, yet no excuse
of ignorance of the law was admitted in extenuation of a fault.

The funds obtained by such oppressive means were lavished on the most
extravagant follies. We are told of loaves of solid gold set before his
guests, and the prows of galleys adorned with diamonds. His favorite
horse was kept in an ivory stable and fed from a golden manger, and when
invited to a banquet at his own table was regaled with gilded oats,
served in a golden basin of exquisite workmanship.

In addition to these domestic follies, he built villas and laid out
gardens without regard to cost; and, that he might vie with Xerxes, he
constructed a bridge of ships three miles long, from Baiae to Puteoli,
on which he built houses and planted trees. This madness was concluded
by throwing a great many of his guests from the bridge into the sea, and
by driving recklessly with his war-galley through the throng of boats
that had gathered to witness the spectacle.

These cruelties were mild compared with his more deliberate ones. Rome
was filled with executions, the estates of his victims being
confiscated; and it was his choice delight to have these victims
tortured and slain in his presence while at dinner, the officers being
bidden to protract their sufferings, that they might "feel themselves
die." On one occasion he expressed the mad wish that all the Roman
people had but one neck, that he might strike it off at a blow.

Priding himself on the indifference with which he could gaze on human
torture, it was one of his enjoyments to witness criminals torn to
pieces by wild beasts, and if criminals proved scarce he did not
hesitate to order some of the spectators to be thrown into the arena. In
the same manner, if a full supply of gladiators was wanting, he would
command Roman knights to battle in the arena, taking delight in the fact
that this was viewed as an infamous pursuit. He kept two lists
containing names of knights and senators whom he intended to put to
death, and these contained the majority of both those bodies of Roman
patricians. He is said to have put one man to death for being better
dressed than himself, and another for being better looking.

He married more wives than he had years of empire; but when one of
these wives, Drusilla by name, died, he affected the bitterest grief,
exiling himself to Sicily, and letting his beard and hair grow into wild
disorder. On his return to Rome his subjects found themselves in a
dangerou