vere upon the extravagances and
luxuries of others, in the laws he has enacted. You must remember his
prohibition of the use of cloth of gold and of silk, among other
things--foolish laws to be suddenly promulged among so vain and corrupt
a population as this of Rome. They have been the ridicule and scorn of
rich and poor alike; of the rich, because they are so easily violated in
private, or evaded by the substitution of one article for another; of
the poor, because, being slaves in spirit, they take a slave's pride in
the trappings and state of their masters; they love not only to feel but
to see their superiority. But since the eastern expedition, the
reduction of Palmyra, and the introduction from abroad of the vast flood
of foreign luxuries which has inundated Rome and Italy itself the
principles and the habits of the Emperor have undergone a mighty
revolution. Now, the richness and costliness of his dress, the splendor
of his equipage, the gorgeousness of his furniture, cannot be made to
come up to the height of his extravagant desires. The silk which he once
denied to the former Empress for a dress, now, variously embroidered,
and of every dye, either hangs in ample folds upon the walls, or
canopies the royal bed, or lends its beauty to the cushioned seats which
everywhere, in every form of luxurious ease, invite to repose. Gold,
too, once prohibited, but now wrought into every kind of cloth, or solid
in shape of dish, or vase, or cup, or spread in sheets over the very
walls and ceilings of the palace, has rendered the traditions of Nero's
house of gold no longer fabulous. The customs of the eastern monarchs
have also elevated or perverted the ambition of Aurelian, and one after
another are taking place of former usages. He is every day more
difficult of access, and surrounds himself, his palaces, and apartments,
by guards and officers of state. In all this, as you will readily
believe, Livia is his willing companion, or rather, I should perhaps
say, his prompting and ruling genius. As without the world at her feet,
it would be impossible for her insane pride to be fully satisfied, so in
all that is now done, the Emperor still lags behind her will. But
beautifully, it can be denied by none, does she become her greatness,
and gives more lustre than she receives, to all around her. Gold is
doubly gold in her presence; and even the diamond sparkles with a new
brilliancy on her brow or sandal.

Livia is, of all women