orne with patience the infirmities of old age,
and he now retired to Nola, where he died, August 19, A.D. 14, in the
same room where his father had died before him. It is said that as he
was dying he exclaimed to those around him, "Have I not acted my part
well? It is time for the applause."

He was seventy-six years old. His subjects lamented his death with
sincere grief, since they had felt the happy effects of his care. His
funeral rites were performed in great solemnity; his body was burned on
the Campus Martius, and his ashes were placed in the splendid mausoleum
which he had built for himself and his family. The Senate ordered him to
be numbered among the gods of Rome.

In appearance Augustus was of middle stature, his features regular, and
his eyes of uncommon brilliancy. He was a tolerable writer, and capable
of distinguishing literary merit; his chosen friends were all men of
letters; and his fame with posterity rests, in a great degree, upon that
circle of poets, historians, and eminent scholars by whom he was
surrounded. The Augustan Age, indeed, forms one of the most remarkable
periods in the history of the human intellect.

[Illustration: Medal of Augustus, showing the myrtle crown, or Corona
ovalis.]

[Illustration: Medal of Nero, showing an Organ and a sprig of Laurel,
probably designed as a prize medal for a musician.]

CHAPTER XL.

FROM THE ACCESSION OF TIBERIUS, A.D. 14-37, TO DOMITIAN, A.D. 96.

A feeling resembling loyalty had grown up at Rome toward the family of
Augustus, and no one ventured to dispute the claim of Tiberius to the
throne. Livia, however, who had attended the death-bed of the emperor,
concealed his death until her son arrived, and then proclaimed, at the
same moment, the death of Augustus and the accession of his successor.
The first event of the new reign was the assassination of Agrippa
Postumus, grandson of Augustus, and, according to the modern rule of
descent, the proper heir to the throne. The guilt of this act was shared
between Tiberius and his mother, who were also accused of having
hastened the death of Augustus.

Tiberius summoned the Senate to assemble, announced the death of the
emperor, and pretended a wish to be relieved from the cares of empire;
the Senate, however, refused to accept his feigned resignation, and he
yielded to their wishes. This body now became the chief source of
legislation. Tiberius took away from the people the power of making law