The Reign of Tiberius, Out of the First Six Annals of Tacitus Part 7

Tiberius, as a means to divert upon other matters the popular talk, attended a.s.siduously the deliberations of the Senate; and there heard for many days the several Amba.s.sadors from Asia, mutually contending, "in what city should be built the temple lately decreed." For this honour eleven cities strove, with equal ambition, though different in power: nor did the pleas urged by all, greatly vary; namely, "the antiquity of their original, and their distinguished zeal for the Roman People, during their several wars with Perseus, Aristonicus, and other kings." But the Trallians, the Laodiceans, the Magnesians and those of the Hypaepis, were at once dismissed, as insufficient for the charge. Nor, in truth, had they of Ilium, who represented, "that Troy was the mother of Rome," any superior advantage, besides the glory of antiquity. The plea of the Halicarna.s.sians took some short consideration: they a.s.serted, "that for twelve hundred years, no earthquake had shaken their town; and that they would fix in a solid rock the foundations of the temple." The same considerations were urged by the inhabitants of Pergamus; where already was erected a temple to Augustus; a distinction which was judged sufficient for them. The cities too of Ephesus and Miletus seemed fully employed in the ceremonies of their own distinct deities; the former in those of Diana; the other, in those of Apollo. Thus the dispute was confined to Sardis and Smyrna. The first recited a decree of the Etrurians, which owned them for kinsmen: "for that Tyrrhenus and Lydus, sons of King Atys, having between them divided their people, because of their mult.i.tude, Lydus re-settled in his native country; and it became the lot of Tyrrhenus to find out a fresh residence; and by the names of these chiefs the parted people came afterwards to be called, Lydians in Asia, Tyrrhenians in Italy. That the opulence of the Lydians spread yet farther, by their colonies sent under Pelops into Greece, which from him afterwards took its name." They likewise urged "the letters of our Generals; their mutual leagues with us during the war of Macedon; their plenty of rivers, temperate climate, and the fertility of the circ.u.mjacent country."

The Smyrnaeans having likewise recounted their ancient establishment, "whether Tantalus, the son of Jupiter; or Theseus, the son also of a G.o.d; or one of the old Amazons, were their founder;" proceeded to considerations in which they chiefly trusted; their friendly offices to the Roman People, having aided them with a naval force, not in their foreign wars only, but in those which infested Italy. "It was they who first reared a temple to the City of Rome, in the Consuls.h.i.+p of Marcus Porcius; then, in truth, when the power of the Roman People was already mighty, but however not yet raised to its highest glory; for the city of Carthage still stood, and potent kings governed Asia. Witness too their generosity to Sylla, when the condition of his army ready to famish in a cruel winter and a scarcity of clothes, being related to the citizens of Smyrna then a.s.sembled; all that were present divested themselves of their raiments, and sent them to our legions." Thus when the votes of the Senators were gathered, the pretensions of Smyrna were preferred. It was also moved by Vibius Marsus, that Lentulus, to whom had fallen the province of Asia, should be attended by a Legate extraordinary, to supervise the building of the temple; and as Lentulus himself through modesty declined to choose one, several who had been Praetors were drawn by lot, and the lot fell upon Valerius Naso.

In the meantime, according to a purpose long meditated, and from time to time deferred, Tiberius at last retired to Campania; in profession, to dedicate a temple to Jupiter at Capua, and one at Nola to Augustus; but in truth determined to remove, for ever, from Rome. The cause of his departure, I have before referred to the stratagems of Seja.n.u.s; but though in it I have followed most of our authors; yet, since after the execution of Seja.n.u.s, he persisted for six years in the like dark recess; I am rather influenced by a stronger probability, that the ground of his absence is more justly to be ascribed to his own spirit, while he strove to hide in the shades of solitude, what in deeds he proclaimed, the rage of his cruelty and l.u.s.t. There were those who believed that, in his old age, he was ashamed of the figure of his person; for he was very lean, long and stooping, his head bald, his face ulcerous, and for the most besmeared with salves: he was moreover wont, during his recess at Rhodes, to avoid the public, and cover his debauches in secrecy. It is also related that he was driven from Rome by the restless aspiring of his mother, whom he scorned to admit a partner in the sovereignty; nor yet could entirely seclude, since as her gift he had received the sovereignty itself. For, Augustus had deliberated about setting Germanicus at the head of the Roman state; his sister's grandson, and one adored by all men: but subdued by the solicitations of his wife, he adopted Tiberius; and caused Tiberius to adopt Germanicus. With this grandeur of her own procuring, Livia upbraided her son; and even reclaimed it.

His going was narrowly accompanied; by one Senator, Cocceius Nerva, formerly Consul, and accomplished in the knowledge of the laws; and, besides Seja.n.u.s, by one dignified Roman knight, Curtius Atticus. The rest were men of letters, chiefly Greeks; whose conversation pleased and amused him. The skilled in astrology declared, "that he had left Rome in such a conjunction of the planets, as for ever to exclude his return." Hence a source of destruction to many, who conjectured his end to be at hand, and published their conjectures: for, it was an event too incredible to be foreseen, that for eleven years he should of choice be withdrawn from his country. The sequel discovered the short bounds between the art and the falsehood of the art, and what obscurities perplex even the facts it happens to foretell. _That he should never return to Rome_, proved not to be falsely said: as to everything else about him they were perfectly in the dark; since he still lived, never far distant, sometimes in the adjacent champain, sometimes on the neighbouring sh.o.r.e, often under the very walls of the city; and died at last in the fulness and extremity of age.

