking scholar would surmount these difficulties, was -great; and it was rewarded. Julian at once discovered a bravery that -none had suspected. He cut his way through a region occupied by the -barbarians, surveyed the devastated frontier, and passed the first year -of his inexperience with only one small disaster. The difficulty of his -task seemed greater when, in the winter, he was besieged in Sens, and -the commander of the troops in the neighbourhood refused to go to his -relief. In the trouble that followed Eusebia obtained for him the full -command of the troops, which had been withheld from him, and from that -moment he entered on a career of victory. - -It is probable that Helena did not share his peril in this winter -(356–7). We find her at Rome in April, with Eusebia and Constantius, -and a curious story of their relations is put before us. Constantius in -that month bestowed his first and only visit upon the ancient capital -of the Empire. Sitting in a chariot that glittered with gold and gems, -preceded by officers whose spears bore silken dragons, so fashioned as -to hiss in the breeze, on their golden and bejewelled tips, followed by -his legions in battle-array, their breastplates and shields gleaming -in the sun, the Emperor passed with affected indifference between the -dense lines of spectators and the great monuments of Rome; though both -the vast crowds and the ancient structures, shining with a beauty that -his decaying Empire could no longer produce, wrung from him in private -an expression of astonishment. Eusebia had invited Helena to join them -in this visit to Rome. - -At a later point in his narrative Ammianus makes a reference to this -visit that has perplexed every thoughtful reader. When he comes to -record the death of Helena, he says that it was due to a poisonous -drug administered to her by Eusebia, during the visit to Rome, to -prevent her from having children, and that in the previous year, when -she was pregnant, Eusebia sent a midwife to destroy the child under -pretence of attending her. It does not seem to occur to Gibbon and -other historians, who adopt this story, that it suggests in Eusebia a -character in complete contradiction to that ascribed to her by Ammianus -himself and every other Roman writer. A jealousy of Helena, whether on -account of her own childlessness or on account of Julian, that could -force her to such a malignant course, is utterly inconsistent with the -description we have quoted of her. The story is peremptorily rejected -by Miss Gardner and Signor Negri, and its discord with all that we know -of Eusebia is noticed by most writers. - -One is tempted to inquire if it may not be an interpolation, but the -text of Ammianus lends no support whatever to the idea. We can only -suppose that Ammianus incorporated a piece of idle gossip, and was -inattentive to its inconsistency with his high moral praise of Eusebia. -Many legends, we shall see, sprang up after the death of Helena. -Some of them assail Julian, and are easily traced to their source. -It is possible that the courtiers who opposed Eusebia, and doubtless -misrepresented her zeal for Julian, started the rumour, and Ammianus -heard it in Italy years afterwards. It is a mere feather in the scale -against the authorities for the high character of the Empress. - -From Rome Constantius was summoned to repel fresh invasions in the -East, and Helena returned to Gaul. She remains unnoticed until the -spring of the year 360, and we will not follow Julian through the -brilliant campaigns in which he reduced the most powerful tribes of the -barbarians, and restored peace and prosperity to his stricken province. -But while Julian succeeded in the West, the campaign of the troops of -Constantius in the East won for the Emperor few laurels, and entailed -grave disasters. The intriguers now doubled their charges against -Julian, and plausibly suggested that he would be prompted to claim a -higher title than that of Cæsar. It was decided to reduce his power by -removing a number of his finest legions to the East. - -Julian was in winter quarters at Paris--as Lutetia was beginning to be -called--when the grave summons reached him. The island on the Seine, -which now bears the Cathedral, had from early times offered a secure -settlement, and, as the province became more settled, the adjoining -slope, where the Latin Quarter of a later age began, was occupied with -a palace, an amphitheatre, and a few of the customary institutions of -a Roman town. Julian loved the little settlement on the broad silvery -river, surrounded by dense forests, and he was spending the winter -there, attending with equal judgment and humanity to the civil welfare -of his province, when the officers of Constantius arrived. He has -described at length the painful perplexity into which he was thrown. -Not only would the sacrifice of four of his best legions seriously -impair his strength, but they were local troops and had enlisted -only for local service. He decided to obey, and ordered the troops -to prepare for departure. An angry murmur arose from the camps, as -the men reflected on the fate that might befall their families in the -ill-protected country. Julian provided that their wives and children -should accompany them, and they gathered at Paris for the dismissal. -In affecting language the Cæsar conveyed to them his thanks and his -admonitions, entertained their officers at a banquet, and retired to -his palace. - -The sincerity of Julian has been made the theme of an acrid discussion -between his violent critics and his resolute admirers. But we may, -without serious reflection on his character, doubt whether he entirely -wished the troops to go. Such an order, from such a source, would -plausibly relieve a Cæsar from obedience. Only excessive virtue or -uncertain prospect of the issue would counsel a man to obey it. Both -feelings were at work in Julian’s mind, and there is not ground to -accuse his later account of hypocrisy. But we may surmise that, at the -time, his decision was accompanied by unsanctioned hopes and dreams of -a more satisfactory issue. In those days of anxious deliberation his -imagination, however he might curb it, must have depicted for him the -revival of culture, the arrest of superstition, the purification of the -court and Empire, that would follow his elevation to the throne. - -He retired to his palace, where, as he incidentally observes somewhere, -Helena lived with him. But shortly after midnight a great tumult arose -from the direction of the camp, and from the windows one could see the -troops, the light of their torches gleaming on their drawn swords, -coming toward the palace. The doors were at once closed, and Julian -refused to show himself, but the cry of “Imperator” easily penetrated -to his ears. On the following morning they broke into the palace, and -forcibly conducted Julian to the camp. He resisted, threatened, and -supplicated, but the troops were consulting their own interest, now -gravely threatened by their revolt, and there was no other course -possible but to consent. He was raised up on a shield, and the legions -broke into a frenzy of delight at their escape from exile. A diadem -only was needed to complete his new dignity, and Helena, who was -present, seems to have offered a pearl necklace of hers. Julian refused -to wear the feminine adornment, and an officer provided a rich golden -collar, studded with gems, for the coronation. - -With the struggle that followed, and the dramatic chapter that opened -in the annals of Rome, we have no concern. Both our Empresses die -before a decisive stage is reached. The date of the death of Eusebia is -not known. It was some time between the beginning of 359 and the middle -of 360, as Constantius married again toward the end of 360. She is -said to have died of an inflammation of the womb, brought on by taking -drugs for procuring fertility. That such drugs were familiar at the -time, and that the Empress would naturally try their effect, we readily -admit, but we need not entirely overlook the statement of Zonaras that -the conduct of her husband and the unhappiness of her circumstances -brought the beautiful Greek into a decline. Had she shared the throne -with Julian, and adopted his views, the story of Europe might have run -differently.[28] - -That Helena was won to the views of Julian is improbable. She would, -no doubt, discover soon after her marriage that he secretly cherished -the cult of the old gods. From his first month in Gaul he had, with one -assistant, set up a private shrine to them. There are coins that bear -the names of Julian and Helena and the figures of Isis and Serapis, but -they yield no inference. Nor can we learn the attitude of Helena in the -struggle between her husband and her brother. The complete silence of -Julian suggests that she remained moodily silent or hostile. Several -months were spent in negotiation with Constantius. In December Julian -celebrated, at Vienne, the fifth anniversary of his promotion, and -wore the splendid diadem of an Emperor as he presided at the games and -exercises. In the midst of the festivities Helena died. Zonaras, who -also gives a ridiculous rumour that she had been divorced by Julian, -says that she died in childbirth. We are tempted to think that the -painful development of her unprosperous marriage weighed heavily on -her, and her pregnancy had a premature and fatal delivery. Her remains -were conveyed to Rome, and laid by those of her sister Constantina. We -need not notice the charge of one of Constantius’s officers that Julian -had poisoned her, and paid the guilty physician with his mother’s -jewels. Julian, honestly, professes no grief at her death, and he never -married again. - -A third Empress makes a brief appearance at the time when Helena passes -away. Passing from his long campaign on the Danube to the stricken -regions of the East, Constantius had, toward the close of 360, married -for the third time, at Antioch. Maxima Faustina, his third Empress, had -little time to make an impression on history, if she were capable of -it. As Constantius at length set out from Antioch, in the autumn of -361, to crush the mutiny in the West, as he affected to regard it, he -contracted a fever, and died before he reached the European frontier. -Faustina was left with the unborn wife of the future Emperor Gratian, -and will come to our notice again. The Roman Empire was once more -united under a strong, upright, and accomplished ruler. But Julian was -now wedded to his ideals, and, as no woman shared his ascetic life and -arduous labours, we must pass over the reforms, the campaigns, and the -religious struggles of the next two years. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -JUSTINA - - -The splendour of Julian’s reign was soon overcast. In the summer of -363, as he was skilfully extricating his troops from a dangerous -position in Persia, he was pierced with a javelin, and he expired, -with dignity and serenity, amongst his saddened supporters. Amid the -noisy intrigue for the succession that followed, the name of Jovian, a -popular and handsome officer of no distinction, obtained the loudest -support, and the mantle of the brilliant young Emperor was conferred -on him. How he secured the retreat of his troops by humiliating -concessions to the Persians, and the Roman soldiers and Roman settlers -sadly evacuated the provinces on which the blood of their fathers had -been freely spent, and the emblem of the cross was borne again at the -head of the legions, need not be told here. Not only is the wife of -Jovian, Charito, no more than a name to us, but Jovian himself died -before he reached the luxury of the capital. His brief enjoyment of -power had been adorned by neither courage nor temperance. Charito sank -back into obscurity, with her infant son, and was years afterwards laid -by the side of her husband in the Church of the Apostles at Byzantium. - -The next reign will introduce us to the stronger and more prominent -personality of the Empress Justina and other Empresses of some -interest. The hum of intrigue had arisen again in the camp, and the -struggle of Christian and pagan was resumed. The choice of the army -at length fell once more on an officer whose chief distinction was -that he had a large and handsome person, and had had an energetic -father. Valentinian had been an officer in Julian’s guards, and had one -day, as he attended the Emperor at sacrifice, cuffed the priest for -dropping some of the lustral water on his coat. Julian banished him -for this violent desecration of his cult, but, though the more lively -writers of the time promptly dispatch him to remote and contradictory -regions, even Tillemont doubts if the sentence was carried out. It is -probable that Julian had merely dismissed him from the body-guard, as -we find him in the army at the time of Julian’s death. With two other -officers he was sent by Jovian to secure the allegiance of the troops -in the West. One legion, devoted to the memory of Julian, rebelled, -and Valentinian had to fly for his life. He returned to the East, and -resumed his post in the army, as it trailed some miles in the rear of -the retreating Emperor. And in the middle of February (364) he was -amazed to learn that Jovian had died, after a too liberal supper, and -he himself was called to the throne. He was compelled by the troops -to share the power with his brother Valens, and, leaving the shorn -Eastern provinces under the care of Valens, he went on to Milan to take -possession of the Western throne. - -Valeria Severa,[29] the first wife of Valentinian, is one of those -shadowy Empresses whose form can hardly be discerned in the records of -the time. She had borne him a son, the future Emperor Gratian, five -years before, but she does not seem to have secured his affection, and -we shall find her retiring in disgrace as soon as the beautiful Justina -appears at court. Albia Dominica, the wife of Valens, is not more -interesting, but an Empress whom we have dismissed in a former chapter -at once reappears at Constantinople in opposition to her. - -Before they separated Valens and Valentinian had fallen ill together, -and, under the pretence that Julian’s friends had attempted to poison -them, they turned with some vindictiveness upon the pagan officials. -The aged and respected Sallust firmly controlled the inquiry, and -no blood was shed; but large numbers of Julian’s officials were -displaced--in many cases quite rightly, as Julian’s zeal for paganism -had had the same evil effect in encouraging hypocrisy as the zeal of -other Emperors for Christianity--and driven into sullen discontent. -Further, Dominica’s father, Petronius, a deformed and repulsive person, -had risen to power with his daughter, and was grinding the faces of the -citizens of the East with the most extortionate demands. A spark soon -fell on this inflammable world. Procopius, a relative of Julian’s, had -published a very hazy claim to the Empire after Julian’s death. He had -hastily withdrawn and disowned it, but Valens sent men to apprehend -him. Ingeniously escaping the soldiers, he fled to Constantinople, -and seems there to have fallen into the hands of abler intriguers. -Two legions were bought for him, and they made him Emperor. There -was no purple mantle to be obtained, so they clothed him in a stagy -tunic bespangled with gold, put purple shoes on his feet and a piece -of purple cloth in his hand, and conducted him, amid the amazed and -derisive spectators, to the Senate and the Palace. - -His force grew so quickly that the weak and nervous Emperor of the East -was disposed to yield