The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dio's Rome, Volume 4 An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form, by Cassius Dio Cocceianus

HERBERT BALDWIN FOSTER, A.B. (Harvard), Ph. D. (Johns Hopkins), Acting
Professor of Greek in Lehigh University

FOURTH VOLUME

PAFRAETS BOOK COMPANY TROY NEW YOKK

VOLUME CONTENTS

Book Fifty-two Book Fifty-three Book Fifty-four Book Fifty-five Book Fifty-six Book Fifty-seven Book Fifty-eight Book Fifty-nine Book Sixty

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

VOL. 4-1

Duration of time, the remainder of the consulship of Cæsar (5th) and
Sextus Apuleius. (B.C. 29 = a. u. 725.)

(BOOK 52, BOISSEVAIN)

[-1-] My record has so far stated what the Romans both did and endured for seven hundred and twenty-five years under the monarchy, as a democracy, and beneath the rule of a few. After this they reverted to nothing more nor less than a state of monarchy again, although Cæsar had a plan to lay down his arms and entrust affairs to the senate and the populace. He held a consultation on the subject with Agrippa and Mæcenas, to whom he communicated all his secrets. Agrippa, first of the two, answered him as follows:—

[-2-] "Be not surprised, Cæsar, if I try to turn your mind away from monarchy, in spite of the fact that I might enjoy many advantages from it if you held the place. If it were going to prove serviceable to you, I should be thoroughly enthusiastic for it. But those who hold supreme power are not in a like position with their friends: the latter without incurring jealousy or danger reap all the benefits they please, whereas jealousies and dangers are the lot of the former. I have thought it right, as in other cases, to look forward not for my own interest but for yours and the public's. Let us consider leisurely all the features of the system of government and turn whichever way our reflection may direct us. For it will not be asserted that we ought to choose it under any and all circumstances, even if it be not advantageous. Otherwise we shall seem to have been unable to bear good fortune and to have gone mad through our successes, or else to have been aiming at it long since, to have used our father and our devotion to him as a mere screen, to have put "the people and the senate" forward as an excuse. Our object will seem to have been not to free them from conspirators but to enslave them to ourselves. Either supposition entails censure. Who would not be indignant to see that we had spoken words of one tenor, but to ascertain that we had had something different in mind? How much more would he hate us now than if we had at the outset laid bare our desires and aimed straight at the monarchy! It has come to be generally believed that to adopt some violent course belongs somehow to the nature of man, even if it involves taking an unfair advantage. Every person who excels in any business thinks it right that he should enjoy more advantages than his inferior. If he meets with a success he ascribes it to the force of his individual temperament, and if he fails in anything he refers it to the workings of the supernatural. A man, however, who tries to gain advancement by plots and injuries is in the first place held to be crafty and crooked, malicious and vicious: (and this I know you would allow no one to say or think about you, even if you might rule the whole world by it): again, if he succeeds, he is thought to have gained an unjust advantage, and if he fails, to have met with merited misfortune. [-3-] This being so, any one might reproach us quite as much, even if we had nothing of the sort in mind at the beginning and were to begin to devise it only now. For to let the situation get the better of us and not restrain ourselves and not make a right use of the gifts of Fortune is much worse than for a man to do wrong through ill-luck. The latter sort are often compelled by their very disasters and in consideration of their own need of profit to behave against their will in an irregular way: the others voluntarily abandon self-control even if to do so is contrary to their own interests. And when men neither have any love of simplicity in their souls nor are able to show moderation in regard to the blessings bestowed upon them, how could one expect that they would either rule well over others or behave themselves uprightly in trouble? Let us make our decision on the basis that we are in neither of the classes mentioned and do not desire to act in any way unreasonably, but will choose whatever course after deliberation appears to us best. I shall speak quite frankly, for I could not for my part express myself in any other way, and I am aware that you do not enjoy hearing lies mingled with flattery.

[-4-] "Equality before the law has a pleasant name and its results are a triumph of justice. If you take men who have received the same nature, are of kindred race to one another, have been brought up under the same institutions, have been trained in laws that are alike, and yield in common the service of their bodies and of their minds to the same State, is it not just that they should have all other things, too, in common? Is it not best that they should secure no superior honors except as a result of excellence? Equality of birth strives for equality of possessions, and if it attains it is glad, but if it misses is displeased. And human nature everywhere, because it is sprung from the gods and is to return to the gods, gazes upward and is not content to be ruled forever by the same person, nor will it endure to share in the toils, the dangers, the expenditures, and be deprived of partnership in higher matters. Or, if it is forced to submit to such conditions, it hates the power which has applied coercion and if it obtains an opportunity takes vengeance on what it hates. All men think they ought to rule, and for this reason submit to being ruled in turn. They do not wish to be defrauded, and therefore do not insist on defrauding others. They are pleased with honors bestowed by their peers, and approve the penalties inflicted by their laws. If they conduct their government on these lines, and believe that profits and the opposite shall be shared in common, they wish no harm to happen to any one of the citizens and devoutly hope that all good things may fall to the lot of all of them. If one of them himself possesses any excellence, he makes it known without hesitation, practices it enthusiastically, and exhibits it very gladly: or, if he sees it in another, he readily advances it, is eager to increase it, and honors it most brilliantly. On the other hand if any one deteriorates, everybody hates him. If one meets misfortune, everybody pities him. Each person regards the loss or shame that such cause to be a common detriment to the city.

[-5-] "This is the constitution of democracies. Under tyrannies exactly the opposite conditions are found. It is useless to go at length into all of the details, but the chief feature is that no one is willing to seem to know or possess anything good, because the whole ruling power generally becomes hostile to him in such a case. Every one else takes the tyrant's behavior as a standard of life, and pursues whatever objects he may hope to gain through him by taking advantage of his neighbor while incurring no danger himself. Consequently the majority of the people have an eye only to their own interests and hate all other citizens: they esteem their neighbor's good fortune as a personal loss, and his misfortunes as a personal gain.

"Such being the state of the case, I do not see what could possibly incite you to become sole ruler. Besides the fact that that system is disagreeable to democracies, it would be far more unpleasant still to yourself. You surely see how the City and its affairs are even now in a state of turmoil. It is difficult, also, to overthrow our populace which has lived during so many years in freedom, and difficult, since so many enemies confront us round about, to reduce again to slavery the allies and the subject nations, which from of old have been democratic communities and were set free by our own selves.

[-6-] "To begin first with the smallest matter, it will be requisite that you procure a large supply of money from all sides. It is impossible that our present revenues should suffice for the very expenses, and particularly for the support of the soldiers. This need exists also in democracies, for it is not possible to organize any government without expense. But under such a system many give largely in addition to what is required, and do it frequently, making it a matter of rivalry and securing proper honors for their liberality. Or, if perchance there are compulsory levies upon everybody, they endure it because they can persuade themselves that it is wise and because they are contributing in their own behalf. Under sovereignties they think that the ruling power alone, to which they credit boundless wealth, should bear the expense: they are very ready to search out the ruler's sources of income, but do not make a similar careful calculation about the outgo. They are not inclined to pay out anything extra personally and of their own free will, nor will they hear of voluntary public contributions. The former course no one would choose, because he would not readily admit that he was rich, and it is not to the advantage of the ruler to have it happen. So liberal a citizen would immediately acquire a reputation for patriotism among the mass of the people, would become conceited, and cause a disturbance in politics. On the other hand, a general levy weighs heavily upon them all and chiefly because they endure the loss whereas others take the gain. In democracies those who contribute money as a general rule also serve in the army, so that in a way they get it back again. But in monarchies one set of people usually farm, manufacture, carry on maritime enterprises, engage in politics,—the principal pursuits by which fortunes are secured,—and a different set are under arms and draw pay.

"This single necessity, then, which is of such importance [-7-] will cause you trouble. Here is another. It is by all means essential that whoever from time to time commits a crime should pay some penalty. The majority of men are not brought to reason by suggestion or by example, but it is absolutely requisite to punish them by disenfranchisement, by exile, and by death; and this often happens in so great an empire and in so large a multitude of men, especially during a change of government. Now if you appointed other men to judge these wrongdoers, they would acquit them speedily, particularly all whom you may be thought to hate. For judges secure a pretended authority when they act in any way contrary to the wish of the ruling power. If, again, any are convicted, they will believe they have been condemned on account of instructions for which you are responsible. However, if you sit as judge yourself, you will be compelled to chastise many of the peers,—and this is not favorable,—and you will certainly be thought to be setting some of them right in anger rather than in justice. No one believes that those who have the power to use compulsion can execute judgment with justice, but everybody thinks that out of shame they spread out a mere phantom and rough picture of government in front of the truth, in order that under the legitimate name of court they may fulfill their desire. This is what happens in monarchies. In democracies, when any one is accused of committing a private wrong, he is made defendant in a private suit before judges who are his equals: or, if he is accused for a public crime, such a man has empaneled a jury of his peers, whoever the lot shall designate. It is easier for men to bear their decisions, since they do not think that any verdict rendered is due to the power of the judge or has been wrung from him as a favor.[1]

[-8-] "Then again there are many, apart from any criminals, some priding themselves on birth, others on wealth, others on something different, in general not bad men, who are by nature opposed to the conception of monarchy. If a ruler allows them to become strong, he cannot live in safety, and if he undertakes to impose a check on them, he cannot do so justly. What then shall he do with them? How shall he treat them? If you root out their families, diminish their wealth, humble their pride, you will lose the good-will of your subjects. How can it be otherwise, if no one is permitted to be born nobly or to grow rich honestly or to become strong, brave, or learned? But if you allow all the separate classes to grow strong, you will not be able to deal with them easily. If you alone were sufficient for carrying on politics and war well and opportunely, and needed no assistant for any of them, it would be a different story. As the case stands, however, it is quite essential for you to have many helpers, since they must govern so large a world: and they all ought to be both brave and prudent. Now if you hand over the legions and the offices to such men, there will be danger that both you and your government will be overthrown. It is not possible for a valuable man to be produced without good sense, and he cannot acquire any great good sense from servile practices. But again, if he becomes a man of sense, he cannot fail to desire liberty and to hate all masters. If, on the other hand, you entrust nothing to these men, but put affairs in charge of the worthless and chance comers, you will very quickly incur the anger of the first class, who think themselves distrusted, and you will very quickly fail in the greatest enterprises. What good could an ignorant or low-born person accomplish? What enemy would not hold him in contempt? What allies would obey him? Who, even of the soldiers themselves, would not disdain to be ruled by such a man? What evils are wont to result from such a condition I do not need to describe to you, for you know them thoroughly. I feel obliged to say only this, that if such an assistant did nothing right, he would injure you far more than the enemy: if he did anything satisfactorily, his lack of education would cause him to lose his head, and he would be a terror to you.

[-9-] "Such a question does not arise in democracies. The more men there are who are wealthy and brave, so much the more do they vie with one another and up-build the city. The latter uses them and is glad, unless any one of them wishes to found a tyranny: him the citizens punish severely. That this is so and that democracies are far superior to monarchies the experience of Greece makes clear. As long as the people had the monarchical government, they effected nothing of importance: but when they began to live under the democratic system, they became most renowned. It is shown also by the experience of other branches of mankind. Those who are still conducting their governments under tyrannies are always in slavery and always plotting against their rulers. But those who have presidents for a year or some longer period continue to be both free and independent.

"Yet, why need we use foreign examples, when we have some of our own? We Romans, ourselves, after trying a different social organization at first, later, when we had gone through many bitter experiences, felt a desire for liberty; and having secured it we attained our present eminence, strong in no advantages save those that come from democracy, through which the senate debated, the people ratified, the force under arms showed zeal, and the commanders were fired with ambition. None of these things could be done under a tyranny. For that reason, indeed, the ancient Romans detested it so much as to impose a curse upon that form of government.

[-10-] "Aside from these considerations, if one is to speak about what is disadvantageous for you personally, how could you endure the management of so many interests by day and night alike? How could you hold out in your enfeebled state? How could you participate in human enjoyments? How could you be happy if deprived of them? What could cause you real pleasure? When would you be free from biting grief? It is quite inevitable that the man who holds so great an empire should reflect deeply, be subject to many fears enjoy very little pleasure, but hear and see, perform and suffer, always and everywhere, what is most disagreeable. That is why, I think, both Greeks and some barbarians would not accept government by a king when offered to them.

"Knowing this beforehand, take good counsel before you enter upon such an existence. For it is disgraceful, or rather impossible, after you have once plunged into it to rise to the upper air again. Do not be deceived by the greatness of the authority nor the abundance of possessions, nor the mass of body-guards, nor the throng of courtiers. Men who have great power have great troubles: those who have large possessions are obliged to spend largely: the crowd of body-guards is gathered because of the crowd of conspirators: and the flatterers would be more glad to destroy than to save any one. Consequently, in view of these facts, no sensible man would desire to become supreme ruler. [-11-] If the fact that such rulers can enrich and preserve others and perform many other good deeds, and that, by Jupiter, they may also outrage others and injure whomsoever they please leads any one to think that tyranny is worth striving for, he is utterly mistaken. I need not tell you that to live licentiously and to do evil is base and hazardous and hated of both gods and men. You are not that sort of man, and it is not for these reasons that you would choose to be sole ruler. I have elected to speak now not of everything which one might accomplish who handled affairs badly, but of what even the very best are compelled to do and endure when they adopt the system. The other point,—that one may bestow abundant favors,—is worthy of zeal, to be sure: yet when this disposition is indulged in private capacity, it is noble, august, glorious, and safe, whereas in monarchies it is first of all not a sufficient offset to the other, more disagreeable matters, that any one should choose monarchy for this especially when one is to grant to others the benefit to be derived therefrom, and accept himself the unpleasantness involved in the rest of the conduct of the office.

[-12-] "In the next place, the matter is not simple, as people think. No one could render assistance enough to satisfy all who need help. Those who think they ought to receive some gift from the sovereign are practically all mankind, even though no favors can at once be seen to be due them. Every one naturally has his own approbation and wishes to enjoy some benefit from him who is able to give. But the presents which can be given them,—I mean honors and offices, and sometimes money,—can be counted quite easily as compared with so great a multitude. This being so, more hatred would fall to the monarch's lot from those who fail to get what they want than friendship from such as obtain their desires. The latter take what they regard as due to them and think there is no particular reason for being very thankful to the one who gives it, since they are getting no more than they expected. Moreover, they actually shrink from such behavior for fear they may appear in the light of persons undeserving of generous treatment. The others, who are disappointed of their hopes, are grieved for two causes. First, they feel that they are robbed of what belongs to them, for by nature all persons think that everything which they desire is their own: second, they feel as if they were finding themselves guilty of some wrong, if they show resignation at not obtaining what they expect. The man who gives such great gifts rightly of course investigates before all else each person's worth: some he honors, others he neglects. As a result, then, of his judgment, some are filled with pride and others with vexation by their own consciousness of its correctness. If any one were to wish to guard against this outcome and distribute his presents without system, he would fail utterly. The base, being honored contrary to their deserts, would become worse; for they would decide either that they were approved as being good or, if not so, that they were courted as dangerous persons: the excellent, on attaining no higher place than they, but held merely in equal honor with the base, would be more indignant at their reduction to the latter's level than the others would rejoice to be deemed valuable. Accordingly, they would give up the practice of better principles and strive to emulate less worthy men. Thus, even as a result of the very honors, those who bestow them would reap no benefit and those who receive them would become worse than before. So that this consideration, which would please some persons most in the monarchical constitution, has been proved to be a most difficult problem for you to deal with.

[-13-] "Reflecting on these facts and the rest which I mentioned a little earlier, be prudent while you may, and restore to the people the arms, the provinces, the offices, and the funds. If you do it at once and voluntarily, you will be the most famous of men and the most secure. But if you wait for some force to be applied, perhaps you might suffer some disaster together with ill repute. Here is evidence. Marius, Sulla, Metellus, and Pompey at first, when they got control of affairs, refused to become princes, and by this attitude escaped harm. Cinna, however, and Strabo,[2] the second Marius, Sertorius, and Pompey himself at a later date, through their desire for sovereignty perished miserably. It is hard for this city which has been under a democracy for so many years and rules so many human beings to be willing to be a slave to any one. You have heard that the people banished Camillus when he used white horses for his triumph: you have heard that they overthrew Scipio after condemning him for some fraudulent procedure: you remember how they behaved toward your father because they had some suspicion that he wanted monarchy. Yet there have never been any better men than these.

"Moreover, I do not advise you merely to relinquish dominion, but to accomplish beforehand all that is advantageous for the public, and by decrees and laws to settle definitely whatever business needs attention, just as Sulla did. For even if some of his ordinances were subsequently overthrown, yet the majority of them and the more important still hold their ground. Do not say that even then some will indulge in factional quarrels, or I may be tempted to say again that all the more the Romans would not submit to a single ruler. If we were to review all the calamities that might befall a nation, it would be most unreasonable for us to fear dissensions which are the outgrowth of democracy rather then the tyrannies which spring from monarchy. Regarding the terrible nature of the latter I have not even undertaken to say a word. It has been my wish not merely to inveigh against a proposition so capable of censure, but to show you this,—that it is naturally such a régime that not even the most excellent men….[3]

[-14-] "They cannot easily persuade by frank argument men who possess less power, or succeed in their enterprises, because their subjects are not in accord with them. Hence, if you have any care at all of your country, for whom you have fought so many wars, for whom you would gladly surrender your life, attune her to greater moderation and order her affairs with that in view. For the privilege of doing and saving precisely what one pleases becomes in the case of sensible people, if you examine it, a cause of prosperity to all: but in the case of the foolish, a cause of disaster. Therefore he who confers authority upon such men is holding out a sword to a child and a madman; but he who gives it to the prudent, besides performing other services, preserves the objects of his liberality themselves, though they may be unwilling. Therefore I ask you not to be deceived by regarding fine-sounding names, but to look forward to the results that spring from them, and so to put an end to the insolence of the populace, and to impose the management of public affairs upon yourself and the most excellent of the remainder of the community. Then the most prudent may deliberate, those most qualified for generals become commanders, and the strongest and most needy men serve as soldiers and draw pay. In this way, all zealously discharging the duties appertaining to their offices and paying without hesitation the debts they owe one another, they will not be aware of their inferiority and lack of certain advantages and will secure the real democracy and a safe sort of freedom. The boasted "freedom" of the mob proves to be the most bitter servitude of the best element and brings a common destruction upon both. The other, which I advocate, honors responsible men everywhere and bestows equal advantages upon all so far as they are worthy: thus it renders prosperous all alike who possess it. [-15-] Do not think that I am advising you to enslave the people and the senate and then play the tyrant. This plan I should never dare to suggest nor you to execute. It would, notwithstanding, be well and useful both for you and for the city that you should yourself establish all proper laws with the approval of the best men without any opposing talk or resistance on the part of the masses, that you and your counselors should arrange the details of wars according to your united wishes while all the rest straightway obey orders, that the choice of officials should be in the power of the cabinet to which you belong, and that the same men should also determine honors and penalties. Then whatever pleases you after consulting the Peers will be immediately a law, and wars against enemies may be waged with secrecy and at an opportune time; those to whom a trust is committed will be appointed because of excellence and not by lot and strife for office; the good will be honored without jealousy and the bad punished without opposition. Thus what was done would be accomplished in the best way, not referred to the public, nor talked over openly, not committed to packed committees, nor endangered by rivalry. We should reap the benefits of the blessings that belong to us with enjoyment,[4] not entering upon dangerous wars nor impious civil disputes. These two drawbacks are found in every democracy: the more powerful, desiring first place and hiring the weaker men, turn everything continually upside down. They have been most frequent in our epoch and there is no other way save the one I propose that will put a stop to them. The proof of my words is that we have been warring abroad and fighting among ourselves for an inconceivably long time: the cause is the multitude of men and the magnitude of the interests at stake. The men are of all sorts in respect to both race and nature and have the most diversified tempers and desires. The interests have become so vast that it is very difficult to attempt to administer them. [-16-] Witness to the truth of my words is borne by our past. While we were but few, we had no important quarrel with our neighbors, got along well with our government, and subjugated almost all of Italy. But ever since we spread beyond the peninsula and crossed to many foreign lands and islands, filling the whole sea and the whole earth with our name and power, nothing good has been our lot. In the first place we disputed in cliques at home and within our walls, and later we exported this plague to the camps. Therefore our city, like a great merchantman full of a crowd of every race borne without a pilot these many years through rough water, rolls and shoots hither and thither because it is without ballast. Do not, then, allow her to be longer exposed to the tempest; for you see that she is waterlogged. And do not let her split upon a reef[5]; for her timbers are rotten and will not be able to hold out much longer. But since the gods have taken pity on this land and have set you up as her arbiter and chief; do not betray your country. Through you she has now revived a little: if you are faithful, she may live with safety for ages to come.

[-17-] "That I do right to urge you to be sole ruler of the people I think you have long ere this been persuaded. If so, then be ready and eager to assume the leadership of the State, or rather, do not let it slip. For we are not deliberating about taking something, but about not losing it and about running hazards in addition. Who will spare you if you commit matters to the people as they were, and to some other man, seeing that there are great numbers whom you have injured, all of whom, or nearly all, will lay claim to the sovereignty? No one of them will fail to wish to punish you for what you have done, or will care to have you survive as a rival. There is evidence of this in the case of Pompey, who, when he withdrew from his supremacy, became the victim of scorn and of plots: he found himself unable to win back his place, and so perished. Also Cæsar your father, who did this very same thing, was slain for his trouble. Marius and Sulla would certainly have endured a like fate, had they not died too soon. Indeed, some say that Sulla anticipated this very end by making away with himself. Many of the provisions of his constitution, at any rate, began to be abolished while he was still alive. You, too, must expect to find that many Lepiduses, Sertoriuses, Brutuses, Cassiuses will arise against you.

[-18-] "Seeing these facts and reflecting on the other interests involved, do not abandon yourself and your country, out of fear that you may seem to some to be pursuing the office of set purpose. First of all, even if any one does suspect it, the desire is not one repugnant to human nature, and the danger from it is a noble danger. Second, is any one unaware of the necessity under which you were led to take this action? Hence, if there be any blame attached to it, one might most justly censure your father's slayers therefor. For if they had not murdered him in so unjust and pitiable a fashion, you would not have taken up arms, would not have gathered your legions, would not have made a compact with Antony and Lepidus, and would not have taken measures against those very men. That you were right and were justified in doing all this no one is unaware. If any slight errors have been committed, at least we cannot safely make any further changes. Therefore for our own sakes and for that of the city let us obey Fortune, who gives you the supremacy. Let us be very thankful to her that she has not simply filled us with civil woes, but has put the reorganization of the government in your hands. By paying due reverence to her you may show all mankind that whereas others wrought disturbance and injury, you are an upright man.

"Do not, I beg you, fear the magnitude of the empire. The greater its extent, the more are the preservative influences it possesses; also, to guard anything is a long way easier than to acquire it. Toils and dangers are needed to win over what belongs to others, but a little prudence suffices to retain what is already yours. Moreover, do not be afraid that you will not live quite safely in the midst of it and enjoy all the blessings extant among men, if you are willing to arrange all the details as I shall advise you. And do not think that I am making my appeal depart from the subject in hand, if I shall speak at some length about the project. I shall not do this merely to hear myself talk, but to the end that you may be positively assured that it is both possible and easy, for a man of sense at least, to govern well and without danger.

[-19-] "I maintain, therefore, first of all that you ought to pick out your friends in the senatorial body and then subject it to a sifting process, because some who are not fit have become senators on account of civil disputes: such of them as possess any excellence you ought to retain, but the rest you should erase from the roll. Do not, however, get rid of any man of worth, because of poverty, but give him the money that he needs. In the place of those who have been dropped introduce the noblest, the best, the richest men obtainable, selecting them not only from Italy but from the allies and subject nations. In this way you will not be employing many assistants and you will insure a correct attitude on the part of the chief men from all the provinces. These districts, having no renowned leader, will not be disposed to rebel, and their prominent men will entertain affection for you because they have been made sharers in your empire.

"Take precisely these same measures in the case of the knights, by enrolling in the equestrian class such as hold second place everywhere in birth, excellence, and wealth. Register as many in both classes as may please you, not troubling at all about their numbers. The more men of repute you have as your associates, the more easily will you yourself settle everything in case of need and persuade your subjects that you are treating them not as slaves nor in any way as inferior to us, but are sharing with them besides all the other blessings that belong to us the chief magistracy also, that so they may be devoted to it as their own possession. I am so far from assuming this to be a mistaken policy that I say they ought all to be given a share in the government. Thus, having an equal allotment in it, they might be faithful allies of ours, believing that they inhabited one single city owned in common by all of us, and this really a city, and regarding fields and villages as their individual property. But about this and what ought to be done so as not to grant them absolutely everything, we shall reflect in greater detail at another time.

[-20-] "It is proper to put men on the roll of the knights at eighteen years of age; for at that period of life physical condition is at its best and suitability of temperament can be discerned. But for the senate they should wait till they are twenty-five years old. Is it not disgraceful and hazardous to entrust public business to men younger than this, when we will commit none of our private affairs to any one before, he has reached such an age? After they have served as quæstors and ædiles, or tribunes, let them be prætors, when they have attained their thirtieth birthday. These offices and that of consul are the only ones at home which I maintain you ought to recognize; and that is for the sake of remembrance of ancestral customs and in order not to seem to be changing the constitution altogether. Do you, however, yourself choose all who are to hold them and not put any of these offices longer in charge of the rabble or the populace,—for they will surely quarrel,—nor in charge of the senate, for its members will contend for the prize. Moreover, do not keep up the ancient powers of these positions, for fear history may repeat itself, but preserve the honor attached while abating the influence to such an extent as will enable you to deprive each place of none of its esteem but to forestall any desire of insubordination. This can be done if you require the incumbents to stay in town, and do not permit any of them to handle arms either during their period of office or immediately afterward, but only after the lapse of some time, as much as you think sufficient in each instance. In this way none of them will rebel, because they become to an extent by their title masters of armies, and their irritation will be assuaged by their faring as private citizens for a time. Let these magistrates conduct such of the festivals as would naturally belong to their office, and let them all individually try cases save those of homicide, during their tenure of office in Rome. Courts should also be made up of the senators and knights, but the final appeal should be to the aforesaid officials.

[-21-] "Let a præfectus urbi be appointed from the ranks of the prominent men and from such as have previously passed through the necessary offices. His duties should not be to govern when the consuls are somewhere out of town, but to exercise at all times a general supervision of the City's interests and to decide the cases referred to him by all the other magistrates I mentioned, both those demanding final decision and such as may be appealed, together with any that involve the death penalty; and he must have authority in all of them that concern men both in the City (except such as I shall name) and those dwelling outside to the distance of seven hundred and fifty stades.

"Still another magistrate ought to be chosen, himself also from a similar class, to investigate and watch the matters of family, property, and morals of senators and knights, alike of men and of the children and wives belonging to them[6]. He should also set right such behavior as properly entails no punishment, yet if neglected becomes the cause of many great evils. The more important details he must report to you. This duty ought to be assigned to some senator, and to the most distinguished one after the præfectus urbi, rather than to one of the knights. He would naturally receive his name from your authority as censor, (for you must certainly be the dictator of the census), so that he might be called sub-censor[7].—Let these two hold office for life, unless either of them deteriorates in any way or becomes sick or superannuated. By reason of the permanence of their positions they would do nothing dangerous, for one would be entirely unarmed and the other would have but a few soldiers and be acting for the most part under your eyes. By reason of their rank they would shrink from coming into collision with any one and would be afraid to do any act of violence, for they would foresee their retirement to ordinary citizenship and the supremacy of others in their stead. Let them also draw a certain salary, to compensate them for the time consumed and to increase their reputation. This is the opinion I have to give you in regard to these officials.

"Let those who have been prætors hold some office among the subject nations. Before they have been prætors I do not think they should have this privilege. Let those who have not yet been prætors serve for one or two terms as lieutenants to such persons as you may have designated. Then, under these conditions, let them be consuls if they continue to govern rightly, and after that let them take the greater positions of command. [-22-] The following is the way I advise you to arrange it. Divide up all of Italy which is over seven hundred and fifty stades from the city and all the rest of the territory which owns our sway, both on the continents and in the islands,—divide it up everywhere according to races and nations; and pursue the same course with as many cities as are important enough to be ruled by one man with full powers. Then establish soldiers and a governor in each one and send out one of the ex-consuls to take charge of all, and two of the ex-prætors. One of the latter, fresh from the City, should have the care of private business and the supplying of provisions: the other should be one of those who have had this training, who will attend to the public interests of the cities and will govern the soldiers, except in cases that concern disenfranchisement or death. These must be referred only to the ex-consul who is governor, except in regard to the centurions who are on the lists and to the foremost private individuals in every place. Do not allow any other person than yourself to punish either of these classes, so that they may never be impelled by fear of any one else to take any action against you. As for my proposition that the second of the ex-prætors should be put in charge of the soldiers, it is subject to the following limitations. If only a few are in service in foreign forts or in one native post, it is well enough for this to be so. But if two citizen legions are wintering in the same province (and more than this number I should not advise you to trust to one commander), it will be necessary for the two ex-prætors to superintend them, each having charge of one besides managing the remaining political and private interests. Therefore, let the ex-consul[8]… these matters and likewise on the cases, both those subject to appeal and those already referred which are sent up to him from[9] his prætors. And do not be surprised that I recommend to you to divide Italy also into such sections. It is large and populous, and so is incapable of being well managed by the governors at the capital. The governor of any district ought to be always present and no duties should be laid upon our city magistrates[10] that are impossible of fulfillment.

[-23-] "Let all these men to whom affairs outside the city are committed receive pay, the greater ones more, the inferior ones less, those of medium importance a medium amount. They can not in a foreign land live on their own resources nor as now stand an unlimited and uncalculated expense. Let them govern not less than three years (unless any one of them commits a crime), nor more than five. These limits are because annual and short-time appointments after teaching persons what they need to know send them back again before they can display any of their knowledge: and, on the other hand, longer and more lasting positions fill many with conceit and incline them to rebellion. Hence I think that the greater posts of authority ought not to be given to persons consecutively, without interval, for it makes no difference whether a man is governor in the same province or in several in succession, if he holds office longer than is proper. Appointees improve when a period of time is allowed to elapse and they return home and live as ordinary citizens.

"The senators, accordingly, I affirm ought to discharge these duties and in the way described. [-24-] Of the knights the two best should command the body-guard which protects you. To entrust it to one man is hazardous, and to several is sure to breed turmoil. Let these prefects therefore be two in number, in order that, if one of them suffers any bodily harm, you may still not lack a person to guard you: and let them be appointed from those who have been on many campaigns and have been active also in many other capacities. Let them have command both of the Pretorians and of all the remaining soldiers in Italy with such absolute power that they may put to death such of them as do wrong, except in the case of the centurions and any others who have been assigned to members of the senate holding office. These should be tried by the senatorial magistrates themselves, in order that the latter may have authority both to honor and to chastise their dependents and so be able to count on their unhesitating support. Over all the other soldiers in Italy those prefects should have dominion (aided of course by lieutenants), and further over the Cæsarians, both such as wait upon you and all the rest that are of any value. These duties will be both fitting and sufficient for them to discharge.[11] They should not have more labors laid upon them than they will be able to dispose of effectively, that they may not be weighed down by the press of work or find it impossible to see to everything. These men ought to hold office for life like the præfectus urbi and the sub-censor. Let some one else be appointed night watchman, and still another commissioner of grain and of the other market produce, both of these from the foremost knights after those mentioned and appointed to hold their posts for a definite time like the magistrates elected from the senatorial class. [-25-] The disposition of the funds, also,—of both the people and the empire, I mean, whether in Rome or in the rest of Italy or outside,—should be entirely in the hands of the knights. These treasurers also, as well as all of the same class who have the management of anything, should draw pay, some more and some less, with reference to the dignity and magnitude of their employment. The reason is that it is not possible for them, since they are poorer than the senators, to spend their own means while engaged in no business in Rome. And then again, it is neither possible nor advantageous for you that the same men should be made masters of both the troops and the finances. Furthermore, it is well that all the business of the empire should be transacted through a number of agents, in order that many may receive the benefit of it and become experienced in affairs. In this way your subjects, reaping a multiform enjoyment from the public treasures, will be better disposed toward you, and you will have an abundant supply of the best men on each occasion for all necessary lines of work. One single knight with as many subordinates (drawn from the knights and from your freedmen) as the needs of the case demand, is sufficient for every separate form of business in the City and for each province outside. You need to have these assistants along with them in order that your service may contain a prize of excellence, and that you may not lack persons from whom you may learn the truth even contrary to the wishes of their superiors, in case there is anything irregular happening.

