[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
60.Caracalla.Roman Emperor,A.D.211-217.
[Born at Lyons in France,A.D.188. Died in Mesopotamia,A.D.217. Aged 29.]
In early life remarkable for gentle and pleasing address; but on the death of his father, Septimius Severus, he assassinated his brother Geta, who was left, with himself, joint heir to the throne. Other crimes were added, and, conscience-stricken, he soon gave rein to the passions of a madman. He oppressed his citizens by extortionate taxation, and plundered the world for the means of paying for his soldiers and his amusements. He, however, erected some great monuments in Rome. He was assassinated in Mesopotamia by order of Macrinus, his chief officer.
[All busts of him show the peculiar deformed turn of the neck with which he was afflicted.]
61.Geta—Publius Septimius.Roman Emperor,A.D.211-212.
[Born at Milan,A.D.189. DiedA.D.212. Aged 23.]
The second son of Septimius Severus. During his second Consulship proceeded to Britain (208) and obtained the surname of Britannicus. Upon the death of his father, he and his brother Caracalla were declared joint successors to the Imperial crown; but Geta, at the instigation of Caracalla, was assassinated in the very arms of his mother, to whom he had fled for refuge. Caracalla caused his brother’s statues to be destroyed, and his inscriptions to be obliterated. Geta was depraved in his habits, and unpolished, but not without some good qualities.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
62.Gordianus II.—Marcus Antonius.Roman Emperor,A.D.238.
[Born,A.D.192. Died at Carthage, in Africa,A.D.238. Aged 46.]
Eldest son of Gordianus Africanus, with whom he was proclaimed Emperor,in Africa, in opposition to Maximinus. He was defeated and slain by Capellianus, the Procurator of Numidia, who remained faithful to Maximinus. His instructor, Serenus Sammonicus, left him heir to a large library. Gordianus II. had a good knowledge of law, and cultivated literature.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
63.Decius—Caius Messius Quintus Trajanus.Roman Emperor,A.D.249-251.
[Born at Bubalia, in Lower Pannonia,A.D.201. Died near Abricium,A.D.251. Aged 50.]
The first of a long line of monarchs who traced an Illyrian ancestry. InA.D.245, he was entrusted with an important command on the Danube. Shortly afterwards he was ordered by the Emperor Philippus to calm the rebellious soldiery of Mœsia; but, on attempting to pacify them, he was offered, with a sword to his breast, the alternative of instant death or the purple. Choosing the purple, he was opposed in the field by Philippus, who fell. After reigning thirty months, he met his death in battle against the Goths. During his short rule, the Christians were bitterly persecuted. It is difficult to form a just estimate of this Emperor’s character. He has been described as “most amiable, highly accomplished, mild, affable, and brave.” He has also been stigmatized as a monster of iniquity.
[From the gallery of the Emperors in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
64.Alexander Severus—Marcus Aurelius.Roman Emperor,A.D.222-235.
[Born at Arce, in Phœnicia,A.D.205-208. Died in Gaul,A.D.235.]
Elected Emperor on the death of Elagabalus, inA.D.222. His reign was marked by a gradual improvement in religion, morality, and politics. InA.D.232, he drove the Persians under Artaxerxes, in defeat across the Tigris. He was about to advance against the Germans, then ravaging Gaul, when he was murdered, together with his mother Julia Mamæa, by a band of mutinous soldiers, instigated by the ferocious Maximinus, who seized the crown. His life was simple and pure; his government considerate and just. His death caused general regret.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
65.HeliogabalusorElagabalus—Varius Avitus Bassianus.Roman Emperor,A.D.218-222.
[Born at Antioch,A.D.204. AssassinatedA.D.222. Aged 18.]
From his earliest years a priest of the Sun in the Temple of Emesa, in Syria: but by the intrigues of his grandmother, Julia Mæsa, declared Emperor of Rome, in place of Macrinus, whom he defeated in battle, and put to death. Elagabalus—so called from his sun-worship—the priest taking the name of the God—introduced into Rome the superstitions in which he had been nurtured. By way of strengthening his power, his grandmother induced him to associate with himself, in the government, his cousin Alexander Severus. Repenting of this act, he was about to undo it, when a revolt of the Prætorians decided the question of rule by assassinating him and throwing his body into the Tiber. A more worthless carcase had never floated down the polluted river. His vices were as gross as his superstitions. He left behind him a smirched and hated name.
[All Busts of him were ordered to be destroyed by the Senate: they are consequently rare. This is from the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
66.Gallienus—Publius Licinius Valerianus.Roman Emperor,A.D.253-268.
[BornA.D.218. Died before Milan,A.D.268. Aged 50.]
Son of Valerian. When associated with his father in the empire, he commanded with success against the barbarians on the Rhine and Danube. In 260, Valerian was made captive by the Persians, and during the eight years of his imprisonment, his son made no effort to release him. Rome, whilst Gallienus reigned, was a prey to pestilence, internal rebellion, and the ravages of foreign nations. InA.D.268, he laid siege to Milan, whither Aureolus, an invader of his empire, had fled for refuge. During the siege Gallienus fell—it is said by the hands of his own soldiers. His character was very bad. He was cruel, treacherous, and indolent, apathetic to public disaster, self-indulgent, frivolous, and a glutton.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
67.Gordianus III.orPius—Marcus Antonius.Roman Emperor,A.D.238-244.
[BornA.D.224. Died near Castrum Circesium, in Mesopotamia,A.D.244. Aged 20.]
