But he could not even then conceal his natural disposition to cruelty and lewdness. He delighted in witnessing the inflictions of punishments, and frequented tavernsand bawdy-houses in the night-time, disguised in a periwig -and a long coat; and was passionately addicted to the theatrical arts of singing and dancing. All these levities Tiberius readily connived at, in hopes that they might perhaps correct the roughness of his temper, which the sagacious old man so well understood, that he often said, "That Caius was destined to be the ruin of himself and all mankind; and that he was rearing a hydraNatriceus, a water-snake, so called from nato, to swim. The allusion is probably to Caligula's being reared in the island of Capri. for the people of Rome, and a Phaeton for all the world. A Phaeton is said to have set the world on fire.