"If any one of the knights after passing through many forms of service distinguishes himself enough to become a senator, his age ought not to hinder him at all from being enrolled in the senate. Let some of those even be registered who have held the post of company leaders in citizen forces, unless it be one who has served in the rank and file; for it is both a shame and a reproach to have on the list of the senate any of these persons who have carried loaded panniers and charcoal baskets. But in the case of such as were originally centurions there is nothing to prevent the most distinguished of them from being advanced to a better class.

[-26-] "With regard to the senators and the knights this is my advice to you. And, by Jupiter, I have this to say further. While they are still children they should attend schools, and when they come out of childhood into youth they should turn their minds to horses and arms and have paid public teachers in each of these two departments. In this way from very boyhood they will both learn and practice all that they must themselves do on becoming men, and so they will prove far more serviceable to you for every work. The best ruler, who is of any value, must not only himself perform all his required tasks, but also look forward to see how the rest shall become also as excellent as possible. And this name can be yours, not if you allow them to do whatever they please and then censure those who err, but if before any mistakes occur you teach them everything which, when practiced, will render them more useful both to themselves and to you. And afford nobody any excuse whatever, either wealth or birth, or anything else that accompanies excellence, for affecting indolence or effeminacy or any other behavior that is not genuine. Many persons, fearing that on account of some such possession they may incur jealousy or danger, do much that is unworthy of themselves, expecting by such behavior to live in greater security. As a consequence they commiserate themselves, believing themselves wronged in this very particular, that they are not allowed to appear to live aright. Their ruler also suffers a loss because he is deprived of the services of good men, and suffers ill repute for the censure imposed upon them. Therefore never permit this to be done, and have no fears that any one brought up and educated as I propose will ever adopt a rebellious policy. Quite the reverse; it is only the ignorant and licentious that you need suspect. Such persons are easily influenced to behave most disgracefully and abominably in absolutely every way first toward their own selves and next toward other people. Those, however, who have been well brought up and educated are purposed not to wrong any one and least of all him who cared for their rearing and education. If any one, accordingly, shows himself wicked and ungrateful, do not entrust him with any such position as will enable him to effect any harm: if even so he rebels, let him be tried and punished. Do not be afraid that any one will blame you for this, if you carry out all my injunctions. For in taking vengeance on the wrongdoer you will be guilty of no sin any more than the physician who burns and cuts. All will pronounce the man justly treated, because after partaking of the same rearing and education as the rest he plotted against you.—This is the course of action I advise in the case of the senators and knights.

[-27-] "A standing army should be supported, drawn from the citizens, the subject nations, and the allies, in one case more, in another less, province by province, as the necessities of the case demand; and they ought to be always under arms and make a practice of warfare continually. They must have secured winter-quarters at the most opportune points, and serve for a definite time, so that a certain period of active life may remain for them before old age. For, separated so far as we are from the frontiers of the empire, with enemies living near us on every side, we should otherwise no longer be able to count on auxiliaries in the case of emergencies. Again, if we allow all those of military age to have arms and to practice warlike pursuits, quarrels and civil wars will always be arising among them. However, if we prevent them from doing this and then need their assistance at all in battle, we shall always have to face danger with inexperienced and untrained soldiers at our back. For this reason I submit the proposition that most of them live without arms and away from forts; but that the hardiest and those most in need of a livelihood be registered and kept in practice. They themselves will fight better by devoting their leisure to this single business; and the rest will the more easily farm, manage ships, and attend to the other pursuits of peace, if they are not forced to be called out for service, but have others to stand as their guardians. The most active and vigorous element, that is, which is oftenest obliged to live by robbery, will be supported without harming others, and all the rest of the population will lead a life free from danger.

[-28-] "From what source, then, will the money come for these warriors and for the other expenses that will be found necessary? I shall make this point clear, with only the short preliminary statement that even were we under a democracy, we should in any case need money. We can not survive without soldiers, and without pay none of them will serve. Hence let us not feel downhearted in the belief that the compulsory collection of money appertains only to monarchy, and let us not turn away from the system for that reason, but conduct our deliberations with a full knowledge of the fact that in any case it is necessary for us to obtain funds, whatsoever form of government we may adopt. Consequently, I maintain that you should first of all sell the goods which are in the public treasury,—and I notice that these have become numerous on account of the wars,—except a few which are exceedingly useful and necessary to you: and you should loan all this money at some moderate rate of interest. In this way the land will be worked, being delivered to men who will cultivate it themselves, and the latter will obtain a starting-point and so grow more prosperous, while the treasury will have a sufficient and perpetual revenue. This amount should be computed together with all the rest of the revenue that can be derived from the mines and with certainty from any other source; and after that we ought to reckon on not only the military service but everything else which contributes to the successful life of a city, and further how much it will be necessary to lay out in campaigns at short notice and other critical occurrences which are wont to take place. Then, to make up the deficiency in income, we ought to levy upon absolutely all instruments which produce any profit for the men who possess them, and we should exact taxes from all whom we rule. It is both just and proper that no one of them should be exempt from taxation,—individual or people,—because they are destined to enjoy the benefit of the taxes in common with the rest. We should set over them tax-collectors in every case to manage the business, so that they may levy from all sources of revenue everything that falls due during their term of management. The following plan will render it easier for the officers to gather the taxes and will be of no little service to those who contribute them. I mean that they will bring in whatever they owe in an appointed order and little by little, instead of remaining idle a short time and then having the entire sum demanded of them in one payment.

[-29-] "I am not unaware that some of the incomes and taxes established will be disliked. But I know this, too,—that if the peoples secure immunity from any further abuse and believe in reality that they will be contributing all of this for their own safety and for reaping subsidiary benefits in abundance and that most of it will be obtained by no others than men of their own district, some by governing, others by managing, others by army service, they will be very grateful to you, giving as they do a small portion of large possessions, the profits of which they enjoy without oppression. Especially will this be true if they see that you live temperately and spend nothing foolishly. Who, if he saw you very economical of your own means and very lavish of the public funds, would not willingly contribute, and deem your possession of wealth to constitute his safety and prosperity? By these means a very large amount of money would be on hand.

[-30-] "The rest I urge you to arrange in the following way. Adorn this city in the most expensive manner possible and add brilliance by every form of festival. It is fitting that we who rule many people should surpass all in everything, and such spectacles tend in a way to promote respect on the part of our allies and alarm on the part of enemies. The affairs of other nations you should order in this fashion. First, let the various tribes have no power in any matter nor meet in assemblies at all. They would decide nothing good and would always be creating more or less turmoil. Hence I say that even our own populace ought not to gather at court or for elections or for any other such meeting where any business is to be transacted. Next, they should not indulge in numbers of houses of great size and beyond what is necessary, and they should not expend money upon many and all kinds of contests: so they will neither be worn out by vain zeal nor become hostile through unreasonable rivalries. They ought, however, to have certain festivals and spectacles, (apart from the horse-race held among us), but not to such an extent that the treasury or private estates will be injured, or any stranger be compelled to spend anything whatever in their midst, or food for a lifetime be furnished to all who have merely won in some contest. It is unreasonable that the well-to-do should submit to compulsory expenditures outside their own countries; and for the athletes the prizes for each event are sufficient. This ruling does not apply to any one of them who might come out victor in the Olympian or Pythian games, or some contest here at Rome.[12] Such are the only persons who ought to be fed, and then the cities will not exhaust themselves without avail nor anybody practice save those who have a chance of winning, since one can follow some other pursuit that is more advantageous both to one's self and to one's country. "This is my decision about these matters.—Now to the horse-races which are held without gymnastic contests, I think that no other city but ours should be allowed to hold them, so that vast sums of money may not be dissipated recklessly nor men go miserably frantic,—and most of all that the soldiers may have a plentiful supply of the best horses. This, therefore, I would forbid altogether, that those races should take place anywhere else than here. The other amusements I have determined to moderate so that all organizations should make the enjoyment of entertainments for eye and ear inexpensive, and men thereby live more temperately and free from discontent.

"Let none of the foreigners employ their own coinage or weights or measures, but let them all use ours. And they should send no embassy to you, unless it involve a point for decision. Let them instead present to their governor whatever they please and through him forward to you all such requests of theirs as he may approve. In this way they will neither spend anything nor effect their object by crooked practices, but receive their answers at first hand without any expenditure or intrigue.

[-31-] "Moreover, in respect to other matters, you would seem to be ordering things in the best way if you should, in the first place, introduce before the senate the embassies which come from the enemy and from those under truce, both kings and peoples. For it is awe-inspiring and impressive to let the senate appear to be master of all situations and to exhibit many adversaries prepared for petitioners who are guilty of double dealing. Next, have all the laws enacted by the senators, and do not impose a single one upon all the people alike, except the decrees of that body. In this way the dignity of the empire would be the more confirmed and the decisions made in accordance with the laws would prove indisputable and evident to all alike. Thirdly, it would be well in case the senators who are serving in the city, their children or their wives, are ever charged with any serious crime, so that a person convicted would receive a penalty of disenfranchisement or exile or even death, that you should set the situation before the senate, without any previous condemnation, and commit to that body the entire decision at first hand regarding it. Thus those guilty of any crime would be tried before all their peers and punished without any ill-feeling against you. The rest, seeing this, would improve in character for fear of being themselves publicly apprehended. I am speaking here about those offences regarding which laws are established, and judgments are rendered according to the laws.

"As for talk that some one has abused you or spoken in an unfitting way about you, do not listen to any one who brings such an accusation nor investigate it. It is disgraceful to believe that any one has wantonly insulted you who are doing no wrong and benefiting all. Only those who rule badly will credit these reports. Because of their own conscience they surmise that the matter has been stated truthfully. It is a shame to be angry at complaints for which, if true, one had better not have been responsible, and about which, if false, one ought not to pretend to care. Many in times past by angry behavior have caused more things and worse to be said against them. This is my opinion about those accused of uttering some insult. Your personality should be too strong and too lofty to be assailed by any insolence, and you should never allow yourself to think nor lead others into thinking that any person can be indecent toward you. Thus they will think of you as of the gods, that you are sacrosanct. If any one should be accused of plotting against you (such a thing might happen), do not yourself sit as judge on a single detail of the case nor reach any decision in advance,—for it is absurd that the same man should be made both accuser and judge,—but take him to the senate and make him plead his defence. If he be convicted, punish him, though moderating the sentence so far as is feasible, in order that belief in his guilt may be fostered. It is very difficult to make most men believe that any unarmed person will plot against him who is armed. And the only way you could gain credence would be by punishing him not in anger nor overwhelmingly, if it be possible.—This is aside from the case of one who had an army and should revolt directly against you. It is not fitting that such an one be tried, but that he be chastised as an enemy.

"In this way refer to the senate these matters and [-32-] most of the highly important affairs that concern the commonwealth. Public interests you must administer publicly. It is also an inbred trait of human nature for individuals to delight in marks of esteem from a superior, which seem to raise one to equality with him, and to approve everything which the superior has determined after consulting them, as if it were their own proposal, and to cherish it, as if it were their own choice. Consequently I affirm that such business ought to be brought before the senate.—In regard to most cases all those senators present ought equally to state their opinions: but when one of their number is accused, not all of them should do so, unless it be some one who is not yet a senator or is not yet in the ranks of the ex-quæstors that is being tried. And, indeed, it is absurd that one who has not yet been a tribune or an ædile should cast a vote against such as have already filled these offices, or, by Jupiter, that any one of the latter should vote against the ex-prætors or they against the ex-consuls. Let the last named have authority to render a decision in all cases, but the rest only in the cases of their peers and their subordinates.

[-33-] "You yourself must try in person the referred and the appealed cases which come to you from the higher officials, from the procurators, from the præfectus urbi, from the sub-censor, and the prefects, both the commissioner of grain[13] and the night-watch.[14] No single one of them should have such absolute powers of decision and such independence that a case can not be appealed from him. You should be the judge, therefore in these instances, and also when knights are concerned and properly enrolled centurions and the foremost private citizens, if the trial involves death or disenfranchisement. Let these be your business alone, and for the reasons mentioned let no one else on his own responsibility render a decision in them. You should always have associated with you for discussion the most honored of the senators and of the knights, and further certain others from the ranks of the ex-consuls and ex-prætors, some at one time and some at another. In this association you will become more accurately acquainted with their characters beforehand, and so be able to put them to the right kind of employment, and they by coming in contact with your habits and wishes will have them in mind on going out to govern the provinces. Do not, however, openly ask their opinions when a rather careful consideration is required, for fear that they, being outside their accustomed sphere, may hesitate to speak freely; but let them record their views on tablets. To these you alone should have access, that they may become known to no one else, and then order the writing to be immediately erased. In this way you may best get at each man's exact opinion, when they believe that it can not be identified among all the rest.

"Moreover for the lawsuits, letters, and decrees of the cities, for the consideration of the demands of individuals and everything else which belongs to the administration of the empire you must have supporters and assistants from among the knights. Everything will move along more easily in this way, and you will neither err through want of fairness nor become exhausted by doing everything yourself. Grant every one who wishes to make any suggestion whatever to you the right of speaking freely and fearlessly. If you approve what he says, it will be of great service: and if you are not persuaded, it will do no harm. Those who obtain your favorable judgment you should both praise and honor, since by their devices you will receive glory: and those who fail of it you should never dishonor or censure. It is proper to look at their intentions, and not to find fault because their plans were unavailable. Guard against this same mistake when war is concerned. Be not enraged at any one for involuntary misfortune nor jealous of his good fortune, to the end that all may zealously and gladly run risks for you, confident that if they make a slip they will not be punished nor if successful become the objects of intrigue. There are many who through fear of jealousy on the part of those in power have chosen to meet reverses rather than to effect anything. As a result they retained their safety, but the loss fell upon their own heads. You, who are sure to reap the principal benefit from both classes alike,—the inferior and the superior,—ought never to choose to become nominally jealous of others, but really of yourself.

[-34-] "Whatever you wish your subjects to think and do you must say and do. You can better educate them in this way than if you should desire to terrify them by the severities of the laws. The former course inspires emulation, the latter fear. And any one can more easily imitate superior conduct, when he actually sees it in some life, than he can guard against low behavior which he merely hears to be prohibited by edict. Act in every way yourself with circumspection, not condoning any mistakes of your own, for be well assured that all will straightway learn everything you say and do. You will live as it were in a kind of theatre, whose audience is the whole world: and it will not be possible for you to escape detection if you commit the very smallest error. No act of yours will ever be in private, but all of them will be performed in the midst of many persons. And all the remainder of mankind somehow take the greatest delight in being officious with respect to what is done by their rulers. Hence, if they once ascertain that you are urging them to one course and following a different one yourself, they will not fear your threats, but will imitate your deeds.

"Have an eye to the lives of others, but do not carry your investigations unpleasantly close. Decide cases which are brought before you by outsiders, but do not pretend to notice conduct that receives no outspoken censure from any one, except irregularities not consonant with public interest. The latter ought to be properly rebuked, even if no one has aught to say against them. Other private failings you ought to know, in order to avoid making a mistake some day by employing an assistant unsuitable for a particular duty: do not, however, take individuals to task. Their natures impel many persons to commit various violations of the law. If you make an unsparing campaign against them, you might leave scarcely one man unpunished. But if you humanely mingle consideration with the strict command of the law, you may perhaps bring them to their senses. For the law, though necessarily severe in its punishments, can not always conquer nature. Some men, if permitted to think they are unobserved, or if moderately admonished, improve, some through shame at being discovered and others through fear of failure the next time. Whereas when they are openly denounced and throw compunction to the winds, or where they are chastised beyond measure, they overturn and trample under foot all law and order and obey slavishly the impulses of their nature. Therefore it is not easy to discipline all of them nor is it fitting to allow some of them to continue publicly their outrageous conduct.

"This is the way I advise you to treat people's offences, except the very desperate cases: and you should honor even beyond the deserts of the deed whatever they do rightly. In this way you can best make them refrain from baser conduct by kindliness and cause them to aim at what is better by liberality. Have no dread that either money or other means of rewarding those who do well will ever fail you. I think those deserving of good treatment will prove far fewer than the rewards, since you are lord of so much land and sea. And fear not that any who are benefited will commit some act of ingratitude. Nothing so captivates and conciliates any one, be he foreigner or be he foe, as freedom from wrongs and likewise kindly treatment.

[-35-] "This is the attitude which I urge you to assume toward others. For your own part allow no extraordinary or overweening distinction to be given you through word or deed by the senate or by anybody else. To others honor which you confer lends adornment, but to your own self nothing can be given that is greater than what you already have, and it would arouse no little suspicion of failure in straightforwardness. None of the ordinary people willingly approves of having any such distinction voted to the man in power. As he receives everything of the kind from himself, he not only obtains no praise for it but becomes a laughing-stock instead. Any additional brilliance, then, you must create for yourself by your good deeds. Never permit gold or silver images of yourself to be made; they are not only costly, but they give rise to plots and last but a brief time: you must build in the very hearts of men others out of benefits conferred, which shall be both unalloyed and undying. Again, do not ever allow a temple to be raised to yourself. Large amounts of money are spent uselessly on such objects, which had better be laid out upon necessary improvements. Great wealth is gathered not so much by acquiring a great deal as by not spending a great deal. Nor does a temple contribute anything to any one's glory. Excellence raises many men to the level of the gods, but nobody ever yet was made a god by show of hands. Hence if you are upright and rule well, the whole earth will be your precinct, all cities your temple, all mankind your statues. In their thoughts you will ever be enshrined and surrounded by good repute. Those who administer their power in any other way are not only not magnified by sites and edifices of worship, though these be the choicest in all the cities, but erect for themselves therein mute detractors which become trophies of their baseness, memorials of their injustice. And the longer these last, the more steadfastly does the ill-repute of such sovereigns abide. [-36-] Therefore if you desire to become in very truth immortal, act in this way; and further, reverence the Divine Power yourself everywhere in every way, following our fathers' belief, and compel others to honor it. Those who introduce strange ideas about it you should both hate and punish, not only for the sake of the gods (because if a man despises them he will esteem naught else sacred) but because such persons by bringing in new divinities persuade many to adopt foreign principles of law. As a result conspiracies, factions, and clubs arise which are far from desirable under a monarchy. Accordingly, do not grant any atheist or charlatan the right to be at large. The art of soothsaying is a necessary one and you should by all means appoint some men to be diviners and augurs, to whom people can resort who desire to consult them on any matter; but there ought to be no workers of magic at all. Such men tell partly truth but mostly lies, and frequently inspire many of their followers to rebel. The same thing is true of many who pretend to be philosophers. Hence I urge you to be on your guard against them. Do not, because you have come in contact with such thoroughly admirable men as Areus and Athenodorus, think that all the rest who say they are philosophers are like them. Some use this profession as a screen to work untold harm to both populace and individuals.

[-37-] "Your spirit, then, because you have no desire for anything more than you possess, ought to be most peaceful, whereas your equipment should be most warlike, in order that no one ordinarily may either wish or try to harm you, but if he should, that he may be punished easily and instantly. For these and other reasons it is requisite for some persons to keep their ears and eyes open to everything appertaining to your position of authority, in order that you may not fail to notice anything which needs guarding against or setting right. Remember, however, that you must not trust merely to all they say, but investigate their words carefully. There are many who, some through hatred of certain persons, others out of desire for what they possess, or as a favor to some one, or because they ask money and do not receive it, oppress others under the pretext that the latter are rebellious or are guilty of harboring some design or uttering some statement against the supreme ruler. Therefore it is not right to pay immediate or ready attention to them, but to enquire into absolutely everything. If you are slow in believing anybody, you will suffer no great harm, but if you are hasty, you may make a mistake which can not easily be repaired.

"Now it is both right and necessary for you to honor the excellent both among the freedmen and among the rest of your associates. This will afford you great renown and security. They must, however not have any extraordinary powers but all carefully moderate their conduct, that so you may not be ill spoken of through them. For everything they do, whether well or ill, will be accredited to you, and the estimate of yourself to be made by all men will depend upon what you permit these persons to do.

"Do not, then, allow the influential either to make unjust gains or to concern themselves with blackmail: and let no one be complained of for 'having influence', even if he is otherwise irreproachable. Defend the masses vigorously when they are wronged and do not attend too easily to accusations against them. Examine every deed on its merits, not being suspicious of every one who is prominent nor believing every one who is lower in the social scale. Those who are active and are the authors of any useful device you must honor, but the idle or such as busy themselves with petty foolishness you must hate. Thus your subjects will be inclined to the former conduct because of the benefits attached and will refrain from the latter on account of the penalties, and will become better as individuals and more serviceable for your employment in the public service.

"It is an excellent achievement also to render private disputes as few as possible and their settlement as rapid as may be. But it is best of all to cut short the impetuosity of communities, and, if under guise of some appeals to your sovereignty and safety and good fortune they undertake to use force upon anybody or to undertake exploits or expenditures that are beyond their power, not to permit it. You should abolish altogether their enmities and rivalries among themselves and not authorize them to create any empty titles or anything else which will breed differences between them. All will readily obey you both in this and in every other matter, private and public, if you never permit any one to transgress this rule. Non-enforcement of laws makes null and void even wisely framed precepts. Consequently you should not allow persons to ask for what you are not accustomed to give. Try to compel them to avoid diligently this very practice of petitioning for something prohibited. This is what I have to say on that subject.

[-38-] "I advise you never to make use of your authority against all the citizens at once nor to deem it in any way curtailed if you do not do absolutely everything that is within your power. But in proportion as you are able to carry out all your wishes, you must be anxious to wish only what is proper, make always a self-examination, to see whether what you are doing is right or not, what conduct will cause people to love you, and what not, in order that you may perform the one set of acts and avoid the other. Do not admit the thought that you will sufficiently escape the reputation of acting contrary to this rule, if only you hear no one censuring you; and do not look for any one to be so mad as to reproach you openly for anything. No one would do this, not even if he should be violently wronged. Quite the reverse,—many are compelled in public to praise their oppressors, and while engaged in opposition not to manifest their wrath. The ruler must infer the disposition of people not from what they say but from the way it is natural for them to feel.

[-39-] "This and a similar policy is the one I wish you to pursue. I pass over many matters because it is not feasible to speak of them all at one time and within present limits. One suggestion therefore I will make to sum up both previous remarks and whatever is lacking. If you yourself by your own motion do whatever you would wish some one else who ruled you to do, you will make no mistakes and will be always successful, and consequently your life will be most pleasant and free from danger. How can all fail to regard you and to love you as father and preserver, when they see you are orderly, leading a good life, good at warfare, but a man of peace: when you are not wanton, do not defraud: when you meet them on a footing of equality, and do not yourself grow rich while demanding money from others: are not yourself given to luxury while imposing hardships upon others: are not yourself unbridled while reproving others: when, instead, your life in every way without exception is precisely like theirs? Be of good cheer, for you have in your own hands a great safeguard by never wronging another. And believe me when I tell you that you will never be the object of hatred or plots. Since this is so, you must quite inevitably lead a pleasant life. What is pleasanter, what is more conducive to prosperity, than to enjoy in a rightful way all the blessings among men and to have the power of granting them to others?

[-40-] "With this in mind, together with all the rest that I have told you, heed my advice and let not that fortune slip which has chosen you out of all and set you at the head of all. If you would choose the substance of monarch but fear the name of 'kingdom' as accursed, then refrain from taking possession of the latter and be satisfied to employ merely the title of 'Cæsar.' If you need any further appellations, they will give you that of Imperator , as they gave it to your father. They will reverence you also by still another name, so that you may obtain all the advantages of a kingdom without the disfavor that attaches to the term itself."

[-41-] Mæcenas thus brought his speech to an end. Cæsar thanked them both heartily for their many ideas, the exhaustiveness of their exposition, and their frankness. He rather inclined, however, to the proposition of Mæcenas. Yet he did not immediately put into practice all of the other's suggestions, for fear that he might meet with some setback if he wanted to reform men in multitudes. So he made some changes for the better at once and others later. He left some things also for those who should come to the head of the State afterward to do, as might be found more opportune in the progress of time. Agrippa coöperated with him in all his projects quite zealously, in spite of having stated a contrary opinion, just as if he had been the one to propose the plan. Cæsar did this and what I have recorded earlier in the narrative in that year when he was consul for the seventh time, and added the title of Imperator . I do not refer to the title anciently granted some persons for victories,—this he received many times before and many times later for his deeds themselves, so that he had the name of imperator twenty-one times,—but to the other one which signifies supreme power, just as they had voted to his father Cæsar and to the children and descendants of the same.

[-42-] After this he entered upon a censorship with Agrippa and besides setting aright some other business he investigated the senate. Many knights and many foot-soldiers, too, who did not deserve it were in the senate as a result of the civil wars, so that the total of that body amounted to a thousand. These he wished to remove, but did not himself erase any of their names, urging them to become their own judges out of the consciousness of their family and their life. So first he persuaded fifty of them to retire voluntarily from the assemblage and then compelled one hundred and forty others to imitate their example. He disenfranchised none of them, but posted the names of the second division. In the case of the first, because they had not delayed but had straightway obeyed him, he remitted the reproach and their identity was not made public. These accordingly returned willingly to private life. He ousted Quintus Statilius, very much against the latter's will, from the tribuneship to which he had been appointed. Some others he made senators, and he counted among the ex-consuls two men of the senatorial class,—a certain Cluvius and Gaius Furnius,—because they had been appointed first, though certain others had taken possession of their offices so that they were unable to become consuls. He added to the class of patricians, the senate allowing him to do this because most of its members had perished. No element is exhausted so fast in civil wars as the nobility or is deemed to be so necessary for the continuance of ancestral customs. In addition to the above measures he forbade all persons in the senate to go outside of Italy, unless he himself should order or permit any one of them to do so. This custom is still kept up at the present day. Except that he may visit Sicily and Gallia Narbonensis no senator is allowed to go anywhere out of the country. As these regions are close at hand and the population is unarmed and peaceful, those who have any possessions there have been granted the right to take trips to them as often as they like, without asking leave.—Since also he saw that many of the senators and of the others who had been devoted to Antony still maintained an attitude of suspicion toward him, and as he was afraid they might cause some uprising, he announced that all the letters found in his rival's chest had been burned. Some of them as a matter of fact had perished, but the majority of them he took pains to preserve and did not even hesitate to use them later.

[-43-] Besides these acts related he also settled Carthage anew, because Lepidus had laid waste a part of it and for that reason he maintained that the colonists' rights of settlement had been abrogated. He summoned Antiochus of Commagene to appear before him because this prince had treacherously slain an envoy despatched to Rome by his brother, who was at variance with him. Cæsar brought him before the senate, where he was condemned and the sentence of death imposed. Capreæ was also obtained from the Neapolitans, to whom it had anciently belonged, in exchange for other land. It lies not far from the mainland opposite Surrentum and is good for nothing but has a name even now on account of Tiberius's sojourn there.—These were the events of that period.

[Footnote 2: The same Strabo who is mentioned in the early part of chapter 28, Book Forty-four.]

[Footnote 3: There is a gap here in the Greek text. The conclusion of Agrippa'a speech is missing, as is also the earlier portion of Mæcenas's, with some brief preface thereto. In the next chapter we are full in the midst of the opposite argument,—in favor, namely, of the assumption of supreme power by Octavius Cæsar.]

[Footnote 4: Cobet prefers to read "fearlessly" (substituting [Greek: hadeos] for [Greek: aedeos]).]

[Footnote 5: Dio seems here to be imitating, in his phraseology, Thukydides (VII, 25). The proper reading is [Greek: peri herma] (two words), not [Greek: perierma] as in some of the MSS.]

[Footnote 6: Dindorf's reading (Greek: gunaichon te ton prosaechouson autois ).]

[Footnote 7: Compare Suetonius, Augustus , chapter 37. In practice there were six of them,—three to nominate senators, and three to make a review of the knights.]

[Footnote 10: Reading [Greek: archousi] (MSS. and Boissevain) instead of
[Greek: archomenois] (Xylander).]

[Footnote 12: A reference particularly to the ludi Capitolini, founded by
Domitian.]

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

How Cæsar delivered in the senate a speech as if retiring from the sovereignty; and thereafter assigned to that body its proper provinces (chapters 3-12).

How the Portico of Neptune and the Baths of Agrippa were dedicated (chapter 27).

Duration of time six years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated.

(BOOK 53, BOISSEVAIN.)

[-1-] The following year Cæsar held office for the sixth time and did everything according to the usage approved from very early times, delivering to Agrippa his colleague the bundles of rods which belonged to an incumbent of the consulship, while he himself used the others. On completing his term he had the oath administered according to ancestral custom. Whether he ever did this again I do not know. Agrippa he honored exceedingly, even going so far as to give him his niece in marriage and to provide him with a tent similar to his own whenever they went on a campaign together; and the watchword was given by both of them. At that particular time besides attending to the ordinary run of business he finished the taking of the census, in which he was called Princeps Senatus , as had been deemed proper under the real democracy. He further completed and dedicated the temple of Apollo on the Palatine, the precinct surrounding it, and the stores of books. And he celebrated in company with Agrippa the festival in honor of the victory won at Actium, which had been voted: in it he had the horse-race between boys and between men of the nobility. This celebration every five years, as long as it lasted, was in charge of the four priesthoods in succession,—I mean the pontifices and augurs and the so-called septemviri and quindecimviri. A gymnastic contest was also held at that time,—a wooden stadium being built in the Campus Martius,—and there was an armed combat of captives. This continued for several days without a break, in spite of Cæsar's falling sick; for even so Agrippa filled his place.

[-2-] Cæsar spent some of his private means upon the festivals, and when money was needed for the public treasury he borrowed it and supplied the want. For the management of this branch of the service he ordered two annual magistrates to be chosen from among the ex-prætors. To the populace he distributed a quadruple allowance of grain and made a present of money to some of the senators. For many of them had grown so poor as not to be willing to be even ædile on account of the great expenses. Moreover the courts which belonged to the ædileship were to be assigned to the prætors as had been the custom, the more important to the prætor urbanus and the others to the prætor peregrinus. Again, he himself appointed the prætor urbanus, as he often did subsequently. The pledges deposited with the public treasury before the battle of Actium he released, save any that involved house property, and burned the old acknowledgments of those who owed the State anything. Egyptian rites he did not admit within the pomerium, but paid great attention to the temples of Egyptian deities. Such as had been built by private individuals he ordered their children and descendants, if any survived, to repair, and the rest he restored himself. He did not, however, appropriate the credit for their building but allowed it to rest with those who had originally constructed them. And since very many unlawful and unjust ordinances had been passed during the internecine strifes and in the wars, and particularly in the dual reign of Antony and Lepidus, he abolished them all by one promulgation, setting his sixth consulship as the limit of their existence. As he obtained approbation and praise for this act he desired to exhibit another instance of magnanimity, that by such a policy he might be honored the more and that his supremacy might be voluntarily confirmed by the people, which would enable him to avoid the appearance of having forced them against their will. As a consequence, after apprising those senators with whom he was most intimate of his designs, he entered the senatorial body in his seventh consulship and read the following document.

