127


128  The  Works  of  Tacitus

in  that  season  of  the  year,  could  alter  her  resolution.  She
arrived  at  the  island  of  Corcyra,  opposite  to  the  coast  of
Calabria.  At  that  place  she  remained  a  few  days,  to  appease
the  agitations  of  a  mind  pierced  to  the  quick,  and  not  yet
taught  in  the  school  of  affliction  to  submit  with  patience.  The
news  of  her  arrival  spreading  far  and  wide,  the  intimate
friends  of  the  family,  and  most  of  the  officers  who  had
served  under  Germanicus,  with  a  number  of  strangers  from
the  municipal  towns,- some  to  pay  their  court;  others,  car;
along  with  the  current,  pressed  forward  in  crowds  to  the
city  of  Brundusium,  the  nearest  and  most  convenient  port.
As  soon  as  the  fleet  came  in  sight  of  the  harbour,  the  sea-
coast,  the  walls  of  the  city,  the  tops  of  houses,  and  every
place  that  gave  even  a  distant  view,  were  crowded  with
spectators.  Compassion  throbbed  in  every  breast.  In  the
hurry  of  their  first  emotions,  men  knew  not  what  part  to
act :  should  they  receive  her  with  acclamations  ?  or  would
silence  best  suit  the  occasion  ?  Nothing  was  settled.  The
fleet  entered  the  harbour,  not  with  the  alacrity  usual  among
mariners,  but  with  a  slow  and  solemn  sound  of  the  oar,
impressing   deeper  melancholy  on  every  heart.
