formidable party in the senate, he was the commander of the pretorian
guard,--that is, of the only military force stationed in Italy,--and he
had terrified with his implacable persecutions all those whom he had
failed to win over through his promises or his favors. Could the duel
between this misanthropic old man and this vigorous, energetic,
ruthless climber end in any other way than with the defeat of the
former?

[Illustration: Bust, supposed to be of Antonia--daughter of Mark Antony
and Octavia--and mother of Germanicus.]

But now stepping forward suddenly from the shadows to which she had
retired, a lady appeared, threw herself between the two contestants,
and changed the fate of the combat. It was Antonia, the daughter of
the famous triumvir, the revered widow of Drusus.

After the death of Livia, Antonia was the most respected personage of
the imperial family in Rome. She still watched, withdrawn but alert,
over the destiny of the house now virtually destroyed by death,
dissensions, the cruelty of the laws, and the relentless anger of the
aristocracy. It was she who scented out the plot, and quickly and
courageously she informed Tiberius. The latter, in danger and in
Capri, displayed again the energy and sagacity of his best period. The
danger was most threatening, especially because Sejanus was the
commander of the pretorian guard. Tiberius beguiled him with friendly
letters, dangling in front of him the hope that he had conceded to him
the tribunician power.--that is, that he had made him his
colleague,--while at the same time he secretly took measures to appoint
a successor for him. Suddenly Sejanus learned that he was no longer
commander of the guard, and that the emperor had accused him before the