Biography. tunate Polycrates at Samos, and the Sanctuary of From A. D. 37. to 41. The great bridge over the sea. Ridiculous of Caius All these undertakings were not sufficient to employ the morbid activity of a powerful but unsound mind; Caius Cæsar, from some motive, at which his contemporaries could only guess,* determined to build a bridge across the bay, from Baie to Puteoli, a distance of rather more than three miles and a half: a prodigious number of round-hulled vessels were put in requisition for this preposterous design, and many more were built; and as soon as a sufficient quantity were collected, they were anchored together, and a broad Roman road, formed of the usual materials, was carried over their decks. Upon the sides of this road inns were erected, supplied by conduits with fresh water; trees and shrubs were planted; and a high parapet defended the whole from the surge, and from the near view of the sea. The opening of this grand but useless work, was conducted in a style of magnificence corresponding with the boldness of the undertaking; the army, both infantry and cavalry, was marched dry shod over the ocean, the Emperor leading the van on horseback, and returning by the same road in triumph. Largesses, speeches, and feasting followed, which continued throughout the night; and so admirable was the contrivance for lighting the bridge, that, according to the inflated language of the Imperial flatterers, the absence of the Sun was scarcely perceived. The weather proved serenely calm, and Caius Cæsar indulged the belief, that Neptune stood more in awe of him that he had done of Xerxes on a similar occasion: but the complete gratification of his vanity and luxury could not calm his passion for cruelty; and part of the amusement afforded him, consisted in throwing the spectators over the parapet into the sea, and in running down, with ships of war, the numerous boats which crowded around the spectacle.† There was nothing for which the thoughtless imexpedition petuosity and selfish timidity of Caius Cæsar was less Cæsar. adapted than a military expedition; for although he had been bred in camps, and early accustomed to discipline, his irregular life and violent temper had totally disqualified him for the duties of a soldier. But his inordinate vanity was not to be satisfied with out having gained at least the semblance of martial glory; and he set out for a German campaign with so little previous preparation, that all the activity of his officers, and all the resources of the Empire were insufficient to raise men, and to collect supplies as rapidly as he required them. Universal confusion and haste prevailed veteran cohorts and new levies were seen marching from every point to join the Emperor; the roads were thronged with waggons laded with enormous quantities of provisions and of ammunition; and the Prætorian guards were so exhausted by forced marches that, contrary to all precedent, they were constrained to lay their standards upon the baggage; when, on a sudden, the Emperor grew weary of this violent motion, and reclining on his litter, proceeded with all the pomp and luxurious leisure of an Oriental despot. Severity of discipline. Upon his arrival at head quarters, he assumed the * Suetonius, Cal. 19. + Dion Cassius, lib. lix. Suetonius, Cal. 43. Dion Cassius, lib. lix. Caligula A. D. 37. to 41. command of eight legions, which had been stationed Cain In the midst of these successes, a trifling alarm in- Unsucce *Suetonius, Cal. 44. + Ibid. 45. Dion Cassius, loc. cit. Dion Cassius, in loco. Dion Cassins, lib. lix. ** Julius Sacerdos. Lentulus Getulicus. Marcus Lepidus. Dion Cassius, lib. lix. From A. D. 37. to 41. poils of Hography. It remained, however, to make good his undertaking in Britain; and with this view he marched his whole army, to the number of more than two hundred thousand men, towards the coast. But when he arrived upon the sea-shore, instead of preparing for the embarkation of the troops, he drew them up in order of battle; and while all men wondered what design Ocean, the Emperor could be meditating, he ordered them to fill their helmets with shells, which he called "the spoils of the Ocean due to the Capitol and to the Palace."* After this exploit, he assured his soldiers that their toils and perils were at an end; and distributing a largess of a hundred denarii (about three guineas) to each man, he bade them "from henceforth be happy and rich." Шерага iumph. He now turned his attention to the preparations for ons for a a Triumph; and not satisfied with a number of German hostages and criminals, whom he treated as prisoners of war, he compelled many of the tallest and most martial Gauls, without regard to their rank, to assume German names and habits,† and even to learn the German language, that he might pass them for captives of that nation. The transports which had been fitted out to convey him to Britain were dragged, at a vast expense, over land to Rome; and an enormous light-house was erected upon the beach, on which the shells had been gathered, as a trophy of his victory. elegions. tempt to His return to Rome was accelerated by an attempt imate of greater atrocity than any which he had before conceived. He resolved to massacre the whole of those legions which had mutinied against his father, upon the death of Augustus; and though he was with great difficulty convinced of the danger of such a prodigious effusion of blood, he could not be dissuaded from punishing them by decimation. The troops, however, were not disposed to submit_patiently to this unprecedented barbarity; and the Emperor, upon the first symptom of discontent, was seized with a panic, and fled to Italy in the utmost consternation. He had previously entered upon his third Consulship without a colleague.