severity; but the other leading men, and chiefly the magistrates, were embarrassed, for Tiberius, though he had inveighed against them bitterly, left the ulterior proceedings in uncertainty.

This

4. In the senate was one Junius Rusticus, appointed by the emperor to keep a journal of their proceedings,1 and therefore thought well acquainted with his purposes. man, by some fated impulse (for he had never before shown any instance of magnanimity) or from shortsighted cunning, while, forgetful of impending dangers, he dreaded future possibilities, joined the party that hesitated, and warned the consuls, "not to introduce the question:" he argued “that from a few transient impulses the most important affairs might take a bias; that one day the offspring of Germanicus might rise again, when the old man had had time to reconsider his conduct."2 At the same time, the people, carrying the images of Agrippina and Nero, gathered round the senate, and with prayers for the prosperity of the emperor, cried earnestly, that the letters were counterfeit; and that the prince was no party to the contrivance to ruin his family:" so that no dire resolution was come to on that day. There were also circulated several fictitious speeches under the names of men of consular rank, against Sejanus; and framed with the greater petulance as most of them vented whatever their genius suggested in secret: whence he was the more enraged, and derived a pretext for complaining that the senate “had treated the affliction of the prince with contempt; that the people had renounced their allegiance; that revolutionary harangues were publicly heard and read; seditious acts of senate were passed: what more remained, but to take up highly commended by Quintilian. The son inherited a portion of his father's eloquence, but none of his virtues. He is again mentioned by Tacitus as the promoter of oppression and cruelty. Annals, book vi. 5.

1 Suetonius informs us that Julius Cæsar ordered acts of the senate, as well as of the people, to be duly committed to writing, and published, which had never been done before his time. (See in Jul. Cæs. 8. 20.) Augustus, a more timid politician, ordered the proceedings of the senate to be kept secret. (Suet. in Aug. s. 36.) Tiberius followed the same rule, but, as it seems, had the caution to appoint a senator to execute the office.

2 This passage is rather doubtful, from the difficulty in determining the correct reading.

c. 7.]

TIBERIUS ACCUSES HIS GRANDCHILDREN.

209

arms, and choose as their leaders and generals those whose images they would have followed as standards?"

5. Tiberius therefore having repeated his accusations against his grandson and daughter-in-law; having rebuked the people by an edict, and complained to the senate, "that by the artifice of a single senator the imperial dignity was baffled and insulted; required that the whole affair should be left to himself, entire and untouched." Without further deliberation, they did not indeed resolve to come to a final decision, for that they were forbidden to do, but they testified their readiness to inflict vengeance, had they not been prevented by the authority of the prince.1 * * * *

6. Upon this subject four-and-forty speeches were delivered; of which a few from fear, more from the habit * * * * * * * * *** “I judged that either it would bring • infamy upon myself or odium upon Sejanus. The course of fortune is turned; and he who even chose him for his sonin-law and his colleague does not condemn himself. For the rest; as they brought disgrace on themselves by caressing him while he lived, so now they incur a deeper guilt by reviling him when dead * ** which is the more wretched fate, I can hardly decide; that of accusing a friend, or of being accused for showing him friendship * * * I will put no man's cruelty, no man's mercy to the proof; but, free as I am, and approved by my own conscience, I will anticipate danger. I adjure you that you do not retain the memory of me in sorrow rather than with joy, adding me too to the number of those who, by a noble end, have escaped from the spectacle of their country's miseries."

7. He then spent part of the day in conversation with the several persons that came to him; either retaining them or dismissing them, according as the purpose of each was to attend him, or merely to speak with him and while there was yet a throng of company remaining, all admiring his

:

1 The chapters here lost comprise a period of three years (viz. A.D. 29, 30, and the greater part of 31), in which occurred some of the most important events of the reign of Tiberius; such as, the imprisonment of Agrippina and her two sons, with the death of the eldest; the conspiracy and execution of Sejanus, the death of Livia his accomplice, and the proscription of the relatives and friends of the deceased favourite.

fearless countenance, and imagining that there was still time to spare before the last sad scene, he fell upon a sword, which he had concealed in a fold of his gown. Nor did Tiberius, after his death blacken him with reproaches or accusations: whereas he had loaded Blæsus with many and foul imputations.

8. The cases of Publius Vitellius' and Pomponius Secundus were next brought before the senate. The first was charged by informers, "that he, when presiding over the exchequer, had offered to open the treasury and give the military fund in aid of a revolution." To the other, Considius, lately prætor, objected "the friendship of Ælius Gallus, who, after the execution of Sejanus, had fled to the gardens of Pomponius, as to a most secure shelter:" nor had the accused any other resource against the danger that menaced them than the constancy of their brothers, who came forward • as their sureties. Soon afterwards, the trial having been frequently postponed, Vitellius, wearied out with fear and hope alike, under pretence of writing, called for a penknife, with which he made a slight incision in his veins, and at last died brokenhearted. Pomponius, a man of great elegance of manners, and shining wit, bore his adverse fortune with equanimity, and outlived Tiberius.

