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with his most dangerous secrets. Brutus admired her fortitude, and no longer concealed from her his intended conspiracy against Cæsar. On the day when she knew the assassination was to take place, she fainted away with excess of anxiety; but she faithfully kept the secret that had been intrusted to her. When she parted from Brutus, after the death of Cæsar, a picture of Hector and Andromache, that was hanging on the wall, brought tears to her eyes. A friend of Brutus, who was present, repeated the address of the Trojan princess :

"Be careful, Hector! for with thee my all,

My father, mother, brother, husband, fall."

Brutus replied, smiling, "I must not answer Portia in the words of Hector, 'Mind your wheel, and to your maids give law;' for in courage, activity, and concern for her country's freedom, she is inferior to none of us; though the weakness of her frame does not always second the strength of her mind." A false rumor having prevailed that Brutus was dead, Portia resolved not to survive him. Her friends, aware of her purpose, placed every weapon beyond her reach; but she defeated their kindness by swallowing burning coals.

The emperor Augustus is said to have seldom worn any domestic robes that were not woven by his wife, his sister, his daughters, or his nieces. His sister Octavia was celebrated for her beauty and her virtues. When her husband, Mark Antony, deserted her for the sake of Cleopatra, she went to Athens to meet him, in hopes of withdrawing him from this

disgraceful amour; but she was secretly rebuked, and entirely banished from his presence. Augustus highly resented this affront to a beloved sister, but she gently endeavored to pacify him, and made all possible excuses for Antony. When she heard of her husband's death, she took all his children into her house, and treated them with the utmost tenderness. She gave Virgil ten thousand sesterces for every line of his encomium upon her excellent and darling son Marcellus. The poet was requested to repeat these verses in the presence of Augustus and his sister. Octavia burst into tears as soon as he began; but when he mentioned Tu Marcellus eris, she swooned away. She was supposed to have died of melancholy, occasioned by her son's death. Augustus himself pronounced her funeral oration, and the Roman people evinced their respect for her character by wishing to pay her divine honors.

Agrippina, the granddaughter of Augustus, was a model of purity in the midst of surrounding corruption. She accompanied her husband Germanicus into Germany, shared in all his toils and dangers, and attached herself to him with the most devoted affection. She often appeared at the head of the troops, appeasing tumults, and encouraging bravery. Tiberius, jealous of virtues that reflected so much dishonor on his own licentious court, entered into machinations against them. Germanicus was poisoned, and Agrippina exiled and treated with the utmost indignity. Despairing of redress, she refused all sustenance, and died.

Arria, the wife of Pætus, not being allowed to accompany her husband to Rome, when he was carried thither to be tried for conspiracy against the government, followed the vessel in a fisherman's bark hired for the occasion. She exerted every means to save his life; and when she found all her efforts unavailing, she advised him to avoid the disgrace and torture that awaited him, by voluntary death. Seeing that he hesitated, she plunged the dagger into her own heart, and gave it to him with a smile, saying, "It gives me no pain, my Pætus." In judging of these examples, we must remember that the Romans, in their sternness and stoicism, regarded suicide as a virtue.

Eponina, the wife of Sabinus, lived with her husband concealed in a cave, for several years, rather than desert him at a time of disgrace and danger, the consequence of unsuccessful rebellion. Their retreat was at length discovered; and neither her tears, nor the innocent beauty of two little twins born in the cavern, could soften the heart of Vespasian. The faithful wife was condemned to die with her husband.

Valerius Maximus tells of an illustrious lady, whose mother being condemned to die by famine, the daughter obtained access to her prison, and nourished her with her own milk. When this was discovered, the criminal was pardoned; both mother and daughter were maintained at the public expense; and a temple to Filial Piety was erected near the prison.

Pliny, who lived as late as the time of Trajan, warmly eulogizes the talents and domestic virtues of

his wife. He says: 66 Her taste for literature is inspired by tenderness for me. When I am to speak in public, she places herself as near me as possible, under the cover of her veil, and listens with delight to the praises bestowed upon me. She sings my verses, and untaught adapts them to the lute; love is her only instructer."

Under the emperors, it was more easy to find women distinguished for talent than for virtue. Julia, the wife of Septimus Severus, was famous for her genius and learning, and for the generous patronage she bestowed on literature. Julia Mammæa, the mother of Alexander Severus, had a mind equally cultivated, with far greater purity of character than her namesake. She educated her son for the throne in a manner so judicious, that his integrity, virtue, and firmness might have effectually checked the tide of corruption, had he not met with an untimely fate.

As learning became fashionable, many acquired it merely for display. Juvenal, speaking of pedantic ladies, says: "They fall on the praises of Virgil, and weigh his merits in the same balance with Homer; they find excuses for Dido's having stabbed herself, and determine of the beautiful and the sovereign good."

The Roman women seem to have been less ironhearted than the Spartans. When the Romans were defeated by Hannibal, women waited at the gates of the city, for news of the returning army. One, who had given up her son for dead, died at the sight of him; and another, having been told that her son was slain, died when the report was contradicted.

The Roman women strongly resembled the Spartans in the deep and active interest they took in public affairs. Upon the death of Brutus, they all clad themselves in deep mourning. In the time of Brennus, they gave all their golden ornaments to ransom the city from the Gauls. In reward for this generosity, the senate ordained that they should be allowed to ride in chariots at the public games, and that funeral orations should thenceforth be pronounced for them, as well as for distinguished men.

After the fatal battle of Cannæ, the women again consecrated all their ornaments to the service of the state. But when the triumvirs attempted to tax them for the expenses of carrying on a civil war, they tried various means to resist the innovation. At last, they chose Hortensia for their speaker, and went in a body to the market-place, to expostulate with the magistrates. The triumvirs, offended at their boldness, wished to drive them away; but the populace grew so tumultuous, that it was deemed prudent to give the women a hearing. Hortensia spoke as follows: "The unhappy women you see here pleading for justice, would never have presumed to appear in this place, had they not first made use of all other means their natural modesty could suggest. Yet the loss of our fathers, brothers, husbands, and children, may sufficiently excuse us; especially when their unhappy deaths are made a pretence for our further misfortunes. You say they had offended you-but what have we women done, that we must be impoverished? Empire, dignities, and honors,

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