§ A. D. 40, The Senate had descended to the most shameless adulation in their addresses to the Emperor, on the occasion of his pretended achievements, and on his escape from the treasons which had been brought to light; and they had decreed him an Ovation: but Caius Cæsar, who considered an ordinary Triumph as too little for his merits, was furiously indignant that they should presume to offer him an inferior honour; he refused to receive some of the Deputies from Rome, and forbade others to enter the Province; and they who were admitted to his presence, were treated with the grossest ignominy, and sent back to the Senate with the most alarming threats; in consequence of which, no Magistrate durst convene the Senate, and all the business of the Empire was suspended till his return. He entered the city on his own birth-day, with the usual ceremonies of an Ovation ; but he had forbidden any of the Senators to meet him on the road, and fear kept many others from witnessing the procession; so that he had rather the air of a wild beast approaching the fold, than of a victorious Prince returning to his subjects. Cains Cæsar Caligula. From A. D.. 37. to 41. His bosom boiled with rage against the Nobility; and he studied to mortify, and, if possible, to extirpate them; he deprived all the ancient Aristocratic families of their heraldic honours,* and obliged those of the highest rank to submit to the most degrading offices; all eminence or merit, even in his own service, was equally dangerous; and no man could be Servility of commended but at the hazard of his life. As his des- the Senate. potism became more wanton, the servility of the Romans grew more base; and even Generals, who had distinguished themselves by their courage in the field, were found capable of the meanest flattery at Court. Vitellius, who had gained sufficient credit by his military conduct as necessarily exposed him to danger, eluded it by an ingenious reply, which, though it satisfied the self-love of the Emperor, must have been felt by the whole Court to be a severe and cutting sarcasm.t Caius Cæsar was boasting of his amatory successes in the heavens, and appealed to Vitellius, whether he had not seen him enjoy the favours of the Moon : the General, holding his hand over his eyes, as if to protect them from the bright rays of the Emperor, answered, that "the Gods are only visible in such situations to each other, and not to mortals."‡ But although the independent spirit of true virtue Hatred and was extinct in Rome, the natural passions of hatred, indignation and revenge, and selfish fear, which can never be sup- of the pressed by tyranny, rendered the situation of the People. tyrant as dangerous as it ought to have been. Treasonable designs were formed; and more than one plot was prematurely discovered, and added to the long list of proscriptions, and of judicial murders, all who were obnoxious to suspicion, or capable of gratifying avarice. The accounts which have reached us of these conspiracies are, however, so vague and unsatisfactory, that their existence is rather inferred than related; and Suetonius and Dion Cassius differ so much from each other, and are both so deficient in arrangement and perspicuity, that the events of this reign are not to be adjusted without considerable difficulty, and must, after all, be subject to great uncertainty. A. D. 41. Caius Cæsar had entered upon his fourth Consul- Conspiracy ship,§ about a month, when that vengeance which, of Chærea. however odious in the perpetrator, is amply merited by such bloody and profligate oppressors, delivered the world from his cruel yoke. Among the officers of his guards was Cassius Chærea, a veteran of high character and tried courage, and shrewdly suspected of entertaining Republican opinions. The Emperor had been in the habit of taunting this brave man with having a feeble and effeminate voice, and had more than once called him "coward;" an insult never forgiven by a soldier; and whenever it came to Chærea's turn to wait upon him, in order to receive the watchword, he gave him some name|| which could not be repeated by the officer to the soldiers, without exposing himself to ridicule and shame. Irritated beyond endurance by these repeated insults, Chærea sounded some others of the most disaffected persons From A. D. 37. to 41. Biography. about the Court,* and particularly Valerius Asiaticus, who was known to retain a keen sense of the injuries he had received from Caius Cæsar; for the Emperor, not content with the seduction of his wife, had rallied him in public upon the subject, in the grossest and most offensive language.