In his early youth various aspersions of an infamous character were heaped upon
					him. Sextus Pompey reproached him with being an effeminate fellow; and M.
					Antony, with earning his adoption from his uncle by improper means. Lucius
					Antony, likewise Mark's brother, charges him with the same. That he was guilty of various acts of adultery, is not denied even by his
					friends; but they allege in excuse for it, that he engaged in those intrigues
					not from lewdness, but from policy, in order to discover more easily the designs
					of his enemies, through their wives. Mark Antony, besides the precipitate
					marriage of Livia, charges him with taking the wife of a man of consular rank
					from table, in the presence of her husband, into a bed-chamber, and bringing her
					again to the entertainment, with her ears very red, and her hair in great
					disorder: that he had divorced Scribonia, for resenting too freely the excessive
					influence which one of his mistresses had gained over him: that his friends were
					employed to pimp for him, and accordingly obliged both matrons and ripe virgins
					to strip, for a complete examination of their persons, in the same manner as if
					Thoranius, the dealer in slaves, had them under sale. And before they came to an
					open rupture, he writes to him in a familiar manner, thus: "Why are you changed
					towards me? Because I lie with a queen? She is my wife. Is this a new thing with
					me, or have I not done so for these nine years? And do you take freedoms with
						 Drusilla only? May health and
					happiness so attend you, and when you read this letter, you are not in dalliance
					with Tertulla, Terentilla, Rufilla, Mark Antony makes use
						of fondling diminutives of the names of Tertia, Terentia, and Rufa, some of
						Augustus's favourites. or Salvia Titiscenia, or all of them. What
					matters it to you where, or upon whom, you spend your manly vigour?" A private entertainment which he gave, commonly called the Supper of the Twelve
					Gods, δωδεκάθεοσ , the twelve Dii Majores ; they are enumerated in two verses
						by Ennius: Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana,
								Venus, Mars; Mercurius, Jovus, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo. and at which the guests were dressed in the habit of gods and goddesses,
					while he personated Apollo himself, afforded subject of much conversation, and
					was imputed to him not only by Antony in his letters, who likewise names all the
					parties concerned, but in the following well-known anonymous verses: Cum primum istorum conduxit mensa choragum, Sexque deos vidit Mallia , sexque
							deas Impia dum Phoebi Caesar mendacia ludit, Dum nova divorum coenat adulteria: Omnia se a terris tunc numina declinarunt: Fugit et auratos Jupiter ipse thronos. 
					 When Mallia late beheld, in mingled train, Twelve mortals ape twelve deities in vain, Caesar assumed what was Apollo's due, And wine and lust inflamed the motley crew. At the foul sight the gods avert their eyes, And from his throne great Jove indignant flies. What rendered
					this supper more obnoxious to public censure, was, that it happened at a time
					when there was a great scarcity, and almost a famine, in the city. The day
					after, there was a cry current among the people, "that the gods had eaten up all
					the corn; and that Caesar was indeed Apollo, but Apollo the Tormentor;" under
					which title that god was worshipped in some quarter of the city. Probably in the Suburra, where Martial informs us that
						torturing scourges were sold: Tonstrix Suburra: faucibus sed et primis,
									 Cruenta pendent qua flagella tortorum. Mart. xi. 15, i. 
					 He was likewise charged with being excessively fond of fine furniture,
					and Corinthian vessels, as well as with being addicted to gaming. For, during
					the time of the proscription, the following line was written upon his statue:
						 Pater argentarius, ego Corinthiarius; 
					 My father was a silversmith, Like
								the gold and silver-smiths of the middle ages, the Roman
								money-lenders united both trades. See afterwards NERo , c. 5. It is hardly necessary
								to remark that vases or vessels of the compound metal which went by
								the name of Corinthian brass, or bronze, were esteemed even more
								valuable than silver plate. my dealings are in
						brass; because it was believed, that he had put some persons
					upon the list of the proscribed, only to obtain the Corinthian vessels in their
					possession. And afterwards, in the Sicilian war, the following epigram was
					published: Postquam bis classe victus naves
							perdidit, Aliquando ut vincat, ludit assidue aleam. 
