[-47-] This was the extent of the decrees passed in memory of Augustus nominally by the senate but really by Tiberius and Livia. Various men made various motions and they decided that Tiberius should receive written proposals from them and pick out whatever he chose. I have added the name of Livia because she took a share in the proceedings, as though she had full power.

Meantime the populace was plunged in tumult because at the Augustalia one of the dancers would not enter the theatre for the stipulated pay. They did not cease their disturbances until the tribunes convened the senate without delay and begged that body to allow them to spend something more than the legal amount.—Here ends my account of Augustus.

[Footnote 1: Undoubtedly C. Vibius POSTUMUS is the person meant.]

[Footnote 2: Reading [Greek: paremenoi] (Boissevain, following the MS.).]

[Footnote 3: A leaf is here missing in the codex Marcianus. Of the portion lost Zonaras supplies about one quarter.]

[Footnote 4: Another leaf of the codex Marcianus is here lacking, leaving a gap of which Zonaras and an Excerpt of de Valois supply a sixth or more.]

[Footnote 5: A conjecture of Boissevain's. The MS. has "Sardinia." (See Mnemosyne, N.S. XIII, p. 329.)]

[Footnote 6: Dio here appears to confuse the festival of Augustus's Birthday (September 23d) with that of the Augustalia proper, which was celebrated October third to twelfth. The opening of chapter 34, Book Fifty-four, might lead one to think, however, that he had accustomed himself to use the phrase "which are still celebrated" to listing the latter from the former.]

[Footnote 7: This sentence in the MS. is faulty. Oddey and Bekker supplied words for the necessary sense.]

[Footnote 8: Compare Roscher, II, column 2399.];



DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

57

The following is contained in the Fifty-seventh of Dio's Rome:

About Tiberius (chapter I ff.). How Cappadocia began to be governed by Romans (chapter 17). How Germanicus Caesar died (chapter 18). How Drusus Caesar died (chapter 22).

Duration of time, 11 years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated:

Drusus Caesar Tiberi F., C. Norbanus C. F. Flaccus (A.D. 15 = a. u. 768 = Second of Tiberius, from Aug. 19th.)

T. Statilius T. F. Sisenna Taurus, L. Scribonius L. F. Libo. (A.D. 16 = a. u. 769 = Third of Tiberius.)

C. Caecilius C. F. Nepos [or] Rufus, L. Pomponius L. F. Flaccus. (A.D. 17 = a. u. 770 = Fourth of Tiberius.)

Tib. Caesar Augusti F. (III), Germanicus Caesar Tib. F. (II). (A.D. 18 = a. u. 771 = Fifth of Tiberius.)

M. Iunius M. F. Silanus, C. Norbanus C. F. Flaccus or Balbus. (A.D. 19 = a. u. 772 = Sixth of Tiberius.)

M. Valerius M. F. Messala, M. Aurelius M. F. Cotta. (A.D. 20 = a. u. 773 = Seventh of Tiberius.)

Tib. Caesar Augusti F. (IV), Drusus Iulius Tib. F. (II). (A.D. 21 = a. u. 774 = Eighth of Tiberius.)

Decimus Haterius C. F. Agrippa, C. Sulpicius Serg. F. Galba. (A.D. 22 = a. u. 775 = Ninth of Tiberius.)

C. Asinius C. F. Pollio, C. Antistius C. F. Vetus. (A.D. 23 = a. u. 776 = Tenth of Tiberius.)

Sergius Cornelius Sergi F. Cethego, L. Visellius L. F. Varro. (A.D. 24 = a. u. 777 = Eleventh of Tiberius.)

M. [or C.] Asinius [M. or] C. F. Agrippa, Cossus Cornelius Cossi F. Lentulus. (A.D. 25 = a. u. 778 = Twelfth of Tiberius.)

(BOOK 57 BOISSEVAIN)

[A.D. 14 (a. u. 767)]

[-1-] Tiberius was a patrician of good education, but he had a most peculiar nature. He never let what he desired appear in his talk, and about what he said he wished he usually cared nothing at all. Thus his words indicated just the opposite of his real purpose: be denied any interest in what he longed for and urged the claims of what he hated. He would exhibit anger over matters that were very far from arousing his rage and made a show of affability where he was most vexed. He would pity those whom he severely punished and retain a grudge against those whom he pardoned. Sometimes he would regard his dearest foe as his nearest friend and again he would act toward his most intimate companion as if the latter were thoroughly hostile. In general, he thought it bad policy for the independent sovereign to reveal his state of mind; this was the source, he said, of great failures, but by the opposite course even more successes, and greater, were attained. If he had merely followed this method without complications, he would have had no protection against such as had come to know him; they would have taken everything by contraries and would have deemed his saying that he did not wish something to be equivalent to his ardently desiring it, and that he was eager for something equivalent to his not being concerned about it. It happened, however, that he became angry if any one gave evidence of understanding him. Many were those he put to death for no other offence than having comprehended him. It was a dangerous matter, then, to fail to understand him—for many were ruined by approving what he said instead of what he wished,—but still more dangerous to understand him. Such persons were suspected of discovering his practice and being consequently displeased with it. Practically the only sort of man that could maintain himself,—and such a person is rarely found,—was one who did not misunderstand his nature yet did not subject it to uncomfortable exposure. Under these conditions men would not be deceived by believing him nor be hated for revealing their comprehension of his policy. For he gave plenty of trouble both to any one who opposed what he said and to any one who favored it. As he was really anxious for one thing to be done but wanted to appear to desire something different, he invariably regarded those who took either side as his opponents and therefore was hostile to the one class because of his real feelings, and to the other for the sake of appearances.

[-2-] It was due to this characteristic that, as emperor, he sent a dispatch straight from Nola to the legions and provinces declaring that he was emperor. This name, which was voted him along with the rest, he would not accept, and though taking the portion of Augustus he would not adopt this title of his. At a time when he was already surrounded by the body-guards he asked the senate to help him escape suffering any violence at the burial of the emperor's body. He was afraid some men might snatch it up and burn it in the Forum, as they had that of Caesar. When somebody thereupon as a compliment voted that he be given a guard, as if he had none, he saw through the man's flattery and answered: "The soldiers are not mine but the public's." Besides doing this he administered in fact all the business of the empire, meanwhile declaring that he wanted none of it. At first he said he should give it all up on account of his age,—fifty-six,—and his near-sightedness (although he saw extremely well in the dark, his eyes in the daylight were very weak). Later he asked for some associates and colleagues, though not to take charge of the whole domain at once, as in an oligarchy, but he divided it into three parts, one of which he should retain himself and yield the remaining two to others. One of these portions consisted of Rome and the rest of Italy, the second of the legions, the third of the subject peoples outside. Though he became very urgent, most of the senators still opposed him and begged him to govern the entire realm. But Asinius Gallus, who employed the frank speech of old days more than was good for him, replied: "Choose whichever part you wish." Tiberius rejoined: "How is it feasible for the same man both to make the division and to choose?" Gallus, perceiving into what a plight he had fallen, framed his words to flatter him, interrupting to the effect that: "I not setting before you the idea of your having a third but the impossibility of the empire's being divided." In fact, however, he did not mollify Tiberius, but after first undergoing many dire sufferings was subsequently murdered. For Gallus had married the former wife of the new ruler and claimed Drusus as his son, and consequently there had been hatred between them before this.

[-3-] Tiberius acted in this way at that time chiefly because it was his nature and he had determined upon that policy, but partly also because he was suspicious of the Pannonian and Germanic legions and feared Germanicus, the ruler of the Germany of that day and a favorite of theirs. He had previously made sure of the soldiers in Italy by means of the oaths established by Augustus; but as he was suspicious of the others he waited for either possible outcome, intending to save himself by retiring to private life in case the legions should revolt and prevail. For this reason he often feigned sickness and remained at home, so as not to be compelled to say or do anything definite. I have even heard that when it began to be said that Livia against the will of Augustus had kept the empire for him, he took such action[1] that he might appear to have received it not from her (with whom he was on very bad terms), but under compulsion from the senators through surpassing them in excellence. Again I have heard that when he saw that people were cool toward him he waited and delayed in order that they in the hope of his voluntarily resigning the empire might no adopt rebellious measures until he had secured an unshakable control of the government. Still, I do not record these stories as the true causes of his delay, but rather his usual disposition and the disturbance among the soldiers. He sent some one from Nola and had Agrippa killed at once. Yet he declared this had not been done by his orders and he threatened the perpetrator of the deed. Instead of punishing him, however, he allowed men to invent versions of the affair some to the effect that Augustus had put him out of the way just before his death, others that the centurion who was guarding him slew him on his own responsibility for some revolutionary dealings, others that Livia and not Tiberius had ordered his death.

