The fourth was a collection of instructions, addressed equally to Tiberius and to the republic, to maintain both the splendor and the tranquillity of the empire. Among other counsels he advised them to choose only wise, discreet, and virtuous men for the administration of every department of the state; he added at the same time that it was dangerous to confide to any single individual the entire authority, for then it might be feared that the power of the monarch might degenerate into tyranny, and that its ruin might involve that of the state and precipitate the Romans into irretrievable misfortunes. He recommended, above all, to those who should follow him in the cares of the government, not to preoccupy themselves about extending the limits of the empire by new conquests, but rather to apply themselves to the maintenance and good government of what they already held. The remainder of these councils was simply the summary of the policy he had himself pursued during his reign. These books as well as his will were approved and indorsed by the Senate. They then decreed him a costly and magnificent funeral; his corpse, or rather its image in wax, was laid upon an ivory bed, incrusted with massive gold and draped with a tissue of purple silk woven with gold; the procession, of the same extent as a triumphal progress, traversed the streets of Rome with great pomp. It halted twice; on the first occasion Drusus pronounced the funeral oration over the body; on the second Tiberius spoke another, which has been preserved, and may be considered a model of eloquence. When the procession arrived at the Campus Martius the body was enclosed in a bier, and placed on a funeral pile to which the centurions set fire; while the clouds of smoke and flame were ascending to the sky an eagle suddenly appeared in the midst of them and took its flight to heaven, in the midst of the acclamations of the assembled people, who declared that the bird sacred to Jupiter was carrying the emperor’s soul aloft to the bosom of the king of the gods. WILL OF A PIG This is a very ancient document. Mr. S. Baring-Gould in his unique work “Curiosities of Olden Times,” says of it: “S. Jerome speaks of it, saying, that in his time (fourth century) children were wont to sing it at school amidst shouts of laughter. Alexander Brassicanus, who died in 1539, was the first to publish it. He found it in a Ms. at Mayence. Later, G. Fabricius gave a corrected edition of it from another Ms. found at Memel and since then it has been in the hands of the learned.” With slight modifications, the will runs as follows: “I, M. Grunnius Corcotta Porcellus, have made my testament, which, as I can’t write myself, I have dictated.” Says Magirus, the cook: “Come along, thou who turnest the house topsy-turvy, spoiler of the pavement, O fugitive Porcellus! I am resolved to slaughter thee to-day.”