him the throne, but his older officers urged him -to resist. In the short struggle that followed we meet again the third -wife, and widow, of Constantius. Faustina had been _enceinte_ at the -death of her husband, and she was living at Constantinople, with her -four-year-old daughter, when Procopius made his romantic attempt on the -throne. With some shrewdness he withdrew her from her retirement, and -associated her with him in his claim. The legitimate dynasty seemed to -be wresting the throne from usurpers when the widow and daughter of -the son of Constantine appeared at the head of the troops. Even when -they marched out to meet the forces of Valens, Faustina, in a litter, -accompanied them. But the new hope of Faustina died away as quickly -as it had been born. The soldiers were persuaded to return to their -allegiance, and the power of Procopius swiftly melted away. Faustina -sank again into obscurity, and the adventurous career of Constantia was -postponed for some years. - -Dominica returned to her position in the enervated and luxurious court, -and the rest of her life offers little interest. The ecclesiastical -historians describe her as egging her husband to persecute the -Trinitarians, but we must read the charge with discretion. There is -little positive trace of persecution. One day eighty Trinitarian -priests came to plead their cause at the court, and Valens is said -to have ordered them back to their ship. At some distance from port -the vessel was found to be aflame, and the priests were burnt to -death. The orthodox writers declare that the vessel was purposely -fired, at the command of Valens, but it is impossible to adjust the -conflicting statements of the rival schools of theology. Valens was -an ardent Arian, but he upheld the principle of religious toleration, -and confined theologians to the use of theological weapons. The -only occasion on which he is known to have ordered or countenanced -violent persecution was in the suppression of magic. In some obscure -chamber of the capital a group of men resorted to this dark means of -discovering who would be the successor of Valens. Some say that a ring -dangling from a mystic tripod spelt out the name on painted letters; -some that grains of corn were placed on letters of the alphabet, -and, when a cock was admitted to peck them, the order of the letters -which it first attacked was noticed. In either case, the result was -to give the letters Th E O D. It would be a remarkable forecast, -if the story did not belong to a generation after the accession of -Theodosius. However, the attempt became known, and a searching inquiry -and savage persecution followed. The despicable trade of the informer -was encouraged, whole libraries of valuable books were destroyed, -and numbers of innocent philosophers and matrons were included in the -bloody lists of the condemned. - -The name of Dominica occurs only in one authentic connexion during the -reign of Valens. The Emperor passed the winter of 372–3 at Cæsarea -in Cappadocia, where he encountered the stern and uncompromising -champion of orthodoxy, St. Basil. Strong no less in his personal -haughtiness--St. Jerome calls it pride--than in his glowing zeal for -his Church, Basil emphatically refused to obey him, and was threatened -with banishment. At once Dominica and her boy fell ill. Besides two -daughters, she had had a son in 366, and this boy fell into a dangerous -illness. It is said that Dominica learned in a dream that the illness -was a divine punishment, but it is not impossible that her waking -intelligence could arrive at that conclusion. Basil was summoned to the -palace once more. Theodoret would have it that the bishop courteously -breathed on the boy, and declared that he would recover if he received -Trinitarian baptism. The earlier ecclesiastical writers, however, -ascribe to him a firmer attitude. He asked Valens if the boy would -receive orthodox baptism, and was told that he would not. “Let him meet -whatever fate God wills then,” said the bishop, quitting the palace. -The boy was baptized by the Arians, and died during the following -night. A power even greater than that of eunuchs, and more imperious -than that of Emperors, was rapidly growing. When, some days later, one -of the favourites of Valens, who had risen from the kitchen, attempted -to intervene in a discussion between the bishop and the Emperor, Basil -curtly told him to confine himself to sauces and not interfere in -Church matters. - -Five or six years later Valens perished in the war with the Goths, -and Dominica passed to the fitting obscurity of private life. The -one indication of spirit that is recorded of her is that, when the -victorious Goths pressed on to Constantinople and invested it, she paid -the citizens out of the public treasury to arm themselves against the -barbarians. We turn from her vague and retiring personality to the -more interesting figure of Justina, who had some years before begun to -share the throne of Valentinian. - -Valentinian was as fierce and choleric as his brother was timid. A -tall and powerful man, with stern blue eyes, a brilliant complexion, -and light hair, he enlisted and encouraged his native cruelty in the -service of what he regarded as the interest of the State. The pagans -he refused to persecute, and he did much to promote the higher culture -of Rome, which was so closely connected with the pagan beliefs. But, -like his brother, he fell with truculence upon all who could be brought -under a comprehensive charge of magic and divination, and the blood -of Italy flowed very freely. His hard, covetous, and brutal officers -enriched themselves in the work of torture, spoliation, and execution, -and--though the statement recalls rather the savagery of Nero or -Domitian--we are assured by the contemporary Ammianus that he kept -two monstrous bears in cages near his chamber, and fed them on human -victims. The slightest offence might incur sentence of death. “You -had better change his head,” he is said to have ordered, in brutal -playfulness, when some official desired to change to another province. - -It is, perhaps, a circumstance of credit to Severa that she failed -to retain the affection of Valentinian, though a less flattering -reason is assigned by some of the authorities. The truth is that, -since Valentinian is described as most chaste and most Christian, -the accession of Justina to his palace has caused the ecclesiastical -historians no little perplexity. The Church was peremptorily opposed -to divorce, and regarded as adultery a second marriage contracted -while the first wife lived. Baronius conveniently removes Severa by -death, but Ammianus informs us that Severa was living long afterwards -at the court of her son,[30] and the Alexandrian Chronicle expressly -says that Gratian recalled his mother to court. Tillemont acknowledges -this, and can only blush for the guilty connivance of the clergy of the -period. - -If we could believe the ecclesiastical historian Socrates, Valentinian -avoided the sin of divorce and adultery by promulgating a decree -to the effect that it was lawful to have two wives, and promptly -marrying Justina in addition to Severa. Of such a law, however, we -have no trace, and most writers follow the alternative theory of the -authorities. - -Aviana Justina was the widow of the usurper Magnentius, who had so -dramatically stolen the throne of the worthless Constans, and had -been crushed by Constantius in the year 353. She was a woman of great -beauty, the daughter of a high provincial official, a spirited and -ambitious young woman. She would be in her later twenties, at least, -in 368, when she entered the suite of Severa in some capacity. She -was soon associated so intimately with the Empress that they bathed -together, and Severa made the fatal mistake of describing what Socrates -curiously calls her “virginal beauty” to the sensual Valentinian. -Before long it was announced that Severa was divorced, and Justina -occupied her bed. A late authority throws a thin mantle over the action -of Valentinian. Severa, he says, used her Imperial position to compel -a lady of Milan to sell her an estate at a most inadequate price, and -Valentinian was unable to endure her avarice. The vague description we -have of Justina’s dazzling beauty will, perhaps, suffice. - -This remarkable conduct on the part of Valentinian and Justina is -put in the year 368.[31] The succeeding years of war and religious -controversy throw no light on the character of Justina, and we need -not describe them. Valentinian died in 375. Some delegates of the -barbarians had come, with deep humility, to implore his clemency for -their invasion of his dominions, and Valentinian burst into one of -his appalling storms of rage. So violent was his fury in addressing -them that he burst a blood-vessel, and left the Western Empire to his -son Gratian. Gratian had married in the previous year. His Empress -was the daughter of Faustina, who had been borne in her mother’s arms -at the head of the troops of Procopius. In crossing the provinces to -meet Gratian, Constantia had had a singular adventure. While she was -dining at an inn, some twenty-six miles from Sirmium, the tribes broke -across the Danube and occupied the village. There was just time for the -Governor of Illyrium to snatch up the thirteen-year-old princess and -make a dash for Sirmium. She married Gratian in 374, and became Empress -of the West in the following year. But Flavia Maxima Constantia has -left only the faint impress of her early adventures on the chronicles -of the time, and the few years of her Imperial life have no interest -for us. The next mention of her is that she died some time before her -husband, who was assassinated in 383. He had married again, but his -widow, Læta, is a mere name in history. Theodosius gave a comfortable -income to Læta and her mother Pissamena, and they were distinguished -for their charity in the later misfortunes of Rome. - -When Valentinian had died in a fit of rage at Bregetio, Justina and -her four-year-old boy, Valentinian the younger, were in the town of -Murocincta, a hundred miles away. Justina hastened to the camp, and -it was presently announced that the army had decided to associate the -boy with Gratian in the rule of the West. Gratian, the most temperate -and promising of the Emperors of the period, published his consent. A -refusal to acknowledge the boy, and an attempt to punish the intrigue -by which Justina retained her power, would have involved a civil war, -and the whole of his forces were now needed to stem the flood of -barbarism that surged against the northern frontier of the Empire. The -last days of Rome were fast approaching. From the remote deserts of -Asia a fierce and numerous people, the Huns, had entered Europe, and -were sweeping the Goths and other Teutonic tribes southward. Gratian -appointed an Emperor of the East, whom we shall meet presently, in the -place of Valens, and spent his strength in heroic efforts to defend the -threatened frontier. - -Justina returned with the boy-Emperor to Milan. As long as Gratian -lived, Justina was restricted to the life of the palace, but in 383 the -throne was usurped by Maximus, and Gratian was murdered by one of his -emissaries. Gibbon generously traces the general dissatisfaction out -of which this revolt emerged to a deterioration of the character of -Gratian. This deterioration cannot be questioned, but one particular -outcome of it, the active persecution of the pagans, was probably his -most fatal error. Milan was now dominated by the imperious and zealous -St. Ambrose, and the two young Emperors were expressly under his -control. At the suggestion of Ambrose, Gratian abandoned Valentinian’s -policy of toleration. He rejected the title of Pontifex Maximus, -ordered the removal of the statue of Victory from the Roman Senate, and -confiscated the estates of the temples. He even admitted the abusive -epithet “pagans” (or “villagers”), which the more forward Christians -were beginning to use, in his official decrees.[32] This must have -inflamed the general discontent, and the army of Maximus marched -peacefully over Gaul, and occupied the Empire as far as the Alps. The -Emperor of the East, Theodosius, consented that Britain, Gaul, and -Spain should remain under the rule of Maximus, and Justina continued to -rule the curtailed dominions of her son. - -It was now discovered that Justina was an Arian. Whether she had -concealed her beliefs during the life of Valentinian, or had been -recently won to the sect, it is impossible to say; but Ambrose now -found that he had a stubborn opponent of his religious ambition. The -trouble culminated in 385, when scenes were witnessed that effectively -impress on us the change that had come over the Roman Empire. Justina -ordered that one of the Christian churches of the city should be put -at the disposal of the Arian clergy. Ambrose sternly refused, and, -when he was summoned to the palace, and a sentence of banishment -was apprehended, the people flocked to the palace and intimidated -the Empress and her counsellors. A little later, the Gothic (Arian) -soldiers were sent to occupy the church, and orders were given that -it should be prepared for the Empress’s devotions. A renewal of the -riot, and the showering of the vilest epithets upon the person of the -Empress, forced her to retire once more. In the following year, 386, -she passed sentence of exile on the bishop, and her spirit was expended -in a final struggle. For the first time in the history of Rome--a true -index of its profound demoralization--the troops were prevented by -the people from carrying out an Imperial decree. Ambrose was guarded -day and night by thousands of his followers. The chief church and the -episcopal house were fortified as if for a siege, and the troops of -“Jezebel” had to stand inactive before a mob of citizens. On the advice -of Theodosius, Justina refrained from any further attempt. Indeed, her -attention was soon violently withdrawn to a very different danger. - -The ambition of Maximus had once more outrun its bounds, and he coveted -the remaining provinces of Valentinian. Justina’s conduct betrays -that her ability was inferior to her spirit. Duped by the treacherous -diplomacy of Maximus, she was suddenly informed that the hostile forces -of Maximus were close to Milan, and she fled hastily to the coast. -At Aquileia she and her son took ship for the East. The soldiers of -Maximus followed them on swift galleys, but they rounded the south of -Greece in safety, and landed at Thessalonica. Her task now was to -induce Theodosius to espouse their cause, and it proved to be one of -nearer proportion to her talent. - -Her pressing appeals to Theodosius for aid were parried or unheeded -for some time. If we may believe Theodoret, the only reply which she -received was a painful assurance that the heresy she entertained, and -in which she was educating her son, was a sufficient cause of all the -evils that had come upon them. She was directed to await a visit from -Theodosius at Thessalonica, and the visit was much delayed. Historians -usually depict the Emperor as held in suspense by a painful dilemma. -Not only would it be a serious thing for the Empire, surrounded as it -was with peril, to engage the forces of the East and the West in an -exhausting civil war, but Theodosius would, in such a war, be attacking -an orthodox Catholic in the interest of a fanatical Arian and enemy -of the Church; and Theodosius was a most zealous Trinitarian. The -difficulty must have occurred to him, and it would not be fantastical -to assume that there