The National tribune., 1882-01-07

said softly
A rosy color overspread the young girls face
She stopped, and pressed her lips to Lady Mon
tague's hand. "Now l understand" she whis-
pered, why your face haunted me in my dreams"
That was the prettiest hattery Lady Montague
had ever received.
THE end
PICTURES OF ANCIENT EXTRAVAGANCE.
Crassus, when candidate for the consulship,
gave a feast of 10000 tables, to which all the
citizens of Rome were indiscriminately invited.
Caesar to celebrate the funeral of daughter, gave
one OF $4,000 tables, with accommodation for
three guests at each. This entertainment was
repeated and exceeded for his triumph. He
brought together more gladiatorS and wild beasts
than were ever produced on any former occasion
in amphitheatre, but his exhibitions of this
kind were so completely outshone that it were
waste Of time to dwell upon them. In docu-
ment annexed to his testament, Augustus states
as title to public gratitude that he had ex-
hibited 5000 gladiators and brought more than
| $500 wild beasts to be killed in the circus. In
the course of the festivities instituted by Titus
to celebrate the opening Of the colosseum, 5000
wild beasts were let loose and killed by the
SiduldlOIS. LIE 1TODuS COlleCueU a
single show 100 lions, 100 lionesses, 100 Libyan
and 100 Syrian leopards, 500 bears and 800
gladiators. Having caused the circus to be
planted with trees to resemble a forest, he let
loose 600 ostriches 1000 stays, 1000 does, and
1000 boars to be hunted by the populace, who
were to keep whatever they could catch OF kill
The fercer animals were encountered by the
! gladiators. It does not appear how long this
show lasted.
Tberius, whose life at Capri was disgrace
! to human nature, was fonder Of saving money
than of spending it, and he left immense
sum in the treasury, which his successor, Caligua
managed to dissipate in two years by extrava-
gance of the most senseless kind AS if in rivalry
of Cleopatra, he swallowed pecious stones dis
| solved in vinegar, and caused his guests to be
helped to gold (which they carried away instead
| of bread and meat. One of his favorite amuse-
ments was showering money among the populace
from the Baslica of Julius Cesar He built
galleys of cedar, covered with jewelry, and large
enough to contain vines and fruit trees, and had
canals cut for them along the coast The stable
of his favorite horse, which he talked of naming
Consul, was Of marble, the trough of ivory, the
harness of purple and the collar of pearls The
set of emerads and pearls worn by one of his
wives, Lolita Paulina, was valued at 100000
sterling.
The principal extravaganza of ClaUdius was in
public games. One of the shows organized for |
him was naval combat ON lake, in which the
galleys were manned by $4,000 men. He was
fond of good cheer, and was in the habit of in
viting himself to the tables of the rich. He
came on one occasion with 600 persons in his
train.
1t was to Nero that Tacitus applied the express
sion, iRcredibHium cnpit0r. What he not only |
desired but achieved in the way of cruelty and |
vice would be declared incredible if Roman history
had not already shown what revolving atrocities |
may be conceived by diseased imagination and |
executed by irresponsible power. After the burn
ing of the city, he gratfed his taste, in entire dis
regard of the propr;eors, in rebuilding it. He at
once appropriated number OF the sites and large
portion of the public grounds for his new palace.
The porticos, with their ranks of columns were
a mile long The vestibule was large enough to
contain the colossal statue of him, in silver and
gold, 120 feet high, from which the colosseum got
its name. The interior was glided throughout,
and adorned with ivory and mother of pearl.
The ceilings of the dining-rooms were formed of
movable udultlS Ol ivory, WHICH Sneu mowers
and perfumes on the company the principal sa-
loon had dome which, turning day and night,
initiated the movements of the terrestrial bodies
When this palace was finished he exclaimed: "At
last am lodged like a man." His diadem was
valued at half migion. His dresses which he
never wore twice, were stiff with embroidery and
gold. He fshed with purple lines and hooks of
gold. He never travelled with less than thou
sand carriages. The mules were shod with silver,
the muleteers clothed with the finest wool and
the attendants wore bracelets and necklaces of
gold. Five hundred she-asses followed his wife
Poppa in her progresses, to supply milk for her
bath. He was fond of figuring in the circus as a
charioteer, and in the theatre as singer and ,
actor. He prided himself on being an artist, and
when his possible deposition was limited to him ,
he said that artists could never be in want There
was not vice to which he was not given, nor a :
crime which he did not commit. Yet the world, ,
exclaimed Seutonious, endured this monster for 9
fourteen years and he was popular with the ,
multitude, who were dazzled by his magnfcence 9
and mistook his senseess profusion for iberalty.
On the anniversary of his death, during many !
years, they crowded to cover his tomb with .
flowers. .
The utmost excess in gluttonny was reached {
by Vitellus who gave ieasts at which 1900 fishes
and 1000 birds were served up He prided him- !
self on his culinary genius and laid every quarter