Nor joyous hymn encouraging their tongue.
Nor cheerful dance their feet; with toil oppressed,
Their wearied limbs aspiring but to rest.--_Prior._
1. Vitel'lius was declared emperor by the senate, and received the
marks of distinction which were now accustomed to follow the
appointments of the strongest side.
2. He had been accustomed from his youth to dissipation and applause.
Caligula was pleased with his skill in driving a chariot; Claudius
loved him because he was a great gamester; and he gained the favour of
Nero by wishing him to sing publicly in the theatre. Upon his arrival
at Rome, he entered the city, not as a place he came to govern with
justice, but as a town that was become his own by the laws of
conquest.
3. Vitel'lius soon gave himself up to all kinds of luxury and
profuseness; but gluttony was his favourite vice. His entertainments,
seldom indeed at his own cost, were prodigiously expensive. He
frequently invited himself to the tables of his subjects; in the same
day breakfasting with one, dining with another, and supping with a
third.
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