t and witty
capital, the nation has erected the most gorgeous of modern temples,
and consecrated its marble and golden walls to the name, and memory,
and celestial efficacy of a Hebrew woman.

CHARLES MERIVALE

Born in 1808, died in 1893; educated at Cambridge; became
rector of a parish in 1848; dean of Ely Cathedral in 1869;
published his "History of the Romans Under the Empire" in
1850-62; "A General History of Rome" in 1875, "Contrast
Between Christian and Pagan Society" in 1880.

THE PERSONALITY OF AUGUSTUS CAESAR[13]

In stature Augustus hardly exceeded the middle height, but his person
was lightly and delicately formed, and its proportions were such as to
convey a favorable and even a striking impression. His countenance was
pale, and testified to the weakness of his health, and almost constant
bodily suffering; but the hardships of military service had imparted a
swarthy tinge to a complexion naturally fair, and his eyebrows meeting
over a sharp and aquiline nose gave a serious and stern expression to
his countenance. His hair was light, and his eyes blue and piercing;
he was well pleased if any one on approaching him looked on the ground
and affected to be unable to meet their dazzling brightness. It was
said that his dress concealed many imperfections and blemishes on his
person; but he could not disguise all the infirmities under which he
labored; the weakness of the forefinger of his right hand and a
lameness in the left hip were the results of wounds he incurred in a
battle with the Iapydae in early life; he suffered repeated attacks of
fever of the most serious kind, especially in the course of the
campaign of Philippi and that against the Cantabrians, and again two
years afterward at Rome, when his recovery was despaired of. From that
time, altho constantly liable to be affected by cold and heat, and
obliged to nurse himself throughout with the care of a valetudinarian,
he does not appear to have had any return of illness so serious as the
preceding; and dying at the age of seventy-four, the rumor obtained
popular currency that he was prematurely cut off by poison
administered by the empress.

[Footnote 13: From the "History of the Romans Under the Empire."
Merivale's purpose in writing this book was to fill in the interval
between the unfinished history by Thomas Arnold and Gibbon.]

As the natural consequence of this bodily weakness and sickly
constitution,