† The design which they were maturing, would have been crushed in its infancy, but for the constancy of Quintilia, an actress, who endured the rack without betraying Pompadius, a nobleman, with whom she had an intrigue, and whose imprudence had excited suspicion. The sufferings of this woman served to incense the conspirators, particularly Chærea, who presided at her punishment, and to hasten the accomplishment of their purpose.§ It was, of course, preceded by the usual train of prodigies: the statue of Jupiter burst out into a horse-laugh, to the great terror of some workmen who were employed about it; several persons, and amongst others the Emperor himself, had ominous dreams; and an astrologer warned him to "beware of Cassius," which he interpreting of Cassius Longinus, then Proconsul of Asia, despatched orders for his execution, which were, fortunately, superseded by his own death.|| Death of Caius Cæsar Caligula. IX. Cal. Feb. It had been resolved to assassinate the Emperor during the Palatine Games. In the three first days no favourable opportunity occurred, and Chærea began to grow impatient and desperate; but he was restrained by the prudence of the other conspirators from attempting open violence. On the fourth day of the Games, Caligula was oppressed by indigestion, and seemed inclined to remain in the theatre, instead of returning, as usual, to dinner, about one o'clock; but he was prevailed on to try the bath, and was actually going home for that purpose, when he was met in a narrow passage by a company of youths, who were to perform a scenic representation before him; his eagerness to enjoy this entertainment would have induced him to return to the theatre, had not the boys requested time to warm themselves:¶ at this moment Chærea struck him, and he was soon despatched; for above thirty wounds were found in his body; and Dion Cassius affirms, that the conspirators tore his flesh with their teeth.** * Thus perished Caius Cæsar in the twenty-ninth year of his age, and in the fourth year of his flagitious reign. His character is sufficiently depicted in his conduct. Historians have assigned him a superiority of natural talents, powers of eloquence, and literary acquirements, which a life of debauchery could not wholly quench. His health had never been good, and his constitution impaired by his vices, was severely shaken in the illness which was attributed to Cæsonia's amatory potion. His disorder appears to have affected his intellects; and Suetonius relates, that he was himself so impressed with this idea, as to have entertained an intention of retiring, perhaps to Anticyra, for the purpose of undergoing a course of medicine. In his habits of life, he was as irregular and inconstant as might be expected in a madman. He appeared sometimes in the dress of a female, and often in that of a barbarian; frequently he adopted the costume of the different male, or even female, Deities; and at other times he wore the uniform of a triumphant General, or the armour which he had taken from the tomb of Alexander the Great.‡ He devoted himself eagerly to low and degrading exercises, and was ambitious to excel in driving, and sword-playing, in dancing, singing, and even in acting.§ Cains Cæsar Caligula From A. D 37. to 41. Character and her In the confusion which ensued upon his assassina- Death of tion, the Empress was stabbed by a Centurion, and Casoni her child dashed against a wall and killed; the body child. of Cæsar was hastily interred, after being half burnt, in a private garden; and was not honoured with the rites of sepulture till the return of his sisters from exile, when the persons who were employed to remove it, were said to have been alarmed by frequent apparitions.** The news of his death was, for some time, distrusted, the people suspecting that it was an artifice to try their loyalty;†† but when the report was confirmed, the Senate met in the Capitol, not in the Julian Curia, which they regarded as the tomb of their independence, and ventured to deliberate upon the restoration of the Republic. TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS CÆSAR. FROM A. D. 41 To 54. A. D. 41. to 54. THE spirited conduct of the Senate, upon the death Biography. of Caius Cæsar, produced even less important conseFrom quences than might have been anticipated. A few Republican speeches were made in the Senate-house, and in the Forum, for which the speakers afterwards suffered; but the Consuls wanted firmness, and the Senators had long ceased to be warriors; and though Interreg the few troops in the city submitted for the moment to their commands, they were only waiting the determination of the Prætorian cohorts and German guards, who were in fact masters of the Empire:* the populace, for the most part, were actuated by no political principle, but were ready to afford their acclamations to the prevailing party. Layeror. The first impulse of the Court party, and of the foreign guards, was to massacre all who had participated in the murder of the Emperor; and several persons of distinction,† who imprudently exposed themselves, became the victims of their fury. Clau But this violence subsided upon their discovering das made Claudius, who had concealed himself in an obscure corner of the Palace, and being drawn from his hiding place, threw himself at their feet in the utmost terror, and besought them to spare his life. The soldiers in the Palace immediately saluted him Emperor, and the Prætorian cohorts and city troops agreed in supporting him; so that the Senate, after a feeble attempt at remonstrance, were forced to confirm the election, and the triumph of military despotism; and Claudius set the first example of paying the army for the Imperial dignity by a largess from the public Treasury.