Hence it
appears that Tiberius was uncle to Claudius, Claudius was uncle to
Caligula, Caligula was uncle to Nero. But it is observable, that Nero and
Caligula stood in another degree of consanguinity to each other through
their grandmothers, who were both daughters of Mark Anthony the triumvir;
for the elder Antonia married the grandfather of Nero; the younger Antonia
(as we have stated, above) married Drusus, the grandfather of Caligula;
and again, by these two ladies, they were connected not only with each
other, but also with the Julian house, for the two Antonias were daughters
of Mark Anthony by Octavia, sister to Augustus.] with the Julian house. In
Nero, the sixth emperor, expired the last of the Caesars, who was such in
reality. These three were also the first in that long line of monsters,
who, at different times, under the title of Caesars, dishonored humanity
more memorably, than was possible, except in the cases of those (if any
such can be named) who have abused the same enormous powers in times of
the same civility, and in defiance of the same general illumination. But
for them it is a fact, than some crimes, which now stain the page of
history, would have been accounted fabulous dreams of impure romancers,
taxing their extravagant imaginations to create combinations of wickedness
more hideous than civilized men would tolerate, and more unnatural than
the human heart could conceive.
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