There happened to Tiberius, about that time, an accident, which, as it threatened his life, fired the empty prognostics at Rome; but to himself proved matter of more confidence in the friends.h.i.+p and faith of Seja.n.u.s.

They were eating in a cave at a villa, thence called _Spelunca_, between the Amyclean Sea and the mountains of Fondi: it was a native cave, and its mouth fell suddenly in, and buried under it some of the attendants: hence dread seized all, and they who were celebrating the entertainment fled: as to Seja.n.u.s; he covered the Emperor's body with his own, and stooping upon his knees and hands, exposed himself to the descending ruin; such was the posture he was found in by the soldiers, who came to their relief. He grew mightier from thence; and being now considered by Tiberius as one regardless of himself, all his counsels, however b.l.o.o.d.y and destructive, were listened to with blind credulity: so that he a.s.sumed the office of a judge against the offspring of Germanicus, and suborned such as were to act the parts of accusers, and especially to pursue and blacken Nero, the next in succession; a young Prince modest indeed, but forgetful of that restraint and circ.u.mspection which his present situation required. He was misguided by his freedmen and the retainers to his house; who eager to be masters of power, animated him with intemperate counsels; "that he would show a spirit resolute and a.s.sured; it was what the Roman People wished, what the armies longed for: nor would Seja.n.u.s dare then to resist; though he now equally insulted the tameness of an old man and the sloth of a young one."

While he listened to these and the like suggestions, there escaped him, no expressions, in truth, of any criminal purpose; but sometimes such as were resentful and unguarded: these were catched up by the spies placed upon him, and charged against him with aggravations; neither was he allowed the privilege of clearing himself. Several threatening appearances moreover dismayed him: some avoided to meet him; others having just paid him the salute, turned instantly away: many, in the midst of conversation, broke off and left him; while the creatures of Seja.n.u.s stood still fearlessly by and sneered upon him. For Tiberius; he always entertained him with a stern face, or a hollow smile; and whether the youth spoke or said nothing, there were crimes in his words, crimes in his silence: nor was he safe even at the dead of night; since his uneasiness and watchings, nay, his very sighs and dreams were, by his wife, divulged to her mother Livia, and by Livia to Seja.n.u.s; who had also drawn his brother Drusus into the combination, by tempting him with the immediate prospect of Empire, if his elder brother, already sinking, were once set effectually aside. The genius of Druses naturally furious, instigated besides by a pa.s.sion for power, and by the usual hate and compet.i.tion between brothers, was further kindled by the partiality of Agrippina, who was fonder of Nero. However, Seja.n.u.s did not so far favour Drusus, but that against him too he was even then ripening the studied measures of future destruction; as he knew him to be violent, and thence more obnoxious to snares.

In the end of the year departed these eminent persons; Asinius Agrippa, of ancestors more ill.u.s.trious than ancient, and in his own character not unworthy of them: and Quintus Haterius, of a Senatorian family, and himself, while he yet lived, famous for eloquence: but the monuments of his genius, since published, are not equally esteemed. In truth, he prevailed more by rapidity than accuracy: insomuch that, as the elaborate compositions of others flourish after them; so that enchanting melody of voice in Haterius, with that fluency of words which was personal to him, died with him.

In the Consuls.h.i.+p of Marcus Licinius and Lucius Calpurnius, the casualty of an instant, its beginning unforeseen, and ended as soon as begun, equalled in calamity the slaughter and overthrow of mighty armies. One Atilius had undertaken to erect an amphitheatre at Fidena, [Footnote: Castel Giubileo, near Rome.] there to exhibit a combat of gladiators: he was of the race of freedmen, and as he began it from no exuberance of wealth, nor to court popularity amongst the inhabitants, but purely for the meanness of gain, he neither established solid foundations, nor raised the timber-work with sufficient compactness. Thither thronged from Rome those of every s.e.x and age, eager for such shows; as during the reign of Tiberius they were debarred from diversions at home; and, the nearer the place, the greater the crowds: hence the calamity was the more dreadful; for, as the theatre was surcharged with the mult.i.tude, the structure burst, and sinking violently in, while its extremities rushed impetuously out, huge was the press of people, who intent upon the gladiators within, or gathered round the walls, were crushed by the deadly ruin, and even buried under it. And verily, they who in the first fury of the havoc were smitten with final death, escaped as far as in such a doleful disaster they could escape, the misery of torture: much more to be lamented were those, who bereft of joints and pieces of their body, were yet not forsaken of life; those who by day could with their eyes behold their wives and children imprisoned in the same ruins; and by night could distinguish them by their groans, and howlings.

