c. 35.] DEFENSE OF CREMUTIUS CORDUS. 177 peianus; nor did this interfere with their friendship. Neither Scipio, nor Afranius, nor even this same Cassius, nor this same Brutus, are any where mentioned by him as ruffians and parricides, the common appellations now bestowed on them; but often as great and distinguished men. The writings of Asinius Pollio have handed down the memory of the same men in honorable characters; Corvinus Messala gloried to have had Cassius for his general: and yet both Pollio and Corvinus continued in the uninterrupted enjoyment of wealth and honors under Augustus. That book of Cicero's, in which he exalted Cato to the skies; what other animadversion did it draw from Cæsar the dictator, than a written reply, as if appealing to judges? The letters of Mark Antony, the speeches of Brutus, are full of reproaches against Augustus; unfounded indeed, but urged with signal asperity; the poems of Bibaculus, and those of Catullus, filled with virulent satires against the Cæsars, still are read. But even the deified Julius, even the deified Augustus, bore all these invectives and passed them over; whether with greater moderation or wisdom, it were difficult to say. For, if they are despised, they fade away; if you show displeasure, they seem to be admitted as true. 66 35. "I refer not to the Greeks: with them not the freedom only, but even the licentiousness of speech, is unpunished: or if any correction is applied, it is only by revenging words with words. It has been ever freely allowed, without exciting the censure of any one, to pass our judgment upon those whom death had withdrawn from the influence of affection and hate. Are Cassius and Brutus now in arms? do they fill with armed troops the fields of Philippi? or do I fire the Roman people by inflammatory harangues, to stir up the spirit of civil war? Brutus and Cassius, who fell now more than seventy years ago, are still known in their statues, which even the conqueror did not abolish: and as these exhibit their persons, why not the historian their characters? Posterity renders to every man his proper praise: nor will there be wanting such as, if my death is determined, will not only revive the story of Cassius and Brutus, but even mine." Having thus said, he withdrew from the senate, and starved himself to death.1 The Seneca, de Consolatione ad Marciam, cap. xxii., gives a circumstantial account of his death. He was three days starving himself. Compare also the commencement of the same treatise, fathers condemned the books to be burned by the ædiles; but there remained copies, which were concealed and afterward brought out: whence we may with the greater justice deride the stupidity of those who imagine that they can, by an exertion of contemporary power, extinguish the memorial of events among succeeding generations: for, on the contrary, the punishment of authors of genius exalts the credit of their writings: nor have foreign kings, or any others who have resorted to the same severity, produced any other effect than infamy to themselves and glory to the sufferers. 36. To proceed: this whole year there was such an uninterrupted series of accusations, that even during the solemnity of the Latin festival,1 when Drusus, for the purpose of his inauguration as præfect of the city, had ascended the tribunal, he was accosted by Calpurnius Salvianus with a charge against Sextus Marius; a proceeding openly resented by the emperor, and which led to the banishment of Salvianus. The city of Cyzicus was next accused of not observing the established worship of the deified Augustus; with additional charges of acts of violence committed upon Roman citizens. Thus that city lost her liberties, which, by her behavior during the Mithridatic war, she had earned; having sustained a siege, and, as much by her own bravery as by the aid of Lucullus, repulsed the king. But Fonteius Capito, who had as proconsul governed Asia, was acquitted upon proof that the crimes brought against him by Vibius Serenus2 were forged: and yet the forgery drew no penalty upon Serenus: for the public hate rendered him the more secure: for every accuser, the more eager and busy he was, the more he resembled one whose person is sacred and inviolable: those who practiced on a small scale and were not in repute, were punished. 37. About the same time, the furthermost Spain3 besought the senate by their embassadors, "that, after the example of 1 The Latin festival was instituted by Tarquinius Superbus, and celebrated every year in the beginning of May, on the Mount Albanus, near the ruins of the city of Alba. (Livy, lib. li. s. 16.) The consuls and other magistrates went forth in procession; and, during their absence, a person of high rank was chosen to discharge the functions of consul, and preserve the peace of the city. See Annals, book vi. s. 11. In conformity with this custom, we find Drusus acting on this occasion. 2 The son who accused his father: see this book, c. 28. 3 Lusitania and Batica; now Portugal, Andalusia, and Grenada. c. 38.] TIBERIUS REJECTS DIVINE HONORS. 179 Asia, they might erect a temple to Tiberius and his mother." Upon this occasion, the emperor, always resolute in contemning honors, and now judging it proper to confute those who represented him as chargeable with having deviated into ambition, spoke in this manner: "I know, conscript fathers, that it is ascribed to a defect in firmness in me, that when the cities of Asia lately preferred the same petition, I withstood them not. I shall therefore now unfold at once the motives of my silence then, and the rules which for the future I am determined to observe. Since the deified Augustus had not opposed the founding at Pergamus of a temple to himself and the city of Rome; I, with whom all his actions and sayings have the force of laws, have followed an example already approved, the more cheerfully, because to the worship bestowed upon me, the adoration of the senate was annexed. But as the admis sion of it in one instance will find pardon, so a general latitude of being hallowed through every province under the representations of the deities, would denote a vain spirit; a heart swelled with ambition. The homage paid to Augustus will also fade, if it is made common by indiscriminate and unmerited acts of adoration. 