wandering and fugitive; fecking in e- | indeed no man was better acquainted very place an afylum from the fury of the affaflin. Nevertheless the vengeance of the people was directed rather against Anthony than against his two colleagues. Auguftus was too young, and Lepidus was become too feeble, to be the promoters of fuch outrages. than he with the extent of her merit, and the impreffion it made upon him was more ftrong and lively than that which usually proceeds from fraternal love. As foon as the triumvirs were freed from all apprehenfions of rivalship, their government became more tranquil and peaceable in the heart of the fate; but Octavia found very little fatisfaction in the prevailing manners of the court. The rank which the held there obliged her fometimes to affociate with women, who seemed to be loft to every fenfe of fhame. Contemporary authors give us ftrange defcriptions of their licentioufnefs, and attribute to them all the disorders of Rome. In thefe times, fay they, fo fruitful in vice, the depravity of manners began by the frequent violations of the mar riage-bed; from this fource it fpread like an inundation over all the country, and from whole ravages no family was exempt. Girls who were already marriageable, amufed themfelves with the most childish diverfions, and took delight in learning the lafcivious dances of the Ionians. They During these bloody revolutions, Octavia was not idle: frequent applications were made, imploring her compaffion and credit. The wife of a certain Vinius, who was comprehended in the profcription, after having confidered of every means to fave her husband, inclosed him in a coffer, ordered it to be carried to the house of his freedman, and spread the news of his death in fuch a manner, that every one gave credit to it; but as that was not fufficient to quiet her apprehenfions, the was reduced to obferve the most rigorous precautions. About this time it happened that one of her relations gave a public feftival to the people; fhe therefore engaged Octavia in her intereft, and earnestly befought her to request that her brother fhould be the only triumvir prefent at the fpectacle. Every thing being disposed in this man-modelled their attitudes after thofe ner, Vinius's wife entered upon the ftage, threw herself at the feet of Auguftus, confeffed the artifice fhe had made ufe of, and ordered the cheft to be brought in, from whence her hufband came out, pale and trembling, and whilst both of them were waiting with anxious expectation the decifion of their fate, Octavia feized the opportunity to applaud this action with fo much warmth and addrefs, that her brother, who could refufe her nothing, far from being offended, applauded the greatnefs of the woman's affection, and gave the exile his life. Octavia did not reft there; for fhe fpoke in fuch high terms of the freed-man's courage, who, in receiving this dangerous depofit, run the risk of perishing himself, that the obliged the emperor to place him in the rank of a Roman knight. The great influence which he had upon the mind of Auguftus, was feen upon a thousand other occafions, and wanton people, and in a very little time they became perfect in the art, for from their infancy they exercised themselves in dancing after the most loofe and abandoned manner. Marriage did not render them more modeft; nothing could equal the licentioufnels of their convivial meetings, where they gave a full career to all their defires; and fuch was the commodious politeness of their husbands, that they winked at all their proceedings. It was to no purpose to say that we ought to take vengeance of a man who difhonours us. Galba was of a different opinion. He invited Mecenas to fup with him, and obferv ing him in amorous converfation with his wife, he pretended to fall asleep, while another perfon furprised her in adultery, and far from punifhing, the adulterer either by the whip or the fword, as was the custom in those times, he contented himself with a cer tain fum by way of compenfation. Iters, which attached her still more to When a lover was to be chofen, they a hufband who could not be too much never examined whether he had wit,efteemed. They lived together in all birth, courage, or if he was handfome, that harmony which mutual love probut only whether he was rich. A mere duces; but unfortunately, in her third broker, well furnished with money, pregnancy, the death of her husband was fure to obtain the preference. The put a period to this ftate of felicity.-— men had also their choice, for there Though fhe was very fenfibly affected were three claffes of gallant women; at this lofs, fhe restrained her grief by that is to fay, ladies of quality, freed | that fuperiority of reason which never women, and courtezans. Thofe who deferted her, for fhe always fupported were not difcouraged at danger and her misfortunes with that firmness and difficulty attached themfelves to the dignity which is infeparable from true fift order, although a commerce with greatnefs of foul, and the elevation them was attended with more alarms of her fentiments could only be equaland inquietude than pleafure; others led by the fimplicity of her manners. connected themselves with thofe of the If it had depended upon her, she fecond class, because with a freed wo- never would have renounced the tranman the commerce was more certain. quility of a retired life, to which her In fine, others who fought for nothing prefent fituation confined her for fome in their amours but freedom and faci-time: but nothing difcovers more lity, contented themfelves with cour-clearly how much fhe had the public, tezans. At this time an actrefs pof- good at heart,than that during the height feffed the art of ftripping a man of all of her affliction for the death of Marhis wealth in a few years, deftroying cellus, fhe confented to marry Anthohis reputation at the fame time with ny. It is neceffary