Now others from abroad excited by the sad tidings, found here their several sorrows: one bewailed his brother, one his kinsman, another his parents: even they whose friends or kindred were absent on a different account, were yet terrified: for, as it was not hitherto distinctly known upon whom the destruction had lighted, the dread was widened by uncertainty. When the ruins began to be removed, great about the dead was the concourse of the living; frequent the kisses and embraces of tenderness and sorrow: and even frequent the contention about the propriety of the dead; where the features distorted by death or bruises, or where parity of age or resemblance of person, had confounded the slain, and led into mistakes their several claimers. Fifty thousand souls were destroyed or maimed by this sad stroke: it was therefore for the future provided by a decree of Senate, "that no man under the qualification of four hundred thousand sesterces, [Footnote: 3,300.] should exhibit the spectacle of gladiators; and no amphitheatre should be founded but upon ground manifestly solid." Atilius was punished with exile. To conclude; during the fresh pangs of this calamity, the doors of the Grandees were thrown open; medicines were everywhere furnished; they who administered medicines, were everywhere employed to attend: and at that juncture the city though sorrowful of aspect, seemed to have recalled the public spirit of the ancient Romans; who, after great battles, constantly relieved the wounded, sustained them by liberality, and restored them with care.

The public agonies from this terrible blow, were not yet deadened, when another supervened; and the city felt the affliction and violence of fire, which with uncommon rage utterly consumed Mount Caelius. "It was a deadly and mournful year," they said, "and under boding omens the Prince had formed the design of his absence." It is the way this of the mult.i.tude; who to malignant counsels are wont to ascribe events altogether fortuitous. But the Emperor dissipated their murmurs, by bestowing on each sufferer money to the value of his sufferings: hence he had the thanks of men of rank, in the Senate; and was by the populace rewarded with applauses, "for that without the views of ambition, without the application of friends, he had of his own accord even sought out the unknown, and by his bounty relieved them." It was likewise moved and decreed in Senate, "that Mount Caelius should be for the future styled _Mount Augustus_, since there the statue of Tiberius, standing in the house of Junius the Senator, escaped unhurt in the flames, though devouring all round them:" it was remembered, that the same rare exemption had formerly happened to Claudia Pulchra; that her statue being twice spared by the fury of fire, had thence been placed and consecrated by our ancestors in the Temple of the Mother of the G.o.ds. Thus sacred were the Claudian race, and dear to the deities; and therefore the place, where the G.o.ds had testified such mighty honour towards the Prince, ought to be dignified with consecration.

It will not be impertinent to insert here, that this mount was of old named _Querquetula.n.u.s_, from a grove of oak which grew thick upon it. It was afterwards called _Mount Caelius_, from Caeles Vibenna, who having led to Rome a body of Tuscan auxiliaries, was presented with that settlement by Tarquinius Priscus, or some other of our kings; for in this particular, writers differ: about other circ.u.mstances there remains no dispute; that these forces were very numerous, and extended their dwellings all along the plain below, as far as the Forum. Hence the _Tuscan Street_, so called after these strangers.

Tiberius, having dedicated the temples in Campania; though he had by an edict warned the public, "that none should interrupt his quiet;" and though soldiers were posted to keep off all confluence from the neighbouring towns; nevertheless, hating the towns themselves, and the colonies, and every part in the continent, imprisoned himself in Capreae, [Footnote: Capri.] an island disjoined from the point of the Cape of Surrentum by a channel of three miles. I should chiefly believe that he was taken with its solitude, as the sea above it is void of havens, as the stations for the smallest vessels are few and difficult, and as none could put in unperceived by the Guards. The genius of the climate is mild in winter, from the shelter of a mountain which intercepts the rigour of the winds: its summers are refreshed by gales from the west; and the sea open all round it, makes a delightful view: from thence too was beheld a most lovely landscape, before the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius had changed the face of the prospect. It is the tradition of fame that the Greeks occupied the opposite region, and that Capreae was particularly inhabited by the Teleboi. However it were, Tiberius then confined his retirement to twelve villas, their names famous of old and their structure sumptuous. And the more intent he had formerly been upon public cares, he became now so much the more buried in dark debauches, and resigned over to mischievous privacy: for, there remained still in him his old bent to suspicions, and rash faith in informers; qualities which even at Rome Seja.n.u.s had always fostered, and here inflamed more vigorously; his devices against Agrippina and Nero being no longer a secret. About them guards were placed, by whom every petty circ.u.mstance, the messages they sent or received, their visits and company, their open behaviour, their private conversation, were all as it were minuted into journals: there were others, too, instructed to warn them to fly to the armies in Germany; or that embracing the statue of the deified Augustus in the great Forum, they would there implore the aid and protection of the Senate and People of Rome. And these counsels, though rejected by them, were fathered and charged upon them, as just ripe for execution.

BOOK V

A.D. 29-31.

In the Consuls.h.i.+p of Rubellius and Fusius, each surnamed Geminus, died Julia Augusta, the mother of Tiberius, in the extremity of age. She was descended from the Claudian house; adopted through her father into the Livian family; into the Julian, by Augustus; and both by adoption and descent, signally n.o.ble: her first marriage was with Tiberius Nero; and by him she had children: her husband, after the surrender of Perusia, [Footnote: Perugia.] in the Civil War, became a fugitive; but, upon peace made between s.e.xtus Pompeius and the Triumvirate, returned to Rome.

Afterwards, Octavius Caesar smitten with her beauty, s.n.a.t.c.hed her from her husband; whether with or against her own inclinations, is uncertain; but with such precipitation, that, without staying for her delivery, he married her yet big with child by Tiberius. Henceforward she had no issue; but, by the marriage of Germanicus and Agrippina, her blood came to be mixed with that of Augustus in their great-grandchildren. In her domestic deportment, she conformed to the venerable model of antiquity; but with more complaisance than was allowed by the ladies of old: an easy courteous wife, an ambitious mother; and well comporting with the nice arts of her husband, and the dissimulation of her son: her funeral was moderate, and her last will lay long unfulfilled: her encomium was p.r.o.nounced in public by Caligula, her grandson, [Footnote: Great-grandson.] afterwards Emperor.