[-3-] "I am sure that I shall seem to some of you, Conscript Fathers, to have made an incredible choice. For what each one of my hearers would not wish to do himself, he does not like to believe when another states it as accomplished. This is chiefly because every one is jealous of every one who surpasses him and is more or less inclined to distrust anything said that is higher than his own standard.[1] Moreover I know this, that those who make apparently untrustworthy statements not only persuade nobody but further have the appearance of cheats. And, indeed, if it were a case of announcing something that I was not intending to do immediately, I should hesitate very much about making it public, for fear of obtaining some unworthy charge against me instead of gratitude. But, as it is, when the performance will follow the promise this very day, I feel entirely confident not only of avoiding any shame for prevarication but of surpassing all mankind in good repute. [-4-] You all see that I am so situated that I could rule you perpetually. All the revolutionists either have been disciplined and been made to halt or have had pity shown them and so have come to their senses. My helpers have been made devoted by a recompense of benefits and steadfast by a participation in the government: therefore they do not desire any political innovations, and if anything of the sort should take place, the men to assist me are even more ready for it than the instigators of rebellion. My military is in prime condition, we have good-will, strength, money, and allies, and chiefest of all you and the people are so disposed toward me that you would be quite willing to have me at your head. However, I will lead you no longer, nor shall any one say that all the acts of my previous career have been with the object of sole rulership. I give up the entire domain, and I restore to you absolutely everything,—the arms, the laws, and the provinces,—not only all those which you committed to me but also all that I myself subsequently acquired for you. Thus by my deeds themselves you may ascertain that I did not from the outset desire any position of power, but wished in very truth to avenge my father cruelly murdered and to extricate the city from great and continuous evils. [-5-] I would that I had never taken charge of affairs even to the present extent. That is, I would that the city had never needed me for any such purpose, but that we of this age had from the outset lived in peace and harmony as our fathers once did. But since an inflexible fate, as it seems, brought you to a place where there was need even of me, though I was still young, and I was put to the test, I was always ready to labor zealously at everything even beyond what was expected of my years, so long as the situation demanded my help, and I accomplished everything with good fortune, even surpassing my powers. There was not one consideration out of all that might be cited which could turn me from aiding you when you were in danger, not toil or fear or threats of foes or prayers of friends or the numbers of the confederates or the desperation of our adversaries. I gave myself to you unsparingly for all the tasks that fell to our lot, and my performances and sufferings you know. From it I myself have derived no gain except that I caused my country to survive, but you are both preserved and in your sober senses. Since, then, the gracious act of Fortune has restored to you by my hands peace without treachery and harmony without turmoil, receive back also liberty and democracy. Take possession of the arms and the subject nations, and conduct the government as has been your wont.

[-6-] "You should not be surprised at my attitude when you see my right conduct in other ways, my mildness and freedom from meddling, and reflect moreover that I have never accepted any extraordinary privilege, beyond what the majority might gain, though you have often voted many of them to me. Do not, again, condemn me for folly because, when it is in my power to rule over you and hold so great a sovereignty over this great world, I am unwilling. Examining the merits of the situation I deem it most just for you to manage your own affairs: examining the advantages, I regard it as most advantageous to myself to be free from trouble, from jealousy, from plots, and for you to conduct a free government with moderation and love: examining where the glory lies (for the sake of which men often choose to enter war and danger), will it not add most to my reputation to resign so great a dominion? Will it not be most glorious to leave so exalted a sovereignty and voluntarily become a plain citizen? So if any one of you doubts that any one else could show true moderation in this and bring himself to speak out, let him at all events believe me. For, though I could recite many great benefits which have been conferred upon you by me and by my father for which you would naturally love and honor us above all the rest, I could say nothing greater and I should take pride in nothing else more than this, that he would not accept the monarchy which you strove to give him, and that I, holding it, lay it aside.

[-7-] "What need to set side by side his separate exploits,—the conquest of Gaul, the subduing of Moesia, the subjugation of Egypt, the enslaving of Pannonia? Or again Pharnaces, Juba, Phraates, the campaign against the Britons, the crossing of the Rhine? Yet these are greater and more important deeds than all our forefathers performed in all previous time. Still, any of these accomplishments scarcely deserves a place beside my present act, nor yet, indeed, does the fact that the civil wars, the greatest and most diverse that have occurred in the history of man, we fought to a successful finish, and that we made humane terms, overcoming all who withstood us, as enemies, and saving alive all who yielded, as friends; (so that if our city should ever again be fated to suffer from disaffection, we might pray that the quarrel should follow this same course). For that in spite of our possessing such great power and standing at the summit of excellence and good fortune so that we might govern you willing or unwilling, we should neither lose our heads nor desire sole supremacy, but that instead he should reject it when offered and I return it when given is a superhuman achievement. I speak in this way not for idle boasting,—I should not have said it at all if I were to derive any advantage whatever from it,—but in order that you may see that whereas there are many public benefits to our credit and we have in private many lofty titles, we take greatest pride in this, that what others desire to gain even by doing violence to their neighbors we surrender without any compulsion.

[-8-] Who could be found more magnanimous than I (not to mention again my father deceased) or whose conduct more godlike? With so many fine soldiers at my back and citizens and allies (O Jupiter and Hercules!), that love me, supreme over the entire sea within the Pillars of Hercules except a very few tribes, possessing both cities and provinces on all the continents, at a time when there is no longer any foreign enemy opposing me and there is no disturbance at home, but you all are at peace, harmonious and strong, and greatest of all are willingly obedient,—under such conditions I voluntarily, of my own motion, resign so great a dominion and alienate so vast a property. For if Horatius, Mucius, Curtius, Regulus, the Decii wished to encounter danger and death with the object of seeming to have done a great and noble deed, why should I not even more desire to do this as a result of which I shall while alive excel both them and all the rest of mankind in glory? No one of you should think that whereas the ancient Romans pursued excellence and good repute, all manliness has now become extinct in the city. Again, do not entertain a suspicion that I wish to betray you and confide you to any base fellows or expose you to mob rule, from which nothing good but all the most terrible evils always result to mankind. Upon you, upon you, the most excellent and prudent, I lay all public interests. The other course I should never have followed, had it been necessary for me to die or even to become monarch ten thousand times. This policy I adopt for my own good and for that of the city. I myself have undergone both labors and hardships and I can no longer hold out either in mind or in body. Furthermore I foresee the jealousy and hatred which rises in the breasts of some against the best men, and the plots which result from those feelings; and for that reason I choose rather to be a private citizen with glory than to be a monarch in danger. And the public business would be managed much better if carried on publicly and by many people at once than if it were dependent upon any one man.

[-9-] "For these reasons, then, I supplicate and beseech all of you both to commend my course and to coöperate heartily with me, reflecting upon all that I have done for you in war and in government. You will be paying me all the thanks due for it by allowing me now at last to lead a life of quiet. Thus you will come to know that I understand not only how to rule but to be ruled, and that all commands which I have laid upon others I can endure to have laid upon me. I must surely expect to live in security and to suffer no harm from any one by either deed or word, such is the confidence (based upon the consciousness of my own rectitude) that I have in your good-will. I may of course meet with some catastrophe, as happens to many; for it is not possible for a man to please everybody, especially when he has been involved in so great wars, some foreign and some civil, and has had affairs of such magnitude entrusted to him: yet even so, I am quite ready to choose to die as a private citizen before my appointed time rather than to become immortal as a sole ruler. That very circumstance will bring me fame,—that I not only murdered no one in order to hold possession of the sovereignty but even died untimely in order to avoid becoming monarch. The man who has dared to slay me will certainly be punished by Heaven and by you, as took place in the case of my father. He was declared to be equal to a god and obtained eternal honors, whereas those who slew him perished, the evil men, in evil plight. We could not become deathless, yet by living well and by dying well we do in a sense gain this boon. Therefore I, who possess the first requisite and hope to possess the second, return to you the arms and the provinces, the revenues and the laws. I make only this final suggestion, that you be not disheartened through fear of the magnitude of affairs or the difficulty of handling them, nor neglect them in disdain, with the idea that they can be easily managed.

[-10-] "I have, indeed, no objection to suggesting to you in a summary way what ought to be done in each of the leading categories. And what are these suggestions? First, guard vigilantly the established laws and change none of them. What remains fixed, though it be inferior, is more advantageous than what is always subject to innovations, even though it seem to be superior. Next, whatever injunctions these laws lay upon you be careful to perform, and to refrain from whatever they forbid, and do this scrupulously not only in word but also in deed, not only in public but in private, that you may obtain not penalties but honors. The offices both of peace and of war you should entrust to those who are each time the most excellent and sensible, without jealousy of any persons, and entering into rivalry not that this man or that man may reap some advantage but that the city may be preserved and prosperous. Such men you must honor but chastise those who show any different spirit in politics. Make your private means public property of the city, and keep your hands off public money as you would off your neighbors' goods. Keep careful watch over what belongs to you but be not eager for that upon which you can have no claim. Treat the allies and subject nations with neither insolence nor rapacity, and neither wrong nor fear the enemy. Have your arms always in hand, but do not use them against one another nor against a peaceful population. Give the soldiers a sufficient support, so that they may not on account of want desire anything which belongs to others. Keep them together and discipline them, to prevent their doing any damage through audacity.

"But why need I make a long story by going into everything which it is your duty to do? You may easily understand from this how the remaining business must be conducted. I will close with this one remark. If you conduct the government in this way, you will enjoy prosperity yourselves and you will gratify me, who found you in the midst of wretched dishonor and have rendered you such as you are. If you prove impotent to carry out any single branch as you should, you will cause me regret and you will cast the city again into many wars and great dangers."

[-11-] While Cæsar was engaged in setting his decision before them, a varied feeling took possession of the senators. A few of them knew his real intention and as a result they kept applauding him enthusiastically. Of the rest some were suspicious of what was said and others believed in it, and therefore both marveled equally, the one class at his great artifice and the other at the determination that he had reached. One side was displeased at his involved scheming and the other at his change of mind. For already there were some who detested the democratic constitution as a breeder of factional difficulties, were pleased at the change of government, and took delight in Cæsar. Consequently, though the announcement affected different persons differently, their views in regard to it were in each case the same. As for those who believed his sentiments to be genuine, any who wished it could not rejoice because of fear, nor the others lament because of hopes. And as many as disbelieved it did not venture to accuse him and confute him, some because they were afraid and others because they did not care to do so. Hence they all either were compelled or pretended to believe him. As for praising him, some did not have the courage and others were unwilling. Even in the midst of his reading there were frequent shouts and afterward many more. The senators begged that a monarchy be established, and directed all their remarks to that end until (naturally) they forced him to assume the reins of government. At once they saw to it that twice as much pay was voted to the men who were to compose his body-guard as to the rest of the soldiers, that this might incite the men to keep a careful watch of him. Then he began to show a real interest in setting up a monarchy.

[-12-] In this way he had his headship ratified by the senate and the people. As he wished even so to appear to be democratic in principle, he accepted all the care and superintendence of public business on the ground that it required expert attention, but said that he should not personally govern all the provinces and those that he did govern he should not keep in his charge perpetually. The weaker ones, because (as he said) they were peaceful and free from war, he gave over to the senate. But the more powerful he held in possession because they were slippery and dangerous and either had enemies in adjoining territory or on their own account were able to cause a great uprising. His pretext was that the senate should fearlessly gather the fruits of the finest portion of the empire, while he himself had the labors and dangers: his real purpose was that by this plan the senators be unarmed and unprepared for battle, while he alone had arms and kept soldiers. Africa and Numidia, Asia and Greece with Epirus, the Dalmatian and Macedonian territories, Sicily, Crete, and Libya adjacent to Cyrene, Bithynia with the adjoining Pontus, Sardinia and Baetica, were consequently held to belong to the people and the senate. Cæsar's were—the remainder of Spain, the neighborhood of Tarraco and Lusitania, all Gauls (the Narbonensian and the Lugdunensian, the Aquitani and the Belgæ), both themselves and the aliens among them. Some of the Celtae whom we call Germani had occupied all the Belgic territory near the Rhine and caused it to be called Germania, the upper part extending to the sources of the river and the lower part reaching to the Ocean of Britain. These provinces, then, and the so-called Hollow Syria, Phoenicia and Cilicia, Cyprus and the Egyptians, fell at that time to Cæsar's share. Later he gave Cyprus and Gaul adjacent to Narbo back to the people, and he himself took Dalmatia instead. This was also done subsequently in the case of other provinces, as the progress of my narrative will show. I have enumerated these in such detail because now each one of them is ruled separately, whereas in old times and for a long period the provinces were governed two and three together. The others I have not mentioned because some of them were acquired later, and the rest, even if they had been already subdued, were not being governed by the Romans, but either were left to enjoy their own laws or had been turned over to some kingdom or other. All of them that after this came into the Roman empire were attached to the possessions of the man temporarily in power.—This, then, was the division of the provinces.

[-13-] Wishing to lead the Romans still further away from the idea that he looked upon himself as absolute monarch, Cæsar undertook the government of the regions given him for ten years. In the course of this time he promised to reduce them to quiet and he carried his playfulness to the point of saying that if they should be sooner pacified, he would deliver them sooner to the senate. Thereupon he first appointed the senators themselves to govern both classes of provinces except Egypt. This land alone, for the reasons mentioned, he assigned to the knight previously named.[2] Next he ordained that the rulers of senatorial provinces should be annual magistrates, elected by lot, unless any one had the special privilege accorded to a large number of children or marriage. They were to be sent out by the assembly of the senate as a body, with no sword at their side nor wearing the military garb. The name proconsul was to belong not only to the two ex-consuls but also to the rest who had served as prætors or who at least held the rank of ex-prætors. Both classes were to employ as many lictors as were usual in the capital. He ordered further that they were to put on the insignia of their office immediately on leaving the pomerium and were to wear them continually until they should return. The heads of imperial provinces, on the other hand, were to be chosen by himself and be his agents, and they were to be named proprætors even if they were from the ranks of the ex-consuls. Of these two names which had been extremely common under the democracy he gave that of prætor to the class chosen by him because from very early times war had been their care, and he called them also proprætors: the name of consul he gave to the others, because their duties were more peaceful, and called them in addition proconsuls. These particular names of prætor and consul he continued in Italy, and spoke of all officials outside as governing as their representatives. He caused the class of his own choosing to employ the title of proprætor and to hold office for as much longer than a year as should please him, wearing the military costume and having a sword with which they are empowered to punish soldiers. No one else, proconsul or proprætor or procurator, who is not empowered to kill a soldier, has been given the privilege of wearing a sword. It is permitted not only to senators but also to knights who have this function. This is the condition of the case.—All the proprætors alike employ six lictors: as many of them as do not belong to the number of ex-consuls are named from this very number.[3] Both classes alike assume the decorations of their position of authority when they enter their appointed district and lay them aside immediately upon finishing their term.

[-14-] It is thus and on these conditions that governors from among the ex-prætors and ex-consuls have been customarily sent to both kinds of provinces. The emperor would send one of them on his mission whithersoever and whenever he wished. Many while acting as prætors and consuls secured the presidency of provinces, as sometimes happens at the present day. In the case of the senate he privately gave Africa and Asia to the ex-consuls and all the other districts to the ex-prætors. He publicly forbade all the senators to cast lots for anybody until five years after such a candidate had held office in the City. For a short time all persons that fulfilled these requirements, even if they were more numerous than the provinces, drew lots for them. Later, as some of them did not govern well, this I appointment, too, reverted to the emperor. Thus they also in a sense receive their position from him, and he ordains that only a number equal to the number of provinces shall draw lots, and that they shall be whatever men he pleases. Some emperors have sent men of their own choosing there also, and have allowed certain of them to hold office for more than a year: some have assigned certain provinces to knights instead of to senators.

These were the customs thus established at that time in regard to those senators that were authorized to execute the death penalty upon their subjects. Some who have not this authority are sent out to the provinces called "provinces of the senate and the people",—namely, such quæstors as the lot may designate and men who are co-assessors with those who hold the actual authority. This would be the correct way to speak of these associates, with reference not to the ordinary name but to their duties: others call these also presbeutai , using the Greek term; about this title enough has been said in the foregoing narrative. Each separate official chooses his own assessors, the exprætors selecting one from either their peers or their inferiors, and the ex-consuls three from among those of equal rank, subject to the approval of the emperor.

There were certain innovations made also in regard to these men, but since they soon lapsed this is sufficient to say here.

[-15-] This is the method followed in regard to the provinces of the people. To the others, called provinces of the emperor, which have more than one citizenlegion, lieutenants are sent chosen by the ruler himself, generally from the ex-prætors but in some instances already from the ex-quæstors or those who had held some office between the two. Those positions, then, appertain to the senators.

From among the knights the emperor himself despatches, some to the citizen posts alone but others to foreign places (according to the custom then instituted by [the same] Cæsar), the military tribunes, the prospective senators and the remainder, concerning whose difference in rank I have previously spoken in the narrative.[4] The procurators (a name that we give to the men who collect the public revenues and spend what is ordered) he sends to all the provinces alike, his own and the people's, and some of these officers belong to the knights, others to the freedmen. By way of exception the proconsuls levy the tribute upon the people they govern. The emperor gives certain injunctions to the procurators, the proconsuls, and the proprætors, in order that they may proceed to their place of office on fixed conditions. Both this practice and the giving of salary to them and to the remaining employees of the government were made the custom at this period. In old times some by contracting for work to be paid for from the public treasury furnished themselves with everything needed for their office. It was only in the days of Cæsar that these particular persons began to receive something definite. This salary was not assigned to all of them in equal amounts, but as need demands. The procurators get their very name, a dignified one, from the amount of money given into their charge. The following laws were laid down for all alike,—that they should not make up lists for service or levy money beyond the amount appointed, unless the senate should so vote or the emperor so order: also that when their successors should arrive, they were immediately to leave the province and not to delay on their return, but to be back within three months.

[-16-] These matters were so ordained at that time,—or, at least, one might say so. In reality Cæsar himself was destined to hold absolute control of all of them for all time, because he commanded the soldiers and was master of the money; nominally the public funds had been separated from his own, but in fact he spent the former also as he saw fit.

When his decade had come to an end, there was voted him another five years, then five more, after that ten, and again another ten, and a like number the fifth time,[5] so that by a succession of ten-year periods he continued monarch for life. Consequently the subsequent emperors, though no longer appointed for a specified period but for their whole life at once, nevertheless have been wont to hold a festival every ten years as if then renewing their sovereignty once more: this is done even at the present day.

Cæsar had received many honors previously, when the matter of declining the sovereignty and that regarding the division of the provinces were under discussion. For the right to fasten the laurel in front of his royal residence and to hang the oak-leaf crown above the doors was then voted him to symbolize the fact that he was always victorious over enemies and preserved the citizens. The royal building is called Palatium, not because it was ever decreed that that should be its name, but because Cæsar dwelt on the Palatine and had his headquarters there; and his house secured some renown from the mount as a whole by reason of the former habitation of Romulus there. Hence, even if the emperor resides somewhere else, his dwelling retains the name of Palatium.

When he had really completed the details of administration, the name Augustus was finally applied to him by the senate and by the people. They wanted to call him by some name of their own, and some proposed this, while others chose that. Cæsar was exceedingly anxious to be called Romulus, but when he perceived that this caused him to be suspected of desiring the kingship, he no longer insisted on it but took the title of Augustus, signifying that he was more than human. All most precious and sacred objects are termed augusta . Therefore they saluted him also in Greek as sebastós , meaning an august person, from the verb sebazesthai . [-17-] In this way all the power of the people and that of the senate reverted to Augustus, and from his time there was a genuine monarchy. Monarchy would be the truest name for it, no matter how much two and three hold the power together. This name of monarch the Romans so detested that they called their emperors neither dictators nor kings nor anything of the sort. Yet since the management of the government devolves upon them, it can not but be that they are kings. The offices that commonly enjoy some legal sanction are even now maintained, except that of censor. Still, everything is directed and carried out precisely as the emperor at the time may wish. In order that they may appear to hold this power not through force, but according to law, the rulers have taken possession,—names and all,—of every position (save the dictatorship) which under the democracy was of mighty influence among the citizens who bestowed the power. They very frequently become consuls and are always called proconsuls whenever they are outside the pomerium. The title of imperator is invariably given not only to such as win victories but to all the rest, to indicate the complete independence of their authority, instead of the name "king" or "dictator." These particular names they have never assumed since the terms first fell out of use in the Senate, but they are confirmed in the prerogatives of these positions by the appellation of imperator. By virtue of the titles mentioned they get the right to make enrollments, to collect moneys, declare wars make peace, rule foreign and native territory alike everywhere and always, even to the extent of putting to death both knights and senators within the pomerium, and all the other privileges once granted to the consuls and other officials with full powers. By virtue of the office of censor they investigate our lives and characters and take the census. Some they list in the equestrian and senatorial class and others they erase from the roll, as pleases them. By virtue of being consecrated in all the priesthoods and furthermore having the right to give the majority of them to others and from the fact that one of the high priests (if there be two or three holding office at once) is chosen from their number, they are themselves also masters of holy and sacred things. The so-called tribunician authority which the men of very greatest attainment used to hold gives them the right to stop any measure brought up by some one else, in case they do not join in approving it, and to be free from personal abuse. Moreover if they are thought to be wronged in even the slightest degree not merely by action but even by conversation they may destroy the guilty party without a trial as one polluted. They do not think it lawful to be tribune, because they belong altogether to the patrician class, but they assume all the power of the tribuneship undiminished from the period of its greatest extent; and thereby the enumeration of the years they have held the office in question goes forward on the assumption that they receive it year by year along with the others who are successively tribunes. Thus by these names they have secured these privileges in accordance with all the various usages of the democracy, in order that they may appear to possess nothing that has not been given them.

[-18-] They have gained also another prerogative which was given to none of the ancient Romans outright to apply to all cases, and it is through this alone that it would be possible for them to hold the above offices and any others besides. They are freed from the action of the laws, as the very words in Latin indicate. That is, they are liberated from every consideration of compulsion and are subjected to none of the written ordinances. So by virtue of these democratic names they are clothed in all the strength of the government and have all that appertains to kings except the vulgar title. "Cæsar" or "Augustus" as a mode of address confers upon them no distinct privilege of its own but shows in the one case the continuance of their family and in the other the brilliance and dignity of their position. The salutation "father" perhaps gives them a certain authority over us which fathers once had over their children. It was not used, however, for this purpose in the beginning, but for their honor, and to admonish them to love their subjects as they would their children, while the subjects were to respect them as they respect their fathers.

Such is the number and quality of the titles to which those in power are accustomed according to the and according to what has now become tradition. At present all of them are, as a rule, bestowed upon the rulers at once, except the title of censor: to the earlier emperors they were voted separately and from time to time. Some of the emperors took the censorship in accordance with ancient custom and Domitian took it for life. This is, however, no longer done at the present day. They possess its powers and are not chosen for it and do not employ its name except in the censuses.

[-19-] Thus was the constitution made over at that time for the better and in a way to provide greater security. It was doubtless absolutely impossible for the people to be preserved under a democracy. Events after this, however, can not be said to be similar to those preceding this period. Formerly everything was referred to the senate and the people even if it occurred at a distance; hence all learned of it and many recorded it. Consequently the truth of happenings, no matter with how much fear and gratitude and friendship and enmity toward any one they were related, has been found at least In the works of those who wrote of them and to a certain extent also in the public records. But after this time business began to be transacted more often with concealment and secrecy. Nowadays, even if anything is made public, it is distrusted because it can not be proved. It is suspected that all speeches and acts are to meet the wishes of the men at the time in power and of their associates. As a result much that never occurs is noised abroad and much that really happens is unknown. Nearly everything is reported in a different form from what really takes place. Yet the magnitude of the empire and the number of events render accuracy in regard to them most difficult. In Rome there are many operations going on, and so in its subject territory, as well as against hostile tribes, always and every day, so to speak, clear information about which no one can easily get except those actively concerned. There are great numbers who do not hear at all of what has taken place. Hence all that follows which will require mention I shall narrate as it has been published, whether it is so in truth or is really somewhat different. In addition, however, my own opinion so far as possible will be stated in matters where I have been able to deduce something else than the common report from the many things I have read or heard or seen.

[-20-] Cæsar, as I have said, received the further designation of Augustus, and a sign of no little moment in regard to him occurred that very night. The Tiber overflowed and occupied all of Rome that was built in the plain country so that it was submerged. From this the soothsayers inferred that he would rise to great heights and keep the whole city subservient. While different persons were rivals to show him excessive honors, one Sextus Pacuvius, or, as others say, Apudius[6] surpassed them all. In the open senate he consecrated himself to him after the fashion of the Spaniards and advised the rest to do the same. When Augustus hindered him he rushed out to the crowd standing near by, and (as he was tribune) compelled them and next all the rest who were wandering about through the streets and lanes to consecrate themselves; to Augustus. From this episode we are wont even now to say in appeals to the sovereign "we have consecrated ourselves to you." Pacuvius ordered all to offer sacrifice for this occurrence and before the people he once said he should make Augustus his inheritor on equal terms with his son. This was not because he possessed anything much, but because he wished to get more. And his desire was accomplished.

[-21-] Augustus attended with considerable zeal to all the business of the empire to make it appear that he had received it in accordance with the wishes of all, and he also enacted many laws. (I need not go into each one of them in detail except those which have a bearing upon my history. This same course I shall follow in the case of later events, in order not to become wearisome by introducing all such matters as not even those who specialize on them most narrowly know with accuracy.) Not all of these laws were enacted on his sole responsibility: some of them he brought before the public in advance, in order that, if any featured caused displeasure, he might learn it in time and correct them. He urged that any one at all give him advice, if any one could think of anything better. He accorded them full liberty of speech and some provisions he actually did alter. Most important of all, he took as advisers for six months the consuls or the consul (when he himself also held the office), one of each of the other kinds of officials, and fifteen men chosen by lot from the remainder of the senatorial body. Through them he was accustomed to a certain extent to communicate to all the rest the provisions of his laws. Some features he brought before the entire senate. He deemed it better, however, to consider most of the laws and the greater ones in company with a few persons at leisure, and acted accordingly. Sometimes he tried cases with their assistance. The entire senate by itself sat in judgment as formerly and transacted business with occasional groups of envoys and heralds from both peoples and kings. Furthermore the people and the plebs came together for the elections, but nothing was done that would not please Cæsar. Some of those who were to hold office he himself chose out and nominated and others he put, according to ancient custom, in the power of the people and the plebs, yet taking care that no unfit persons should be appointed, nor by factious cliques nor by bribery. In this way he controlled the entire empire.

[-22-] I shall relate also in detail all his acts that need mentioning, together with the names of the consuls under whom they were performed. In the year previously named, seeing that the roads outside the wall had become through neglect hard to traverse, he ordered different senators to repair different ones at their own expense. He himself attended to the Flaminian Way, since he was going to lead an army out by that route. This operation was finished forthwith and images of him were accordingly erected on arches on the bridge over the Tiber and at Ariminum. The other roads were repaired later either at public expense (for none of the senators liked to spend money on it) or by Augustus, as one may wish to state. I can not distinguish their treasures in spite of the fact that Augustus coined into money some silver statues of himself made by his friends and by certain of the tribes, purposing thereby to make it appear that all the expenditures which he said he made were from his own means. Therefore I have no opinion to record as to whether a ruler at any particular time took money from the public treasury or whether he ever gave it himself. For both of these things were often done. Why should any one list such things as either expenditures or donations, when the people and the emperor are constantly making both the one and the other in common?

These were the acts of Augustus at that time. He also set out apparently to make a campaign into Britain, but on coming to the provinces of Gaul lingered there. For the Britons seemed likely to make terms with him and Gallic affairs were still unsettled, as the civil wars had begun immediately after their subjugation. He made a census of the people and set in order their life and government.

[-23-] From there he came to Spain and reduced that country also to quiet. After this he became consul for the eighth time with Statilius Taurus, and Agrippa dedicated the so-called for he had not promised to repair any road. This edifice in the Campus Martius had been constructed by Lepidus by the addition of porticos all about for the tribal elections, and Agrippa adorned it with stone tablets and paintings, naming it Julian, from Augustus. The builder incurred no jealousy for it but was greatly honored both by Augustus himself and by all the rest of the people. The reason is that he gave his master the most kindly, the most distinguished, the most beneficial advice and coöperation, yet claimed not even a small share of the consequent glory. He used the honors which Cæsar gave not for personal gain or enjoyment but for the benefit of the giver himself and of the public.—On the other hand Cornelius Gallus was led to insolent behavior by honor. He talked a great deal of idle nonsense against Augustus and was guilty of many sly reprehensible actions. Throughout nearly all Egypt he set up images of himself and he inscribed upon the pyramids a list of his achievements. For this he was accused by Valerius Largus, his comrade and intimate, and was disenfranchised by Augustus, so that he was prevented from living in the emperor's provinces. After this took place others attacked him, and brought many indictments against him. The senate unanimously voted that he should be convicted in the courts, be deprived of his property, and be exiled, that his possessions be given to Augustus, and that they should sacrifice oxen. In overwhelming grief at this Gallus committed suicide before the decrees took effect. [-24-] The false behavior of most men was evidenced by this fact, that they now treated the man whom they once used to flatter in such a way that they forced him to die by his own hand. To Largus they showed devotion because his star was beginning to rise,—though they were sure to vote the same measures against him, if anything similar should ever occur in his case. Proculeius, however, felt so toward him that on meeting him once he clapped his hand over his nose and his mouth, thereby signifying to the bystanders that it was not safe even to breathe in the man's presence. Another person, although unknown, approached him with witnesses and asked if Largus recognized him. When the one questioned said "no", he recorded his denial on a tablet, thus making it beyond the power of the rascal to inform against a person at least whom he had not previously known.

Thus we see that most men emulate the exploits of others, though they be evil, instead of guarding against their fate. So also at this time there was Marcus Egnatius Rufus, who had been an ædile: the majority of his deeds had been good, and with his own slaves and with some others that were hired he lent aid to the houses that took fire during his year of office. In return he received from the people the expenses incurred in his position and by a suspension of the law was made prætor. Elated at these marks of favor he despised Augustus so much as to record that he (Rufus) had delivered the City unimpaired and entire to his successor. All the foremost men, and Augustus himself most of all, became indignant at this. He prepared therefore to teach the upstart a lesson in the near future not to exalt his mind above the mass of men. For the time being he issued an edict to the ædiles to see to it that no building took fire and, if aught of the kind did happen, to extinguish the blaze.

[-25-] In this same year also Polemon, who was king of Pontus, was enrolled among the friends and allies of the Roman People; front seats for the senators were provided in all the theatres of the emperor's whole domain. Augustus, finding that the Britons would not come to terms, wished to make an expedition into their country, but was detained by the Salassi, who had revolted against him, and by the Cantabri and Astures, who had been made hostile. The former dwell close under the Alps, as has been herein stated,[7] whereas both of the latter tribes hold the strongest region of the Pyrenees on the Spanish side and the plain which is below it. For these reasons Augustus, now in his ninth consulship with Marcus Silanus, sent Terentius Varro against the Salassi.

The latter invaded their territory at many points at once in order that they might not unite and become harder to subdue, and had a very easy time in conquering them because they attacked him only in small groups. Having forced them to capitulate he demanded a fixed sum of money, allowing it to be supposed that he would impose no other punishment. After that he sent soldiers everywhere, apparently to attend to the collection of the indemnity and arrested those of military age, whom he sold under an agreement that none of them should be liberated within twenty years. The best of their land was given to members of the Pretorians and came to include a city called Augusta Prætoria.[8] Augustus himself waged war upon the Astures and upon the Cantabri at the same time. These refused to yield, because of confidence in their position on the heights, and would not come to close quarters owing to their inferior numbers and the fact that most of them were javelin throwers, but they caused him much trouble, whenever he made any movement, by always seizing the higher ground in advance and placing ambuscades in depressions and in wooded spots. He found himself therefore quite unable to cope with the difficulty, and having fallen ill from weariness and worry retired to Tarraco, and there remained sick. Meantime Gaius Antistius fought against them, accomplishing considerable, not because he was a better general than Augustus, but because the barbarians felt contempt for him and thus joined battle with the Romans and were defeated. In this way he captured some points, and afterward Titus[9] Carisius took Lancia, the principal fortress of the Astures, which had been abandoned, and won to his side many towns.

[-26-] At the conclusion of this war Augustus dismissed the more aged of his soldiers and gave them a city to settle in Lusitania,—the so-called Augusta Emerita. For those who were still of the military age he arranged some spectacles right among the legions, through the agency of Tiberius and Marcellus as ædiles. To Juba he gave portions of Gætulia in return for the prince's ancestral domain (for the majority of the inhabitants had been enrolled as members of the Roman polity), and also the possessions of Bocchus and Bogud. On the death of Amyntas he did not entrust the country to the children of the deceased but made it a part of the subject territory. Thus Gaul together with Lycaonia obtained a Roman governor. The regions of Pamphylia formerly assigned to Amyntas were restored to their own district.—About this same time Marcus Vinicius in making reprisals against the Celtæ, because they had arrested and destroyed Romans who had entered their country to have friendly dealings with them, himself gave the name of imperator to Augustus. For this and for the other achievements of the time a triumph was voted to Cæsar; but as he did not care to celebrate it, an arch bearing a trophy was constructed in the Alps for his glory and authority was given him to wear always on the first day of the year both the crown and the triumphal garb. After these successes in the wars Augustus closed the precinct of Janus, which had been opened because of the strife.

