wars of surpassing magnitude with Sertorius1 and Mithridates, was tottering under them. Much less was Tacfarinas, a freebooter, when the Roman people were in their most glorious elevation, to be bought off by terms of peace and the concession of lands." Hence he commissioned Blæsus "to engage all his followers, by the hopes of indemnity, to lay down their arms; but to get into his hands the leader himself, by whatever means." 74. And on these terms of pardon many were brought over; and the war was forthwith prosecuted against him by stratagems not unlike his own. For as he, who in strength of men was unequal, but in arts of stealth and pillaging superior, made his incursions in separate bands, and thence could at once elude any attack of ours, while at the same time he planted ambushes; so on our side, three distinct routes were resolved upon, and three several bodies set in motion. Scipio, the proconsul's lieutenant, commanded on that quarter whence Tacfarinas made his depredations upon the Leptitanians, and then his retreat among the Garamantes: in another quarter the younger Blæsus led a band of his own, to protect the territory of the Cirtensians from ravages: between both marched the proconsul himself, with the flower of the army, erecting forts and casting up intrenchments in convenient places, thus hemming in the enemy by a complete chain of positions, so that, whatever way they turned, still some party of the Roman forces was upon them—in front, in flank, and often in the rear, and by this means were many slain or made prisoners. This triple army was again split by Blæsus into bands still smaller, and over each a centurion of tried bravery placed. Neither did he, as usual at the end of the season, draw off his forces from the field, or dispose them in winterquarters in the old province; but, as if on the threshold of the war, having raised more forts, he dispatched light parties, acquainted with the deserts, who drove Tacfarinas before them, continually shifting his huts, till, having captured his brother, he retreated; too hastily however for the good of the province, as there were still left behind the means of rekindling the war. But Tiberius took it for concluded, and likewise granted to Blæsus that he should be by the legions 1 Sertorius, and Mithridates king of Pontus, joined in a league against the Romans, a.v.c. 680. c. 76.] DEATH OF ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS. 153 saluted "Imperator," an ancient honor, usually rendered to the old Roman captains, who, upon their successful exploits for their country, were saluted with shouts of joy and vehement exultation from their victorious armies: and there have been at once several Imperators, without any pre-eminence of one over the rest. It was a title vouchsafed to some even by Augustus; and now, for the last time, by Tiberius to Blæsus. 75. This year died two illustrious men; the first, Asinius Saloninus, distinguished as the grandson of Marcus Agrippa and Asinius Pollio; half-brother of Drusus, and the intended husband of the emperor's grand-daughter. The second, Ateius Capito, mentioned above; in civil acquirements, the most eminent man in Rome; for pedigree, his grandfather was only a centurion under Sylla, but his father attained the rank of prætor. Augustus had pushed him early into the consulship, that, by the honor of that office, he might set him above Antistius Labeo, who excelled in the same accomplishments; for that age produced together these two ornaments of but Labeo possessed the genuine spirit of liberty, and therefore enjoyed a larger share of popularity; while Capito gained by obsequiousness greater credit with those who bore rule. The former, as he was never suffered to rise beyond the prætorship, derived favor from the injustice done him; the other, from having obtained the consulate of which he was considered unworthy, was on that account an object of aversion. peace: 76. Junia too, now sixty-four years after the battle of Philippi, finished her course; by birth the daughter of the sister of Cato, sister of M. Brutus, and wife of C. Cassius. Her will was the subject of much talk among the populace; since being immensely rich, and having honorably distinguished with legacies almost all the great men of Rome, she omitted Tiberius,-an omission which drew from him no indications of offended dignity, nor did he hinder her panegyric from being pronounced from the rostra, nor her funeral from being celebrated with all the other customary solemnities. The images of twenty of the most illustrious families-the Manlii, the Quinctii, and other names of equal splendor, were carried before it. Those of Brutus and Cassius were not displayed, but for that very reason they shone with pre-eminent lustre, G 2 BOOK IV. 1. WHEN Caius Asinius and Caius Antistius were consuls, Tiberius was in the ninth year of his reign; during the whole of which he saw the state undisturbed by commotion, and his family flourishing (for he regarded the death of Germanicus as one of the lucky events which had befallen him); but now, on a sudden, fortune began to work confusion and trouble; Tiberius himself to tyrannize, or encourage and support others in tyrannical proceedings. The origin and cause of this change is attributable to Ælius Sejanus, commander of the prætorian guards, whose prevailing influence I have already mentioned. I will now unfold the particulars of his birth, his character, and the atrocious act by which he sought to grasp the sovereign power. He was born at Vulsinii; his father was Sejus Strabo, a Roman knight; in early youth he attached himself to Caius Cæsar, grandson of the deified Augustus; and was reported to have prostituted himself to Apicius, a rich man and a noted spendthrift. Soon after, he gained such an ascendency