Tiberius by a letter excused himself to the Senate, for not having paid his last offices to his mother; and, though he rioted in private luxury without abatement, pleaded "the mult.i.tude of public affairs." He likewise abridged the honours decreed to her memory, and, of a large number, admitted but very few: for this restriction he pretended modesty, and added, "that no religious wors.h.i.+p should be appointed her; for that the contrary was her own choice." Nay, in a part of the same letter, he censured _feminine friends.h.i.+ps_; obliquely upbraiding the Consul Fusius, a man highly distinguished by the favour of Augusta, and dexterous to engage and cajole the affections of women; a gay talker, and one accustomed to play upon Tiberius with biting sarcasms; the impressions of which never die in the hearts of Princes.

From this moment, the domination waxed completely outrageous and devouring: for while she lived, some refuge still remained, as the observance of Tiberius towards his mother was ever inviolate; nor durst Seja.n.u.s arrogate precedence of the authority of a parent: but now, as let loose from all restraint, they broke out with unbridled fury: so that letters were despatched avowedly against Agrippina and Nero; and as they were read in the Senate soon after the death of Augusta, the people believed them to have been sent before and by her suppressed. The expressions were elaborately bitter; and yet by them no hostile purpose of taking arms, no endeavour to change the State, was objected to the youth; but only "the love of boys, and other impure pleasures:" against Agrippina he durst not even feign so much; and therefore arraigned "her haughty looks, her impetuous and stubborn spirit." The Senate were struck with deep silence and affright: but, as particular men will always be drawing personal favour from public miseries, there were some who, having no hopes founded upon uprightness, demanded that "they should proceed upon the letters:" amongst these the foremost in zeal was Cotta Messalinus, with a terrible motion: but, the other leading men, and chiefly the magistrates, were embarra.s.sed by fear: for Tiberius, though he had sent them a flaming invective, left all the rest a riddle.

In the Senate was one Junius Rusticus, appointed by the Emperor to keep a journal of their proceedings, and therefore thought well acquainted with his purposes. This man, by some fatal impulse (for he had never before shown any instance of magnanimity) or blinded by deceitful policy, while forgetful of present and impending dangers, he dreaded future possibilities, joined the party that hesitated, and even warned the Consuls "not to begin the debate:" he argued "that in a short moment the highest affairs might take a new turn: and an interval ought to be allowed to the old man to change his pa.s.sion into remorse." At the same time, the people, carrying with them the images of Agrippina and Nero, gathered about the Senate, and proclaiming their good wishes for the prosperity of the Emperor, cried earnestly, "that the letters were counterfeit; and, against the consent of the Prince, the doom of his family was pursued:" so that nothing tragical was that day transacted. There were also dispersed amongst them several speeches, said to have been uttered in Senate by the Consulars, as their motions and advices against Seja.n.u.s; but all framed, and with the more petulance as the several authors exercised their satirical wit in the dark. Hence Seja.n.u.s boiled with greater rage, and hence had a handle for branding the Senate, "that by them the anguish and resentments of the Prince were despised: the people were revolted; popular and disaffected harangues were publicly read and listened to: new and arbitrary acts of Senate were pa.s.sed and published: what more remained, but to arm the populace and place at their head, as leaders and Imperial commanders, those whose images they had already chosen for standards?"

Tiberius having therefore repeated his reproaches against his grandson and daughter-in-law: having chastised the people by an edict, and complained to the Senate, "that by the fraud of a single Senator the Imperial dignity should be battled and insulted, required that the whole affair should be left to himself, entire and untouched." The Senate hesitated no longer, but instantly proceeded, not now in truth to decree penalties and capital vengeance; for that was forbid them; but to testify "how ready they were to inflict just punishments, and that they were only interrupted by the power and pleasure of the Prince."...

[_Here begins a lamentable chasm in this "Annal" for almost three years; and by it we have lost the detail of the most remarkable incidents in this reign, the exile of Agrippina into the Isle of Pandataria; of Nero, into that of Pontia; and the murder of both there by the orders of Tiberius: the conspiracy and execution of Seja.n.u.s, with that of all his friends and dependents: the further wickedness of Livia, and her death._]

Now though the rage of the populace was expiring, and though most men were mollified by former executions; it was determined to condemn the other children of Seja.n.u.s. They were therefore carried both to prison, the boy sensible of his impending doom; but the girl so ignorant, 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 a thing unheard, for a virgin to suffer capital punishment, she was deflowered by the executioner just before he tied the rope; and that being both strangled, the tender bodies of these children were cast into the place where the carca.s.ses of malefactors are exposed, before they are flung into the Tiber."...

BOOK VI

A.D. 32-37.

