and, after bringing destruction upon others, at last perished by their own arts. He accused Marcellus of "holding defamatory discourses concerning Tiberius," a charge which it was impossible to repel, when the accuser collected all the most detestable parts of the prince's character, and framed his accusation with reference to them; for because they were true they were believed to have been spoken. To this Hispo added, "that the statue of Marcellus was by him placed higher than those of the Cæsars, and that having cut off the head of an Augustus, he had in the room of it set the head of a Tiberius." At this he flew into such a rage, that breaking silence he cried out, that "he would himself, in this cause, give his vote openly, and upon oath," that the rest might be under the necessity of doing the same. There remained even then some faint traces of expiring liberty. Hence Cneius Piso asked him, "In what place, Cæsar, will you give your opinion? If first, I shall have your example to follow; if last, I fear I may unwittingly dissent from you." Deeply affected by these words, and by how much the more indiscreetly he had let his passion boil over, by so much the more submissive now from regret that he should have committed himself, he suffered the accused to be acquitted of high treason. His trial on the charge of peculation was referred to the proper judges.1

75. Nor was Tiberius satisfied to assist in the judicial proceedings of the senate only; he likewise sat in the court of justice, in the corner of the tribunal, because he would not dispossess the prætor of his chair; and in his presence many decisions were given in opposition to the intrigues and solicitations of powerful citizens. But while the interests of justice were consulted liberty was undermined. About this time, Pius Aurelius the senator, whose house, yielding to the pressure of the public roads and aqueducts, had fallen, complained to the senate and prayed relief. Opposed by the prætors of the treasury, he was supported by Tiberius, who ordered him the price of his house, for he was fond of being liberal upon fair occasions, a virtue which he long retained,

' For the recovery of money obtained by peculation, or other improper means, there was an established jurisdiction; and, in case of condemnation, commissioners, called Recuperatores, were appointed to see restitution made.

c. 77.]

THEATRICAL RIOTS.

53

even after he had abandoned all others. Upon Propertius Celer, once prætor, but now desiring leave to resign the dignity of senator on the score of poverty, he bestowed a thousand great sesterces, upon satisfactory information that his necessities were derived from his father. Others, who attempted the same thing, he ordered to prove their allegations to the senate; from his over-anxiety to be strict he was thus austere even in his good actions. Hence the rest preferred poverty and concealment to exposure and relief.

76. The same year, the Tiber, swollen with continual rains, overflowed the level parts of the city; when the flood subsided, men and houses were washed away by the torrent. Hence Asinius Gallus moved, "that the Sibylline books might be consulted." Tiberius opposed it, equally smothering all inquiry into matters human or divine. To Ateius Capito, however, and Lucius Arruntius, was committed the care of restraining the river within its banks. The provinces of Achaia and Macedon, praying relief from their public burdens, were for the present discharged of their proconsular government, and transferred to Tiberius.1 In the entertainment

of gladiators at Rome, Drusus presided: it was exhibited in the name of his brother Germanicus, and his own; and at it he manifested too much delight in blood, though that of slaves: a feeling terrible to the populace, and for which even his father was said to have reproved him. The absence of Tiberius from these shows was variously construed: by some it was ascribed to his impatience of a crowd; by others to the austerity of his genius, and his fear of comparison with Augustus, who was wont to be a cheerful spectator. But, that he thus purposely furnished matter for exposing the cruelty of his son there, and for raising him popular hate, is what I would not believe: though this too was asserted.

77. The riots connected with the theatre, begun last year, broke out now more violently: several, not of the people only, but of the soldiers, with a centurion, lost their lives; and a tribune of a prætorian cohort was wounded while they were

1 Augustus divided the Roman provinces between himself and the senate. Those which he retained in his own hands, were administered by governors of his own choice, called imperial procurators. The Senatorian provinces were governed by proconsuls, appointed for a year only.

securing the magistrates from insults, and restoring tranquillity among the rabble. This tumult was canvassed in the senate, and opinions were given that the prætors should be empowered to whip the players: Haterius Agrippa, tribune of the people, opposed it; and was sharply rebuked by a speech of Asinius Gallus. Tiberius was silent, and to the senate allowed these mockeries of liberty. The opposition, however, prevailed, because the deified Augustus had formerly given his judgment, "that players were exempt from stripes:" nor would religion permit that Tiberius should annul his decisions. Concerning the limitation of the money laid out on theatrical exhibitions,1 and to restrain the licentiousness of their partisans, many decrees were made: the most remarkable were, "that no senator should enter the houses of pantomimes; that Roman knights should not attend them when they went into the street: they should exhibit nowhere but in the theatre; and the prætors should have power to punish the excesses of the spectators with exile."