An emperor, endowed with many good qualities. He was son of the Consul Junius Balbus and Metia Faustina, daughter of Gordianus Africanus. When sixteen years old he married the beautiful and virtuous daughter of Misitheus, a wise and eloquent man, whom he appointed Prefect of the Prætorians, and by whose prudent advice he was successfully guided. Upon the death of this able minister, Philip the Arabian contrived to associate himself in the government with Gordianus, who shortly afterwards fell a victim, it is supposed, to the conspiracies of his colleague.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
68.Caius Julius Verus Maximus.Roman Prince.
[Date and place of birth unknown. Died at Aquileia,A.D.238. Aged 18 or 21.]
Son of the Emperor Maximinus, who, on his accession to the purple in 235, raised him to the rank of Cæsar. Well educated, vain of his personal beauty, and haughty of demeanour, but not evil disposed. He was massacred with his father at Aquileia by the rebel Prætorians.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
69.Philip the Younger.—Marcus Julius Philippus II.Roman Prince.
[Born (place unknown),A.D.237. DiedA.D.249. Aged 12.]
Son of Philip I., Emperor of Rome. When seven years old dignified with the title of Cæsar. When ten years old chosen Consul, and shared the empire under the title of Augustus. A child of singularly serious temperament. He could never be induced to laugh, and would turn away his head when his father indulged in merriment.
[From the Statue Gallery of the Vatican.]
70.Carinus—Marcus Aurelius.Roman Emperor,A.D.283-285.
[Born probably at Rome,A.D.249. Died in Moesia,A.D.285. Aged 36.]
Eldest son of the Emperor Carus. Was appointed to the command of the Western Provinces,A.D.282. InA.D.283, on the death of his father, was associated in the government with his brother Numerianus, who was assassinatedwhen Diocletian was proclaimed Emperor by the army in Asia. Carinus marched against Diocletian, but in the moment of triumph he was slain by one of his own officers, whose domestic happiness he had destroyed. Carinus was a brave and skilful general, but a profligate and vicious man. He was sensual and ferocious.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
71.Julian the Apostate—Flavius Claudius Julianus.Roman Emperor,A.D.361-363.
[Born at Constantinople,A.D.331. Died in Persia,A.D.363. Aged 32.]
Unquestionably a ruler of extraordinary capacity and power. He was the nephew of Constantine the Great, and was brought up in strict seclusion by the Christians, in order to save him from Constantius II., who, upon his accession, had murdered the male members of Julian’s family. He withdrew for a time to Athens; was thence recalled by the relenting Constantius, and invested with command in Gaul. He resided chiefly in Paris, and it is worthy of note that at a time of scarcity in that city, Julian drew his supplies of corn from England. During his stay in Gaul, the soldiers proclaimed him Emperor. He marched against Constantinople, but before he reached the city Constantius had died. Julian, created Emperor, renounced Christianity for the Paganism of Greece; hence the name which he has carried as a brand ever since. The Heathens extol this prince, the Christians blame him. His life at least was pure, and his rule sagacious; and, although he naturally hated his former co-religionists, he was no religious persecutor. After his accession to the throne he carried war into Persia, where he was slain in battle. He was a prince of profound knowledge, of great eloquence, and remarkable for philosophic calm. He professed Stoicism. He was also a writer, and many of his works, displaying reflexion and inquiring thought, have come down to us.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome. A very interesting statue of Julian will be found described under No. 92, Handbook of Greek Court.]
72.Diocletian—Caius Valerius Aurelius.Roman Emperor,A.D.284-305.
[Born in Dalmatia,A.D.245. DiedA.D.313. Aged 68.]
At first a simple soldier, he rose by his own merit to the rank of Captain of the Palace Guard, an office which he held until the death of Numerianus, when he was declared his successor. He associated Maximianus with him in the empire, and appointed Constantius Chlorus and Galerius, Cæsars. At the instigation of Galerius he barbarously persecuted the Christians. InA.D.305, he resigned the empire in consequence of growing infirmities, and withdrew to Salona, where he cultivated his own garden and lived in philosophical retirement. Whilst he held power, he thought less of the freedom and dignity of Rome, than of maintaining the power of the sovereign, and of securing a regular succession. His cruelty to the Christians has caused his reign to be described as “The Age of Martyrs.”
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum.]
73.Constantius Chlorus—Flavius Valerius.Roman Emperor,A.D.305-306.
[BornA.D.250. Died at York, in England,A.D.306. Aged 55.]
The father of Constantine, surnamed “the Great,” who was founder of Constantinople.Constantius governed, as colleague of Diocletian, beyond the Alps, and his dominion extended over Gaul, Britain, and Spain. He died in England whilst preparing for an expedition against the Scots. He was the best of the later Roman Emperors, having a regard to the welfare of his people, and exhibiting no rapacity in his administration. In religious matters he was mild and tolerant, showing great humanity towards the Christians. He had excellent talents, and was surnamed “Chlorus,” or “the pale,” from the pallor of his countenance.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
74.Hostilianus.Roman Emperor,A.D.251 or 252.
[Date and place of birth unknown. DiedA.D.251 or 252.]
Generally regarded as the second son of the Emperor Decius, whom he survived. Declared Cæsar inA.D.249, and was afterwards adopted by Trebonianus Gallus as his colleague in the empire. Died either of poison or the plague.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
75.Volusianus—Caius Vibius.Roman Emperor,A.D.252-254.
[Date and place of birth unknown. Died at Interamna, in Italy,A.D.253 or 254.]
Son of the Emperor Gallus, with whom he reigned, being elected Augustus inA.D.252. Little is known of his life or character. When Æmilianus was chosen Emperor, he went with Gallus to oppose him; but, before a battle could be fought, father and son were slain by their own troops.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
76*.Magnus Decentius.Roman Prince.
