Cassius Dio
Roman History
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Book LVIII
Tiberius left Rome at this time and never again returned to the city,
though he was forever on the point of doing so and kept sending
messages to that effect.
He caused the Romans a great deal of calamity, since he wasted the
lives of men both in the public service and for his private whim. For
example, he decided to banish the hunting spectacles from the city; and
when in consequence some persons attempted to exhibit them outside,
they perished in the ruins of their own theatres, which had been
constructed of boards.
A certain Latiaris, a companion of Sabinus (one of the most prominent
men in Rome), wishing to do Sejanus a favour, concealed some senators
in the garret of the apartment where his friend lived and then led
Sabinus into conversation; and by throwing out some of his usual
remarks he induced the other also to speak out freely all that he had
on his mind. For it is the practice of such as desire to play the
informer to lead off with some abusive remarks about someone and to
disclose some secret, so that their victim, either for listening to
them or for saying something similar, may lay himself liable to
indictment. For the informers, naturally, inasmuch as they are acting
thus with a purpose, this freedom of speech involves no danger, since
they are supposed to speak as they do, not because of their real
feelings, but because of their desire to convict others; their victims,
on the other hand, are punished for the leat word out of the ordinary
that they may utter. This is what happened in the case in question.
Sabinus was put in prison that very day, and later perished without
trial, his body being flung down the Stairway and cast into the river.
This affair was tragic enough in itself in the eyes of all; but it was
rendered still more tragic by the behaviour of a dog belonging to
Sabinus that went with him to the prison, remained beside him at his
death, and finally leaped into the river with his body. So much for
this affair.
At this time also Livia passed away at the age of eighty-six. Tiberius
neither paid her any visits during her illness nor did he himself lay
out her body; in fact, he made no arrangements at all in have honour
except for the public funeral and images and some other matters of and
importance. As for her being deified, he forbade that absolutely. The
senate, however, did not content itself with voting merely the measures
that he had commanded, but ordered mourning for her during the whole
year on the part of the women, although it approved the course of
Tiberius in not abandoning the conduct of the public business even at
this time. They furthermore voted an arch in her honour — a distinction
conferred upon no other woman — because she had saved the lives of not
a few of them, had reared the children of many, and had helped many to
pay their daughters' dowries, in consequence of all which some were
calling her Mother of her Country. She was buried in the mausoleum of
Augustus.
Among the many excellent utterances of hers that are reported are the
following. Once, when some naked men met her and were to be put to
death in consequence, she saved their lives by saying that to chaste
women such men are no whit different from statues. When someone asked
her how and by what course of action she had obtained such a commanding
influence over Augustus, she answered that it was by being scrupulously
chaster herself, doing gladly whatever pleased him, not meddling with
any of his affairs, and, in particular, by pretending neither to hear
or nor to notice the favourites of his passion. Such was the character
of Livia. The arch voted to her, however, was not built, for the reason
that Tiberius promised to construct it at his own expense; for, as he
hesitated to annul the decree in so many words, he made it void in this
way, by not allowing the work to be done at public expense nor yet
attending to it himself.
Sejanus was rising to still greater heights. It was voted that his
birthday should be publicly observed, and the multitude of statues that
the senate and the equestrian order, the tribes and the foremost
citizens set up, would have passed anyone's power to count. Separate
envoys were sent to him and to Tiberius by the senate, by the knights,
and also by the people, who selected theirs from the tribunes and from
the plebeian aediles. For both of them alike they offered prayers and
sacrifices and they took oaths by their Fortunes.
Tiberius now found an opportunity to attack Gallus, who had married the
former wife of Tiberius and had spoken his mind so freely regarding the
empire. He was now paying court to Sejanus, either sincerely, because
he believed this minister would become emperor, or out of fear of
Tiberius, or perhaps by way of a plot to make Sejanus to the emperor
himself and so cause his ruin; at any rate he proposed the greater and
the more important part of the honours voted to him and strove to be
one of the envoys. Tiberius, accordingly, sent a message about Gallus
to the senate, declaring among other things that this man was jealous
of the emperor's friendship for Sejanus, in spite of the fact that
Gallus himself had Syriacus as his friend. He did not make this known
to Gallus, but instead entertained him in a most hospitable manner.
Thus this man had a most remarkable experience, one that never happened
to anyone else: on one and the same day he was banqueted at the house
of Tiberius, pledging him in the cup of friendship, and was condemned
in the senate, so that a praetor was sent to bind him and lead him away
to execution. Yet Tiberius, after acting in this manner, did not permit
his victim to die, in spite of the other's desire for death as soon as
he learned of the decree. Instead, in order to make his lot as cruel as
possible, he bade Gallus be of good cheer and instructed the senate
that he should be guarded without bonds until he himself should reach
the city; his object, as I said, was to make the prisoner suffer as
long as possible both from the loss of his civic rights and from
terror. And so it came to pass; for he was kept under the eyes of the
consuls of each year, except when Tiberius held the office, in which
case he was guarded by the praetors; and this was done, not to prevent
his escape, but to prevent his death. He had no companion or servant
with him, spoke to no one, and saw no one, except when he was compelled
to take food. And the food was of such quality and amount as neither to
afford him any satisfaction or strength nor yet to allow him to die.
This was, in fact, the most terrible part of his punishment. Tiberius
did the same thing in the case of several others. For instance, he
imprisoned one of his companions, and then, when there was talk about
executing him, he said: "I have not yet made my peace with him."
Another man he tortured very severely, and then, on ascertaining that
the victim had been unjustly accused, he caused him to be killed with
all speed, declaring that he had been too terribly outraged to live
with honour. Syriacus, who had neither committed nor been charged with
any wrong, but was renowned for his culture, was slain merely because
Tiberius declared he was a friend of Gallus.
