Dio's Rome Volume IV Part 17

tax, and again in scattering at some gymnastic contest tickets and distributing very large gifts to such as secured them,--these actions, though they delighted the lower cla.s.ses, grieved the sensible, who reflected that even if the offices fell once more into the hands of the general public, still, in case the existing funds should be exhausted and private sources of income fail, many dreadful disasters would result.

[-10-] The performances of his next to be enumerated elicited the censure of all without distinction. He caused very great numbers of men to fight as gladiators, forcing them to contend both separately and in groups, drawn up in a kind of military formation: he requested permission from the senate to do this, and again,--something quite contrary to the spirit of the enacted law that he might do whatsoever he pleased,--he asked leave to put to death a number of persons, among them twenty-six knights, some of whom had already devoured their living, while others had merely practiced gladiatorial combat. It was not the number of those who perished that was so bad (though it was bad enough) but his frenzied delight in their slaughter and his never satisfied gazing at the scene of blood. The same trait of cruelty led him once, when there was a shortage of condemned criminals to be given to the beasts, to order some of the mob that stood near the benches to be seized and thrown to them. And to prevent the possibility of their making an outcry or attacking him orally he had their tongues cut out first of all. One of the prominent knights, too, he compelled to fight in single combat on the charge of insult offered to his mother Agrippina, and when the man proved victorious handed him over to the accusers and had him slain. The same person's father, though guilty of no wrong, he confined in a cage (as he had confined numerous others), and there put an end to him.--These contests he at first conducted in the Saepta, after excavating [5] the entire site and filling it with water, to enable him to bring in one s.h.i.+p. Later he transferred his operations to another place, where he tore down a large number of ma.s.sive buildings and set up benches. The theatre of Taurus he held in contempt. All this behavior, expenditures and murders alike, subjected him to criticism.

He was further blamed for compelling Macro together with Ennia to cause their own death, remembering neither the latter's affection nor the former's benefits, which had gained for him among other advantages the sole possession of the empire. The fact that he had appointed Macro to govern Egypt had not the slightest influence. He even involved him in a scandal (of which the greatest share belonged to Gaius himself), by bringing against him besides all the rest a complaint that he had played the pander. Before long many others were condemned and executed, and some were executed prior to their conviction. Nominally they suffered on account of some wrong done to his parents or his brothers or the rest who had perished with those relatives as an excuse, but really on account of their property. For the treasury had been exhausted and he had no resources. Such persons were convicted by witnesses against them and by the doc.u.ments which he once declared he had burned. Again, the disease which had attacked him the previous year and the death of his sister Drusilla brought about the ruin of others, since,--to omit graver cases,--whoever had entertained or had greeted any one or had bathed on the days in question incurred punishment.

[-11-] The nominal spouse of Drusilla was Marcus Lepidus, at once the favorite and lover of the emperor, but Gaius also treated her as a concubine. When her death occurred at this time, her husband delivered the eulogy but it was her brother who accorded her a public funeral. The Pretorians with their commander and the equestrian order by itself ran about the pyre [6] and the boys of n.o.ble birth performed the Troy exercise about her tomb; all the honors that had been given to Livia were voted to her, and it was further decreed that she should be declared immortal, that a figure in gold representing her be set up in the senate-house, and that in the temple of Venus in the Forum there should be dedicated with equal honors a statue of her as large as that of the G.o.ddess. Moreover, a separate shrine should be built for her and twenty priests [7] not only men but also women should do her honor. Women, as often as they gave testimony, should swear by her and on her birthday a festival equal to the Megalensia should be celebrated and the senate and the knights should hold a banquet. She straightway received the name Panthea and was declared worthy of divine honors in all the cities. A certain Livius Geminus, a senator, stated on oath, invoking destruction upon himself and his children if he spoke falsely, that he had seen her ascending into heaven and holding converse with the G.o.ds; and he called all the other G.o.ds and Panthea herself to witness. For his declaration he received twenty-five myriads. Besides all this Gaius showed her honor in not having the festivals which were then due to take place celebrated either at their appointed time (except as mere formalities) or at any later date. All persons incurred equal censure whether they showed pleasure at anything, as being grieved, or behaved as if they were glad.[9] They were charged with malice either in failing to mourn her (this was disrespect to her as a mortal) or in bewailing her (this was disrespect to her as a G.o.ddess). One single occurrence gives the key to all the transactions of that time. The emperor charged with impiety and put to death a man who had sold warm water. [-12-] Having allowed a few days to elapse he married Lollia Paulina and he compelled no less a person than her husband, Memmius Regulus, to betroth her to him so that he might not break the law in taking her without a betrothal. But almost in a trice he had driven her away, too.

Meantime he granted to Soaimus the land of the Arabian Ituraeans, to Cotys Lesser Armenia and later parts of Arabia, to Rhoemetalces the possessions of Cotys, and to Polemon son of Polemon his ancestral domain,--all these upon the vote of the senate. The ceremony took place in the Forum, where he sat upon the rostra in a chair between the consuls; some say he used silken awnings. Soon after he caught sight of a lot of mud in an alley and ordered that it be cast into the toga of Flavius Vespasian, who was aedile at the time and had charge of keeping alleys clean. This event was regarded at the moment as of no particular importance, but later, when Vespasian, who took charge of a state in confusion and turmoil, had reduced the same to order, it seemed to have been due to some divine prompting and to have signified that Gaius had entrusted the city to him unconditionally for its amelioration.