Cneius Domitius and Camillus Scribonia.n.u.s had begun their Consuls.h.i.+p, when the Emperor, having crossed the channel between Capreae [Footnote: Capri.]

and Surrentum, [Footnote: Sorrento.] sailed along the sh.o.r.e of Campania; unresolved whether he should proceed to Rome; or counterfeiting a show of coming, because he had determined not to come. He often approached to the neighbourhood of the city, and even visited the gardens upon the Tiber; but at last resumed his old retirement, the gloomy rocks and solitude of the sea, ashamed of his cruelties, and abominable l.u.s.ts; in which he rioted so outrageously, that after the fas.h.i.+on of royal tyrants, the children of ingenuous parentage became the objects of his pollution: nor in them was he struck with a lovely face only, or the graces of their persons; but in some their amiable and childish innocence, in others their n.o.bility and the glory of their ancestors, became the provocatives of his unnatural pa.s.sion. Then likewise were devised the filthy names, till then unknown, of the _Sellarii_ and _Spintriae_, expressing the odious lewdness of the place, and the manifold postures and methods of prost.i.tution practised in it. For supplying his l.u.s.t with these innocent victims, he entertained, in his service professed procurers, to look them out and carry them off. The willing they encouraged with presents, the backward they terrified with threats; and upon such parents or kindred as withheld the infants, they exercised force, seizure, and, as upon so many captives, every species of licentious rage.

At Rome in the beginning of the year, as if the iniquities of Livia had been but just discovered, and not even long since punished, furious orders were pa.s.sed against her statues too, and memory; with another, "that the effects of Seja.n.u.s should be taken from the public treasury, and placed in that of the Emperor:" as if this vain translation could any wise avail the State. And yet such was the motion of these great names, the Scipios, the Silani, and the Ca.s.sii; who urged it, each almost in the same words, but all with mighty zeal and earnestness: when all on a sudden, Togonius Gallus, while he would be thrusting his own meanness amongst names so greatly ill.u.s.trious, became the object of derision: for he besought the Prince "to choose a body of Senators of whom twenty, drawn by lot and under arms, should wait upon him and defend his person, as often as he entered the Senate." He had been weak enough to credit a letter from the Emperor, requiring "the guard and protection of one of the Consuls, that he might return in safety from Capreae to Rome." Tiberius however returned thanks to the Senate for such an instance of affection; but as he was wont to mix pleasantry with things serious, he asked, "How was it to be executed? what Senators were to be chosen? who to be omitted? whether always the same, or a continued succession? whether young Senators, or such as had borne dignities? whether those who were Magistrates, or those exercising no magistracy? moreover what a becoming figure they would make, grave Senators, men of the gown, under arms at the entrance of the Senate!

in truth he held not his life of such importance, to have it thus protected by arms." So much in answer to Togonius, without asperity of words; nor did he farther, than this, press them to cancel the motion.

But Junius Gallio escaped not thus. He had proposed "that the Praetorian soldiers, having accomplished their term of service, should thence acquire the privilege of sitting in the fourteen rows of the theatre allotted to the Roman knights." Upon him Tiberius fell with violent wrath, and, as if present, demanded, what business had he with the soldiers? men whose duty bound them to observe only the orders of the Emperor, and from the Emperor alone to receive their rewards. Gallio had forsooth discovered a recompense which had escaped the sagacity of the deified Augustus? Or was it not rather a project started by a mercenary of Seja.n.u.s, to raise sedition and discord; a project tending to debauch the rude minds of the soldiers with the show and bait of new honour; to corrupt their discipline, and set them loose from military restrictions? This reward, had the studied flattery of Gallio; who was instantly expelled the Senate, and then Italy: nay, it became a charge upon him, that his exile would be too easy, having for the place of it chosen Lesbos, an island n.o.ble and delightful; he was therefore haled back to Rome and confined a prisoner in the house of a Magistrate. Tiberius in the same letter demanded the doom of s.e.xtus Paconia.n.u.s, formerly Praetor, to the extreme joy of the Senate, as he was a man bold and mischievous, one armed with snares, and continually diving into the purposes and secret transactions of all men; and one chosen by Seja.n.u.s, for plotting the overthrow of Caligula. When this was now laid open, the general hate and animosities long since conceived against him, broke violently out, and had he not offered to make a discovery, he had been instantly condemned to death.

The next impeached was Cotta Messalinus, the author of every the most b.l.o.o.d.y counsel, and thence long and intensely hated. The first opportunity was therefore s.n.a.t.c.hed to fall upon him with a combination of crimes; as that he had called Caius Caligula by the feminine name of _Caia Caligula_, and branded him with constuprations of both kinds; that when he celebrated among the Priests the birthday of Augusta, he had styled the entertainment a _funeral supper_; and that complaining of the great sway of Marcus Lepidus, and of Lucius Arruntius, with whom he had a suit about money, he had added; "they indeed will be supported by the Senate, but I by my little Tiberius." [Footnote: Tiberiolus meus.] Of all this he stood exposed to conviction by men of the first rank in Rome; who being earnest to attack him, he appealed to Caesar: from whom soon after a letter was brought in behalf of Cotta; in it he recounted "the beginning of their friends.h.i.+p," repeated "his many good services to himself," and desired "that words perversely construed, and humorous tales told at an entertainment, might not be wrested into crimes."