Sejanus brought false accusation also against Drusus through the medium
of the latter's wife. For by maintaining illicit relations with the
wives of nearly all the distinguished men, he learned what their
husbands were saying and doing; and he furthermore made them
accessories to his crimes by promising to marry them. When, now,
Tiberius merely sent Drusus to Rome, Sejanus, fearing that he might
change his mind, persuaded Cassius to propose some action against him.
After exalting Sejanus to a high pinnacle of glory and making him a
member of his family by his alliance with Julia, the daughter of
Drusus, Tiberius later killed him.
Now Sejanus was growing greater and more formidable all the time, so
that the senators and the rest looked up to him as if he were actually
emperor and held Tiberius in slight esteem. When Tiberius learned this,
he did not treat the matter lightly or disregard it, since he feared
they might declare his rival emperor outright. He did nothing openly,
to be sure, for Sejanus had completely won over the entire Pretorian
guard and had gained the favour of the senators, partly by the benefits
he conferred, partly by the hopes he inspired, and partly by
intimidation: he had furthermore made all the associates of Tiberius so
completely his friends that they immediately reported to him absolutely
everything the emperor either said or did, whereas no one informed
Tiberius of what Sejanus did. Hence Tiberius proceeded to attack him in
another way; he appointed him consul and termed him Sharer of his
Cares, often repeated the phrase "My Sejanus," and published the same
by using it in letters addressed to the senate and to the people. Men
were accordingly deceived by this behaviour, taking it to be sincere,
and so set up bronze statues everywhere to both alike, wrote their
names together in the records, and brought gilded chairs into the
theatres for both. Finally it was voted that they should be made
consuls together every five years and that a body of citizens should go
out to meet both alike whenever they entered Rome. And in the end they
sacrificed to the images of Sejanus as they did to those of Tiberius.
While matters were going thus with Sejanus, many of the other prominent
men perished, among them Gaius Fufius Geminus. This man, having been
accused of maiestas against Tiberius, took his will into the
senate-chamber and read it, showing that he had left his inheritance in
equal portions to his children and to the emperor. Upon being charged
with cowardice, he went home before a vote was taken; then, when he
learned that the quaestor had arrived to look after his execution, he
wounded himself, and showing the wound to the official, exclaimed:
"Report to the senate that it is thus one dies who is a man." Likewise
his wife, Mutilia Prisca, against whom some complaint had been lodged,
entered the senate chamber and there stabbed himself with a dagger,
which she had brought in secretly.
Next he destroyed Mucia and her husband and two daughters on account of
her friendship for his mother.
Under Tiberius all who accused any persons received money, and large
sums too, both from the victims' estates and from the public treasury,
and various honours besides. There were cases, too, where men who
recklessly threw others into a panic or readily passed sentence of
death upon them obtain either images or triumphal honours. Hence
several distinguished men who were held worthy of some such honour
would not accept it, les they might one day be thought to have been
like these men. Tiberius, feigning illness, sent Sejanus on to Rome
with the assurance that he himself would follow. He declared that a
part of his own body and soul was being wrenched away from him, and
with tears he embraced and kissed him, so that Sejanus was still more
elated.
Sejanus was so great a person by reason both of his excessive
haughtiness and of his vast power, that, to put it briefly, he himself
seemed to be the emperor and Tiberius a kind of island potentate,
inasmuch as the latter spent his time on the island of Capreae. There
was rivalry and jostling about the great man's doors, the people
fearing not merely that they might not be seen by their patron, but
also that they might be among the last to appear before him; for every
word and look, especially in the case of the most prominent men, was
carefully observed. Those, now, who hold a prominent position as the
result of native worth are not much given to seeking signs of
friendship from others, and if such manifestations are wanting on the
part of these others, they do not tax them with it, inasmuch as they
know full well that they are not being looked down upon; but those, on
the other hand, who enjoy an adventitious splendour seek very eagerly
all such attentions, feeling them to be necessary to render their
position complete, and if they fail to obtain them, are as vexed as if
they were being slandered and as angry as if they were being insulted.
Consequently the world is more scrupulous in the case of such persons
than in the case of the emperors themselves, one might almost say;
since for the latter it counts as a virtue to pardon anyone in case of
an offence, but by the former such conduct is thought to argue their
weakness, whereas to attack and to exact vengeance is considered to
furnish proof of great power.
Now on a New Year's day, when all were assembling at Sejanus' house,
the couch that stood in the reception room utterly collapsed under the
weight of the throng seated upon it; and, as he was leaving the house,
a weasel darted through the midst of the crowd. After he had sacrificed
on the Capitol and was now descending to the Forum, the servants who
were acting as his body-guard turned aside along the road leading to
the prison, being unable by reason of the crowd to keep up with him,
and while they were descending the steps down which condemned criminals
were cast, they slipped and fell. Later, as he was taking the auspices,
not one bird of good omen appeared, but many crows flew round him and
cawed, then all flew off together to the jail and perched there.
Neither Sejanus nor anyone else took these omens to heart. For, in view
of the way matters stood, not even if some god had plainly foretold
that so great a change would take place in a short time, would anyone
have believed it. So they swore by his Fortune interminably and called
him Tiberius' colleague, covertly referring to the supreme power rather
than to the consulship. Tiberius, however, who was no longer ignorant
of anything that concerned his minister, was planning how he might put
him to death; but, not finding any way of doing this openly and safely,
he handled both Sejanus himself and the Romans in general in a
remarkable fashion, so as to learn exactly what was in their minds. He
kept sending despatches of all kinds regarding himself both to Sejanus
and to the senate, now saying that he was in a bad state of health and
almost at the point of death, and now that he was exceedingly well and
would arrive in Rome directly. At one moment he would heartily praise
Sejanus, and again would as heartily denounce him; and, while honouring
some of Sejanus' friends out of regard for him, he would be disgracing
others. Thus Sejanus, filled in turn with extreme elation and extreme
fear, was in constant suspense; for it never occurred to him, on the
one hand, to be afraid and so attempt a revolution, inasmuch as he was
still held in honour, nor, on the other hand, to be bold and attempt
some desperate venture, inasmuch as he was frequently abased. So also
with the people at large: they kept hearing alternately the most
contradictory reports which came at brief intervals, and so were unable
either to regard Sejanus any longer with admiration or, on the other
hand, to hold him in contempt, while as for Tiberius, they were kept
guessing whether he was going to die or return to Rome; consequently
they were in a continual state of doubt.