[-4-] This rival, then, he had removed from the scene immediately, but there remained Germanicus, whom he feared mightily. The soldiers in Pannonia had risen as soon as they learned of the demise of Augustus. They gathered in one fort and having strengthened it they took many steps toward rebellion. Among other things they attempted to kill their leader, Junius Blaesus, and arrested and tortured his slaves. In general, what they wanted was to have the period of service extend over not more than sixteen years, and they demanded that they should receive a denarius per day and be given at once his prizes that were in the camp. In case they did not obtain their demands they threatened to make the province revolt and to march upon Rome. Indeed, they were at this time with difficulty won over by the persuasions of Blaesus to send envoys to Tiberius at Rome in regard to these matters. For they hoped during this change in the government to accomplish the utmost of their desires either by frightening the emperor into it or by giving the power to some one else. Subsequently, when Drusus came upon them with the Pretorians, they were thrown into tumult once more because no definite answer was returned them. Some of his followers they wounded and they put a guard around him in the night to prevent his escape. Noticing, however, an eclipse of the moon occurring they felt their boldness begin to waver so that they did no further harm to this detachment and despatched envoys again to Tiberius. Meantime a great storm came up, and when on this account every one had retired to his own quarters, the most audacious soldiers were destroyed, some in one manner, some in another, by Drusus and his associates in his own tent, whither he had summoned them on some unsignifying pretext. The rest were restored to good standing on condition of surrendering for punishment those responsible for the uprising. In this way this division became quiet.

[-5-] The warriors in Germany, however, where many had been assembled on account of the war, would not hear of moderation, since they saw that Germanicus was both a Caesar and far superior to Tiberius, but proclaiming publicly the above facts they heaped abuse upon Tiberius and saluted Germanicus as emperor. When after much pleading he found himself unable to reduce them to order, finally he drew his sword as if to despatch himself. They cried out upon him in horror, and one of them proffering his own sword said: "Take this; this is sharper." Germanicus, seeing to what lengths the matter had gone, did not venture to kill himself, particularly as he had reason to believe that they would persist in their uprising none the less. Therefore he composed a letter purporting to have been sent from Tiberius, gave them twice the gift bequeathed them by Augustus,—pretending it was the emperor who did this,—and released those who were beyond the age of service. Most of them belonged to the city troops which Augustus had gathered as an extra force after the disaster to Varus. As a result, they ceased for the time being their seditious behavior. Later on came senators as envoys from Tiberius, to whom the latter had secretly communicated only so much as he wished Germanicus to know. He felt quite sure that they would tell him the emperor's plans in their entirety, and accordingly did not care that either they or Germanicus should trouble themselves about anything further; the instructions delivered were supposed to comprise everything. Now when these men had arrived and the soldiers learned about the trick Germanicus had played, a suspicion sprang up that the presence of the senators meant the overthrow of their leader's measures, and this led to new turmoil. The men-at-arms almost killed some of the envoys and to the point of seizing Germanicus's wife Agrippina (daughter of Agrippa and Julia, the daughter of Augustus) and his son, both of whom had been sent by him to some place for refuge. The boy was called Gaius Caligula because, being brought up for the most part in the camp he wore the military shoes instead of those usual at the capital. At the request of Germanicus they released to him Agrippina, who was pregnant but they retained possession of Gaius. Yet on this occasion too, as they accomplished nothing, they after a time grew quiet. In fact, they experienced such a revulsion of sentiment that of their own accord they arrested the boldest of their number: and some they killed privately, the rest they brought before a gathering; and then, according to the wish of the majority, [-6-] they executed some and released others. Germanicus being still afraid that they would make another uprising invaded the enemy's country and there spent some time, giving them plenty of work and abundant food,—the fruit of others' labor.

Thus, though he might have obtained the imperial power,—for he found favor in the sight of absolutely all the Romans as well as their subjects,—he declined the honor. For this Tiberius praised him and sent many pleasing messages both to him and to Agrippina: he was not, however, pleased with his rival's progress but feared him all the more because he had won the attachment of the legions. Tiberius assumed that he did not feel as he appeared to do, from his own consciousness of saying one thing and doing another. Hence he was suspicious of Germanicus and further suspicious of his wife, who was possessed of an ambition appropriate to her lofty lineage. Yet he displayed no sign of irritation toward them, but delivered many eulogies of Germanicus in the senate and proposed sacrifices to be offered in honor of his achievements as he did in the case of Drusus. Also he bestowed upon the soldiers in Pannonia the same privileges as Germanicus had given. For the future, however, he refused to release members of the service outside of Italy until they had served the twenty years.

[-7-] Now when no further news of a revolutionary nature came, but all parts of the Roman world began to yield a steady acquiescence to his leadership, he no longer practiced dissimulation regarding the acceptance of sovereign power, and managed the empire, so long as Germanicus lived, in the way I am about to describe. He did little or nothing, that is, on his own responsibility, but brought even the smallest matters before the senate and communicated them to that body. In the Forum a platform had been erected on which he sat in public to transact business, and he always gathered about him advisers, after the manner of Augustus. Moreover, he did not take any step of consequence without making it known to the rest. He stated his own opinion openly and not only granted every one the right to oppose it freely in speech, but sometimes even endured to have some vote directly against it. Often he would cast a vote himself. Drusus did this, like the rest, now voting first and again after some others. The emperor would sometimes remain silent and sometimes give his opinion first, or after a few others, or even last; in some cases he would speak out directly, but generally (to avoid appearing to have cut short their freedom of speech), he would say: "If I were to give my views I should propose this or that." This had equal influence with the other method, only those who came after were not prevented by him from stating what appeared good to them. But frequently he would outline one plan and those who came after him would prefer something different; occasionally they even prevailed. Yet for all that he harbored anger against no one. He held court himself, as I have stated, but he also attended the magistrates' courts, both when summoned by them and without an invitation. These officials he allowed to sit in their own places: he himself took his seat on the bench located opposite them and as presiding officer made any remarks that seemed to him pertinent.

[-8-] In all other matters, too, he behaved in this same way. He would not allow himself to be called "master" by the freedmen, nor "imperator" except by the soldiers; the title of Pater Patriae he put away from him entirely: that of Augustus he did not assume (for he never permitted the question to be put to vote), but endured to hear it spoken and to read it when written. Moreover, when he sent messages to any kings he would regularly include this title in his letter. In general he spoke of himself as Caesar, sometimes as Germanicus (from the exploits of Germanicus), and Princeps Senatus, according to ancient usage. Often he used to say: "My position is that of master of the slaves, imperator of the soldiers, and first citizen among the rest." He would pray, whenever it happened that he was so engaged, that he might live and rule so long a time as should be to the advantage of the public. And he was so democratic in all circumstances alike that on his birthday he did not permit any unusual demonstrations, and he did not give people the right to swear by his Fortune nor did he prosecute any one who after swearing by it incurred the charge of perjury. In short, he would not (at first, at least) sanction in his own case the carrying out of the custom which has obtained as a matter of course on the first day of the year, down to the present, in honor of Augustus, of all rulers that came after him of whom we make any account, and of such as nowadays succeed to imperial privileges,—namely, the ratification under oath of what they have done and of what they shall do by citizens alive during the particular year in question. Yet in the case of the measures of Augustus he both administered the oath to others and took it himself. In order to render his attitude more striking, he would let the first day of the month go by, not entering the senate nor showing himself at all in the City on that day, but spending the time in some suburb; then later he would come in and take pledges separately. This was part of the reason that he remained somewhere outside on the first days of the month, but he was also anxious to avoid disturbing any of the inhabitants, who were concerned with the new offices and the festival, and to avoid taking money from them. He did not even commend Augustus for his behavior in this respect because it brought about great dissatisfaction and a great expenditure in order to return favors. [-9-] Not only in this way were his actions democratic, but no precinct was set apart for him either by his own choice or in any other way,—that is to say at this time. Nor was any one allowed to set up an image of him. Without delay he expressly forbade any city or individual to do this. To this refusal he attached the phrase "unless I grant permission "; but he added: "I will not grant it." Least of all did he assume to have been insulted or to have been impiously treated by any one. (Men were already calling such a procedure impiety, and were bringing many suits based on that ground.) He would not hear of any such indictment being brought for his own benefit, though he paid tribute to the majesty of Augustus in this matter also. At first he would not punish even such as had incurred charges for their actions in regard to his predecessor, and some against whom complaint was made of their having perjured themselves by the Fortune of Augustus he released. As time went on, however, he put a very great number to death.

[-10-] Not only did he magnify Augustus as above stated, but in giving the finishing touches to the buildings of which Augustus had laid the foundations (though not bringing them to completion) he inscribed the first emperor's name; the latter's statues and heroae, likewise, whether those that the provinces or those that individuals were erecting he partly consecrated himself and partly assigned to some member of the pontifices. This plan of inscribing the builder's name he carried out not only in the case of the actual monuments of Augustus himself, but equally in the case of all such as needed any repair. He put in good condition all buildings that had fallen to decay (not constructing anything new at all himself, except the temple of Augustus), and appropriated none of them, but restored to all of them the same names, names of the original builders. While expending extremely little for himself he laid out very great sums for the common good, either building over or adorning practically all the public works. He assisted many cities and individuals and enriched numerous senators who were poor and on that account were no longer willing to be members of the senate. However, he did not do this promiscuously and even expunged the names of some for licentiousness and of others for poverty when they could give no adequate reason for it. Every gift that was bestowed upon any persons was counted out directly in his presence. For since in the days of Augustus the officials who made the presentation were wont to deduct large sums for their own use, he took the greatest care that this should not happen during his reign. All the expenditures, moreover, he made from the regular sources of income. He killed no one for his money, did not confiscate (at this time) any one's property, nor collect any funds by abuses. Indeed, when Aemilius Rectus once sent him from Egypt, of which he was governor, more money than was required, he sent him a message, saying: "To shear my sheep and not to shave them to the skin is what I desire."