[A.D. 39 (_a. u._ 792)]

[-13-] He now became consul again, and though he prevented the priest of Jupiter from taking the oath in the senate (for at this time they regularly did so privately, as in the days of Tiberius), he himself both when he entered upon office and when he relinquished it took the oath like the rest upon the rostra, which had been made larger than before.

Thirty days was the duration of his tenure (whereas he let his colleague Lucius Ap.r.o.nius hold office for six months), and his successor was Sanguinius Maximus, praefectus urbi. During this and the following period numbers of the foremost men perished in fulfillment of a sentence of condemnation (for many who had been released from prison were punished for the very reasons that had led to their imprisonment by Tiberius), and many others in gladiatorial combats. There was nothing happening but slaughter. The emperor no longer made any concessions to the populace, opposing instead absolutely everything it wished, and consequently the people, too, resisted all his desires. The talk and actions usual at such a juncture with an angry ruler on one side and a hostile folk on the other were plainly in evidence. The contest between them, however, was not an equal one. The people could do nothing outside of discussion and showing their feelings by their demeanor, whereas Gaius dragged many of his opponents away while they were witnessing performances at the theatre and arrested many more after they had left the building. The chief causes for his rage were first that they did not show enthusiasm in attending; he made his appearance at a different hour on different occasions, sometimes not till nightfall, and they were worn out waiting for him: second, that they did not always applaud the performances that pleased him and sometimes even showed favor to objects of his dislike. Again, it vexed him mightily to have them cry out in their efforts to extol him: "Young Augustus!" He felt that he was not being congratulated upon being emperor while so young, but was being censured for holding at his age so great a domain. His regular conduct was as described. Once he said threateningly to the whole people: "How I wish you had one neck!" At another time, when he was showing some of his usual irritation, the populace in displeasure ceased to notice the spectacle, and turned against the informers, and with loud shouts demanded their surrender.

Gaius, indignant, vouchsafed them no answer, but committing to others the conduct of the games withdrew into Campania. Later he returned to celebrate the birthday of Drusilla, brought into the hippodrome on a wagon her statue drawn by[10] elephants and gave the people a free show for two days. The first day, besides the equestrian contests, he had five hundred bears slaughtered, and on the second a like number of Libyan beasts was used up. Athletes struggled in the pancratium at many different points in the city. The populace was feasted and presents were given to the senators and their wives.

[-14-] At the same time that he authorized these murders, apparently because he was so very poor, he devised another kind of transaction. He took the surviving combatants and sold them at an excessive valuation to the consuls, the praetors, and the rest, meeting with acquiescence from some and compelling others, who objected strenuously, to carry out his wishes at the horse-races; and most of all he imposed upon the ones especially selected by lot for this purpose, for he had ordered that two praetors, just as it might happen, should be allotted to take charge of the gladiatorial games. He himself sat on the auctioneer's platform and kept outbidding them. Many also came from outside to bid against them, particularly because he allowed such as wished to employ a greater number of gladiators than the law permitted and because he often had recourse to them himself. So people bought them for large sums, some through need of the men, others thinking they should gratify him, and the largest number (in case they were reputed to be property-holders) out of a wish to avail themselves of this pretext for spending some of their substance and thus by becoming poorer save their lives.

Yet, in spite of this action of his, he afterward put out of the way by poison the best and most famous of these slaves. He did the same also in the case of rival horses and charioteers, being greatly devoted to the party that wore the frog green and from this color was called the Party of the Leek. Even now the place where the chariots practiced is called Galanum. One of the horses, that he named Incitatus, he invited to dinner, offered him golden barley, and drank his health in wine from gold goblets. He took oaths by the same beast's Guardian Spirit and Presiding Fortune and promised besides that he would appoint him consul. This he would certainly have done, too, if he had lived longer.

[-15-] Now formerly for the purpose of providing funds it had been voted that all those persons who had wished to leave anything to Tiberius and were alive should at their death bestow the same upon Gaius. The publication of a decree was deemed necessary to prevent its seeming that he could break the laws in securing by inheritance such gifts; for he had at the time neither wife nor children. But at the time of which I am speaking he proceeded to levy for himself without any vote absolutely all the property of men who had served among the centurions and had after the triumph which his father celebrated left it to somebody other than the emperor. When not even this sufficed, he hit upon the following third means of raising money. There was a senator, Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, who had noticed that the roads during the reign of Tiberius were in bad condition and was always nagging the road commissioners about it and furthermore kept making a nuisance of himself before the senate regarding the matter. Gaius took him as a confederate and through him attacked all those, alive or dead, who had ever been road commissioners and had received money for repairing the highways. He fined both them and the men who had secured any contracts from them, on the pretence that they had spent nothing. For this help Corbulo was at the time made consul, but later, in the reign of Claudius, he was accused and his conduct investigated. Claudius made no further demands for any sums still owing and after collecting what had been paid in, partly from the treasury and partly from Corbulo, he returned it to the persons who had been fined.