Sejanus was disturbed by all this, and much more disturbed when from
one of his statues there at first burst forth smoke, and then, when the
head was removed so that the trouble might be investigated, a huge
serpent leapt up; then, when a new head was straightway placed upon the
statue, and Sejanus was about to offer sacrifice to himself on account
of the omen (for he was wont to include himself in such sacrifices), a
rope was discovered coiled about the neck of the statue. Again, there
was the behaviour of a statue of Fortune, which had belonged, they say,
to Tullius, one of the former kings of Rome, but was at this time kept
by Sejanus at his house and was a source of great pride to him: he
himself saw this statue turn its back to him while he was sacrificing
...... and later others who went out with them. These incidents aroused
the suspicions of the people; but since they did not know the
intentions of Tiberius, and besides, had to take into consideration his
caprice and the instability of human affairs, they were steering a
middle course. Privately they kept a sharp eye to their own safety, but
publicly they paid court to him, the more so as Tiberius had made both
Sejanus and his son priests along with Gaius. So they gave him the
proconsular power, and also voted that the consuls of each year should
be instructed to emulate him in their conduct of the office. As for
Tiberius, though he honoured him with the priesthoods, yet he did not
send for him; instead, when Sejanus requested permission to go to
Campania, pleading as an excuse that his betrothed was ill, the emperor
directed him to remain where he was, because he himself was going to
arrive in Rome almost immediately.
This was one reason, then, why Sejanus was again becoming alienated;
there was also the fact that Tiberius, after appointing Gaius priest,
praised him and gave some indications that he intended to make him his
successor to the throne. Sejanus would therefore have set on foot a
rebellion, especially as the soldiers were ready to obey him in
everything, had he not perceived that the populace was immensely
pleased at the compliments paid to Gaius, out of reverence for the
memory of Germanicus, his father. For he had previously supposed that
they, too, were on his is, and now, finding them earnest supporters of
Gaius, he became dejected, and regretted that he had not begun a
rebellion during his consulship. The rest were becoming alienated from
him, not only for these reasons, but also because Tiberius quashed an
indictment against an enemy of Sejanus, a man who had been chosen ten
years before to govern Spain, and was now, thanks to the influence of
Sejanus, being brought to trial on certain charges; whereupon, because
of this case, he granted a general immunity from such suits, during the
interval before taking office, to all who were designated to govern
provinces or to perform any other public business. And in a letter to
the senate about the death of Nero he referred to Sejanus by that name
simply, without the addition of the customary titles. Moreover, because
sacrifices were being offered to Sejanus, he forbade such offerings to
be made to any human being; and because many honours were being voted
to Sejanus, he forbade the consideration of any measure which proposed
honours for himself. He had, to be sure, forbidden this practice still
earlier, but now, because of Sejanus, he renewed his injunction; for
one who allowed nothing of the sort to be done in his own case would
naturally not permit it in the case of another.
In view of all this, people began to hold Sejanus more and more in
contempt; in fact they even avoided meeting him or being left alone
with him, and that in a manner too marked not to be noticed. When,
therefore, Tiberius learned of this, he took courage, believing that he
should have the populace and the senate on his side, and attacked him.
And first, in order to take him off his guard as completely as
possible, he spread the report that he was going to give him the
tribunician power. Then he sent a communication against him to the
senate by the hands of Naevius Sertorius Macro, whom he had already
secretly appointed to command the bodyguards and had instructed in
regard to all that required to be done. Macro entered Rome by night, as
if on some different errand, and communicated his instructions to
Memmius Regulus, than consul (his colleague sided with Sejanus), and to
Graecinius Laco, commander of the night-watch. At dawn Macro ascended
the Palatine (for the senate was to sit in the temple of Apollo), and
encountering Sejanus, who had not yet gone in, and perceiving that he
was troubled because Tiberius had sent him no message, he encouraged
him, telling him aside and in confidence that he was bringing him the
tribunician power. Overjoyed at this announcement, Sejanus rushed into
the senate-chamber. Macro now sent back to their camp the Pretorians
that were guarding Sejanus and the senate, after revealing to them his
authority and declaring that he bore a letter from Tiberius which
bestowed rewards upon them. Then, after stationing the night-watch
about the temple in their place, he went in, delivered the letter to
the consuls, and came out again before a word was read. He then
instructed Laco to keep guard there and himself hurried away to the
camp to prevent any uprising.
In the meantime the letter was read. It was a long one, and contained
no wholesale denunciation of Sejanus, but first some other matter, then
a slight censure of his conduct, then something else, and after that
some further objection to him; and at the close it said that two
senators who were among his intimate associates must be punished and
that he himself must be kept under guard. For Tiberius refrained from
giving orders outright to put him to death, not because he did not wish
to give such orders, but because he feared that some disturbance might
result from such a course. At any rate, he pretended that he could not
with safety even make the journey to Rome, and therefore summoned one
of the consuls to him. Now the letter disclosed no more than this; but
one could observe both by sight and hearing many and various effects
produced by it. At first, before it was read, they had been lauding
Sejanus, thinking that he was about to receive the tribunician power,
and had kept cheering him, anticipating the honours for which they had
hoped and making it clear to him that they would concur in bestowing
them. When, however, nothing of the sort appeared, but they heard again
and again just the reverse of what they had expected, they were at
first perplexed, and then thrown into deep dejection. Some of those
seated near him actually rose up and left him; for they now no longer
cared to share the same seat with the man whom previously they had
prized having as their friend. Then praetors and tribunes surrounded
him, to prevent his causing any disturbance by rushing out, as he
certainly would have done, if he had been startled at the outset by
hearing any general denunciation. As it was, he paid no great heed to
the successive charges as they were read, thinking each one a slight
matter which stood alone, and hoping that, at best, no further charge,
or, in any event, none that could not be disposed of, was contained in
the letter; so he let the time slip by and remained in his seat.