[-27-] Meanwhile Agrippa had been beautifying the city at his own expense. First, in honor of the naval victories he built over the so-called Portico of Neptune and lent it further brilliance by the painting of the Argonauts. Secondly, he repaired the Laconian sudatorium. He gave the name Laconian to the gymnasium because the Lacedæmonians had, in those days, a greater reputation than anybody else for stripping naked and exercising smeared with oil. Also, he completed the so-called Pantheon . It has this name perhaps because it received the images of many gods and among them the statues of Mars and Venus; but my own opinion is that the name is due to its round shape, like the sky. Agrippa desired to place Augustus also there and to take the designation of the structure from his title. But, as his master would not accept either honor, he placed in the temple itself a statue of the former Cæsar and in the anteroom representations of Augustus and himself. This was done not from any rivalry and ambition on Agrippa's part to make himself equal to Augustus, but from his superabundant devotion to him and his perpetual affection for the commonwealth; hence Augustus, so far from censuring him for it, honored him the more. For, being unable through sickness to superintend at that time the marriage of his daughter Julia and his nephew Marcellus, he commissioned Agrippa to hold the festival in his absence. And when the house on the Palatine hill, which had formerly been Antony's but was later given to Agrippa and Messala, was burned down, he made a grant of money to Messala and gave Agrippa equal rights of domicile. The latter not unnaturally gained high distinction as a result of this. And one Gaius Toranius also acquired a good reputation because while tribune he brought his father, though some one's freedman, into the theatre and made him sit beside him upon the tribune's bench. Publius Servilius, too, made a name for himself because while prætor he caused to be killed at a festival three hundred bears and other Libyan wild beasts equal in number.

[-28-] Augustus now entered upon office for the tenth time with Gaius Norbanus, and on the first day of the month the senate took oaths, confirming his deeds. When he was announced as drawing near the city (his sickness had delayed him), he promised to give the people a hundred denarii each and issued instructions that the document concerning the money should not be bulletined until the senate also should approve. They had freed him from all compulsion of the laws to the end, as I have stated,[10] that being really independent and possessed of full powers over both himself and the laws he should follow all of them that he wished and not follow any that he did not wish. This right was voted to him while still absent. On his arrival in Rome there were various events in honor of his preservation and return, and Marcellus was accorded the right to be a senator of the class of ex-prætors and to be a candidate for the consulship ten years earlier than was customary. Tiberius was permitted in a similar fashion to be a candidate five years before the age set for each office. The latter was at once appointed quæstor and the former ædile. As the quæstors needed to serve in the provinces were proving insufficient, all drew lots for the places who for ten years previous had been named quæstors without the duties of the office. These, then, were the occurrences in the City worthy of note that year.

[-29-] As soon as Augustus had departed from Spain, leaving behind Lucius Æmilius[11] as governor of it, the Cantabri and Astures made an uprising. They sent to Æmilius before anything about it became known to him and said they wished to give the army grain and some other presents. Then, having secured a number of soldiers, who were presumably to carry the supplies, they led them to suitable places and butchered them. Their pleasure, however, did not last long. When their country had been devastated and some forts burned and, chiefest of all, the hands of every one that was caught were cut off, they were quickly subdued. While this was going on, another new campaign had its beginning and end. It was led by Ælius Gallus, governor of Egypt, against the so-called Arabia Felix [12] of which Sabos was king. At first he encountered no one at all, yet did not proceed without effort. The desert, the sun, and the water (which had some peculiar nature), distressed them greatly so that the majority of the army perished. The disease proved to be dissimilar to any ordinary complaint, and fell upon the head, which it caused to wither. This killed most of them at once, but in the case of the survivors it descended to the legs, skipping all the intervening parts of the body, and wrought injury to them. There was no remedy for it except by both drinking and rubbing on olive oil mixed with wine. This was in the power of only a few of them to do, for the country produces neither of these articles and the men had not provided a large supply of them beforehand. In the midst of this trouble the barbarians also fell upon them. For a while the enemy were defeated whenever they joined battle and lost some places: later, however, with the disease as an ally they won back their own possessions and drove the survivors of the expedition out of the country. These were the first of the Romans (and I think the only ones) who traversed so much of this part of Arabia in warfare. They had advanced as far as the so-named Athlula, a famous locality.

[-30-] Augustus was for the eleventh time consul with Calpurnius Piso, when he fell so sick once more as to have no hope of saving his life. He accordingly arranged everything in the idea that he was about to die, and gathering about him the officials and the other foremost senators and knights he appointed no successor, though they were expecting that Marcellus would be preferred before all for the position. After conversing briefly with them about public matters he gave Piso the list of the forces and the public revenues written in a book, and handed his ring to Agrippa. The emperor became unable to do even the very simplest things, yet a certain Antonius Musas managed to restore him to health by means of cold baths and cold drinks. For this he received a great deal of money from both Augustus and the senate, as well as the right to wear gold rings,—he was a freedman,—and secured exemption from taxes for both himself and the members of his profession, not only those then living but also those of coming generations. But he who assumed the powers of Fortune and Fate was destined soon after to be well worsted. Augustus had been saved in this manner: but Marcellus, falling sick not much later, was treated in the same way by Musas and died. Augustus gave him a public burial with the usual eulogies, placed him in the monument which was being built, and honored his memory by calling the theatre, the foundations of which had already been laid by the former Cæsar, the Theatre of Marcellus. He ordered also that a gold image of the deceased, a golden crown, and his chair of office be carried into the theatre at the Ludi Romani and be placed in the midst of the officials having charge of the function. This he did later.

[-31-] After being restored to health on this occasion he brought his will into the senate and wished to read it, by way of showing people that he had left no successor to his position. He did not, however, read it, for no one would permit that. Quite every one, however, was astonished at him in that since he loved Marcellus as son-in-law and nephew yet he failed to trust him with the monarchy but preferred Agrippa before him. His regard for Marcellus had been shown by many honors, among them his lending aid in carrying out the festival which the young man gave as ædile; the brilliance of this occasion is shown by the fact that in midsummer he sheltered the Forum by curtains overhead and introduced a knight and a woman of note as dancers in the orchestra. But his final attitude seemed to show that he was not yet confident of the youth's judgment and that he either wanted the people to get back their liberty or Agrippa to receive the leadership from them. He understood well that Agrippa and the people were on the best of terms and he was unwilling to appear to be delivering the supreme power with his own hands. [-32-] When he recovered, therefore, and learned that Marcellus on this account was not friendly toward Agrippa, he immediately despatched the latter to Syria, so that no delay and desultory dispute might arise by their being in the same place. Agrippa forthwith started from the City but did not make his way to Syria, but, proceeding even more moderately than usual, he sent his lieutenants there and himself lingered in Lesbos.

Besides doing this Augustus appointed ten prætors, feeling that he did not require any more. This number remained constant for several years. Some of them were intended to fulfill the same duties as of yore and two of them to have charge of the administration of the finances each year. Having settled these details he resigned the consulship and went to Albanum. He himself ever since the constitution had been arranged had held office for the entire year, as had most of his colleagues, and he wished now to interrupt this custom again, in order that as many as possible might be consuls. His resignation took place outside the city to prevent his being hindered in his purpose.

For this act he received praise, as also because he chose to take his place Lucius Sestius, who had always been an enthusiastic follower of Brutus, had campaigned with the latter in all his wars, and even at this time made mention of him, had his images, and delivered eulogies. So far from disliking the friendly and faithful qualities of the man, the emperor even honored him.

The senate consequently voted that Augustus be tribune for life and that he might bring forward at each meeting of the senate any business he liked concerning any one matter, even if he should not be consul at the time, and allowed him to hold the office of proconsul once for all perpetually, so that he had neither to lay it down on entering the pomerium nor to take it up again outside. The body also granted him more power in subject territory than the several governors possessed. As a result both he and subsequent emperors gained a certain legal right to the use of the tribunican authority, in addition to their other powers. But the actual name of tribune neither Augustus nor any other emperor has held.

[-33-] And it seems to me that he then acquired these rights as described not from flattery but as a mark of real honor. In most ways he behaved toward the Romans as if they were free citizens. For, when Tiridates in person and envoys from Phraates arrived to settle their mutual disputes, he introduced them to the senate. After this, when the decision of the question had been entrusted to him by that body, he refused to surrender Tiridates to Phraates, but sent back to him his son, whom Tiridates had formerly received from the other and was keeping, on condition that the captives and the military standards taken in the disasters of Crassus and of Antony be returned.

In this same year one of the inferior ædiles died and Gaius Calpurnius succeeded him, in spite of having served previously as one of the patrician ædiles. This is not mentioned as having occurred in the case of any other man. During the Feriæ there were two præfecti urbi each day, and one of them, who was not yet admitted to the standing of a youth, nevertheless held office.

Livia, however, was accused of having caused the death of Marcellus because he had been preferred before her sons. This suspicion became a matter of controversy both in that year and in the following, which proved so unhealthful that great numbers perished during its progress. And, as it usually happens that some sign occurs before such events, so on this occasion a wolf had been caught in the city, fire and storm damaged many buildings, and the Tiber, rising, washed away the wooden bridge and rendered the city submerged for three days.

[Footnote 3: The expression to which Dio here refers is doubtless the adjective quinquefascalis , found in inscriptional Latin. All the editions from Xylander to Dindorf gave "six lictors", erroneously, as was pointed out by Mommsen ( Romisches Staatsrecht , 12, p. 369, note 4). Boissevain is the first editor to make the correction. (See the latter portion of chapter 17, Book Fifty-seven, which should be compared with Tacitus, Annals, II, 47, 5.)

The Greek language had a phrase [Greek: hae hexapelekus archae], corresponding to the Latin sexfascalis , but no adjective [Greek: pentapelekus], which would be the equivalent of quinquefascalis , is reported in the lexicons.]

[Footnote 5: Translating Boissevain's conjecture, [Greek: dela chahi pempton isa], in place of a corruption in the text.]

[Footnote 6: In view of the fact that Sex. Pacuvius Taurus does not come on the scene (as tribune of the plebs) till B.C. 9-7, it seems more likely, as Boissevain remarks, that Apudius is the correct name of the author of this piece of flattery.]

[Footnote 7: Boissevain thinks that the passage indicated was probably in
Book Twenty-two (one of the lost portions of the work). Compare Fragment
LXXIV (1) in Volume VI of this translation.—Boissée suggested Book
Forty-nine, Chapter 34. There, too, the correspondence is not complete.]

[Footnote 12: The "prosperous" or fertile part of Arabia, as opposed to Arabia Deserta or Petræa .]

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

How grain commissioners were appointed from among the ex-prætors (chapters 1 and 17).

Duration of time, 13 years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated:

M. Claudius M. F. Marcellus Æserninus, L. Arruntius L.F. (B.C. 22 = a. u. 732.)

C. Sentius C. F. Saturninus, Q. Lucretius Q. F. Vispillo. (B.C. 19 = a. u. 735.)

Cn. Cornelius L. F., P. Cornelius P. F. Lentulus Marcellinus. (B.C. 18 = a. u. 736.)

L. Domitius Cn. F. Cn. N. Ahenobarbus, P. Cornelius P. F. P. N. Scipio.
(B.C. 16 = a. u. 738.)

M. Livius L. F. Drusus Libo, L. Calpurnius L. F. Piso Frugi. (B.C. 15 = a. u. 739.)

M. Licinius M. F. Crassus, Cn. Cornelius Cn. F. Lentulus. (B.C. 14 = a. u. 740.)

M. Valerius M. F. Messala Barbatus, P. Sulpicius P. F. Quirinus. (B.C. 12 = a. u. 742.)

(BOOK 54, BOISSEVAIN.)

[-1-] The following year, during which Marcus Marcellus and Lucius Arruntius were the consuls, the river caused another flood which submerged the City, and many objects were struck by thunderbolts, among them the statues in the Pantheon; and the spear even fell from the hand of Augustus. The pestilence raged throughout Italy so that no one tilled the land, and I think that the same was the case in foreign parts. The Romans, therefore, reduced to dire straits by disease and by famine, thought that this had happened to them for no other reason than that they did not have Augustus for consul this time also. They accordingly wished to elect him as dictator, and shutting the senate up within its halls they forced it to vote this measure by threatening to burn down the building. Next they took the twenty-four rods and accosted Augustus, begging him both to be named dictator and to become commissioner of grain, as Pompey had once been. He accepted the latter duty under compulsion and ordered two men from among those who had served as prætors five years or more previously, in every instance, to be chosen annually to attend to the distribution of grain. As for the dictatorship, however, he would not hear of it and went so far as to rend his clothing when he found himself unable to restrain them in any other way, either by reasoning or by prayer. As he already had authority and honor even beyond that of dictators he did right to guard against the jealousy and hatred which the title would arouse. [-2-] His course was the same when they wished to elect him censor for life. Without entering upon the office himself he immediately designated others as censors, namely Paulus Æmilius Lepidus and Lucius Munatius Plancus, the latter a brother of that Plancus who had been proscribed and the former a person who at that time had himself been under sentence of death. These were the last private citizens to hold the appointment, as was at once made manifest by the men themselves. The platform on which they were intended to perform the ceremonies pertaining to their position fell to the ground in pieces when they had ascended it on the first day of their office. After that there were no other censors appointed together, as they had been. Even at this time Augustus in spite of their having been chosen took care of many matters which properly belonged to them. Of the Public Messes he abolished some altogether and reformed others so that greater temperance prevailed. He committed the charge of all the festivals to the prætors, commanding that an appropriation be given them from the public treasury. Moreover he forbade them to spend from their own means on these occasions more than they received from the other source, or to have armed combat under any other conditions than if the senate should vote for it, and even then there were to be not more than two such contests in each year and they should consist of not more than one hundred and twenty men. To the curule ædiles he entrusted the extinguishment of conflagrations, for which purpose he granted them six hundred slave assistants. And since knights and women of note had thus early appeared in the orchestra, he forbade not only the children of senators, to whom the prohibition had even previously extended, but also their grandchildren, who naturally found a place in the equestrian class, to do anything of the sort again. [-3-] In these ordinances he let both the substance and the name of the lawgiver and emperor be seen. In other matters he was more moderate and even came to the aid of some of his friends when their conduct was subjected to official scrutiny. But a certain Marcus Primus was accused of having made war upon the Odrysae, while he was governor of Macedonia, who said at one time that he had done it with the approval of Augustus, and again with that of Marcellus. The emperor thereupon came of his own accord into the court and, when interrogated by the prætors as to whether he had instructed the man to make war, entered a denial. The advocate of Primus, Licinius Murena, in the course of some rather disrespectful remarks that he made to him enquired: "What are you doing here!" and "Who summoned you!" To this Augustus only replied: "The Public Good." For this he received praise from sensible persons and was even given the right to convene the senate as often as he pleased. Some of the others looked down upon him. Indeed, not a few voted for the acquittal of Primus and others united to form a plot against Cæsar. Fannius Cæpio was at the head of it, though others had a share. Murena also was said, whether truly or by way of calumny, to have been one of the conspirators, since he was insatiate and unsparing in his outspokenness to all alike. These men did not appear for trial in court but were convicted by default on the supposition that they intended to flee; shortly after, however, they were put to death. Murena found neither his brother Proculeius nor Mæcenas his sister's husband of any avail, though they were the recipients of distinguished honors from Augustus. And as some of the jurymen actually voted to acquit these conspirators, the emperor made a law that votes should not be cast secretly in cases by default and that the persons on trial must receive a unanimous conviction. That he authorized these provisions not in anger but as really conducive to the public good he gave overwhelming evidence. Cæpio's father liberated one of his slaves who had accompanied his son on his flight, because he had wished to defend the younger man when he met his death; but a second slave who had betrayed him the father led through the middle of the Forum with an inscription making known the reason why he should be killed, and after that crucified him: yet at all this the emperor showed no indignation. He would have allayed all the criticism of those not pleased with the course of events, had he not allowed sacrifices, as for some victory, to be both voted and offered.

[-4-] It was at this period that he restored both Cyprus and Gallia Narbonensis to the people as provinces no longer needing his administration of martial law.

Thus proconsuls began to be sent to these places also. He also dedicated the temple of Jupiter Tonans, concerning which event these two traditions survive,—that at the time thunder occurred during the ritual, and that later Augustus had a dream, which I shall proceed to describe. He thought that the throng had come to do reverence to the deity, partly attracted by the novelty of his name and form and partly because he had been put in place by Augustus, but chiefest of all because they encountered him first when they ascended the Capitol; and he dreamed that Jupiter in the great temple was angry because he was now reduced to second place, and that he himself thereupon said to the offended god (as he reported the story) that he had Tonans as an advance guard. When it became day he attached a bell to the statue by way of confirming the vision. For those who guard apartment houses by night carry a bell, in order to be able to signal the inhabitants whenever they wish.—These events, then, took place at Rome.

[-5-] About this same period the Cantabri and the Astures broke out into war again. The action of the Astures was due to the haughtiness and cruelty of Carisius. The Cantabri, on the other hand, took the field because they learned that the other tribe was in revolt and because they despised their governor, Gaius Furnius, since he had but lately arrived and they conceived him to be unacquainted with conditions in their territory. He did not, however, show himself that sort of man in action, for both tribes were defeated and reduced to slavery by him, Carisius even receiving help from him. Not many of the Cantabri were captured. As they had no hope of freedom they did not choose to live, but some after setting the forts on fire stabbed themselves, and others let themselves be consumed with the works, while still others in the sight of all took poison. Thus the most of them and the fiercest faction perished. As for the Astures, as soon as they had been repulsed in a siege at some point and had subsequently been beaten in battle, they made no further resistance but were straightway subdued.

About this same time the Ethiopians, who dwell beyond Egypt, advanced as far as the city called Elephantine, with Candace as their leader, ravaging the whole region that they traversed. On learning that Gaius[1] Petronius, the governor of Egypt, was approaching and somewhere near, they hastily retreated hoping to make good their escape. Overtaken on the road, however, they suffered defeat and then drew him on into their own country. There, too, he contended nobly and took among other cities Napata, the royal residence of that tribe. This town was razed to the ground and a garrison left at another post. For Petronius, not being able to advance farther on account of the sand and the heat, nor to remain conveniently on the spot with his entire army, withdrew, taking the most of it with him. At that the Ethiopians attacked the garrisons, but he again proceeded against them, rescued his own men, and compelled Candace to make terms with him.

[-6-] While this was going on Augustus went to Sicily in order to settle the affairs of that island and of other countries as far as Syria. While he was still there, the Roman populace fell to disputing over an election of the consuls. This incident showed clearly that it was impossible for them to be safe under a democracy, for with the little power that they had over elections and in regard to offices, even, they began rioting. The place of one of the consuls was being kept for Augustus and in this way at the beginning of the year Marcus Lollius alone entered upon office. As the emperor would not accept the place, Quintus Lepidus and Lucius Silvanus became rival candidates and threw everything into such turmoil that Augustus was invoked by those who still retained their senses. He would not return, however, and sent them back when they came to him, rebuking them and bidding them cast their votes during the absence of both claimants. This did not promote peace any the more, but they began to quarrel and dispute again vehemently, so that it was long before Lepidus was chosen. Augustus was displeased at this, for he could not spend all his time at Rome alone, and he did not dare to leave the city without a head; seeking, therefore, for some one to set over it he judged Agrippa to be most suitable for the purpose. And as he wished to clothe him in some greater dignity than common, in order that this might help him to govern the people more easily, he summoned him, compelled him to divorce his wife (although she was Cæsar's own niece), and to marry Julia, and forthwith sent him to Rome to attend both to the wedding and to the administration of the City. This step is said to have been due partly to the advice of Mæcenas, who in conversation with him upon these very matters said: "You have made him so great that he should either become your son-in-law or be killed."—Agrippa healed the sores which he found still festering and repelled the advance of the Egyptian rites, which were returning once more to the City, forbidding any one to perform them even in the suburbs within eight half-stadia. A disturbance arose regarding the election of the præfectus urbi—the one chosen on account of the Feriæ—and he did not attempt to quell it, but they lived through that year without that official. This was what he accomplished.

[-7-] Augustus after settling various affairs in Sicily and making Syracuse together with certain other cities Roman colonies crossed over into Greece. The Lacedæmonians he honored by giving them Cythera and attending their Public Mess, because Livia, when she fled from Italy with her husband and son, passed some time there. From the Athenians, as some say, he took away Ægina and Eretria, the produce of which they were enjoying, because they had espoused the cause of Antony. Moreover he forbade them to make any one a citizen for money. It seemed to them that what happened to the statue of Athena had tended to their misfortune. Placed on the Acropolis facing the east it had turned about to the west and spat blood.

As for Augustus, after setting the Greek world in order, he sailed to Samos, passed the winter there, and in the spring when Marcus Apuleius and Publius Silius became consuls proceeded to Asia and gave his attention to matters there and in Bithynia. Though these and the foregoing provinces were regarded as belonging to the people, he did not make light of them, but accorded them the very best of care, as if they were his own. He instituted all reforms that seemed desirable and made a present of money to some, while others he instructed to collect an amount in excess of the tribute. The people of Cyzicus he reduced to slavery because during an uprising they had flogged and put to death some Romans. And when he reached Syria he took the same action in the case of the people of Tyre and Sidon on account of their uprising.

[-8-] Meanwhile Phraates, fearing that he might lead an expedition against him because as yet none of the agreements had been carried out, sent back to him the standards and all the captives, save a few who in shame had destroyed themselves or by eluding detection had remained in the country. Augustus received them with the appearance of having conquered the Parthian in some war. He took great pride in the event, saying that what had been lost in former battles he had recovered without a struggle. Indeed, in honor of his success he both commanded sacrifices to be voted and performed them, besides constructing a temple of Mars Ultor on the Capitol, in imitation of Jupiter Feretrius, for the offering up of the standards. Moreover he rode into the City on a charger and was with an arch carrying a trophy. That was what was done later in commemoration of the event. At this time he was chosen commissioner of the highways round about Rome, set up the so-called golden milestone, and assigned road-builders from the ranks of the ex-prætors, with two lictors, to take care of the various streets. Julia also gave birth to a child, who received the name Gaius; and a sacrifice of kine was permitted forever upon his birthday. Now this was done, like everything else, in pursuance of a decree: privately the ædiles had a horse-race and slaughter of wild beasts on the birthday of Augustus.—These were the occurrences in the City.

[-9-] Augustus ordained that the subject territory should be managed according to the customs of the Romans, but permitted allied countries to be governed according to their own ancestral usage. He did not think it desirable that there should be any additions to the former or that any new regions should be acquired, but deemed it best for the people to be thoroughly satisfied with what they already possessed; and he communicated this opinion to the senate. Therefore he began no war at this time, but gave out certain sovereignties,—to Iamblichus son of Iamblichus his ancestral dominion over the Arabians, and to Tarcondimotus son of Tarcondimotus the kingdom of Cilicia which his father held, except a few coast districts. For these together with Lesser Armenia he granted to Archelaus, because the Median king, who had previously ruled them, was dead. To Herod he entrusted the tetrarchy of a certain Zenodorus and to one Mithridates, though a mere lad, Commagene, since the king of it had killed his father. And as the other Armenians had preferred charges against Artaxes and had summoned his brother Tigranes, who was in Rome, the emperor sent for Tiberius to cast the former out of his kingdom and restore the latter to it once more. Nothing was accomplished, however, worthy of the preparations he had made, for the Armenians slew Artaxes before his arrival. Still, Tiberius assumed a lofty bearing as if he had effected something by his own ability, and all the more when sacrifices were voted in honor of the result. And he now began to have thoughts about obtaining the monarchy when, as he was approaching Philippi, an outcry was heard from the field of battle, as if coming from an army, and fire of its own accord shot up from the altars founded by Antony upon the ramparts. These things contributed to the exalted feelings of Tiberius.

Augustus returned to Samos and once more passed the winter there. As a recompense for his stay he awarded the islanders freedom, and he attended to many kinds of business. Great numbers of embassies came to him, and the Indi, who had previously opened negotiations about friendship, now made terms, sending among other gifts tigers, which were then for the first time seen by the Romans, as also, I think, by the Greeks. They likewise presented to him a boy without shoulders (like the statues of Hermes that we now see). Yet this creature in spite of his anatomy made perfect use of his feet and hands: he would stretch a bow for them, shoot missiles, and sound the trumpet,—how, I do not know; I merely record the story. One of the Indi, Zarmarus, whether he belonged to the class of sophists and was ambitious on this account or because he was old and was following some immemorial custom, or because he wished to make a display for Augustus and the Athenians (for it was there that he had obtained an audience), chose to die; he was therefore initiated into the service of the two goddesses,—although it was not the proper time, it is said, for the ritual,[2]—through the influence of Augustus, and having become an initiate he threw himself alive into the fire.

[-10-] The consul that[2] year was Gaius Sentius. When it was found necessary that a colleague be appointed to hold office with him,—for Augustus again refused to accept the post which was being saved for him,—an uprising once more broke out in Rome and assassinations occurred, so that the senators voted Sentius a guard. When he expressed himself as opposed to using it, they sent envoys to Augustus, each with two lictors. As soon as the emperor learned this and felt assured that nothing but evil would come of it, he did not adopt an attitude like his former one toward them but appointed consul from among the envoys themselves Quintus Lucretius, though this man's name had been posted among the proscribed, and he hastened to Rome himself. For this and his other actions while absent from the city many honors of all sorts were voted none of which he would accept, save the founding of a temple to Fortuna Redux,[3] (this being the name they applied to her), and that the day on which he arrived should be numbered among the thanksgiving days and be called Augustalia. Since even then the magistrates and the rest made preparations to go out to meet him, he entered the city by night; and on the following day he gave Tiberius the rank of the ex-prætors and allowed Drusus to become a candidate for offices five years earlier than custom allowed. The quarrelsome behavior of the people during his absence did not accord at all with their conduct, influenced by fear, when he was present; he was accordingly invited and elected to be commissioner of morals for five years, held the authority of the censors for the same length of time and that of the consuls for life, being allowed to use the twelve rods always and everywhere and to sit in the chair of office in the midst of the consuls of any year. After voting these measures they begged him to set right all these matters and to enact what laws he liked. And whatever ordinances might be composed by him they called from that very moment leges Augustæ and desired to take an oath that they would abide by them. He accepted their principal propositions, believing them to be necessary, but absolved them from the requirement of an oath. If they should vote for a measure that suited them, he knew well that they would observe it even if they made no agreement to that effect. Otherwise they would not pay any attention to it, even if they should take ten thousand pledges to secure it.—Augustus did this. Of the ædiles one voluntarily resigned his office by reason of poverty.

[-11-] Agrippa on being sent at this time, as described from Sicily to Rome, transacted whatever business was urgent and was later assigned to the Gauls. The inhabitants there were at war among themselves and were being harshly used by the Celtæ. After settling those troubles he went over to Spain. For the Cantabri, who had been captured alive in the war and had been sold, severally killed their masters, returned home, and united many for a revolt. With the aid of these accessions they occupied available sites, walled them about and concocted schemes against the Roman garrisons. It was against this tribe that Agrippa led an expedition, but he had some trouble also with the soldiers. Not a few of them were too old, exhausted by the succession of wars, and in fear of the Cantabri, whom they regarded as hard to subdue; and they consequently would not obey him. However, by admonition, exhortation, and the hopes that he held out[4] he soon made them yield obedience: in fighting the Cantabri, on the other hand, he met with many failures. They had the advantage of experience in affairs, since they had been slaves to the Romans, and of despair of ever gaining safety again in case of capture. Agrippa lost numbers of his soldiers and degraded numerous others because they had been defeated; among other actions he prohibited a whole division called the Augustan from being so named any longer; still, after a long time he destroyed nearly all of the enemy who were of age for warfare. He deprived the rest of their arms and made them go down from the heights to the flat lands. Yet he made no communication about them to the senate and did not accept the triumph although voted in accordance with instructions from Augustus. In these matters he showed moderation, as was his wont, and when asked once by the consul for an opinion in a case concerning his brother he would not give it. At his own expense he brought in the so-called Parthenian water-supply and named it the Augustan. In this the emperor took so great delight that once when a great scarcity of wine had arisen and persons were making a terrible to-do about it, he declared that Agrippa had carefully seen to it that they should never perish of thirst.

[-12-]Such was the character of this man. Of the rest many both made a triumph their object and celebrated it, not for rendering these same services, but some for having arrested robbers and others for quieting cities that were in a state of turmoil. For Augustus, at first at least, bestowed these rewards lavishly upon some and honored a very great number with public burials. Those persons, then, gained splendor by these fêtes; but Agrippa was advanced by him to a position of comparative independence. Augustus saw that the public business required strict attention and feared that he might, as often happens in such cases, become the victim of plots.

The breastplate which he often wore beneath his dress even on entering the senate itself he expected would be of small and slight assistance to him in that case. Therefore he himself first added five years to his term as supreme ruler when the ten-year period had expired (this took place in the consulship of Publius and Gnaeus Lentulus), and then he gave Agrippa many rights almost equal to his own, together with the tribunician authority for the same length of time. He then said that so many years would suffice them. Not much later he obtained the remaining five belonging to his imperial sovereignty, so that the number of years became ten again.

[-13-] When he had done this he next investigated the senatorial body. The members seemed to him even now to be numerous and he saw danger in so large a throng, while he felt a hatred for not only such as were notorious for some baseness, but also those who were distinguished for their flattery. And when no one, as previously, would resign willingly nor wished alone to incur accusation, he himself selected the thirty best men (a point which he confirmed by oath) and bade them after first taking the same oath to choose and write down groups of five, outside of their relatives, on tablets. After this he subjected the groups of five to a casting of lots, with the arrangement that the one man in each who drew a lot should himself be a senator, and enroll five others on the same conditions.

There would, of course, properly be thirty of those chosen by others and by those who drew a lot. And since some of them were out of town others drew as substitutes and attended to what should have been their duties. At first this went on so for several days; but when some abuses crept in, he no longer put the documents in the charge of the quaestors nor submitted the groups of five to lot, but he himself read whatever remained and he himself chose the members that were lacking: and thus six hundred in all were appointed. [-14-]It had been his plan to make them three hundred as in old times, and he thought he ought to be well satisfied if he found so many of them worthy of the senate. But he finally chose a list of six hundred because of the universal displeasure; for it came out, by reason of the fact that those whose names would be cancelled would be many more than those who remained in the body, that greater fear of becoming private citizens prevailed among its members than expectation of being senators. Not even here did the matter rest, since some unsuitable persons were still enrolled. A certain Licinius Regulus after this, indignant because his name had been erased whereas his son and several others to whom he thought himself superior had been counted in, rent his clothing in the very senate, laid bare his body, enumerated his campaigns, and showed them his scars. And Articuleius Pætus, one of the senators in posse , besought earnestly that he might retire from his seat in the senate in place of his father, who had been rejected. Augustus then made a new organization, getting rid of some and choosing others in their place. Since even so the names of many had been stricken out and some of them, as usually happens in such a case, charged that they had been driven out unjustly, he immediately accorded them the right to behold spectacles and join in festivals in common with the senators, wearing the same garb, and he permitted them for the future to stand for offices. Most of them came back in the course of time into the senate: some few were left in an intermediate position, regarded as belonging neither to the senate nor to the people.

[-15-] After this many at once and many subsequently gained the reputation, whether it was true or false, of plotting against both the emperor and Agrippa. It is not possible for one outside of such matters to have certain knowledge about them. Much of what a sovereign does by way of punishment either personally or through the senate on the ground that plots have been made against him is viewed with suspicion as probably a display of wanton power, no matter how justly he may have acted. For that reason my intention is to record in all matters of this nature simply the regular version of the story, not busying myself with aught beyond the public report, except in perfectly patent cases, nor making any ulterior suggestions as to whether any act was just or unjust or any statement true or false. Let this principle apply to everything which I shall write after this.

