130 WIVES OF THE C/ESARS. 



dier, the remnant of his army, and bade him look to the recovery of 

 power and fortune. If my attachment to Mark Antony, who 

 honoured me with his esteem and friendship, who enriched me by 

 his benefactions, be a crime then, Caesar, I am guilty. Yet, surely, 

 every honest heart would have espoused the part I acted; for who 

 but the basest of mankind could prove unfaithful to a generous 

 patron in the hour of his affliction ? I am sensible, thank the gods, 

 to the duties of gratitude and friendship ; and you, Augustus, may 

 Convince yourself of my sincerity, if you deign to occupy the place 

 in my esteem vacated by the death of Antony. You will find in 

 Herod the same attachment and good faith which he kept inviolately 

 with your former foe." The generosity of this address propitiated 

 Caesar, who not only gave his confirmation to the royalty of Herod, 

 but enlarged his kingdom by the appendage of several important 

 cities. The monarch of Judaea, studious of his patron's favour, built 

 Caesarea to his fame, and adorned it with two sumptuous temples de- 

 dicated to his divinity. He moreover instituted games in honour of 

 his " human god/' and gave a splendid prize as the reward of the 

 victorious competitor ; while Livia, anxious to sustain and emulate 

 his flattering munificence, despatched a present of 500*talents to be 

 united with the bounty of the royal parasite. 



Livia's reverend affection for Augustus was instantly reciprocated. 

 He demolished the magnificent and spacious house of his opulent 

 freedman, Pollio, on the sacred way, and built upon its site a portico 

 commemorative of her virtues. But the real testimony of his admi- 

 ration was more emphatically manifested in his total acquiescence in 

 her wishes, in his unreserved adoption of her opinions, and, shortly, 

 in the palpable participation of the imperial power, which Livia 

 thenceforth more than shared with him to the last of his existence. 



It was Livia's object, by perpetual fascination, to enslave the mind 

 of Caesar ; and she was a consummate mistress of her art. Her per- 

 sonal attractions, it was true, had lost their novelty ; yet still the ever- 

 varying charm of mind and manner substituted more than an equiva- 

 lent of influence on the passion of Augustus. Livia's nature, both 

 physical and spiritual, was ardent in the extreme ; yet policy had so 

 induced, and art had so enabled her to wear the guise of moderation, 

 that Augustus loved in her accomplished artifices the unpretending 

 and submissive ministry of his capricious will. Nor until a much 

 remoter period of his life did the accumulation of domestic sorrows 

 awaken him from the enchantment, which had so despotically and 

 fatally beguiled his unsuspicious satisfaction. Livia was implicitly 

 informed of Caesar's passion for Terentia,* the wife of the polite 



The familiarity of Augustus and Terentia is somewhat too intelligibly re- 

 presented in the Cameo or Arellius ( Monuniens de la Vie Priveedes 12 Cesars), a 

 rare and learned volume, which, notwithstanding, delicacy must exclude from 

 all ACCESSIBLE collections. The author has observed, in sneaking of Mecaenas, 

 " il cut toujours une passion tres vive pour sa femme Terentia, qui, par son 

 esprit et sa beaute', pouvait le disputer avec Livie : en effet, elle rendit Au- 

 guste anioureux, et parmi tant de maitresses qui recherchaient les bonnes 

 graces de 1'ernpereur, Terentia fut une de celles qui regna le plus long-terns ; 

 Livie le voyait bien, et contente de dominer, elle fermait les yeux et favorisait 