[Date and place of birth unknown. Died at Sens, in Gaul,A.D.353.]
A brother or cousin of the Emperor Flavius Magnentius. Nominated Cæsar,A.D.351, he went into Gaul, and suffered defeat in defending that country against the Germans. He strangled himself upon hearing of the defeat and deposition of his brother by Constantius, who succeeded to the throne of Magnentius.
[For an account of a curious head of this Prince, placed in the Bas-relief gallery, see Handbook to Greek Court, No. 217.]
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(Numbers continuing at the end next to the Greek Court.)
77.Trajan.Roman Emperor.
For life, seeNo. 45.
78.Trajan.Roman Emperor.
79.Antinous.Bithynian youth.
[Died in Egypt,A.D.132.]
Celebrated for his beauty. He was the page and companion of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, whom he accompanied to Egypt. He was drowned inthe Nile, and the Emperor was inconsolable for his loss. On the spot where he died, the city of Antinœa was raised; temples and statues in Egypt and Greece were erected to his memory; and in Greece, coins were struck in his honour. The numerous representations of his beauty gave a fresh impulse to the Fine Arts, and may be compared with the works of the best periods of Grecian Sculpture.
[From the marble in the Louvre; the head bound with a fillet of vine. For account of the many beautiful statues of Antinous see Handbook to Roman Court and Nave.]
85.Antoninus Pius.Roman Emperor.
For life, seeNo. 47.
[From the marble in the Naples Museum.]
86.Augustus.Roman Emperor.
For life, seeNo. 35.
[This very beautiful Bust is from the Florence Gallery.]
87.Tiberius.Roman Emperor.
For life, seeNo. 37.
[This Bust is from the Berlin Museum.]
88.Claudius.Roman Emperor.
For life, seeNo. 38.
89.Herennius.Roman Emperor,A.D.251.
[Date and place of birth unknown. Died near Abricium, in Thrace,A.D.251.]
Little interest is connected with the history of this emperor. In 249, he was declared Cæsar, and in 251, Augustus, as the colleague of his father Decius. In a battle fought near Abricium, between the Emperor Decius and the Goths, both he and his father were slain.
[From the Capitoline Museum.]
90.Scipio Africanus.Roman General.
For life, seeNo. 109.
91.Julia Mæsa.Roman Empress.
[Born at Emesa, in Syria, (date unknown). Died, probably at Rome,A.D.223.]
Daughter to a Priest of the Sun. When her sister, Julia Domna, as wife of Septimius Severus, became Empress, Julia Mæsa resided at the Imperial Court. Her bold political intrigues placed her grandson Elagabalus on the throne. Against law, she was made a member of the Senate. She bore the title of Augusta to her death, and was afterwards deified. A woman of powerful mind, unscrupulously ambitious, but using power well.
[From the marble in the Gallery of the Emperors, in the Capitol, at Rome.]
92.Sabina.
[Died probablyA.D.137.]
Wife of the Emperor Hadrian, and grandniece of Trajan. Ill treated by her husband, by whom, it is said, she was poisoned. Others assert that in despair she put an end to her life. She was deified after her decease.
[From the original in alabaster in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
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(Numbers commencing on the right.)
93.Livia Drusilla.Roman Empress.
[BornB.C.56-54. DiedA.D.29.]
Married to Tiberius Claudius Nero, a Roman general; but her beauty captivating the Triumvir Octavian, afterwards Augustus, her divorce was effected, and she became the Triumvir’s wife. A consummate actress, full of craft and dissimulation, possessing great knowledge of the world, and, by an affected purity of life, maintaining to the last her influence over the mind of Augustus. She successfully intrigued for the succession in favour of Tiberius, her son by her first marriage, and, it is said, removed by poison the grandsons of Augustus, who stood in the way of her own offspring. Tiberius became Emperor, and repaid the service by base ingratitude. He removed his mother from all share in the government, declined all intercourse with her, refused to see her when she was dying, and rejoiced, in open show, at her death.
94*.Domna—Julia(Pia Felix Augusta).Roman Empress.
[Born at Emesa, in Syria, aboutA.D.170. DiedA.D.217.]
A woman of humble origin, but beautiful, ambitious and crafty. She became the wife of Septimius Severus, then of the rank of general, and acquired boundless influence over his mind, persuading him that a prophecy had destined her to become the wife of an Emperor, and inciting him to labour to that end. After the death of her husband, her son Geta was murdered in her arms by his brother Caracalla; and after the successful revolt of Macrinus, being suspected of treason, she, possibly to avoid punishment, starved herself to death.
[From the marble in the Rotunda of the Vatican. This colossal head will be found No. 334, Roman Court.]
95*.Julia, daughter ofAugustus.
[Born at Rome,B.C.39. Died at Rhegium,A.D.14. Aged 53.]
The daughter of the Roman Emperor by his third wife Scribonia. Strictly brought up, she was married at fourteen to Marcellus. Left a widow at sixteen, she was forced by her father to marry the veteran Agrippa, by whom she had three sons and two daughters. Her conduct dissolute and unrestrained. Agrippa dying, she married again Tiberius Nero (afterwards emperor) who left her in disgust. She was banished by her father until the accession of Tiberius, when she suffered still harsher exile. Consumptionkilled her. In spite of her vices, the people of Rome loved her for her frank and lively manner, and frequently solicited Augustus to recall her.
[For further account of this graceful Statue of Julia, see No. 229, of Handbook to Roman Court, and Nave.]
96.Agrippina—the Elder.
[BornB.C.15. DiedA.D.33. Aged 48.]