+ Band It is difficult to assign any other motive for the life of choice which the army made of Claudius, than that which they themselves professed, " His relationship to the whole family of the Cæsars." Claudius, who was now fifty years old, had never done any thing to gain popularity, or to display those qualities which attach soldiers. He had been a rickety child, and the developement of his faculties was retarded by his bodily infirmities; and although he outgrew his complaints, and became distinguished as a polite scholar, and an elegant writer,§ his spirits never recovered from the effects of disease and of severe treatment, and he retained much of the timidity and indolence of his childhood.ll He was the second son of Drusus and Antonia, and consequently grand-nephew to Augustus, who treated him with great consideration, encouraged him in his literary pursuits, and, at his death, left him a considerable legacy. But during the reign of Drusus Cæsar, From A. D. 41. to Tiberius, finding himself regarded at Court with that Tiberius mortifying contempt which always aggravates, and Claudius often generates intellectual deficiencies, he gave himself up to gross sensuality and to low company,* and consoled himself, under his degradation, with the security which it brought with it. Tiberius endeavoured by his Will to compensate for his neglect during his life, and added liberally to the fortune of Claudius. When Caligula succeeded to the Empire, his uncle had shrewdness to discover that his life depended upon maintaining his reputation for incapacity; and he not only yielded unresistingly to the natural phlegm of his temperament, but even affected an insensibility which he had not formerly exhibited, and suffered himself to become the butt of Court parasites, and the subject of their practical jokes.† 54. his acces sion. The excitement of novelty, on his first accession, His conproduced efforts of sagacity and prudence, of which duct upon none, who had previously known him, believed him capable. To have suffered Chærea to escape would have argued extreme weakness, and would have afforded a dangerous example; and the punishment of Lupus, who had assassinated the Empress Cæsonia and her child, was a debt to public justice which could not be remitted: these two criminals‡ were, therefore, con- Deaths of demned to suffer death; and Sabinus, not choosing to Chærea, survive them, died at the same time by his own hand. Lupus, and But, having made these indispensable sacrifices to his own safety, Claudius immediately published an Act of Am act of indemnity for the security of all those who nesty. had, during the two days of anarchy which followed his election, attempted to restore the Republic; nor would he suffer any man to be accused for having insulted or injured him when a private person; and he treated Galba with constant kindness and confidence, although he knew that he had been his competitor for the Empire.§ Sabinus. ration of He recalled the two sisters of Caius Cæsar from Mildness banishment,|| and rescinded all the sanguinary and and modetyrannical edicts of that bloody despot. The Registers, Claudius. entitled Pugio and Gladius, together with the criminatory documents of Tiberius, and the poisonous preparations which were found in the private cabinets of the late Emperor, were committed to the flames. But although he laboured to render his administration in all things opposite to that of his predecessor, yet with a show of unusual, and perhaps exaggerated delicacy, he forbade the anniversary of his own accession to be kept, because it was also the day of Caligula's murder. Dion Cassius, lib. lx. + Suetonius, Cland. 7. Ibid. 11. appears to intimate that others of the conspirators suffered. § Suetonius, Galba, 7. Dion Cassius, lib. lx. Agrippina and Julia. Dion Cassius, lib. lx. VOL. X. Biography. From A. D. 41. to Claudius displayed much of what was then termed Piety, in the honours which he caused to be paid to the memory of his deceased relatives, even of those who, in his childhood, had treated him with unkindness and neglect.* But, although he appeared anxious to magnify the dignity of his ancestors, he was ex54. tremely moderate in assuming titles of distinction for His Piety. himself, or for the living members of his family; he even declined the salutation of Emperor, and would not accept that of Pater Patria, till he thought that his public conduct had merited it.