Meanwhile Regulus summoned him to go forward, but he paid no heed, not
out of contempt — for he had already been humbled — but because he was
unaccustomed to having orders addressed to him. But when the consul,
raising his voice and also pointing at him, called the second and third
time, "Sejanus, come here," he merely asked him, "Me? you are calling
me?" At last, however, he stood up, and Laco, who had now returned,
took his stand beside him. When finally the reading of the letter was
finished, all with one voice denounced and threatened him, some because
they had been wronged, others through fear, some to conceal their
friendship for him, and still others out of joy at his downfall.
Regulus did not put the vote to all the senators nor propose to any the
death penalty, fearing opposition from some quarter and a disturbance
in consequence; for Sejanus had numerous relatives and friends. He
merely asked a single senator if he should not be imprisoned, and when
he got an affirmative answer, he led Sejanus out of the senate, and
together with the other magistrates and Laco took him down to the
prison.
Thereupon one might have witnessed such a surpassing proof of human
frailty as to prevent one's ever again being puffed up with conceit.
For the man whom at dawn they had escorted to the senate-hall as a
superior being, they were now dragging to prison as if no better than
the worst; on him whom they had previously thought worthy of many
crowns, they now laid bonds; him whom they were wont to protect as a
master, they now guarded like a runaway slave, uncovering his head when
he would fain cover it; him whom they had adorned with the
purple-bordered toga, they struck in the face; and him whom they were
wont to adore and worship with sacrifices as a god, they were now
leading to execution. The populace also assailed him, shouting many
reproaches at him for the lives he had taken and many jeers for the
hopes he had cherished. They hurled down, beat down, and dragged down
all his images, as though they were thereby treating the man himself
with contumely, and he thus became a spectator of what he was destined
to suffer. For the moment, it is true, he was merely cast into prison;
but a little later, in fact that very day, the senate associated in the
temple of Concord not far from the jail, when they saw the attitude of
the populace and that none of the Pretorians was about, and condemned
him to death. By their order he was executed and his body cast down the
Stairway, where the rabble abused it for three whole days and
afterwards threw it into the river. His children also were put to death
by decree, the girl (whom he had betrothed to the son of Claudius)
having been first outraged by the public executioner on the principle
that it was unlawful for a virgin to be put to death in the prison. His
wife Apicata was not condemned, to be sure, but on learning that her
children were dead, and after seeing their bodies on the Stairway, she
withdrew and composed a statement about the death of Drusus, directed
against Livilla, his wife, who had been the cause of a quarrel between
herself and her husband, resulting in their separation; then, after
sending this document to Tiberius, she committed suicide. It was in
this way that Tiberius came to read her statement; and when he had
obtained proof of the information given, he put to death Livilla and
all the others therein mentioned. I have, indeed, heard that he spared
Livilla out of regard for her mother Antonia, and that Antonia herself
of her own accord killed her daughter by starving her. These events,
however, were later.
At the time of our narrative a great uproar took place in the city; for
the populace slew anyone it saw of those who had possessed great
influence with Sejanus and had committed acts of insolence to please
him. The soldiers, too, angered because they had been suspected of
friendliness for Sejanus and because the night-watch had been preferred
to them for loyalty to the emperor, proceeded to burn and plunder,
despite the fact that all the officials were guarding the whole city in
accordance with Tiberius' command. Moreover, not even the senate
remained quiet; but those of its members who had paid court to Sejanus
were greatly disturbed by their fear of vengeance; and those who had
accused or borne witness against others were filled with terror,
because of the prevailing suspicion that their victims had been
destroyed in the interest of Sejanus rather than of Tiberius. Very
small, indeed, was the courageous element that remained free from these
terrors and expected that Tiberius would become milder. For, as usually
happens, they laid the responsibility for their previous misfortunes
upon the man who had perished, and charged the emperor with few or none
of them; as for most of these things, they said he had either been
ignorant of them or had been forced to do them against his will.
Privately this was the attitude of the various groups; but publicly
they voted, as if they had been freed from a tyranny, not to hold any
mourning over the deceased and to have a statue of Liberty erected in
the Forum; also a festival was to be held under the auspices of all the
magistrates and priests, a thing that had never before happened; and
the day on which Sejanus had died was to be celebrated by annual
horse-races and wild-beast-hunts under the direction of the members of
the four priesthoods and of the Sodales Augustales, another thing that
had never before been done. Thus, to celebrate the overthrow of the man
whom they had led to his destruction by the excessive and novel honours
bestowed upon him, they voted observances that were unknown even in
honour of the gods. So clearly, indeed, did they comprehend that it was
chiefly these honours that had bereft him of his senses, that they at
once expressly forbad the granting of excessive honours to anybody and
likewise the taking of oaths in the name of anyone besides the emperor.
Nevertheless, though they passed such votes, as if under some divine
inspiration, they bean shortly afterward to fawn upon Macro and Laco.
They granted them large sums of money, and also gave Laco the rank of
an ex-quaestor and Macro that of an ex-praetor; they furthermore
allowed them to witness the games in their company and to wear the
purple-bordered toga at the votive festivals. The two men, however, did
not accept these honours, for the example still so fresh in their minds
served as a deterrent. Nor did Tiberius take any of the many honours
that were voted him, chief among which was the proposal that he should
begin to be termed Father of his Country now, at any rate, and also one
that his birthday should be marked by ten horse-races and a banquet of
the senators. On the contrary, he gave notice anew that no one should
introduce any such motion. These were the events that were taking place
in the city.