Daughter of Vipsanius Agrippa, and wife of Cæsar Germanicus, to whom she bore nine children. Accompanied her husband in all his campaigns, and aided him by her cool foresight and energetic will: once, on the Rhine, in his absence, by her heroic resistance to the timid counsels of those about her, saving the relics of an army. On his death in Asia, she returned to Rome, whence she was banished by Tiberius, jealous of her popularity. After three years’ persecution and suffering, she died—possibly by her own hand. She had all the lofty qualities of a Roman matron—nobility of soul, purity, and a devoted love for her husband and children. Tacitus says of her, that “the cares which belong to men supplanted, in her mind, the vices common to her sex.”
[From the seated Statue, for account of which, see No. 281, of Hand-book to Roman Court, and Nave.]
97.Agrippina the Younger.Roman Empress.
[Born at Oppidum Ubiorum (Cologne),A.D.14-17. Died at Rome,A.D.60.]
The ruthless and dissolute daughter of noble parents—of Germanicus and Agrippina the elder. The unenviable mother of the madman, Nero. Upon the death of her second husband, whom she was accused of poisoning, she married her uncle Claudius, whom she induced to nominate Nero for his successor, excluding his own son. She poisoned her uncle-husband, and received her reward from her son, the matricide,—dying by hands commissioned by him to the murder. Tacitus speaks of some interesting memoirs of her time, written by Agrippina, to which he had access in writing his history. She was beautiful, but ambitious, and as wicked as she proved unfortunate.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
98.Valeria Messalina.Roman Empress.
[Born, uncertain. Died at Rome,A.D.48.]
The third wife of the Emperor Claudius I. Her name has become a bye-word for profligacy. A murderess. Herself pierced through the breast by the sword of a tribune entrusted with the execution of one of her victims. The slave of lust, avarice, and ambition. Difficult to find in history a woman more blackened by crime than Valeria Messalina.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
99.Plotina—Pompeia.Roman Empress.
[Date, and place of birth and death unknown.]
The wife of the Emperor Trajan. A woman of clear, strong mind, and an exemplary purity of life and consistency of character. Childless herself, she prevailed upon her husband to adopt Hadrian, in whose reign she died. Hadrian built a temple in her honour, and composed hymns in her praise.
[From the marble in the Rotunda of the Vatican.]
100.Matidia.
[Date and place of birth unknown.]
The niece of Trajan. Declared Augusta,A.D.113, and after death, deified.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
101.Crispina.
[Date and place of birth unknown. Died at Capreæ,A.D.183.]
Was married to the Roman Emperor Commodus,A.D.177, but divorced for infidelity, banished, and put to death in her exile. She was very beautiful and ambitious.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
102.Mamæa—Julia.Roman Empress.
[Born at Emesa, in Syria (date unknown). Died in Gaul,A.D.235.]
The mother of Alexander Severus, for whom she governed wisely during his minority. With many virtues, she possessed what, in the eyes of the Roman soldiers, was invariably considered as a great vice—she was an economist in her expenditure; and, disgusting the army by recommending retrenchments, she gave occasion to a mutiny, to which she and her son Alexander both fell victims. It is said that, whilst at Antioch, she received instruction from Origen in the Christian faith.
[From the very beautiful Bust in the Florence Gallery.]
102A.Mamæa—Julia.Roman Empress.
[The same as preceding, in advanced age.]
103.Salonina—Cornelia.Roman Empress.
[Date and place of birth unknown. Died before Milan,A.D.268.]
Supposed to have been of Greek origin. Was the wife of the Emperor Gallienus, and dignified with the title of Augusta upon his ascending the throne. She cultivated literature and philosophy, and was the protector of Plotinus the philosopher. She is described as a woman of great good sense, and exceeding benevolence. She roused him to repel the barbarians, and accompanied his army that she might attend to the wants of the soldiers. She was massacred with her husband and youngest son before Milan.
[From the marble in the Capitol at Rome.]
104.Mariniana.
[Date and place of birth and death unknown.]
Little is known respecting this Princess, who was either wife, sister, or daughter of the Emperor Valerian, and died at least four years before his Persian expedition. Some coins, having on the obverse her name and a veiled head, were struck,A.D.254.
105.Faustina Junior—Annia Faustina.
[Date and place of birth unknown. DiedA.D.175.]
The daughter of Antoninus Pius, and wife of Marcus Aurelius, whom she accompanied into Asia, and there died suddenly. One of the most abandoned and dissolute of the Roman Empresses, yet her virtuous husband preservedhis first affection for her to the last; and, on the spot where she died, erected to her honour the city of Faustinopolis.
[From the Capitoline Museum, at Rome. The original is in the marble called “Paonazzetto” (peacock-stone).]
105A.Faustina.
[This bust, which is from the Florence Collection, bears the name of “Faustina, Junior.” It is a beautiful bust, well preserved, but bears little resemblance to the preceding portrait. If it really represent the same person, the work has been executed by a more flattering hand.]
106.Sabina—Poppæa.Roman Empress.
[Date and place of birth unknown. DiedA.D.65.]
“She possessed,” says Tacitus, “everything but a virtuous mind.” She became the wife of the Emperor Nero, after having been his mistress; at her instigation Nero’s mother was killed by him, and his former wife, Octavia, divorced and put to death. She was herself destroyed by a brutal blow from Nero, who pronounced her eulogium at the tomb. “As he could not,” says Tacitus, “speak of her virtues, he enlarged upon her beauty.” She was deified, and honoured with a temple. Her luxurious tastes were extravagant. It is related that her mules were shod with gold; and that when she travelled, she was followed by five hundred asses, whose milk furnished a bath to preserve her complexion.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
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(Numbers commencing on the right.)
