97) upon the adoption of
his elder brother into the Julian family, he assumed the cognomen of
Germanicus. He was left an infant by his father, and during almost the
whole of his minority, and for some time after he attained the age of
manhood, was afflicted with a variety of obstinate disorders, insomuch
that his mind and body being greatly impaired, he was, even after his
arrival at years of maturity, never thought sufficiently qualified for
any public or private employment. He was, therefore, during a long time,
and even after the expiration of his minority, under the direction of a
pedagogue, who, he complains in a certain memoir, "was a barbarous
wretch, and formerly superintendent of the mule-drivers, who was selected
for his governor, on purpose to correct him severely on every trifling
occasion." On account of this crazy constitution of body and mind, at
the spectacle of gladiators, which he gave the people, jointly with his
brother, in honour of his father's memory, he presided, muffled up in a
pallium--a new fashion. When he assumed the manly habit, he was carried
in a litter, at midnight, to the Capitol, without the usual ceremony.

III. He applied himself, however, from an early age, with great
assiduity to the study of the liberal sciences, and frequently published
specimens of his skill in each of them. But never, with all his
endeavours, could he attain to any public post in the government, or
afford any hope of arriving at distinction thereafter. His mother,
Antonia, frequently called him "an abortion of a man, that had been only
begun, but never finished, by nature." And when she would upbraid any
one with dulness, she said, "He was a greater fool than her son,
Claudius." His grandmother, Augusta, always treated him with the utmost
contempt, very rarely spoke to him, and when she did admonish him upon
any occasion, it was in writing, very briefly and severely, or by
messengers. His sister, Livilla, upon hearing that he was about to be
created emperor, openly and loudly expressed her indignation that the
Roman people should experience a fate so severe and so much below their
grandeur. To exhibit the opinion, both favourable and otherwise,
entertained concerning him by Augustus, his great-uncle, I have here
subjoined some extracts from the letters of that emperor.

IV. "I have had some conversation with Tiberius, according (298) to your
desire, my dear Livia, as to what must be done with your g