had been some correspondence between the prelates -of the East and the prelates of the West, to ensure that the point did -not escape him. - -The pagan Zosimus has a different theory of the delay of Theodosius. -The character of that Emperor was, he says, a singular union of -contradictions. He could blaze with the fury of a Valentinian, or bend -his head meekly for the blessing of a bishop; he could lead the troops -through a campaign with the most signal dexterity, energy, and success, -and then relax into the most ignoble indolence; he could embrace the -rigour of a soldier’s life without the least effort to soften it, and -then resign himself to the most voluptuous day-dreams in his Imperial -palace. Justina, Zosimus says, was so unfortunate as to need his aid -during one of his periods of luxury and “insane pursuit of pleasure.” -He resented the effort to awaken him from it. His deep indebtedness -to Gratian, however, who had conferred the Empire on him, at length -forced him to cross the Greek sea, and visit Justina at Thessalonica. -From the time of that visit his pulse was quickened, and he began -a vigorous preparation for war with Maximus. Justina had with her at -Thessalonica, not only the insipid boy Valentinian, but a pretty young -daughter, Galla, and Theodosius had fallen in love with her. Justina -promptly perceived, and artfully used, her opportunity, and it was -arranged that the pretty princess should be his reward for restoring -the Western Empire to Valentinian and his mother. - -[Illustration: AELIA FLACCILLA - -HONORIA - -ENLARGED FROM COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM] - -Theodosius, who is incomparably the leading ruler of the fourth -century, had come from the same part of Spain as Trajan, to whom some -of the writers of the time compare him--with no little flattery. -His father, Count Theodosius, had been an able commander and a just -administrator, but had been unjustly disgraced and executed owing -to some obscure jealousy. Later writers, thinking of the magical Th -E O D of Antioch, believed that his name led to his undoing. The -younger Theodosius, a cultivated and skilful officer, retired to his -estates in Spain, from which he was drawn by Gratian, and presently -clothed with the purple. He had, in 376 or 377, married a Spanish -lady, Ælia Flaccilla, who is believed, on slender grounds, to have -been the daughter of the consul Antonius. Their son Arcadius, the -future Emperor, was born during the retirement in Spain. A daughter, -Pulcheria, was born in Spain, while Theodosius was on campaign. Then -Flaccilla found herself transferred from the quiet Spanish estate to -the pomp of Constantinople, and the second son, Honorius, was born in -the purple. - -Although Flaccilla is canonized in the Greek Church, it does not -appear that she had a marked individuality. She is one of the crowd -of fourth-century Empresses who live in the chronicles only as -generous benefactors of the Church. Theodosius was the first Emperor -to persecute his pagan subjects on the ground of religion, and his -successive decrees quickly changed the religious aspect of the -East. His modern biographers, Ifland and Güldenpenning (“Der Kaiser -Theodosius”), lay much of the blame for these violent measures on -Flaccilla, but they point out that the coercive legislation begins just -after Theodosius came under the influence of Bishop Acholius during -a severe illness, and that his efforts to crush paganism by violence -relaxed with his advance in age and experience. All that we learn of -Flaccilla is that she was generous to the Church and the poor, and that -she occasionally curbed the fiery and vindictive temper of Theodosius. -She seems to have died in the year 385, and the Greek ritual celebrates -her memory on September 14th. - -Theodosius was, therefore, a middle-aged widower--his biographers -put his birth in 346--when, in the autumn of 387, Justina presented -her daughter Galla to him. Dr. Ifland admits that the young girl -probably turned the hesitating scale of his judgment. He returned -to Constantinople, and made energetic preparations for war. A two -months’ campaign in the following summer (388) completely destroyed -the forces of Maximus, and the full Empire of the West was restored to -Valentinian. But Justina had little personal profit by the victory. -Zosimus tells us that she “supplied the deficiencies of her son as -well as a woman can” after the return to Milan, while Sozomen declared -that she died before the return. The point is obscure, but the -evidence suggests, on the whole, that she returned to Milan. It was, -however, to a different Milan from that she had quitted. Theodosius -accompanied them, and the strong, earnest character of Ambrose made a -deep impression on him. Valentinian was “converted” to the true creed, -and the policy of persecution was introduced into the Western world. -Justina must have remained a powerless and embittered spectator of -the ascendancy of Ambrose. So great did it become that the coldest -decisions of the Emperor were reversed by him, and his transgressions -were ignominiously punished. The news came to Milan that the monks and -populace of a small town in Persia had burned the synagogue of the -Jews, and that the prefect had ordered them to rebuild the synagogue -and restore its property. Theodosius confirmed the just sentence, but -Ambrose assailed him so strongly, in letter and sermon, that he was -obliged to give complete immunity to the offenders; and the wave of -violence--the burning of temples and synagogues, and the despoiling -and slaying of unbelievers and heretics of all shades--continued -to roll destructively over the East. The more impressive incident -of Theodosius, the greatest ruler of his time, standing in the -humble attitude of a penitent in the church at Milan is well known. -The people of Thessalonica, stung by the heavy taxation which the -extravagant rule of Theodosius imposed on the East, and the quartering -of barbaric troops on them, took some occasion to riot, and slew the -representatives of the Emperor. In a fit of passion Theodosius turned -his troops upon the defenceless people, whom he had treacherously -invited to the Circus, and a horrible and unexampled massacre was -perpetrated. Ambrose nobly insisted that the Emperor must expiate his -crime like the humblest member of his flock. The world was entering -upon a new era. - -How much of these proceedings Justina lived to see it is impossible to -determine. She died some time between 388 and 391; the obscurity of her -death is a sufficient proof of her powerlessness in her last years. -Valentinian, whose weakness was hardly compensated by the propriety -of his conduct and his docility to St. Ambrose, was instructed in the -elements of government by the older Emperor, who remained three years -in Italy, to the lasting grief of its pagan citizens. He visited Rome, -where the majority of the leading citizens still clung to an idealized -version of the old cult, and appealed to the Senate to abandon the -dying gods. No answer was made to his appeal, and he resorted to -the growing practice of coercive legislation. In 391 he returned to -Constantinople. - -Galla had married Theodosius soon after the destruction of Maximus. -The Chronicle of Marcellinus puts the marriage in 386; Zosimus, more -plausibly, implies that it took place in 387 or 388. From a curious -statement in the Chronicle of Marcellinus it seems that she was sent -to live in the palace at Constantinople while Theodosius remained in -Italy. The statement is that the elder son of the Emperor, Arcadius, a -boy of thirteen years, drove her out of the palace. Commentators are -loath to believe that so young a prince could do this, but it is not in -the least impossible, and the authority is respectable. We shall see -that Arcadius was a peevish and worthless prince, indolently guided by -eunuchs and servants, and capable of very cruel decisions. Theodosius -had departed from the finer Imperial tradition of appointing a grave -and distinguished scholar as the tutor of his sons, and had committed -them to the care of a Roman deacon, Arsenius, who had a repute for -piety. We can hardly regard the authority of a late Greek writer -(Metaphrastes) as weighty enough to commend the statement that Arcadius -set his servants to take the life of Arsenius for whipping him, but the -unhappy events of the next chapter will show that the only result of -this kind of education was to leave the character unformed, and throw -the stress on external observances. - -In 391 Theodosius returned to Constantinople, and Galla entered upon -her brief Imperial career. Whether or no we accept the biased picture -which Zosimus offers us of the Eastern court, it is clear that it -sustained a soft and excessive luxury at the cost of the enfeebled -Empire. Large numbers of eunuchs found employment, and, with the genius -of their class, intrigued for favour in the sleeping quarters, and -in the service of the Empress and the Imperial children. The kitchen -employed a regiment of ministers to the heavy and voluptuous table; -the circus and theatre supported vast numbers of mimes, dancers, and -charioteers. Besides this large army of ministers to the Imperial -pleasure, a second army of idle and avaricious place-seekers beset -the palace, and extorted a generous revenue from the offices which -were created for them in the army and the administration. It is even -said that such offices were openly sold in the public places and in -the palace of Constantinople. Strenuous as Theodosius was in the -field, he was not strong enough to sustain the burden of peace, and he -unconsciously prepared the Empire for the avalanche that was soon to be -cast upon it. - -But the drowsy indulgence of Theodosius was soon startled once more -by a call to arms from the West. In the spring of 392 Valentinian was -slain, or in despair slew himself, and a Frankish commander had put -his purple robe upon the shoulders of a Roman rhetorician. The young -Emperor had been so overshadowed by the power of his general that he -had attempted to dismiss him, and had then been found dead with a cord -round his neck. Theodosius again hesitated to exchange the softness -of his palace for the rigours of a campaign. Galla “filled the palace -with her lamentations,” but Theodosius sent away the ambassadors of the -usurper with pleasant words and presents, and continued for nearly two -years to resist the appeals of his young Empress. It was not until the -summer of 394 that he led out his legions for the punishment of the -murderer, as Argobastes was believed to be. Galla did not live to see -her brother avenged. She died in childbirth just as the army was about -to start, and Theodosius is said to have mourned for her one day and -then started for Italy. - -The issue does not now concern us. We pass on to a fresh generation, -a new and more interesting group of Empresses and princesses. Suffice -it to say that, partly by valour, partly by accident and treachery, -the forces of Argobastes were destroyed, and the empurpled rhetorician -was slain. The younger son of the Emperor, Honorius, was summoned from -the East, and placed upon the throne of the West. Arcadius remained in -feeble charge of the throne of Constantinople. And within a few months -the powerful Emperor sank into the grave, and the Empire entered upon -the unhappy reigns of Arcadius and Honorius. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE ROMANCE OF EUDOXIA AND EUDOCIA - - -With the Imperial ladies of the courts of Arcadius and Honorius we -enter upon the final act in the tragedy of the fall of Rome. The sun is -sinking rapidly to the Western horizon; the long shadows trail across -the record of events; the chill of evening contracts the life of the -historic Empire. The only aspect of that tragedy that concerns us is a -consideration of the part that women played in the gradual enfeeblement -of the Roman Empire. While taking full account of the various causes -assigned by historians, it may be said that the fall of Rome was due to -a coincidence. The invasion of Europe by the fierce Huns had pressed -the Germanic tribes against the Roman frontier just at the time when -the Empire was particularly feeble. That it was inwardly outworn and -doomed--that the organization of a State has an appointed term of -decay, like the frame of an individual--may be confidently challenged. -Egypt maintained its vigour for close on 8,000 years; Babylon for -nearly 6,000. - -The only question we may touch here is whether the personality of the -later Empresses counted for anything, either for good or evil, in this -enfeeblement of the Empire; and the answer is clear that, with one or -two exceptions, they counted for neither. They had no deep or large -influence on the life of the Empire, even through their husbands. The -Roman ideal of womanhood was changing once more. As in the early days, -they were diverted from interest in public affairs, except in so far -as the cause of the Church called for their interference. We must not -conceive them as powerless witnesses of the gradual dissolution of -the Empire. No one, man or woman, saw that the Empire was dissolving, -or dreamed of its fall, until it lay in ruins under the feet of the -northern tribes. None reflected that, since Constantine had assumed -the purple, thirteen Emperors out of twenty had been either executed -or murdered; that the blood of able officers or servants had generally -been mingled with that of the fallen ruler; and that hundreds of -thousands of soldiers had been wasted in civil war. None reflected -that, while they were distracted with religious quarrels, a formidable -avalanche was gathering on the hills; or that, while the courts -absorbed enormous sums in Oriental display, the fiscal machinery of -the State was running down. In any case, it was no longer the place of -women to notice these things. Their duties were to rear the Imperial -family, wear pretty robes of cloth of gold, and build churches. The age -of Livia, Agrippina, or Plotina, was over. - -These reflections will be enforced by the lives of the interesting -Empresses whom we have next to consider. The new Emperors were -unmarried youths at the time when their father died. Arcadius, a -little, dark, unpleasant-looking youth, whose laziness appeared in his -dull, lustre-less eyes, was in his eighteenth year. Honorius was a boy -of eleven, and as, during a reign of twenty-eight years, he never rose -above the character or intelligence of a boy, and his two Empresses -were timid young girls, we must dismiss them in a page; though that -page must contain an event that sent a thrill of excitement through -civilization--the fall of the city of Rome. So little had our Imperial -characters to do with it that a later age amused itself by saying that, -when Honorius was told that “Rome was taken,” he wept for the supposed -loss of his favourite fowl, which bore that name. - -The real master of the Western world, over which young Honorius had -nominal sway, was a powerful and gifted commander, Stilicho, of Vandal -extraction. He had married Serena, the beautiful niece of Theodosius, -and he led the armies and governed the Western Empire until his death. -In 398, in his thirteenth year, Honorius was directed to wed Maria, the -elder daughter of Stilicho. It was said that Theodosius had desired the -union. Serena, at all events, desired it, and, although her daughter -was yet immature, the wedding took place at Milan in 398. All that -we have to say of her is that she died some time within the next ten -years--probably, as Tillemont calculates, in