All that was later. At this time these unfortunates one by one and practically everybody else in the City were, as one might say, despoiled.

Of those who possessed anything there was no one,--not a man nor a woman,--who got off scot free. Though he allowed some of the more elderly persons to live, yet by calling them his fathers, grandfathers, mothers, and grandmothers, he got revenue from them during their lifetime and inherited their property when they died.

[-16-] Up to this time he was always speaking ill of Tiberius before everybody, and so far from rebuking others who criticised him privately or publicly he enjoyed their language. But now he entered the senate-house and eulogized his predecessor at length, besides severely rebuking the senate and the people, saying that they did wrong in finding fault with him. "I may do even this," he said, "in my capacity as emperor, but you are not only unjust but also guilty of impiety[11] to take such an att.i.tude toward one who ruled you." Thereupon he considered separately the case of each man who had lost his life and showed to his own satisfaction that the senators had been responsible for the death of most of them; some, he alleged, they had killed by accusation, some by d.a.m.ning evidence, and all by sentence of condemnation. This he proved by having some freedmen read it from those very doc.u.ments which he once declared he had burned. And he told them besides: "In case Tiberius really did do wrong, you ought not to have honored him while he lived, and at any rate, by Jupiter, you ought not to repudiate what you often said and voted. But you both behaved toward him with fickleness and again after filling Seja.n.u.s with conceit and spoiling him you put him to death, and therefore I ought not either to expect any decent treatment from you." After some such remarks he represented in his speech Tiberius himself as saying to him: "All this that you have said has been good and true. Therefore have no affection nor mercy for any one of them. They all hate you: they all pray for your death. They will murder you if they can.

Hence do not stop to consider what acts of yours will please them and heed none of their talk. Rather, have regard to your own pleasure and safety solely, since that has the most just claim. In this way you will suffer no harm and will enjoy all supremest pleasures. You will, moreover, be honored by them whether they so desire or not. If you follow a different course, it will be useless, and beyond an empty reputation you will gain no advantage, but become the victim of plots and perish ingloriously. No man living is ruled of his own free will, but the element which is kept in fear, whatever its size, waits upon the stronger element, whereas if it attains to courage, it always wreaks vengeance upon the other, which has now become the weaker."

At the close of this address Gaius reintroduced the complaints for maiestas, ordered his commands to be inscribed upon a bronze tablet and rus.h.i.+ng hastily from the senate-house proceeded the same day to the suburbs of the capital. The senate and the people were filled with great fear as they thought of the denunciations against Tiberius, which they had often uttered, and of the many surprises his speech had had in store for them. Temporarily their alarm and dejection prevented them from saying a word or transacting any business. Next day they a.s.sembled again, praised Gaius unstintedly as a most sincere and pious ruler, and thanked him profusely that they had not perished like others. Accordingly, they voted annually to sacrifice cattle to the Spirit of Kindness that animated him both on the anniversary of the day he had read this matter just mentioned and on those belonging to the Palatium[12]: on such occasions his image in gold was to be conducted to the Capitol and hymns sung in its honor by the boys of n.o.blest birth. They granted him also the right to celebrate a lesser triumph, as though he had defeated some enemies. This was what they voted at that meeting: later they added to it extensively on almost every pretext.

[-17-] Gaius took no heed of the celebration mentioned; it seemed to him to be no great thing to drive a horse on land: but he had a desire to ride horseback through the sea in a way, by bridging over the water between Puteoli and Bauli. This locality is opposite the City, twenty-six stades distant. Boats for the bridge were partly brought together and partly built new for the purpose. For the number it had proved possible to collect in a brief s.p.a.ce of time was insufficient, although all feasible vessels had been gathered, and it was princ.i.p.ally this fact that caused a serious famine in Italy and Rome. In joining these boats not merely a pa.s.sageway was constructed but resting places and waiting rooms were built along in it, and these had running water fit for drinking.

When it was ready, he put on the breastplate of Alexander (or so he said), and over it a purple silk chlamys, containing much gold and many precious stones from India. He furthermore girt on a sword, took a s.h.i.+eld, and donned a garland of oak leaves. Next he offered sacrifice to Neptune and some other G.o.ds and to Envy (in order, he said, that no jealousy might attend him), and entered the pa.s.sage from the end at Bauli, taking with him great numbers of armed hors.e.m.e.n and foot soldiers; and he made a fierce dash into the city as if he were after some enemies.

There he rested the following day, as though seeking respite from battle, and wearing a gold-spangled tunic he returned on a chariot over the same bridge. He was drawn by race-horses that were most competent to gain victories. A long train of what was apparently spoils accompanied him, among them Darius, one of the Arsacidae, belonging to the group of Parthians then serving as hostages. His friends and a.s.sociates in beflowered robes followed him on vehicles, as did the army and the rest of the throng, which was decked out according to individual taste. Of course, in the midst of such a campaign and after so magnificent a victory he had to deliver a bit of an harangue: so he ascended a platform which had likewise been erected at about the center of the bridge. First he extolled himself as one who had undertaken a great enterprise; next he praised the soldiers as men exhausted by the dangers they had faced, adding the significant statement that they had traversed the sea on foot.