At the time Augustus executed a few: Lepidus he hated because his son had been detected in a against him and had been punished, as well as for other reasons; he did not, however, wish to kill him but kept insulting him now in one way, now in another. He ordered Lepidus against his will to come down from the country to the city and always took him to gatherings, in order that the man might be subjected to the greatest amount of jeering and insolence in view of the change from his former power and dignity. He did not treat him in any way as worthy his consideration, and at this time he afforded him, last of all the ex-consuls, the chance of voting. To the rest he was wont to put the question in the order that belonged to them, but of the ex-consuls he used to make one first, another second, and third and fourth and so on as he liked. This the consuls also did. Thus it was that he treated Lepidus. And when Antistius Labeo enrolled the latter among the men who were to be senators at the time the vote on this matter was taken, the emperor first declared that he had perjured himself and threatened to take vengeance. Thereupon the other replied: "Why, what harm have I done by keeping in the senate one whom you even now still permit to be high priest?" This answer quieted Augustus's anger, for though he had often, both privately and publicly, been judged worthy of this priesthood, he did not deem it right to take it while Lepidus lived. The reply of Antistius seemed, indeed, to have been a rather happy one, as was the case once when there was talk in the senate to the effect that they ought to take turns in guarding Augustus; for he had said, not daring to speak in opposition nor willing to agree: "As for me, I snore, and so can not sleep at the door of his chamber."

[-16-] Among the laws that Augustus enacted was one which provided that those who to gain office bribed any person should be debarred from the said office for five years. He laid heavier penalties upon the unmarried men and women without husbands, and on the other hand offered prizes for marriage and the procreation of children. And since among the nobility there were far more males than females he allowed those who pleased, save the senators, to marry freedwomen, and ordered that the offspring of such a man should be deemed legitimate.

At this period a clamor arose in the senate regarding the disorderly conduct of the women and the young men, this being alleged as a reason for the difficulty of persuading them to contract marriage; and when they urged him to remedy this abuse also, meanwhile indulging in sarcasms because he enjoyed the favors of many women, at first he made answer that the most necessary restrictions had been laid down and that anything further could not be defined in a similar fashion. Then, when he was driven into a corner, he said: "You ought to admonish and command your wives what you wish,—just as I myself do." When they heard that, they plied him with questions all the more, wishing to learn the admonitions which he said he gave Livia. Reluctantly thereupon he made a few remarks about dress and about other adornment, about going out and modest behavior on such occasions. He cared not at all that he did not make good his words in fact. Something of the sort he had done also while censor. They brought before him a young man who had married a woman after seducing her, making the most violent accusations against him: Augustus was at a loss what to do, not daring to overlook the affair nor yet to administer any rebuke. After a very long time he heaved a deep sigh and said: "The factional disputes have borne many terrible fruits: let us try to forget them and give our attention to the future, to see that nothing of the sort occurs again."

Inasmuch, too, as certain infants were obtaining by betrothal the honors of married couples, but did not accomplish the object in view, he ordered that no betrothal should be valid where a person did not marry before two years had passed. That is, any one betrothed must be certainly ten years old in order to reap any benefit from it. Twelve full years, as I have said, is required by custom for girls to reach the marriageable age.

[-17-] Besides these separate enactments there was one instructing those from time to time in office each to propose one of those who had been prætors three years previously to attend to the distribution of the grain, and providing that of that number the four who secured the lot should give out grain in turn: and the præfectus urbi, appointed for the Feriæ, was always to choose one of them. The Sibylline verses which had become indistinct through lapse of time he ordered the priests to copy out with their own hands in order that no one else should read them. He allowed the offices to be thrown open to all such as had property worth ten myriad denarii and were competent to hold office in accordance with the law. This was the value which he at first set upon the senatorial rank: later he raised it to twenty-five myriads. Upon some of those who lived upright lives but possessed less than ten myriads in the first case or twenty-five in the second he bestowed the amount lacking. Again, he allowed those prætors who so desired to spend on the festivals besides what was given them from the public treasury three times as much again, so that even if some were vexed at the minuteness of his other regulations yet by reason of this one and also because he brought back from exile one Pylades, a dancer, driven out on account of civil quarrels, they remembered them no longer. Hence Pylades is said to have rejoined very cleverly when the emperor rebuked him for having quarreled with Bathyllus, an artist in the same line and a relative of Mæcenas: "It is to your advantage, Cæsar, that the populace should exhaust its energy over us."—These were the occurrences of that year.

[-18-]In the consulship of Gaius Furnius and Gaius Silanus Agrippa again announced the birth of a son named Lucius, and Augustus immediately adopted him together with his brother Gaius, not waiting for them to become men but appointing them that very moment successors to his office, in order that less plots might be directed against him. The festival of Honor and of Virtus he transferred to the days which are at present theirs. Those that celebrated triumphs he commanded to erect out of the spoils some public work to commemorate their deeds. The Sæcularia he brought for the fifth time to a successful conclusion. The orators, he ordered, were to give their services without pay, on pain of a fine of quadruple the amount they might receive. Those whom the lot made jurymen in any season he forbade to enter any person's house during that year. And since members of the senate showed lack of interest in attending meetings of that body, he increased the penalties for such as were late without some good excuse.

[-19-] Next he started for Gaul, during the consulship of Lucius Domitius and Publius Scipio, making an excuse of the wars that had arisen in that region. For since he had become disliked by many as a result of his long stay in the capital and by inflicting penalties offended many who committed some act contrary to the laws laid down, while he was compelled in sparing many others to transgress his own enactments, he decided to leave the country, somewhat after the manner of Solon. Some suspected that he had gone away on account of Terentia, the wife of Mæcenas, and intended, because there was much talk made about them in Rome, to join her without any gossip during his trip abroad. So great was his passion for her that he once had her enter a contest of beauty against Livia.

Before starting he dedicated the temple of Quirinus, which he had built up anew. By this I mean he had adorned it with seventy-six columns, equal to the total number of years he had lived. This consequently caused some to say that he had chosen the number purposely and not by mere chance. After the consecration of this edifice he arranged through Tiberius and Drusus for gladiatorial combats, permission having been granted them by the senate. Then he committed to Taurus the management of the City together with the rest of Italy,—for Agrippa had been despatched again to Syria and he no longer looked with equal favor on Mæcenas because of the latter's wife,—and taking Tiberius, though he was prætor, along, he set out on his journey. Tiberius had become prætor in spite of holding the honors of an ex-prætor, and his entire office by a decree was placed in the hands of Drusus. The night following their departure the Hall of Youth burned to the ground. This was not the only portent that had occurred, for a wolf had rushed along the Sacred Way into the Forum, tearing men to pieces, and at a distance from the Forum ants were very plainly seen together in swarms; likewise a gleam all night long kept shooting from the south toward the north. Prayers were therefore offered for the safe return of Augustus. Meantime they celebrated the quinquennial festival of his sovereignty, the expense being borne by Agrippa; for the latter had been consecrated by his fellow priests to be one of the quindecimviri to whom the oversight of the event fell in regular succession.

[-20-] There was much other confusion, too, during that period. The Camunni and Vennones, Alpine tribes, flew to arms but were conquered and subdued by Publius Silius. The Pannonians in company with the Norici overran Istria, and after suffering damage at the hands of Silius and his lieutenants the former came to terms again and were the cause of the Norici falling into the same slavery. The uprisings in Dalmatia and in Spain were in a short time quelled. Macedonia was ravaged by the Dentheleti and the Scordisci. In Thrace somewhat earlier Marcus Lollius while aiding Rhoemetalces, the uncle and guardian of the children of Cotys, had subjugated the Bessi. Later Lucius Gallus conquered the Sarmatæ in the same dispute and drove them back across the Ister. The greatest, however, of the wars which at that time fell to the lot of the Romans, which also had something to do, probably, with Augustus's leaving the city, was against the Celtæ.

The Sugambri, Usipetes, and Tencteri had first seized in their own territory some of the Romans and had crucified them, after which they crossed the Rhine and plundered Germania and Gaul. When the Roman cavalry approached they laid an ambush and by taking to flight drew their assailants to follow them; and though they fell in unexpectedly with the Roman leader Lollius, they conquered even him. On ascertaining this Augustus hastened against them but found no warfare to carry on. For the barbarians, learning that Lollius was getting ready and that the emperor was also heading an expedition, retired into their own territory and made peace, giving hostages.

[-21-] On this account Augustus had no need of arms, but the demands of various other business consumed the entire time of this year, as well as of the next, in which Marcus Libo and Calpurnius Piso were consuls. For much injury had been wrought by the Celtæ and much by a certain Licinnius.[5] And of this, I think, the sea-monster had very plainly given them warning beforehand. This creature, twenty feet broad and three times as long and resembling a woman except for its head, had been washed up on the land from the ocean. Now Licinnius was originally a Gaul but was captured, brought among Romans, and made a slave to Cæsar, by whom he was set free, and then by Augustus he had been made procurator of Gaul. He had barbarian avarice and Roman haughtiness, and tried to overthrow every person and thing deemed superior to himself and to annihilate any power which temporarily appeared strong. It was his care to supply himself with plenty of funds for the requirements of his ministry as well as to secure a plenty for himself and for members of his family. His abuses went so far that in some cases where the population paid tribute by the month he made the months fourteen in number. He declared that this month called December was really the tenth, and for that reason it was necessary to count in also the two last months (of which he called one Undecimber and the other Duodecimber), and to contribute the money that was due for them. These quibbles brought him into danger. The Gauls secured the ear of Augustus and made a terrible protest, so that the emperor first shared their indignation and next begged them to be patient. Of some of the extortions he said he was unaware and others he affected not to believe. Some things he concealed, being ashamed of having employed such a procurator. Licinnius however, by devising another scheme was enabled to laugh to scorn absolutely all their efforts. When found that Augustus was displeased with him and that he was likely to be punished, he took the emperor into his house, and showing him many treasures of silver and gold and many other valuables piled up in heaps, he said: "I have gathered these purposely, master, for you and for the rest of the Romans, to prevent the inhabitants from getting control of so much money and therefore revolting. You see I have kept it all for you and herewith give it to you." Thus the sophist was saved, by pretending that he had sapped the strength of the barbarians to serve Augustus.

[-22-] Drusus and Tiberius meanwhile were concerned with the following undertakings. The Rhæti, who dwell between Noricum and Gaul, near the Tridentine Alps close to Italy, overran a good part of the adjacent territory of Gaul and carried plunder even out of Italy. Such of the Romans or their allies as used the road going through their country met with depredations. These actions of theirs were of course more or less like those of any nation which has not accepted terms of peace, but further they destroyed all the males among their captives, not only those who were apparent but also the embryo ones in the wombs of women, the sex of which they discovered by some divination. For these reasons Augustus first sent Drusus against them: he joined battle with a detachment of theirs that met him near the Tridentine mountains, and speedily had them routed; for this exploit he received the honors belonging to prætors. Later, when the tribe had been repulsed from Italy but still harassed Gaul, the emperor despatched Tiberius in addition. Both of the leaders then invaded the Rhætian country at many points at once,—the lieutenants leading such divisions as they did not command personally,—and Tiberius even crossed the lake[6] in boats. In this way, by encountering them separately, the Roman commanders spread alarm and had no difficulty in overcoming those who came near enough for fighting at any time, because they had only to deal with scattered forces; the remainder, who had become weaker and more despondent through such tactics, they captured. And because the land had a large population of males and seemed ripe for revolt, they deported most of those of military age, especially the strongest, leaving behind only so many as would be sufficient to inhabit the country but unable to make any uprising.

[-23-] This same year Vedius Pollio died, a man who in general had done nothing deserving notice, being the son of liberti, ranking as a knight, without any achievement of consequence in his record; but he had become exceedingly renowned for his wealth and his cruelty, so that he has even won a place in history. Most of the things that he did it would be wearisome to relate, but I may mention that he kept in tanks huge eels trained to eat men, and was accustomed to throw to them the slaves that he desired to put to death. Once, when he was entertaining Augustus, the cupbearer shattered a crystal goblet, and without respect to the guest he ordered that the fellow be thrown to the eels. Hereupon the boy fell on his knees supplicating Augustus who at first tried to persuade Pollio not to carry out his intentions. As his host would not yield the point the emperor said: "Bring all the rest of the drinking vessels which are of the same sort or any others of value that you may possess, for I want to use them," and when they were brought he ordered them to be broken. The master seeing this was of course vexed but could no longer be angry over one cup, considering the great number of others that were ruined, and could not punish his servant for what Augustus had done; therefore reluctantly he took no action. That was the sort of person this Pollio was, who died. He left various bequests to many different persons and to Augustus a good share of his inheritance together with Pausilypum[7], a place between Neapolis and Puteoli, with instructions that some public work of great beauty should be erected. Augustus razed his house to the foundation, on the pretext that it was necessary for the preparation of the other structure, but really with the purpose that he should have no monument in the city, and built a colonnade, inscribing on it the name not of Pollio but of Livia.

This he did later. At the time mentioned he founded a number of cities as colonies in Gaul and in Spain and restored to the people of Cyzicus their freedom. To the Paphians, who had suffered from an earthquake, he gave money and allowed them, by a decree, to call their city Augusta. I have recorded this, not because Augustus himself and the senators failed to aid many other cities both before and after this, in case of similar misfortunes,—if any one should attempt to mention them all, the task of such a historian would be endless,—but my aim is to show that the senate assigned names to cities as an honor and the latter did not, as is the usual procedure now, compile for themselves (each separately) such lists of names as they might choose.

[-24-] The next year Marcus Crassus and Gnæus Cornelius became consuls; and the curule ædiles after resigning their office because they had entered upon it under unfavorable auguries took it back again, contrary to precedent, at another meeting of the assembly. The Portico of Paulus was burned and the fire from it reached the temple of Vesta, so that the sacred objects that this shrine contained were carried up to the Palatine by all of the vestal virgins except the eldest (who had gone blind) and were placed in the house of the priest of Jupiter. The portico was afterward rebuilt, nominally by Æmilius, who was the representative of the family that had formerly erected it, but really by Augustus and the friends of Paulus. At this time the Pannonians revolted and were again subdued, and the maritime Alps, inhabited by Ligurians called Cometæ and still free even then, were reduced to a slave district. The revolt in the Cimmerian Bosporus was also quelled. One Seribonius, who maintained that he was a grandson of Mithridates and had received the kingdom from Augustus after the death of Asander, married the latter's wife, named Dynamis, who was the daughter of Pharnaces and a grandchild of Mithridates, and obtaining the power committed to her by her husband got control of Bosporus. Agrippa on being informed of this sent against him Polemon, king of the Pontus near Cappadocia. He found Seribonius no longer alive, for the people of Bosporus, learning of his ambitions, had killed him beforehand, but when these resisted Polemon out of fear that he might be allowed to reign over them, he engaged them in a set battle. The victory was his, but he was unable to reduce them to order until Agrippa came to Sinope, apparently with the intention of conducting a campaign against them. At that they laid down their arms and were delivered to Polemon. The woman Dynamis became his spouse,—of course with the sanction of Augustus. For this outcome sacrifices were made in the name of Agrippa, but he did not celebrate the triumph, though voted to him. Nay, he did not so much as write the senate anything about what had been accomplished. As a result subsequent conquerors, taking his method as a law, no longer sent any word themselves to the legislative body and did not accept the celebration of a triumph. For this reason no one else among his peers (so I am inclined to think) was permitted to do this, but they enjoyed merely the ornament of triumphal honors.

[-25-] Augustus finally finished ordering everything in the Gauls, the Germanias, and the Hispaniæ: upon special districts he spent a great deal, and levied a great deal upon others, and to some he gave freedom and citizenship, whereas from others he took them away.

He then left Drusus in Germania and himself returned to Rome in the consulship of Tiberius and of Quintilius Varus. It chanced that the news of his coming reached the city during those days when Cornelius Balbus after dedicating the theatre now called by his name was giving spectacles. At this he assumed great importance as if it were he that was to bring Augustus back, though because of a flooding of the Tiber there was so great a quantity of water in the theatre that no one could enter it save in a boat; and Tiberius put the vote to Balbus first, as an honor for his building the theatre. The senate convened and among other decisions resolved to place an altar in the senate-chamber itself, to commemorate the return of Augustus, and that criminals who approached him as suppliants within the pomerium should be exempt from punishment. However, he accepted neither of these honors and even escaped a reception by the people on this occasion by being brought into the city under the cover of night. This he did almost always whenever he had to go out to the suburbs or anywhere else, both on his way out and on his way back, so that nobody should annoy him. The following day he greeted the people on the Palatine, ascended the Capitol, and taking off the laurel from around his rods he placed it upon the knees of Jupiter. For that day he furnished the people with baths and barbers free of charge. After this he convened the senate and made no address himself by reason of hoarseness, but gave the book to the quaestor to read which enumerated his achievements and promulgated rules as to how many years the citizens should serve in the army and how much money they should receive at the end of their services in place of the land for which they were always wont to ask. The object was that by being enlisted on certain specified terms from the very start they should find in their treatment no excuse for revolt. The number of years was for the Pretorians twelve and for the rest sixteen; and the money to be distributed was less for some and more for others. These measures caused the soldiers neither pleasure nor anger for the time being, because they had neither obtained all they were desiring nor yet lost everything. In the remainder of the population it aroused confident hopes of not being deprived of their possessions in the future.

[-26-] His next action was to dedicate the theatre called after Marcellus. In the festival held on this account the patrician children as well as his grandson Gaius performed the "Troy" equestrian exercise, and six hundred Libyan wild beasts were slaughtered. Iullus, the son of Antony, who was prætor, celebrated the birthday of Augustus with horse-races and slaughterlng of wild beasts, and entertained both him and the senate (following a decree of that body) upon the Capitol.

After this there was another reorganization of the senate. At first the necessary value of their property had been limited to ten myriad denarii because many of them had been deprived by the wars of their ancestral estates. As time went on and men's possessions became larger, it was advanced to twenty-five myriads, and no one was any longer found who wanted to be senator. On the contrary, some children and grandchildren of senators, of whom a part were really poor and another part had been brought low through calamities suffered by their ancestors, not only failed to lay claim to the senatorial dignity, but when already placed on the list withdrew on oath. Therefore previous to this, while Augustus was still out of the City, a decree had been passed that the so-called viginti viri[8] should be appointed from the knights. Hence none of them was any longed enrolled in the senate without having secured some one of the other offices that lead to it.—These twenty men are a part of the six-and-twenty.[9] Three of them have charge of capital cases at law. The next three attend to the coinage of the money. Four act as commissioners of the streets in the City. Ten are put over the courts that fall by lot to the Centumviri . The two who were entrusted with the roads outside the walls and the four who were sent to Campania had been abolished. The senate had voted during the absence of Augustus another measure besides this, namely that, since nobody could any longer be easily induced to become a candidate for the tribuneship, they might appoint by lot some who had been quæstors and were not yet forty years old. At this time the emperor made a scrutiny of the whole body of citizens. Those of them who were over thirty-five years of age he did not trouble, but those under that age who had property of the requisite value he forced to become senators, except in the case of cripples. Their bodies he viewed himself but in regard to their property he accepted sworn statements, the men themselves taking the oath (with others to corroborate their allegations) and accounting for their lack of funds as well as for their habits of life.

[-27-] Nor did he, while observing such strictness in ordinary public business, neglect the conduct of his own family. Indeed, he rebuked Tiberius because he had seated Gaius beside him at the thanksgiving festival which he gave in honor of the emperor's return: and he censured the people for honoring him with applause and eulogies. On the death of Lepidus he was appointed high priest and the senate consequently wished to vote him certain honors;[10] but he declared that he would not accept them, and when the senators became urgent he rose and left the gathering. So that measure was not ratified, and he received no official residence, but because it was absolutely essential that the high priest should live on public ground he made a portion of his own dwelling public property. The house of the rex sacrificulus, however, he gave to the vestal virgins because it was separated merely by a wall from their apartments.

Cornelius Sisenna was blamed for the conduct of his wife and stated in the senate that he had married her with the knowledge and on the advice of the emperor,—whereat Augustus grew exceedingly angry. He indulged in no violence of word or action but hurried out of the senate-chamber and then a little later came back again, choosing rather to do this (as he said to his friends afterward), in spite of its not being right, than to remain where he was and be compelled to do some harm.

[-28-] Meantime he bestowed upon Agrippa, who had come from Syria, the great honor of the tribunician authority for another five years, and sent him out to Pannonia, which was ready for war, allowing him greater powers than officials outside of Italy ordinarily possessed. Agrippa made the campaign though it already was winter: Marcus Valerius and Publius Sulpicius were the consuls. As the Pannonians became terror stricken at his approach and showed no further signs of uprising he returned, and on reaching Campania fell sick. Augustus happened to be giving, under the name of his children, contests of armed warriors at the Panathenaic festival, and when he learned of Agrippa's condition he left the country. Finding him dead, he conveyed his body to the capital and allowed it to lie in state in the Forum. He also delivered the oration over the dead man, with a curtain stretched in front of the corpse. Why he did this I know not. Yet some have said it was because he was high priest, and others because he was discharging the functions of censor. Both are mistaken. A high priest is not forbidden to behold a corpse, nor yet a censor, except when he is about to put the finishing touches to the census. Then if he sees such an object before his purification, all his work is rendered null and void. Besides this oration Augustus conducted his funeral procession in the way that his own was later conducted. He buried him in his own tomb, though the deceased had a lot of his own in the Campus Martius.

[-29-] Such was the end of Agrippa, who had in every way proved himself clearly the noblest of the men of his day and used the friendship of Augustus for the emperor's own greatest benefit and for that of the commonwealth. So much as he surpassed others in excellence, to such an extent did he voluntarily make himself lower than his patron. He employed all his own skill and bravery for what would prove most profitable to Augustus and expended all the honor and power received from him on benefiting others. As a result he never became in the least troublesome to Augustus nor the object of jealousy on the part of others. He helped his friend organize the monarchy like one who was really in love with the idea of supreme power and he won over the populace by his kindness, showing himself most truly a friend of the people. At his death he left them gardens and the bath-house called after his name, so that they might bathe free of charge; and he gave Augustus certain lands for this purpose. The latter not only rendered these public property, but distributed to the people also a hundred denarii apiece, with the explanation that Agrippa had ordered it. He had inherited most of the deceased's property, among the articles of which was the Hellespontine Chersonese, which had come I know not how into the possession of Agrippa. The emperor felt his loss for a very long time and therefore caused the populace to hold him in honor. A posthumous son born to him he called Agrippa. However, he did not allow any of the citizens to omit any of the ancestral customs (although none of the more prominent men wished to present himself for the festivals) and he personally superintended the gladiatorial combats. They were often given, too, in his absence.—This demise of Agrippa was not only a private loss to his own household, but a public loss to all the Romans, as was shown by the fact that portents occurred on this occasion as great as were usually seen before the most tremendous disasters. Owls gathered in the capital and a bolt of lightning descended upon the house at Albanum, where the consuls reside during the sacrifices.[11] The star called comet stood for several days over the City and was finally dissolved into flashes of light. Many buildings in the City were destroyed by fire, among them the tent of Romulus, which was set ablaze by crows dropping upon it burning meat from some altar.—These were the matters of interest connected with Agrippa.

[-30-] After this Augustus was chosen supervisor and corrector of morals for another five years,—this also he received for a limited period as he had the monarchy,—and he ordered the senators to burn incense as often as they had a sitting, and not to come to his residence: the first, that they might show reverence to the gods, and the second, that they might have no difficulty in convening. Inasmuch as very few became candidates for the tribuneship on account of its power having been abolished, he made a law that magistrates should each nominate one of the knights who possessed not less than twenty-five myriads; the people should then choose from these the number lacking, and if the men desired to be senators afterward, well and good; otherwise they should return again to the rank of knights.

The province of Asia also stood very greatly in need of some assistance on account of earthquakes, and he therefore paid into the public treasury from his own resources their annual tribute and assigned them a governor for two years chosen by lot and not arbitrarily selected.

Apuleius and Mæcenas were at one time bitterly reviled in some court of adultery, not because they had themselves behaved wantonly but because they had actively aided the man on trial; thereupon Augustus entered the courtroom and sat in the prætor's chair: he did nothing violent, but simply forbade the accuser to insult his relatives or friends, and then rose and left the place. For this action and others the senators honored him with statues, paid for by private subscription, and by giving bachelors and spinsters the right to behold spectacles with other people and to attend banquets on his birthday. Neither of these privileges was previously permitted them.

[-31-] When now Agrippa, whom he loved for his excellence and not through any compulsion, had died, the emperor found that he needed an assistant in the public business, one who would far surpass the rest in both honor and power, who might manage everything opportunely and be free from envy and plots. Therefore he reluctantly chose Tiberius, for his own grandsons were at this time still minors. He caused him also to divorce his wife, though she was a daughter of Agrippa by another marriage and had one child an infant and was soon to give birth to another; and having betrothed Julia to him he sent him out against the Pannonians. This people had for a time been quiet, fearing Agrippa, but now after his death they revolted. Tiberius subdued them, having ravaged considerable of their territory and done much injury to its inhabitants; he had as enthusiastic allies the Scordisci, who were neighbors of theirs and similarly equipped. He took away their arms and sold for export most of the male population that was of age. For these achievements the senate voted him a triumph, but Augustus did not allow him to hold it, granting him instead the triumphal honors.

[-32-] Drusus had this same experience. The Sugambri and their allies, owing to the absence of Augustus and the fact that the Gauls were restive under the yoke of slavery, had become hostile, and he therefore occupied the subject territory before them, sending for the foremost men on the pretext of the festival which they celebrate even now about the altar of Augustus at Lugdunum. Also he observed the Celtae crossing the Rhine and drove them back. Next he crossed over to the land of the Usipetes opposite the very island of the Batavi, and from there marched along the river to the Sugambri country, devastating vast stretches. He sailed along the Rhine to the ocean, conciliated the Frisii, and traversing the lake invaded Chaucis, where he ran in danger, as his boats were left high and dry at the ebb-tide of the ocean. He was saved at this time by the Frisii (who joined his expedition with infantry), and withdrew, for it was now winter.

Coming to Rome he was made aedile[12]in the consulship of Quintus Aelius and Paulus Fabius, though he had already prætor's honors.

[-33-] At the opening of the spring he set out again to the war, crossed the Rhine, and subjugated the Usipetes. He bridged the Lupia, invaded the country of the Sugambri and advanced through it into Cheruscis, as far as the Visurgis. He was able to do this because the Sugambri in anger at the Chatti, the only tribe among their neighbors that had refused to join their alliance, had made a campaign of the whole population against them. Drusus took this opportunity to traverse their country unnoticed. And he would nave crossed also the Visurgis, had not provisions grown scarce and the their country, and though beaten at first vanquished them in turn and ravaged both that land and the territory of adjacent tribes which had taken part in the uprising. Immediately he reduced all of them to subjugation, gaining control of some with their consent, terrifying others into reluctant submission, and engaging in pitched battles with others. Later, when some of them rebelled, he again enslaved them. And for this thanksgivings and triumphal honors were accorded him.

[-35-] While these events were occurring Augustus took a census, reckoning in all the property that belonged to him, as an individual might do, and also making a list of the senate. As he saw that many were not always present at the meetings he ordered that even less than four hundred might constitute a quorum for passing decrees. Previously that had been the minimum number for ratifying any measure. The senate and the people again contributed money to be spent on images of himself, but he would erect no such likeness, and only set up representations of the Public Health, of Concord, and of Peace. The citizens were always collecting money for statues to him, on the slightest excuse; and at last they ceased paying it privately, as before, but would come to him on the first day of the year and give, some more, some less. He, after adding as much or more again, would return it, not only to the senators but to all the rest. I have also heard the story that on one day of the year, following some oracle or dream, he would assume the guise of a beggar and would accept money from those who passed. This, whether trustworthy or not, is a prevailing tradition.

That year he gave Julia in marriage to Tiberius, and his sister Octavia dying, he caused her body to lie in state in the hero-shrine of Julius; on this occasion, too, he had a curtain over the corpse. He himself delivered there the funeral speech and Drusus, having changed his senatorial dress, had a place on the platform, for the mourning was a public affair. Her body was carried in procession by her sons-in-law: not all the honors voted to her were accepted by Augustus.

At this same time the first priest of Jupiter since [-36-] Merula was appointed; and the quaestors were ordered to pay careful heed to the decrees passed from time to time, because the tribunes and the ædiles, who had previously been entrusted with this business, transacted it through their assistants, and as a result some mistakes and confusion took place.

It was voted, moreover, that the temple of Janus Geminus, which was open, should be closed, on the assumption that wars had ceased.

It was not closed, however, for the Dacians crossing the Ister on the ice took the crops of Pannonia as booty, and the Dalmatians revolted at the imposition of taxes. Against the latter Tiberius was sent from Gaul, whither he had gone in company with Augustus, and he restored order. The nations of the Celtæ, and especially the Chatti, were partly weakened and partly subdued by Drusus; the tribe mentioned had gone to join the Sugambri, having abandoned their own country, which the Romans had given them to dwell in. The emperor delayed in Lugdunis, where he could keep a sharp watch on affairs, as it was so near the Celtæ. The victors returned to Rome with Augustus, assumed whatever dignities had been voted them by the senate, and performed such other duties as belonged to them.—These events took place in the consulship of Iullus and Fabius Maximus.

[Footnote 3: Augustus returned to Rome October twelfth, and the temple in question was consecrated December fifteenth.]

[Footnote 5: In the matter of the spelling of this name the weight of authority prefers Licinus . Dio's form is less correct.]

[Footnote 7: This eminence with its villa appropriately bore the Greek title Pausilypon (Grief's Surcease), a compound word like our modern names Heartsease , Sans Souci , etc. It is the modern "Hill of Posilipo."]

[Footnote 10: The words "certain honors" are supplied on the suggestion of Boissevain. Boissée and others, who surmise that the text here contains a lacuna]

[Footnote 12: The reading [Greek: agoranomos] is generally preferred here to [Greek: asotunmos]]

DIO'S

ROMAN HISTORY

About the legions and how men were appointed to manage the military fund (chapters 23-25).

Duration of time, 17 years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated:

Nero Claudius Tib. F. Drusus, T. Quinctius T. F. Crispinus. (B.C. 9 = a. u. 745.)

Tib. Claudius Tib. F. Nero (II), Cn. Calpurnius Cn. F. Piso. (B.C. 7 = a. u. 747.)

Decimus Laelius Decimi F. Balbus, C. Antistius C. F. Veter. (B.C. 6 = a. u. 748.)

L. Cornelius L. F. Lentulus, M. Valerius M. F. Messalla [or] Messalinus.
(B.C. 3 = a. u. 751.)

Cossus Cornelius Cn. F. Lentulus, L. Calpurnius Cn. F. Piso (B.C. 1 = a. u. 753.)

P. Vinicius [or Minucius] M. F., P. Alfenus [or Alfenius] P.F. Varus.
(A.D. 2 = a. u. 755.)

L. Valerius Potiti F. Messala Valesus, Cn. Cornelius L. F. Cinna Magnus.
(A.D. 5 = a. u. 758.)

Aul. Licinius Aul. F. Nerva Silianus, Q. Cæcilius Q.F. Metellus Creticus.
(A.D. 7 = a. u. 760.)

(BOOK 55, BOISSEVAIN.)

