It is an
anecdote of not less curiosity, that a whole 'college' of kings subscribed
money for a temple at Athens, to be dedicated in the name of Augustus.
Throughout his life, indeed, this emperor paid a marked attention to all
the royal houses then known to Rome, as occupying the thrones upon the
vast margin of the empire. It is true that in part this attention might be
interpreted as given politically to so many lieutenants, wielding a remote
or inaccessible power for the benefit of Rome. And the children of these
kings might be regarded as hostages, ostensibly entertained for the sake
of education, but really as pledges for their parents' fidelity, and also
with a view to the large reversionary advantages which might be expected
to arise upon the basis of so early and affectionate a connection. But it
is not the less true, that, at one period of his life, Augustus did
certainly meditate some closer personal connection with the royal families
of the earth. He speculated, undoubtedly, on a marriage for himself with
some barbarous princess, and at one time designed his daughter Julia as a
wife for Cotiso, the king of the Getae.
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