Tiberius for a time had been in great fear that Sejanus would occupy
the city and sail against him, and so he had got ships in readiness in
order to escape if anything of the sort came to pass; he had also
commanded Macro, as some report, to bring Drusus before the senate and
people, in the event of any uprising, and declare him emperor. When,
now, he learned that Sejanus was dead, he rejoiced, as was natural, but
he would not receive the embassy that was sent to congratulate him,
though many members of the senate and many of the knights and the
populace had been sent out, as before. Indeed, he even rebuffed the
consul Regulus, who had always been devoted to his interests and had
come in response to the emperor's own command, in order to ensure the
safety of his journey to the city.
Thus perished Sejanus, after attaining to greater power than any of
those who held this position either before or after him, with the
exception of Plautianus. Moreover, his relatives, his associates, and
all the rest who had paid court to him and had proposed the granting of
honours to him were brought to trial. The majority of them were
convicted for the acts that had previously made them the objects of
envy; and their fellow-citizens condemned them for the measures which
they themselves had previously voted Many men who had been tried on
various charges and acquitted were again accused and now convicted, on
the ground that they had been saved before as a favour to the man now
fallen. Accordingly, if no other complaint could be brought against a
person, the very fact that he had been a friend of Sejanus sufficed to
bring punishment upon him — as if, forsooth, Tiberius himself had not
been fond of him and thereby caused others to display such zeal in his
behalf. Among those who gave information of this sort were the very men
who had been foremost in paying court to Sejanus; for, inasmuch as they
had accurate knowledge of those who were in the same position as
themselves, they had no difficulty either in seeking them out or in
securing their conviction. So these men, expecting to save themselves
by this procedure and to obtain money and honours besides, were
accusing others or bearing witness against them; but, as it turned out,
they realized none of their hopes. For, as they were liable themselves
to the same charges on which they were prosecuting the others, they
perished also, partly for this very reason and partly as betrayers of
their friends. Of those against whom charges were brought, many were
present to hear their accusation and make their defence, and some
expressed their minds very freely in so doing; but the majority made
away with themselves before their conviction. They did this chiefly to
avoid suffering insult and outrage. For all who incurred any such
charge, senators as well as knights, and women as well as men, were
crowded together in the prison, and upon being condemned either paid
the penalty there or were hurled down from the Capitol by the tribunes
or even by the consuls, after which the bodies of all of them were cast
into the Forum and later thrown into the river. But their object was
partly that their children might inherit their property, since very few
estates of such as voluntarily died before their trial were
confiscated, Tiberius in this way inviting men to become their own
murderers, so that he might avoid the reputation of having killed them
— just as if it were not far more dreadful to compel a man to die by
his own hand than to deliver him to the executioner. Most of the
estates of those who failed to die in the manner were confiscated, only
a little or even nothing at all being given to their accusers; for now
Tiberius was inclined to be far more strict in the matter of money. For
this reason he increased to one per cent. a certain tax which had been
only one-half of one per cent. and was accepting every inheritance that
was left to him; and for that matter, nearly everybody left him
something, even those who made away with themselves, as they had also
done to Sejanus while he was alive.
Furthermore, with the same purpose that had prompted him not to take
away the wealth of those who perished voluntarily, Tiberius caused all
accusations to be lodged with the senate, so that he could be free from
blame himself (as he imagined) and the senate should pass sentence upon
itself as guilty of wrong-doing. Hence people learned only too clearly,
now that they were perishing at one another's hands, that their former
woes were the work of Tiberius quite as much as the work of Sejanus.
For it happened not only that those who had accused others were brought
to trial and those who had testified against others now found others
testifying against them, but also that those who had condemned others
were convicted in their turn. So it was that neither Tiberius spared
anyone, but employed all the citizens without exception against one
another, nor, for that matter, could anybody rely upon the loyalty of
any friend; but the guilty and the innocent, the timorous and the
fearless, stood on the same footing when face to face with the inquiry
into the charges involving the acts of Sejanus. For, although he
decided after a long time to propose a sort of amnesty for these
offences, in that he permitted all those who so desired to go into
mourning for Sejanus (forbidding all interference with such acts in the
case of any other person also, though decrees to this effect were
frequently passed), yet he did not live up to this edict in fact, but
after a brief interval punished a good many for so honouring Sejanus
and on sundry lawless charges, the accusation generally being that they
had outraged and murdered their nearest kinswomen.
When things had now come to this pass, and there was not a man that
could deny that he would be glad to feast on the emperor's flesh, a
most ridiculous proceeding took place in the following year, when
Gnaeus Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus became consuls. It had long
since ceased to be the custom for the members of the senate to take the
oath on New Year's day each for himself; instead, one of their number,
as has already been stated, would take the oath for them all and the
rest would then express their acquiescence. On this occasion, however,
they did not do so, but of their own motion, without any compulsion,
they pledged themselves separately and individually, as if this would
make them any more regardful of their oath. It should be explained that
previously for many years the emperor objected to anyone's swearing at
all to support his official acts, as I have said. At this same time
occurred also another incident, still more ridiculous than the other:
they voted that Tiberius should select as many of their number as he
liked and should then employ twenty of these, to be chosen by lot and
armed with daggers, as guards whenever he entered the senate-chamber.
Now, inasmuch as the soldiers were on guard outside the building and no
private citizen could come inside, their resolution that a guard should
be given him was evidently directed against no one but themselves, thus
indicating that they were his enemies. Tiberius, of course, commended
them and made a show of thanking them for their good will, but he
rejected their offer as being without precedent; for he was not so
simple as to give swords to the very men whom he hated and by whom he
was hated. At any rate, as a result of these very measures he began to
grow more suspicious of them (for every act of insincerity that one
undertakes for the purpose of flattery is inevitably suspected), and
dismissing utterly from his thoughts all their decrees, he bestowed
honours both in words and in money upon the Pretorians, in spite of his
knowledge that they had been on the side of Sejanus, in order that he
might find them more zealous in his service against the senators. There
was another time, to be sure, that he commended the senators; this was
when they voted that the guards' pay should be given them from the
public treasury. Thus, in a most effective manner, he kept deceiving
the one group by his words while winning over the others by his deeds.