† Constitu ministra tion. He repealed the arbitrary law relating to High tional ad- Treason, which had been perverted to such oppressive purposes in the two preceding reigns, and he took every opportunity of limiting the power of the Crown, by giving weight and influence to the other branches of the Constitution. He revived the Privy Council which Tiberius had discontinued, and referred all matters of importance, even those by which the greatest popularity was to be gained, to the decision of the Senate; and when he thought proper to enter the Senate-house, with his usual escort of guards, he first requested the consent of the Conscript Fathers to the admission of the military.§ He evinced the same respect for the authority of the Consuls, to whom he paid in his own person no less marks of attention than they were used to receive from every common citizen; and he observed the Constitutional privileges of all Orders in the State with scrupulous courtesy. The Tribunes of the People were highly gratified, on a public occasion, by his apologizing for having no seats to offer them;¶ and the populace were delighted to find the private property of the Emperor subject to the common law, and liable to the public burdens.** At the same time all the new taxes were remitted; and much of the property which had been unjustly confiscated, was restored to the rightful owners, or to their representatives; and, to prevent the injuries frequently offered to noble families by the selfish servility of the Courtiers, he procured an Act to be passed, declaring void all legacies to the Emperor, bequeathed by any person having an heir at law.tt And popu larity. These, and many other just and salutary regulations, which the Emperor was diligent in enforcing, and faithful in obeying, together with his affable demeanour, and generous temper, rendered him so popular, that upon a false report of his assassination, the mob assembled in a tumultuous manner, vociferating that the Senators were "parricides," and the army "traitors;" and a dangerous insurrection would have followed, if the news had not been speedily contradicted.‡‡ Capacity of An attachment so strong could hardly have existed, Claudius. had Claudius been really so silly an Emperor,"§§ (yépwv kai μwpòs, Dion Cassius,) as historians have generally represented him; and indeed the great number of judicious and useful enactments made during his reign, which Suetonius, and Dion Cassius have related in their usual desultory and unconnected manner, sufficiently prove that he was not only sincerely He had been, at an early age,t betrothed first to Uxorions Emilia Lepida, with whom he refused to consummate disposition his marriage, on account of some offence taken by Augustus; and soon afterwards to Livia Medullina, a young lady of very high extraction, who died on the wedding-day. He subsequently married Plantia Urgulanilla, whom he divorced with ignominy, on suspicion of adultery and murder; and Elia Petina, from whom he was separated on slighter grounds. He then took to wife the infamous Messalina, whose revolting immodesty and abandoned profligacy have become proverbial; ‡ and whose cruelty and falsehood prompted him to acts of oppression and injustice equally against his inclination and his judgment. and Niais ters. The influence of this wicked, but able woman, was Governed supported by that of three favourite officers of the by his wife household, who from the base condition of slaves had been raised to situations of the highest trust and honour.§ Pallas was made Treasurer, Narcissus Secretary of State, and Callistus a sort of Minister of the Home Department; and this evil triumvirate so unblushingly enriched themselves at the expense of the public, that when the Emperor complained of the poverty of his Exchequer, he was told that he might be rich enough if he could prevail upon two of his freedmen to take him into partnership. || Into such hands the indolent habits and gross tastes of Claudius induced him to commit that power, which he was himself capable of exercising in the most beneficial manner; and abuses of the worst tendency were sanctioned by his authority, whilst he was indulging in the revelry of the table, preparing for renewed gluttony by the use of emetics, or sleeping off the effects of his intemperance. It is added, that his torpidity and abstraction were greatly aggravated by soporific drugs, which the Empress administered in his drink, that she might securely leave her place by his side to be occupied by one of her maids, whilst she herself resorted by night to the public stews.** During the fits of languor which ensued, Claudius was perfectly indifferent to all that passed around him; and suffered his orders to be revoked, his appointments cancelled, and his friends of the highest rank treated with indignity in his presence. All the patronage of the Empire became the property of Messalina and of the Ministers; and whosoever presumed to remonstrate against their proceedings was sure to feel the weight of their vengeance. Their earliest victim was Julia,†† the daughter of Julia a Seneca Germanicus, whom the Empress thought proper accuse of incontinence, and who was, in consequence, Messal Gifford, Pref. Trans. Juvenal, calls him " a pedantic sot, unable to govern himself." + Suetonius, Claud. 26. § Pliny, lib. xxxiii. c.10. ¶ Dion Cassius, lib. lx. ++ Suetonius, Claud. 29. See Juvenal, Sat. vi. and x. ** Juvenal, Sat vi. and x. |