13G WIVES OF THE C.ESAHS. 



alone preserved a firm and cold composure. As soon as the tri- 

 umphant victor had regained his car, the pageant solemnly proceeded 

 ii}) the Capitol ; and when the public ceremonies of the day were over, 

 Tiberius received the senators and knights at a banquet of extreme 

 magnificence. A thousand tables were plenteously supplied at his 

 expense, to feast the populace of Rome ; while Livia, with the aid of 

 Julia, entertained the females of the city with unprecedented luxury 

 and splendour. Livia, in addition, to commemorate the conquests 

 of Tiberius, built a temple in the Capitol to the Deity of Concord ; it 

 contained an altar to Augustus, and, among the splendid presents 

 with which she ornamented and enriched her dedication to the 

 goddess, was a piece of chrystal, weighing fifty pounds, and 

 a root of cinnamon, possessed of properties at once miraculous 

 and useless. Having thus far solemnized the glory of Tiberius, 

 Livia was engaged in preparations of equal splendour and ex- 

 tent in honour of the virtuous Drusus ; but during the extra- 

 ordinary reign of vice which flourished with such signal vigour 

 from the date of the imperial power, a sad and premature fatality at- 

 tended every brilliant hope of piety and talent, that expanded in the 

 vestibule of empire. The moral and religious qualities of Drusus, 

 had destiny preserved him for the throne, ensured the happiness and 

 grandeur of his people. But his victories had scarcely been reported 

 in the Capitol, before the joy of the community was clouded by the 

 tidings of his death. He had subdued the Catti and Sicambri ; his 

 successful progress was facilitated by the terror of his name ; he had 

 pushed his conquests to the Rhine, and purposed to extend them. 

 But a beauteous vision (such is Dion Cassius's account) accosted him, 

 and sternly fixed the limit of his earthly hopes. " Whither," said the 

 apparition, " doth ambition urge thee ? Prince, desist. Thou hast 

 attained the period of thy conquests and thy life." Drusus died 

 while on his journey to the Capitol. Livia' s grief was so intense that 

 she required the conversation of philosophers to moderate its vio- 

 lence;* and the senate, to assuage her anguish, by one of those ill- 

 timed and senseless offices peculiar to condolence, conferred on her 

 the privilege by law accorded to the mothers of three children ; pre- 

 tending by a vain illusion to deceive that verity of bitter sorrow, 

 which indulgence only can relieve, and, united with the piety of hope, 

 may gradually soften to the peace of sad but sacred resignation. If 

 Drusus was designed by Caesar as his heir, his death was, indeed, no 

 trivial misfortune to the people; but their affliction is described as 

 usual with manifest exaggeration. The excessive grief of nations on 

 such events is a picture frequently employed by the beguiling fond- 

 ness of historians, who contemplate the death of virtue with an honour- 

 able sympathy, and inconsiderately ascribe it, with ardour of their 



* " Ilia in prirao fervore, cum maxime impatientes f'erocesque sunt miserise, 

 se consolandam Areo philosopho viri sui praebuit ; et multum earn rem profuisse 

 sibi confessa est ; plus quam populum Romanum, quern nolebat tristem tristitid 

 suafacere" &c. (Consol. ad Marciam.) SENEC. Credulity might admit the 

 efficacy of the philosopher ; but Rome whelmed in sadness by the sorrow of 

 Livia this exceeds the very bounds of declamation. Seneca, in all his flights, 

 has rarely written with such marked extravagance. 