For example, when Junius Gallio proposed that the Pretorians who had
finished their term of service should be given the privilege of
witnessing the games from the seats of the knights, he not only
banished him, the specific charge being that he was apparently trying
to induce the guards to be loyal to the State rather than to the
emperor, but in addition, when he learned that Gallio was setting sail
for Lesbos, he deprived him of a safe and comfortable existence there
and delivered him up to the custody of the magistrates, as he had once
done with Gallus. And in order to convince the two parties still or of
his attitude toward each of them, he not long afterward asked the
senate that Macro and a certain number of military tribunes should
escort him into the senate-chamber, saying that this guard would
suffice. He had no need of them, of course, for he had no idea of ever
entering the city again; but he wished to show them that his hatred of
them and his good-will toward the soldiers of the guard. And the
senators themselves acknowledged this situation; in any event, they
attached to the decree a clause providing that they should be searched
on entering, to make sure that none had a dagger hidden beneath his
arm. This resolution was passed in the following year.
At the time in question he spared, among others who had been intimate
with Sejanus, Lucius Caesianus, a praetor, and Marcus Ternetius, a
knight. He overlooked the action of the former, who at the Floralia had
seen to it that all the merry-making up to nightfall was done by
baldheaded men, in order to poke fun at the emperor, who was bald, and
at night had furnished light to the people as they left the theatre by
torches in the hands of 5k thousand boys with shaven pates. Indeed,
Tiberius was so far from becoming angry with him that he pretended not
to have heard about it at all, though all baldheaded person were
thenceforth called Caesiani. As for Terentius, he was spared because,
when on trial for his friendship with Sejanus, he not only did not deny
it, but even affirmed that he had shown the greatest zeal in his behalf
and had paid court to him for the reason that the minister had been so
highly honoured by Tiberius himself; "consequently," he said, "if the
emperor did right in having such a friend, I, too, have done no wrong;
and if he, who has accurate knowledge of everything, erred, what wonder
is it that I shared in his deception? For surely it is our duty to
cherish all whom he honours, without concerning ourselves overmuch
about the kind of men they are, but making our friendship for them
depend on just one thing — the fact that they please the emperor." The
senate, because of this, acquitted him and rebuked his accusers
besides; and Tiberius concurred with them. When Piso, a city prefect,
died, he honoured him with a public funeral, a distinction that he also
granted to others. In his stead he chose Lucius Lamia, whom he had long
since assigned to Syria, but was detaining in Rome. He did the same
also with many others, not that he really had any need of them, but he
thus made an outward show of honouring them. Meanwhile Vitrasius
Pollio, the governor of Egypt, died, and he entrusted the province for
a time to a certain Hiberus, an imperial freedman.
As for the consuls, Domitius held office for the whole year (for he was
the husband of Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus), but the rest
only so long as pleased Tiberius. Some he would choose for a longer
period and some for a shorter; some he removed before the end of the
appointed term, and others he allowed to hold office beyond their time.
He would even appoint a man for the whole year and then depose him,
setting up another and still another in his place; and sometimes, after
choosing certain substitutes for third place, he would then cause
others to become consul ahead of them in place of the second set. These
irregularities in the case of the consuls occurred throughout
practically his whole reign. Of the candidates for the other offices,
he selected as many as he wished and referred them to the senate, some
with his recommendation, in which event they were chosen unanimously,
but in the case of others conditioning their selection upon the merit
of their claims, upon mutual agreement, or upon the lot. After that the
candidates went before the people or before the plebs, according as
they belonged to the one or the other, and were duly elected; this was
done in order to conform to time-honoured precedent, just as is done
to-day, so as to produce the semblance of a valid election. In case
there was ever a deficiency of candidates, or in case they became
involved in irreconcilable strife, a smaller number were chosen. Thus,
in the following year, when Servius Galba (who later became emperor)
and Lucius Cornelius held the title of consuls, there were only fifteen
praetors; and this situation continued for many years, so that
sometimes sixteen and sometimes one or two fewer were chosen.
Tiberius now approached the capital and sojourned in its environs; but
he did not go inside the walls, although he was but four miles away,
and bestowed in marriage the remaining daughters of Germanicus and of
Julia, the daughter of Drusus. Hence the city, on its part, did not
hold any festival in honour of their marriages, but everything went on
as usual, even the senate convening and deciding judicial cases. For
Tiberius made an important point of their assembling as often as it was
fitting for them to meet, and insisted on their not arriving later or
departing earlier than the time appointed. He also sent to the consuls
many injunctions on this head, and once ordered certain statements to
be read aloud by them. He took the same course also in regard to some
other matters — just as if he could not write directly to the senate!
He did, however, send in to that body not only the documents given him
by the informers, but also the confessions which Macro had obtained
from people under torture, so the nothing was left to them except the
vote of condemnation. About this time, however, a certain Vibullius
Agrippa, a knight, swallowed poison from a ring and died in the
senate-house itself; and Nerva, who could no longer endure the
emperor's society, starved himself to death, chiefly because Tiberius
had reaffirmed the laws on contracts enacted by Caesar, which were sure
to result in great loss of confidence and financial confusion, and
although Tiberius repeatedly urged him to eat something, he would make
no reply. Thereupon Tiberius modified his decision regarding loans and
gave one hundred million sesterces to the public treasury, with the
provision that this money should be lent out by the senators without
interest to such as asked for it; and he further commanded that the
most notorious of those who were bringing accusations against others
should be put to death in a single day. And when a man who had been a
centurion desired to lodge information against someone, he forbade
anyone who had served in the army to do this, although he allowed the
knights and senators to do so.