the year 404. Her body -was embalmed and buried in a Christian church at Rome, where the poor -crumbling frame, laden with gold, was discovered in 1544. - -In the year 408 Honorius married his deceased wife’s sister, -Thermantia. Tillemont very properly laments that he finds no record of -any protest on the part of the Bishop of Rome--who probably celebrated -it--against this irregular marriage, but the modern reader will be more -seriously concerned to hear the argument with which Serena urged it -upon her reluctant husband. Maria, she said, had died a virgin. Before -entrusting her immature child to the bed of Honorius, she had had some -obscure operation performed on her, which would guard her virginity. -Certainly, Maria had had no children. Thermantia was equally unprepared -for marriage, Zosimus says, and the operation was repeated. It was -a superfluous sacrifice to the ambition of Serena, because Stilicho -fell, in a palace intrigue, a few months later, and the little maid was -restored to her mother. - -Such was the short and melancholy story of the Empresses Maria and -Æmilia Materna Thermantia, as an inscription calls the younger. Their -monument was terrible. Within a few months the avalanche of the Gothic -army descended from the Alps and devastated Italy; and Serena was, with -the consent of her cousin Placidia, the Emperor’s sister, strangled by -the Senate on the light, and probably false, charge of communicating -with the enemy. Zosimus, at least, says that she was innocent; but -he is not surprised at her fate, as she had one day appropriated a -jewelled ornament from the statue of one of his goddesses. Within two -years Rome was sacked by the Goths, and Placidia was carried off by -them. - -We turn to the East, to follow the less tragic, but hardly less -interesting, fortunes of Eudoxia and Eudocia. In the East, as in the -West, Theodosius had left a powerful minister to guide the hands of his -young and unpromising son. But the eastern minister, Rufinus, had not -the manly qualities of Stilicho. He had entered the palace by craft, -not by military exploits, and had easily dissembled his vices from the -too indulgent eye of Theodosius. When that Emperor died, he cast aside -the cloak, and pursued his native avarice, and exercised his cruelty, -without restraint. By fines, taxes, despoilments, and the unscrupulous -ruin of his opponents, the hated Gaul amassed wealth and power, and -ruled like an autocrat. He had a daughter of marriageable age, and -Arcadius seemed to listen in compliant mood when he proposed that she -should become his Empress. The task of destroying an opponent took him -for a time to Antioch, and he returned to hear that the Emperor was -preparing for marriage. He awaited the appointed day with eagerness. At -length the hymeneal procession set out from the palace, and the people -gathered to witness its passage to the house of Rufinus, a superb villa -in one of the suburbs. To the intense surprise of all, it stopped at -a house in the city, and the blushing and beautiful daughter of a -Frankish chief was announced to be the choice of the Emperor. - -While Rufinus was pursuing his vengeance at Antioch, the eunuchs of the -palace had conspired to defeat his plan and undermine his power. The -chief of them was Eutropius, a slave by birth, castrated immediately -after birth that he might bring a bigger price, and rising in time from -the occupation of hair-dresser to the daughter of General Arintheus to -the position of high chamberlain at the palace. Such were the rulers -of Emperors in the fourth century. Eutropius knew that Arcadius had no -attraction to the daughter of Rufinus, and chafed under the authority -of her burly father. He cast about for a prettier companion, and soon -had the affection of Arcadius safely engaged. The temporary absence -of Rufinus gave them an opportunity, and Constantinople was enlivened -by the rare spectacle of an Imperial marriage, and the still rarer -spectacle of the defeat of Rufinus. - -Eudoxia--such is the Greek name under which the new Empress is -presented to us--was the beautiful daughter of Bauto, chief of -the Franks. Historians, politely accepting the assurance of some -of the writers of the time, say that she was being “educated” at -Constantinople, her father having died in the service of the Eastern -army. It is, perhaps, a pity to disturb the plausible phrase, but the -duty of a biographer is stern. The house in the city from which she -was taken to wed the Emperor was occupied by two young men of wealth. -They were the sons of the commander Promotus, who had been one of the -first victims of Rufinus. One of these young men, Zosimus says, “had -a beautiful maid” in the house. We will not inquire too closely. The -stern ideals of the Germanic tribes had relaxed as they came into -closer contact with civilization, and it became common for them to lend -or sell their daughters to the Romans. We remember the adventure of -Pipera a century before. Eutropius submitted an adequate picture of the -girl to Arcadius, whose pulse was quickened, and the son of Promotus -easily parted with his tender pupil when he learned that it was for the -purpose of discomfiting the destroyer of his father. - -Eudoxia had no less spirit than beauty of person, and she would watch -with interest the duel between the wily eunuch and the powerful Gaul. -Arcadius, “whose feeble and stupid goodness,” says Tillemont candidly, -“brought frightful evils on Church and State,” was a pawn in the game. -But the big, wealthy, powerful Gaul now found a sterner opponent in -Stilicho, of the Western Empire, and within a year his head was -separated from his body, and his wife and daughter were permitted to -remain alive at Jerusalem. Eutropius and Eudoxia now “led Arcadius like -a dumb beast,” in the words of Zosimus, and sucked the resources of the -Empire. The people of Constantinople gained nothing by the revolution. -They had carried in triumph the grisly, extortionate hand of Rufinus -through the streets of the city, but the supple hand of the eunuch -proved as formidable. He surrounded himself with spies and informers, -filled the prisons with men whose property he desired for himself or -his friends, scattered statues of himself through the city, and assumed -every title of honour short of that of Augustus. He would press his -deformed person and painted face into the armour of a man, to review -the troops, and would harangue the Senate with a feeble imitation of -the authority of a statesman. While his exactions and the luxury of the -court enfeebled the Empire of the East, he alienated the power of the -West, and had Stilicho branded as a public enemy. And the Goths and -Huns crept nearer. - -Arcadius, lazily riding in his gold-plated chariot, studded with large -gems, in robes of silk embroidered with golden dragons, or playing the -monarch on a throne of solid gold, with a crowd of adoring eunuchs -before him, had no more appreciation than a peasant of a Cappadocian -village of the true situation of the Empire. Eudoxia, beautiful, -haughty, spoiled, revelling in the luxury of the palace, generous to -the Church and the poor, floated soothingly with the stream. She lived -the languid life of an Oriental princess, within the confines of the -palace, and was rarely seen even by the greater part of the palace -servants. The only occasion when the populace saw her quit the marble -city, which the palace of Constantine had become, was when, in 398, she -walked humbly, with downcast eyes, but clothed in purple silk, with a -glittering diadem on her head, by the side of St. Chrysostom, as he -transferred certain relics of the saints. Chrysostom would find her in -a different temper in a few years. - -The arrogance of Eutropius at last passed all bounds, and he ventured -in the year 400 to threaten to expel Eudoxia from the palace. Whether -she knew it or no, the time was ripe for the destruction of the -repulsive minister. The people groaned under his terrible exactions, -his infamous legislation, and his bloody tyranny; the leaders of the -troops were prepared to sacrifice him. Eudoxia took her baby girls, -Pulcheria and Arcadia, in her arms, and fled in tears to the Emperor. -Arcadius, “becoming an Emperor for a moment,” says Philostorgius, -signed the sentence of his favourite, and the eunuch soon found people -and soldiers pressing, like wolves, for his destruction. He took refuge -in a church, where Chrysostom protected him from the fiery crowd, but -quitted it after a time, apparently on the oath of either Eudoxia or -Arcadius that his life would be spared. He was exiled, recalled, tried, -and--oath or no oath--put to death by the public executioner. - -Eudoxia’s title of _nobilissima_ (“most noble”) had been elevated to -that of _Augusta_ at the beginning of the year 400, and her second -daughter was born in April of the same year.[33] She was now complete -mistress of Arcadius and the Empire, and she published her dignity -with such extravagance that the Western court sent an angry protest -that, in causing her statues to be borne through the provinces, she had -exceeded the privileges of her sex. In the following year she completed -her ascendancy by giving birth to a boy, Theodosius II, and seemed to -have a prospect of a long and luxurious, if useless, reign. But she -had meantime quarrelled with Chrysostom, and she was to pass through a -period of humiliation to a premature grave. - -In 398 Eutropius had transferred the austere and eloquent Chrysostom -from his presbytery in Antioch to the archiepiscopal palace at -Constantinople. The stern monk--as John of the Golden Mouth always -remained at heart--was horrified from the first at the vice and luxury -of the Christians of the Imperial city, and even of their clergy, but -he allowed two years to elapse before he began his fiery campaign -against the sins of the laity.[34] He applied himself first to the -reform of the priests and the control of the monks. With that we have -no concern.[35] It is enough to say that the clergy bitterly resented -his reforms, and were ready to co-operate with Eudoxia in an effort to -get rid of him. In 400 he began to attack the easy ways of the laity -more sternly, and it is probable that some feeling was created between -him and the Empress over the massacre of the Gothic Arian soldiers, -which took place in that year. Their commander Gainas had rebelled, and -Arcadius had virtually surrendered to him. He marched his troops to the -city, obtained the use of a church for them, and allowed them to roam -about, to the irritation of the people; until at last the people rose -and slew seven thousand of the heretics. - -It seems that Eudoxia was alienated from Chrysostom, who had resented -the grant of a church, from that time. When, in the following year, -St. Porphyry of Gaza came to the capital to obtain an Imperial order -to destroy the pagan temples of his town, Chrysostom declined to -introduce him at court, and referred him to the eunuch Amantius. The -sequel is not without interest in a study of the Empress. The holy man -was presented to Eudoxia, and promised that she should bear a boy if -she would secure the destruction of paganism in Gaza. She promised to -do so, but Arcadius, who seems to have resented religious wrangles, -refused to grant permission. Then the boy was born, and Eudoxia felt an -obligation to secure Porphyry’s request. She instructed him to draw up -a formal petition, and present it to the baby-Cæsar as he was carried -from the baptismal font. The noble who carried the baby was then -instructed how he was to behave, and a little comedy was arranged. -Porphyry presented his paper to the infant Cæsar. The noble read a -little of it to the baby in a low voice, so that Arcadius should not -hear, and then bobbed the child’s head as a sign of assent. Arcadius -wearily overlooked the trick, eight beautiful temples were burned -at Gaza, and Eudoxia supplied the funds for building a large church -on their ruins. Tillemont, whose admiring course through the fourth -century is much tempered by groans, complains that “this kind of piety -favours only the demons.” - -Chrysostom then went on to denounce, in unmeasured language, the -vicious and luxurious ways of the wealthy women, especially widows, of -his church. He had diverted the coins of the laity from the army of -monks, deprived the clergy of their mistresses, and declared that the -great majority of the bishops of his province were hopelessly corrupt. -With the aid of his rival, the Bishop of Alexandria, they conspired -against him, and they reached the ear of the Empress through the -courtly and comfortable bishop, Severian. The other ear of the Empress -was now assailed by the wealthy widows who smarted under the preacher’s -fierce lash. Such fine ladies as Marsa and Castricia would not be -likely to sit under the Socialistic oratory of the archbishop, but -shorthand (_notatio_) was as commonly used in those days as in our own, -and he could thus irritate the eye of the rich as well as gladden the -ear of the poor. They brooded darkly over his impersonal strictures, -and no doubt detected occasional references to the luxurious Empress in -them. In fine, Archbishop Theophilus was summoned from Alexandria; the -bishops of the province eagerly drew up and passed a lengthy indictment -of their superior; and, before the orthodox population could gather -what was happening, their orator was on the way to exile. - -[Illustration: EUDOXIA - -PULCHERIA - -ENLARGED FROM COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM] - -But the triumph of Eudoxia was as brief as that of Justina. The -people rose in fury, and, after the slaughter of seven thousand -trained soldiers, made a light matter of the monks and sailors of -Theophilus. When, in addition, an earthquake shook the province, -Eudoxia prudently yielded to the human pressure, under the decent -pretext of obeying the divine will. Chrysostom returned to his church, -and the sight of the gay fleet that set out to meet him, the flaring -illumination of the shores, the frenzied rejoicing of the returning -procession, must have filled the palace on the heights with bitterness. -Such a truce could be observed with cold discretion by neither party, -and it was not long before the struggle was renewed. - -In honour of the birth of the third daughter of the Empress, Marina, -a silver statue of her was erected, on a column of porphyry, at the -door of the Senate. The Prefect of the city commemorated the event -with games or other rejoicings in the square before the statue, and -they were naturally accompanied by profane, if not licentious, gaiety. -Straight opposite, across the square, was the door of Chrysostom’s -church, and the devout regarded this demonstration as an outrage on -religion. Chrysostom’s sermons become more explicit. In a later age -a sermon was published under his name, in which the people--or the -readers--were reminded of the infamous Herodias clamouring for the head -of John. The sermon is generally regarded as spurious, but we have the -weighty authority of Socrates for the fact that the extempore preacher -did utter the fatal name of Herodias. The conflict ended with the exile -of the archbishop (June 404), but on the following night his church was -found to be in flames, and the fire spread to, and almost destroyed, -the Senate-house, a building adorned with the most exquisite marbles -and works of art. - -The condition of Constantinople, the anxiety of Eudoxia, during the -following months, may be imagined. It is enough to know that Eudoxia -met a painful death, through miscarriage, in the month of September -of the same year (404). I will not reproduce the horrible details -that a more orthodox age discovered in connexion with her death.