For this gallantry he gave them money and afterward for the rest of the day and all through the night they enjoyed a banquet,--he on the bridge, as though some island, and they at anchor on other boats. Light in abundance shone upon them from the place itself and abundant light besides from the mountains. For since the place was crescent-shaped, fire was exhibited from all sides, as might be done in a theatre, so that no one could notice the darkness. It was his wish to make the night day, as he had made the sea land. When he had become full to excess of food and strong drink, he threw numbers of his companions off the bridge into the sea and sank many of the rest by making a circuitous attack upon them in boats that had rams. Some perished, but the majority though drunk managed to save themselves. The reason was that the sea showed itself extremely smooth and tranquil both while the bridge was being put together and while the other events were taking place. This, too, caused the emperor some elation, and he said that even Neptune was afraid of him. As for Darius and Xerxes, he made all manner of fun of them, inasmuch as he had bridged over a far vaster expanse of sea than they.

[-18-] The final episode in the career of that bridge, which I shall now relate, proved another source of death to many. Inasmuch as the emperor had exhausted his revenues in the construction he fell to plotting against many more persons because of their property. He presided at trials both privately and in company with the entire senate. That body also tried some cases by itself, yet it had not full powers and there were many appeals from its decisions. The decisions of the senate were merely made public, but when any men were condemned by Gaius their names were bulletined, as though he feared they might not learn their fate. These met their punishment some in prison and others by being hurled from the Capitoline. Still others killed themselves beforehand. There was no safety even for such as left the country, but many of them, too, lost their lives either on the road or while in banishment It is not worth while to burden my readers unduly by going into the details of most of these cases, but I may stop to notice Calvisius Sabinus, one of the foremost men in the senate. He had recently come from governing Pannonia, and he and his wife Cornelia were both indicted. The charge against her was that she had visited some military posts and had watched some soldiers practicing. These two did not stand trial but despatched themselves before the time set. The same is to be recorded of t.i.tius Rufus, against whom a complaint was lodged that he had said the senate had one thing in their minds but uttered something different. Also one Junius Priscus, a praetor, was accused on various charges, but his death was really due to the supposition that he was wealthy. Gaius, on learning that he possessed nothing worth causing his death for, made this remarkable statement: "He fooled me and perished uselessly when he might as well have lived."

[-19-] Among these men put on trial at this time Domitius Afer encountered danger from an unexpected source and secured his preservation in a still more remarkable way. Gaius was incensed against him (if for no other reason) because in the reign of Tiberius he had accused a woman who was related to the emperor's mother Agrippina. Later the woman had met Afer and as she saw that out of embarra.s.sment he stood aside from her path she called to him and said (referring to the matter): "Never mind, Domitius: it wasn't you, but Agamemnon, that caused me these troubles."

[13] Just about this time Afer had set up an image of the emperor and had placed upon it an inscription showing that Gaius in his twenty-seventh year was already consul for the second time. This vexed the latter, who felt that undue notice was being given to his youth and his transgression of the law. So for this action, for which Afer had looked to be honored, he brought him before the senate and read a long speech against him.

Gaius always maintained that he surpa.s.sed all living orators, and knowing that his adversary was an extremely gifted speaker he strove on this occasion to excel him. He would certainly have put Afer to death, if the latter had entered into the least compet.i.tion with him. As it was, the man made no answer or defence, but pretended to be astonished and overcome by the cleverness of Gaius, and repeating the accusation point by point he praised it as though he were some listener and not on trial.

When opportunity was given him to speak, he took to supplicating and bewailing his lot; finally he threw himself on the earth and lying there prostrate he besought his accuser, apparently fearing him as an orator rather than as Caesar. In this way the latter when he saw and heard what I have described was melted, for he thought that he had really overwhelmed Domitius by the eloquence of his address. For this reason, then, and on account of Callistus the freedman, whom he was wont to honor and whose favor Domitius had courted, he ceased his anger. And when Callistus later blamed him for having accused the man in the first place, the emperor answered: "It would not have been right for me to hide such a speech."

So Domitius was saved by being convicted of no longer being a skillful speaker.

On the other hand Lucius Annaeus Seneca, who was superior in wisdom to all the Romans of his day and to many other great men, came very near being ruined, though he had done no wrong and there was no suspicion of such a thing, but just because he pled a case well in the senate while his sovereign was present. Gaius ordered him to be put to death, but let him go because he believed what one of his female a.s.sociates said, that Seneca had a bad case of consumption and would die before a great while.

[-20-] Directly he appointed Domitius consul and removed those who held the office at the time: this he did because they had not proclaimed a thanksgiving on the occasion of his birthday (the praetors had held a horse-race and had slaughtered some beasts, but that happened every year) whereas they had celebrated a festival to commemorate the victory of Augustus over Antony. In order to find an accusation against them he chose to figure as a descendant of Antony rather than of Augustus. He had beforehand told those who shared his secrets that whichever the consuls did they would certainly get into trouble, whether they offered sacrifice as a mark of joy over Antony's disaster or whether they went without sacrificing on such an occasion as the victory of Augustus. It was for these reasons, then, that he summarily dismissed these officials and broke to pieces their fasces. One of them took it so much to heart that he killed himself.

