her to Marcellus, the son
of his sister Antonia, but Marcellus died young, and was lamented in
Virgil's _AEneid_; so Julia was given to Agrippa's son. Augustus' second
wife was Livia, who had been married to Tiberius Claudius Nero, and had
two sons, Tiberius and Drusus, whom Augustus adopted as his own and
intended for his heirs; and when Julia lost her husband Agrippa and her
two young sons, he forced Tiberius to divorce the young wife he really
loved to marry her. It was a great grief to Tiberius, and seems to have
quite changed his character into being grave, silent, and morose. Julia,
though carefully brought up, was one of the most wicked and depraved
of women, and almost broke her father's heart. He banished her to an
island near Rhegium, and when she died there, would allow no funeral
honors to be paid to her.

[Illustration: PAINTINGS IN THE HOUSE OF LIVIA.]

The peace was beginning to be broken by wars with the Germans; and young
Drusus was commanding the army against them, and gaining such honor that
he was called Germanicus, when he fell from his horse and died of his
injuries, leaving one young son. He was buried at Rome, and his brother
Tiberius walked all the way beside the bier, with his long flaxen hair
flowing on his shoulders. Tiberius then went back to command the armies
on the Rhine. Some half-conquered country lay beyond, and the Germans in
the forests were at this time under a brave leader called Arminius. They
were attacked by the proconsul Quinctilius Varus, and near the river
Ems, in the Herycimian forest, Arminius turned on him and routed him
completely, cutting off the whole army, so that only a few fled back to
Tiberius to tell the tale, and he had to fall back and defend the Rhine.

The news of this disaster was a terrible shock to the Emperor. He sat
grieving over it, and at times he dashed his head against the wall,
crying, "Varus, Varus! give me back my legions." His friends were dead,
he was an old man now, and sadness was around him. He was soon, however,
grave and composed again; and, as his health began to fail, he sent for
Tiberius and put his affairs into his hands. When his dying day came, he
met it calmly. He asked if there was any fear of a tumult on his death,
and was told there was none; then he called for a mirror, and saw that
his grey hair and beard were in order, and, asking his friends whether
he had played his part well, he uttered a verse from a play bidding them
appla