[36] -If Chrysostom spoke from “a bitter disillusion,” as Dr. Puech holds, -Eudoxia had not less cause to be embittered. Even her religious zeal -had led her into the most painful experiences. For the State, in which -she had high power, she did nothing. The vultures gathered on the -hills, while the court absorbed its little soul in voluptuous pomp, and -the people fought each other over creeds. We may dissent from the hard -verdict of Gibbon, that Eudoxia indulged her passions while the Empire -decayed, and we must regard as too frivolous for consideration the -suspicion of unchastity which he reproduces; but we must grant that, -where Eudoxia’s action was not selfish, it was generally useless, and -frequently mischievous. - -We have carried the slender story of the Empresses in the West as far -as the year 410, and we shall find no other Empress there until 421. -We may, therefore, continue the record of the East, and consider the -romantic story of Eudocia, before we proceed to the last scene in the -Empire of the West. - -After an ignoble reign of thirteen years the elder son of Theodosius -died in his bed in the year 408. His only son, Theodosius II, was -clothed with the purple, in his sixth year, and a prudent and -experienced minister controlled the State for the next seven years. In -415 Pulcheria, the elder sister of Theodosius, was named Augusta, and -gradually assumed the guardianship of her brother and the control of -the State. She was as yet only in her sixteenth year, and Theodosius -was only two years younger, but her cold, decisive temper compensated -in some measure for the strength which Theodosius wholly lacked, and -she held the reins of the Empire. Deeply religious, she took herself, -and induced her younger sisters to take, a vow of chastity, which was -written in gold and diamonds on the wall of the public church. The -palace offered the singular spectacle of a nunnery within a luxurious -court. Only pious eunuchs and women were allowed to approach the -Imperial virgins, in whose sober apartments no music was ever heard -save that of the psalm and sacred song; while the weakly youth was -educated in the pomp that befits a king, as well as the propriety that -adorns a Christian. He learned both lessons with success; but we cannot -avoid a suspicion that less earnest and assiduous efforts were made to -fit him for the task of taking in his own hands the levers of the heavy -machinery of the State. It is proper to add, however, that, partly from -circumstances, partly from the prudence and care of Pulcheria, that -machinery ran with unaccustomed ease, and the Empire enjoyed a span of -peace and prosperity. - -At length the anxious question of the Imperial marriage arose, and the -virginal Pulcheria confronted it with her usual coolness and decision. -The task was simplified, in a sense, by Theodosius. He declared that -he would marry only a young lady of exceptional bodily charm, and -would pay no attention to wealth or dignity. It may have occurred to -Pulcheria that an Empress thus elevated would be less likely to dispute -her power than some woman who had been born into the world of large -action. She began her search, with the aid of Paulinus, a youth who had -been educated with Theodosius and was his intimate friend. - -One day, at this period, a young Athenian girl was brought into her -presence with a petition. She was of the fairest Athenian type; a -supple and graceful young woman, with skin of a snowy complexion, -large intelligent eyes, and a beautiful head of golden hair. Further, -she pleaded her cause, in perfect Greek, with a surprising restraint, -eloquence, and art. She was Athenais, the daughter of an Athenian -teacher. He had cultivated her mind and her beauty with all the -resources of his art, and had, at his death, left her only a hundred -pieces of gold, on the pretext that she was wealthy enough in her -advantages. She begged her brothers to share the inheritance more -justly, but they refused. She had therefore come with a relative to the -house of an aunt at Constantinople, and asked for a just distribution -of her father’s money. Pulcheria’s interest was, not in the case, but -in the girl. She took the aunt aside, and prudently inquired if the -girl was a maid and a Christian. Athenais was declared to be a virgin, -though a pagan; but the defect was one that could easily be removed. - -Pulcheria joyfully told her brother that she had found the beauty -he desired, and described her. They arranged a second visit, during -which Theodosius and Paulinus should inspect the maiden from behind -a curtain. In a short time Athenais had changed her name into Ælia -Eudocia, changed her religion into that of Christ, and changed her -condition into that of wife of the Emperor. She was married on June -7th, 421, in, it is believed, the twentieth year of her age. There was -consternation in the home she had quitted at Athens, and her brothers -hid themselves in the provinces. Eudocia had them sought and conducted -to Constantinople. There they learned to their surprise that she -thought herself indebted to their conduct for her fortune, and they -were richly rewarded. - -From these pleasant girlish traits we pass to the inevitable struggle -with Pulcheria. Theodosius remained an Imperial nonentity. He could -hunt, paint, and carve, but public business so bored him that he signed -documents without reading them. One day Pulcheria put a parchment -before him, and he, as usual, blindly appended his name. Shortly -afterwards he summoned Eudocia, and was told that she was now the -slave of Pulcheria, and awaited _her_ orders. The document he had -signed was a deed of sale of his wife, but it does not appear that the -little stratagem made much impression on him. Pulcheria still held the -reins. Eudocia had her first child at the end of 422, and was, in the -following January, entitled Augusta. The court had a visit, too, from -the Empress of the West, Galla Placidia, and her daughter, and large -matters were discussed. In 433 we may, perhaps, trace some influence -of Eudocia on legislation. An edict imposing the death-sentence on the -remaining pagans may be confidently ascribed to Pulcheria; but an edict -reforming and enlarging the higher schools of Constantinople seems -rather to remind us of the Athenian scholar’s daughter. She occupied -much of her leisure in writing historical and religious poetry, and the -little that survives of it has been recently edited by Ludwich. It is -correct in form and devoid of inspiration. - -The years passed tranquilly until 437, when we begin to suspect that -there is friction with Pulcheria. Few things had happened, beyond the -echo of the stormy movements of the West, and the disquieting advance -of the Huns, to disturb the life of the court. One year (434) had, -indeed, brought a strange thrill into the Imperial nunnery. A princess -of the Western Empire, Honoria, came to Constantinople, _enceinte_ -by her own steward. But the hard lot of Honoria, and the romantic -devices by which she sought to enliven it, will occupy us later. -Pulcheria promptly enclosed the fiery young princess in a convent, and -the scandal would be mentioned only in whispers. Three years later -(437) the Western Emperor, Valentinian III, came to Constantinople, -and led away Eudocia’s beautiful daughter, Licinia Eudoxia, to share -his trembling throne. The next detail is that, in 439, Eudocia made a -lengthy pilgrimage to Palestine, and there can be little doubt that her -absence from the palace for a year--which is unconvincingly connected -by Gibbon with the marriage of her daughter, two years before--was -due, in part or entirely, to some quarrel with either Theodosius or -Pulcheria, most probably the latter. - -At Antioch, on the journey, Eudocia enjoyed the prestige of her -solitary and independent dignity. From a golden throne she delivered a -studied oration to the Senate, and the tumultuous applause and voting -of statues to her must have greatly increased her self-consciousness. -The shower of gold she rained upon the churches and monasteries -of Palestine, and indeed all along her route, elicited a no less -stimulating demonstration. She returned to Constantinople, apparently -about the end of 439, with a larger sense of her importance, and with -such priceless relics as the arm of St. Stephen and the authentic -picture of Mary which Luke the Physician had painted. It is only at a -much later date that Greek writers add to her luggage a phial of the -Virgin’s milk, some underclothing of the infant Christ, and similar -treasures. - -The pilgrimage was the turning-point in the career of Eudocia. So -far her life had been one of splendid and powerless prestige; it -now rapidly darkens with intrigue, is overshadowed by tragedy and -suspicion, and soon ends in a virtual exile. We are sufficiently -acquainted with the writers of the time to expect that they will throw -very little light on this fresh Imperial tragedy, but, using the later -and less weighty Greek writers with discretion, we may obtain a fairly -confident idea of its main features. Two facts are related by writers -of the time, and are beyond question. In the year following Eudocia’s -return, her friend, and the intimate friend of the Emperor, the -charming and accomplished Paulinus, was exiled and put to death without -public trial. The second fact is that, a few years later, Eudocia left -the palace for ever, to spend the remainder of her life at Jerusalem. - -The later Byzantine writers give a rounded story of these events, and, -on the whole, one is disposed to think that in this case they are -revealing the suppressed truth. Theophanes (in his “Chronographia”) -says that a eunuch named Chrysaphius rose into favour, and urged -Eudocia to secure the dismissal of Pulcheria. They persuade Theodosius -that, since Pulcheria has taken a vow of virginity, her proper place -is among the deaconesses of the Church, and Archbishop Flavian is -instructed to take her away. Flavian, however, prefers to have her in -the palace, and he directs her simply to live apart for a time and -wait. Then, in 440, occurs the execution--one may almost say murder--of -Paulinus. These later Greek writers all give a romantic story in -connexion with it. As Theodosius and Eudocia go to church on Epiphany -morning, a peasant presents the Emperor with a remarkably large apple. -He gives it to Eudocia, who privately sends it to Paulinus. Unluckily, -Paulinus in turn presents it to the Emperor, who sternly asks Eudocia -what she has done with it. She declares, and repeats with a most -solemn oath, that she has eaten it. Paulinus is at once sent away, and -decapitated. A much nearer and more weighty authority, John Malala, -confirms, in substance, this story of the apple, and says that Paulinus -was suspected of intimacy with the Empress. There is no serious reason -to doubt it, nor is any other reason suggested for the murder of -Paulinus; but whether Eudocia was guilty, or the suspicion was inspired -by the servants of Pulcheria, we are unable to determine. - -The eunuch then, says Theophanes, presses Eudocia to attack Flavian and -Pulcheria. He reminds her of “all the bitter things she had endured -from Pulcheria,” and covers the human motive with a pretence of -religious zeal. We know, at least, that Eudocia embraced the Eutychian -heresy, which Chrysaphius had adopted, and that a Church-council was -summoned in 441 that put an end to Flavian. The intrigue, however, -runs on in obscurity until Eudocia suddenly asks permission to retire -to Jerusalem. Theodosius could not divorce her, but we can easily -believe that, as these writers say, he treated her with such severity, -repeatedly reminding her of Paulinus, that she was driven into exile. -Pulcheria returned to the palace, and resumed her control of the -Emperor and the Empire. - -Gibbon scouts these “Greek fictions,” but, not only has he not taken -sufficient account of John Malala, whose authority he recognizes, -but a detail he adds from the still more authoritative Chronicle -of Marcellinus (which is almost contemporary) gives a very serious -confirmation. In the suite of Eudocia, when she set out for Palestine, -were a priest named Severus and a deacon named John, favourites of -hers. They had not long left Constantinople when an officer named -Saturninus, of the faction opposed to Eudocia, came upon them with -an order to put Severus and John to death. It appears that they too -were executed for supposed intimacy with the Empress. Eudocia lost her -self-control at this brutal outrage, and bade her servants make an -end of Saturninus. When Theodosius heard, he stripped Eudocia of her -Imperial prerogatives, and left her in the position of an ordinary -citizen. These authentic statements of Marcellinus strongly confirm the -story, and it is clear that the Byzantine court was stained by a sordid -quarrel and several brutal murders. - -The romance of Eudocia’s career was not yet over. Marcellinus sends her -to Jerusalem in 444: the later writers in 442. However that may be, in -the year 445 we find her again embarking on an unhappy adventure. The -monks of Palestine were infected with the Eutychian heresy, and they -welcomed so powerful a patroness. With the aid of her servants they -ousted the orthodox bishop of Jerusalem, and a vigorous monk was put -in his place. The monk-bishop, with his militant army of ten thousand -monkish followers, held Jerusalem for twenty months, in spite of the -Imperial troops, drove all the orthodox bishops out of Palestine, -and slew and cast to the dogs a number of their followers. In this -quaint company the delicate Greek Empress continued to build churches -and monasteries for three years, but when she hears at length of the -misfortunes of her daughter, which the Bishop of Rome, as well as the -courts of Ravenna and Constantinople, ascribe to her heresy, she sends -to consult the famous hermit of the pillar, Simeon Stylites. Simeon -recommends her to confer with a certain saintly monk of the desert. -The monk will neither leave his desert for her, nor permit a woman to -enter it. She therefore builds a tower on the hill some miles away, and -in that safe and public elevation the monk enlightens her out of her -heresy. - -Eudocia brought her adventurous career to a close in 460, protesting -with her last breath that she was innocent of the charge of unchastity. -Pulcheria continued to rule the Eastern Empire in the name of -Theodosius until he died, in the year 450, inglorious and unhonoured. -It was now seen that the prosperity of the Empire in her earlier years -was a hollow truce of circumstances. When the fierce and rapacious -Huns approached it, in 446 and 447, the Eastern Empire tremblingly -purchased peace by the most ignominious concessions. When Theodosius -died, she assumed sole control of the Empire, and the head of the -eunuch Chrysaphius was at once removed from his shoulders. But the -pressure of her people forced her to marry, and an aged Senator, -Marcian, engaged to share her throne without sharing her virginal -bed. To his more vigorous hands the affairs of State now passed, and -Pulcheria maintained her virtue and piety to the end. But we must now -leave the Oriental pomp, the emasculated frame, and the splendid piety -of the Byzantine court, to conclude our story in the West. