592 WIVES OF THK CAESARS. 



evaded the researches of the soldiery ; though twice, in the vicinity 

 of Naples, they but narrowly escaped detection, when the young 

 Tiberius cried on his removal from his mother and his nurse, who 

 were incapable of such a burthen in the rugged paths by which they 

 sought their point of embarkation. They passed through Sicily and 

 Achaia, and having fixed themselves in Lacedaemon, were compelled 

 again to fly at the imminent peril of their lives ; for, as a conflagration 

 raged in a surrounding wood, the flames consumed the robe of 

 Livia, and even burned the tresses of her hair. The most part of the 

 old historians contrast and moralize upon the flight, and perils, and 

 the future destiny of Livia. A Roman soldier of the adverse party, 

 had he chanced upon the wife and offspring of Tiberius Nero, would 

 have propitiated the favour of his leader with their blood. But 

 Livia was preserved to bless the passion of the chief by whom her- 

 self, her husband, and her son were ruthlessly pursued ; and fortune 

 favoured, in the person of a helpless and unconscious innocent, the 

 future scourge and scandal of mankind. 



Fulvia had died at Sicyon, in the East, whither jealousy and in- 

 dignation had led her to break the wanton dream which Antony 

 prolonged in the voluptuous arms of Cleopatra;* and as she had 

 been the chief incitement to the late commotions which embroiled 

 the empire, the mutual friends of the belligerents attempted an ac- 

 commodation of existing differences. Mecaenas was deputed on the 

 part of Caesar; Cocceius Nerva and Fonteius Capito maintained the 

 interests of Antony. Their meeting was at Auxur, the modern Ter- 

 racina ; and the fact, important as it was, might rest among the other 

 undistinguished incidents of history, but that the elegant jucundity 

 of Horace has sketched it with a circumstantial truth, that places, at 

 the end of more than eighteen centuries, the very hour, the actors 

 and the scene, perceptibly before us.f In this arrangement the pre- 

 tensions of young Pompey were respected, and the whole accommo- 

 dation was confirmed by the marriage of Mark Antony with Octavia, 

 Caesar's sister, the widow of Marcellus. The celebration of the nup- 

 tials was pompous and magnificent; and all the recollections of the 

 past were sacrificed to the felicity and concord of the present hour. 

 The city wore the universal aspect of festivity and reconciliation. 

 The public were rejoiced with shows and every species of amuse- 

 ment. They, who had abandoned Rome from fear, returned securely 

 to their homes ; and Tiberius Nero, and Livia his wife, exhausted 

 by a thousand perils and privations, embraced the common opportu- 

 nity of safety and repose. 



Livia now was in the zenith of her beauty, youth, and fascination. 

 She was distinguished by the general admiration and applause of 

 Rome. Her manners, though refined and warm, appeared the pure 

 effect of a superior nature. Her demeanour still was dignified by 



* " Fulvia ingenio ferox et inquieta, sperabat, se motu Italico Antomum a 

 Cleopatra avulsuram." Comment, in Sueton. Aug. 



f " Subimus 



Impositum saxis late candentibus Auxur." Et seq. 



Serm. I 5. 