107.Lucius Junius Brutus.Roman Consul.
[Date and place of birth unknown.]
The first Consul, and one of the Founders, of the Roman Republic. Before he was elected to the Consulate inB.C.509, he had been the main cause of the expulsion of royalty from Rome in the persons of Tarquin and his sons. He fell in battle whilst defending, as Consul, the infant Republic against the royal exiles fighting for their restoration. These are admitted facts in the life of Lucius Junius Brutus. His assumption of idiotcy during the reign of the Tarquins, in order to carry on with greater safety his patriotic designs, and his connexion with the affecting history of the devoted Lucretia, are events which in recent years have passed from the grave volume of history to the more fascinating pages of poetry. Philosophical historians permit us to sing, but no longer to believe in, the once cherished narratives of earliest Rome. The act, whether historical or merely traditionary, which the most memorably distinguishes his name, is that of ordering the execution of his two sons, convicted of conspiring for the restoration of the Tarquins.
[From the bronze in the Palazzo dei Conservatori of the Capitol at Rome.]
108.Marcellus—M. Claudius.Roman General.
[Born aboutB.C.268. Died in Apulia,B.C.208. Aged about 60.]
A Roman of high fame. At his hands Hannibal received the first check that he experienced in Italy. He subsequently besieged Syracuse, but was forced to convert the siege into a blockade in consequence of the genius displayed in the defence of the city by the great Archimedes, who rendered of no avail every engine brought against Syracuse, and inspired dread by his own instruments of war. At length Marcellus triumphed, the city was given over to pillage, and its defender perished, whilst pondering over a geometrical problem, by the hand of a common soldier. He again turned his victorious arms against Hannibal, winning fresh laurels and new honours from the state. It was whilst fighting against the Carthaginian hero that he fell, slain by a spear of the enemy. Hannibal sympathized with his fall, and paid honour to his remains. A plain, stern, unlettered soldier, brave to recklessness, rude and unpolished in manners, unyielding in temper.
[This Bust bears the name of Marcellus in the Capitoline Museum. It may be the nephew of Augustus when a child.]
109.Scipio—Publius Cornelius Africanus Major.Roman General.
[Born probably at Rome,B.C.234. Died at Liternum, in Campania,B.C.183. Aged 51.]
Son of Publius Cornelius Scipio, whose life he saved in the battle of the Ticinus. One of the few Roman generals who survived the fatal battle of Cannæ, and chosen with Appius Claudius to command the remains of the army. Went as Prætor or Pro-Consul to Spain at the age of 24, where he took Carthagena, gained the battle of Bœcula, and recovered the whole country. Forcing Hannibal, the victorious Carthaginian general, to carry the theatre of war to Africa, he gained the celebrated victory of Zama, which decided the long conflict between Rome and Carthage for dominion. Received the surname of Africanus in consequence, but, vexed with the ingratitude of his countrymen he withdrew to Liternum, where he died. Like Mahomet and Cromwell, he believed himself the special instrument of Heaven. He was undoubtedly the greatest man of his age, and one of the first of the Roman worthies. The affectionate friend of the poet Ennius, and the patron of literature. The Spaniards, for his virtues, would have made him king.
[From the Capitol at Rome. Many busts of this great general are in existence. They all represent him with the head and face close shaved, according to the fashion of his day, when men shaved closely after the age of forty. The authentic busts have the scar on the left side of the head, and some have a scar on each side, and some on the wrong side. No. 127 is from the bust in basalt belonging to the Rospigliosi Palace. No. 125 is from the bronze found in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, and now in the Naples Museum.]
110.Cato—Marcus Porcius.Roman Patriot and General.
[BornB.C.95. Died at Utica, in Africa,B.C.46. Aged 49.]
One of the classical undying forms reared in antiquity to symbolize high moral purity, unquenchable love of liberty, and the sternest virtue. Cato answers to the idea of Roman patriotism, as Julius Cæsar to that of Roman conquest. Before this one we stand, wondering at human power; before that, subdued by the might of the highest moral excellence. Cato as a child was grave, pains-taking, resolute, tenacious; as he grew, he became strong in the love of virtue, and in his hatred of oppression. Attached to the philosophy of the Stoics, he aimed at happiness through its teaching.He had served with honour many offices in Rome when Pompey, Cæsar, and Crassus found it necessary to remove him to Cyprus, in order that his patriotism might offer no obstacle to their ambitious schemes. Returning to Rome, he was made Prætor, the highest office he ever held. At the breaking out of the civil war he was entrusted by the senate with the defence of Sicily: he afterwards joined Pompey. Subsequently to the battle of Pharsalia, at which he was not present, he sailed to Africa in search of Pompey. Suffering defeat at Thapsus, he committed self-destruction. Before the fatal act he read Plato’s Phædon several times through. His death caused great grief. It was mourned by great Cæsar himself, who grudged Cato his death, since Cato grudged him the glory of sparing his life.
[Double bust representing Cato and his daughter Porcia; it is from the Capitoline Museum, but possesses no especial authenticity.]
111.Julius Cæsar.Roman Dictator.
[Born at Rome,B.C.100. Died there,B.C.44. Aged 56.]