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE LAST EMPRESSES OF THE WEST - - -The course of our inquiry has led us through five centuries of -change. We have passed from the sober and virile integrity of the -first Imperial pair, the golden age of Roman life and letters, to -the successive depths of the Cæsars. We have then seen the decrepit -and corrupt city refreshed with an inflow of sound provincial blood, -the enervated patrician families replaced on the throne by vigorous -soldiers, and a new period of sobriety and prosperity open under the -Stoics, to sink again under the burden of vice and luxury. Diocletian -restores its strength, and then a singular and momentous change comes -over the face of the Empire. The white homes of the gods perish or -decay, the gay processions no longer enliven the streets, the cross -of Christ heads the legions and towers austerely above the public -buildings and monuments. The ante-chambers of the Emperors are filled -with Christian bishops, and the rulers of the world bend meekly before -the ragged figures of monks and tremble at the threats of lowly priests. - -We return to the Western world to find another and a greater change. -Rome has fallen, the frontiers are obliterated, the provinces, even -to Africa, are cowering under the armies of the barbarians. Poverty, -misery, and violence are scattered over the Empire, as if the departing -gods had sown its fields with salt or with dragons’ teeth as they -retired to Olympus. Civilization, law, culture, art, seem to be -doomed, and the end of the world is confidently expected. But amid -the crumbling frame of the vast Empire a few shades of Emperors and -Empresses linger for a generation, and we may glance briefly at their -sobered features and adventurous experiences. - -The chief figure of interest is Ælia Galla Placidia, the sister of -Honorius, whom we found visiting Constantinople in 423. Her adventures -began when the Goths invested Rome in 408. She is then mentioned as -concurring with the Senate in the pitiful execution of her cousin, the -widow of Stilicho. Placidia was then in her eighteenth year. Bearing -a heavy ransom, the Gothic army went away to harass her useless and -trembling brother at Ravenna, and Placidia thought fit to remain at -Rome. It still contained wealth enough to capitulate to barbarians on -fair terms. But the Goths returned in 410. Rome was awakened in the -dead of night by the blare of their trumpets, and looked out to find -palaces in flames, the streets filled with the terrible Goths, and the -work of looting already begun. After six days of pillage they retreated -northward, taking Placidia with them. We cannot follow her closely in -that extraordinary march. She was treated as a princess, however, and -two years later was sought in marriage by the new king of the Goths, -Ataulph. Ataulph was a barbarian only in name; a large, handsome man, -princely, intelligent, and amiable. He aspired to be a Roman Emperor. -Honorius weakly resented the proposal, and demanded that he should -prove the friendship he offered to Rome by returning Placidia. For two -years she had wandered over Italy in the Gothic army. - -It appears that Placidia was attracted to the graceful and courtly -Goth, and they were married at Narbonne--the Goths having now returned -to Gaul--in 414. When she reflected on the splendour of the wedding -gifts, she may have thought that even an alliance with a Roman prince -could not be more magnificent. Fifty beautiful youths, clothed in silk, -brought to her one hundred dishes laden with the gold and jewels which -the Goths had brought from Rome. But Ataulph was assassinated in the -following year, and Placidia sank again to the position of captive. She -had to walk twelve miles on foot, amid a crowd of captives, before the -victorious barbarian who had slain her husband. Within another year her -persecutor was slain, and his more humane successor restored her--or -sold her--to the court at Ravenna. - -The Roman commander Constantius, into whose hands she was committed, -at once claimed her in marriage. Honorius had promised that he should -marry her if, by whatever means, he recovered her from the Goths. -Placidia shrank resentfully from his embraces, and found his coarse, -large, surly person a poor exchange for her handsome Gothic husband. -The wedding took place, however, in 417, and Placidia settled down -to the prosy duties of a matron, giving birth, in succession, to the -princess Honoria and the future Emperor Valentinian III. In 421 her -husband compelled the weak-minded Honorius to clothe him with the -purple. Placidia received the title of Augusta, and a better prospect -seemed to open before her. But Constantius died within a few months, -and it was not long before she fell into a violent quarrel with -Honorius. The cause of the quarrel is, as usual, obscure. Some of the -later writers suggest that Honorius became enamoured of his sister in -her young widowhood. We know only that the palace at Ravenna was filled -with bitter recriminations, its courts were stained with the blood of -their followers, and Placidia fled to Constantinople with her children. - -[Illustration: PLACIDIA - -ENPHEMIA - -ENLARGED FROM COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM] - -Honorius died a few months later (August 423), and Placidia, confirmed -in her title of Augusta by Theodosius, was sent in the following year -to claim the throne for Theodosius, at the head of a considerable -force. A secretary had usurped the vacant throne during her absence. It -was the spring of 425 before they set out from Thessalonica for Italy; -Placidia was with the cavalry, which reached and took Aquileia -with great speed. There, after a short time, she received the captive -usurper. His hand was cut off in the public Circus, he was placed on an -ass and conducted round the town, amid the jeers of the crowd and the -actors of the Circus, and was finally beheaded. They then proceeded to -Ravenna. Valentinian, a boy of six years, was created Emperor of the -West, and Placidia settled down to a long period of government in his -name. - -As the legislation which followed, bearing the name of Valentinian -but breathing the spirit of Placidia, was mainly of an ecclesiastical -character, we will not linger over it. She fell ruthlessly upon Pagans, -Jews, Pelagians, Manichæans, and every other class who were obnoxious -to her clergy. As in the case of most of the later Empresses, her piety -so impressed the writers of the time that her personality is almost -entirely hidden from us. Apart from her decrees of religious coercion, -we know her only as experiencing, not doing, things. Procopius, not -a biased historian, severely complains that she reared her son in a -luxurious softness that led inevitably to his later vices and his -violent death; and it is frequently suspected that she had no eagerness -to see him fitly educated in the duties of a prince. Cassiodorus -pronounces that she conducted the affairs of the State with wavering -and incompetent counsel, just at the time when Rome most urgently -needed a firm and enlightened ruler. Tillemont, after praising her -piety, admits sadly that she brought great evils upon her afflicted -Empire. - -Though Rome had been looted by the Goths at their leisure, and barbaric -armies commanded every province, the cause of the Empire was not yet -lost. A judicious policy might have utilized the mutual hatreds of the -various tribes, and have put the able commanders, who were still in the -service of Rome, at the head of formidable armies. But the weakness and -obtuseness of Placidia led, on the contrary, to the loss of her finest -general, her last free province, and a large proportion of her troops. -Listening injudiciously to the malignant persuasions of one general, -Ætius, she commanded the other, Count Boniface, to relinquish his post -in Africa, under the impression that he meditated treachery. Ætius at -the same time warned Boniface that the recall was due to suspicion, -and the gallant officer was driven into rebellion. He invited the -Vandals to Africa, and soon twenty thousand of the tall, fair-haired -northerners, with a vast crowd of dependents and followers, spread over -the province. Placidia discovered too late the deceit of Ætius. She was -induced to send a friendly ambassador to Boniface, and the fraud was -at once detected. But the Vandals could not be dislodged. Boniface was -slain (432) in his struggle with them, Ætius was driven to the camp of -the Huns, and Africa, the granary of Rome, was irretrievably lost. - -The next blow that threatened the distracted Empire was an invasion -of the Huns. Placidia cannot be held responsible for the subsequent -calamities, for Ætius, strong in his alliance with the Huns, had forced -his way back into power, and was the real governor of the Empire. -But the formidable task he undertook was made more difficult by a -romantic and unhappy occurrence within Placidia’s domestic circle. We -have already spoken of her daughter Honoria, who came in disgrace to -Constantinople in 434. The great distinction of the Constantinopolitan -court, the possession of three royal virgins, seems to have excited the -pious jealousy of Placidia, and she apparently designed that her court -should not lack its Vestal Virgin. We are not told that any vow was -imposed on the young Honoria, but she was reared with the discipline of -a conventual novice, and given to understand that the exalted state of -virginity was assigned to her. In 433 the title of Augusta was bestowed -on her, in some compensation of her sacrifice. But the daughter of -Constantius had thicker blood in her veins than the daughters of -Arcadius, and the claustral regime--the restriction of attendance to -eunuchs and women--does not seem to have been rigorously enforced at -Ravenna. In 434 the seventeen-year-old princess was discovered to -be in a painful condition, and was dispatched to Constantinople, and -incarcerated in a nunnery by the indignant Pulcheria. - -But the young girl had a spirit beyond her years. She had heard of the -formidable nation of the Huns, which awaited, in the neighbourhood of -the Danube and the Volga, its turn to fill the Imperial stage; she had -heard that the young and powerful Attila had recently acceded to the -throne of that nation. In some way she secured a messenger who took -from her a letter and a ring to Attila, offering him her heart and her -dowry if he would release her. The girlish freak was destined to have -terrible consequences for the Empire. The lady herself we may dismiss -in a word. She seems to have been kept in close confinement in the East -until about 450, sending fruitless messages, from time to time, to her -romantic lover. Attila had sufficient occupation during those fifteen -years, and was content to put her name on the lengthy list of his -wives. When, in 450, he formally demanded her person, he was assured -that she was married. It is not impossible that she was released on -condition that she accepted a husband chosen for her. But her end is -obscure, and one is disposed to doubt if she would ever have resumed -her liberty without joining the victorious Hun. - -Placidia died in the year 450, leaving the astute Ætius to avert the -oncoming disaster by an alliance with the Ostrogoths against the -Huns. For a quarter of a century she had had supreme power over the -Western Empire. It is, perhaps, only an indication of mediocrity on -her part that she could not avert the blows that fell upon it during -that period, but it was a calamity for Rome. Her memory survived, in -a singular way, for more than a thousand years. The pagan habit of -cremating the bodies of Emperors and Empresses had been replaced by -the Egyptian process of embalming, and Placidia had built a chapel -at Ravenna for the reception of her body. There it sat, in a chair -of cedar-wood, until the year 1577, when some children, thrusting a -lighted taper into the tomb to see it better, set it aflame and reduced -it to ashes. - -Meantime, another Empress of the West had appeared. In 437 Valentinian -had married Licinia Eudoxia, the fourteen-year-old daughter of Eudocia, -at Constantinople, and brought her to Italy. He had parted with a large -slice of his Empire to Pulcheria and Theodosius for the honour, and is -said to have held it lightly. The sequel will dispose us to believe his -irregularities. A youth of eighteen at the time, frivolous, luxurious, -and light-headed, he was content to enjoy the palace, and leave his -mother, and then Ætius, to discharge his duties. Eudoxia could but -idly follow the momentous movements of the nations, and appreciate the -defeat of the Huns in the terrible battle of Chalons in 451; or shudder -when, in the following year, Attila marched to the gates of Rome, -demanding half the Empire as the dowry of his distant bride, Honoria; -or when, in 453, the profligate Valentinian plunged his sword in the -breast of his great minister Ætius. A grave personal tragedy was upon -her. - -The court resided generally at Rome, where Valentinian enjoyed the -larger and faster amusements of a metropolis. Here, in the year 455, -he was stabbed by his soldiers, and a romantic story is told in -connexion with his death. The story is rejected by a recent historical -writer, Mr. Hodgkin (“Italy and her Invaders”), but Professor Bury has -shown that it is probably true in substance. The full story, to which -fictitious details may have been added before it reached Procopius, -is that Valentinian, gambling heavily with the distinguished Senator -Petronius Maximus, obtained his ring as a security for the money he had -won. Maximus had a beautiful wife whom the Emperor desired, and he sent -the ring to her with a summons to the palace. The unsuspecting lady was -conducted to Valentinian’s apartments, and outraged by him. For this -crime, and in virtue of the general discontent, Maximus had him slain -and occupied his throne. - -Maximus was a wealthy Roman, of illustrious family, and peaceful -and luxurious ways, so that we have little reason to doubt that an -outrage on his wife inspired him with the thought of assassination. -The further course of events adds authority to the narrative. His wife -died very closely after the death of Valentinian, and he invited or -compelled Eudoxia to marry him. In the obscurity and uncertainty of the -records we are unable to understand the consent of Eudoxia, even under -pressure. Some of the later Greeks affirm that he violated her. It is -certain, at least, that she married him within a month or two of her -husband’s tragic death, and almost immediately afterwards sought to -destroy him. Our authorities, late and uncertain as they are, do not -lack plausibility when they affirm that he one day confessed that, out -of love for her, he had directed the assassination of her husband. Rome -had returned to evil days, and tragedy was brooding over its very ruins. - -In a fit of repulsion Eudoxia secretly invited the Vandals to cross -the Mediterranean and avenge her. Historians too lightly admit, in -extenuation of her criminal act, that she had no hope of help from -the East. The aged and upright Marcian was, it is true, intent upon -the internal prosperity of his Empire, but it is extremely doubtful, -as the sequel will show, whether the deposition of Maximus would have -offered much difficulty, and Eudoxia was the niece of Pulcheria. Her -vindictive act hastened the end of the Empire. Genseric speedily landed -his fierce troops on Italian soil, and the Romans at once slew the -sullen or remorseful Maximus and cast his mangled body in the Tiber. -The further adventures of Eudoxia, interesting as they must have -been, are compressed in a few lines. After fourteen days’ pillage, -the Vandals retreated once more