Aurelian | Page 7

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 I have ever seen or known; made for a Roman
empress. I used to think so when in Palmyra, and I saw her, so often as
I did, assuming the port and air of imaginary sovereignty. And now that
I behold her filling the very place for which by nature she is most
perfectly fitted, I cannot but confess that she surpasses all I had
imagined, in the genius she displays for her great sphere, both as wife
of Aurelian, and sovereign of Rome. Her intellect shows itself stronger
than I had believed it to be, and secures for her the homage of a class
who could not be subdued by her magnificence, extraordinary as it is.
They are captivated by the brilliancy of her wit, set off by her
unequalled beauty, and, for a woman, by her rare attainments, and
hover around her as some superior being. Then for the mass of our rich
and noble, her ostentatious state and imperial presence are all that they
can appreciate, all they ask for, and more than enough to enslave them,
not only to her reasonable will, but to all her most tyrannical and
whimsical caprices. She understands already perfectly the people she is
among; and through her quick sagacity, has already risen to a power
greater than woman ever before held in Rome.
We see her often--often as ever--and when we see her, enjoy her as
well. For with all her ambition of petty rule and imposing state, she
possesses and retains a goodness of heart, that endears her to all, in
spite of her follies. Julia is still her beloved Julia, and I her good friend
Lucius; but it is to Zenobia that she attaches herself most closely; and
from her she draws most largely of the kind of inspiration which she
covets. It is to her, too, I believe, that we may trace much of the
admirable wisdom--for such it must be allowed to be--with which Livia
adorns the throne of the world.
Her residence, when Aurelian is absent from the city, is near us in the
palace upon the Palatine; but when he is here, it is more remote, in the

enchanted gardens of Sallust. This spot, first ennobled by the presence