The mightiest amongst the mighty of men. At the outset of his career he served in Asia, where he won a civic wreath. Subsequently made Consul in Rome (B.C.59); and, at the close of his term of office, appointed to the government of Gaul—which country in nine years he wholly subjugated to Roman rule. His invasion of Britain is amongst the earliest recollections of the English schoolboy. The renowned Commentaries of Julius Cæsar graphically narrate these deeds. Rousing the jealousy of Pompey, in Rome, by his splendid achievements, he marched into Italy—afterwards into Spain, in order to crush the adherents of Pompey, and then returned to Rome in triumph, to be created Dictator. As Dictator he overcame his rival in the battle of Pharsalia, in Thessaly. He performed fresh service to the state in Egypt, and going back to Rome in order to advance the social and material prosperity of his country, he fell a victim to a conspiracy, of which Brutus and Cassius were at the head. Twice had the crown been offered to him, and twice had he refused it. No Roman before his time had ever won such honour as was heaped upon his head. He suffered from epilepsy, and was very abstemious. He was tall, fair and slight—very careful of his person, concealing his baldness by a laurel crown. His was indeed a head inwreathed with palms. He was a great captain, a great statesman, a great orator—a great writer. He had innate personal intrepidity, instantaneous decision, answering celerity of action, resources to meet every emergency, consummate military skill, an unshaken presence of mind, a trust—whether in his fortune, as he said, or in himself—which still augured and still conquered success. He had also the most implicit confidence in his troops, whom he treated ever as companions and brothers in arms. Intellectual action in him was without labour. It was subtle, comprehensive, rapid, luminous, self-possessed. He dictated to five secretaries at once, on different subjects: his strokes of eloquence in the Senate, as his strokes of action in the field, were quick and irresistible. In the terrible civil war of the dissolving Republic—a war wasteful of Roman blood in the field,—thirstier for the flow of the same drear beverage by the axe and the dagger,—there, where the sole sad policy of the victor hitherto was revenge, Cæsar tried the novel art of forgiveness: although in his Gaulish conquests—when the barbarian stands before him—he looks to us, by his own reporting, sanguinary and merciless. By toil and spare diet, he hardened a feeble health for any work. A civilian, with but ataste, in youth, of war, he, at forty, stepped into command, at once a supreme commander. Recklessly licentious, yet no intellect could be keener, healthier, and more vigorous. His writings, with the simplicity of a soldier, have the clearness and precision of a grammarian. And why not, since we know that in the versatility of his genius, he wrote two books on grammar. In the history of the world, Julius Cæsar was a power. In the records of psychology a wonder.
[From the bronze in the Florence Gallery. He wore the front of his head shaven. It resembles the bronze medals of Cæsar, but is suspected to be modern. He is said to have been sensitive on account of his baldness, and this bust shows the hair combed forward to hide it. No. 111Bpossesses much individuality; it is from the head in basalt in the Berlin Museum, and stood constantly on the study table of Frederic the Great. No. 111Ais the bust from the Poniatowsky Collection, and remarkable for having the diadem round the head. No. 125 is from the marble in the Gallery of the Emperors, in the Capitol at Rome.]
112.Marcus Junius Brutus.Roman General.
[BornB.C.85. DiedB.C.42. Aged 43.]
The friend of Cicero—the fellow conspirator of Cassius—one of those who shared in the deed memorable to all time—questionable in its own—of killing Julius Cæsar. From his earliest youth, and through life, absorbed in study and self-contemplation, to the detriment of his powers as a man of action. He was much attached to Cato, whom he accompanied to Cyprus, when it was found necessary to remove the republican leaders from Rome. We are accustomed to think of Brutus—Shakspeare being greatly answerable for the thought—as standing aloof from the vulgar ambition and desires of his fellow-men; yet we find him in Cilicia (B.C.53), growing rich by letting out money at usurious interest. In the civil war of Pompey and Cæsar he took part with Pompey; Cæsar, however, gave orders that at the battle of Pharsalia his person should be sacred. Grateful for the consideration, Brutus, upon the defeat of Pompey, asked pardon from Cæsar, which was generously accorded. InB.C.48, appointed by Cæsar governor of Cisalpine Gaul: the inhabitants of which, delighted with his mild treatment of them, and his justice, honoured him with public monuments. Four years later he joined the conspiracy against his patron, and burdened his hand with the death of that great soldier. Then took up arms against Antony; but suffering defeat at Philippi, fell by his own sword. His reading and varied knowledge were immense: he was speculative, superstitious, and highly imaginative. His aspirations pure and noble, but his practical ability small, and his judgment imperfect and too easily led. He wrote much, his chief productions being his orations.
[From the Capitol at Rome, where it stands in the same gallery as the Dying Gladiator (No. 309) in the Nave.]
113.M. Vipsanius Agrippa.Roman General.
[BornB.C.63. Died in Campania,B.C.12. Aged 51.]
His victories mainly contributed to make the Emperor Augustus, whose daughter he married, master of the Roman Empire: and he was the chief support of the rising monarchical institution in Rome. He spent much money on public works, erected several public buildings, including thePantheon and the Julian aqueduct; was a patron of the fine Arts, and dying, bequeathed his goods and his gardens to the people of Rome.
[From a Bust in the Louvre.]
114.Nero Claudius Drusus.Roman General.
[Born at Rome,B.C.38. DiedB.C.9. Aged 29.]
A son of Livia who married the Emperor Augustus, and brother of Tiberius. Victorious in Gaul and Germany. Unflinchingly firm and severe towards all who resisted him, but generous to those who trusted and submitted to him. He married Antonia, the daughter of Marc Antony. His known desire to see the commonwealth restored endeared him to the Roman people. Died in Germany, from an injury sustained in a fall from his horse.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome. See also a statue of him, No. 222, Roman Court.]
115.Germanicus Cæsar.Roman General.
[BornB.C.15. Died at Antioch, in Syria,A.D.19. Aged 34.]