[-11-] Furthermore he was extremely easy of access and ready to grant an audience. The senators he bade greet him all at once and so avoid jostling one another. In fine, he showed himself so considerate that once, when the leaders of the Rhodians sent him some communication and failed to write at the foot of the letter this customary formula about offering their prayers for his welfare, he summoned them in haste as if he intended to do them some harm, but on their arrival instead of administering any serious rebuke had them subscribe what was lacking and then sent them away. The temporary officials he honored as he would have done in a democracy, even rising from his seat at the approach of the consuls. Whenever he entertained them at dinner he would in the first place receive them at the door when they entered, and secondly escort them on their way when they departed. In case he was at any time being carried anywhere in his litter, he would not allow even one of the knights who was prominent to accompany him, still less a senator. On the occasion of festivals or so often as anything similar was going to afford the people leisure, he would go the evening before to one of the Caesarians who lived near the places where there was sure to be a large crowd and there pass the night. His object was to make it possible for the people to meet him with a minimum of formality and fatigue. The equestrian contests he would often watch in person from the house of some freedman. He attended the spectacles very frequently in order to do honor to those who gave them as well as to ensure the orderliness of the multitude and to seem to take an interest in their celebration. Really he did not care in the least about anything of the kind, nor did he have the reputation of being enthusiastic in these matters. In every way he was so fair and equal that when the populace once desired that a certain dancer be set free he would not approve the proposal until the man's master had been persuaded and received the value of his chattel. His intercourse with his companions was like that between private individuals: he helped them when they were sued and joined them in the ceremony of sacrifice; he visited them when they were sick, taking no guard into the room with him; over one of them who died he himself delivered the funeral oration.

[-12-] Moreover, he bade his mother behave in a similar manner, so far as it was proper for her to do so, partly that she might imitate him and partly to prevent her becoming overproud. She occupied a position of great prominence, far above all women of former time, so that she could at any time receive the senate and such of the people as so wished to greet her in her house. This was also inscribed in the public records. The letters of Tiberius bore for a time her name also and were written by both with equal authority. Except that she never ventured to enter the senate or the camps or the public assemblies she undertook to man age everything like a sole ruler. In the time of Augustus she had had great influence and she declared that it was she who made Tiberius emperor. Consequently she was not satisfied to rule on equal terms with him, but wished to assert a superiority over him. In this way many measures out of the ordinary were introduced and many persons voted that she should be called Mother of her Country, many others that she should he termed Parent. Others proposed that Tiberius should receive his name from her, that just as the Greeks were called by their father's name so he should be called by his mother's. This vexed him and he neither ratified the honors voted her (save a very few) nor allowed her any further unusual freedom of action. For instance, she had once dedicated in her house an image to Augustus and in honor of the event wished to entertain the senate and the knights together with their wives, but he would not grant her permission to carry out any part of this program until the senate had voted it, and not even then to receive the men at dinner. Instead, he entertained the latter and she attended to the women. Finally, he removed her entirely from the public sphere, allowing her to direct affairs within doors; then, as she was troublesome even in this capacity, he proceeded to absent himself from the City and avoided her in every way possible. It was chiefly on her account that he removed to Capreae.—This is the tradition that obtains about Livia.

[-13-] Now Tiberius began to treat more harshly those accused of any crime and became at enmity with his son Drusus, who was most licentious and cruel (as is evidenced by the fact that the sharpest kind of swords was called Drusian after him); him he often censured both privately and publicly. Once he said to him outright in the Presence of many witnesses: "While I live you shall perform no act of violence or insolence, and if you venture to do any such thing, you shall be cut off from the possibility after I am dead." For during some time the emperor continued to live a very temperate life and allowed no one else to indulge in licentiousness but punished numbers for it. Yet once when the senators evinced a desire to have a penalty imposed by law upon those guilty of lewd living he would make no such ruling, explaining that it is better to correct them privately in some way or other instead of laying them open to a public punishment. Under existing conditions, he said, there was a chance of bringing some of them to moderation through fear of disgrace, and they might endeavor to escape discovery; but if the law should once be overcome by nature, no one would pay any further heed to it. Not a few men also were wearing quantities of purple clothing (though this had formerly been forbidden); of these no one was either rebuked or fined: but when a rain came up on a certain festival the emperor put on a dark woolen cloak. After this none of them dared any longer to assume any different kind of garb.

This is the way he behaved under all conditions so long as Germanicus lived. Subsequent to that event he changed many of his ways. Perhaps he had been minded from the first as he later appeared to feel, and had been merely shamming as long as Germanicus existed because he saw that he was lying in wait for the leadership; or perhaps he was excellent by nature but drifted into vice when he was deprived of his rival. [-14-] I shall notice also separate events,—all those, at least that deserve mention,—each in its proper place.

[A.D. 15 (a. u. 768)]

In the consulship of Drusus his son and of Gaius Norbanus he presented to the people the bequests made by Augustus: this was after some one had approached a corpse that was being carried out through the Forum for burial and bending down had whispered something in its ear; when the spectators asked what he had said, he stated that he had commissioned the dead to tell Augustus that they had got nothing as yet. This man the emperor immediately despatched, in order (as he jokingly said) that he might carry his own message to Augustus; with the rest he settled after a little, distributing sixty-five denarii apiece. Some say this payment was made the previous year.

At this time certain knights desired to enter a championship contest in the games which Drusus had arranged for his own celebration and that of Germanicus; Tiberius did not view their combat, and when one of them was killed he forbade the other to fight as a gladiator again. Still other conflicts took place in connection with the horse-race that was in honor of Augustus's birthday; indeed, a few beasts were slain. So things went on for a number of years.

At this time, too, Crete, its governor being dead, was attached to the quaestorship and to the quaestor's assistant for the future. Since, also, many of those to whom the provinces had been allotted lingered in Rome and in the remainder of Italy for a long time, so that those who had held the office before them delayed, contrary to precedent, Tiberius commanded that they should take their departure by the first day of June. Meanwhile his grandson by Drusus died, but he neglected none of his customary duties; it was his settled conviction that a governor of men ought not to give up care of the common weal by reason of private misfortunes, and he confirmed the rest in their purpose not to jeopardize the interests of the living because of the dead.

The river Tiber now proceeded to occupy a large portion of the City, so that there was an inundation. Most people regarded this also as a prodigy, like the great earthquakes which shook down a portion of the wall, and like the frequent fall of thunderbolts, which made wine leak even from pails that were sound. The emperor, however, thinking that it was due to the great number of springs, appointed five senators, chosen by lot, to constitute a permanent board to look after the river, to the end that it should not give out in summer nor become over full in winter, but flow evenly so far as possible all the time. These were the measures of Tiberius.

As for Drusus, he performed the duties pertaining to the consulship along with his colleague as any private citizen might have done. Being left heir to someone's estate he assisted in carrying out the funeral. Yet he was so prone to anger that he inflicted blows upon a distinguished knight, and for this exploit he obtained the surname of Castor. [2] And he showed himself such a hard drinker that one night, when he was forced to lend aid with the Pretorians to some people whose property was on fire, he commanded, at their request for water, to pour it out hot for them. He was so fond of dancers that this class raised a tumult and would not be brought to order by the laws which Tiberius had introduced to apply to them.

[A.D. 16 (a. u. 769)]

[-15-] These were the events of that period. Now when Statilius Taurus was consul with Lucius Libo, Tiberius forbade any man to wear silk clothing and likewise to use gold ornaments, except for sacred ceremonies. As some were at a loss to know whether it were forbidden them also to possess silver ornaments which had some gold inlaid, he wished to issue some decree about this too, but he refused to let the word emblaema, since it was a Greek term, be inserted in the original document. Yet he could find no native word that would describe such inlaid work.

This was the position he took in that matter. Now there was a centurion who wished to give some evidence before the senate in Greek, and he would not allow it. Yet he was wont to hear many suits that were argued there in that language and to investigate many himself. Besides his unusual behavior in this respect he failed to pass sentence on Lucius Scribonius Libo, a young noble suspected of revolutionary designs, so long as the latter was well; but upon his falling sick he had him brought into the senate in a covered litter (such as the wives of senators use) to be condemned to death.

