lls of the great Temple at
Carnac--and proved to him that after all the Roman empire was no "great
shakes;" since a thousand years before, Rameses III. had led more nations
behind his chariot, and exacted heavier tributes of corn, wine, and oil
from all who dwelt between the White Nile and the Caspian Sea. His
journey however was so unprecedented a step, that it brought him into
trouble with Tiberius. The Emperor was half afraid that Germanicus had
some designs upon the kingdom of Egypt, and as that land happened to be
the granary of Rome, the jealous autocrat thought of the possibility of
short-commons and a bread-riot in the Forum. But even if the tourist had
no ulterior views, the Emperor thought that it did not look like business
for a proconsul to be making holiday without leave,--and he accordingly
reprimanded his adopted son by letter, and scolded him in a speech to the
senate. In our days the Emperor of Russia would look equally black on a
field-marshal who should come without license to London for the season;
and the Mandarin, who lately exhibited himself in the Chinese Junk, would
do well for the future to eschew the Celestial Empire and its ports and
harbours entirely,--at least if he have as much consideration for his
personal comfort, as his sleek appearance indicated.

The Emperor Hadrian might have been added to the list of ancient
travellers in search of the picturesque, both because he visited nearly
every province of his empire, and because he expended good round sums
wherever he went, in restoring, re-edifying, or beautifying the public
edifices which the provincials had suffered to fall into decay. But
Hadrian's journeys were primarily journeys of business; he wished, like
the Czar Nicholas, to see with his own eyes how matters went on, and at
times he had the felicity of catching a prefect in the very act of
filling his pockets and squeezing the provincials: we cannot therefore
put him to the account of those who journeyed for pleasure. Every Roman
who took any part in public affairs was, in fact, a great traveller. If
he served his sixteen or twenty years in the legions, and was not
enrolled in the household troops, he was singularly unlucky if his
company were not quartered in Asia, Africa, and the Danubian provinces.
If he became praetor or consul, a provincial government awaited him at
the close of his year of office; and it depended upon the billets drawn
in the Senate, whether he spent a