from the stricken city of Octavian, -laden with gold, silver, women, and all kinds of valuables. Genseric -compelled Eudoxia and her two young daughters to accompany him. They -were detained at Carthage for seven years. The Eastern court repeatedly -asked for their release, but it was refused until, in 462, the elder -daughter, Eudocia, was married to Genseric’s son. Eudoxia and the -second daughter, Placidia, were then sent to Constantinople. Years -afterwards--in one of the legends--we catch a last glimpse of Eudoxia, -the last prominent Empress of the West. She is standing before the -column of Simeon Stylites, asking him to come and live somewhere on her -ample estate. Eudocia lived for sixteen years at Carthage, then escaped -to the East, and ended her life in Palestine. Placidia we shall meet -again for a moment. - -We turn back to the shrinking Empire of the West, to dismiss the last -four Imperial shadows that flit about its ruins. The vacant throne was -occupied by the commander of the Roman forces in Gaul, Avitus. He had -married, since we know that Sidonius Apollinaris was married to his -daughter Papianilla, but his wife was dead, and we need only say that, -after he had enjoyed the Imperial banquets for a few months, he was -degraded to the rank of a bishopric by the commander of the barbaric -troops, with the consent of the disgusted Romans, and he died soon -afterwards. He was followed by a worthy and able officer, whose rule -might have illumined a more propitious age; but we find no Empress in -association with him, and must pass over the four years of his earnest -effort to redeem the Empire. After his death Libius Severus had a -nominal and obscure reign of four years (461–5), and again we find no -Empress in the scanty records. - -The throne remained vacant for nearly two years, during which the -Vandals harassed the miserable remnant of the great Empire. At length -the chief commander in Italy, Ricimer, sought the aid of the Eastern -Empire, and the alliance was sealed by the Eastern court sending one of -its wealthiest and, by birth, most illustrious nobles, Anthemius, to -occupy the throne. His Empress was Euphemia, daughter of the Emperor -Marcian by his first wife. But her name, and the names of her father -and her children, are all that we find recorded concerning her, and we -need not dwell on the failures and quarrels, or the last faint flicker -of Roman paganism, which characterized his inauspicious reign. Within -four years he quarrelled with Ricimer, and his life was trodden out on -the streets of Rome. - -For a few months Placidia, the daughter of Eudoxia, then occupies the -throne. At Constantinople, to which she went with her mother from her -Vandal captivity, she married the wealthy noble Olybrius. He had fled -from Rome when it was looted by the Vandals, and had little mind to -exchange the safe luxury of Constantinople for its uneasy throne when -Ricimer offered it to him. It is said that Placidia impelled him. It -was a fatal adventure. They entered Rome in the train of Ricimer’s -troops, but Olybrius succumbed to that atmosphere of death in a few -months, and we have not time to discern the features of Eudoxia’s -daughter before she sinks into the large category of obscure Imperial -widows. His successor, Glycerius, a puppet of the chief commander, -seems to have had no wife. A competitor appeared immediately, and he -exchanged the uncertain sceptre of the Western Empire for the solid -crozier of a bishop. - -One faint and shadowy Empress crosses the scene before the curtain -falls. Once more the Eastern court had provided Italy--which was now -the Western Roman Empire--with a ruler. Julius Nepos set up his court -at Ravenna, and had for Empress a niece of Verina, the Empress of the -East. But the barbarian leaders of the barbarian army--the only army -that remained in the service of Rome--resented the Eastern intruder, -and marched on Ravenna. Nepos fled ignominiously; and one reads with -interest, though not without reserve, that he was put to death by his -predecessor, Bishop Glycerius. The fate of his wife is unknown, and the -last Empress of the Western provinces entirely escapes our search. - -The tattered purple was offered to the commander Orestes. He refused -it, and allowed them to place it on the shoulders of his young son -(476). The name of this pretty and innocuous boy united, as if in -mockery, the names of Romulus and Augustus. To later times his -pathetic figure is known as Augustulus. His father was slain by the -troops immediately afterwards, because he refused to distribute -one-third of the soil of Italy between them. The Empire was now a -mere phrase; Rome a plaything of the barbarians whom it had cowed for -five or six hundred years. Odoacer, the latest leader of the troops, -bade the child put off his purple mantle and begone, and some time -afterwards--so low had Rome fallen that the year of this impressive -consummation cannot accurately be determined--forced the Senate to -abolish the Imperial succession in the West. Italy became the kingdom -of a barbarian. Britain, Gaul, Germany, and Spain were turned into -the battle-grounds of those fierce tribes who, after the violence and -darkness of the Middle Ages, would in their turn scatter the seed of -civilization over the earth. The gallery of Western Empresses was -closed by the irrevocable hand of fate, and the long, quaint gallery of -the Byzantine Empresses was thrown open. - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] The title “Empress” was unknown to the Romans. “Imperator” was -a name of military command. The special use of it in connexion with -Octavian and his successors was that it was given for life. The -more novel title “Augustus” was extended to Livia, who later became -“Augusta.” - -[2] Pliny places her birth in the year 54 B.C., but Dio says 57 B.C., -and this date is confirmed by Tacitus. - -[3] Improperly, because it is not a distinctive name, but common to the -emperors. Livia and Octavia received the title of “Augusta” a few years -later, yet even Livia is rarely known by it. - -[4] “Non nisi plena nave tollo vectorem.” - -[5] Writers often convey the impression that Julia indulged even her -most vicious inclinations in the Rostra, but Dio merely speaks of -“revelling” and “carousing”: ὥστε καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ καὶ ἐπ’ αὐτοῦ γε -τοῦ βήματος κωμάζειν νύκτως καὶ συμπίνειν. The emptying of a cup of -Falernian wine in the Rostra, on some occasion of especial devilry or -intoxication, may be all that is meant. - -[6] Vol. V, p. 353. - -[7] “Annals,” v. 3. - -[8] An apology should be made for retaining the nickname of the third -Emperor, but it seems to be ineradicably fixed in history. - -[9] Tacitus, who is followed by Merivale and other historians, makes -Claudius also retire to Sinuessa. This is probably an error, as the -Emperor fell ill and died at Rome. - -[10] “The Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero,” 1903. - -[11] καὶ οὕτω γε ἑαυτὴν διὰ πάσης τῆς ἀρχῆς διήγαγεν ὥστε μηδεμίαν -ἐπηγορίαν σχεῖν: lxviii, 5. - -[12] Duruy quotes Aurelius Victor (“Epitome,” xiv) as saying: “It is -impossible to say how much Plotina enhanced the glory of Trajan.” The -passage is really found in c. xxxix of the “Epitome.” - -[13] Gregorovius points out that the incident may have occurred at -Rome, and that we have no positive proof that Sabina accompanied him on -this journey. But the narrative of Spartianus seems to imply that she -was in Britain, and we shall see that she accompanied him on his longer -journey to the East. Duruy and other writers hold that the officers -were dismissed for lack, not excess, of respect for Sabina, but the -word “familiarius,” coupled with a threat of divorce, seems to demand -the interpretation I have put on it. - -[14] See Dr. Bassani’s little work, “Commodo e Marcia.” - -[15] The references on coins and inscriptions to Julia Domna have been -industriously collected by Mary Gilmore Wilkins, _American Journal of -Archæology_, 2nd series, vol. vi. They do not add materially to our -knowledge of her, but are so abundant that they show her to have been -an Empress of exceptional prominence and influence. She became Augusta -in the first year. - -[16] I conclude that they had already come to Rome because Elagabalus, -the son of Soæmias, was given serious consideration in his later claim -that he was the son of Bassianus. He was born in 204, and, unless his -mother had been in the palace before that date, the claim could not -have been made. - -[17] It is difficult to imagine Elagabalus beginning his appalling -career at such an age, and Gibbon, calculating from the age given to -Alexander Severus in the “Historia Augusta” at the time of his death, -changes the age to seventeen. But the “Historia Augusta” is very -commonly wrong in the ages it ascribes to Emperors at their death. -Professor Bury admits that Gibbon is probably wrong, and we may follow -Herodian. - -[18] Ammianus Marcellinus tells us the one fact, Zosimus the other. -Neither mentions her name, but we learn it from coins. - -[19] Some writers have conjectured, from the fact that the legend “In -Pace” occurs on the coins of Salonina after her death, that she became -a Christian. The phrase is not found otherwise except on Christian -monuments. Duruy does not admit the inference, and points out that she -built a temple to the goddess of the seasons. - -[20] Her name is variously given as Vitruvia, Victoria, or Victorina. -Since it appears as Vitruvia where the “Augustan History” copies from -the Acts of the Senate, and no Roman would corrupt Victoria into -Vitruvia, I take it that it was originally Vitruvia, and was Latinized, -or changed by her when she became Empress, into Victoria. - -[21] It has been suggested that the fifteen months of Lactantius may -date from their expulsion from the court of Maximin. This is hardly -possible. Galerius died in May, 311, and Valeria was still in mourning -for him, and pleaded his recent death, when Maximin sought to wed her. -Maximin died in April, 313, so that the deaths of Prisca and Valeria -cannot have been earlier than the summer of that year. - -[22] The Greek original of the “Chronicle” is lost, and Jerome informs -us that he has added many details in the Latin version which we now -have. - -[23] One of the most authoritative works on Roman institutions, -Marquardt and Mommsen’s “Handbuch,” says this emphatically: “Ehen, -bei welchen der eine Theil der Römischen Bürgerschaft, der Andere den -Latinern jüngeren Rechtes oder den Peregrinen angehörte, sind nach -Römischen Recht nicht gültig” (vii. 29). Göteke, in a special study of -the subject (“Constantinum honeste et ex legitimo matrimonio natum”), -says that special edicts made it impossible for an officer to marry in -the province in which he served. He believes that the effect of these -would not be permanent, but he fails to consider Helena’s disability as -a _peregrina_. - -[24] The question may be raised whether St. Augustine had not the case -of Constantine in mind when, in his moral treatise “De Bono Conjugali,” -he refuses to condemn a man who, having a barren wife, takes a -concubine in addition, to provide a family. It is clear, at least, -that early Christian opinion was not fixed. Gibbon again improves upon -Christian writers by holding that Minervina was an earlier wife, not -a concubine, of Constantine; but, as Professor Bury points out, the -document on which he relies does not apply to that Emperor. - -[25] It is from the confusion of dates that I ascribe the words -confidently to Jerome, and not Eusebius The words “ninth year” can -only refer to the ninth year of the Cæsarate of Crispus, or 326. The -interval of three years has no significance in view of the confusion of -dates. - -[26] Gibbon, Professor Bury, and Mr. Firth make Zosimus coincide with -Zonaras. The reader will see from my literal translation of his words -that he differs very materially. He does not suggest that Fausta -accused Crispus, or that she was really guilty of any misconduct; but -he pointedly accuses Helena. - -[27] Miss Gardner observes, in her life of Julian, that we do not know -if Helena was older than Julian, But, while Julian is known to have -been born in 331 or 332, since he was in his sixth year at the time of -the massacre of 337, and died at thirty-two, Helena’s mother had been -murdered in 326. - -[28] Philostorgius says that, as she lay ill with her malady, -Constantius recalled Bishop Theophilus from exile, and he cured her. -But Zonaras makes her die of this very malady, scouting the Arian -miracle. - -[29] The Alexandrian Chronicle repeatedly calls her Marina, and we have -no coins to determine the full and accurate name. Cohen, at least, -gives no coins, though Tillemont refers to them. - -[30] Lib. xxviii. 1: He says that Gratian put a certain man to death -“on the advice of his mother.” Zonaras says that Severa still lived at -the time of the second marriage. - -[31] Gratian, the youthful son of Severa, had been clothed with -the purple by Valentinian, “at the instigation of his wife and -father-in-law,” says the epitomist of Aurelius Victor, in the autumn of -367. On the other hand, Justina’s brother was killed, in the service of -Valentinian, in 369, The second marriage falls most naturally in 368. - -[32] Yet St. Augustine, who was in Rome the year after the death of -Gratian, says in his “Confessions” (viii. 2) that “nearly the whole -nobility of Rome” still clung to the old religion. - -[33] Hence Tillemont and others, who give these dates, must be wrong in -placing the quarrel with Eutropius in 399. Philostorgius expressly says -that she had two daughters in her arms when she appealed to Arcadius. - -[34] See Professor Puech’s “Saint Jean Chrysostome,” 1891. - -[35] The curious reader will find Chrysostom’s surprising strictures of -the clergy more than confirmed in the letters of Jerome, and his fierce -denunciation of the monks borne out in Augustine’s treatise on them. - -[36] Gibbon makes her survive Chrysostom, and die in 408. But Tillemont -has pointed out that the “Life of Chrysostom” by George of Alexandria, -on which he seems to have relied, forges letters, and is quite -unreliable. The earlier writers put the death of Eudoxia in 404. - - - - -INDEX - - - Ablabius, 283 - - Acerronia Pollia, 102 - - Acholius, 318 - - Acte, 95, 105, 121 - - Actium, 19 - - Adultery at Rome, 26, 200 - - Ælia Capitolina, 160 - - -- Pætina, 62, 80 - - Æmilianus, L. A. L., 130, 131 - - Ætius, 344, 345, 346 - - Afer, 253 - - Agrippa, M. V., 25, 26, 27 - - -- son of Julia, 33, 35–6 - - Agrippina, the elder, 33, 37, 41, 42, 46 - - -- the younger, 54, 65, 67, 80, 81, 82–104 - - -- memoirs of, 14, 44, 64, 73, 80 - - Ahenobarbus, C. D., 81 - - Albinus, 196, 197, 198 - - Alexander Severus, 212, 219–21, 222–31 - - Alexandra, St., 256 - - Alexandria, 159, 207 - - Alexandrian Chronicle, the, 307, 311 - - Alexianus. _See_ Alexander - - Ambrose, St., 266, 314, 315, 318, 319 - - Anastasia, 288 - - Anicetus, 100, 102, 103, 111 - - Annius Verus, 164 - - “Anonymus Valesii,” 267 - - Antinous, 157, 159 - - Antioch, 27, 145, 171 - - Antonia, 81 - - Antoninus Pius, 162, 163, 165–8, 169 - - Apollodorus, 153 - - Appian, 202 - - Appius Silanus, 68 - - Appuleia Varilia, 42 - - Arcadia, 328 - - Arcadius, 320, 321, 323, 325, 326–32 - - Argentocoxus, 203 - - Argobastes, 321 - - Arintheus, 325 - - Arsenius, 320 - - Asiaticus, Valerius, 71–2 - - Astrology at Rome, 85 - - Ataulph, 341, 342 - - Athanasius, 295, 296 - - Athenais, 333, 334 - - Athens, 158 - - Attalus, 239 - - Attianus, 142, 147, 149, 153 - - Attila, 345, 346 - - Auctions of