ious amusements. A long
train of concubines, and a rapid succession of wives, among whom was
a vestal virgin, ravished by force from her sacred asylum, were
insufficient to satisfy the impotence of his passions. The master of the
Roman world affected to copy the dress and manners of the female sex,
preferred the distaff to the sceptre, and dishonored the principal
dignities of the empire by distributing them among his numerous lovers;
one of whom was publicly invested with the title and authority of the
emperor's, or, as he more properly styled himself, of the empress's
husband.

It may seem probable, the vices and follies of Elagabalus have been
adorned by fancy, and blackened by prejudice. Yet, confining ourselves
to the public scenes displayed before the Roman people, and attested by
grave and contemporary historians, their inexpressible infamy surpasses
that of any other age or country. The license of an eastern monarch
is secluded from the eye of curiosity by the inaccessible walls of
his seraglio. The sentiments of honor and gallantry have introduced
a refinement of pleasure, a regard for decency, and a respect for the
public opinion, into the modern courts of Europe; * but the corrupt and
opulent nobles of Rome gratified every vice that could be collected from
the mighty conflux of nations and manners. Secure of impunity, careless
of censure, they lived without restraint in the patient and humble
society of their slaves and parasites. The emperor, in his turn, viewing
every rank of his subjects with the same contemptuous indifference,
asserted without control his sovereign privilege of lust and luxury.

The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the
same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover
some nice difference of age, character, or station, to justify the
partial distinction. The licentious soldiers, who had raised to the
throne the dissolute son of Caracalla, blushed at their ignominious
choice, and turned with disgust from that monster, to contemplate with
pleasure the opening virtues of his cousin Alexander, the son of Mamaea.
The crafty Maesa, sensible that her grandson Elagabalus must inevitably
destroy himself by his own vices, had provided another and surer support
of her family. Embracing a favorable moment of fondness and devotion,
she had persuaded the young emperor to adopt Alexander, and to invest
him with the title of Caesar, that his own divine