He reclined at table, on a luxurious
couch, and was served by slaves, who carved for him, and filled his cup,
and poured water into his hand after every remove. He ate without knives
or forks, with his fingers only. The feast was beguiled by lively
conversation, or music and dancing.

(M1045) At this period, the literature of Rome reached its highest purity
and terseness. Livy, the historian, secured the friendship of Augustus,
and his reputation was so high that an enthusiastic Spaniard traveled from
Cadiz on purpose to see him, and having gratified his curiosity,
immediately returned home. He took the dry chronicles of his country, drew
forth from them the poetry of the old traditions, and incited a patriotic
spirit. A friend of the old oligarchy, an aristocrat in all his prejudices
and habits, he heaped scorn on tribunes and demagogues, and veiled the
despotism of his imperial master. Virgil also inflamed the patriotism of
his countrymen, while he flattered the tyrant in whose sunshine he basked.
Patronized by Maecenas, countenanced by Octavius, he sung the praises of
law, of order, and of tradition, and attempted to revive an age of faith,
a love of agricultural life, a taste for the simplicities of better days,
and a veneration of the martial virtues of heroic times. Horace ridiculed
and rebuked the vices of his age, and yet obtained both riches and honors.
His matchless wit and transcendent elegance of style have been admired by
every scholar for nearly two thousand years. Propertius and Tibullus, and
Ovid, also adorned this age, never afterward equaled by the labors of men
of genius. Literature and morals went hand in hand as corruption
accomplished its work. The age of Augustus saw the highest triumph in
literature that Rome was destined to behold. Imperial tyranny was fatal to
that independence of spirit without which all literature languishes and
dies. But the limit of this work will not permit an extended notice of
Roman civilization. This has been attempted by the author in another work.

CHAPTER XLIII.

THE SIX CAESARS OF THE JULIAN LINE.

We have alluded to the centralization of political power in the person of
Octavius. He simply retained all the great offices of State, and ruled,
not so much by a new title, as he did as consul, tribune, censor, pontifex
maximus, and chief of the Senate. But these offices were not at once
bestowed.

His reign may be said to have