For his course in these matters Tiberius received praise, and
especially because he would not accept numerous honours that were voted
to him because of these acts. But the sensual orgies which he carried
on shamelessly with persons of the highest rank, both male and female,
brought him ill repute. For example, there was the case of his friend
Sextus Marius. Imperial favour had made the man so rich and powerful
that once, when he was at odds with a neighbour, he invited him to be
his guest for two days, on the first of which he razed the man's villa
level with the ground and on the next rebuilt it on a larger and more
elaborate scale; and then, when the other could not guess who had done
it, Marius admitted his responsibility for both achievements and added
significantly: "This shows you that I have both the knowledge and the
power to repel attacks and also to requite kindness." When this Marius,
now, had sent away his daughter, a strikingly beautiful girl, to a
place of refuge, in order to prevent her from being outraged by
Tiberius, he was charged with having criminal relations with her
himself, and because of this he perished together with his daughter.
All this brought disgrace upon the emperor, and his connexion with the
death of Drusus and Agrippina gave him a reputation for cruelty. Men
had been thinking that all the previous action against these two was
due to Sejanus, and had been expecting that now their lives would be
spared; so, when they learned that they, too, had been murdered, they
were exceedingly grieved, partly because of the deed itself and partly
because, so far from depositing their bones in the imperial tomb,
Tiberius ordered their remains to be hidden so carefully somewhere
underground that they could never be found. Besides Agrippina, Munatia
Plancina was slain; up to this time, it would appear, Tiberius, though
he hated her (not on account of Germanicus, but for another reason),
nevertheless had permitted her to live, in order to prevent Agrippina
from rejoicing at her death.
Besides doing all this, he appointed Gaius quaestor, though not of the
first rank, and promised to advance him to the other offices five years
earlier than was customary, despite the fact that he had requested the
senate not to make the young man conceited by numerous or premature
honours, for fear he might go astray in some way or other. He also had
a grandson by the name of Tiberius, but him he disregarded both on
account of his age (he was still a mere child) and on account of the
suspicion that he was not the son of Drusus. He therefore cleaved to
Gaius as his successor in the monarchy, the more so as he felt sure
that Tiberius would live but a short time and would be murdered by
Gaius himself. For there was no element in Gaius' character of which he
was ignorant; indeed, he once said to him, when he was quarreling with
Tiberius: "You will kill him and others will kill you." But as he had
no one so closely related to himself, and was well aware that Gaius
would be a thorough knave, he was glad to give him the empire, they
say, in order that his own misdeeds might be lost sight of in the
enormity of Gaius' crimes, and that the largest and the noblest portion
of what was left of the senate might perish after his own death. At all
events, he is said to have uttered frequently that old sentiment:
"When I am dead, let fire o'erwhelm the earth."
Often, also, he used to declare Priam fortunate, because he involved
both his country and his throne in his own utter ruin. Evidence of the
truth of these records about him is to be found in the events of those
days. For such a multitude of the senators and others lost their lives
that in the case of the officials chosen by lot the ex-praetors held
the governorship of the provinces for three years and the ex-consuls
for six, owing to the lack of persons qualified to succeed them. And
what name could one properly apply to the appointed officials, upon
whom from the first he bestowed office for indefinitely long periods?
Among those who perished at this time was Gallus: for not until then,
and scarcely even then, did Tiberius become reconciled with him, as he
himself put it. Thus it came to pass that, contrary to the usual
custom, he inflicted life upon some as a punishment, and bestowed death
upon others as a kindness.
The twentieth year of Tiberius' reign was now at hand, but he did not
enter the city, although he was sojourning in the vicinity of the Alban
territory and Tusculum; the consuls, however, Lucius Bitellius and
Fabius Persicus, celebrated the completion of his second ten-year
period. For this was the way the senators styled it, rather than as a
twenty-year period, to signify that they were granting him the
leadership of the State again, as had been done in the case of
Augustus. But punishment overtook them at the very time that they were
celebrating the festival; for this time none of those accused was
acquitted, but all were convicted, most of them by means of the papers
of Tiberius and the statements obtained under torture by Macro, and the
rest by what these two suspected they were planning. It was rumoured,
indeed, that the real reason why Tiberius did not come to Rome was to
avoid being disgraced by being present when the sentences were
pronounced. Among the various persons who perished either at the hands
of the executioners or by their own act was Pomponius Labeo. This man,
who had once governed Moesia for eight years after his praetorship, was
indicted, together with his wife, for taking bribes, and voluntarily
perished along with her. Mamercus Aemilius Scaurus, on the other hand,
who had never governed a province or accepted bribes, was convicted
because of a tragedy he had composed, and fell a victim to a worse fate
than that which he had described. "Atreus" was the name of his drama,
and in the manner of Euripides it advised one of the subjects of that
monarch to endure the folly of the reigning prince. Tiberius, upon
hearing of it, declared that this had been written with reference to
him, claiming that he himself was "Atreus" because of his
bloodthirstiness; and remarking, "I will make him Ajax," he compelled
him to commit suicide. The above, however, was not the accusation that
was actually brought against him, but instead, he was charged with
having committed adultery with Livilla; indeed, many others also were
punished on her account, some with good reason and some as the result
of false accusations.
While affairs at Rome were in this state, the subject territory was not
quiet either. The very moment a youth who claimed to be Drusus appeared
in the regions of Greece and Ionia, the cities received him gladly and
espoused his cause. He would have gone on to Syria and taken over the
legions, had not someone recognized him, arrested him, and taken him to
Tiberius.