A slight delay ensued and Libo committed suicide, whereupon the emperor passed judgment upon his behavior, though he was dead, gave his money to the accusers, and had sacrifices voted for his overthrow, not only for his own sake, but for the sake of Augustus and of the latter's father Julius, as had occasionally been decreed in past times.

Though he took such action in the case of this man, he administered no rebuke at all to Vibius Rufus, who used Caesar's chair (the one on which the latter was always accustomed to sit and on which he was slain). Rufus did this regularly, besides having Cicero's wife as his consort, and prided himself on both achievements, evidently thinking that he would become an orator by means of the wife or a Caesar by means of the chair. For this, as I have stated, he received no censure; indeed, he became consul.

Tiberius was, moreover, forever in the company of Thrasyllus and made some use of the mantic art every day, becoming himself so proficient in the study that when he was once bidden in a dream to give money to a certain person, he comprehended that a deceitful spirit had been called up before him and he put the man to death. Likewise, in the case of all the rest of the astrologers and magicians and those who practiced divination in any other way whatever, he had the foreigners executed and banished all such citizens as still at that time after the previous decree, by which it had been forbidden to engage in any such business in the City, were accused in court of employing the art.

To such of them as obeyed immunity had been granted. In fact, all the citizens would have been acquitted even contrary to his wish, had not a certain tribune prevented it. Here one could catch a glimpse of the democratic constitution, inasmuch as the senate, approving the course of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, overcame Drusus and Tiberius and was itself subdued by the tribune.

[-16-] These affairs were settled in this way. Certain men who had been quaestors the previous year were sent out to the provinces, since those who were quaestors at the time proved too few for them. This was done again and again, as often as it was found necessary.

Many of the public documents had either perished utterly or had faded during the lapse of time. Three senators were therefore elected to copy off what was extant and to look up the rest.—Assistance was given in several conflagrations not only by Tiberius but also by Livia.

The same year a certain Clemens, who had been a slave of Agrippa and resembled him to a certain extent, pretended to be he. He went to Gaul and won the attachment of many there, and later of many in Italy. Finally he marched upon Rome with the avowed intention of recovering the dominion of his grandfather. Many of the inhabitants of the city were thrown into confusion at this, and not a few joined his cause. Tiberius, however, got him in his hands by a clever device and through the agency of certain persons who pretended to sympathize with the upstart. Then he tortured the prisoner in order to learn something about his fellow conspirators, but when the victim uttered not a word the emperor asked him:" How did you get to be Agrippa?" And he replied: "In the same way as you got to be Caesar."

[A.D. 17 (a. u. 770)]

[-17-] The following year Gaius Caecilius and Lucius Flaccus received the title of consuls. And when some brought Tiberius money after the first of the month, he would not accept it and published a kind of document regarding this very point, in which he used a word that was not Latin. After thinking it over by night he sent for all those who had accurate knowledge of such matters, for he was extremely anxious to have his diction irreproachable. Thereupon a certain Ateius Capito declared: "Even if no one has previously used this expression, yet because of you we shall all enumerate it among the primitive usages," but was interrupted by one Marcellus,[3] who said: "You, being Caesar, can extend Roman government over men, but not over words." And the emperor did the man no harm for this, in spite of the excessive frankness of his speech.

He had a grudge, however, against Archelaus. the king of Cappadocia, because the latter had first become his suppliant to the extent of employing him as advocate when this monarch in the time of Augustus had been accused by his people, and had subsequently slighted him on the occasion of a visit to Rhodes, but had paid court to Gaius, who also went to Asia. Therefore he summoned him on the charge of rebellious behavior and delivered him up to the votes of the senate. (The king was not only well stricken in years, but a great sufferer from gout, and was moreover believed to be demented.) As a matter of fact he had been incommoded previously by loss of mind to the extent of having a guardian placed over his domain by Augustus; but at that time he was no longer weak-witted and was merely feigning, in the hope of saving himself by this expedient if by no other. He would now have been executed, had not some one in testifying against him stated that he had once said: "When I get back home, I will show him what sort of sinews I possess." A shout of laughter went up at this, for the man was not only unable to stand, but could not even assume a sitting posture, and so Tiberius gave up his plan of putting him to death. The condition of the prince was so serious that he was carried into the senate in a covered litter. For since it was customary even for men, whenever one of them came there feeling ill, to be carried in a reclining position, Tiberius took advantage of the method on this occasion, too. (And the invalid spoke a few words, bending forward from the litter.) So it was that the life of Archelaus was temporarily saved, but he died shortly afterward in some other way. After this Cappadocia reverted to the Romans and was put in charge of a knight.

To the cities in Asia which had been damaged by the earthquake an ex-praetor was assigned with five lictors. Considerable money therefore was diverted from the revenues and considerable was given by Tiberius personally. For whereas he refrained scrupulously from the possessions of others,—so long at least as he practiced virtue at all,—and would not even accept the inheritances which were left to him by testators having relatives, he spent vast sums both upon the cities and upon private individuals. He would not hear of any honor or praise for these acts.—Embassies that came from foreign cities or nations he never dealt with alone, but caused a number of others to participate in the deliberations, and especially such as had once governed these peoples.

[-18-] Now Germanicus, having acquired a reputation for his campaign against the Celtae, advanced as far as the ocean, inflicted an overwhelming defeat upon the barbarians, collected and buried the bones of those who had fallen under Varus, and won back the military standards.

His wife Julia was not recalled from the banishment to which for unchastity her father Augustus had condemned her; nay, he even put her under lock and key till wretchedness and starvation caused her death.

[A.D. 17 or 18]

The senate urged upon Tiberius the request that the month of November, on the sixteenth of which he had been born, should be called Tiberius; to which he responded: "What will you do, if there arise thirteen Caesars?"

[A.D. 19 (a. u. 772)]

Later, when Marcus Junius and Lucius Norbanus came to office, a portent of some magnitude occurred on the very first day of the month, and it doubtless had a bearing on the fate of Germanicus. Norbanus the consul had always been devoted to the trumpet, and as he had practiced assiduously in this pursuit he wished on this occasion also to play the instrument just about dawn, when many persons were already near his house This proceeding threw them all without exception into confusion, just as if the consul had imparted to them some warlike signal; and they were also disturbed by the falling of the statue of Janus. Their calm was further ruffled by an oracle, reputed to be a Sibylline utterance, which would not fit any other period of the city's history, but pointed to that very time. It declared:

"After thrice three hundred revolving years have been numbered, Civil strife shall consume the Romans,—and the Sybaritan Folly." ...

Tiberius denounced these verses as false and made an investigation of all the books containing any prophecies. Some he rejected as worthless and others he admitted as genuine.

As there had been a large influx of Jews into Rome and they were converting many of the native inhabitants to their principles he expelled the great majority of them.

At the death of Germanicus Tiberius and Livia were thoroughly pleased, but everybody else was mightily afflicted. He was a man who possessed the most striking physical beauty and likewise the noblest of spirits. Both in education and in strength he was conspicuous [and whereas he was the bravest of the brave against the enemy, he was the mildest of the mild to his friend. Though as a Caesar he had extreme power he kept his ambitions on the same plane as weaker men. He in no wise conducted himself oppressively toward his subjects] or with jealousy toward Drusus or in any way to deserve censure toward Tiberius. [In brief, he belonged to the few men of all time who have neither sinned against the fortune allotted to them nor been destroyed by it.]

Although on several occasions he might [with the free consent not only of the soldiers but of the people and senate as well] have obtained the imperial power, he refused to do so. His death occurred in Antioch as the result of a plot formed by Piso and Plancina. Bones of men buried in the house where he dwelt and sheets of lead containing certain curses along with his name were found while he yet breathed.

[A.D. 20 (a u. 773)]

Piso was brought before the senate by Tiberius himself on the charge of having murdered Germanicus, but succeeded in securing a postponement and committed suicide.

Germanicus left three sons, whom Augustus in his testament denominated Caesars. The eldest of these, Nero, at that time had his name placed among the number of the iuvenes.

[-19-] Tiberius, who had hitherto been the author of manifold meritorious works and had made but few errors, now, when he ceased to have a rival in view, changed to precisely the reverse of his previous conduct, which had included many excellent deeds. Among other ways in which his rule became cruel he pushed to the bitter end the trials for maiestas, in cases where complaint was made against any one for committing any improper act or uttering any improper speech not only against Augustus but against Tiberius personally and against his mother.

And towards those suspected of plotting against him he was inexorable.

Tiberius was stern in his chastisement of persons accused of an offence. He would remark as follows: "Nobody willingly submits to be ruled, but a man is driven into it reluctantly. Not only do subjects like to refuse obedience, but, more than that, they enjoy plotting against their rulers. And he would accept accusers indiscriminately: a slave might denounce a master or a son a father.

Indeed, by indicating to certain persons his wish for the death of certain others he brought about the destruction of the latter through the medium of the former, and there was no secrecy about these transactions.