Son of Nero Claudius Drusus, and his wife Antonia; was adopted by Tiberius, at the request of Augustus. Occupied for a time in an exterminating war against the eastern Germans. Afterwards appointed by Tiberius supreme ruler of the eastern provinces. Died at Antioch, where, it is supposed, he was poisoned by the governor of the place. A man of sensitive feeling, temperate, and virtuous. Remarkable for the dignity of his person, for captivating eloquence, munificence, and unaffected courtesy; but credulous, nervous, and a believer in magic. Idolized by his soldiers, and popular with the multitude.
[From the marble in the Capitol, at Rome. The statue generally called by his name is described under No. 312 in the Hand-book to Roman Court and Nave.]
116.Corbulo—Cneius Domitius.Roman General.
[Date and place of birth unknown. Died at Cenchreæ, in Greece,A.D.67.]
One of the most celebrated generals of his age, and brother-in-law of Caligula. He composed some military memoirs after the manner of Cæsar’s Commentaries, but they have not been preserved. He was a good disciplinarian, and cautious as well as brave. He commanded against the Parthians, and was victorious in every engagement. After Nero’s accession, he continued faithful to his new master, who summoned him to Greece, and for his fidelity greeted him with an order for execution on his landing at Cenchreæ. He stabbed himself with his own sword. His daughter Domitia Longina, celebrated for her beauty and vices, was the wife of the Emperor Domitian.
[From the marble in the Gallery of Philosophers, of the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
117.Decimus Clodius Ceionius Septimius Albinus.Roman General.
[Born at Adrumetum, in Africa. Date not known. Died at Lugdunum (Lyons), in Gaul,A.D.197.]
Entered the army at an early age, and served with distinction under Marcus Aurelius. Held a command in Gaul, and afterwards in Britain, under Commodus. After the murder of Pertinax, the successor of Commodus, Clodius was proclaimed Emperor in Britain by the British legions, and shared the purple with Septimius Severus. Subsequently discarded bySeverus, he put himself at the head of his legions, and met his colleague in battle at Lugdunum, in Gaul, where he fell. He was of great beauty and strength, and was called by his father “Albinus,” on account of the great whiteness of his skin. A skilful general, but severe: styled by some, the “Catiline” of his time.
[From the gallery of the Emperors, in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
118.Terence—Publius Terentius.Latin Comic Poet.
[Born at Carthage,B.C.195. Died (place uncertain),B.C.159. Aged 36.]
The second and last of the Latin comic poets—Plautus being the first—whose plays have descended to our time. He was the slave of a Roman senator, who, having regard to his talents and handsome person, gave him his liberty: on which occasion the freedman assumed his patron’s name—Terentius. In person, he was thin and of the middle height, with an olive complexion. Terence is the one Latin writer in whom the stateliness and the lofty strength, seemingly inherent in the language of Rome, at once ceases: and the tongue which we had deemed fit only to be spoken by the Kings of the world,—-by the Fathers convened in the temple of Capitoline Jove,—gently condescends to the hearts and the hearths of men. In the six preserved comedies of his—both by the delineation of the characters, and by the strain of their speaking—we feel ourselves in the familiar presence of known humanity. Not but that the manner implies delicate choice and thoughtful art; but its easy, natural air deceives the belief in the actual study. The words rise up from the heart, to drop from the lip. In the dialogue of Terence, the barrier that hitherto has stood inflexibly between the modern and the antique world has fallen. We are at home in the Roman theatre. To great purity, grace, tenderness, the style adds, even in description, or narrative, or continuous argument, that utter simplicity and obviousness of the sense, which is found in the most trivial uses of speech.
[From the marble in the Stanza dei Filosofi of the Capitol, at Rome. On the right shoulder is sculptured the histrionic mask, a curious fancy of the artist, which may have been suggested by the custom in Egyptian portraiture, of carving the name in a small “cartouche” on the shoulder, a practice alluded to in the scriptures.]
119.Quintus Hortensius.Roman Orator.
[BornB.C.113. DiedB.C.49. Aged 64.]
He employed his great oratorical powers in the defence of Sylla, and of the aristocratic party to which he had attached himself. Cicero styled him “rex judiciorum.” He defended Verres against Cicero: and the triumph of Cicero on that occasion threw Hortensius ever after into the second rank. He acquired great wealth, and lived luxuriously. His oratory was of the florid kind, and greatly aided by gesticulation; he had a retentive memory, and a sweetly sonorous voice.
[From the marble in the Villa Albani, Rome. The Bust is inscribed with his name. It was found together with the bust of Isocrates (No. 15).]
120.Cicero—Marcus Tullius.Roman Orator.
[Born at Arpinum,B.C.106. Died at Formiae,B.C.43. Aged 63.]
The acknowledged greatest name in Roman eloquence. A man diligent in accomplishing himself by various study, and wonderfully gifted with the power of clothing thought in copious and musical words. He is lessdistinguished as an original thinker. He frequented the schools of the philosophers, but seemed in heart more dedicated to the worldly ambition of power and fame than to the studious zeal of truth. He courted popularity, and lived in anticipated immortality. He was an ambiguous partisan, waiting to be directed by victory to the side which he should embrace. He loved to throw an air of philosophical reflexion over questions of human affairs; and his expression of these reflexions is felt even to this day as singularly felicitous. We quote his words, because we can find no apter expression yet for the permanent thoughts. His writings show him undisguisedly vain. After the assassination of the great Julius (B.C.44), he became the leader of the republican party, and in his celebrated “Philippics” denounced Antony as the foe of his country. This was his ruin. On the formation of the Triumvirate of Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus, he was included in the proscriptions; his head was cut off, and fixed upon the Rostra which had so frequently resounded with his eloquence. His greatest political achievement was the detection and sudden overthrow of the revolutionary conspiracy headed by Catiline (B.C.63), his brilliant denunciations of whom we listen to in our boyhood. Kind and pure in his life, but without true greatness of character, and with many moral weaknesses.