to take notice of his money: coquetry was practifed fome paft events, in order to throw a with a great deal of cunning and poli- more ftriking luftre upon her conduct. cy. A woman knew how to divide her favours, without giving umbrage to any of her lovers. Villius was fo elated in poffeffing the daughter of Sylla for his miftrefs, that the idea only al-guftus and Anthony divided the gomoft turned his head, and flattered his vanity in fuch a manner, that fometimes, in quality of a nominal gallant, he was contented with trifling away the time at Faufta's door, whilft fhe was fhut up with a fellow of the loweft extraction. After the alliance between the tri umvirs was broken, and the infignificant Lepidus had been ftripped of an authority which he fuftained fo ill, Au vernment of the provinces between them; but it often happened that they were embroiled together, according as they were actuated by the different views of interest or ambition. Thefe divifions in the heart of the republic, were productive of civil wars which We fee by this account, that the greatly disturbed the public tranqui cuftom of our days in matters of gal-lity, and harraffed the troops as well lantry, is not fo entirely modern as as the citizens. Nevertheless, before may be thought, and that in all thefe this time Auguftus was not the leaft practices, our age cannot claim the ho- difpofed to a reconciliation, becaufe nour of invention. Fulvia, the wife of Antony, appeared to him an obftacle to all accommodation. When he learnt that he was dead, he was much better inclined to Such were the manners of the greateft part of the Roman ladies, with whom Octavia was obliged to pafs her youth; nevertheless, her virtue receiv-liften to it. ed not the leaft ftain from her com- The turbulent fpirit of this audacimerce with them; fhe was married to ous woman occafioned an infinity of Marcellus, a man of great reputation, troubles in the empire, and her chawho was invefted with the confular racter furnishes fo ftriking a contrast dignity. She had by him two daugh- with that of Octavia, that it may not VOL. IX. L be 74 The Triumph of Friendship. A MORAL TALE. be improper to take fome notice of it, i The TRIUMPH of FRIENDSHIP. blifh peace. Those who have given Her mind was continually employed in forming military plans or political fchemes. During the little time that Anthony was folely invefted with the fovereign authority after the death of Cæfar, the had rendered every thing at Rome venal, and difpofed in her chamber of kingdoms, provinces, and offices of the highest importance, to the belt bidder. With a fword by her fide, fhe was feen to put herfelf at the head of the fenators and knights of her party, iffue out her or ders to the foldiers, harangue them, and hold counsel with the command ers. During these commotions of the triumvirate, he had fometimes the boldness to put feveral perfons to death, as if they were profcribed, for no other reafon but because she hated them; afterwards ordering their heads to be brought before Anthony, by whom, as it very often happened, they were utterly unknown. It is well authenticated in what manner fhe treated Cicero after his death, and how, after having fet his head upon her knees and fpit upon it, the pierced his tongue feveral times with a needle. Love, in the mind of fuch a woman, must be productive of very extraordinary effects. She loved Anthony to diftraction, but his paffion for Cleopatra drove her to defpair; and the gloomy ideas excited by her jealoufy, inflamed her to fuch a degree, as to give rife to the most ourtageous violences. Her indignation was alfo directed against rivals lefs illuftrious, and of a rank much inferior. (To be continued.) [Embellished with a beautiful Copper-Plate.] I all ages, and in all nations, the leading paffions of mankind have been pretty much the fame, whatever fluctuations may have happened in their manners from the ton of the times; and of all the paffions by which the human breast can be agitated, love has never failed to operate with confiderable force, from the torrid to cafus, to the fofteft climate under the fun. the frigid zone, from the crags of CauThe omnipotence of love is particularly infifted on by every man who has the fmalleft pretenfions to poetical infpiration; but after having mentioned Horace, Ovid, and Lucretius, it will not be easy to find a triumvirate in the poetical and amorous walk, equal to them. It is not, however, my bufinefs at prefent, to make a midefign is rather to fhew, by a ftriking exnute inquiry into their gallantries; my ample, that the paffion of love, even in a female bolom may be, though violent in its operation, conquered by another of a imilar, and, in the opinion of many, a superior kind; by friendship. As an offering to friendship, therefore, let the following tale be confidered, and not read with the less attention, because the characters acting in it lived-many centu ries ago. When Rome was haftening to its fall, when the Romans were polished out of their original fimplicity by the introduction of foreign modes, in confequence of their military fucceffes, and totally corrupted by foreign connections, the virtues which had nobly diftinguished them were rarely to be met with, especially among thofe of patrician rank; and even the loweft plebeians, now grown too fond of imitating their fuperiors, began to dif cover a pitiable, as well as a cenfurable propenfity to every vice by which their characters could be deformed. Yet among the former, there were fome who, fortitude enough to ftem the torrent of in fpite of the contagion of example, had which was the more brilliant from the opcorruption, and appeared with a luftre pofition of the fhades furrounding them. Fulvia, the daughter of an illuftrious patrician, is fingled out from a very Those who think that this character is drawn for Lady B, or the Hon. Ms. C, me givatly miltaken. large |