Not only were slaves tortured to make them testify against their own masters, but freedmen and citizens as well. Such as accused or offered testimony against persons divided by lot the property of those convicted and received in addition both offices and honors. In the case of many he took care to ascertain the day and the hour that they had been born and on the basis of their character and fortune thus investigated would put them to death. If he discovered any qualities of haughtiness and aspiration to power in any one, he despatched him whether or no. Yet so much did he investigate and understand what was fated for each of the prominent men that on meeting Galba (subsequently emperor), when the latter had betrothed a wife, he remarked: "You also shall taste of the sovereignty." He spared him, as I conjecture, because this was settled as his fate; but, as he explained it himself, because Galba would reign only in old age and long after his death.

[Tiberius also found some pretexts for assassinations. The death of Germanicus led to the destruction of many others on the ground that they were pleased at it.]

The man who cooeperated with him and helped him in all his undertakings with the utmost zeal was Lucius Aelius Sejanus, a son of Strabo, and formerly a favorite of Marcus Gabius Apicius,—that Apicius who so surpassed all mankind in voluptuous living that when he had once desired to learn how much he had already spent and how much he still had, on finding that two hundred and fifty myriads were left him became grief-stricken, feeling that he was destined to die of hunger, and took his own life. This Sejanus, accordingly, at one time shared his father's command of the Pretorians. After his father had been sent to Egypt, and he obtained entire control, he made the force more compact in many ways, gathering within one fortification the cohorts, which had been separate and apart from one another like those of the night guardsmen. In this way the entire body could receive the orders speedily and they were a source of terror to all, because they were within one fortification. This was the man whom Tiberius, because of the similarity of their characters, took as his helper, elevating him to praetorial honors, which had never yet been accorded to any of his peers; and he made him his adviser and assistant in all matters. [In fine, he changed so much after the death of Germanicus that whereas previously he was highly praised, he now attracted even greater wonder.]

[A.D.21 (a. u. 774)]

[-20-] When Tiberius began to hold the consular office in company with Drusus, men immediately began to prophecy destruction for Drusus from this very circumstance. For there is not a man who was ever consul with Tiberius that did not meet a violent death, but in the first place there was Quintilius Varus, and next Gnaeus Piso, and then Germanicus himself, who perished violently and miserably. The emperor was evidently doomed to cause such ruin throughout his life: Drusus, his colleague at this time, and Sejanus, who subsequently participated in the office, also came to grief.

While Tiberius was out of town, Gaius Lutorius Priscus,[4] a knight, who took great pride in his poetic talents and had composed a notable funeral oration over Germanicus for which he had received considerable money, was charged with having composed a poem upon Drusus also, during the latter's illness. For this he was tried in the senate, condemned and put to death. Now Tiberius was vexed, not because the man had been punished, but because the senators had inflicted death upon any one without his approval. He therefore rebuked them and ordered a decree to be issued to the effect that no person condemned by them be executed within ten days, nor the document applying to his case be made public before the same time. This was to ensure the possibility of his learning their decrees in advance even while absent and of rendering a final decision on such matters.

[A.D. 22 (a. u. 775)]

[-21-] After this, when his consulship had expired, he came to Rome and prevented the consuls from acting as advocates to certain persons by saying: "If I were consul, I should not do this."

One of the praetors was accused of having uttered some impious word or having committed some impious act against him, whereupon the man left the senate and taking off his robe of office returned, demanding as a private citizen to have the complaint lodged at once. At this the emperor showed great grief and molested him no further.

[A.D. 23 (a. u. 776)]

The dancers he drove out of Rome and would allow them no place in which to practice their profession, because they kept debauching the women and stirring up tumults.

He honored many men, and numbers of those who died, with statues and public funerals. A bronze statue of Sejanus was erected in the theatre during the life of the model. As a result, numerous images of this minister were made by many persons and many encomiuma were spoken both in the assembly and in the senate. The consuls themselves, besides the other prominent citizens, regularly had recourse to his house just at dawn, and communicated to him both all the private requests that any of them wished to make of Tiberius and the public business which had to be taken up. In brief, henceforth nothing of the kind was considered without his knowledge.

About this time one of the largest porticos in Rome began to lean to one side and was set upright in a remarkable way by a certain architect whose name no one knows, because Tiberius, jealous of his wonderful achievement, would not permit it to be entered in the records. This architect, accordingly, however he was called after strengthening the foundations all about, so that they could not move out of position, and surrounding all the rest of the arcade with thick fleeces and cloths, ran ropes all over it and through it and by the pushing of many men and machines brought it once more into its previous position. At the time Tiberius both admired him and felt envious of him; for the former reason he honored him with a present of money and for the latter he expelled him from the city. Later, the exile approached him to make supplication during the course of which he purposely let fall a crystal goblet, which fell apart somehow or was broken, and then by passing his hands over it showed it straightway intact; for this the suppliant hoped to have obtained pardon, but instead the emperor put him to death.

[-22-] Drusus, son of Tiberius, perished by poison. Sejanus, puffed up by power and rank, in addition to his other overweening behavior finally turned against Drusus and once struck him a blow with his fist. As this gave the assailant reason to fear both Drusus and Tiberius, and inasmuch as he felt sure that, if he could get the young man out of the way, he could handle the elder very easily, he administered poison to the former through the agency of those in attendance upon him and of Drusus's wife, whom some name Livilla. [5] Sejanus was her paramour.—The guilt was imputed to Tiberius because he altered none of his accustomed habits either during the illness of Drusus or at his death and would not allow others to alter theirs. But the story is not credible. This was his regular behavior, as a matter of principle, in every case alike, and furthermore he was attached to his son, the only one he had and legitimate. Those that engineered his death he punished, some at once and some later. At the time he entered the senate, delivered the appropriate eulogy over his child, and departed homeward.

Thus perished Sejanus's victim. Tiberius took his way to the senate-house, where he lamented him publicly, put Nero and Drusus (children of Germanicus) in charge of the senate, and exposed the body of Drusus upon the rostra; and Nero, being his son-in-law, pronounced an eulogy over him. This man's death proved a cause of death to many persons, who were taxed with being pleased at his demise. Among the large number of people who lost their lives was Agrippina, together with her children, the youngest excepted. Sejanus had incensed Tiberius greatly against her, anticipating that, when she and her children were disposed of, he might have for his spouse Livia, wife of Drusus, for whom he entertained a passion, and might wield supreme power, since no successor would be found for Tiberius. The latter detested his nephew as a bastard. Many others also did he banish or destroy for different and ever different causes, for the most part fictitious.

Tiberius forbade those debarred from fire and water to make any will,—a custom still observed. AElius Saturninus he brought before the senate for trial on the charge of having recited some improper verses about him, and the culprit having been found guilty was hurled from the Capitol. [-23-]I might narrate many other such occurrences, if I were to go into all in detail. But the general statement may suffice that many were slain by him for such offences. And also this,—that he investigated carefully, case by case, all the slighting remarks that any persons were accused of uttering against him and then called himself all the ill names that other men invented. Even if a person made some statement secretly and to a single companion, he would publish this too, and actually had it entered on the official records. Often he falsely added, from his own consciousness of defects, what no one had even said as really spoken, in order that it might be thought he had juster cause for his wrath. Consequently it came to pass that he himself committed against himself all those outrages for which he was wont to chastise other people on the ground of impiety; and he likewise became subject to no little ridicule. For, if persons denied having spoken certain phrases, he, by asserting and taking oath that it had been said, wronged himself with greater show of reality. For this reason some suspected that he was bereft of his senses. Yet he was not generally believed to be insane simply for this behavior. All other business he managed in a way quite beyond criticism. For instance, he appointed a guardian over a certain senator that lived licentiously, as he might have done for a child. Again, he brought Capito, procurator of Asia, before the senate, and, after charging him with using soldiers and acting in some other ways as if he had supreme command, he banished him. In those days officials administering the imperial funds were allowed to do nothing more than to levy the customary tribute, and they were compelled, in the case of disputes, to stand trial in the Forum and according to the laws, on an equal footing with private persons.—So great were the contrasts in Tiberius's conduct.

[A.D. 24 (a. u. 777)]

[-24-] When the ten years of his office had expired, he did not ask any vote for its resumption, for he had no wish to receive it piecemeal, as Augustus had done. The decennial festival, however, was held.

[A.D. 25 (a. u. 778)]

Cremutius Cordus was forced to lay violent hands upon himself, because he had come into collision with Sejanus. He was at the gates of old age and had lived most irreproachably, so much so that no sufficient complaint could be found against him and he was tried for the history which he had long before composed regarding the deeds of Augustus and the latter himself had read. The ground of censure was that he had praised Cassius and Brutus and had attacked the people and the senate. Of Caesar and Augustus he had spoken no ill, but at the same time had shown no excessive respect for them. This was the complaint against him, and this it was that caused his death as well as the burning of his works,—those found in the city at this time being destroyed by the aediles, and those abroad by the officials of each place. Later they were published again, for his daughter Marcia in particular, as well as others, had hidden copies, and they attracted much greater attention by reason of the unhappy end of Cordus.

