He made himself master of the world, and against the
most formidable competitors; his power was absolute, from the rising to
the setting sun; and yet in his own house, where the peasant who does the
humblest chares, claims an undisputed authority, he was baffled,
dishonored, and made ridiculous. He was loved by nobody; and if, at the
moment of his death, he desired his friends to dismiss him from this world
by the common expression of scenical applause, (_vos plaudite!_) in
that valedictory injunction he expressed inadvertently the true value of
his own long life, which, in strict candor, may be pronounced one
continued series of histrionic efforts, and of excellent acting, adapted
to selfish ends.
CHAPTER III.
The three next emperors, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, were the last
princes who had any connection by blood [Footnote: And this was entirely
by the female side. The family descent of the first six Caesars is so
intricate, that it is rarely understood accurately; so that it may be well
to state it briefly. Augustus was grand nephew to Julius Caesar, being the
son of his sister's daughter.
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