It is unlikely that, even in the first flush of her husband's strange and unexpected triumph, Messalina should have contemplated with any satisfaction their return from exile.

In this respect it is probable that the Emperor succeeded in resisting her expressed wishes; so that the mere appearance of the two daughters of Germanicus in her presence was a standing witness of the limitations to which her influence was subjected.
At this period, as is usual among degraded peoples, the history of the Romans degenerates into mere anecdotes of their rulers.

Happily, however, it is not our duty to enter on the _chronique scandaleuse_ of plots and counterplots, as little tolerable to contemplate as the factions of the court of France in the worst periods of its history.

We can only ask what possible part a philosopher could play at such a court?
We can only say that his position there is not to the credit of his philosophical professions; and that we can contemplate his presence there with as little satisfaction as we look on the figure of the worldly and frivolous bishop in Mr.Frith's picture of "The Last Sunday of Charles II.

at Whitehall." And such inconsistencies involve their own retribution, not only in loss of influence and fair fame, but even in direct consequences.