Domitius was chosen as the emperor's colleague nominally by the people but actually by Gaius himself. The latter had, to be sure, restored the elections to the populace, but they had become rather lax in the performance of their duties because for a long time now they had enjoyed none of the privileges of freemen; and as a rule no more office-seekers presented themselves than were needed to fill vacant places, or if ever there was an excessive number the outcome had been all arranged among themselves. Thus the appearance of a democracy was preserved but none of the proper results was secured; and this led Gaius himself to abolish the elections again. After this things went on precisely as in the reign of Tiberius. Sometimes fifteen praetors were chosen and again one more or less, as it might happen.

Such was the action he took regarding the elections. In general he maintained a malignant and suspicious att.i.tude toward quite everything that went on, as witness his banis.h.i.+ng Carrina Secundus the orator because the latter had delivered in a gymnasium a speech against tyrants.

Also, when Lucius Piso, son of Plancina and Gnaeus Piso, chanced to become governor of Africa, the emperor feared that pride might lead him to revolt, particularly since he was to have a large force made up of both citizens and foreigners. Hence the province was divided in two and the military force together with the Nomads in the immediate vicinity was a.s.signed to a different official. That arrangement lasts to this day.

[-21-] Gaius had now spent practically all the money in Rome and the rest of Italy, gathered from every source from which he could in any way get it, and as no resource that was of any value or practicable could be found there, his expenses became a source of great annoyance to him.

Therefore he set out for Gaul, declaring hostilities against the Celtae on the ground that they were showing some uneasiness, but in reality his purpose was to get money from that region and Spain, where wealth was also abundant. However, he did not make an outright declaration of his destination, but went first to one of the suburbs and then suddenly started on his journey, taking with him many dancers, gladiators, horses, women, and the rest of the rout. When he reached the section he had in view he did no damage to any of the enemy;--as soon as he had proceeded a short distance beyond the Rhine he turned back, and next he started apparently to conduct a campaign against Britain, but turned back from the ocean's edge, showing no little vexation at his lieutenants because they won some slight success;--among the subject peoples, however, and among the allies and the citizens he wrought the greatest imaginable havoc. In the first place he despoiled property holders on any and every excuse, and second, individuals and cities brought him "voluntarily"

large gifts. He kept on murdering victims, alleging that some were rebelling and others conspiring. The general complaint against them all was that they were rich. The fact that he attended to the selling of their possessions in person enabled him to obtain far greater sums than would otherwise have been the case. Everybody was compelled to buy them, under all sorts of conditions and for much more than their value, for the reasons I have mentioned. Accordingly, he sent also for the finest and most precious heirlooms of the government and auctioned them off, selling with them the fame of the persons who had once used them. He would make some comment on each one, such as "This belonged to my father," "this to my mother," "this to my grandfather," "this to my great-grandfather,"

"this Egyptian piece belonged to Antony--became a prize of Augustus."

Meantime he incidentally showed the necessity of selling them, so that no one dared to appear to be indigent, and he sold with each article some valuable a.s.sociation.

[-22-] In spite of all this he did not secure any surplus. He kept up his expenditures both for the objects that regularly interested him, producing some spectacles at Lugdunum, and also for the army. For the number of soldiers he had gathered amounted to twenty myriads, or, as some say, to twenty-five myriads. Seven times was he named imperator by them (just as pleased him), though he had won no battle and slain no enemy. To be sure, he did once by a ruse seize and make prisoners a few of the latter, but it was his own people whom he wasted most, striking some of them down individually and butchering others _en ma.s.se_. Once he saw a crowd either of prisoners or some other persons and gave orders (in the cant phrase) that they should all be slain from baldhead to baldhead.

Another time he was playing dice and, finding that he had no money, called for the census of the Gauls and ordered the wealthiest of them to be put to death. Then he returned to his fellow gamblers and said: "Here you are playing for a few denarii, while I have collected nearly fifteen thousand myriads." So these men perished without consideration. Indeed, one of them, Julius Sacerdos, who was fairly well off but not so extremely wealthy as naturally to become the object of attack, nevertheless fell a victim because of a similarity of names. This shows how carelessly everything went.

Others who perished I need not cite by name, simply mentioning enough to satisfy the requirements of my record. One, then, that he killed was Gastulicus Lentulus, a man of good reputation in every way, who had been governor of Germany for ten years; his death was due to the fact that the soldiers liked him. Another that he murdered was Lepidus, that lover and favorite of his, husband of Drusilla, the man who together with Gaius had maintained criminal relations with the emperor's other sisters Agrippina and Julia, the man whom he had permitted to stand for office five years earlier than the laws allowed, whom he also declared he should leave to succeed him as emperor. To celebrate the event he gave the soldiers money, as though he had worsted some hostile force, and sent three daggers to Mars the Avenger in Rome. His sisters for their connection with Lepidus he deported to the Portian islands, having first written to the senate a great deal of outrageous and brutal comment upon them.

Agrippina was given the victim's bones in a jar and ordered to keep it in her bosom throughout the entire journey and bring it back to Rome again.