38. "For myself, conscript fathers, that I am a mortal man; that I am confined to the functions of human nature; and that if I well supply the principal place among you, it suffices me, I solemnly assure you, and I would have posterity remember it. They will render enough to my memory, if they believe me to have been worthy of my ancestors; watchful of your interests; unmoved in perils, and, in defense of the public weal, fearless of private enmities. These are the temples I would raise in your breasts; these are the fairest effigies, and such as will endure. As for those of stone, if the judgment of posterity changes from favor to dislike, they are despised as no better than sepulchres. Hence it is I here invoke the gods, that to the end of my life they would grant me a spirit undisturbed, and discerning in duties human and divine and hence too I implore our citizens and allies, that, whenever my dissolution comes, they would celebrate my actions and the odor of my name with praises and benevolent testimonies of remembrance." And thenceforward he persevered in slighting upon all occasions, and even in private con versation, this worship of himself: a conduct which was by some ascribed to modesty; by many to distrust of his merit; by others to degeneracy of spirit. "For men of the most exalted virtue have ever coveted the highest honors: thus Hercules and Bacchus among the Greeks, and with us Romulus, were added to the society of the gods: Augustus had chosen the nobler part, who hoped for deification: all the other gratifications of princes are readily procured: one object only is to be pursued insatiably; the applauding voice of posterity. For by contemning fame, the virtues that acquire it are contemned." 39. Now Sejanus, infatuated with excess of fortune, and moreover stimulated by the importunity of Livia,1 who, with the restless passion of a woman, craved the promised marriage, composed a memorial to the emperor; for it was then the custom to apply to him in writing,2 though he were present. The form in which it was conceived was this: "That he had been so familiarized to the kindness of Augustus, and subsequently to the numerous decisions of Tiberius in his favor, that he would not address his hopes and prayers to the gods rather than to the ears of princes; nor of them had he ever sought the glare of honors: watching and toils, like one of the common soldiers, for the safety of the prince, had been his choice. However, what was most glorious for him, he had attained, to be thought worthy of alliance with the emperor.3 Hence the foundation of his present hopes: and, since he had heard that Augustus, in the disposal of his daughter, had not been without thoughts even of some of the Roman knights; he therefore begged that, if a husband were sought for Livia, Tiberius would remember his friend, who would seek no other advantage than the high honor of the alliance; for he would not solicit exemption from the duties imposed upon him, but hold it sufficient that his house was fortified against the injurious animosity of Agrippina: and in The sister of Germanicus, and lately wife of Drusus. See this book, c. 3. 2 The custom was begun by Julius Cæsar, and continued by Augustus. Suetonius, in Aug. s. 84, and Plut. Cæs. 17. The daughter of Sejanus was to have been married to Drusus, the son of Claudius. Annals, book iii. 29; this book, c. 7. c. 40.] PETITION OF SEJANUS. 181 this he only consulted the security of his children; for himself, his own life would be abundantly long, if he might continue it during the life of such a prince." 40. In answer, Tiberius, having praised the loyalty of Sejanus, recapitulated cursorily the instances of his own favors toward him, and required time, as it were for a thorough deliberation; and then added: "That all other men were, in their deliberations, guided by views of their own interest. Far different was the lot of princes, who were in their most important actions to consider fame. He therefore did not resort to that trite subterfuge in his reply,-that Livia could herself determine whether, after Drusus, she ought again to marry, or patiently continue under the same household gods,-that she had a mother and grandmother, advisers more nearly related to her. He would deal more candidly with him: and, first, as to the enmity of Agrippina, it would flame out with far more fury, if, by the marriage of Livia, the family of the Cæsars were rent as it were into two contending parties; that, even as things stood, the emulation of these ladies broke out, and by their animosities, his grandsons were assailed by conflicting influences. What would be the consequence if, by such a marriage, the strife were inflamed? For you are deceived, Sejanus, if you think to continue then in the same rank as now; or that Livia, she who was first the wife of the young Caius Cæsar, and afterward the wife of Drusus, will be of a temper to grow old with a husband no higher than a Roman knight: nay, allowing that I suffered you afterward to remain what you are; do you believe that they who saw her father, her brother, and the ancestors of our house, enjoying the highest dignities, will ever suffer it? You indeed propose, yourself, to stand still in the same station; but the great magistrates and nobles, who, in spite of you, break in upon you, and consult you in all affairs, make no secret of complaining that you have long exceeded the equestrian eminence, and far outgone in power all the confidants of my father; and from their envy of you, they also censure me. But still, you say, Augustus deliberated about giving his daughter to a Roman knight. It is a wonderful thing, to be sure, if, perplexed with a crowd of distracting cares, and foreseeing that the man would be raised to an unbounded height, whomsoever he dignified with |