some other person bolder than himself.
At last he resolved to defer the execution of his plot only to the day
following, when Calig'ula should pass through a private gallery, to
some baths near the palace.

21. The last day of the games was more splendid than the rest; and
Calig'ula seemed more sprightly and condescending than usual. He
enjoyed the amusement of seeing the people scramble for the fruits and
other rarities by his order thrown among them, being no way
apprehensive of the plot formed for his destruction. 22. In the mean
time the conspiracy began to transpire: and, had he any friends
remaining, it could not have failed of being discovered. A senator who
was present, asking one of his acquaintance if he had heard any thing
new, and the other replying in the negative, said "you must know, that
this day will be represented the death of a tyrant." The other
immediately understood him, but desired him to be cautious. 23. The
conspirators waited many hours with extreme anxiety; and Calig'ula
seemed resolved to spend the whole day without any refreshment. So
unexpected a delay exasperated Cher'ea; and, had he not been
restrained, he would suddenly have perpetrated his design in the midst
of all the people. 24. At that instant, while he was hesitating,
Aspore'nus,[20] one of the conspirators, persuaded Calig'ula to go to
the bath, and take some slight refreshment, that he might the better
enjoy the rest of the entertainment. 25. The emperor, rising up, the
conspirators used every precaution to keep off the throng, and to
surround him themselves, under pretence of great assiduity. Upon his
entering a little vaulted gallery that led to the bath, Cher'ea struck
him to the ground with his dagger, crying out, "Tyrant, think
upon this." The other conspirators closed in upon him; and while
the emperor was resisting, and crying out that he was not yet dead,
they dispatched him with thirty wounds.

26. Such was the merited death of Calig'ula, in the 29th year of his
age, after a short reign of not four years. His character may be
summed up in the words of Sen'eca; namely, "Nature seemed to have
brought him forth, to show what mischief could be effected by the
greatest vices supported by the greatest authority."

_Questions for Examination_.

1. Of what enormities was Caligula guilty?

2. How did he heighten his cruelties?

3. On what did he chiefly value himself?

4. What monstrous wish did he express?

5. What