Also, since many honors had been voted to these women on the emperor's account, the emperor forbade any distinction being awarded to any of his relatives again.

[-23-] He sent to the senate at the time a report of the matter as if he had escaped some great plot, for he was always pretending to be in danger and to be leading a miserable existence. The senators on being apprised of the facts pa.s.sed several complimentary votes and granted him a lesser triumph; they sent envoys to announce this, some of whom were chosen by lot, but Claudius by election. That also displeased the emperor to such an extent that he again forbade anything approaching praise or honor being given to his relatives. He felt, too, that he had not been honored as he deserved, and indeed he never made any account of the honors granted him. It irritated him to have small distinctions voted, since that implied a slight, and greater distinctions irritated him because then he was deprived of the possibility of winning still higher prizes.

He did not wish it to seem that anything that brought him honors was in the senators' power,--that would make them stronger than he,--nor again that they should have the right to grant such a thing to him, as if they had power and he was inferior to them. For this reason he ofttimes found fault with various gifts, on the ground that they did not increase his splendor but rather diminished his power. Being of this mind he used to become angry at those who did him honor if in any case it seemed that they had voted him less than he deserved. So capricious was he that no one could easily suit him.

Accordingly, for the reasons mentioned he would not receive all of those amba.s.sadors, affecting to mistrust that they were spies, but chose out a few and sent the rest back before they reached Gaul. Those that he admitted to his presence were not accorded any august reception; indeed, he would have killed Claudius, had he not entertained a contempt for him, since the latter partly by nature and partly with intention gave the impression of great stupidity. Others were again sent, more in number (for he had complained among other points of the smallness of the first emba.s.sy), and they made the announcement that many marks of distinction had been voted to him: these he received gladly, even going out to meet them, for which action he received fresh honors at their hands. This, however, was somewhat later.

At the time under discussion Gaius divorced Paulina on the pretext that she was barren, but really because he had had enough of her, and married Milonia Caesonia. She had formerly been his mistress, but now as she was pregnant he chose to make her his wife and have her bear him a child a month later. The people of Rome were disturbed by this behavior and were still further disturbed because a number of trials were hanging over their heads as a result of the friends.h.i.+p they had shown for his sisters and for the men who had been murdered: even some aediles and praetors were compelled to resign their offices and stand trial.--Meantime they also suffered from the excessive heat. This grew so extremely severe that curtains were stretched across the Forum.--Among the men exiled at this time Ofonius Tigillinus was banished on the charge of having had a _liaison_ with Agrippina.

[-24-] All this, however, did not distress the people so much as their expectation that the cruelty and licentiousness of Gaius would go to still greater lengths. They were particularly troubled on ascertaining that King Agrippa and King Antiochus were with him, like two tyrant-trainers.

[A.D. 40 (_a. u._ 793)]

As a consequence, while he was consul for the third time no tribune nor praetor dared to convene the senate. For he had no colleague; though this, as some think, was not intentional, but the regular appointee died and no one else in so short a period of time as was available could be brought forward in the comitia to fill his place. Moreover, the praetors who attend to the affairs of the consuls, whenever the latter are out of town, ought to have administered all business pending. But at this period, in order not to appear to have acted for the emperor, they performed none of their duties. The senators in a body ascended the Capitoline, offered their sacrifices, and did obeisance to the chair of Gaius located in the temple. Furthermore, according to a custom prevailing in the time of Augustus, they deposited money, [14] making a show of giving it to the emperor himself. Their practice was similar also in the following year. At the time of the events just narrated they came together in the senate-house after these proceedings, without any person having convened them, but accomplished nothing, wasting the whole day in laudations of Gaius and prayers in his behalf. Since they had no love for him nor any wish that he should survive, they simulated both these feelings to all the greater extent, as if hoping in this way to disguise their real sentiments. On the third day devoted to prayers they came together in response to an announcement of a meeting made by all the praetors in a written notice: still, they transacted no business on this day nor again on the next until on the twelfth day word was brought that Gaius had resigned his office. Then at last the men who had been elected for subsequent service succeeded to the position and administered the business that fell to them. It was voted among other measures that the same honors should be given to the birthdays of Tiberius and of Drusilla as to that of Augustus. The actor folk also celebrated a festival, provided a spectacle, and set up and dedicated images of Gaius and Drusilla.--This was in accordance with a letter of Gaius. Whenever he wished any business brought up he communicated in writing a small portion of it to all the senators, but most of it to the consuls, and then sometimes ordered this to be read in the senate.--So much for the transactions of the senate.