[-1-] The following year Drusus became consul with Titus Crispinus, and omens occurred that were not favorable to him. Many buildings were destroyed by storm and thunderbolts, among them many temples: even that of Jupiter Capitolinus and the temple annexed to it were injured. He, however, paid no attention to this and invaded the country of the Chatti, advancing as far as Suebia, conquering the territory traversed not without hardship and vanquishing the troops that assailed him not without bloodshed. From there he marched to Cheruscis and crossing the Visurgis proceeded as far as the Albis, pillaging the entire district. This Albis rises in the Vandaliscan mountains and empties in a great flood into the ocean this side of the Arctic Sea. Drusus undertook to cross it, but failing in the attempt set up trophies and withdrew. For a woman taller than mankind confronted him and said: "Whither are thou hastening, insatiable Drusus? It is not fated that thou shalt see all this region. Depart. For thee the end of labor and of life is already at hand." It is strange to think that any such voice should have come to a person's ears from the apparition, yet I can not discredit the tale, for he at once retired. And as he was returning in haste he died on the way of some disease, before he reached the Rhine. Proof of the story seems to me to lie in the fact that at the time of his death wolves prowled and yelped about the camp and two youths were seen riding through the middle of the ramparts. A kind of lamentation in a woman's voice was also heard, and there were shooting stars in the sky. These are the noteworthy points. [-2-] Augustus, soon learning that he was sick (for he was not far off), sent Tiberius to him with speed. The latter found him still breathing and on his death carried his body to Rome, causing the centurions and military tribunes to convey him over the first stage,—as far as the winter quarters of the army,—and from there the foremost men of each city. When the deceased was laid in state in the Forum a double funeral oration was delivered. Tiberius eulogized him there and Augustus in the Flaminian hippodrome. Since the latter had been abroad on a campaign it was impious for him to do otherwise than perform the fitting rites in honor of the exploits of Drusus at the very entrance of the pomerium. The body was carried to the Campus Martius by the knights, both those who belonged strictly to the equestrian order and those, as well, who were of senatorial family.[2] Then, after being given to the flames, it was deposited in the monument of Augustus. He and his children received the title of Germanicus and honors in the way of both images and an arch, besides obtaining a cenotaph close to the Rhine itself.

Tiberius, while Drusus was still alive, had overcome the Dalmatians and Pannonians, who were again a little restless, had celebrated a triumph on horseback, and had banqueted the people, a part on the Capitol and a part in many other places. At this time also Livia and Julia together entertained the women. Same festivities were being made ready for Drusus The Feriæ were to be held a second time on this account so that he might celebrate his triumph on the same occasion, but his untimely death upset the plans. As a consolation to Livia images were awarded her and she was enrolled among the mothers of three children. For upon such men or women as are not granted so many offspring by Heaven, or at least upon some of them, a law emanating formerly from the senate but now from the emperor bestows the dignities belonging to parents of three children. In this way they are not subject to the reproaches for childlessness and may receive all but a few of the prizes for fecundity. Not only men but gods enjoy the privilege, to the end that, if any one dying leaves them anything, they may take possession of it. These are the facts of the matter.

[-3-] Augustus ordered that the sittings of the senate should be held on specified days. Previously there had been no real system about them, and some members on that account were often late; therefore he appointed two regular monthly councils, so that those whom the law summoned should be under compulsion to attend; and in order that no other excuse for their absence should be within their power he commanded that no court or other meeting which required their attention should be held at that time. He made provision with respect to the number necessary for ratifying decrees under each separate category, to put it briefly; and he increased the fines imposed upon those who without good excuse were not present at the gatherings. Inasmuch as many such offences had generally gone unpunished owing to the large number of those who had incurred penalties, he commanded that if many should do this, they should draw lots, and every fifth one to draw a lot should be held liable to punishment.—The names of all the senators he had recorded on a white tablet and conspicuously posted. From the beginning made by him this is now annually done. His intention in doing it was to make it absolutely necessary for them to come together. Sometimes, by some accident, not so many might assemble as a special case demanded. This would be known, because except on such days as the emperor himself might be present the number of those in attendance was both at this time and later carefully ascertained, and with a great degree of accuracy. Under these circumstances they would deliberate and their decision would be recorded, but it was not final, was not ratified: instead, auctoritas was declared, in order that their will might be evident,—for such is the force of this word. To translate the term into Greek by a single expression is not possible. This same custom prevailed in case they ever assembled through haste in an irregular place, or on a day that was not fitting, or without a legal summons, or if because of the opposition of tribunes a decree could not be passed, but their opinion was not to be concealed. Later, ratification was granted according to ancestral precedent to the resolution in question, and the latter obtained the name of senatus consultum . This method, strictly observed for an extremely long period by the men of old time, has in a already become null and void,—as also the prerogative of the prætors. For the latter were indignant that they might bring no proposition before the senate although they ranked above the tribunes in dignity and they received from Augustus the right of doing so, but in the course of time it was taken away from them again.

[-4-] These and other laws which he at this time enacted he inscribed on white tablets and submitted to the senate before taking any final action with regard to them; and he allowed the senators to read, each one, the articles separately, his object being that if any provision did not please them, or if they could suggest anything better, they might speak. He was very desirous of being democratic, and once, when one of the companions of his campaigns asked him to aid him in the capacity of advocate, at first he pretended to be busy and bade one of his friends serve as advocate; when, however, the petitioner grew angry and said: "but as often as you needed my assistance, I did not send somebody else to you in place of myself, but in person I encountered dangers everywhere in your behalf," the emperor then entered the courtroom and pled his cause. He also stood by a friend of his who was defendant in a suit, having first communicated this very purpose to the senate: he saved the friend but was so far from being angry at his accuser, although the latter spoke most bluntly, that when he had to undergo a scrutiny regarding his morals the emperor acquitted him, saying that his bluntness was a necessary thing on account of the out-and-out baseness of the mass of mankind. Augustus, indeed, punished others who were reported to be conspiring against their sovereign. He had quæstors hold office in the coast districts near the City and in certain other parts of Italy; and this he did for several years. Yet at this time he was unwilling, as I have remarked, [3] to enter the city on account of Drusus's death.

[-5-] But the next year, in which Asinius Gallus and Graius Marcius were consuls, he came back and carried the laurel, contrary to custom, into the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. No festival did he celebrate over his achievements, thinking that he had lost far more in the death of Drusus than he had gained by the victories. The consuls carried out the program usual on such occasions and set some of the captives to fighting with one another. Later, when they and the rest of the officials were accused of having been appointed by means of some bribery, he did not investigate the case but pretended not even to know of it. He did not like to visit punishment on any of them or to pardon them if they were convicted. But from office seekers he demanded before the elections a deposit of money as a guarantee that they would resort to no such methods, on pain of forfeiting what they had paid in. This course all approved.—As it was not permissible for a slave to be tortured for evidence against his master, he ordered that, as often as the necessity for such a course should arise, the slave should be sold either to the State or to him, in order that being now the property of some one else than the man on trial he might be examined. Some found fault with this, because the law was to be invalidated by the change of masters; but others declared it to be necessary, because many under the previous arrangement united to take advantage of the loophole offered and to get the offices.

[-6-] Augustus, after this, although, as he said, he was minded to lay aside the supreme power, since the second ten-year period had run out, resumed it again with a show of reluctance and made a campaign against the Celtæ. He himself remained behind on Roman territory, but Tiberius crossed the Rhine. The barbarians in dread of him, all except the Sugambri, made overtures for peace, but they did not obtain their request at this time,—for Augustus refused to conclude a truce with them if they lacked the Sugambri,—nor did they later. To be sure, the Sugambri, too, sent envoys, but they failed completely to accomplish anything: on the contrary, all of them, a numerous and distinguished band, met an untimely end. Augustus arrested them and placed them in various cities: they took this very much amiss and committed suicide. The tribes then were quiet for a time, but later they amply requited the Romans for the calamity.—Besides doing this Augustus granted money to the soldiers, not as to victors, though he himself had taken the name of imperator and had given it to Tiberius, but because this was the first time that they had Gaius appearing in the exercises with them. He advanced Tiberius to the position of imperator in place of Drusus, and besides exalting him with that title appointed him consul once more. According to the ancient custom he had a written notice bulletined for the public benefit before Tiberius entered upon the office, and he furthermore accorded him the solemnity of a triumph. Augustus himself did not wish to hold it, but obtained the privilege of a horse-race perpetually upon his birthday. He enlarged the pomerium and renamed the month called Sextilis, Augustus. The people generally wanted September to be so named, because he had been born in it, but he preferred the other month, in which he had first been appointed consul and had conquered in many great battles. It was in these things that he took pride.

[-7-] The death of Mæcenas caused him grief. He had enjoyed many kind services at his hands, for which reason he had entrusted him, though but a knight, with the care of the City for a long time, but especially was his ministry of use when the emperor's passion became nearly uncontrollable. Mæcenas was then able to banish his anger and to lead him into a gentler frame of mind. Here is an instance. Mæcenas once found his patron holding court, and seeing that would undoubtedly condemn many persons to death, he undertook to push through the bystanders and get Finding this impossible, he wrote on a tablet: "Pray desist now, executioner." Making as if it contained something different, he threw it into the lap of Augustus, and the latter imposed no death sentences but immediately rose and left. The emperor was not displeased at such hints but rather glad of them, because whatever excess of anger he felt by reason of his own nature and the press of affairs he was able to tone down with the aid of his friend's frank advice.—This also is a very great proof of Mæcenas's excellence, that he made himself liked by Augustus, in spite of resisting his projects, and pleased all the people. Though he had tremendous influence with the emperor, so that he could bestow offices and honors upon many men, he did not lose his head but continued to the end of his life in the equestrian class. For all these reasons Augustus missed him greatly, and he was affected by the fact that his minister, though irritated about his own wife, had left him as his heir and had put all his property, save a very small amount, in his hands to give to his friends or not, as he saw fit. Such was the character of Mæcenas and such his treatment of Augustus. He was the first to construct a swimming pool of warm water in the city and the first to devise signs for letters, to facilitate speed,—a system which, through Aquila [4] a freedman, he taught to a number.

[-8-] Tiberius on the first day that he began the consulship with Gnæus Piso convened the senate in the Octavium, because it was outside the pomerium. After assigning himself the duty of repairing the temple of Concord, in order that he might inscribe upon it his own name and that of Drusus, he held his triumph, and in company with his mother dedicated the so-called Precinct of Livia. He himself entertained the senate on the Capitol, and she the women privately. Not much later, as there was some disturbance in Germany, he took the field. The festival held in honor of the return of Augustus was managed by Gaius together with Piso, in his place. The Campus Agrippæ (except the portico) and the Diribitorium Augustus himself made public property. The latter was the largest house ever constructed under a single roof; now the whole top of it has been taken off because it could not be put together solidly again, and the edifice stands wide open to the sky. Agrippa had left it still in the process of building, and it was completed at this time. The portico in the plain, which Polla his sister (who had also decorated the race-courses) was making, was not yet finished. Meantime funeral combats in honor of Agrippa were given, all except Augustus wearing dark clothing and even his sons the same, and there were both duels and contests of groups; they were held in the Sæpta out of honor to Agrippa and because many of the structures surrounding the Forum had been burned. The blame for the fire was laid upon the debtor class and they were suspected of having set it with the purpose of having some of their debts remitted when they appeared to have lost considerable. They obtained nothing, however. The lanes at this time were provided with certain supervisors from among the people, whom we call road commissioners[5] They were allowed to use official dress and two lictors just in the places where they had jurisdiction and on certain days, and they were given charge of the body of slaves which previously had accompanied the ædiles to save buildings that were set afire,—an arrangement still continued to the present day. They, together with the tribunes and prætors, were by lot appointed to have charge of the entire city, which was divided into fourteen wards.—These were all the events of that year, for nothing worthy of mention happened in Germany.

[-9-] The year following, which marked the consulship of Gaius Antistius and Lælius Balbus, Augustus was displeased to see that Gaius and Lucius, who were being brought up in the lap of sovereignty, did not carefully imitate his ways. They not only lived too luxuriously, but showed unseemly audacity. Lucius once entered the theatre by himself and became the center of attraction of the whole population; some merely let him engross their thoughts and others openly paid court to him. This treatment made him more arrogant, and among his other doings he proposed for consul Gaius, who was not yet a iuvenis. His father, however, expressed the earnest wish that no such complication of circumstances might arise as once occurred in his own case,—that any one younger than twenty should be consul. When the people still remained urgent he then said that a man ought to receive this office at time when he would not be liable to error himself and could resist the passions of the populace. After that he gave Gaius a priesthood, with the right of attendance in the senate and of beholding spectacles and sitting at banquets with that body. And wishing in some way [6] to rebuke them still more severely he bestowed upon Tiberius the tribunician authority for five years, and assigned to him Armenia, which was becoming estranged since the death of Tigranes. The result was that he was soon at odds with the people and Tiberius, though without effecting anything. The people felt that they had been slighted, and Tiberius feared their anger. He was, however, soon sent to Rhodes on the pretext that he needed some education; and he took not even his entire retinue, to say nothing of others, that so his appearance and his deeds might drop out of their minds. [The trip he made as a private person except in so far as he compelled the Parians to sell him the statue of Vesta, that it might be placed in the temple of Concord. When he reached the island he neither behaved at all nor spoke in an overweening way.—This is the truest reason for his foreign journey.] There is also a story current that he did this on account of his wife Julia, because he could no longer endure her; at any rate she was left behind at Rome. [Others have said that he was angry at not having been designated Cæsar. Others still, that he was driven out by Augustus, being accused of plotting against the latter's children. But that his departure was not for the sake of education nor because he was displeased at the decrees passed became plain from many of his subsequent actions, and especially through his immediately opening his will at that time, and reading it to his mother and to Augustus. But all possible conjectures were made.]

The following year Augustus in the course of his twelfth consulship placed Gaius among the iuvenes and at the same time brought him before the senate, declared him Princeps luventutis, and allowed him to become cavalry commander.

And after the elapse of a year Lucius also obtained all the honors that had been granted to his brother Gaius. On an occasion when the populace had gathered and were asking that some reforms be instituted, when, indeed, they had sent for this purpose the tribunes to Augustus, Lucius came and deliberated with them about their demands; and at this all were pleased.

[-10-]Augustus limited the number of the populace to be supplied with grain, something previously left vague, to twenty myriads, and, as some say, he gave each one sixty denarii.. .. to Mars, and that he himself and his grandsons, as often as they pleased, and those who were passing from the classification of children and were being registered among the iuvenes, should invariably resort thither; that magistrates being despatched to offices abroad should make that their starting-point; that the senate should there declare their votes in regard to the granting of triumphs and the victors celebrating them should devote to this Mars their sceptre and their crown; that such victors and all others who might obtain triumphal honors should have their likenesses in bronze erected in the Forum; that in case military standards captured by the enemy were ever recovered, they should be placed in the temple; that a festival of the god should be celebrated near the Scalæ by the persons successively occupying the office of præfectus alae; that a nail should be driven for his glory by those acting as censors; that senators have the right to undertake the work of furnishing the horses that were to compete in the equestrian contest, as well as the general care of the temple, precisely as had been provided by law in the case of Apollo and in the case of Jupiter Capitolinus.

These matters settled, Augustus dedicated that spacious hall: yet to Gaius and to Lucius he gave once and for all powers to officiate at all similar consecrations, on the strength of a kind of consular authority (founded on precedent) that they were to use. They, too, directed the horse-race on this occasion, and their brother Agrippa took part with the children of the leading families in the so-called "Troy" equestrian games. Two hundred and sixty lions were slaughtered in the hippodrome. There was a gladiatorial combat in the Sæpta, and a naval battle of "Persians" and "Athenians" was given on the spot, where even at the present day some relics of it are still exhibited. The above were the names applied to the parties engaged, and the Athenians, as of old, came out victorious.

In the course of the spectacle he let water into the Flaminian Hippodrome and thirty-six crocodiles were there cut in pieces. However, Augustus did not serve as consul every day continuously, but after holding office a little while he gave the title of the consulship to another.

These were the exercises in honor of Mars. To Augustus himself a sacred contest was offered in Neapolis, the Campanian city, nominally because he had helped it rise when it was prostrated by earthquake and by fire, but in reality because the inhabitants, alone of their neighbors, were enthusiastic over Greek customs; and he also received the title of Father, with, binding force (for previously he was merely spoken of by that name and no decree had been passed). Moreover, it was now that for the first time he appointed two pretorian prefects, Quintus Ostorius Scapula and Publius Salvius Aper. This term "prefect" is the word which I, too, shall use solely to designate the commanders of any body, since it has won its way into general currency. Likewise Pylades the dancer conducted certain games, not performing any manual labor in connection with them (since he was now a man of advanced age) but employing the insignia of office and authorizing the necessary expenditures. Similarly the prætor Quintus Crispinus conducted games (though I need lay no emphasis on that point) and under his management knights and women of families not unknown to fame were brought into the orchestra. But of all this Augustus made no account; his daughter Julia, however, proved so dissolute that she held revels and drinking bouts by night in the Forum and on the very rostra. When at last he found this out, he was exceedingly enraged. He had guessed before that she did not lead a right life, but refused to believe it. For those who hold supreme power are acquainted with anything better than with their own affairs. Their own deeds do not go undetected by their associates, but they are not fully aware of the latter's. In this instance [when he learned what was going on], he gave way to such violent rage that he could not keep the matter to himself, but communicated it to the senate. As a result she was banished to the island of Pandateria, near Campania, and her mother Scribonia voluntarily was the companion of her voyage. Of the men who enjoyed her favors Iullus Antonius, on the ground that his conduct was prompted by designs upon the monarchy, was put to death, along with others, [prominent persons]. The remainder were banished to islands. [And since there was a tribune among them he was not tried till he had completed his term of office.] Many other women, too, were accused of similar behavior, but the emperor would not permit all the suits: he set a definite time and forbade investigation of what had occurred previous to that. In the case of his daughter he would show no mercy, urging that he would rather have been Phoebe's father than hers, but the rest he spared. Now Phoebe been a freedwoman of Julia's and the companion of her undertakings, and had already caused her own death. For this Augustus praised her.

Gaius' captaincy of the legions on the Ister was a peaceful period. He fought no war, not because there was none but because he cultivated ruling in quiet and safety, and the dangers were assigned to others.

The revolt of the Armenians and the Parthians' coöperation with them kept Augustus sorrowful, and he was at a loss to know what to do. His age rendered him incapable of campaigning, Tiberius (as stated) had already withdrawn, he could not venture to send any other influential man, and Gaius and Lucius were, as it happened, young and inexperienced in affairs. Still, under the prod of necessity, he chose Gaius, gave him the proconsular authority and a wife (an act intended to increase his dignity) and assigned advisers to him. Gaius set out and was everywhere received with marks of distinction, occupying as he did the position of the emperor's grandson,—one might almost say son,—and Tiberius went to Chios and paid him court to rid himself of suspicion. He humiliated himself and groveled at the feet not only of Gaius but of all the latter's associates. On his return to Syria, after no great successes won, he was wounded.

[When the barbarians heard of the campaign of Gaius, Phrataces sent to Augustus men to explain what had occurred and asked to get back his brothers on condition of accepting peace.

The emperor's reply, addressed simply to "Phrataces," without the title of king, directed him to lay aside the royal name and withdraw from Armenia. The Parthian, however, instead of being cowed at this, wrote back in a generally supercilious tone, calling himself "king of kings," but the other only "Cæsar."—Tigranes did not at once send any envoys, but when Artabazus somewhat later fell sick and died he despatched a letter, not writing the name "king" in it, and asked Augustus for the kingdom. Influenced by these considerations and in fear, likewise, of war with the Parthians, the emperor accepted the gifts and bade him go with good hopes to meet Gaius in Syria.]

[-10a-( Boissevain )] … other party from Egypt that campaigned against them they repulsed, and did not yield till a tribune from the pretorian guard was sent against them. He in progress of time checked their incursions, and for a long period no senator governed the cities in this region.

Coincident with these troubles there was a new movement on the part of the Celtæ. Some time earlier Domitius, while still governing the regions adjacent to the Ister, had intercepted the Hermunduri (a tribe that for some unknown reason had left their native land and were wandering about in search of a different country), and he had settled them in a portion of Marcomania; next, encountering no opposition, he had crossed the Albis, cemented friendship with the barbarians on the other side, and set up an altar to Augustus to commemorate the event. Just now he had transferred his position to the Rhine, where, in pursuance of an intention to have his subordinates restore certain Cheruscian exiles, he had met with misfortune and had caused the other barbarians likewise to concieve a contempt for the Romans. This was, however, the extent of his operations during the year in question, for because of the Parthian war impending no chastisement was visited upon the rebels immediately.

Nevertheless the war with the Parthians did not materialize. Phrataces heard that Gaius was in Syria, equipped with consular powers, and was furthermore uneasy about home interests in which even previously he had failed to discern a friendly feeling; hence he hastened to effect a reconciliation, secured on the proviso that he himself should depart from Armenia and his brothers remain over seas.

Now the Armenians fell into conflict with the Romans the following year, in which Publius Vinicius and Publius Varus were consuls. The restraining influence of the fact that Tigranes had perished in some barbarian war and that Erato had resigned the sovereignty was nullified as soon as they were delivered to a Mede, Ariobarzanes, who had once come to the Romans in company with Tiridates. They accomplished nothing worthy of note save that a leader named Addon,[7] who was occupying Artagira, induced Gaius to come close up to the wall, pretending that he would reveal to him some secrets of the Parthian king, and then wounded him. In the consequent siege he maintained a prolonged resistance. When he was at last overthrown, not only Augustus but Gaius, too, assumed the title of imperator, and Armenia passed into the control of Ariobarzanes. Soon after the latter died, and his son Artabazus received it as the gift of Augustus and the senate. Gaius fell ill from the wound, and though he was not in any way robust and the condition of his health had, in fact, injured his mind, he now grew still more feeble. At length he begged leave to retire to private life, and it was his wish to take up his abode somewhere in Syria. Augustus, in the depth of grief, communicated his desire to the senate, and urged him to come at any rate to Italy and then do what he pleased. So Gaius resigned at once all the duties of his office and took a coastwise trading vessel to Lycia, where, at Limyra, he breathed his last. Prior to his demise the spark of Lucius's life had also paled. (He, too, was being given practice in many places, sent now here, now there; and he was wont to read personally the letters of Gaius before the senate, so often as he was present.) His death was due to a sudden illness. In connection with both these cases, therefore, suspicion rested upon Livia, and particularly because the return of Tiberius from Rhodes to Rome occurred at this time. [-11-] As for him he was so extremely well versed in the art of divination by the stars, having with him Thrasyllus, who was a past master of all astrology, that he had understood accurately what was fated both for himself and for them. And the story goes that once in Rhodes he was about to push Thrasyllus from the walls, because the latter was the only one aware of all he had in mind; observing, however, that his intended victim looked gloomy, he asked him why his face was overcast. When the other replied that he suspected some danger, he was surprised [8] and gave up his murderous designs. Thrasyllus had such a clear knowledge of all things that when he descried approaching afar off the boat which brought to Tiberius the message from his mother and Augustus to return to Rome, he told him in advance what news it would bring.

[-12-] The bodies of Lucius and of Gaius were brought to Rome by the military tribunes and by the chief men of each city. The targes and the golden spears which they had received from the knights on entering the class of iuvenes were set up in the senate-house.

Augustus was once called "master" by the people, but he not only forbade that any one should use this form of address to him but took very good care in every way to enforce his command.

When his third ten-year period had been accomplished, he then accepted the rulership for the fourth time,—of course under compulsion! He had become milder through age and more hesitating in regard to offending any of the senators and now wished to have no differences with any of them.

For lending for three years to such as needed it fifteen hundred myriads of denarii, without interest, he was praised and reverenced by all.

Once, when a fire destroyed the palace, and many persons offered him large amounts, he would take nothing except an aureus from the various peoples and a denarius from single individuals. The name aureus , which I give here, is a local term for a piece of money worth twenty-five denarii.[9] Some of the Greeks also, whose books we read for acquiring a pure Attic style, give it this name. When Augustus had restored his dwelling he made all of it public property, either because of the contributions made by the people or because he was high priest and wished to live in a building both private and public.

[-13-] The people urged Augustus very strongly to rescind the sentence of exile passed upon his daughter, but he answered that fire would mix with water before she should be brought back. And the populace did throw a good deal of fire into the Tiber. For the time being they accomplished nothing, but later they brought such pressure to bear that she was at last moved from the island to the mainland.

And later the outbreak of war with the Celtæ found Augustus worn
out in body (by reason of old age and sickness) and incapable of taking
the field. Yielding, then, partly to the requirements of the situation
and partly to the persuasions of Julia[10] (who had already been restored
from banishment)
he both adopted Tiberius and sent him out[11] against the Celtæ, granting
him the tribunician authority for ten years.

Yet suspecting that he might lose his head and fearing a possible insurrection he adopted for him also his nephew Germanicus, though Tiberius himself had a son. After this he took courage, and feeling that he had successors and supporters, he became desirous to organize the senate once more. So he nominated the ten senators whom he most honored and appointed three of them, selected by lot, to be scrutinizers. There were not many, however, who either imposed sentence on themselves beforehand,—permission being given them to do so, just as previously,—or were retired against their will.

This business, then, was managed by others. The emperor himself took a census of the inhabitants of Italy possessing property valued at not less than five myriad denarii. The weaker citizens and those dwelling outside of Italy he did not compel to undergo the taking of a census, for he feared that they might be disturbed and show insubordination of some sort. And in order that he might not seem to be acting in the capacity of censor (for the reason I mentioned before) [12] he assumed proconsular powers for the purpose of completing the census and accomplishing the purification. And inasmuch as many of the young men of the senatorial class and of the equestrian, as well, had grown poor though not at fault for it themselves, he made up to most of them the required amount of property, and in the case of some eighty increased it to thirty myriads.

Since, also, many were giving unrestricted emancipation to their slaves, he directed what age the manumitter and likewise the person to be liberated by him must have reached: moreover, what regulations people in general, and the former masters, should observe toward those made freedmen.

[-14-] While he was thus occupied plots were formed against him, and notably one by Gnæus Cornelius, a son of the daughter of Pompey the Great. For some time the emperor was a prey to great perplexity not wishing to kill the men,—for he saw that no greater safety would be his by their destruction,—nor yet to let them go, for fear this might attract others to conspire against him. While he was in a dilemma as to what he should do and could not be free from anxiety by day nor from terror by night, Livia one day said to him:—

"Wife," answered Augustus, "who could be even to the slightest degree free from care, that has so many enemies and is so constantly the object of plots of one set of men or another? Do you not see how many are attacking both me and our sovereignty? The vengeance meted out to those found guilty does not retard them: quite the contrary, as if they were pressing forward to do some noble action the rest also hasten to perish similarly."

Livia, hearing this, said: "That you should be the object of plots is not remarkable, nor is it contrary to human nature. Having so large an empire you must do many things and naturally you cause grief to not a few people. A ruler can not please all: on the contrary, even an exceedingly upright sovereign must inevitably make foes of many persons. For those who wish to be unjust are many more than those who act justly, and their desires it is impossible to satisfy. Even among such as possess a certain excellence some yearn for many great rewards which they can not obtain and some chafe because they are inferior to others: so both of them find fault with the ruler. From this you can see that it is impossible to avoid evil, and furthermore that of all the attacks made none is upon you but all upon your position of supremacy. If you were a private citizen, no one would willingly do you any harm unless he had previously received some injury. But for the supremacy and for the good things that it contains all yearn, and those who occupy any post of influence far more than their inferiors. It is the nature of wicked men, who have very little sense, to do so. It is implanted in their dispositions, just like anything else, and it is impossible by either persuasion or compulsion to remove such a bent from some of them. There is no law or fear stronger than natural tendencies. Reflect on this and do not take the offences of others so hard, but keep yourself and your supremacy carefully guarded, that we may hold it safely not by virtue of inflicting severe punishments but by means of strict watchfulness."

[-15-] To this Augustus replied: "Wife, I too know that nothing great is ever free from envy and plots,—least of all sole power. We should be peers of the gods if we did not have troubles and cares and fears beyond all private individuals. But to me it is also a source of grief that this is inevitably so and that no cure for it can be found."

"Yet," said Livia, "since some men are so constituted as to want to do wrong in any event, let us guard against them. We have many soldiers who protect us,—some marshaled against foreign foes and others about your person,—and a large retinue, so that by their help we may live safely both at home and abroad."

"I do not need," said Augustus, interrupting, "to state that many men on many occasions have perished at the hands of their immediate associates. For in addition to other disadvantages this, too, is a most distressing thing in monarchies, that we fear not only enemies (like other people) but also our friends. Many more rulers have been plotted against by such persons than by those who had nothing to do with them. This is to be expected, since the inner circle is with the potentate day and night, exercising and eating, and he has to take food and drink that they have prepared. Moreover, against acknowledged enemies you can array these very men, but against the latter themselves there is no one else to employ as an ally. To us, therefore, the whole time through, solitude is dreadful, company dreadful: to be unguarded is terrifying, but most terrifying are the guards themselves: enemies are difficult to deal with, but still greater difficulties are presented by our friends. They must all be called friends, whether they are such or not, but even if one should find them most reliable, even so one may not trust one's self in their company with a clear, carefree, unsuspecting heart. This, then, and the fact that it is requisite to take measures of defence against ordinary conspirators, make the situation overwhelmingly dreadful. For to be always compelled to be inflicting punishment and chastisement upon somebody is highly repugnant to men of character."

[-16-] "You are right," answered Livia, "and I have some advice to give you,—at least, if you prove willing to receive it and willing not to censure me that, woman as I am, I dare to make suggestions to you which no one else, even of your most intimate friends, would venture. And this is not through any lack of knowledge on their part, but because they are not bold enough to speak."

"I will tell you," continued Livia, "without hesitation, because I share your comforts and adversities, and while you are safe I myself hold dominion day by day, whereas if you come to any harm (which Heaven forbid!) I shall perish with you. Well, then, human nature persuades some to sin under any conditions, and there is no device for controlling it when it has once started toward any goal. What seems good to persons,—not to rehearse the vices of the masses,—at once induces very many of them to do wrong. [-17-] The boast of birth and pride of wealth, greatness of honor, audacity founded on bravery, and conceit due to authority, bring shipwreck to not a few. There is no making nobility ignoble, bravery cowardly, or prudence foolish: it is impossible. Nor, again, is it to curtail men's abundance or to strike down ambitions where conduct has been correct: that is iniquitous. That he who is on the defensive and anticipates others' movements should incur injury and ill repute is inevitable. Come, let us change our policy and spare some of them. To me it seems far more feasible to set things right by kindness than by harshness. Not only are those who grant pardon loved by the objects of their clemency, who strive to repay the favor, but all others both respect and reverence them and will not readily endure to see harm done to them. Sovereigns, however, who maintain an inexorable anger not only are hated by those who have aught to fear, but cause uneasiness to all the rest. As a result, men plot against them to avoid meeting an untimely fate. Do you not notice that physicians very rarely have recourse to cutting and burning, wishing to avoid aggravating a person's disease, but in the majority of cases soothe and cure by means of fomentations and mild drugs? Do not think that because those ailments have to do with the body and these with the mind that they are essentially different. Very many experiences of the body are similar in a way to what goes on in the souls of men, no matter how bodiless the latter may be. The soul contracts under the influence of fear and expands under that of wrath. Pain humiliates men and audacity puffs them up. The correspondences then are very close and therefore both kinds of trouble need treatments which are much alike. A gentle speech uttered to a man causes all his unruliness to subside, just as a harsh one provokes to anger even an easy-going person. The granting of pardon melts the most audacious, just as punishment irritates the most mild. Acts of violence inflame all men in every instance, even though such measures may be thoroughly just, but considerate treatment mollifies them. Hence one would more readily brave great dangers through persuasion and voluntarily, than under compulsion. Such is the inherent, unalterable quality of both methods of behavior that even among brute beasts that have no mind many of the strongest and fiercest are domesticated by petting and are subdued by coaxing, whereas many of the most cowardly and weak are made unmanageable and maddened by cruelties and terrors.

[-18-] "I am not saying that we must spare absolutely all wrongdoers, for we must cut out of the way the daredevil and busybody, the man of evil nature and evil devices, who gives himself up to an unyielding, persistent baseness, just as we treat parts of the body that are quite incurable. But of the rest, who err through youth or ignorance or a misunderstanding or some other chance, some purposely and others unwillingly, it is proper to admonish some with words, to bring others to their senses by threats, and to handle still others with moderation in some different way, precisely as in other [matters] … all men impose upon some greater and upon others lesser punishments. So far as these persons are concerned you may employ moderation without danger, inflicting upon some the penalty of banishment, upon others that of loss of political rights, upon still others a money fine. You may also place some of them in country districts or in certain cities.

