nce were thereafter forgotten words in Rome. He
ended the old era of Roman history by closing the Temple of Janus, for
the third time since it was built, and by freely forgiving all the
friends of Antony. He had nothing to fear and had no thirst for blood
and misery. Base as he had shown himself in his youth, his reign was a
noble one, and during it Rome reached its highest level of literary and
military glory.

_AN IMPERIAL MONSTER._

A being, half monster, half madman, had come to empire in Rome. This was
Caius Caesar, great-grandson of Augustus, who in his short career as
emperor displayed a malignant cruelty unsurpassed by the worst of Roman
emperors, and a mad folly unequalled by any. The only conceivable excuse
for him is mental disease; but insanity which takes the form of thirst
for blood, and is combined with unlimited power, is a spectacle to make
the very gods weep. We describe his career as the most exaggerated
instance on record of mingled folly and malignity.

Brought up in the camp, he was christened by the soldiers Caligula, from
the soldier's boots (_caligae_) which he wore. By shrewd dissimulation he
preserved his life through the reign of Tiberius, and was left heir to
the throne along with the emperor's grandson. But, deceiving the senate
by his pretended moderation, he was appointed by that body sole emperor.

They little knew what they did. Tiberius, who appears to have read him
truly, spoke of educating him "for the destruction of the Roman people,"
and Caligula seemed eager to make these words good. At first, indeed,
he seemed generous and merciful, mingling this affectation with a savage
profligacy and voluptuousness. Illness, however, apparently affected his
brain or destroyed what little moral nature he possessed, and he quickly
embarked on a career of frightful excess and barbarity.

The great wealth left by Tiberius--over twenty-five million dollars--was
expended by him in a single year, and to gain new funds he taxed and
robbed his subjects to an incredible extent. One of his methods of
finance was to force wealthy citizens to gamble with him for enormous
sums, and when they lost their all (they dared not win), he would make
their lives the stake and bid their friends redeem them. In addition to
this open robbery of the rich, taxes of all sorts were laid and
unlimited oppressions enforced. The new edicts of the emperor were
written so small and posted so high as to be unreadable