About this time Tiberius exhibited to the senators his pretorian cohort in the act of exercising, as if they were ignorant of his power; his purpose was to make them more afraid of him, when they saw his defenders so many and so strong.

Besides these events of the time that seem worthy to chronicle in a history, the people of Cyzicus were once more deprived of their freedom because they had imprisoned certain Romans and because they had not completed the herouem to Augustus that they had begun to build.—And the emperor would certainly have put to death the man who sold the emperor's statue along with his house and was brought to trial for the act, had not the consul asked the ruler himself to give his vote first. Being ashamed to appear partial to himself, he cast his ballot for acquittal.

Also a senator, Lentulus, an excellent man naturally and now far advanced in old age, was accused by some one of having plotted against the emperor. Lentulus was present and burst out laughing. At this an uproar arose in the senate, which was calmed by Tiberius saying: "I am no longer worthy to live, if Lentulus, too, hates me."

[Footnote 1: Reading [Greek: epratten] (Boissevain) in place of the MS. [Greek: eplatten].]

[Footnote: 2: This was the name of a celebrated gladiator of the time. (Compare Horace, Epistles, I, 18, 19.)]

[Footnote 3: This is M. Pomponius Marcellus.]

[Footnote 4: Reported elsewhere as Clutorius or Cluturius Priscus. The error may probably be referred to Dio as well as to Xiphilus, through whom this particular chapter comes. (See Dessau, Prosop. Imp. Rom., I, p.425)]

[Footnote 5: The version of Zonaras says: "whom some record as Julia, others as Livia." Inscriptions give her name as either Claudia Livia or Livilla. From these two pieces of evidence Boissevain with customary acumen concludes that Dio's original words were probably: "whom some name Livilla, and others Livia."]



DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

58

Tiberius withdraws to Capreae: Sabinus loses his life through the treachery of Latiarius (chapter 1).

About the death of Livia (chapter 2).

Gallus is condemned to consume away by a slow death (chapter 3).

Sejanus, puffed up by excessive honors, is put to death together with his household and friends by the artifice of Tiberius (chapters 4-19).

The method of selecting magistrates and of holding comitia (chapter 20).

The lustfulness of Tiberius, his cruelty towards his own family and others, and likewise his greed (chapters 21-25).

About Artabanus, the Parthian King, and about Armenia (chapter 26).

About the death of Thrasyllus (chapter 27).

About the death of Tiberius (chapter 28).

DURATION OF TIME.

Cn. Lentulus Gaetulicus, C. Calvisius Sabinus. (A.D. 26 = a. u. 779 = Thirteenth of Tiberius, from Aug. 19th.)

M. Licinius Crassus, L. Calpurnius Piso. (A.D. 27 = a. u. 780 = Fourteenth of Tiberius.)

App. Iunius Silanus, P. Silius Nerva. (A.D. 28 = a. u. 781 = Fifteenth of Tiberius.)

L. Rubellius Geminus, C. Fufius Geminus. (A.D. 29 = a. u. 782 = Sixteenth of Tiberius.)

M. Vinicius Quartinus, L. Cassius Longinus. (A.D. 30 = a. u. 783 = Seventeenth of Tiberius.)

Tiberius Aug. (V), L. AElius Seianus. (A.D. 31 = a. u. 784 = Eighteenth of Tiberius.)

Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, Furius Camillus Scribonianus. (A.D. 32 = a. u. 785 = Nineteenth of Tiberius.)

Serv. Sulpicius Galba, L. Cornelius Sulla, (A.D. 33 = a. u. 786 = Twentieth of Tiberius.)

L. Vitellius, Paulus Fabius Persicus. (A.D. 34 = a. u. 787 = Twenty-first of Tiberius.)

C. Cestius Gallus, M. Servilius Nonianus. (A.D. 35 = a. u. 788 = Twenty-second of Tiberius.)

Sex. Papinius, Q. Plautius. (A.D. 36 = a. u. 789 = Twenty-third of Tiberius.)

Cn. Acerronius Proculus, C. Pontius Nigrinus. (A.D. 37 = a. u. 790 = Twenty-fourth of Tiberius, to March 26th.)

(BOOK 57, BOISSEVAIN.)

[A.D. 26 (a. u. 779)]

[-1-] He went away about this time from Rome and never returned to the city at all, though he was ever on the point of doing so and kept sending messages to that effect.

[A.D. 27 (a. u. 780)]

Much calamity could be laid by the Romans at his door, since he wasted the lives of men alike for public service and for private whim, as when he decided to expel the hunting spectacles from the city. Consequently some persons attempted to carry them on in the country outside and perished in the ruins of their theatres, which had been loosely constructed of rude planks.

[A.D. 28 (a. u. 781)]

It was now, too, that a certain Latiarius, a companion of Sabinus (one of the most prominent men at Rome) and also in favor with Sejanus, concealed senators in the ceiling of the apartment where his friend lived and led Sabinus into conversation. By throwing out some of his usual remarks he induced the other also to speak out freely all that he had in his mind. It is the practice of such as wish to play the sycophant to take the lead in some kind of abuse and to disclose some secret, intending that their victim either for listening to them or for saying something similar may find himself liable to indictment. To the sycophants, since they do it with a purpose, freedom of speech involves no danger. They are regarded as speaking so not because their words express their real sentiments but because they wish to convict others. Their victims, however, are punished for the smallest syllable out of the ordinary that they may utter. This also happened in the present case. Sabinus was put in prison that very day and subsequently perished without trial. His body was flung down the Scalae Gemoniae and cast into the river. The affair was made more tragic by the behavior of a dog of Sabinus that went with him to his cell, was by him at his death, and at the end was thrown into the river with him.—Such was the nature of this event.

[Sidenote: A.D. 29 (a. u. 782)]

[-2-] During this same period Livia also passed away at the age of eighty-six. Tiberius paid her no visits while she was ill and did not personally attend to her laying out. In fact, he made no arrangements at all in her honor save the public funeral and images and some other small matters of no importance. As for her being deified, he forbade that absolutely. The senate, however, did not content itself with voting merely the measures which he had ordained, but enjoined upon the women mourning for her during the entire year, although it approved the course of Tiberius in not abandoning even at this time the conduct of public business. Furthermore they voted her an arch (as had never been done in the case of any other woman), because she had preserved not a few of them, had reared many children belonging to citizens, and had helped find husbands for numerous girls,—for all of which acts some called her Mother of her Country. She was buried in the mausoleum of Augustus.

Tiberius would not pay a single one of her bequests to anybody.

Among the many excellent utterances of hers that are related is one concerned with the occasion when some men that were naked met her and on that account fell under sentence of execution; she saved their lives by saying that to chaste women such persons were no whit different from statues. When some one asked her how and by what course of action she had obtained such an influence over Augustus, she answered that it was by being scrupulously chaste herself, doing willingly whatever pleased him, not meddling with any of his business, and particularly by pretending neither to hear of nor notice the favorites that were the objects of his passion. Such was the character of Livia. The arch voted to her, however, was not built for the reason that Tiberius promised to construct it at his own expense. For, as he disliked to annul the decree by direct command, he made it void in this way, by not allowing the work to be undertaken out of the public funds nor attending to it himself.

[A.D. 29 or 30]

Sejanus was rising to still greater heights. It was voted that his birthday should be publicly observed, and the mass of statues which the senate and the equestrian order, the tribes and the foremost citizens set up, would have passed any one's power to count. Separate envoys were sent to both these "rulers" by the senate as well as the knights and also by the people, who selected them from their own tribunes and aediles. For both of them alike they offered prayers and sacrifices and they took oaths by their Fortunes.

[A.D. 30 (a. u. 783)]

[-3-] Gallus, who married the wife of Tiberius and spoke his mind regarding the empire, was the next object of the emperor's attack, for which the right moment had been carefully selected. [Whether he really believed that Sejanus would be emperor or whether it was out of fear of Tiberius, he paid court to the former. It may indeed, have been a kind of plot, to make the minister irksome to Tiberius and so accomplish his ruin: but at any rate Gallus transacted the greater and more important part of his business with him and made efforts to be one of the envoys. Therefore the emperor sent a report about him to the senate, making among other statements one to the effect that this man was jealous of his friendship for Sejanus, although Gallus himself treated Syriacus as an intimate friend. He did not make this known to Gallus, entertaining him most hospitably instead.] Hence something most unusual befell him that never happened to any one else. On the very same day he was banqueted at the house of Tiberius, pledging him in the cup of friendship, and was condemned before the senate. Indeed, a praetor was sent to imprison him and lead him away for punishment. Yet Tiberius, though he had acted so, did not permit his victim to die, in spite of the latter's wish for death as soon as he learned the decree. Instead, he bade Gallus (in order to make his lot still more dismal) to be of good cheer and instructed the senate[1] that he should be guarded without bonds until the emperor should reach the City; his object, as I said, was to make the prisoner suffer for the longest possible time both from deprivation of his civic rights and from terror. So it turned out. He was kept under the eyes of the consuls of each year except when Tiberius held the office, in that case he was guarded by the praetors, not to prevent his escape, but to prevent his death. He had no companion or servant as associate, spoke to no one, saw no one, except when he was compelled to take food. And what he got was of such a quality and amount as neither to afford him any pleasure or strength nor yet to allow him to die. This was the worst feature of it. Tiberius did the same thing in the case of many others. For instance, he had imprisoned one of his companions, and when there was later talk about executing him, he said: "I have not yet made my peace with him." Some one else, again, he had tortured very severely, and then on ascertaining that the victim had been unjustly accused he had him killed with all speed, remarking that he had been too terribly outraged to find any satisfaction in living. Syriacus, who had neither committed nor been charged with any wrong, but was renowned for his education, was slain merely for the reason that Tiberius said he was a friend of Gallus. [Sejanus brought false accusation also against Drusus, through the medium of his wife. For, by maintaining illicit relations with practically all the wives of the distinguished men, he learned what their husbands said and did, and further made them his assistants by promises of marriage. Now when Tiberius without discussion sent Drusus to Rome, Sejanus, fearing that his position might be injured, persuaded Cassius [2] to busy himself against him.]