"In the past a few have been brought to their senses by missing what they hoped for, by failing to secure what they aimed at. A degradation in seats[13] and factional disputes involving disgrace, as well as being injured or terrified before they could make a move, has improved not a few. Yet one well born and courageous would prefer to die rather than to have any such experience. As a result, vengeance would become not easier for the plotters but more difficult, and we should be able to live in safety, since not a word could be said against us. At present we are thought to kill many through anger,[14] many because of a desire for their money, others through fear of their bravery, and a great many others on account of jealousy of their excellence. No one will readily believe that a person possessing so great an authority and power can seriously be the object of the plots of any unarmed individual. Some talk as above and others say that we hear a great many lies and foolishly pay heed to many of them, believing them true. They assert that those who spy into and overhear doubtful matters concoct many falsehoods, some being influenced by enmity, others by wrath, some because they can get money from their foes, others because they can get no money from the same persons, and further, that they report not only the fact of certain persons having committed suspicious actions or intending to commit them, but also how A said so-and-so, and B hearing it was silent, how one man laughed and somebody else wept.

[-19-] "I could cite innumerable other details of like nature which, no matter how true they were, are no business for free men to concern themselves about or report to you. If they went unnoticed, they would do you no harm, but when heard they might irritate you even against your will: and that ought by no means to happen, especially in a ruler of the people. Now many believe that from this cause large numbers unjustly perish, some without a trial and others by some unwarranted condemnation of a court. They will not admit that the evidence given or statements made under torture or any similar proof against them is genuine. This is the sort of talk, though some of it may not be just, which is reported in the case of practically all so put to death. And you ought, Augustus, to be free not only from injustice but from the appearance of it. It is sufficient for a private individual to avoid irregular conduct, but it behooves a ruler to incur not even the suspicion of it. You are the leader of human beings, not of beasts, and the only way you can make them really friendly to you is by persuading them by every means and constantly, without a break, that you will wrong no one either voluntarily or involuntarily. A man can be forced to fear another but he has to be persuaded to love him: and he is to be persuaded by the good treatment he himself receives and the benefits he sees conferred on others. The person, however, who suspects that somebody has perished unjustly both fears that he may some day meet the same fate and is compelled to hate the one responsible for the deed. And to be hated by one's subjects is (besides containing no element of good) exceedingly unprofitable. The general mass of people feel that ordinary individuals must defend themselves against all who wrong them in any way or else be despised and consequently oppressed: but rulers, they think, ought to prosecute those who wrong the State but endure those who are thought to commit offences against them privately; rulers can not be harmed by disdain or assault, because they have many guardians to protect them.

[-20-] "When I hear this and turn my attention to this I feel inclined to tell you outright to put no one to death for any such reason. Places of supremacy are established for the preservation of subjects, to prevent them from being injured either by one another or by foreign tribes: such places are not, by Jupiter, for the purpose of allowing the rulers themselves to hard their subjects. It is most glorious to be able not to destroy most of the citizens but to save them all, if possible. It is right to educate them by laws and, favours and admonitions, that they may be right-minded and further to watch and guard them, so that even if they wish to do wrong they may not be able. And if there is anything ailing, we must cure and correct it in some way, in order that there may be no entire loss. To endure the offences of the multitude is a task requiring great prudence and force: if any one should simply punish all of them as they deserve, before he knew it he would have destroyed the majority of mankind. For these reasons, then, I give you my opinion to the effect that you should not inflict the death penalty for any such error, but bring the men to their senses in some other way, so that they will not again do anything dangerous. What crime could a man commit shut up on an island, or in the country, or in some city, not only destitute of a throng of servants and money, but under guard, if it be necessary? If the enemy were anywhere near here or some alien force had dominion over this sea so that one of the prisoners might escape to them and do us some harm, or if, again, there were strong cities in Italy with fortifications and weapons, so that if a man seized them he might become a menace to us, that would be a different story. But all towns in this neighborhood are unarmed and lacking any walls that would serve in war, and the enemy is removed from them by vast distances; a long stretch of sea, and a journey by land including mountains and rivers hard to cross lie between them and us.

Why, then, should one fear this man or that man, defenceless, private citizens, here in the middle of your empire and enclosed by your armed forces? I can not see how any one could conceive such a notion or how the maddest madman could accomplish anything.

[-21-] "With these premises, therefore, let us give the idea a trial. The discontented will soon themselves change their ways and bring about an improvement in others. You notice that Cornelius is both of good birth and renowned. This matter has to be reasoned out in a human fashion. The sword can not effect everything for you; it would be a great blessing if it could bring some men to their senses and persuade them or even compel them to love any one with genuine affection: but, instead, it will destroy the body of one man and alienate the minds of the rest. People do not become more attached to any one because of the vengeance they see meted out to others, but they become more hostile through the influence of their own fears. That is one side of the picture. On the other hand, those who obtain pardon for any crime and repent are ashamed to wrong their benefactors again, but render them much service in return, hoping to receive much more again for it. When a man is saved by some one who has been wronged, he thinks that his rescuer, if fairly treated, will go to any lengths to aid him. Heed me, therefore, dearest, and make a change. Then all your other acts that have caused displeasure will appear to have been due to necessity. In conducting so great a city from democracy into monarchy it is impossible to make the transfer without bloodshed. But if you follow your old policy, you will be thought to have done these unpleasant things intentionally."

[-22-] Augustus heeded these suggestions of Livia and released all those against whom charges were pending, admonishing some of them orally; Cornelius he even appointed consul. Later he so conciliated both him and the other men that no one else again really plotted against him or had the reputation of so doing. Livia had had most to do with saving the life of Cornelius, yet she was destined to be held responsible for the death of Augustus.

At this time, in the consulship of Cornelius and Valerius Messala, earthquakes of ill omen occurred and the Tiber tore away the bridge so that the City was under water for seven days. There was an eclipse of the sun, and famine set in. This same year Agrippa was enrolled among the iuvenes, but obtained none of the same privileges as his brother. The senators attended the horse-races separately and the knights also separately from the remainder of the populace, as is done nowadays. And since the noblest families did not show themselves inclined to give their daughters for the service of Vesta, a law was passed that the daughters of freedmen might likewise be consecrated. Many contended for the honor, and so they drew lots in the senate in the presence of their fathers; no priestess, however, was appointed from this class.

[-23-] The soldiers were displeased at the small size of the prizes for the wars that had taken place at this period and no one was willing to carry arms for longer than the specified term of his service. It was therefore voted that five thousand denarii be given to members of the pretorian guard when they had ended sixteen, and three thousand to the other soldiers when they had completed twenty years' service. Twenty-three legions were being supported at that time, or, as others say, twenty-five, of citizen soldiers. Only nineteen of them now remain. The Second (Augusta) is the one that winters in Upper Britain. Of the Third there are three divisions,—the Gallic, in Phoenicia; the Cyrenaic, in Arabia; the Augustan, in Numidia. The Fourth. (Scythian) is in Syria, the Fifth (Macedonian), in Dacia. The Sixth is divided into two parts, of which the one (Victrix) is in Lower Britain, and the other (Ferrata) is in Judæa. The soldiers of the Seventh, generally called Claudians, are in Upper Moesia. Those of the Eighth, Augustans, are in Upper Germany. Those of the Tenth are both in Upper Pannonia (Legio Gemina) and in Judaea. The Eleventh, in Lower Moesia, is the Claudian. This name two legions received from Claudius because they had not fought against him in the insurrection of Camillus. The Twelfth (Fulminata) is in Cappadocia: the Thirteenth (Gemina) in Dacia: the Fourteenth (Gemina) in Upper Pannonia: the Fifteenth (Apollinaris) in Cappadocia. The Twentieth, called both Valeria and Victrix, is also in Upper Britain. These, I believe, together with those that have the title of the Twenty second[15] and winter in Upper Germany Augustus took in charge and kept; and this I say in spite of the fact that they are by no means called Valerians by all and do not themselves use the title any longer. These are preserved from the Augustan legions. Of the rest some have been scattered altogether and others were mixed in with different legions by Augustus himself and by the other emperors, from which circumstance they are thought to have been called Gemina.

[-24-] Now that I have once been brought into a discussion of the legions, I shall speak of the forces as they are at present according to the disposition made by subsequent emperors: in this way any one who desires to learn anything about them may do so easily, finding all his information written in one place. Nero organized the First legion, called the Italian, and now wintering in Lower Moesia; Galba, the First legion, called Adiutrix, in Lower Pannonia, and the Seventh (Gemina), which is in Spain; Vespasian, the Second, Adiutrix, in Lower Pannonia, and the Fourth (the Flavian) in Syria; Domitian, the First (Minervia), in Lower Germany; Trajan, the Second (the Egyptian), and the Thirtieth (Germanic), which he also named after himself. Marcus Antoninus organized the Second, which is in Noricum, and the Third, in Rhætia; these are also called Italian: Severus the Parthian legions, i. e., the First and the Third in Mesopotamia and between them the Second, the one in Italy.

This is at present the number of legions which are enrolled in the service, exclusive of the cohortes urbanæ and the pretorian guard. At that time, in the days of Augustus, those I mentioned were being supported, whether twenty-three or twenty-five altogether; and then there was some allied force, whatever the size, of infantry and cavalry and sailors. I can not state the exact figures. The body-guards, ten thousand in all, were divided into ten portions, and the six thousand warders of the city into four portions, and there were picked foreign horsemen to whom the name Batavians is applied (from the island Batavia in the Rhine), because the Batavians are noted for superiority in horsemanship. I can not, however, state their exact number any more than that of the evocati. He began to reckon in the latter from the time that he called the warriors who had previously supported his father to arms again against Antony; and he retained control of them. They constitute even now a special corps and carry rods, like the centurions.

For the distribution mentioned he needed money and therefore introduced a motion into the senate to the effect that a definite permanent fund be created, in order that without troubling any private citizen they might obtain abundant support and rewards from the proposed appropriation. The means for such a fund was accordingly sought.—As no one showed a willingness to become ædile, some from the ranks of ex-quæstors and ex-tribunes were compelled by lot to take the office. This happened frequently at other times.

[-25-] After this, in the consulship of Æmilius Lepidus and Lucius Arruntius, when no source for the fund was found that suited anybody, but quite everybody felt dejected because such an attempt was being made, Augustus in the name of himself and of Tiberius put money into the treasury, which he called the ærarium militare. Some of the ex-prætors—such as drew the lots—he instructed to administer it for three years, employing two lictors apiece and such further assistance as was fitting. This was done by successive officials for a number of years. At present they are chosen by whoever is emperor and they go about without lictors. Augustus himself made some further contributions and promised to do this annually, and he accepted offers from kings and certain peoples. From private individuals, though a number were ready and glad to give (as they said), he would take nothing. But as all this proved very slight in comparison with the large amount spent, and there was need of some inexhaustible supply, he ordered each one of the senators to devise means by himself, to write his plan in a book, and give it to him to look over. This was not because he had no plan of his own, but because he was most anxious to persuade them to choose the one that he wished. Various men proposed various courses, but he would approve none of them: instead, he arranged for five per cent. of the inheritances and bequests which should be left by deceased persons (except in the case of very near relations or poor families); he pretended that he had found this tax suggestion in Cæsar's memoirs. It was a method that had been introduced once before, but had been later abolished and was now introduced anew. In this way he increased the revenues. The expenditures made by three men of consular rank, whom the lot designated, he partly made smaller and partly did away with altogether.

[-26-] This was not the only source of trouble to the Romans: there was also a severe famine. As a consequence, the gladiators and the slaves offered for sale were removed to a distance of over seven hundred and fifty stadia, Augustus and others dismissed the greater part of their retinue, there was a cessation of lawsuits, and senators were permitted to leave the city and go where they pleased. In order to prevent any hindrance to decrees from this last measure it was ordered that all those framed by as many as happened to attend meetings should be binding. Moreover, ex-consuls were appointed to take charge of grain and bread supplies, so as to have a stated quantity sold to each person. Those who were recipients of public bounty had as much added to their supply gratis by Augustus as they might obtain at any time. When even that did not suffice, he forbade the citizens to hold any public festivals on his birthday.

Since also at this time many parts of the City fell a prey to fire, he formed a company of freedmen in seven divisions to render assistance on such occasions, and appointed a knight as their leader, thinking soon to disband them. He did not do this, however. Having ascertained by experience that the aid they gave was most valuable and necessary, he kept them. The night-watchmen exist to the present day, subject to special regulations, and those in the service are selected not from the freedmen only any longer but from on the rest of the classes as well. They have barracks in the city and draw pay from the public treasury.

[-27-] The multitude, under the burden of the famine and the tax and the losses sustained by fire, were ill at ease. They discussed openly many schemes of insurrection and by night scattered pamphlets more still: this move was said to be traceable to a certain Publius Rufus, but others were suspected of it. Rufus could not have originated or have taken an active part in it; therefore it was thought that others who aimed at a revolution were making an illicit use of his name. An investigation of the affair was resolved upon and rewards for information offered. Information accordingly came in and the city as a result was stirred up. This lasted till the scarcity of grain subsided, when gladiatorial games in honor of Drusus were given by Germanicus Cæsar and Tiberius Claudius Nero, his sons. [In the course of them an elephant vanquished a rhinoceros and a knight distinguished for his wealth fought as a gladiator.] The people were encouraged by this honor shown to the memory of Drusus and by Tiberius's dedication of the temple of the Dioscuri, upon which he inscribed not only his name but also that of Drusus. Himself he called Claudianus instead of Claudius, because of his adoption into the family of Augustus. He continued to direct operations against the enemy and visited the City constantly whenever opportunity offered; this was partly on account of various kinds of business but chiefly owing to fear that Augustus might promote somebody else during his absence. These were the events in the City that year.

In Achæa the governor died in the middle of his term and directions were given to his quæstor and to his assessor (whom, as I have said,[16] we call legatus) that the latter should administer the government as far as the isthmus, and the former the rest of it. Herod [17] of Palestine, who was accused by his brothers of some wrongdoing, was banished beyond the Alps and his portion of the Palestinian domain reverted to the State. [Augustus suffered from old age and infirmity, so that he could not transact business for all that needed his aid: some cases he reviewed and tried with his counselors, sitting upon the tribunal on the Palatine; the embassies which came from the various nations and princes he put in charge of three ex-consuls, under the arrangement that any one of them individually might listen to such an embassy and return an answer, except in cases where it was necessary for himself and the senate to render a decision besides.]

[-28-] During this same period also many wars took place. Pirates overran many quarters, so that Sardinia had no senatorial governor for some years, but was in charge of soldiers with knights for commanders. Not a few cities rebelled, with the result that for two years the same persons held office in the same provinces of the People, and were personally appointed instead of being chosen by lot. The provinces of Cæsar were in general so arranged that men should govern in the same places for a considerable time. However, I shall not go into all these matters minutely. Many things not worthy of record happened in individual instances, and no one would be benefited by the exact details. I shall mention simply the events worth remembering, and very briefly, save those of greatest importance.

The Isaurians began marauding expeditions and kept on till they faced grim war, but were finally subdued. The Gætuli, discontented with their king, Juba, and at the same time feeling themselves slighted because not governed by the Romans, rose against him: they ravaged the neighboring territory and killed even many of the Romans who made a campaign against them. In fine, they gained so great an ascendancy that Cornelius Cossus, who reduced them, received triumphal honors and title for it. While these troubles were in progress expeditions against the Celtæ were being conducted by various leaders, and notably by Tiberius. He advanced first to the river Visurgis and subsequently as far as the Albis, but nothing of any moment was accomplished then, although not only Augustus but also Tiberius was dubbed imperator for it, and Gaius Sentius, governor of Germany, received triumphal honors. The Celtæ were so afraid of their foes that they made a truce with him not merely once but twice. And the reason that peace was again granted them, in spite of their having broken it so soon, was that the affairs of the Dalmatians and Pannonians, who had begun a rebellion on a large scale, needed vigilant attention.

[-29-] The Dalmatians, smarting under the levies of tribute, had for some time previous kept quiet even against their will. But, at the same time that Tiberius made his second campaign against the Celtæ, Valerius Messalinus, the governor of Dalmatia and Pannonia, was himself despatched to the front with Tiberius, taking most of his army; they, too, were ordered to send a contingent and on coming together for this purpose had a chance to see the flower of their fighting force. After that there was no more delay, but urged on particularly by one Bato, a Dæsidiatian, at first a few revolted and worsted the Romans that came against them, and this success then led others to rebel. Next, the Breuci, a Pannonian tribe, put another leader named Bato at their head and marched against Sirmium and the Romans in the town. This they did not capture: Cæcina Severus, the governor of Moesia close by, he heard of their uprising marched rapidly upon them, and joining battle with them near the river Dravus vanquished their army. Hoping to renew the struggle soon, since many of the Romans also had fallen, they turned to summon their allies, and collected as many as they could. Meanwhile the Dalmatian Bato had made a descent upon Salonæ, and being himself grievously wounded with a stone accomplished nothing, but sent some others, who wrought havoc along the whole sea-coast as far as Apollonia. There, in spite of his defeat, his representatives won a slight battle against the Romans who encountered them.

[-30-] Tiberius ascertaining this feared they might invade Italy and so returned from Celtica: he sent Messalinus ahead and himself followed with the rest of the army. Bato learned of their approach and though not yet well went to meet Messalinus. He proved the latter's superior in open conflict but was afterward conquered by an ambuscade. Thereupon he went to Bato the Breucan, and making common cause with him in the war occupied a mountain named Alma. Here they were defeated in a slight skirmish by Rhoemetalces the Thracian, despatched in advance against them by Severus, but resisted Severus himself vigorously. Later Severus withdrew to Moesia because the Dacians and the Sauromatæ were ravaging it, and while Tiberius and Messalinus were tarrying in Siscia the Dalmatians overran their allied territory and likewise caused many to revolt. Although Tiberius approached them, they would engage in no open battle with him but kept moving from one place to another, devastating a great deal of ground. Owing to their knowledge of the country and the lightness of their equipment they could easily go wherever they pleased. When winter set in, they did much greater damage by invading Macedonia again. Rhoemetalces and his brother Rhascuporis got the better of this force in battle.

The rest did not stay in their territory while it was being ravaged (this was principally later, in the consulship of Cæcilius Metellus and Lincinius Silanus), but took refuge on the heights, from which they made descents whenever they saw a chance.

[-31-] When Augustus learned this he began to be suspicious of Tiberius, for he thought the latter might have overcome them soon but was delaying purposely so that he might be under arms as long as possible, with war for an excuse. The emperor therefore sent Germanicus, though he was then quæstor, and gave him soldiers not only from the free born citizens but from the freedmen, some of whom were slaves that he had taken from both men and women, in return for their value, with food for six months, and had set free. This was not the only measure he took in view of the necessities of the war: he also postponed the review of the knights, which was wont to occur in the Forum. And he vowed to conduct the Great Games [18] because a woman had cut some letters on her arm and had practiced some kind of divination. He knew well, to be sure, that she had not been possessed by some divine power, but had done it intentionally. Inasmuch, however, as the populace were terribly wrought up over the wars and the famine (which had now set in once more), he, too, affected to believe what was said and did anything that would lead to the encouragement of the multitude as a matter of course. In view of the stringency in the grain supply he again appointed two grain commissioners from among the ex-consuls, together with lictors. As there was need of further money for operations against the enemy and the support of night-watchmen, he introduced the tax of two per cent. on the sale of slaves, and he ordered that the money delivered from the public treasury to the prætors who gave armed combats should no longer be expended.

[-32-]The reason that he sent Germanicus and not Agrippa to take the field was that the latter possessed a servile nature and spent most of his time fishing, wherefore he also used to call himself Neptune. He used to give way to violent anger and slandered Julia as a stepmother, while upon Augustus he heaped abundant reproaches in the matter of his paternal inheritance. When he could not be made to moderate his conduct he was banished and his property was given to the ærarium militare: he himself was put ashore on Planasia, the island near Corsica.—These were the events in the City.

Germanicus reached Pannonia, where armies from various points were shortly to assemble; the Batos watched for Severus, who was approaching from Moesia, and fell upon him unexpectedly, while he was encamped near the Volcæan marshes. The pickets outside the ramparts they frightened and hurled back within it, but as the men inside stood their ground, the attacking party was defeated. After this the Romans divided, in order that many detachments might overrun the country in separate places at one time. Most of them did nothing worthy of note during this enterprise, but Germanicus conquered in battle and badly demoralized the Mæzei, a Dalmatian tribe.—These were the results of that year.

[-33-] In the consulship of Marcus Furius with Sextus Nonius the Dalmatians and Pannonians decided they would like to make peace because they were in distress primarily from famine and then from disease that followed it, due to their using grasses of various sorts and roots for food. They did not attempt, however to open any negotiations, being restrained by those who had no hope of preservation at the hands of the Romans. So even as they were they still resisted. And one Scenobardus, who had feigned a readiness to change sides, and had had dealings on this very business with Manius Ennius, commander of the garrison in Siscia, declaring that he was ready to desert, became afraid that he might be injured ere his project was complete, and [19] …

The Po, which they call the monarch of rivers that cleave the soil of Italy, known by the name Eridanus, had its waters let into a very broad excavation, on the command of the emperor Augustus. A seventh division of the channel of this river flows through the center of the state, affording at its mouth a most satisfactory harbor, and was formerly believed (my authority is Dio) to be an entirely safe anchorage for a fleet of two hundred and fifty ships. (From the Latin of Jordan.)

When the famine at last had subsided, he conducted a horse-race in the name of Germanicus, who was son of Drusus, and in the name of his brother. On this occasion an elephant fought a rhinoceros, and a knight who had once held a prominent position on account of wealth contended in single combat.

And he found himself sinking under the burden of old age and physical weakness, so that he could not transact business with all the persons that needed his services, he delivered to three ex-consuls the care of the embassies that were constantly arriving from peoples and kings; each one of these officials separately was empowered to give any such delegation a hearing and to transmit an answer to them, save in such cases as he and the senate needed to pass upon finally. Other questions continued to be investigated and decided by the emperor himself with the help of his cabinet.

[-34-] … however, among the first, but among the last he declared, in order that everybody might be permitted to hold an individual opinion, and no one of them be obliged to abandon his own ideas because he felt it obligatory to agree with his sovereign; and he would often help the magistrates try cases. Also, as often as the consulting judges held different views, his vote was reckoned only as equal to that of any one else. It was at this time that Augustus allowed the senate to try the majority of cases without his being present, and he no longer frequented the assemblies of the people. Instead, he had the previous year personally appointed all who were to hold office, because there were factional outbreaks: this year and those following he merely posted a kind of bulletin and made known to the plebs and to the people what persons he favored. Yet he had so much strength for managing hostile campaigns that he journeyed to Ariminum in order that he might be able to give from close at hand all necessary advice in regard to the Dalmatians and Pannonians. Prayers were offered at his departure and sacrifices upon his return, as if he had come back from some hostile territory. This was what was done in Rome.

Meantime Bato the Breucan, who had betrayed Pinnes and received the governorship of the Breuci as reward for this, was captured by the other Bato, and perished. The Breucan had been a little suspicious of his subject tribes and went around to each of the garrisons to demand hostages: the other, learning of this habit, lay in wait for him, conquered him in battle, and shut him up within the fortifications. Later his defeated rival was given up by those in the place, and he took him and led him before the army, whereupon the man was condemned to death and sentence executed without delay. After this event numbers of the Pannonians rose in revolt. Silvanus led a campaign in person, conquered the Breucans, and won the allegiance of some of the rest without a struggle. Bato seeing this gave up all hope of Pannonia, but stationed garrisons at the passes leading to Dalmatia and ravaged the country. Then the remainder of the Pannonians, especially as their country was suffering harm from Silvanus, made terms. Only certain nests of brigands, who in so great a disturbance could naturally do damage for a long time, held out. Tins practically always happens in the case of all enemies, and is especially characteristic of the tribes in question. These localities were reduced by other persons.

[Footnote 6: Between this point and … "to Mars" two leaves are missing in the codex Marcianus. The gap is filled in the usual makeshift fashion by Xiphilinus and Zonaras.]

[Footnote 7: The ancients seem rather uncertain about this personage's name, for Velleius Paterculus gives Adduus , and Florus Donnes . The modern reader may take his choice of the three, and the layman is as likely to be right as the expert]

[Footnote 8: Between this point and the words "he both adopted Tiberius," etc., in chapter 13, two leaves of the codex Marcianus are lacking. Of the missing portion Xiphilinus and Zonaras supply perhaps three-sevenths.]

[Footnote 9: These are the words of Xiphilinus. Zonaras presents an alternate possibility (X, 36) as follows: "Among the Greeks, Dio says, the coin called aureus has twenty drachmæ (denarii) as its regular rate of exchange."]

[Footnote 10: It seems rather likely that Zonaras has become confused, and that he should have said "Livia."]

[Footnote 12: Possibly a reference to the opening of Book Fifty-four.
(Boissée.)]

[Footnote 14: The three words after "kill" are on the basis of a suggestion made by Boissevain. The MS. has a gap of some fifteen letters.]

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

How Augustus addressed those having children and afterward the childless and unmarried, and what rules he laid down to apply to them (chapters 1-10).

Duration of time, six years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated:

( BOOK 56, BOISSEVAIN.)

[-1-] Tiberius returned to Rome after the winter when Quintus Sulpicius and Gaius Sabinus were consuls. Augustus went out into the suburbs to meet him, accompanied him to the Sæpta, and there from a platform greeted the people. Next he performed the ceremonies proper on such an occasion and had the consuls give triumphal spectacles. And since the knights on this occasion with great vigor sought for the repeal of the law regarding the unmarried and the childless, he assembled in one place in the Forum the unmarried men of this number and in another those who were married or had children. Seeing that the latter were much fewer in number than the former he was filled with grief and addressed them to the following effect:

[-2-] "Though you are but few all together, in comparison with the great throng that inhabits this city, and are far behind the others, who are unwilling to fulfill their duties at all, yet for this reason I praise you the more and I am heartily grateful that you have shown yourselves obedient and are helping to replenish the fatherland. It is by lives so conducted that the Romans of later days will become a mighty multitude. We were at first a mere handful, but when We had recourse to marriage and begot children we came to surpass all mankind not only in manliness but in populousness. This we must remember and console the mortal element of our being with an endless succession of generations like torches. Thus the one gap which separates us from divine happiness may through relays of men be filled by immortality. It was for this cause most of all that that first and greatest god who fashioned us divided the race of mortals in twain, rendering one half of it male and the other female, and added love and the compulsion of their intercourse together, making their association fruitful, that by the young continually born he might in a way render mortality eternal. Even of the gods themselves some are believed to be male, the rest female: and the tradition prevails that some have begotten others and certain ones have been born of others. So, even among them, who need no such device, marriage and child-begetting have been approved as noble. [-3-] You have done right, then, to imitate the gods and right to emulate your fathers, that, just as they begot you, you may also bring others into the world. Just as you deem them and name them ancestors, others will regard you and address you in similar fashion. The undertakings which they nobly achieved and handed down to you with glory you will hand on to others. The possessions which they acquired and left to you will leave to others sprung from your own loins. Surely the best of all things is a woman who is temperate, domestic, a good house-keeper, a rearer of children; one to gladden you when in health, to tend you when sick; to be your partner in good fortune, to console you in misfortune; to restrain the frenzied nature of the youth and to temper the superannuated severity of the old man. Is it not a delight to acknowledge a child bearing the nature of both, to nurture and educate it, a physical image and a spiritual image, so that in its growth you yourself live again? Is it not most blessed on departing from life to leave behind a successor to and inheritor of one's substance and family, something that is one's own, sprung from one's self? And to have only one's human part waste away, but to live through the child as successor? We need not be in the hands of aliens, as in war, nor perish utterly, as in war. These are the private advantages that accrue to those who marry and beget children: but for the State, for whose sake we ought to do many things that are even distasteful to us, how excellent and how necessary it is, if cities and peoples are to exist, if you are to rule others and others are to obey you, that there should be a multitude of men to till the earth in peace and quiet, to make voyages, practice arts, follow handicrafts, men who in war will protect what we already have with the greater zeal because of family ties and will replace those that fall by others. Therefore, men,—for you alone may properly be called men,—and fathers,—for you are worthy to hold this title like myself,—I love you and I praise you for this, I am glad of the prizes I have already offered and I will glorify you still more besides by honors and offices. Thus you may yourselves reap great benefits and leave them to your children undiminished. I shall now descend to speak to the rest, who have not done like you, and whose lot will therefore be directly the opposite: you will thus learn not only from words but by facts even more how far you excel them."

[-4-] After this speech he made presents to some of them at once and promised to make others: he then went over to the other throng, to whom he addressed these words:

"A strange experience has been mine, O—What shall I call you?—Men? But you do not perform the offices of men.—Citizens? But so far as you are concerned the city is perishing.—Romans? But you are undertaking to do away with this name.—Well, at any rate, whoever you are and by whatever name you delight to be called, mine has been an unexpected experience. For, though I am always doing everything to promote an increase of population among you and am now about to rebuke you, I grieve to see that you are numerous. I could rather wish that those others to whom I have just spoken were so many than to see you as many as you are; or, still better, to see you mustered with them,—or at least not to know how things stand. It is you who without pausing to reflect on the foresight of the gods or the care of your forefathers are bent upon annihilating your whole race and making it in truth mortal, upon destroying and ending the whole Roman nation. What seed of human beings would be left, if all the remainder of mankind should do the same as you? You are their leaders and may rightly bear the responsibility for universal destruction. Or, even if no others emulate you, will you not be justly hated for the very reason that you overlook what no one else would overlook, and neglect what no one else would neglect? You are introducing customs and practices, which, if imitated, would lead to the annihilation of all, and, if hated, would end in your own punishment. We do not spare murderers because all persons do not murder, nor do we let temple-robbers go because not everybody robs temples: but anybody who is convicted of committing any forbidden act is chastised for the very reason that he alone, or as one of a small group, does such things as no one else would do. [-5-] Yet if one should name over the greatest offences, there is none to compare with that which is now being committed by you, and this statement holds true not only if you examine crime for crime but if you compare all of them together with this single one of yours. You have incurred blood guiltiness by not begetting those who ought to be your descendants; you are sacrilegious in putting an end to the names and honors of your ancestors; you are impious in abolishing your families, which were instituted by the gods, and destroying the greatest of offerings to them,—the human being,—and by overthrowing in this way their rites and their temples. Moreover, by causing the downfall of the government you are disobedient to the laws, and you even betray your country by rendering her barren and childless: nay more, you lay her even with the dust by making her destitute of inhabitants. A city consists of human beings, not of houses or porticos or fora empty of men. Think what rage would justly seize the great Romulus, the founder of our race, if he could reflect on the circumstances of his own birth, and then upon your attitude,—refusing to get children even by lawful marriages! How wrathful would the Romans who were his followers be when they considered that they themselves even seized foreign girls, but you are not satisfied with those of your own race. They actually had children even by their enemies: you will not beget them even of women with undisputed standing in the State. How incensed would Curtius be, who endured to die that the married men might not be sundered from their wives: how indignant Hersilia, the attendant of her daughter, who instituted for us all the rites of marriage. Our fathers fought the Sabines to obtain marriages and made peace through the intercession of their wives and children; they administered oaths and made sundry treaties for this very purpose: you are bringing all that labor to naught. Why is it? Do you desire to live forever apart from women, as the vestal virgins live apart from men? Then you should be punished like them if you break out into any act of lewdness.

[-6-] "I know that my words to you appear bitter and harsh. But, first of all, reflect that physicians, too, treat many patients by burning when they can not recover health in any other way. In the second place, it is not my wish or my pleasure to speak them; and hence it is that I have this further reproach to bring against you, that you have provoked me to this discourse. If you dislike what I say, do not continue the conduct for which you are inevitably reprimanded. If my speech wounds any of you, how much more do your acts wound both me and all the rest of the Romans. If you vexed in very truth, make a change, that so I may praise and reward you. You yourselves are aware that I am not irritable by nature and that I have done, subject to human limitations, all the acts proper for a good lawgiver. Never in old times was any one permitted to neglect marriage and the rearing of children, but from the very outset, at the first establishment of the government, strict laws were passed regarding them: since then many decrees have been issued by both the senate and the people, which it would be superfluous to enumerate. I have increased the penalties for the disobedient in order that through fear of becoming liable to them you may be brought to your senses. To those that obey I have offered more numerous and greater prizes than are given for any other display of excellence, that if for no other reason at least by this one you may be persuaded to marry and beget children. Yet you, not striving for any of the recompenses nor fearing any of the penalties, have despised all these measures, have trodden them all under foot, as if you were not even inhabitants of the city. You declare you have taken upon yourselves this free and continent life, without wives and without children. You are no different from robbers or the most savage [-7-] beasts. It is not your delight in a solitary existence that leads you to live without wives. There is not one of you who either eats alone or sleeps alone, but you want to have opportunity for wantonness and licentiousness. Yet I have allowed you to court girls still tender and not yet of age for marriage, in order that having the name of intendant bridegrooms you may lead a domestic life. And those not in the senatorial class I have permitted to wed freedwomen, so that if any one through passion or some inclination should be disposed to such a proceeding he might go about it lawfully. I have not limited you rigidly to this, even, but at first gave you three whole years in which to make preparations, and later two. Yet not even so, by threatening or urging or postponing or entreating, have I accomplished anything. You see for yourselves how much larger a mass you constitute than the married men, when you ought by this time to have furnished us with as many more children, or rather with several times your number. How otherwise shall families continue? How can the commonwealth be preserved if we neither marry nor produce children? Surely you are not expecting some to spring up from the earth to succeed to your goods and to public affairs, as myths describe. It is neither pleasing to Heaven nor creditable that our race should cease and the name of Romans meet extinguishment in us, and the city be given up to foreigners,—Greek or even barbarians. We liberate slaves chiefly for the purpose of making out of them as many citizens as possible; we give our allies a share in the government that our numbers may increase: yet you, Romans of the original stock, including Quintii, Valerii, Iulli, are eager that your families and names at once shall perish with you.