over Tiberius by various arts, that though he was close and mysterious in his intercourse with others, he threw off all restraint and reserve with him. This was not so much effected by superior sagacity (for it was, in this that he was surpassed by Tiberius) as the displeasure with which the gods regarded the Roman state, to which he was equally fatal in the height of his power and in his death. His person was hardy and equal to fatigues; his spirit daring; expert in disguising his own iniquities, prompt to spy out the failings of others; at once fawning and imperious; with an exterior of assumed modesty, his heart insatiably lusted for supreme domination 1; and with this view he engaged sometimes in profusion, largesses, and luxury; but more frequently gave himself to business and watching, practices no less dangerous, when counterfeited by ambition for the acquisition of empire. 2. The authority of his commission over the guards, which c. 3.] CORRUPT PRACTICES OF SEJANUS. 155 was but moderate before his time, he extended, by gathering into one camp all the prætorian cohorts then dispersed over the city; that thus united they might receive his orders simultaneously, and by continually beholding their own numbers and strength, and by familiar intercourse, conceive a confidence in themselves, and strike terror into others. He pretended, "that the soldiers, while they lived scattered, became debauched; that when gathered into a body, in any hasty emergency, a larger force might be brought up at once to give aid; and that when their camp was fixed remote from the allurements of the town, they would in their discipline be more exact and severe." When the encampment was finished, he began gradually to creep into the good graces of the soldiers, by conversing with them, and addressing them by name: he also chose the centurions and the tribunes himself. Nor did he fail to strengthen his interest in the senate by getting those who were of his party invested with honors and the command of provinces; Tiberius yielding to him in every thing, and seconding his views with such zeal, that not in conversation only, but in his speeches to the senate and people, he frequently made honorable mention of him as his associate in the toils of government; nay, he allowed his effigies to be adored in the several theatres, in the forum, and at the head-quarters1 of the legions. 3. But the imperial house full of Cæsars; the emperor's son,2 in the vigor of manhood, and his grandsons grown up, were obstacles to his ambition: and because to cut them all off at once was dangerous, the success of his treacherous plot required that the horrid deeds should be perpetrated at intervals. He however chose the more secret method, and to begin with Drusus, against whom he was impelled by recent motives of resentment. For Drusus, impatient of a rival, and in temper irascible, had lifted his hand against Sejanus, The word translated "head-quarters” is principia, which signifies the broad space left between the tents of the legions and the tribunes in a Roman camp. This space formed a wide street, running across the whole encampment, and thus dividing it into two parts. On the marking out of the principia depended the laying down of all other parts, and all the lines of tents led up to it, as the main thorough fare. 2 Drusus, and the three sons of Germanicus; Nero, Drusus, and Caligula. in an altercation which happened to arise between them, and, as he prepared to resist, given him a blow on the face. Carefully considering therefore every means of revenge, the most opportune seemed to be to have recourse to Livia, his wife : she was the sister of Germanicus, and though in her younger days she was not handsome, she grew up surpassingly beautiful. Pretending to be violently enamored of her, he tempted her to adultery; and having once triumphed over her honor, (nor will a woman who has sacrificed her chastity stick at any other iniquity,) he led her on to entertain the project of a marriage with him, a partnership in the empire, and the murder of her husband. Thus the niece of Augustus, the daughter-in-law of Tiberius, the mother of children by Drusus, disgraced herself, her ancestors, and her posterity by a connection with an adulterer from a municipal town; exchanging an honorable certainty for guilty prospects which might never be realized. Eudemus, the friend and physician1 of Livia, who, under color of his profession, was frequently with her in private, was admitted into the plot. Sejanus too, to avoid the jealousy of his mistress, repudiated Apicata, his wife, by whom he had three children. But still the enormi ty of the crime induced fear, delay, and frequently opposite counsels. 4. In the beginning of this year, Drusus, one of the offspring of Germanicus, put on the manly gown; and upon him the senate conferred the same honors decreed to his brother Nero. A speech was added by Tiberius, with high encomiums on his son, "that he showed the tenderness of a father to the children of his brother." For Drusus, however difficult it be for power and unanimity to subsist between equals, was esteemed kind, certainly not ill-disposed, toward these youths. Now again was revived by Tiberius his stale and oft counterfeited purpose of a progress into the provinces. He pretended "the multitude of veterans to be discharged, and the necessity of recruiting the armies; for there was a deficiency of volunteers, or if there were a sufficient supply, Pliny the elder gives a dark picture of the physicians of his times. They had their opportunities to administer poison, to make wills, and manage intrigues. "Quid enim venenorum fertilius? aut unde plures, testamentorum insidia? Jam vero et adulteria in principum domibus, ut Eudemi in Livia Drusi Cæsaris."-Lib. xxix. s. 8. |