Daughter of Vipsanius Agrippa, and wife of Cæsar Germanicus, to whom she bore nine children. Accompanied her husband in all his campaigns, and aided him by her cool foresight and energetic will: once, on the Rhine, in his absence, by her heroic resistance to the timid counsels of those about her, saving the relics of an army. On his death in Asia, she returned to Rome, whence she was banished by Tiberius, jealous of her popularity. After three years’ persecution and suffering, she died--possibly by her own hand. She had all the lofty qualities of a Roman matron--nobility of soul, purity, and a devoted love for her husband and children. Tacitus says of her, that “the cares which belong to men supplanted, in her mind, the vices common to her sex.” [From the seated Statue, for account of which, see No. 281, of Hand-book to Roman Court, and Nave.] 97. AGRIPPINA THE YOUNGER. _Roman Empress._ [Born at Oppidum Ubiorum (Cologne), A.D. 14-17. Died at Rome, A.D. 60.] The ruthless and dissolute daughter of noble parents--of Germanicus and Agrippina the elder. The unenviable mother of the madman, Nero. Upon the death of her second husband, whom she was accused of poisoning, she married her uncle Claudius, whom she induced to nominate Nero for his successor, excluding his own son. She poisoned her uncle-husband, and received her reward from her son, the matricide,--dying by hands commissioned by him to the murder. Tacitus speaks of some interesting memoirs of her time, written by Agrippina, to which he had access in writing his history. She was beautiful, but ambitious, and as wicked as she proved unfortunate. [From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.] 98. VALERIA MESSALINA. _Roman Empress._ [Born, uncertain. Died at Rome, A.D. 48.] The third wife of the Emperor Claudius I. Her name has become a bye-word for profligacy. A murderess. Herself pierced through the breast by the sword of a tribune entrusted with the execution of one of her victims. The slave of lust, avarice, and ambition. Difficult to find in history a woman more blackened by crime than Valeria Messalina. [From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.] 99. PLOTINA--POMPEIA. _Roman Empress._ [Date, and place of birth and death unknown.] The wife of the Emperor Trajan. A woman of clear, strong mind, and an exemplary purity of life and consistency of character. Childless herself, she prevailed upon her husband to adopt Hadrian, in whose reign she died. Hadrian built a temple in her honour, and composed hymns in her praise. [From the marble in the Rotunda of the Vatican.] 100. MATIDIA. [Date and place of birth unknown.] The niece of Trajan. Declared Augusta, A.D. 113, and after death, deified. [From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.] 101. CRISPINA. [Date and place of birth unknown. Died at Capreæ, A.D. 183.]