THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

317

 

The Wicked Young Emperor,
OR, THB STORY OF HELIOGABALUS.

oe eee

BY Wil. a. re M.D.

3 itt \
_ places, in
eh) <2 these days, of-
Sy ‘ten take their names
from great men among
the Greeks and Ro-
OP mans. But in making
our choice of nates, we generally select
those of the wise and good, such as Julius,
or Augustus, or Solon, or Lycurgus. I
suppose no wise Christian parent would
think of calling a son Nero or Helioga-
balus. I would not, for the world. Not
that the name very much affects the char-
acter; though I think with Dr. Rush, that
we are a little mote apt to imitate the
conduct of an individtal Whose name we
bear, than that of another person of whom
we know comparatively nothing.

I have mentioned Heliogabalus. Do
the readers of the Yours’s Caninet know
who he was? No one of them, I am
sure, will wish he had been called by his
name. Certainly they will not, when they
know his character. But as it is well that
the young should be made acquainted
with here and there a wicked man—an
Ahab or a Judas—lI will give them an
outline of his history.

He was born in Rome, in the year of
our Lord 204. His real name was Aure-
lius Antoninus; for the name Heliogaba-
lus was not given him till some time after-
ward. Of his parentage we know little
except their names, though there is reason
to believe they were not very respectable.
At the early age of fourteen he was made
emperor.

 
  
  

Either by the advice of others,

or undet the pretense of conferring dig-
nity on the female sex, he associated with
him, on the throne, his mother Scemias,
and his grandmother Mcesa ; besides which
he tharried four wives. Added to this,
he chose a senate of females, over whom
his mother presided. At the head of this
senate she directed all the modes and
fashions of the empire. Heliogabalus had
not been long on the throne, before he
began to act more like a madman, or 4
half-idiot, than like a reasonable being.
It is highly probable that by being courted
everywhere, and flattered greatly, his head
had really become turned.

Among the silly things he did, was to
raise his horse to the consulship, and cori-

pel his subjects to worship a large black

stoné, of the shape of a hay-stack, which
he called after himself Heliogabalus. Tem-
ples were even built, in great number, to
the worship of this god; and some of
them were very large and costly.

He also laid very oppressive taxes on
his people, that he himself might riot in
splendor and pleasure. Thus he covered
his halls with carpets made of gold and
silver tissue; and his mats were made of
the down of hares, and the soft feathers
which were found under the wings of par-
tridges. He also clothed himself in silk—
a thing which till then was unheatd of
and covered his shoes with precious stones;
that the people might gaze at them.

Among the deeds he performed which
seemed to indicate insanity, were the fol-
lowing: In the place where the wild
beasts of Rome were kept, he was actti¥-