438 plint's natural history. [Book IX. 



with emeralds and pearls, which shone in alternate layers upon 

 her head, in her hair, in her wreaths, in her ears, upon her neck, 

 in her bracelets, and on her fingers, and the value of which 

 amounted in all to forty millions ^^ of sesterces ; indeed ^ she 

 was prepared at once to prove the fact, by showing the receipts 

 and acquittances. Nor were these any presents made by a 

 prodigal potentate, but treasures which had descended to her 

 from her grandfather, and obtained by the spoliation of the 

 provinces. Such are the fruits of plunder and extortion ! It 

 was for this reason that M. Lollius ^' was held so infamous all 

 over the East for the presents which he extorted from the kings ; 

 the result of which was, that he was .denied the friendship of 

 Caius Caesar, and took poison f^ and all this was done, I say, 

 that his grand- daughter might be seen, by the glare of lamps, 

 covered all over with jewels to the amount of forty millions 

 of sesterces ! K'ow let a person only picture to himself, on 

 the one hand, what was the value of the habits worn by 

 Curius or Fabricius in their triumphs, let him picture to him- 

 self the objects displayed to the public on their triumphal 

 litters, ^^* and then, on the other hand, let him think upon this 

 Lollia, this one bit ^^ of a woman, the head of an empire, taking 

 her place at table, thus attired ; would he not much rather 

 that the conquerors had been torn from their very chariots, 

 than that they had conquered for such a result as this ? 



^ 7,600,000 francs, Hardouin says ; which would make £304,000 of our 

 money. 



56 " Ipsa confestim parata mancupationem tabulis probare." 



5'' He was propraetor of the province of G'alatia, Consul B.C. 21, and 

 B.C. 16 legatus in Gaul ; where he suffered a defeat from certain of the 

 German tribes. He was afterwards appointed by Augustus tutor to his 

 grandson, C. Caesar, whom he accompanied to the East in b.c. 2. He was 

 a personal enemy of Tiberius, which may in some measure account for the 

 bad character given him by Velleius Paterculus, Avho describes him as more 

 eager to make money than to act honourably, and as guilty of every kind 

 of vice. Horace, on the other hand, in^the ode addressed to him, Carm. iv. 

 9, expressly praises him for his freedom from all avarice. His son, M. 

 Lollius, was the father of Lollia Paulina. 



58 This does not appear to be asserted by any other author ; but Yelleius 

 Paterculus almost suggests as much, B.ii., " Cujus mors intra paucos dies 

 fortuita an voluntaria fuerit ignore." It was said that he was in the habit 

 of selling the good graces of Caius Ca)sar to the Eastern sovereigns for sums 

 of money. 



•^■^* " Fercula." See vol. i. p. 400, Note 1. 



5i> " Unam imperii mulierculam accubantem." 