Most remarkable was the beginning of that letter; for in these words he introduced it: "What to write you, Conscript Fathers, or in what manner to write, or what at all not to write at this instant; if I can determine, may all the Deities, G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, doom me still to more cruel agonies than those under which I feel myself peris.h.i.+ng daily." So closely did the b.l.o.o.d.y horror of his cruelties and infamy haunt this man of blood, and became his torturers! Nor was it at random what the wisest of all men [Footnote: Socrates.] was wont to affirm, that if the hearts of tyrants were displayed, in them might be seen deadly wounds and gorings, and all the butcheries of fear and rage; seeing what the severity of stripes is to the body, the same to the soul is the bitter anguish of cruelty, l.u.s.t, and execrable pursuits. To Tiberius not his imperial fortune, not his gloomy and inaccessible solitudes could ensure tranquillity; nor exempt him from feeling and even avowing the rack in his breast and the avenging furies that pursued him.

After this, it was left to the discretion of the Senate to proceed as they listed against Caecilia.n.u.s the Senator, "who had loaded Cotta with many imputations;" and it was resolved, "to subject him to the same penalties inflicted upon Aruseius and Sanquinius, the accusers of Lucius Annuntius."

A more signal instance of honour than this had never befallen Cotta; who n.o.ble in truth, but through luxury indigent, and, for the baseness of his crimes, detestable, was by the dignity of this amends equalled in character to the most venerable reputation and virtues of Arruntius.

About the same time died Lucius Piso, the Pontiff; and, by a felicity, then rare in so much splendour and elevation, died by the course of nature. The author he never himself was of any servile motion, and ever wise in moderating such motions from others, where necessity enforced his a.s.sent. That his father had sustained the sublime office of Censor, I have before remembered: he himself lived to fourscore years, and for his warlike feats in Thrace, had obtained the glory of triumph. But from hence arose his most distinguished glory, that being created Governor of Rome, a jurisdiction newly inst.i.tuted, and the more difficult, as not yet settled into public reverence, he tempered it wonderfully and possessed it long.

For, of old, to supply the absence of the Kings, and afterwards of the Consuls, that the city might not remain without a ruler, a temporary Magistrate was appointed to administer justice, and watch over exigencies: and it is said that by Romulus was deputed Denter Romulius; Numa Marcius, by Tullus Hostilius; and by Tarquin the Proud, Spurius Lucretius. The same delegation was made by the Consuls; and there remains still a shadow of the old inst.i.tution, when during the Latin festival, one is authorised to discharge the Consular function. Moreover, Augustus during the Civil Wars, committed to Cilnius Maecenas of the Equestrian Order, the Government of Rome and of all Italy. Afterwards, when sole master of the Empire, and moved by the immense mult.i.tude of people and the slowness of relief from the laws, he chose a Consular to bridle the licentiousness of the slaves, and to awe such turbulent citizens as are only quiet from the dread of chastis.e.m.e.nt. Messala Corvinus was the first invested with this authority, and in a few days dismissed, as a man insufficient to discharge it. It was then filled by Taurus Statilius, who, though very ancient, sustained it with signal honour. After him Piso held it for twenty years, with a credit so high and uninterrupted, that he was distinguished with a public funeral, by decree of the Senate.

A motion was thereafter made in Senate by Quinctilia.n.u.s, Tribune of the People, concerning a Book of the Sibyl, which Caninius Gallus, one of the College of Fifteen, had prayed "might be received by a decree amongst the rest of that Prophetess." The decree pa.s.sed without opposition, but was followed by letters from Tiberius. In them having gently chid the Tribune, "as young and therefore unskilled in the ancient usages," he upbraided Gallus, "that he who was so long practised in the science of sacred ceremonies, should without taking the opinion of his own college, without the usual reading and deliberation with the other Priests, deal, by surprise, with a thin Senate, to admit a prophetic book of an uncertain author." He also advertised them "of the conduct of Augustus, who, to suppress the mult.i.tude of fictious predictions everywhere published under the solemn name of the Sibyl, had ordained, that within a precise day, they should be carried to the City Praetor; and made it unlawful to keep them in private hands." The same had likewise been decreed by our ancestors, when after the burning of the capitol in the Social War, the Rhymes of the Sibyl (whether there were but one, or more) were everywhere sought, in Samos, Ilium, and Erythrae, through Africa too and Sicily and all the Roman colonies, with injunctions to the Priests, that, as far as human wit could enable them, they would separate the genuine. Therefore, upon this occasion also, the book was subjected to the inspection of the Quindecimvirate.

Under the same Consuls, the dearth of corn had nigh raised a sedition. The populace for many days urged their wants and demands in the public theatre, with a licentiousness towards the Emperor, higher than usual. He was alarmed with this bold spirit, and censured the Magistrates and Senate, "that they had not by the public authority quelled the people." He recounted "the continued supplies of grain which he had caused to be imported; from what provinces, and in how much greater abundance than those procured by Augustus." So that for correcting the populace, a decree pa.s.sed framed in the strain of ancient severity: nor less vigorous was the edict published by the Consuls. His own silence, which he hoped would be taken by the people as an instance of moderation, was by them imputed to his pride.