[From the marble in the Vatican. Considered to be the most faithful portrait of this renowned orator. No. 120Ais from the Gallery of Philosophers of the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
120A.Cicero—Marcus Tullius.Roman Orator.
121.Virgil—Publius Virgilius Maro.Latin Poet.
[Born at Andes, near Mantua, in Cisalpine Gaul,B.C.70. Died at Brundusium, in Italy,B.C.19. Aged 51.]
The district in which Virgil was born not being then included in Italy, he did not enjoy the native rights of a Roman citizen; and when Augustus divided the lands in Cisalpine Gaul amongst his victorious veteran soldiers, Virgil was ejected from his small patrimonial farm. Upon his petitioning the emperor, however, the farm was restored to him. He was the friend of Horace, whom he introduced to Mæcenas. Besides poetry, he cultivated medicine and agriculture. He was tall, dark, rustic in appearance, and feeble in body. He was drawn by the power of genius from the obscure shade of a peasant’s life, to be the favoured poet and friend of an emperor. In his verse the native majesty of the language appears more perfectly tempered, than in any other, with grace and sweetness. Virgil is the most pathetic of the Roman poets: the heart speaks in his verse. He has the soul of the beautiful, like an earlier Raffaelle in song. His poem on Husbandry—the most finished work of his muse—is written with a cleaving of soul to the native theme. The purport of the poem was to recall the luxurious Romans to the simple and vigorous way of life of their ancestors, who lived cultivating the earth. If the rural earth and free nature could have been endeared to the voluptuous masters of the world by the charm of musical words, the Georgics might have done this. We ourselves feel the pouring of a purer atmosphere into the corrupted city. The epic poem of Virgil, “The Æneid,” relating the transplantation of a Trojan colony from the flames of falling Troy, to found (in Italy) future Rome, derives a high poetical cast from the prophetic spirit that overshadows it. Both “The Georgics” and the “Æneid” express love in the soul of the poet—love for the scenes andvocation, in which he was born—love of Rome, which he will purify or will glorify.
[From the marble in the Stanza dei Filosofi of the Capitol, at Rome. The portraits of Virgil have been verified by Bellori. The tomb of Virgil is a well-known object of interest near Naples. It is now an ivy-grown, but venerated ruin, although so late as 1326 it was nearly perfect.]
122.Seneca—Lucius Annæus.Philosopher.
[Born at Corduba (Cordova), in Spain, aboutA.D.2. Died at Rome,A.D.68. Aged 66.]
The tutor of young Domitius, afterwards the Emperor Nero, by whom he was condemned and sentenced to self-destruction—-probably that Nero might secure his great possessions. Seneca underwent his punishment with great firmness and philosophic calm. He was a writer of many works, and Quintilian says that he corrupted the taste of his age by an affected though elegant style. Many of his epistles and moral and physical treatises are extant. His philosophy was Stoical, with modifications; his manner of writing is antithetical, and apparently laboured. He rejected the superstitions of his country, and was a monotheist.
[From the marble in the Berlin Museum. In the Florence collection there are three Busts of him. The portrait of Seneca was identified as early as the sixteenth century by a medallion engraved with his name, possessed by Cardinal Mattei. A Bust in bronze was found at Herculaneum.]
122*.Livy—Titus Livius.Roman Historian.
[Born at Petavium (Padua),B.C.59. DiedA.D.17. Aged 76.]
Little is known of the life of this famous historian, save that he enjoyed the patronage and friendship of Augustus, and established a wide and instantaneous fame in his own time. The great and only extant work of Livy is his History of Rome. It originally consisted of 142 books: 35 only have come down to us—of the remainder we have merely short summaries. Livy is an admirable weaver together, without sifting criticism, of received records and traditions. His reader glides on the stream of his flowing narration. His style is lucid, animated, picturesque. But in the annals of the warlike republic—that setter up and putter down of kings—that mistress of the nations—we look for and desire, more stern and majestic strength;—a profounder disclosure of the heroic political wisdom, which steadily advanced in building up the most memorable empire in the world.
[Bust yet to come.]
(Leaving the Court of Roman Generals, we proceed to the Nave. The numbers of the Portrait Gallery continue into the Nave from left to right.)
123.Hadrian.Roman Emperor.
For life, seeNo. 46.
124.Livia Drusilla.Roman Empress.
For life, seeNo. 93.
[A fine statue of Livia will be seen in the vestibule adjoining the Court of the Generals, No. 237.]
125.Julius Cæsar.Roman Dictator.
For life, seeNo. 111.
126.Scipio Africanus.Roman General.
For life, seeNo. 109.
127.Scipio Africanus.Roman General.
For life, seeNo. 109.
128.Decimus Cœlius Balbinus.Roman Statesman and Emperor,A.D.238.
[Date, and place of birth unknown.]
A man of Consular dignity, who had governed in nearly all the peaceful provinces of the Empire, and was esteemed and beloved by all ranks; when, upon the death of the Gordiani in Africa, he was selected as one of the Emperors to oppose the ferocious Maximinus—Pupienus being the other. Soon after the death of Maximinus, both Balbinus and Pupienus were murdered by the Prætorians, who remembered to their disadvantage the prodigal liberality of their lately-slain tyrant. They reigned only four months. Balbinus was celebrated for his oratory and poetry.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]