9. Now though the rage of the populace was beginning to evaporate, and most men were mollified by former executions; it was determined to punish the remaining children of Sejanus. They were therefore both carried to prison; the boy sensible of his impending doom; but the girl so unconscious that she frequently asked, "for what offence? and whither did they drag her? she would do so no more ; and they might take the rod and whip her." The writers of that time relate, "that as it was held unprecedented for a virgin

1 P. Vitellius was the faithful companion of Germanicus, in Germany and Asia. He afterwards prosecuted Piso for the murder of his friend. (Annals, iii. 10, 13.) Suetonius relates, that he was seized among the accomplices of Sejanus; and, being delivered to the custody of his brother, he opened his veins, but, by the persuasion of his friends, suffered the wound to be bound up. He died soon after of a broken heart. (Suet. in Vitellio, s. 2.) He was uncle to Vitellius the emperor. (See Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii.) Pomponius Secundus was of consular rank. Quintilian praises his dramatic genius. See the Dialogue concerning Oratory, s. 13.

o. 11.]

A COUNTERFEIT DRUSUS IN GREECE.

211 to suffer capital punishment,' she was violated by the executioner just before he tied the rope; and then being both strangled, their tender bodies were cast into the Gemoniæ."

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10. About the same time Greece and Asia were dismayed by a rumour more rife than lasting; "that Drusus, the son of Germanicus,2 had been seen in the Cyclades, and soon afterwards upon the continent." And there was indeed a youth nearly of the same age, to whom some of the emperor's freedmen, as if he were recognised by them, attached themselves, with the purpose of betraying him. The unwary were allured by the splendour of the name; the Greeks being prone to catch at anything new and marvellous: so much so that they imagined, "that, escaped from custody and proceeding to the armies of his father, he would invade Syria or Egypt.' He was now attended by a crowd of young men, and thronged with eager partizans, elated with his present success and airy hopes, when the story reached Poppæus Sabinus. He was at that juncture engaged in Macedonia, and likewise had charge of Greece; to obviate the mischief, whether the account were true or false, he hastily passed the bay of Torone and that of Therme; and presently reached Euboea, an island of the Ægean sea, and Piræus, on the coast of Attica; he then passed along the coast of Corinth, and the straits of the Isthmus; and, by another sea, entered Nicopolis, a Roman colony there at length he learned, that being shrewdly questioned, he had declared himself the son of Marcus Silanus; and that many of his followers having fallen off, he had embarked, as if he meant to sail to Italy. Sabinus sent this account to Tiberius, and further than this we have found nothing of the origin or issue of that affair.

11. Towards the conclusion of the year, a dissension between the consuls, which had been long gathering strength, burst forth; for Trio,3 who was careless about making himself enemies, and a practised pleader, had obliquely censured Regulus, as slow in crushing the tools of Sejanus." The 1 "Triumvirali supplicio" in the original; the punishment being so styled, because it was the duty of the triumvir to see execution done on such as were condemned to die.

66

2 This young prince was now a prisoner in the dungeon of the Palatium.

3 Trio has been mentioned (Annals, ii. 28) as a practised informer, a man of dangerous talents, and an infamous character.

last, a moderate and inoffensive man, unless provoked, not only repulsed the charge of his colleague, but summoned him to trial, as an accomplice in the conspiracy. Though many senators besought them to lay down their animosities, as they tended to destruction, they continued in determined hostility, menacing each other, as long as they remained in office.

BOOK VI.

1. CNEIUS DOMITIUS1 and Camillus Scribonianus had begun their consulship, when the emperor, having crossed the channel between Caprese and Surrentum, sailed along the shore of Campania; either unresolved whether he should enter the city, or else counterfeiting a show of coming, because he had determined otherwise. He often came down into the neighbourhood of the city, and even visited the gardens upon the Tiber, but went back again to the rocks and loneliness of the island, ashamed of his villanies and lusts; in which he rioted so inordinately, that, after the fashion of foreign tyrants, the children of ingenuous parentage became the objects of his pollution. Nor were beauty and gracefulness of person the only provocatives of his passion, but the modest deportment of some youths-the ancestral images of others. Then, likewise, were first devised the names, till then unknown, of "Sellarii" and "Spintriæ," expressive of the abominable lewdness of the place, and the manifold methods of prostitution. Procurers were appointed to hunt out victims, and bring them to him. The willing they encouraged with presents, the backward they terrified with threats; and upon such parents or kindred as withheld them, they employed force, seizure, and just what they pleased, as upon so many captives.

2. At Rome, in the beginning of the year, as if the iniqui, ties of Livia had been but just discovered, and not long 1 Domitius, commonly called Domitius Ahenobarbus, is the person whom we have seen married to Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus, Annals, book iv. 75.

2 The younger Livia, who conspired with Sejanus against the life of Drusus, her husband.