Caligula, the, 54, 57 - - Augustans, the, 119, 120 - - Augustine, St., 274, 314 - - Augustulus, 350 - - Augustus, title of, 19 - - Aurelian, 241, 245–51 - - Avitus, 348 - - - Bacchanalia, the, 74 - - Baiæ, 53, 101 - - Balbinus, 235, 236 - - _Barbatoria_, 14 - - Baring-Gould, Mr., 3, 90, 91, 100, 103, 118 - - Baronius, 256, 311 - - Basil, St., 310 - - Bassani, 186 - - Bassianus, the elder, 195 - - -- the younger. _See_ Caracalla - - Bassianus, Senator, 273 - - -- V. A. _See_ Elagabalus - - Bassus, Pomponius, 217 - - Bauto, 326 - - Berenice, 130 - - Boissier, M., 136 - - Boniface, Count, 344 - - Britannicus, 65, 76, 83, 86, 92, 96 - - Bruttius Præsens, 182 - - Burrus, 85, 92, 95, 103, 107, 108 - - Bury, Prof., 211, 273, 277, 280, 346 - - - Cænis, 128–9 - - Cæsar, Julius, 6, 10 - - Cæsonia, Milonia, 55, 56, 59, 130 - - Caius Cæsar = Caligula - - Caius, son of Julia, 32–3 - - Caledonians, the, 203 - - Caligula, 37, 49–59 - - Callistus, 80 - - Calpurnia, 75, 79, 84 - - Calpurnius Piso, 52 - - Candidian, 263 - - Capitolinus, Julius, 166, 172, 173 - - Capreæ, 34, 48 - - Caracalla, 196, 199, 202, 203, 204–9 - - Caractacus, 84 - - Carinus, 252–4 - - Carnuntum, 261 - - Carus, 251 - - Cassianus Postumus, 242 - - Cassiodorus, 267 - - Cassius, Avidius, 175, 177 - - Castricia, 330 - - Ceionia, 170 - - Celsa, Nonia, 210, 213 - - Celsus, 153 - - Centumcellæ, 182 - - Charito, 306 - - Christians, persecution of the, 257–9 - - Chrysaphius, 336, 337 - - Chrysostom, John, 327, 328, 329, 330–2 - - Cinna, 20 - - Circus, the, 7 - - -- factions of the, 56, 109, 124 - - Claudii, the, 9 - - Claudius, 60, 61, 62, 64–76, 79–82, 141 - - -- II, 244 - - Cleander, 187 - - Cleopatra, 8, 10, 13, 18, 19 - - -- servant of Claudius, 73, 79 - - Clodia, 12 - - Cohen, 238, 253, 307 - - Cologne, 84, 138 - - Commodus, L. C., 157, 162 - - -- L. V., 169, 170, 172, 175, 180 - - -- son of Marcus, 172, 181, 182–9 - - Constans, 286, 289 - - Constantia, 273, 275, 276, 283 - - -- wife of Gratian, 313 - - Constantina, F. J., 288, 289, 290–3 - - Constantine, 260, 271–85 - - -- the younger, 286, 287 - - Constantinople, founding of, 283, 284 - - Constantius, 254, 260, 266–71 - - -- the younger, 286, 287, 289, 290, 292–304 - - -- General, 342 - - _Contubernium_, 129 - - Corbulo, Domitius, 130 - - Cornificia, 205 - - Corruption at Rome, 21, 34, 136–7 - - Crepereius Gallus, 102 - - Crinitus, Ulpius, 250 - - Crispilla, Quintia, 236 - - Crispina, 183, 184 - - Crispus, 274, 278–82 - - -- Passienus, 67 - - _Curia mulierum_, 6, 202 - - - Daza, 259 - - “Deaths of the Persecutors,” 256, 258 - - Decius, 237 - - Delmatius, 286, 287 - - Dexippus, 225 - - Diadumenianus, 210 - - Didia Clara, 192, 193 - - Dill, Dr. S., 136 - - Dio, 9, 15, 16, 26, 29, 43, 45, 51, 64, 73, 84, 95, 99, 114, 129, 131, - 133, 142, 146, 169, 176, 188, 200, 202, 207, 228 - - Diocletian, 253–60, 261, 262 - - Divination at Rome, 85 - - Dominica, Albia, 307, 308, 310 - - Domitia Lepida, 68, 89 - - -- Longina, 130, 131–5 - - Domitian, 130–4 - - Domitian, Prefect, 292 - - Domitilla, Flavia, 128, 130 - - Domna, Julia, 194, 195, 196–209 - - Domus Vectiliana, 190 - - Drepanum, 266 - - Drusilla, daughter of Agrippina, 51 - - -- daughter of Cæsonia, 55, 59 - - Drusus Nero, 15 - - -- son of Agrippina, 47 - - -- son of Livia, 24, 31, 37, 41, 61 - - Duruy, 148, 156, 161, 172, 239 - - - Eboracum, 155, 203 - - Eclectus, 188, 193 - - Elagabal, 195, 215 - - Elagabalus, 200, 211–21 - - Eleuthera, St., 256 - - Emesa, 195, 209, 212 - - Empress, the title, 9 - - Ennia, 50–1 - - Ephesus, 158 - - Epicureanism, 164 - - Etruscilla, Herennia, 237 - - Eucer, 110 - - Eudocia, 334–8 - - Eudoxia, 325, 326, 327–31 - - -- Licinia, 335, 346, 347 - - Euphemia, 348 - - Eusebia, Aurelia, 294, 296–301, 303 - - Eusebius, Bishop, 249, 257, 262, 267, 275, 279, 287, 296 - - -- eunuch, 295 - - Eutropia, Galeria Valeria, 254, 270, 283 - - Eutropius, 325, 326, 327, 328 - - -- historian, 200, 206, 257, 268, 272, 275, 279 - - - Fabia, 180, 181 - - Fadilla, 187 - - -- Julia, 158 - - -- Junia, 230 - - Falco, 190 - - Fausta, 271, 272, 277, 278–82 - - Faustina, the elder, 163, 164–8 - - -- the younger, 169, 170–8 - - -- Maxima, 304, 308 - - -- Rupilia, 164 - - Faustinopolis, 177 - - Felix, 112 - - Firth, Mr., 267, 277, 280 - - Flaccilla, Ælia, 317, 318 - - Flaminian Circus, 30 - - Flavian, Archbishop, 336, 337 - - Forum, the, 7, 19 - - -- of Trajan, the, 143 - - Freedmen at Rome, 62, 63, 68 - - Fronto, 166, 172 - - Fucine Lake, 87 - - Fulvia, 10, 12, 13 - - Fundana, Galeria, 123, 124, 125, 126–8 - - Furnilla, Marcia, 129, 130 - - - Gainas, 329 - - Galba, Sulpicius, 67, 120, 123 - - Galerius, 254, 256, 258, 260, 261 - - Galla, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321 - - Gallienus, 238, 239, 242, 244 - - Gallus, 237, 290–4 - - Gannys, 212 - - Gardner, A., 299 - - Genseric, 347 - - Germanicus, 37–8 - - Geta, 196, 201, 202, 204, 205 - - Gibbon, 2, 45, 131, 136, 141, 169, 211, 224, 225, 228, 239, 245, 247, - 248, 267, 274, 278, 301, 331, 337 - - Glycerius, 349 - - Golden House of Nero, 115, 129 - - Gordianus, 234 - - -- the younger, 236 - - Görres, Dr., 279 - - Göteke, 270 - - Gratian, 307, 312, 313, 314 - - Greece, Nero in, 119 - - Gregorovius, 151, 156, 161 - - Güldenpenning, 317 - - - Hadrian, 139, 141, 142, 145, 147, 149–63, 169 - - Hannibalian, 286, 287, 288 - - Helena, 265, 266–70, 277, 278, 282–3 - - -- wife of Julian, 297, 298, 299–304 - - Henderson, Mr., 90, 109 - - Herennianus, 241 - - Herod, 27 - - -- Agrippa, 49, 59 - - Herodes, 241 - - Herodian, 200, 201, 206, 225 - - “Historia Augusta,” the, 45, 142, 146, 150, 152, 166, 172, 175, 188, - 205, 206, 211, 217, 249, 257 - - Hodgkin, Mr., 346 - - Honoria, 335, 342, 344, 345 - - Honorius, 317, 321, 323, 324, 341, 342 - - Hortensius, 19 - - Hostilianus, 237 - - Huns, the, 344 - - - Ifland, Dr., 317 - - Imperator, the title, 9 - - - Jerome, St., 267, 279 - - Jerusalem, 159, 160 - - Josephus, 112, 130, 132 - - Jovian, 306, 307 - - Julia, daughter of Octavian, 23–30 - - -- the younger, 33–4 - - -- daughter of Drusus, 66–7 - - -- daughter of Titus, 131 - - -- Livilla, 65 - - Julian, the Emperor, 140, 166, 172, 227, 282, 284, 288, 290, 296–305 - - Julianus, Didius, 192, 193 - - Julius, son of Julia, 32–3 - - Junia Claudilla, 49 - - -- Silana, 98 - - Junius Silanus, 49, 50 - - Justina, Aviana, 311, 312–17, 318, 319 - - Juvenal, 137 - - - Kornemann, Professor, 45 - - - Lactantius, 258, 261, 272 - - Læta, 313 - - Lætus, 188, 190, 193 - - Lake Agrippa, 114 - - Lampridius, 200, 203, 224, 225 - - Leontius, 296 - - Lepida, Domitia, 68, 89 - - -- wife of Galba, 123 - - Lepidus, 54 - - -- the Triumvir, 6, 8, 17 - - Libanius, 296 - - Liberius, 296 - - Licinius, 262, 263, 273–5 - - -- the younger, 276, 278 - - Livia, 6, 8, 9, 10, 15–17, 19–21, 24–44 - - -- Medullina Camilla, 61 - - -- Orestilla, 52 - - Liviada, 20 - - Livilla, 41, 47, 54 - - Livius Drusus Claudianus, 9 - - Locusta, 90, 96 - - Lollia Paulina, 52, 55, 80, 83–4 - - Lollius, 32 - - Londinium, 155 - - Lucilla, 175, 179, 183, 184 - - Lucius Domitius = Nero - - Lucullan Gardens, the, 71, 72, 75 - - Lugdunum, 54 - - Lutetia, 154 - - Luxury at Rome, 16, 34, 54 - - Lycisca, 69 - - - Macellum, 290 - - Macrinus, Opilius, 208, 209–12 - - -- Sallustius, 225 - - Macro, 50–1 - - Macrobius, 27 - - Mæcenas, 12, 18 - - Mæonius, 241, 242 - - Mæsa, Julia, 200, 202, 211–19 - - Magnentius, 289, 290, 292 - - Malala, John, 337 - - Mamæa, Julia, 211, 219, 222–31 - - Marcella, 24, 25, 26 - - Marcellinus, Ammianus, 234, 284, 291, 294, 299, 300, 311 - - -- Chronicle of, 319, 337 - - Marcellus, 24, 25 - - Marcia, 185–9, 193 - - Marcian, 339, 347 - - Marciana, 139, 140, 144 - - -- Paccia, 196 - - Marcus Aurelius, 162, 164, 167, 169–78 - - Mardonius, 296 - - Maria, 324 - - Marina, 307 - - -- daughter of Eudoxia, 331 - - Mariniana, 238 - - Marius, 243 - - -- Maximus, 173, 175, 176 - - Mark Antony, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 18, 19 - - Marriage, Roman, 268–9 - - Marsa, 330 - - Matidia, the elder, 139, 144, 148 - - -- the younger, 139 - - Maxentius, 261, 273 - - Maximian, 254, 261, 271–2 - - Maximin, 261, 262, 263 - - Maximinus, 229, 230, 232–5 - - Maximus, 314, 315, 316, 318 - - -- Petronius, 346–7 - - -- Pupienus, 235, 236 - - Memnia, 226 - - Mercurius, 295 - - Merivale, 2, 32, 37, 41, 43, 73, 90, 141, 147, 172 - - Messalina, Statilia, 118, 119, 121, 123 - - -- Valeria, 60, 61, 62, 63–78, 141 - - Metaphrastes, 320 - - Milvian Bridge, 29 - - Minervina, 274 - - Mnester, 70, 76 - - Montius, 292 - - - Naissos, 266 - - Narcissus, 63, 68, 75, 76, 79, 87, 92 - - Negri, Gaetano, 298 - - Nepos, Julius, 349 - - Nepotian, 290 - - Nero, son of Agrippina the elder, 47 - - -- the Emperor, 80, 81, 85, 86, 89, 93, 95, 96–121 - - Nerva, M. C., 135 - - Nicæa, Council of, 277 - - Nicomedia, palace of, 255 - - Niger, 196, 197 - - Nigrinus, 153 - - Nîmes, mausoleum at, 148 - - Numerianus, 252, 253 - - - Octavia, 13, 18, 24, 26, 33 - - -- daughter of Messalina, 65, 76, 80, 86, 95, 96, 97, 99, 105, 108–11 - - Octavian, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17–21, 24–36 - - Odenathus, 240–2 - - Odoacer, 350 - - Olybrius, 349 - - Oppian Law, the, 5 - - Orbiana, Sallustia Barbia, 225 - - Orestes, 349 - - Orosius, 267, 279 - - Orphanages, 144, 168, 177 - - Ostia, 74 - - Otho, Salvius, 101, 106, 108, 110, 123 - - - Paganism, insincerity of, 216 - - Pagans, origin of name, 314 - - Pagi, 256 - - Palatine Hill, the, 7, 10, 19 - - Palladium, the, 216 - - Pallas, 63, 80, 83, 85, 96 - - Palma, 153 - - Palmyra, 240, 241, 246 - - Pandateria, 30, 47, 111 - - Papianilla, 348 - - Paris in the fourth century, 302 - - Paris, the actor, 98, 132 - - Paula, Julia Cornelia, 216 - - Paulina, 234 - - Paulinus, 333, 334, 336 - - Paulus, 295 - - Perennis, 185 - - Pertinax, 189–91 - - Petronia, 124 - - Petronius, 307 - - Philanthropy in the Roman world, 144, 168, 177 - - Philip, the Emperor, 236, 237 - - Philostorgius, 280, 287, 293 - - Philostratus, 202 - - Pipara, 239 - - Piso, C. C., 38, 39 - - Pissamena, 313 - - Placidia, Ælia Galla, 324, 334, 341, 342–5 - - -- the younger, 349 - - Planasia, 35 - - Plancina, 38, 39 - - Plautia Urgulanilla, 61 - - Plautianus, 199–201 - - Plautilla, 199, 201 - - Pliny, 9, 42, 139 - - Plotina, 138–48 - - Polemo, 166, 167 - - Pollio, Trebellius, 240, 247 - - Polybius, 63 - - Pompeianus, Claudius, 181, 184, 205 - - Pompeius Planta, 138 - - Pompey, 8 - - Poppæa, 99, 107, 108, 110–17 - - -- Sabina, 72, 107 - - Poppæus Sabinus, 107 - - Porphyry of Gaza, 329 - - Prætorian Guards, the, 50, 58, 61, 119, 227 - - Prisca, 256, 257, 259, 260, 261–4 - - Probus, 251 - - Procopius, 308–9 - - Puech, Professor, 329, 332 - - Puellæ Faustinianæ, 168, 177 - - Pulcheria, 317, 328, 332–9 - - Puteoli, 53 - - Pyrallis, 55 - - Pythagoras, 114 - - - Quadratus, 184, 185 - - Quietus, Lusius, 152, 153 - - Quintilius, 245 - - - Religion at Rome, 216 - - Renan, 136, 172 - - Ricimer, 348, 349 - - Rome, burning of, 114 - - Romula, 256, 258 - - Rostra, the, 29 - - Rubellius Plautus, 98 - - Rufinus, 325, 326, 327 - - Rufus Crispinus, 108 - - - Sabina, 139, 144, 148, 149–61, 202 - - Sabinus, 131 - - Sacred Way, the, 8 - - Sallustius, 307 - - Salona, 260 - - Salonina, Cornelia, 239, 244 - - Saloninus, 242 - - Sapor, 240, 247 - - Saturninus, 337 - - Scantilla, Manlia, 192, 193 - - Schultz, O., 45 - - Scotland, 203 - - Scribonia, 12, 13, 14, 22 - - Seeck, Dr., 279 - - Sejanus, 41, 42, 47 - - Selinus, 146 - - Senaculum, 214 - - Senate, the Roman, 43, 93, 103, 111, 119, 153 - - Seneca, 31, 66, 77, 85, 93, 95, 96, 97, 107, 108, 110, 115 - - Serena, 324 - - -- St., 256 - - Servianus, Ursus, 149, 162 - - Serviez, Roergas de, 3, 4, 32, 33, 67, 87, 90, 112, 146, 153, 166, 207 - - Servilia, 11 - - Severa, Julia Aquilia, 216 - - -- Marcia Otacilia, 237 - - -- Valeria, 307, 311, 312 - - Severian, 263 - - -- Bishop, 330 - - Severina, Ulpia, 250 - - Severus, 261 - - -- deacon, 337 - - -- Livius, 348 - - -- Septimus, 193, 194–204 - - Sextilia, 124, 125, 126, 127 - - Sextus Pompeius, 10, 12, 17 - - Sidonius Apollinaris, 280, 348 - - Silanus, Junius, 95 - - -- Lucius, 95 - - Silius, Caius, 72, 73, 74, 76 - - Silvagni, V., 3 - - Simeon Stylites, 338, 348 - - Sinuessa, 90 - - Smyrna, 158 - - Soæmias, Julia, 200, 203, 211, 212, 213, 214–21 - - Socrates, the historian, 312 - - Sosibius, 71, 72 - - Sozomen, 276 - - Spartianus, 146, 155, 157, 160 - - Sporus, 118, 121 - - Stahr, A., 3 - - Stilicho, 324, 325 - - Stoicism, 66, 135, 144, 162, 164, 168 - - Subura, 6, 9, 21, 29 - - Suetonius, 31, 40, 42, 45, 48, 53, 55, 64, 88, 90, 134, 155 - - Suidas, 296 - - Suillius, 71 - - Sulpicianus, 192 - - Sura, 142, 150 - - Syria and Rome, 222 - - - Tacitus, 9, 14, 31, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 64, 72, 79, 80, 83, 90, 95, - 99, 111, 125 - - -- the Emperor, 251 - - Tarvey, Mr., 32 - - Tertulla, Arricidia, 129 - - Tertullus, 171 - - Tetricus, 243, 249 - - Theatre, the Roman, 58, 109 - - Thebes, 159, 160 - - Theoclea, 230 - - Theodora, Flavia Maximiana, 270, 283 - - Theodoret, 310, 316 - - Theodosius, 313, 314, 316, 317–21 - - -- II, 328, 332–8 - - Theophanes, 336, 337 - - Theophilus, 304, 330 - - Thermantia, A. M., 324 - - Thessalonica, massacre of, 319 - - Thirty Tyrants, the, 239 - - Tiberius Claudius Germanicus, 65 - - -- -- Nero, 10, 11, 14, 15, 40 - - -- the Emperor, 10, 24, 25, 28, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36–42, 46–9 - - Tigellinus, 110, 116 - - Tillemont, 307, 312, 324, 326, 330, 331 - - Timesitheus, 236 - - Timolaus, 241 - - Titiana, Flavia, 190, 191 - - Titus, 129, 131 - - -- Ollius, 107 - - Tivoli, 156, 160 - - Toledo, Council of, 269 - - Trajan, 135, 138, 139–46 - - Tranquillina, Furia Sabina, 236 - - Triaria, 127 - - Triumphal procession, 7 - - - Ulpianus, Domitius, 227, 228 - - Urbica, Magnia, 253 - - Urgulania, 40, 61 - - - Vaballath, 241, 242 - - Valens, 307, 308, 309, 310 - - Valentinian, 307, 311–13 - - -- II, 313, 318, 319, 321 - - -- III, 335, 342, 343, 346 - - Valeria, 256, 257, 259, 260, 261–4 - - Valerianus, 238 - - Valerius Messala Barbatus, 62 - - Vandals, the, 344, 347 - - Velabrum, 6, 7, 9 - - Verina, 349 - - Vespasian, 127, 128–9, 138 - - Vestal Virgins, 132 - - Vestinus, Atticus, 118 - - Vetranio, 289 - - Vettius Valens, 74, 76 - - Vibidia, 75 - - Vice in the Roman Empire, 136–7, 144 - - Victor, Aurelius, 161, 165, 200, 207, 257, 268, 279, 284 - - -- -- “Epitome,” 148, 206, 280, 312 - - Victoria, 242–4 - - Victorinus, 243 - - Vindex, 120 - - Vipsania, 28 - - Vitellius, the elder, 56, 71, 75, 80, 82, 124 - - -- the Emperor, 124–8 - - Volusianus, 237 - - Vopiscus, 245, 247 - - - Wilkins, M. G., 197, 207 - - Woman, position of, at Rome, 4–6 - - - Xenophon, 91 - - - Zabda, 246 - - Zenobia, 240, 241, 242, 244–50 - - Zonaras, 268, 272, 276, 303 - - Zosimus, 234, 245, 248, 249, 257, 267, 272, 276, 280, 284, 298, 316, - 320 - - - PRINTED BY - HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., - LONDON AND AYLESBURY. - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - -Transcriber’s note: - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they -were not changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; unpaired quotation -marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left -unpaired. - -Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of pages, have been collected and -moved to precede the Index. - -The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page -references. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMPRESSES OF ROME*** - - -******* This file should be named 60933-0.txt or 60933-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/0/9/3/60933 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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