After exalting Sejanus to a high pinnacle of glory and making him a member of his family by the alliance with Julia, daughter of Drusus, Tiberius later killed him.

[-4-] Now Sejanus was growing greater and more formidable all the time, and his progress made the senators and the rest look up to him as if he were actually emperor and esteem Tiberius lightly. When Tiberius learned this, he did not regard the matter as a trivial one, fearing, indeed, that they would hail his rival as emperor outright, and he did not neglect it. Yet he did nothing openly, for Sejanus had won the entire pretorian guard thoroughly to his own side and had gained the favor of the senators partly by benefits, partly by implanting hopes, and partly by intimidation. He had made all the attendants on Tiberius so entirely his friends that absolutely everything the emperor did was at once reported to him, whereas of what he did not a word reached Tiberius's ears. Hence the latter appeared content to follow where Sejanus led, appointed him consul, and termed him Sharer of his Cares, repeating often the phrase "My Sejanus," and publishing the same by writing it to the senate and the people. Men took this behavior as sincere and were deceived, and so set up bronze statues all about to both alike, wrote their names together in bulletins, and brought into the theatres gilded chairs for both. Finally it was voted that they should together be made consuls every four years and that a body of citizens should go out to meet both alike whenever they entered Rome. In the end they sacrificed to the images of Sejanus as to those of Tiberius. This was the way matters stood with Sejanus. Now among the rest many famous men met an ill fate, of whom was also Gaius Fufius Geminus. Being accused of the crime of maiestas against Tiberius he took his will into the senate-chamber and read it, showing that he had left his inheritance in equal portions to his children and to his sovereign. As he was charged with weakness he went home before any vote was reached. When he learned that the quaestor had arrived to attend to his execution, he wounded himself and displaying the wound to the official exclaimed: "Report to the senate that it is thus one dies who is a man." Likewise, his wife, Mutilia Prisca, against whom some complaint was made, made her way into the senate and there stabbed herself with a dagger, which she had brought in secretly.

Next he destroyed Mutilia and her husband together with two daughters on account of her friendship for his mother.

In the days of Tiberius all who accused any persons regularly received money and large allotments both from the victims' property and from the public treasury in addition to various honors. There were cases where certain men who impudently threw others into a panic or recklessly passed the death sentence upon them obtained in the one instance statues and in the other triumphal honors. Hence several citizens who were really illustrious and conquered the right to some such distinction would not assume it out of reluctance to let any period of their lives betray even a superficial similarity to the careers of those scoundrels.

Tiberius, feigning sickness, sent Sejanus on to Rome with the assurance that he should follow. He declared that in this separation a part of his own body and soul was wrenched away from him: shedding tears he embraced and kissed him, and Sejanus naturally was thereat the more elated.

[A.D. 31 (a u. 784)]

[-5-] By this time Sejanus was so imposing both in his haughtiness of mind and in his immensity of power that, to make a long matter short, he seemed to be the emperor and Tiberius a kind of island potentate because the latter spent all his days in the island called Capreae. Then there was rivalry and jostling about the great man's doors from the fear not merely that a person might fail to be observed by his patron but that he might appear among the last: for all the words and gestures, particularly of those in front, were carefully watched. People who hold a prominent position as the result of native worth are not given at all to seeking signs of friendship from others, and in case anything of the sort is seen to be wanting on the part of these others the persons in question are not provoked, inasmuch as they have an innate consciousness that they are not being looked down upon. Any, however, that hold an artificial rank are extremely jealous of all such attentions, feeling them to be necessary to render their position complete. If they fail to obtain them then they are as irritated as if slander were being pronounced against them and as angry as if they were the recipients of positive insult. Consequently the world is more scrupulous in the case of such persons than (one might almost say) in the case of emperors themselves. To the latter it is ascribed as a virtue to pardon any one if an error is committed; but in the self-made persons that course appears to argue an inherent weakness, whereas to attack and to exact vengeance is thought to furnish proof of great power.

One morning, the first of the month, when all were gathered at Sejanus's house, the couch placed in the small room where he received broke into infinitesimal fragments under the weight of the throng seated upon it; and, as he was leaving the house, a weasel darted through the midst of them. After he had sacrificed on the Capitol and was now coming down to the Forum, his servants that acted as body-guard turned aside along the road leading to the prison, because the crowd prevented them from escorting him, and as they descended the steps down which condemned criminals were commonly cast they slipped and fell. Subsequently he took the auspices and not one bird of good omen appeared, but crows flew and cawed about him and then flew off all together to the jail, where they alighted.

[-6-] These prodigies neither Sejanus nor any one else laid to heart. For, in view of the way things stood, not even if some god had plainly foretold that so great a change would take place in a short time, would any one have believed it. They swore by his Fortune as if they would never be weary, and hailed him colleague of Tiberius, making this phrase refer not to the consulship but to the supreme power. Tiberius was no longer uninformed of aught that concerned his minister. He racked his brains to see in what manner he might kill him, but, not finding any way in which he might do this openly and safely, he treated both the man himself and all the rest in a remarkable fashion, so as to gain an accurate knowledge of their feeling. He sent many despatches of all kinds regarding himself to Sejanus and to the senate incessantly, saying at one time that he was poorly and just at the point of death, and again that he was in exceedingly good health and would reach Rome directly. Now he would strongly approve Sejanus and again vehemently denounce him. Some of his companions he would honor to show his regard for him, and others he would dishonor. Thus Sejanus, filled in turn with extreme elation and extreme fear, was always in a flutter. He could not decide to be terrified and for that reason attempt a revolution, inasmuch as he was being honored, nor yet to become bold enough to attempt some desperate venture inasmuch as he was frequently abased. Moreover, all the rest of the people were getting to feel dubious, because they heard alternately and at short intervals the most contrary reports, because they could no longer justify themselves in either admiring or despising Sejanus, and because they were wondering about Tiberius, thinking first that he was going to die and then that his arrival was imminent.

[-7-] Sejanus was disturbed by all this, and a great deal more by the fact that from one of his statues at first a mass of smoke ascended in a burst, and then, when the head was taken off to enable investigators to see what was going on, a huge serpent darted up. Another head at once replaced the former, and accordingly he was on the point of sacrificing to himself (for sacrificing to himself was a regular part of his program), when a rope was discovered coiled around the statue's neck. Also a figure of Fortuna, made (as is said) in the time of Tullius, an early king of Rome,—one which Sejanus at this time kept at his house and took great pride in,—he saw turn away while he was sacrificing in person ... and later others who had gone out in their company.[3] Most men were suspicious of these circumstances, but since they did not know the mind of Tiberius and further took into consideration the latter's caprice and the unstable condition of affairs, they were divided in sentiment. Privately they kept a sharp eye on their own safety, but publicly they paid court to him, among other reasons because Tiberius had joined to [him][4] as priests both Sejanus and his son. Moreover, they had given him the proconsular authority and had likewise voted that word be sent to all such as were consuls from year to year to emulate him in their office. So Tiberius had honored him with the priesthoods, but he did not send for him: instead, when his minister requested that he might go to Campania, pleading as an excuse that his fiancee was ill, the emperor directed him to stay where he was, giving as a reason that he would himself arrive in Rome in almost no time.