[-25-] Meanwhile Gaius sent for Ptolemaeus, the son of Juba, and on ascertaining that he was wealthy put him to death and a number of others with him. Also when he reached the ocean and was to all appearances about to conduct a campaign in Britain and had drawn up all the soldiers on the beach, he embarked on the triremes but after putting out a little from the land he sailed back again. Next he took his seat on a high platform and gave his soldiers the watchword as if for battle, while the trumpeters urged them on. All of a sudden, however, he ordered them to gather the sh.e.l.ls. Having secured these "spoils" (you see he needed booty for the celebration of his triumph) he became immensely elated, a.s.suming that he had enslaved the ocean itself; and he gave his soldiers many presents. The sh.e.l.ls he took back to Rome for the purpose of exhibiting the spoils to the people there as well. The senate did not see how it could remain inactive in the face of this procedure, inasmuch as it learned he was in an exalted frame of mind, nor yet again how it could praise him. For, when anybody bestows great praise or extraordinary honors for a small success or none at all, that person becomes suspected of making a mock and jest of the affair. Still, for all that, when Gaius entered the City he came very near devoting the whole senate to destruction because it had not voted him divine honors. But he contented himself with a.s.sembling the populace, upon whom he showered from a raised position quant.i.ties of silver and gold. Many perished in the effort to seize it; for, as some say, he had mixed small knife-blades in with the coin.

As a result of his adulteries he repeatedly received the t.i.tles of imperator and Germanicus and Britannicus no less than if he had subdued Gaul and Britain entire.

Since this was his manner of life, he was destined inevitably to be plotted against. He was on the lookout for an attack and arrested Anicius Cerealius and his son s.e.xtus Papinius, whom he put to the torture. And inasmuch as the former would not utter a word, he persuaded Papinius (by promising him safety and immunity) to denounce certain persons (whether truly or falsely); he then straightway put to death both Cerealius and the rest before his very eyes.

There was a Betilienus Ba.s.sus whom he had ordered killed, and he compelled Capito, the man's father, to be present at his son's execution, though Capito was not guilty of any crime and had received no court summons. When the father enquired if he would allow him to shut his eyes, Gaius ordered him to be slain likewise. He, finding himself in danger, pretended to have been one of the plotters and promised that he would disclose the names of all the rest; and he named the companions of Gaius and those who abetted his licentiousness and cruelty. He would have brought destruction upon many persons, had he not by laying further information against the prefects, and Callistus and Caesonia, aroused distrust. So he was put to death, but this very act paved the way for the ruin of Gaius. For the emperor privately summoned the prefects and Callistus and said to them: "I am but one and you are three; and I am defenceless, whereas you are armed: hence, if you hate and desire to kill me, slay me at once." The general consequences were that he came to regard himself as an object of hatred, and believing that they were vexed at his behavior he harbored suspicion against them and wore a sword at his side when in the City; and to forestall any harmony of action on their part he attempted to embroil them one with another by pretending to make a confidant of each one separately and talking to him about the rest until they obtained a notion of his designs and left him a prey to the conspirators.

The same emperor ordered the senate to convene and affected to grant its members amnesty, saying that there were only a very few against whom he still retained his anger. This expression doubled the anxiety of each one of them, for everybody was thinking of himself.

[-26-] Another person, named Protogenes, a.s.sisted the emperor in all his projects, and carried continually on his person two books, of which he called the one "sword" and the other "dagger." This Protogenes once entered the senate as if on some indifferent business and when all, as was to be expected, saluted and greeted him, he darted a kind of sinister glance at Scribonius Proculus and said: "Do you, too, greet me, though you hate the emperor so?" On hearing this all those present surrounded their fellow senator and tore him to pieces and voted [some festivals to Gains as also] that the emperor should have a high platform in the senate-house to prevent any one's approaching him, besides enjoying the use of a military guard even there. [They resolved further that his statues should be guarded.

Pleased at this Gaius laid aside his anger toward them and with a buoyant spirit promised them some money. Pomponius, who was said to have plotted against him, he released, inasmuch as he had been betrayed by a friend.

And, as the man's mistress when tortured would not utter a word, he did her no further harm and even gave her an honorary gift of money. Gaius was praised for this partly through fear and partly sincerely, and] as some called him hero and others G.o.d, he fairly went out of his head. Even before this he was in the habit of demanding that he be given superhuman regard and said that he had intercourse with the Moon G.o.ddess and was crowned by Victory. He also pretended to be Jupiter and took this as a pretext for having carnal knowledge of various women, especially his sisters. Again he would often figure as [Neptune, because he had bridged so great an expanse of sea, or perhaps as] Juno and Diana and Venus.

[He would impersonate Hercules, Bacchus, Apollo, and all the other divinities, not merely males but also females.] As fast as he changed the names he would a.s.sume all the rest of the attributes that belonged to them, [so that he might seem to resemble them]. Now he would be seen in feminine guise, holding a wine-cup and thyrsus, again with masculine trappings he would carry a club and lion-skin: [or perhaps a helmet and s.h.i.+eld]. He would make up first with smooth chin and later on as a bearded man. Sometimes he wielded a trident and on other occasions he brandished the thunderbolt. He would array himself like a maiden equipped for [hunting or] war, and after a brief interval would come forth as a woman. Thus he could make changes with careful attention to details by the variety of his dress and by what he attached to or threw over it, and he was anxious to appear to be anything rather than a human being [and an emperor]. Once a certain Gaul, espying him on a, high platform transacting business in the guise of Jupiter, laughed aloud. Gaius called to him and asked: "What do I seem to you to be?" And the other answered--I shall tell his exact words--: "A big pack of foolishness." Yet the man met no dire fate, for he was a shoemaker. Persons of such rank as Gaius can bear the frankness of the common herd more easily than that of those who hold high position.--Now this was the attire he would a.s.sume whenever he pretended to be some G.o.d; and there were suitable supplications, prayers, and sacrifices offered to it. [-27-] Otherwise, he usually appeared in public in silk and triumphal dress. Very few were those whom he would kiss. To most of the senators even he extended his hand or foot for homage. Consequently the men who were kissed by him thanked him for it even in the senate, though all might see him kissing dancers every day. [And these divine honors paid him came not only from the many, accustomed at all times to flatter, but from those who really pretended to be something.]