In the meanwhile, the whole band of accusers broke loose upon those who augmented their wealth by usury, in contradiction to a law of Caesar the Dictator, "for ascertaining the terms of lending money, and holding mortgages in Italy;" a law waxed long since obsolete, through the selfish pa.s.sions of men, sacrificing public good to private gain. Usury was, in truth, an inveterate evil in Rome, and the eternal cause of civil discord and seditions, and therefore restrained even in ancient times, while the public manners were not yet greatly corrupted. For, first it was ordained by a law of the twelve tables, "that no man should take higher interest than twelve in the hundred;" when, before, it was exacted at the pleasure of the rich. Afterwards by a regulation of the Tribunes it was reduced to six, and at last was quite abolished. By the people, too, repeated statutes were made, for obviating all elusions, which by whatever frequent expedients repressed, were yet through wonderful devices still springing up afresh. Gracchus the Praetor was therefore now appointed to inquire into the complaints and allegations of the accusers; but, appalled with the mult.i.tude of those threatened by the accusation, he had recourse to the Senate. The Fathers also were dismayed (for of this fault not a soul was guiltless) and sought and obtained impunity from the Prince; and a year and six months were granted for balancing all accounts between debtors and creditors, agreeably to the direction of the law.

Hence a great scarcity of money: for, besides that all debts were at once called in; so many delinquents were condemned, that by the sale of their effects, the current coin was swallowed up in the public treasury, or in that of the Emperor. Against this stagnation, the Senate had provided, "that two-thirds of the debts should by every creditor be laid out upon lands in Italy." But the creditors warned in the whole; [Footnote: Demanded payment in full.] nor could the debtors without breach of faith divide the payment. So that at first, meetings and entreaties were tried; and at last it was contested before the Praetor. And the project applied as a remedy; namely, that the debtor should sell, and the creditor buy, had a contrary operation: for the usurers h.o.a.rded up all their treasure for purchasing of lands, and the plenty of estates to be sold, miserably sinking the price; the more men were indebted, the more difficult they found it to sell. Many were utterly stripped of their fortunes; and the ruin of their private patrimony drew headlong with it that of their reputation and all public preferment. The destruction was going on, when the Emperor administered relief, by lending a hundred thousand great sesterces [Footnote: About 830,000.] for three years, without interest; provided each borrower p.a.w.ned to the people double the value in inheritance. [Footnote: Gave a security to the State, on landed property.]

Thus was credit restored; and by degrees private lenders too were found.

About the same time, Claudia, daughter to Marcus Sila.n.u.s, was given in marriage to Caligula, who had accompanied his grandfather to Capreae, having always hid under a subdolous guise of modesty, his savage and inhuman spirit: even upon the condemnation of his mother, even for the exile of his brothers, not a word escaped him, not a sigh, nor groan. So blindly observant of Tiberius, that he studied the bent of his temper and seemed to possess it; practised his looks, imitated the change and fas.h.i.+on of his dress, and affected his words and manner of expression. Hence the observation of Pa.s.sienus the Orator, grew afterwards famous, "that never lived a better slave nor a worse master." Neither would I omit the presage of Tiberius concerning Galba, then Consul. Having sent for him and sifted him upon several subjects, he at last told him in Greek, "and thou, Galba, shalt hereafter taste of Empire;" signifying his late and short sovereignty. This he uttered from his skill in astrology, which at Rhodes he had leisure to learn; and Thrasullus for his teacher, whose capacity he proved by this following trial.

As often as he consulted this way concerning any affair, he retired to the roof of the house, attended by one freedman trusted with the secret. This man strong of body, but dest.i.tute of letters, guided along the astrologer, whose art Tiberius meant to try, over solitary precipices (for upon a rock the house stood) and, as he returned, if any suspicion arose that his predictions were vain, or that the author designed fraud, cast him headlong into the sea, to prevent his making discoveries. Thrasullus being therefore led over the same rocks, and minutely consulted, his answers were full, and struck Tiberius; as approaching Empire and many future revolutions were specifically foretold him. The artist was then questioned, "whether he had calculated his own nativity, and thence presaged what was to befall him that same year, nay, that very day?"

Thrasullus surveying the positions of the stars, and calculating their aspects, began at first to hesitate, then to quake, and the more he meditated, being more and more dismayed with wonder and dread, he at last cried out, "that over him just then hung a boding danger and well-nigh fatal." Forthwith Tiberius embraced him, congratulated him "upon his foresight of perils, and his security from them;" and esteeming his predictions as so many oracles, held him thenceforward in the rank of his most intimate friends.

For myself, while I listen to these and the like relations, my judgment wavers, whether things human are in their course and rotation determined by Fate and immutable necessity, or left to roll at random. For upon this subject the wisest of the ancients and those addicted to their Sects, are of opposite sentiments. [Footnote: The Epicureans.] Many are of opinion "that to the G.o.ds neither the generation of us men nor our death, and in truth neither men nor the actions of men, are of any importance or concernment: and thence such numberless calamities afflict the upright, while pleasure and prosperity surround the wicked." Others [Footnote: The Stoics.] hold the contrary position, and believe "a Fate to preside over events; a fate however not resulting from wandering stars, but coeval with the first principles of things, and operating by the continued connection of natural causes. Yet their philosophy leaves our course of life in our own free option; but that after the choice is made, the chain of consequences is inevitable: neither is that good or evil, which pa.s.ses for such in the estimation of the vulgar: many, who seem wounded with adversity, are yet happy; numbers, that wallow in wealth, are yet most wretched: since the first often bear with magnanimity the blows of fortune; and the latter abuse her bounty in baneful pursuits." For the rest, it is common to mult.i.tudes of men "to have each their whole future fortunes determined from the moment of their birth: or if some events thwart the prediction, it is through the mistakes of such as p.r.o.nounce at random, and thence debase the credit of an art, which, both in ages past and our own, hath given signal instances of its certainty." For, to avoid lengthening this digression, I shall remember in its order, how by the son of this same Thrasullus the Empire was predicted to Nero.

