the concerns of Gaul, Spain, and the German provinces, he returned to Rome, (741,) and in the following year (742) he assumed the dignity of Pontifex Maximus, now vacant by the death of Lepidus, his former colleague in the triumvirate, whom (though he at all times treated him with studied indignity) he allowed to hold that honorable office as long as he lived.

Agrippa, who had been all this time in Asia, returned to Rome likewise in 741; and Augustus, whose confidence in him never abated, had the tribunitian power conferred on him for another period of five years. He also committed to him the charge of suppressing an expected invasion of the Pannonians. This people, however, when they heard of the approach of Agrippa, laid aside all thoughts of war. He therefore led back his troops, and in the following spring (742) he fell dangerously ill in Campania. Augustus, who was then celebrating the festival of the Quinquatrus at Rome, hastened to him, but found him dead. He caused the corpse to be conveyed to Rome, where he himself pronounced the funeral oration over it in the Forum, and then laid his ashes in his own monument, though the deceased had prepared one for himself in the Field of Mars. Agrippa had not completed his fifty-first year when he was thus prematurely carried off.*

There are few characters in history more pleasing to contemplate than that of M. Vipsanius Agrippa. Born in a humble station, he raised himself entirely by his own merit, and by the honorable fidelity which he always exhibited to the man to whose fortunes he was attached. To prince and people he was equally acceptable: the former viewed in him a sincere friend and an able minister and general; the latter regarded him as a patron and a benefactor. His wealth, which was immense,† he devoted to the public service, benefiting the people and adorning the city. He thus raised at a great expense several aqueducts, particularly that which conveyed the Aqua Virgo to the Field of Mars, (735.) He adorned (728) the porticoes built round the Septa, in the same place, by Lepidus, with marble plates and with paintings, naming them Julian in honor of Augustus. He also built a beautiful portico to the temple of Neptune, and erected the circular temple named the Pantheon, which still exists.

* Plin. N. H. vii. 8.

He owned the entire Chersonese, (Dion, liv. 29 ;) he had also large estates in Sicily (Hor. Ep. i. 12) and elsewhere.

Pliny (N. H. xxxvi. 15) says it was dedicated to Jupiter Ultor.

By his will he left his gardens and the baths named after him to the Roman people. Augustus, who was his principal heir, gave in his name a donation of one hundred drachmas a man to the plebeians.

The place of Agrippa was not to be supplied; but as some one in his station was absolutely necessary to Augustus, he, much against his inclination, made choice of his stepson Tiberius. As he seems to have made it a rule that the person next to himself should be the husband of his daughter Julia, he obliged Tiberius to divorce Agrippina, the daughter of Agrippa, to whom he was most sincerely attached, and who had borne him one child and was bearing another, and espouse Julia. He then sent him against the Pannonians, who had resumed their arms when they heard of the death of Agrippa.

We will now for some time direct our attention to the foreign relations and military affairs of the empire.

Within the limits of the empire the only people who ventured to resist the arms of Rome was the Basque population of the mountains in the north of Spain, who, secured by the nature of their country, though often defeated and reduced, were never completely conquered. On the southern frontier in Africa the native tribes gave occasional employment to the governors of the adjoining provinces. In the year 732, the Æthiopians, led by their queen Candace, invaded Upper Egypt, and advanced as far as the city of Elephantina; but they were speedily repelled by the governor C. Petronius, who invaded their country in return, and forced them to sue for peace. On the side of Parthia all was quiet during the reign of Augustus; but the tribes in the vicinity of the Danube and Rhine, who were destined to be Rome's most dangerous. foes, even now required the employment of large armies to repel or subdue them, and more than once they sent alarm even into the city.

The reduction of Thrace to a province gave occasion to some warfare; for the native tribes, unused to submission, and defended by the ranges of Rhodope and Hamus, were prone to rebellion. A general rising among them took place in 743; and, after lasting three years, it was at length sup

Dion (liii. 27) would seem to intimate that it was consecrated to Mars and Venus. He thinks that it was named from its resemblance in form to the heaven. The supposition of its being dedicated to all the gods is a modern error.

pressed by the governor L. Piso, who thereby obtained the triumphal honors.

The Roman frontier had, in the latter times of the republic, been gradually advanced into Illyricum, the region lying to the north of the Adriatic, and commercial relations were formed with the nations who dwelt farther inland. Their own unquiet spirit, and the arrogance and oppression of the Romans, naturally gave occasion to hostilities. In 738 two of the Alpine tribes, named Cammunians and Venians, took arms; but they were speedily reduced by P. Silius, the proprætor. Immediately after, the Pannonians, aided by the Noricans, invaded Istria; but they were repelled also by Silius, who then carried his arms into Noricum and reduced it. Shortly after, the Rætians of the Alps, and the Vindelicans who dwelt between them and the Danube, began to make incursions into Gaul and Italy, and they seized and put to death such of the Romans or allies whom they found travelling through their country. Augustus committed the task of reducing them to his stepson Drusus, who gave them a defeat in the hills of Tridentum, (Trent ;) and, as they still plundered Gaul, he caused Drusus's brother Tiberius to attack them on that side; and by the united efforts of the two brothers and their lieutenants, the mountaineers were completely brought under subjection. The more vigorous portion of their male population was carried away, and only those left who were too feeble for insurrection. The Pannonic war already alluded to broke out in 743. It was conducted and successfully terminated by Tiberius, who was decreed for it a triumph by the senate; but Augustus would only allow him. to receive the triumphal ornaments.

