142 WIVES OF THE C.ESAUS. 



the last ; and as Caesar's testament adopted her into the Julian family, 

 she was now the widow, daughter, and priestess of her " immortal 

 husband." The earliest act of his successor was a faithful indication 

 of his hypocritical and bloody character. With the praises of Au- 

 gustus on his lips, at the moment of his solemn declaration that his 

 future conduct should be strictly governed " by his father's" will, he 

 despatched an order for the murder of Agrippa. The centurion 

 charged with the commission, no sooner was discovered by his victim 

 in Planasia, than Agrippa guessed his sanguinary object ; and such 

 was the vigour of the unarmed but desperate youth, that the mur- 

 derer, with the advantage of weapons on his side, was barely able to 

 achieve his purpose. When the officer returned to intimate the exe- 

 cution ot Agrippa, Tiberius disclaimed the order for his death, and 

 threatened the centurion with the judgment of the senate. But Sal- 

 lust, who had signed the cruel mandate, and feared alike conviction 

 on the one hand, and on the other, if absolved, the emperor's resent- 

 ment, appealed to Livia in the double peril of his situation. He 

 knew by what insiduous arguments to touch the pleasure of the em- 

 press. He sustained the irresponsible authority of Caesar in acts of 

 such extreme necessity; declared the danger of a precedent, which 

 admitted the control of an inferior order in the state ; and so effectu- 

 ally satisfied and flattered the despotic principles of Livia and her 

 son, that rather than permit inquiries which might prejudice the mi- 

 nister or prince, it was determined to allege the orders of Augustus, 

 and the murder of Agrippa was accordingly ascribed to his directions. 

 And such was the incredible debasement of the Roman spirit, that 

 the authors of the deepest crime that human wickedness can perpe- 

 trate, escaped the open accusation of a single tongue. Not even could 

 the general conviction of their guilt subdue the clamour of their para- 

 sites, who outraged decency and reason with their mean and infamous 

 applause. The greedy appetite for adulation had so disgraced all 

 ranks of the community, that language and invention were exhausted 

 to encumber Livia and Tiberius with new and honourable designa- 

 tions. But the latter soon discovered his impracticable temper ; for 

 the shrewd and sullen tyrant, observing that the servile spirit of the 

 people advanced his mother's powers proportionately with his own, 

 affected to discourage this inordinate subservience. Employing the 

 expressions of a modest gratitude, he artfully rebuked the unsus- 

 pecting confidence which greeted his authority. At the same time 

 he emphatically stated his objection to the increase of his mother's 

 honours, whose privileges were already greater, he observed, than 

 became the station of a female " in a commonwealth," and which he 

 thenceforth signified his pleasure to curtail of their excess. The limi- 

 tation of her power, ungracious as it might be in its emanation from 

 Tiberius, was a measure of unquestionable prudence. Livia was not 

 content with the extravagant concessions of the senate ; she affected to 

 postpone the very laws to her caprice ; the keenest and most hazard- 

 ous affront that tyranny can offer to servility itself. A striking in- 

 stance of her insolence occurred in Urgulania's case. She * was the 



* " Vocata in jus Urgulania, quam supra leges amicitia Augustae (Liviae) ex- 

 tulerat." TACIT. Annal. 1. 2. c. 34, ct al. 