78. The Spaniards were, upon their petition, permitted to build a temple to Augustus in the colony of Tarragon: and an example was held up for all the provinces to follow. In answer to the people, who prayed to be relieved from the "centesima," a tax of one in the hundred, established at the end of the civil wars, upon all vendible commodities; Tiberius by an edict declared, "that upon this tax depended the fund for maintaining the army:2 nor even thus was the commonwealth equal to the expense, if before their twentieth year the veterans were dismissed." Thus the ill-advised regulations, made during the late sedition, by which the limit of sixteen years was assigned to their service, in submission to force, were rescinded.

79. It was next proposed to the senate by Arruntius and Ateius, whether, in order to restrain the overflowing of the Tiber, a new course should be given to the rivers and lakes

1 The money laid out in plays and players was called lucar, because it arose from the annual produce of certain woods and groves (luci) in the neighborhood of Rome.

2 Augustus fixed the rate of the soldiers' pay throughout all the armies of the empire; and, that a fund might be always ready for that purpose, he established a military exchequer, and certain taxes, which were to be paid into that office. See Suetonius, Life of Augustus, s. 49. Tiberius afterward changed this tax to the two hundredth penny. Annals, book ii. s. 42.

7

c. 81.]

POLICY OF TIBERIUS.

55

by which it is swelled. Upon this question the deputies of several cities and colonies were heard. The Florentines besought, "that the bed of the Clanis might not be turned into their river Arnus; for that the same would prove their utter ruin." A similar objection was urged by the Interamnates; "since the most fruitful plains in Italy would be lost, if, according to the project, the Nar, branched out into rivulets, overflowed them." Nor did the Reatinians fail to remonstrate against stopping the outlets of the lake Velinus into the Nar; "for," they said, "it would overflow the adjacent country: that nature had made the wisest provision for the interests of man: that she had assigned to rivers their proper mouths and courses, and as she had fixed their sources, so had she determined their exits. Regard, too, was to be paid to the religion of our Latin allies, who, esteeming the rivers of their country sacred, had to them dedicated priests, and altars, and groves : nay, the Tiber himself, bereft of the neighboring streams, would refuse to flow with diminished majesty." Now, whether it were that the prayers of the colonies, or the difficulty of the work, or the influence of superstition prevailed, it is certain the opinion of Piso was followed; namely, that nothing should be altered.

80. To Poppæus Sabinus was continued his province of Moesia; and to it was added that of Achaia and Macedon. This, too, was part of the policy of Tiberius, to continue persons in offices, and for the most part to maintain them in the same military authority, or civil employments, to the end of their lives; with what view, is not agreed. Some think, “that from an impatience of recurring care, he was for making whatever he once resolved on, perpetual." Others, "that from the malignity of his nature he could not endure that many should reap the benefit of office." There are some who believe "that as he had a crafty, penetrating spirit, so he had an understanding ever irresolute and perplexed." Nor, indeed, did he seek men of pre-eminent virtue, while, on the other hand, he detested vice: from the best men he dreaded danger to himself, and disgrace to the public from the worst. This difficulty in deciding grew to such a pitch at last that he assigned provinces to some persons whom he had resolved never to suffer to quit the city.

81. Of the comitia for the creation of consuls, which took

place in the reign of Tiberius for the first time in this year, and in each successive year, I hardly dare affirm any thing: so different are the accounts about it, found not only among historians, but even in his own speeches. Sometimes, not naming the candidates, he described them by their family, by their life and manners, and by the number of their campaigns; so as it might be apparent whom he meant. Again, avoiding even to describe them, he exhorted the candidates not to disturb the election by their intrigues, and promised, himself, to take care of their interests. His general practice was to declare, "that to him none had signified their pretensions, but those whose names he had delivered to the consuls; others, too, might do the same, if they had confidence in their interest or merits." Sentiments, plausible in terms; in substance, hollow and insidious: and the greater the semblance of liberty with which they were covered, the more remorseless the slavery in which they would issue.

BOOK II.

1. DURING the consulship of Sisenna Statilius Taurus, and Lucius Libo, the kingdoms and Roman provinces of the East were in a state of commotion. It began with the Parthians, who, having sought and accepted a king from Rome afterward, though he was of the race of the Arsacidæ,1 contemned him as a foreigner. This was Vonones, who had been given as a hostage to Augustus by Phraates;2 for Phraates, though he had repulsed the Roman generals and armies, had accumulated every mark of reverence on Augustus, and sent him, to bind their friendship, part of his offspring; not so much through fear of us, as distrusting the allegiance of his countrymen.

The Parthian kings were called Arsacidæ, from Arsaces, the founder of the monarchy, A.u.c. 498; before the Christian era 256. Orodes was the king in whose reign Crassus and eleven legions were massacred,

A.U.C. 701.

2 Phraates IV. was the son of Orodes. He defeated Mark Antony, and sixteen legions under his command, A.U.C. 718. Justin, lib. xlii. 8. 5. Plutarch, Life of Antony.