Take the case of Lucius Vitellius, not of low birth nor without sense, a man who, on the contrary, had become famous by his governors.h.i.+p of Syria.

In addition to his other brilliant exploits as an official he spoiled a plot of Artaba.n.u.s in that region. He encountered the latter, who had suffered no punishment for Armenia, already close to the Euphrates and terrified him by his sudden appearance. He then induced him to come to a conference and finally compelled him to sacrifice to the images of Augustus and Gaius. Furthermore he made a peace with him that was advantageous for the Romans and secured his children as hostages. This Vitellius, then, was summoned by Gaius to be put to death. The complaint against him was the same as the Parthians had against their king whom they expelled. Jealousy made him the object of hatred, and fear the object of plots. [For every power stronger than himself Gaius entertained hatred, and he was suspicious of whatever was successful, feeling sure that it would ultimately attack him.] But Vitellius saved his life by somehow presenting himself in such a way as to appear of less importance than his reputation would lead one to expect. He fell at the emperor's feet shedding tears of lamentation, all the time saluting him frequently as divine and paying him wors.h.i.+p; at last he vowed that should he survive he would sacrifice to Gaius. By this behavior he so mollified the offended monarch and won his good-will that he not only managed to survive but came to be regarded as one of his lord's most intimate friends. On one occasion Gaius declared he was enjoying converse with the Moon G.o.ddess, and when he asked Vitellius if he could see the G.o.ddess with him, the other kept his eyes fixed on the ground, as if overcome by amazement. In a half whisper he answered: "Only you G.o.ds, master, may behold one another."--So Vitellius from these beginnings, later came to surpa.s.s all others in adulation.

[-28-] [Gaius gave orders that in Miletus of the province of Asia a certain tract of land should be set apart for his wors.h.i.+p. His avowed reason for choosing this city was that Diana had preempted Ephesus, Augustus Pergamum, and Tiberius Smyrna. The truth of the matter, however, was that he had conceived a desire to appropriate to his own use the large and extremely beautiful temple which the Milesians were building to Apollo. Thereupon he went to still greater lengths and built actually in Rome itself one temple of his own that was accorded him by vote of the senate, and another at his private expense on the Capitoline.] He also planned a kind of dwelling on the Capitol, in order, as he said, that he might live in the same house with Jupiter. However, he disdained taking second place in this union of households and found fault with the G.o.d for occupying the Capitol before him: accordingly, he hastened to construct another temple on the Palatine and by way of a statue for it thought he should like to change that of Olympian Jove so as to resemble himself.

This he found impossible, for the boat built to bring it was shattered by thunderbolts, and loud laughter was plainly heard as often as any persons approached the pedestal to take hold of it. So after hurling threats at the obdurate image he set up a new one of himself.--The temple of the Dioscuri in the Roman Forum he cut in two and made through it an approach to the Palatine running right between the statues, to the end (these were at all events his words) that he might have the Dioscuri for gate-keepers. a.s.suming the name of Dialius [15] he attached Caesonia his wife, Claudius, and other persons who were very wealthy to his service as priests, receiving from each one two hundred and fifty myriads for this honor. He also consecrated himself to his own service and appointed his horse a fellow-priest. Dainty and expensive birds were daily sacrificed to him; he had a contrivance by which he defied the thunder with answering peals and could send return flashes when it lightened. Likewise whenever a bolt fell, he would in turn hurl a javelin at a rock, repeating each time the words of Homer: "Either lift me or I will thee."

[16] [When thirty days after her marriage Caesonia brought forth a little daughter, he pretended that this, too, had come about through supernatural means and gave himself airs on the fact that in so few days after becoming a husband he was a father. He gave the child the name of Drusilla, and taking her up to the Capitol placed her on the knees of Jupiter, with the implication that she was his child, and put her in charge of Minerva to be suckled.] This G.o.d, then, this Jupiter,--[he was called by the latter name so much that it even found its way into doc.u.ments,--at the same time that all this took place was collecting money in most shameful and most frightful ways.] One may, to be sure, [leave out of account the wares and the taverns, the brothels [17] and the courts, the artisans and the wage-earning slaves] and other such sources from [every single one of] which he gathered funds; but how can one escape mentioning the rooms set apart in the very palace and the wives of the foremost men as well as the children of the most aristocratic families that he shut up in these rooms and foully abused, sparing absolutely no one in his greed for such victims, meeting with no resistance from some [who wished to avoid showing any displeasure] but seizing others quite against their will? [Yet these proceedings did not displease the mob very much, but they rather delighted with him in his licentiousness and in the fact that] he also would throw himself on the heap of gold and silver collected from these persons and roll in it.