Drusus was meantime carrying on war in Germany. The Roman dominion having been extended by Cæsar, the dictator, to the Rhine, the Ubians, Vangionians, and some other German tribes, had been induced to cross that river and settle on its left bank, under the protection and authority of the Romans, whose manners they gradually adopted. The territory in which they dwelt was hence named the Upper and

* Dion (liv. 22) mentions only the Rætians, but he appears to include the Vindelicans in that name. The Vindelicans are expressly mentioned by Suetonius, (Tib. 9,) Velleius, (ii. 95,) and Horace, (Carm. iv. 4, 18.)

† See Horace, Carm. iv. 4 and 14.

See Appendix (C.) for an account of the German tribes.

Lower Germany; it extended from the modern town of Schlettstadt into the district of Cleves. The Romans had several fortified posts along the Rhine, but they had as yet no footing beyond that river. They had, however, the usual relations of trade and intercourse with the peoples of the opposite bank.

In 729 the Germans murdered some Romans who had gone over in the usual manner into their country. To punish them, M. Vinicius, who commanded on the left bank of the river, led his troops against them, and his successes gained him the honor of the triumphal ornaments. Nothing further occurred till the year 738, when the tribes named Sicambrians, Usipetans, and Tencterans, seized and crucified the Roman traders in their country, and then, crossing the Rhine, ravaged Gaul and the Germanies. M. Lollius, the legate, led his troops to engage them; but they laid an ambush for the cavalry, which was in advance, and routed it. In the pursuit they came unexpectedly on Lollius himself, and defeated him, taking the eagle of the fifth legion. The intelligence of this disgrace caused, as we have seen, Augustus to set out for Gaul; but the Germans did not wait for his arrival, and when he came, they obtained a truce on giving hostages.

Augustus remained nearly three years in Gaul. When leaving it, (741,) he committed the defence of the German frontier to his stepson Drusus. His departure imboldened the Sicambrians and their allies to resume hostilities; and as disaffection appeared likely to spread among the Gauls, Drusus took care to secure their leading men by inviting them to Lugdunum, (Lyons,) under pretext of the festival which was to be celebrated at the altar raised there in honor of Augustus: then watching the Germans when they passed the Rhine, he fell on and cut them to pieces, and crossing that river himself, he entered the country of the Usipetans, and thence advanced into that of the Sicambrians, laying both waste, (742.) He embarked his troops on the Rhine and entered the ocean, and sailing along the coast, formed an alliance with the Frisians who inhabited it. His slight vessels, however, being stranded by the ebb of the tide on the coast of the Chaucans, he was indebted for safety to his Frisian allies. He then led his troops back, and put them into winter-quarters. In the spring (743) he again crossed the Rhine, and completed the subjection of the Usipetans; and taking advantage of the absence of the Sicambrian warriors, who had

marched against the Chattans on account of their refusal to join their league, he threw a bridge over the Lippe, (Lupia,) and marching rapidly through the Sicambrian country, and entering that of the Cheruscans, advanced as far as the Weser, (Visurgis.) Want of supplies, however, forced the Romans to return without passing that river. In their retreat they were harassed by the Germans, and on one occasion they fell into an ambush, where they were only saved from destruction by the excessive confidence of the enemy, who, regarding them as already conquered, attacked them in disorder, and were therefore easily repelled by the disciplined legionaries. Drusus built a fort at the confluence of the Elison and the Lippe, and another in the Chattan country on the Rhine, and then returned to Gaul for the winter. The following year (744) Augustus, on account of the German war, went and took up his abode at Lugdunum, while Drusus again crossed the Rhine, and carried on the war against the Sicambrian league, which had now been joined by the Chattans, who became in consequence the principal sufferers. At the end of the campaign, Augustus and his stepsons returned to Rome.

The next year (745) Drusus passed the Rhine for the fourth time. He laid waste the Chattan territory, whence he advanced into Suevia, which he treated in a similar manner, routing all that resisted him; then entering the Cheruscan country, he crossed the Weser, and advanced till he reached the Elbe, (Albis,) wasting all on his way. Having made a fruitless effort to pass this river, he led back his troops to the Rhine; but his horse having fallen with him on the way, he received so much injury by the fall, that he died before he reached the banks of that stream. His body was conveyed to Rome, where the funeral orations were pronounced by Augustus and Tiberius, and his ashes were deposited in the Julian monument. The title of Germanicus was decreed to him and his children, and, among other honors, a cenotaph was raised by the army on the bank of the Rhine.

Drusus was only in his thirtieth year when he thus met with his untimely fate. He was married to the younger daughter of Octavia by M. Antonius, the triumvir, by whom he had several children; but only three, Germanicus, Claudius, and Livilla, survived their father. The character of Drusus stood high both as a soldier and a citizen; and it