[-8-] As a result, then, of this, Sejanus was again gradually alienated and his vexation was increased by the fact that Tiberius appointed Gaius priest with the imperial commendation and gave some hints to the effect that he should make the new appointee his successor in the empire. The angry favorite would have begun rebellious measures, especially as the soldiers were ready to obey him in everything, had he not perceived that the populace was hugely pleased at what was said in regard to Gaius, out of reverence for the memory of Germanicus his father. Sejanus had previously thought that these persons, too, were on his side, and now, finding them enthusiastic for Gaius, he became dejected. He felt sorry that he had not shown open revolt during his consulship. The rest were strongly influenced against him by the course of events [5] as also by Tiberius's action in releasing soon after an enemy of Sejanus, chosen ten years before to govern Spain and just now being tried on certain charges. Because of Sejanus the emperor also granted temporary immunity from such suits to such others as were going to govern any provinces or to administer any similar public business. And in writing to the senate about the death of Nero he used simply the name Sejanus, with no phrases added as had been his custom. Moreover, he forbade offering sacrifice to any human being (because sacrifice was often offered to this man) and the introduction of any business looking to his own honor (because many honorary measures were being passed for his rival's benefit). He had forbidden this practice still earlier, but now, on account of Sejanus, he renewed his injunction. For naturally, if he allowed nothing of the sort to be done in his own case, he would not permit it in the case of another.

[-9-] In view of all this, the people began to look down on Sejanus more and more, to the point of drawing aside at his approach and leaving him alone,—and that openly, without pretence of concealment. When Tiberius learned of it, his courage revived: he felt that he should have the cooeperation of the people and the senate, and accordingly began an attack upon his enemy. First, in order to take him off his guard to the fullest possible extent, be spread a report that he would give him the office of tribune. Then he despatched a communication against him to the senate by the hands of Naevius Sertorius Macro, whom he had privately appointed to command the body-guards and had instructed as to precisely what must be done. The latter came by night into Rome as if on some different errand and made known his message to Memmius Regulus, then consul (his colleague sided with Sejanus), and to Graecinius Laco, commander of the night watch. At dawn Macro ascended the Palatine, where there was to be a session of the senate in the temple of Apollo. Encountering Sejanus, who had not yet gone in, he saw that he was troubled at Tiberius's having sent him no message, and encouraged him, telling him aside and in confidence that he was bringing him the tribunician authority. Sejanus, overjoyed at this, hastened to the senate-chamber. Macro sent away to the camp the Pretorians that commonly surrounded the minister and the senate, after revealing to them his right as leader to do so and declaring that he brought documents from Tiberius that bestowed gifts upon them. Around the temple he stationed the night watch in their stead, went in himself, delivered his letter to the consuls, and went out before a word was read. He then put Laco in charge of guard duty at that point, and himself hurried to the camp to prevent any uprising.

[-10-] Meanwhile the letter was read. It was a long one and contained no wholesale denunciations of Sejanus but first some indifferent matters, then a slight censure of his conduct, then something else, and after that some further objection to him. At the close it said that two senators that were very intimate with him must be punished and that he himself must be kept guarded. Tiberius did not give them orders outright to put him to death, not because such was not his desire, but because he feared that some disturbance might be the result of it. But since, as he said, he could not take the journey safely, he had sent for one of the consuls.

This was all that the composition disclosed. During the reading many diverse utterances and expressions of countenance were observable. First, before the people heard the letter, they were engaged in lauding the man, whom they supposed to be on the point of receiving the tribunician authority. They shouted their approval realizing in anticipation all their hopes and making a demonstration to show that they would concur in granting him honor. When, however, nothing of the sort was discovered, but they kept hearing just the reverse of what they expected, they fell into confusion and subsequently into deep dejection. Some of those seated near him even withdrew. They now no longer cared to share the same seat with the man whom previously they were anxious to claim as friend. Then praetors and tribunes began to surround him to prevent his causing any uproar by rushing out,—which he certainly would have done, if he had been startled at the outset by any general tirade. As it was, he paid no great heed to what was read from time to time, thinking it a slight matter, a single charge, and hoping that nothing further, or at any rate nothing serious in regard to him had been made a matter of comment. So he let the time slip by and remained where he was.

Meantime Regulus called him forward, but he paid no attention, not out of contempt,—for he had already been humbled,—but because he was unaccustomed to hearing any command given him. But when the consul shouted at him a second and a third time, at the same time stretching out his arm and saying: "Sejanus, come here!" he enquired blankly: "Are you calling me?" So at last he stood up, and Laco, who had entered, took his stand beside him. When finally the reading of the letter was finished, all with one voice both denounced him and uttered threats, some because they had been wronged, others through fear, some to disguise their friendship for him and others out of joy at his downfall. Regulus did not give all of them, however, a chance to vote, nor did he put the question to any one regarding the man's death, for fear there should be come opposition and a consequent disturbance; for Sejanus had numerous relatives and friends. Hence, after asking one person's opinion and obtaining a supporting vote in favor of imprisonment, he conducted the former favorite out of the senate-chamber, and in company with the other officials and with Laco led him down to the prison.

[-11-] Then might one have obtained a clear and searching insight into the weakness of man, so that self-conceit would have been never again, under any conditions possible. Him whom at dawn they had escorted to the senate-halls as one superior to themselves they were now dragging to a cell as if no better than the worst. On him whom they once deemed worthy of crowns they now heaped bonds. Him whom they were wont to protect as a master they now guarded like a runaway slave, and uncovered while he wore a headdress. Him whom they had adorned with the purple-bordered toga they struck in the face. Whom they were wont to adore and sacrifice to as to a god they were now leading to execution. The crowd also assailed him, reproaching him violently for the lives he had destroyed and jeering loudly at what had been hoped of him. All of his images they hurled down, beat down, and pulled down, seeming to feel that they were maltreating the man himself, and he thus became a spectator of what he was destined to suffer. For the moment he was merely cast into prison; but not much later,—that very day, in fact,—the senate assembled in the temple of Concord not far from his cell, and seeing the attitude of the populace and that none of the Pretorians was near by it condemned him to death. On these orders he was executed and his body cast down the Scalae Gemoniae, where the rabble abused it for three whole days and afterward threw it into the river. His children were put to death by special decree, the girl (whom he had betrothed to the son of Claudius) having been first outraged by the public executioner on the principle that it was unlawful for a virgin to meet death in prison. His wife Apicata was not condemned, to be sure, but on learning that her children were dead and after seeing their bodies on the Stairs she withdrew and composed a statement regarding the death of Drusus, directed against Livilla, the latter's wife, who had been the cause of a quarrel between herself and her husband, resulting in their separation. This document she forwarded to Tiberius and then committed suicide. Thus the statement came to the hands of Tiberius, and when he had obtained proof of the information he put to death Livilla and all others therein mentioned. I have, indeed, heard that he spared her out of regard for her mother Antonia, and that Antonia herself voluntarily destroyed her daughter by starving her. At any rate, that was later.

[-12-] At this time a great uproar ensued in the City. The populace slew any one it saw of those who had possessed great influence with Sejanus and relying on him had committed acts of insolence. The soldiers, too, in irritation because they had been suspected of friendliness toward Sejanus and because the nightwatchmen had been preferred before them in the confidence of the emperor, proceeded to burn and plunder,—and this in spite of the fact that all officials were guarding the entire city in accordance with the injunction of Tiberius.

Not even the senate was quiet, but such members of it as had paid court to Sejanus were greatly disturbed by dread of reprisals; and those who had accused or borne witness against any persons were filled with fear by the prevailing suspicion that they had destroyed their victims out of regard for the minister instead of for Tiberius. Very small indeed was the courageous element, which was unhampered by these terrors and expected that Tiberius would become milder. For as usually happens, they laid the responsibility for their previous misfortunes upon the dead man and charged the emperor with few or none of them. Of the most of this unjust treatment, they said, he had been ignorant, and he had been forced into the rest against his will. Privately this was the disposition of the various classes; publicly they voted, as if they had cast off some tyranny, not to hold any mourning over the deceased and to have a statue of Liberty erected in the Forum; also a festival was to be celebrated under the auspices of all the magistrates and priests,—as had never before occurred; and the day on which he died was to be made renowned by annual horse-races and slaughters of wild beasts, directed by those appointed to the four priesthoods and by the members of the Sodality of Augustus. This, too, had never before been done. To celebrate the ruin of the man whom they by the excess and novelty of their honors had led to destruction they voted solemnities that were not customary even for the gods. They comprehended so clearly that it was chiefly these honors which had bereft him of his senses that they at once forbade explicitly the giving of excessive marks of esteem to any one, as also the taking of oaths in the name of any one other than the emperor. Yet though they passed such votes, as if under a divine inspiration, they began shortly after to fawn upon Macro and Laco. They gave them great sums of money and to Laco the honors of ex-quaestors, while to Macro they extended the honors of ex-praetors. Similarly[6] they allowed them also to view spectacles in their company and to wear the toga praetextata at the ludi votivi. The men did not accept these privileges, however, for the recent example served as a deterrent. Nor would Tiberius take any honor bestowed, though many were voted him, chief among them being that he should begin from this time to be termed Father of his Country and that his birthday should be marked by ten equestrian contests and a senatorial banquet. Indeed, he gave notice anew that no one should introduce any such motion.—These were the events happening in the capital.

[-13-] Tiberius for a time had certainly been in great fear that Sejanus would occupy the City and sail against him, and so he had prepared boats, to the end that, if anything of the sort should come to pass, he might escape. He had commanded Macro,—or so some say,—if there should be any uprising to bring Drusus before the senate and the people and appoint him emperor.