During the same Consuls.h.i.+p flew abroad the death of Asinius Gallus: that he perished through famine was undoubted; but whether of his own accord, or by constraint, was held uncertain. The pleasure of the Emperor being consulted, "whether he would suffer him to be buried;" he was not ashamed to grant such a piece of mock mercy, nor even to blame the antic.i.p.ations of casualty, which had withdrawn the criminal, before he was publicly convicted: as if during three intermediate years between his accusation and his death, there wanted time for the trial of an ancient Consular, and the father of so many Consulars. Next perished Drusus, condemned by his grandfather to be starved; but by gnawing the weeds upon which he lay, he by that miserable nourishment protracted life the s.p.a.ce of nine days. Some authors relate that, in case Seja.n.u.s had resisted and taken arms, Macro had instructions to draw the young man out of confinement (for he was kept in the palace) and set him at the head of the people: afterwards because a report ran, "that the Emperor was about to be reconciled to his daughter- in-law and grandson;" he chose rather to gratify himself by cruelty, than the public by relenting.

Tiberius not satiated with the death of Drusus, even after death pursued him with cruel invectives, and, in a letter to the Senate, charged him with "a body foul with prost.i.tution; with a spirit breathing destruction to his own family, and rage against the Republic;" and ordered to be recited "the minutes of his words and actions, which had been long and daily registered," A proceeding more black with horror could not be devised! That for so many years, there should be those expressly appointed, who were to note down his looks, his groans, his secret and extorted murmurs; that his grandfather should delight to hear the treacherous detail, to read it, and to the public expose it, would appear a series of fraud, meanness and amazement beyond all measure of faith, were it not for the letters of Actius the Centurion, and Didymus the Freedman; who in them declare, particularly, the names of the slaves set purposely to abuse and provoke Drusus, with the several parts they acted; how one struck him going out of his chamber, and how another filled him with terrors and dismay. The Centurion too repeated, as matter of glory, his own language to Drusus, language full of outrage and barbarity, with the words uttered by him under the agonies of famine; that, at first, feigning disorder of spirit, he vented, in the style of a madman, dismal denunciations against Tiberius; but after all hopes of life had forsaken him, then, in steady and deliberate imprecations, he invoked the direful vengeance of the G.o.ds, "that as he had slaughtered his son's wife, slaughtered the son of his brother, and his son's sons, and with slaughters had filled his own house; so they would in justice to the ancestors of the slain, in justice to their posterity, doom him to the dreadful penalties of so many murders." The Senators, in truth, upon this raised a mighty din, under colour of detesting these imprecations: but it was dread which possessed them, and amazement, that he who had been once so dark in the practice of wickedness, and so subtle in the concealment of his b.l.o.o.d.y spirit, was arrived at such an utter insensibility of shame, that he could thus remove, as it were, the covert of the walls, and represent his own grandson under the ignominious chastis.e.m.e.nt of a Centurion, torn by the barbarous stripes of slaves, and imploring in vain the last sustenance of life.

Before the impressions of this grief were worn away, the death of Agrippina was published. I suppose she had lived thus long upon the hopes, which from the execution of Seja.n.u.s she had conceived; but, feeling afterwards no relaxation of cruelty, death grew her choice: unless she were bereaved of nourishment, and her decease feigned to have been of her own seeking. For, Tiberius raged against her with abominable imputations, reproaching her "with lewdness; as the adulteress of Asinius Gallus; and that upon his death she became weary of life." But these were none of her crimes: Agrippina impatient of an equal lot, and eager for rule, had thence sacrificed to masculine ambition all the pa.s.sions and vices of women. The Emperor added, "that she departed the same day on which Seja.n.u.s had suffered as a traitor two years before, and that the same ought to be perpetuated by a public memorial." Nay, he boasted of his clemency, in "that she had not been strangled, and her body cast into the charnel of malefactors." For this, as for an instance of mercy the Senate solemnly thanked him, and decreed "that, on the seventeenth of October, the day of both their deaths, a yearly offering should be consecrated to Jupiter for ever."

Not long after, Cocceius Nerva, in full prosperity of fortune, in perfect vigour of body, formed a purpose of dying. As he was the incessant companion of the Prince, and accomplished in the knowledge of all laws divine and humane, Tiberius having learnt his design, was earnest to dissuade him, examined his motives, joined entreaties, and even declared, "how grievous to his own spirit it would prove, how grievous to his reputation, if the nearest of his friends should relinquish life, without any cause for dying." Nerva rejected his reasoning, and completed his purpose by abstinence. It was alleged, by such as knew his thoughts, that the more he saw into the dreadful source and increase of public miseries, the more transported with indignation and fear, he resolved to make an honest end, in the bloom of his integrity, e'er his life and credit were a.s.saulted. Moreover the fall of Agrippina, by a reverse hardly credible, procured that of Plancina. She was formerly married to Cneius Piso; and, though she exulted publicly for the death of Germanicus, yet when Piso fell, she was protected by the solicitations of Augusta, nor less by the known animosity of Agrippina. But as favour and hate were now withdrawn, justice prevailed, and being questioned for crimes long since sufficiently manifest, she executed with her own hand that vengeance, which was rather too slow than too severe,