After this, Gaius Gallus and Marcus Servilius became consuls. Tiberius
was at Antium holding a festival in honour of Gaius' marriage; for not
even such a purpose would he enter Rome, because of the case of a
certain Fulcinius Trio. This man, who had been a friend of Sejanus, but
had stood high in the favour of Tiberius on account of his services as
an informer, had been accused and handed over for trial; and becoming
frightened, he took his own life before he could be tried, after
roundly abusing both the emperor and Macro in his will. His sons, now,
did not dare to make the will public, but Tiberius, learning what had
been written, ordered it to be brought into the senate. For he was
little concerned, indeed, about such matters, and would sometimes
voluntarily give to the public denunciations of his conduct that were
being kept secret, as if they were so many eulogies. At any rate, he
sent to the senate all the statements that Drusus had made in his
misery and distress. Besides Trio, who thus perished, there was also
Poppaeus Sabinus, who had governed the two Moesias and Macedonia as
well during almost the whole reign of Tiberius up to this time, and was
now most happy to leave this world before any charge could be brought
against him. Regulus became his successor by the same manner of
appointment; for Macedonia and, according to some, Achaia, too, were
assigned to him without recourse to the lot.
At about this same time Artabanus, the Parthian, upon the death of
Artaxes, bestowed Armenia upon his son Arsaces; and when no vengeance
came upon him from Tiberius for this, he made an attempt upon
Cappadocia and treated even the Parthians somewhat haughtily.
Consequently some revolted from him and sent an embassy to Tiberius,
asking a king for themselves from amongst those who were being kept at
Rome as hostages. He first sent them Phraates, the son of Phraates, and
then, after his death, which occurred on the way thither, Tiridates,
who was also of the royal race. To ensure his securing the throne as
easily as possible, the emperor wrote to Mithridates the Iberian to
invade Armenia, so that Artabanus should leave his own land in order to
assist his son. And this is exactly what happened; nevertheless,
Tiridates reigned only a short time, for Artabanus enlisted the aid of
the Scythians and easily expelled him. While Parthian affairs were
taking this course, Armenia fell into the hands of Mithridates, the
son, as it would appear, of Mithridates the Iberian and the brother of
Pharasmanes, who became king of the Iberians after him.
In the consulship of Sextus Papinius and Quintus Plautus, the Tiber
inundated a large part of the city so that people went about in boats;
and a much larger region in the vicinity of Circus and the Aventine was
devastated by fire. To the sufferers from the latter disaster Tiberius
contributed a hundred million sesterces. And if Egyptian affairs touch
Roman interests at all, it may be mentioned that the phoenix was seen
that year. All these events were thought to foreshadow the death of
Tiberius. Thrasyllus, indeed, did die at this very time, and the
emperor himself died in the following spring, in the consulship of
Gnaeus Proculus and Pontius Nigrinus. It chanced that Macro had plotted
against Domitius and numerous others, and had manufactured complaints
and testimony taken under torture against them; yet not all the accused
were put to death, thanks to Thrasyllus, who handled Tiberius very
cleverly. For, though in his own case he stated very accurately both
the day and the hour in which he should die, he falsely declared that
the emperor should live ten years longer; this was in order that
Tiberius, feeling he had a fairly long time to live, should be in no
haste to put the accused men to death. And thus it came to pass. For
Tiberius, thinking it would be possible for him to do whatever he liked
later, at his leisure, made no haste in any way, and showed no anger
when the senate, in view of the statements made by the defendants
contradicting the testimony taken under torture, postponed sentencing
them. Nevertheless, one woman wounded herself, was carried into the
senate and from there to prison, where she died; and Lucius Arruntius,
distinguished alike for his great age and for his learning, took his
own life, even though Tiberius was then sick and was not thought likely
to recover. For Arruntius was aware of the evil character of Gaius and
desired to be out of the way before he should have any experience of
it; for he declared, "I cannot in my old age become the slave of a new
master like him." The rest were saved, some even after their
condemnation (for it was not lawful for them to be put to death before
the expiration of the ten days' grace), and the others because their
trial was again postponed when the judges learned the Tiberius was very
low. He died at Misenum before learning anything about the trials. He
had been ill for a good while, but expecting to live because of
Thrasyllus' prophecy, he neither consulted his physicians nor changed
his manner of life; and so, wasting away gradually, as he well stricken
in years and subject to a sickness that was not severe, he would often
all but expire and then recover again. These changes would alternately
cause Gaius and the rest great pleasure, when they thought he was going
to die, and great fear, when they thought he would live. Gaius,
therefore, fearing that his health might actually be restored, refused
his requests for something to eat, on the ground that it would hurt
him, and pretending that he needed warmth, wrapped him up in many thick
clothes and so smothered him, being aided to a certain extent by Macro.
For the latter, now that Tiberius was seriously ill, was paying court
to the young man, particularly as he had already succeeded in making
him fall in love with his own wife, Ennia Thrasylla. Tiberius,
suspecting this, had once said: "You do well, indeed, to abandon the
setting and hasten to the rising sun."
Thus Tiberius, who possible a great many virtues and a great many
vices, and follow death set in turn as if the other did not exist,
passed away in this fashion on the twenty-sixth day of March. He had
lived seventy-seven years, four months, and nine days, of which time he
had been emperor twenty-two years, seven months, and seven days. A
public funeral was accorded him and a eulogy, delivered by Gaius.
Fragments
This is what he was like in the beginning, but he did not remain so
until the end, for he harshly punished many who were innocent,
heartlessly staining his hands with their blood; and he was so
cordially hated that he was called "bloodstained mud."
Tiberius put to death a man of consular rank, accusing him of having
carried in his bosom a coin bearing the emperor's likeness when he
retired to a latrine.
For a man of consular rank and one of the noblest in
the realm lost his head and with it his wealth at the hands of
Tiberius, who had merely this to say to him: "With my coin in your
bosom you turned aside into foul and noisome places and relieved your
bowels."
Tiberius was harsh in his manner and disposition, and was easily
overcome with wine. Hence the Romans used to call him Biberius, which
with them means a wine-bibber.
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