ROMAN EMPIRE. 



411 





( liriit 



:'ud. 

 A. 1). S3. 



Honour* 

 paid t.i( alt 

 jjula at his 

 accession, 

 A. D. ST. 



mot unnatural, were mo->t prized. Men called Spin- 

 tria> carried on the trade of inventing new kinds of 

 pleasure and licentiousness. Gluttony had been re- 

 el m-t-d to a system by Apicius Cseliuf, who hanged 

 himself after he had tlevoured IIIK estate ; and every 

 form of vice, und every variety of folly and licentious- 

 ness, now seemed to have been swept from the super- 

 ficies of the empire and concentrated in Home. 



In the 18th year of the rei^n of Tiberius, our Sa- 

 viour suffered crucifixion under Pontius Pilate the 

 Roman governor of Jerusalem, who is said to have 

 sent to Tiberius an account of his pas-ion, resurrec- 

 tion, and miracles. The emperor, struck with the sin- 

 gularity of the statements, reported them to the senate, 

 and desired that Christ should be ranked among the gods 

 of Rome. The senate, however, declined his request, 

 and even ventured to command all Christians to leave 

 the capital. Tiberius, however, is said to have is- 

 sued another edict which threatened all who accused 

 them with death, and thus permitted them, during 

 the rest of his reign, to reside unmolested in the city. 



Caligula succeeded to the empire under auspices of 

 a most favourable kind. His father Germanicus had 

 been adored by the army and the people, and he him- 

 self had been bred among soldiers, and had shared in 

 their toils. The congratulations of the senate and of 

 the people met him as he advanced to Rome, mourn- 

 ing over the dead body of Tiberius. Remote sove- 

 reigns courted his alliance, and the whole world seems 

 to have given him the credit of every virtue. 



The early conduct of Caligula did not belie these 

 extravagant expectations. Having presided at the 

 fttueral rites of Tiberius, he brought to Rome the 

 ashes of his mother and his brothers, and instituted 

 annual solemnities to their honour. He revived the 

 institutions of Augustus that Tiberius had ruined. 

 He reformed abuses; he punished the corruption of 

 governors; he banished the Spintriae ; and sent Pontius 

 Pilate an exile into Greece ; he restored the election 

 of magistrates by popular suffrage, and he performed 

 many acts of liberality and virtue which gave him a 

 just claim to the gratitude and admiration of the 

 people. 



That such a character should at once change into 

 that of a furious madman, and a cruel and capricious 

 tyrant, without any apparent motive or any reasonable 

 cause, is not within the limits of belief. We are dis- 

 posed, therefore, to place some confidence in the as- 

 sertion, that a disorder which took place after his ac- 

 cession to power, had destroyed his intellects and alter- 

 ed his nature. Acts of individual cruelty were the 

 first symptoms of his insanity. One Politus had 

 loyally devoted himself to death if the emperor should 

 recover, and another Secundus had vowed to fight in 

 the amphitheatre on the same account. No sooner 

 had the emperor recovered, than he compelled them 

 both to fulfil their vows. Gemellus who had been 

 left by his grandfather Tiberius co-heir with Caligula, 

 was ordered and compelled to put himself to death. 

 Silenus, the emperor's father-in-law, was the next 

 victim, and Gercinus, a senator of great probity, shared 

 the same fate, for refusing to give false witness against 

 Silenus. Among the numerous victims of his suspi- 

 cion and avarice, was Macro, to whom Caligula was 

 indebted for his sceptre. 



The absurd vanities of Caligula form a sort of relief 

 to the details of his cruelties. He took to himself the 

 title of ruler. He ordered divine honours to be paid 

 to him, and he assumed the names of such of the gods 



aa were at the time most agreeable to him. He deca- 

 pitated the btatues of Jupiter and tome of the other 

 deities, and ordered his own head to be put upon their 

 trunks. He seated himself between Castor and Pollux, 

 and commanded their worshippers to pay their adoration 

 to him ; and he finally added their temple to hit palace 

 in the form of a portico, in order that the gods might 

 become his porters. 



These depravities, together with his licentiousness 

 and prodigality, of which we have given a detailed ac- 

 count in his life, (See C\I,IC;ULA, vol. V. p. 258,) at 

 last roused the patriotism of the Romans. Cassias 

 Cherea, a tribune of the Praetorian bands conceived 

 and executed the plan of terminating the frightful 

 reign of Caligula. This monster of iniquity was dis- Muider of 

 patched with thirty wounds, and died in the 29th year CaiiguU, 

 of his age, and the 4th of his reign. His wife and A. I). *l. 

 infant daughter perished along with him ; a centurion 

 stabbed the one, and the brains of the other were 

 dashed out aga'nst a wall. 



Although the conspirators had destroyed the tyrant, 

 they neglected to provide a successor to the throne. 

 An attempt was made by Saturninus, who was then 

 consul, to impress upon his countrymen the value of a 

 free government. The senate listened with eagerness 

 to the proposal, and having brought over some cohorts 

 of the city to their views, they boldly seized upon the 

 capitol. Such an attempt, however, v/as vain. The 

 army and the mob, dazzled with the public spectacles 

 with which the emperors had indulged them, and re. 

 collecting the donations which they had received, saw 

 no advantages but in a monarchical government. Be- 

 tween these contending opinions, chance at last de- 

 cided. Claudius, the uncle of Caligula and the nephew Claudius 

 of Tiberius, was found accidentally by the soldiers, c * 

 and he was immediately carried to the camp upon 

 their shoulders, and proclaimed emperor. The senate 

 passed a decree confirming this choice, and with some 

 reluctance they went to pay him homage. Cherea Claudius 

 was the first victim whose life Claudius demanded. kul * 

 With the fortitude of an ancient Roman, he begged Chew*. 

 that he might perish by the same sword with which 

 he slew Caligula. His friend Lupus suffered death 

 along with him, and Sabinus, who had been a partner 

 in the conspiracy, fell by his own hand. 



Claudius, whose history has been detailed at suffi- Claudius 

 cient length in our account of his life, was poisoned ' ' 

 by his wife Agrippina in the 6'4th year of his age, and 

 the 14th of his reign. 



In order to secure the succession of her son Nero to 

 the throne, Agrippina concealed the death of Claudius. 

 Alarmed lest Britannicus, the son of Claudius by his 

 first wife Messalina, should be chosen by the army, she 

 kept him and his sisters Octavia and Antonia out of 

 the way, and when her schemes were all arranged, she 

 threw open the gates of the palace, and Nero, attended 

 by the prefect of the Praetorian guards, presented him- 

 self to secure the gratulations of the army and the 

 people. After being proclaimed emperor with shouts N"> pro- 

 of joy, he was carried in a chariot to the rest of the 

 army, and having made a speech and promised dona- 

 tions, he was declared emperor by the united voices 

 of the army, the senate, and the people. 



At the age of seventeen, Nero began his reign in a 

 manner which held out the prospect of better times. 

 At the funeral obsequies of Claudius he pronounced 

 an oration which was drawn up by his tutor Seneca. 

 His mother, Agrippina, to whom he submitted with 

 implicit obedience, already began to gratify her private 



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