					 Twice having lost a fleet in luckless fight, To win at last, he games both day and night. With respect to the charge or imputation of loathsome impurity before-mentioned,
					he very easily refuted it by the chastity of his life, at the very time when it
					was made, as well as ever afterwards. His conduct likewise gave the lie to that
					of luxurious extravagance in his furniture, when, upon the taking of Alexandria , he reserved for himself nothing of
					the royal treasures but a porcelain cup, and soon afterwards melted down all the
					vessels of gold, even such as were intended for common use. But his amorous
					propensities never left him, and, as he grew older, as is reported, he was in
					the habit of debauching young girls, who were procured for him, from all
					quarters, even by his own wife. To the observations on his gaming, he paid not
					the smallest regard; but played in public, but purely for his diversion, even
					when he was advanced in years; and not only in the month of December, See c. xxxii. and note. but at other times, and upon
					all days, whether festivals or not. This evidently appears from a letter under
					his own hand, in which he says, "I supped, my dear Tiberius, with the same
					company. We had, besides, Vinicius, and Silvius the father. We gamed at supper
					like old fellows, both yesterday and to-day. And as any one threw upon the
						 tali The Romans, at
						their feasts, during the intervals of drinking, often played at dice, of
						which there were two kinds, the tesserae 
						and tali . The former had six sides, like
						the modern dice; the latter, four oblong sides, for the two ends were not
						regarded. In playing, they used three tessera and four tal, which were all
						put into a box wider below than above, and being shaken, were thrown out
						upon the gaming-board or table. aces or sixes, he put down for every
					talus a denarius; all which was gained by him who threw a Venus." The highest cast was so called. In another letter, he
					says: "We had, my dear Tiberius, a pleasant time of it during the festival of
					Minerva: for we played every day, and kept the gaming-board warm. Your brother
					uttered many exclamations at a desperate run of ill-fortune; but recovering by
					degrees, and unexpectedly, he in the end lost not much. I lost twenty thousand
					sesterces for my part; but then I was profusely generous in my play, as I
					commonly am; for had I insisted upon the stakes which I declined, or kept what I
					gave away, I should have won about fifty thousand. But this I like better: for
					it will raise my character for generosity to the skies." In a letter to his
					daughter, he writes thus . "I have sent you two hundred and fifty denarii, which
					I gave to every one of my guests; in case they were inclined at supper to divert
					themselves with the Tali, or at the game of Even-or-Odd." In other matters, it appears that he was moderate in his habits, and free from
					suspicion of any kind of vice. He lived at first near the Roman Forum, above the
					Ring-maker's Stairs, in a house which had once been occupied by Calvus the
					orator. He afterwards moved to the Palatine
						Hill , where he resided in a small house Enlarged by Tiberius and
						succeeding emperors. The ruins of the palace of the Caesars are still seen
						on the Palatine . belonging
					to Hortensius, no way remarkable either for size or ornament; the piazzas being
					but small, the pillars of Alban stone,
						 Probably travertine, a soft limestone, from the Alban
						Mount, which was, therefore, cheaply procured and easily worked. and
					the rooms without any thing of marble, or fine paving. He continued to use the
					same bed-chamber, both winter and summer, during forty years: It was usual among the Romans to have separate sets of
						apartments for summer and winter use, according to their exposure to the
						sun. for though he was sensible that the city did not agree with his
					health in the winter, he nevertheless resided constantly in it during that
					season. If at any time he wished to be perfectly retired, and secure from
					interruption, he shut himself up in an apartment at the top of his house, which
					he called his Syracuse or Τεχνόφυον This word may be
						interpreted the Cabinet of Arts. It was common, in the houses of the great,
						among the Romans, to have an apartment called the Study, or Museum.
							 Pliny says, beautifully, "0
							mare! 0 littus I verum secretumque μουσεῖον , quam multa invenitis, quam multa
							dictatis?" O sea! O shore! Thou real and secluded museum; what
						treasures of science do you not discover to us!—Epist. i. 9. or he
					went to some villa belonging to his freedmen near the city. But when he was
					indisposed, he commonly took up his residence in the house of Maecenas. Maecenas had a house and gardens on the Esquiline Hill,
						celebrated for their salubrity: Nunc licet Esquiliis habitore
								salubribus. Hor. Sat. i. 8, 14. 
					 Of all the places of retirement from the city, he chiefly frequented
					those upon the seacoast, and the islands of Campania , Such as Baiae , and the islands of Ischia , Procida , Capri ,
						and others; the resorts of the opulent nobles, where they had magnificent
						marine villas. or the towns nearest the city, such as Lanuvium , Praeneste , and Tibur , Now Tivoli , a delicious spot, where Horace had
						a villa, in which he hoped to spend his declining years. Ver ubi longum, tepidasque praebet Jupiter brumas: … … ibi, tu calentem Debit sparges lachryma favillam Vatis amici. Odes, B. ii. 5. Adrian also had a magnificent villa near Tibur . where he often used to
					sit for the administration of justice, in the porticos of the temple of
					Hercules. He had a particular aversion to large and sumptuous palaces; and some
					which had been raised at a vast expense by his grand-daughter, Julia , he leveled to the ground. Those of his
					own, which were far from being spacious, he adorned, not so much with statues
					and pictures, as with walks and groves, and things which were curious either for
					their antiquity or rarity; such as, at Capri , the huge limbs of sea-monsters and wild beasts, which
					some affect to call the bones of giants; and also the arms of ancient
					heroes.