[-8-] "I am thoroughly ashamed that I have been led to speak in such a fashion. Have done with your madness, then, and reflect now if not before that with many dying all the time by disease and many in the wars it is impossible for the city to maintain itself unless the multitude in it is constantly reinforced by those who are ever and anon being born. Let no one of you think that I am ignorant of the many disagreeable and painful features that belong to marriage and child-rearing. But bear in mind that we possess nothing at all good with which some bane is not mingled, and that in our most abundant and greatest blessings there reside the most abundant and greatest woes. If you decline to accept the latter, do not strive to obtain the former. Practically all who possess any real excellence and pleasure are obliged to work before its enjoyment, to work at the time, and to work afterward. Why should I lengthen my speech by going into each one of them in detail? Therefore even if there are some unpleasant features connected with marriage and the begetting of children, set over against them the better elements: you will find them more numerous and more vital. For, in addition to all the other blessings that naturally inhere in this state of life, the prizes offered by law—an infinitesimal portion of which determines many to undergo death—might induce anybody to obey me. And is it not a disgrace that for rewards which influence others to give up their own lives you should be unwilling either to marry wives or to rear children?

[-9-] "Therefore, fellow-citizens (for I believe that I have now persuaded you both to hold fast to the name of citizens and to secure the additional title of men and fathers), I have administered this rebuke reluctantly but of necessity, not as your foe nor as one hating you, but rather loving you and wishing to obtain many others like you,—as one wishing you to guard lawful hearths, with houses full of descendants, that we may approach the gods together with wives and children, and associate with one another standing on an equality in whatever we possess and harvesting equally the hopes to which it gives rise. How could I call myself a good ruler over you if I should endure seeing you becoming constantly fewer? How could I any longer be rightfully named your father, if you rear no children? Therefore, if you really have a regard for me and have given me this title not out of flattery but as an honor, desire yourselves to become men and fathers. Thus you may yourselves share this title and also render me well named."

[-10-] Such were his words to both groups at that time. After this he increased the rewards for those having children and by penalties made a still wider difference between the married and those without wives. He further allowed each of them a year in which persons who obeyed him might render themselves non-liable by yielding obedience. Contrary to the Voconian Law, according to which no woman could inherit any property over two and a half myriads in value, he gave women permission to become inheritors of any amount. He also granted the vestal virgins all the benefits enjoyed by women who had children. Later the Pappian and Poppæan Law was framed by Marcus Pappius Mutilus and by Quintus Poppæus Secundus, who were then consuls for a portion of the year. It turned out that both of them had not only no children but not even wives. From this very fact the need of the law was discernible.—These were the events in Rome.

[-11-] Germanicus meanwhile had captured among other posts in Dalmatia also Splonum, in spite of the fact that it occupied a naturally strong position, was well protected by walls, and had a huge number of defenders. Consequently he was unable to accomplish aught with engines or by assaults, yet he took it as a result of the following coincidence. Pusio, a Celtic horseman, discharged a stone against the wall which so shook the superstructure that it immediately fell and dragged down the man who was leaning upon it. At this the rest were terrified, and in fear left the wall to ascend the acropolis. Subsequently they surrendered both it and themselves.

The Romans under Germanicus having reached Rætinium, a city of Dalmatia, fared rather badly. Their opponents, forced back by the numbers, could not resist them and therefore placed fire in a circle about themselves and threw it into the buildings near by, devising a way to keep it surely from blazing up at once and to make it go unnoticed for a long time. The enemy after doing this retired to the heights. The Romans, unaware of their action, followed hard after them expecting to find no work at all in pillaging extensively. Thus they got inside of the circle of fire and with their minds directed upon the enemy saw nothing of it until they were encompassed by it on all sides. Then they found themselves in imminent danger, being pelted by men from above and injured by fire from without. They could neither safely stay where they were nor break their way out without danger. If they stood out of range of the missiles they were consumed by the fire, or if they jumped away from the flame they were destroyed by the hurlers of missiles. Some were caught in narrow places and perished by both at once, wounded on one side and burned on the other. The majority of those who entered the circle met their fate in this way. Some few by casting corpses into the very flame and making a passage over them as over bridges managed to escape. The fire gained such headway that not even those on the acropolis could stay there, but abandoned it in the night and hid themselves in subterranean chambers.

[-12-] These were the operations at that point.—Seretium, which Tiberius had once besieged but not captured, was subdued, and after this some other towns were more easily won. But since the remainder even under these conditions offered resistance and the war kept lengthening out and famine came in its train, especially in Italy, Augustus sent Tiberius again into Dalmatia. He saw that the soldiers were not for enduring further delay and were anxious to end the war in some way eyen if it involved danger; therefore, fearing that if they remained in one place together they might revolt, he divided them into three parts. One he assigned to Silvanus and one to Marcus Lepidus; with the remainder he marched with Germanicus against Bato. Without difficulty the two former overcame those arrayed in battle opposite them. Tiberius himself went wandering off through practically the entire country, as Bato appeared first at one point and then at another: finally, Bato took refuge in Fort Andetrium, located close to Salonæ, and Tiberius, who besieged him, found himself in sore straits. The garrison had the protection of fortifications built upon a well guarded rock, difficult of access, encircled by deep ravines through which torrents roared, and the men had all necessary provisions, part of which they had previously stored there, while a part they were still bringing from the mountains, which were in their hands. Moreover, by ambuscades they interfered with the Roman provision trains. Hence Tiberius, though supposed to be besieging them, was himself placed in the position of a besieged force.

[-13-] He was in a dilemma and could not find any plan to pursue: the siege was proving fruitless and dangerous and a retreat appeared disgraceful. This led to an uproar on the part of the soldiers, who raised so great an outcry that the enemy, who were encamped in the shelter of the wall, were terrified and retreated. As a consequence, being partly angry and partly pleased, he called them together and administered some rebukes and some admonition. He displayed no rashness nor yet did he withdraw, but remained quietly on the spot until Bato, despairing of victory, sent a herald to ask terms. This act was due to the subjugation of all but a few of the other tribes and the fact that the force which Bato had was inferior to the one then opposing it. He could not persuade the rest to ask a truce and so abandoned them, nor did he again assist one of them, though he received many requests for aid. Tiberius consequently conceived a contempt for those still left in the fortress and thinking that he could conquer them without loss paid no further heed to the nature of the country but proceeded straight up the cliff. Since there was no level ground and the enemy would not come down against them, he himself took his seat on a platform in full view in order to watch the engagement (for this would cause his soldiers to contend more vigorously), and to render opportune assistance, should there be any need of it. He kept a part of the army, inasmuch as he had a great plenty of men, for this very purpose. The rest, drawn up in a dense square, at first proceeded at a walk; later they were separated by the steepness and unevenness of the mountain (which was full of gullies and at many points cut up into ravines), and some ascended more quickly, others more slowly. [-14-] Seeing this, the Dalmatians marshaled outside the wall, at the top of the steep, and hurled down quantities of stones upon them, throwing some from slings, and rolling down others. Others set in motion wheels, others whole wagons full of rocks, others circular chests manufactured in some way peculiar to the country and packed with stones. All these things coming down with great noise kept striking in different quarters, as if discharged from a sling, and separated the Romans from one another even more than before and crushed them. Others by discharging either missiles or spears knocked many of them down. At this juncture much rivalry developed on the part of the warriors, one side endeavoring to ascend and conquer the heights, the other to repulse them and hurl them back. There was great excitement also on the part of the rest, who watched the action from the walls, and on the part of those about Tiberius. Each side as a body and also individually encouraged its own men, trying to lend strength to such as showed zeal and chiding those that anywhere gave way. Those whose voices could be heard above the rest were invoking the gods, both parties praying for the protection of their warriors for the time being, and one side calling for freedom for themselves in the future, and the other for peace. Under these circumstances the Romans would certainly have risked their lives in vain, having to contend against two things at once,—the nature of the country and the lines of their antagonists,—had not Tiberius by sudden reinforcements prevented them from taking to flight and disturbed the enemy from another quarter by means of other soldiers who went about and ascended the incline a considerable distance off. As a result, the enemy were routed and could not even enter the fortifications, but scattered up the mountain sides, first casting off their armor so as to be lightly equipped. Their pursuers followed them at every point, for they were exceedingly anxious to end the war and did not want them to unite again and cause trouble. So they discovered the most of them hiding in the forests and killed them like beasts, after which they took possession of the men in the fort, who capitulated. To these Tiberius assured the rights which had been agreed upon and some others.

[-15-] Germanicus now turned to meet his adversaries, for many deserters who were in their ranks prevented a peaceful settlement. He succeeded in enslaving a place called Arduba, but could not do it with his own force, though the latter was far greater than his opponents' army. The town had been powerfully strengthened and a river with a strong current surrounded its foundations except for a small space. But the deserters had a dispute with the inhabitants, because the latter were anxious for peace, and came to blows with them. The assailants had the coöperation of the women in the town, for these contrary to the judgment of the men desired liberty, and were ready to suffer any fate whatever sooner than slavery: there was consequently a great battle, the deserters were beaten and surrendered, and some of them made their escape. The women caught up their children, and some threw themselves into the fire, others hurled themselves down into the river. In this way that post was taken and others near it voluntarily came to an understanding with Germanicus. He, after effecting this, went back to Tiberius, and Postumius[1] completed the subjugation of the remaining sections. [-16-] Upon this, Bato sent his son Sceuas to Tiberius, promising to surrender himself and all his followers if he could obtain protection. When he had received a pledge he came by night into his conqueror's camp and was on the following day led before the latter who was seated on a platform. Bato asked nothing for himself, even holding his head forward to await the stroke, but in behalf of the rest he made a long defence. Being again asked by Tiberius: "Why has it pleased you to revolt and to war against us so long a time?" he made the same answer as before: "You are responsible for this; for you send as guardians over your flocks not dogs or shepherds, but wolves."

In this way, then, the war was ended once more, after many men and much money had been consumed. The legions supported for it were very numerous, whereas the spoils taken were exceedingly meagre. [-17-] On this occasion also Germanicus announced the victory, in honor of which Augustus and Tiberius were allowed to bear the name imperator and to celebrate a triumph; and they received still other honors, as well as two arches bearing trophies, in Pannonia. These, at least, were all of many distinctions voted that Augustus would accept. Germanicus received triumphal honors (which belonged likewise to the other commanders) and prætorial honors, the right of casting his vote immediately after the ex-consuls and of obtaining the consulship earlier than custom allowed. Drusus, the son of Tiberius, although he had not participated in the war, was voted permission to attend the sittings of the senate before he became a member of that body, and when he should become quæstor to cast his vote before the exprætors.

[-18-] Scarcely had these resolutions been passed when terrible news that arrived from Germany prevented them from holding any festivals. At that same period the following events had taken place in Celtica. The Romans had a hold on parts of it,—not the whole region, but just places that happened to have been subdued, so that the fact has not received historical notice,—and soldiers of theirs were used to wintering there and cities were being founded. The barbarians were adapting themselves to Roman ways, were taking up the custom of markets, and were holding peaceful meetings. They had not, however, forgotten their ancestral habits, their native manners, the life of independence, or the authority given by arms. Hence, while they were unlearning them gradually and imperceptibly, with careful watching, they were not disturbed by the changed conditions of existence, and they were becoming different without knowing it. Finally, Quintilius Varus received the command of Germany and in the discharge of his office strove, in administering the affairs of the people, to introduce more widespread changes among them. He treated them in general as if they were already slaves, levying money upon them as he had upon subject nations. This they were not inclined to endure, for the prominent men longed for their former ascendency and the masses preferred their accustomed constitution to foreign domination. They did not openly revolt, since they saw there were many Roman soldiers near the Rhine and many in their own territory; but they received Varus, pretending they would execute all his commands, and took him far away from the Rhine into Cheruscis near the Visurgis. There by behaving in a most peaceful and friendly manner they led him to believe that they could be trusted to live submissively without soldiers. [-19-] Consequently he did not keep his legions together as was proper in an enemy's country, and many of the men he distributed to helpless communities who asked it, for the supposed purpose of guarding certain localities, or arresting robbers, or escorting provision trains. Those deepest in the conspiracy and the leaders of the plot and of the war, among others Armenius and Segimerus, were his constant companions and often entertained him. He, accordingly, became confident and expecting no harm not only refused to believe all such as suspected the truth and advised him to be on his guard, but even rebuked them on the ground that they were needlessly disturbed and slandered his friends. Then there came an uprising, first of those dwelling at a distance from him, purposely contrived, that Varus should march against them and be easier overcome while on his journey through what he deemed a friendly country, and that he might not at once know that all were his enemies and guard himself against all of them. It turned out precisely so. They escorted him on his setting out, and begged to be excused from attendance[2] in order to gather auxiliaries (as they said), after which they would quickly come to his assistance. So then they took charge of forces already in waiting, and after killing the different bodies of soldiers for whom they had previously asked they encountered him in the midst of forests by this time hard to traverse. There they showed themselves as enemies instead of subjects and wrought many deeds of fearful injury. [-20-] The mountains had an uneven surface broken by ravines, and the trees, standing close together, were extremely tall. Hence the Romans even before the enemy assaulted them were having hard work in felling, road making, and bridging places that required it. They had with them many wagons and many beasts of burden as in a time of peace. Not a few children and women and a large body of servants were following them,—another reason for their advancing in scattered groups. Meanwhile a great rain and wind came up that separated them still farther, while the ground, being slippery where there were roots and logs, made walking very difficult for them, and the top branches of trees, which kept breaking off and falling down, caused confusion. While the Romans were in such perplexity as this the barbarians suddenly encompassed them from all sides at once, coming through the thickest part of the underbrush, since they were acquainted with the paths. At first they hurled from a distance; then as no one defended himself but many were wounded, they approached closer to them. The Romans were in no order but going along helter-skelter among the wagons and the unarmed, and so, not being able to form readily in a body, and being fewer at every point than their assailants, they suffered greatly and offered no resistance at all. [-21-] Accordingly, they encamped on the spot, after securing a suitable place so far as that was possible on a wooded mountain, and afterward they either burned or abandoned the majority of their wagons and everything else that was not absolutely necessary for them. The next day they advanced in better order, with the aim of reaching open country; but they did not gain it without loss. From there they went forward and plunged into the woods again, defending themselves against the attacks, but endured no inconsiderable reverses in this very operation. For whereas they were marshaled in a narrow place in order that cavalry and heavy-armed men in a mass might run down their foes, they had many collisions with one another and with the trees. Dawn of the fourth day broke as they were advancing and again a violent downpour and mighty wind attacked them, which would not allow them to go forward or even to stand securely, and actually deprived them of the use of their weapons. They could not manage successfully their arrows or their javelins or, indeed, their shields (which were soaked through). The enemy, however, being for the most part lightly equipped and with power to approach and retire freely, suffered less from the effects of the storm. Their numbers, moreover, increased, as numbers of those who had at first wavered joined them particularly for the sake of plunder, and so they could more easily encircle and strike down the Romans, who were already few, many having perished in the previous battles. Varus, therefore, and the most eminent of the other leaders, fearing that they might either be taken alive or be killed by their bitterest foes,—for they had been wounded,—dared do a deed which was frightful but not to be avoided: they killed themselves.

[-22-] When this news was spread, none of the rest, even if he had strength still left, defended himself longer. Some imitated their leader; others, throwing aside their arms, allowed who pleased to slay them. To flee was impossible, however one might wish it. Every man and horse, therefore, was cut down without resistance, and the[3] …

And the barbarians occupied all the strongholds save one, delay over which prevented them from either crossing the Rhine or invading Gaul. Yet they found themselves unable to reduce this particular fort because they did not understand the conduct of sieges and because the Romans employed numerous archers, who repeatedly repulsed them and from first to last destroyed a large proportion of the attacking party.

Later they learned that the Romans had posted a guard at the Rhine and that Tiberius was approaching with an imposing force of fighters. Therefore most of the barbarians retired from the fortress, and the detachment still left there withdrew some distance away, so as not to be damaged by sudden sallies of the men inside; and they kept watch of the roads, hoping to capture the garrison through scarcity of food supplies. The Romans within, so long as they had abundance of sustenance, remained where they were awaiting relief. But when no one came to their assistance and they were likewise a prey to hunger, they watched for a stormy night and issued forth—the soldiers were but fed, the unarmed many,—and

they passed the first and second guard of their adversaries, but when they reached the third they were detected; for on account of fatigue and fear, and the darkness and cold, the women and children kept calling to the men of fighting age to come back. They would all have perished or been captured, had not the barbarians been so busily occupied with seizing the plunder. This gave an opportunity for many of the most hardy to get some distance off, and the trumpeters with them by sounding the signal for a double quick march caused the enemy to think (for night was coming on and they could not be seen) that they had been sent from Asprenas. Therefore the foe ceased their pursuit, and Asprenas on learning what was taking place rendered them assistance in reality. Some of the captives were later ransomed by their relatives and returned, for this was permitted on condition that the ransoming party should be outside of Italy at the time.—But this was only afterward. [-23-] At the time, when Augustus heard of the disaster to Varus, he rent his clothing (as some assert) and mourned greatly over the lost soldiers as also over the fear inspired by the Germans and the Gauls. His grief was especially keen because he expected that they would march upon Italy and upon Rome itself. There were no citizens of military age worth mentioning that were left and the allied forces that were of any value had been ruined. Nevertheless he made preparations as well as he could in view of the circumstances: and when no one of the proper age for warfare showed a willingness to be enrolled, he instituted a drawing of lots and deprived of his property every fifth man to draw of those not yet thirty-five years old and every tenth man among those who were older, besides disenfranchising them. Finally, as very many paid no heed to him even then, he put some to death. He chose by lot as many as he could of those who had already finished their service and of the freedmen, and having enrolled them sent them at once in haste with Tiberius into Germany. And as there were in Rome a number of Gauls and Celtæ, sojourning there for various purposes, and some of them serving in the pretorian guard, he feared that they might commit some act of insurrection: therefore he sent such as were in his guard off to the islands and ordered the unarmed class to leave the city.

[-24-] This was the way be busied himself at that time, and none of the usual business went on nor were the festivals celebrated. After this, when he heard that some of the soldiers had been saved, that the Germanies were garrisoned and the enemy did not dare to come down even to the Rhine, he ceased to be excited and stopped to consider the matter. A catastrophe so great and prostrating as this, it seemed to him, could have been due to nothing else than the wrath of some Divinity: moreover, by reason of the portents which took place both before the defeat and afterward he was greatly inclined to suspect some miraculous working. The temple of Mars in the field of the same name had been struck by lightning and many locusts that flew into the very city were devoured by swallows; the peaks of the Alps seemed to totter toward one another and to send up three fiery columns; the sky in many places appeared ablaze and at the same time numerous comet stars came to view; spears darting from the north seemed to be falling upon the Roman camp; bees formed their combs about Roman altars; a statue of Victory which was in Germany, facing hostile territory, turned about toward Italy; and once an aimless battle and conflict of the soldiers occurred about the eagles in the camps, as if the barbarians had fallen upon them.

Tiberius did not see fit to cross the Rhine, but kept quiet, watching to see that the barbarians should not do so. The latter, however, knowing him to be present, did not venture to cross either.

Germanicus was endeared to the populace for many causes, but particularly because he interceded for various persons, and this quite as much in the presence of Augustus himself as before other justices. Now there was a court to try a quæstor who was charged with murder, and, as Germanicus was going to be his advocate, his accuser became alarmed lest he might consequently meet with defeat before those judges in whose presence such cases were wont to be tried, and he desired to have Augustus preside. Yet his efforts were vain, for he did not win his case.

[-25-]But in the following season the temple of Concord was dedicated by Tiberius and both his name and that of Drusus, his dead brother, were inscribed upon it. In the consulship of Marcus Æmilius with Statilius Taurus Tiberius and Germanicus acting as proconsul invaded Celtica and overran some parts of it. They did not conquer, however, in any battle (since no one came to close quarters with them), and did not reduce any tribe. For in their fear of falling victims to a new disaster they advanced not far beyond the Rhine, but after remaining there until late autumn and celebrating the birthday of Augustus, on which they held a kind of horse-race under the direction of the centurions, they returned.

At Rome Drusus Cæsar, the son of Tiberius, became quæstor, and sixteen prætors held office because that number became candidates for the position and Augustus, mindful of his condition, was unwilling to offend any of them. The same did not hold true, however, of the years immediately following, but the number remained twelve for a long period. Besides these proceedings the seers were forbidden to prophesy in private to any one, or regarding death even if there should be others with them. Yet in this matter Augustus had no personal feeling, so that by a bulletin he even published to all the conjunction of stars under which he had been born. In addition to forbidding the above he proclaimed to subject states that they should grant no honors to any one assigned to govern them either during his term of office or within sixty days after he had departed. For some governors by arranging for testimonials and eulogies from their subjects were doing much harm. Three senators, as before, transacted business with the embassies, and the knights,—a fact which might cause surprise,—were allowed to fight as gladiators. The reason was that some persisted in disregarding the disenfranchisement stated as a penalty for such conduct. And as there proved to be no use in forbidding it and the participants seemed to require a greater punishment before they would be turned aside from this course, they were given permission to do as they liked. In this way they incurred death instead of disenfranchisement, for they fought more than ever, and especially because their contests were centers of attraction, so that even Augustus became a spectator in company with the prætors who superintended games.

[-26-] Germanicus soon after received the office of consul, though he had not even been prætor, and held it actually throughout the whole year, not because of fitness but as a number of others held office at that time. The consul did nothing worthy of note save that at this time, too, he acted as advocate in suits, since his colleague Gaius Capito counted as a mere figurehead. Augustus, because he was growing old, wrote a letter commending Germanicus to the senate and the latter to Tiberius: the manuscript was not read by him in person, for he was unable to make himself heard, but by Germanicus, as usual. After that he asked them, making the Celtic war his excuse, not to come to greet him at home nor to be angry if he did not continue to eat with them. For generally, as often as they had a sitting, in the Forum and sometimes in the senate-house itself, they saluted him when he entered and again when he left; and it had already happened that, when he was sitting and sometimes lying down in the Palatium, not only the senate but the knights and many of the populace greeted him. [-27-] All this time he continued to attend to his business as before. He allowed the knights to become candidates for the tribuneship. And learning that vituperative books concerning certain men were being written, he ordered a search for them. Those that he found in the city he had burned by the ædiles and those outside by the officials who might be in charge, and he visited punishment upon some of the composers. As there were many exiles who were either carrying on their occupations outsides of the places to which they had been banished or living too luxuriously in the proper places, he forbade that any one who had been debarred from fire and water should stay either on the mainland or on any of the islands distant less than four hundred stadia from the mainland. Only he made an exception of Cos, Rhodes, Samos[5], and Lesbos, for what reason I know not. He enjoined upon them also that they should not cross the seas to any other point and should not possess more than one ship of burden having a capacity of one thousand amphoræ, and two driven by oars; that they should not employ more than twenty slaves or freedmen; that they should not hold property above twelve and a half myriads; and he threatened to take vengeance upon them for any violation as well as upon all others who should in any way assist them in violating these ordinances. These are the laws, as fully as is necessary for our history, that he laid down.

A festival extraordinary was conducted by the dancers and horse-breeders. The Feast of Mars, because the Tiber had previously occupied the hipprodrome, was this time held in the forum of Augustus and honored by a kind of horse-race and by the slaughter of wild beasts. It was celebrated a second time, as custom decreed, and Germanicus on that occasion killed two hundred lions in the hippodrome. The so-called portico of Julia was built in honor of Gaius and Lucius, the Cæsars, and was at that time dedicated.

[-28-] When Lucius Munatius and Gaius Silius had been registered as consuls Augustus reluctantly accepted the fifth decennial presidency of the State and gave Tiberius again the tribunician authority. To Drusus, the latter's son, he granted permission to stand for the consulship a third year, still without having held the prætorship; and for himself he asked twenty annual counselors because of his old age, which did not permit him to visit the senate any longer save rarely. Previously fifteen were attached to him for six months. It was further voted that any measure should have authority, as satisfactory to the whole senate, which should after deliberation be resolved upon by him in conjunction with Tiberius and with the consuls of the year, with the men appointed for deliberation and his grandchildren (the adopted ones, of course) and the others that he might on any occasion call upon for advice. Gaining by the decree those powers (which in reality he had in any case) he transacted most of the is necessary business, though sometimes lying down. Now as nearly all felt oppressed by the five per cent tax and a political convulsion seemed likely, he sent document to the senate bidding its members seek some other means of income. This he did not in the intention of abolishing the tax but in order that when no other appeared to them preferable they might though reluctantly ratify it without declaiming against him He also ordered Germanicus and Drusus not to make any official statement about it, for fear that if they expressed an opinion persons would suspect that this had been done by his orders and choose that plan without further investigation. There was much discussion and some schemes were submitted to Augustus in writing. When he found by them that the senators were ready to endure any form of tax rather than that in force, he changed it to a levy upon fields and houses. And without telling how great it would be or in what way imposed, he immediately sent men in different directions to make a list of the possessions both of individuals and of towns. His object was that they should fear losses on a large scale and so be content to pay the five per cent. This actually happened, and so it was that Augustus settled the difficulty.

[-29-] At the spectacle of the Augustalia [6] which occurred on his birthday a madman seated himself in the chair which was dedicated to Julius Cæsar, and taking his crown put it on. This happening disturbed everybody, for it seemed to have some bearing upon Augustus, as, indeed, proved true.

For the following year, when Sextus Apuleius and Sextus Pompeius were consuls, Augustus set out for Campania and after superintending the games at Naples soon passed away in Nola. Omens had appeared to him, not few by any means nor difficult to interpret, that pointed to this end. The sun suffered a total eclipse and most of the sky seemed to be on fire. The forms of glowing logs appeared falling from it and bloody comet stars were seen. When a senate-meeting had been announced on account of his sickness in order that they might offer prayers, the senate-house was found closed and an owl sitting upon it hooted. A thunderbolt fell upon his image standing on the Capitol and erased the first letter of the name of Cæsar. This led the seers to declare that on the hundredth day after that he should attain to some heavenly condition. They made this deduction from the fact that the letter mentioned signifies "hundred" among the Latins and all the rest of the name means "god" among the Etruscans. These signs appeared while he was still alive. Men of later times called attention to the case of the consuls and of Servius Sulpicius Galba. The former officials were in some way related to Augustus, and Galba, who afterward came to power, was at this time on the very first day of the year enrolled among the iuvenes. Since he was the first of the Romans to become sovereign after the race of Augustus had passed away, it gave occasion to some to say that this coincidence had not been due to mere accident, but had been brought about by some divine counsel.

[-30-] So Augustus fell sick and died. Livia incurred some suspicion regarding the manner of his death, inasmuch as he had secretly sailed over to the island to meet Agrippa and thought to reconcile everything in a way satisfactory to all. She was afraid, some say, that Augustus would bring him back to make him sovereign, and so smeared with poison some figs that were still on trees from which Augustus was wont to gather fruit with his own hands. So she ate the ones that had not been smeared, and pointed out the poisoned ones to him. From this or from some other cause he became ill and sending for his associates he told them all his wishes, finally adding: "Rome was clay when I took it in hand: I leave it to you stone." In this he had reference not entirely to the appearance of its buildings, but also to the strength of the empire. By asking some applause from them as to comic actors at the close of some mime he ridiculed most tellingly the whole life of man.

Thus on the nineteenth day of August, the day on which he first became consul, he passed away, having lived seventy-five years, ten months, and twenty-six days. He had been born on the twenty-third of September. He reigned as monarch, from the time he conquered at Actium, forty-four years lacking thirteen days. [-31-] His death, however, was not immediately made public. Livia, fearing that as Tiberius was still in Dalmatia there might be some uprising, concealed the fact until the latter arrived. This is the statement made in the larger number of histories and the more trustworthy ones. There are some who have affirmed that Tiberius was present during the emperor's illness and received some injunctions from him.—The body of Augustus was carried from Nola by the foremost men of each city in succession. When it came near Rome the knights took it in charge and conveyed it by night into the city. On the following day there was a senate-meeting, and to it the majority came wearing the equestrian costume, but the officials the senatorial, except for the purple-bordered togas. Tiberius and Drusus his son wore dark clothing made in everyday fashion. They, too, offered incense but made no use of a flute player. Most of the members sat in their accustomed places, but the consuls below, one on the prætors' bench and one on the tribunes'. After this Tiberius was absolved for having touched the corpse,—a forbidden act,—and for having escorted it on its way, although the …

… his will Drusus took from the virgin priestesses of Vesta, with whom it had been deposited, and carried it into the senate. Those who had sealed it viewed the impressions, and then it was read in hearing of the senate.

… one Polybius of Cæsar's household read his will, as it was not proper for a senator to read anything of the sort. It showed that two-thirds of the inheritance had been left to Tiberius and the rest to Livia,—at least this is one report. In order that she, too, might have the benefit of his property he had asked permission of the senate to leave her so much, since it was contrary to law. These two were mentioned as inheritors. He ordered many objects and sums of money to be given to many different persons, both relatives of his and those joined by no ties of kindred, not only to senators and knights but also to kings; for the people there were a thousand myriads and for the soldiers two hundred and fifty denarii apiece to the Pretorians, half that amount to the city force, and to the remainder of the native soldiery seventy-five each. Moreover, in the case of children, of whose fathers he had been the heir while they were still small, he enjoined that everything, together with income, should be given back to them when they became men: this was, indeed his custom while in life. Whenever he inherited the estate of any one who had offspring, he never neglected to give it all to the man's children, immediately if they were already adults, and later if it were otherwise. Though he took such an attitude toward other people's children he did not restore his daughter from exile, though he deemed her worthy of gifts; and he forbade her being buried in his own tomb.—So much was learned from the will.

[-33-] Four books were then brought in and Drusus read them. In the first were written details pertaining to his funeral; in the second all the works which he had done, which he commanded to be inscribed aloft upon bronze columns to be set around his heroum; the third contained an account of military matters, of the revenues and of the public expenditures, the amount of money in the treasuries, and everything else of the sort having a bearing upon the administration; and the fourth had injunctions and orders for Tiberius and for the public. Among these last was a command that they should not liberate many slaves and should thus avoid filing the city with a variegated rabble. He also exhorted them not to enroll large numbers as citizens, in order that there might be a distinct difference between themselves and subject nations; to deliver the control of public business to all who had ability both to understand and to act, and never to let it depend on any one person; in this way no one would set his mind on a tyranny nor would the State go to pieces if one fell. He advised them to be satisfied with present possessions and under no conditions to wish to increase the empire to any greater dimensions. It would be hard to guard, he said, and this would lead to danger of their losing what was already theirs. This principle he had himself really always followed not only in speech but also in action. For, whereas he might have made great acquisitions of barbarian territory, he had not wished to do so.—These were his injunctions.

[-34-] Then came his funeral. There was a couch made of ivory and gold and adorned with robes of purple mixed with gold. In it his body was hidden, in a kind of box down below: a wax image of him in triumphal garb was displayed. This one was borne from the Palatium by the officials for the following year, and another of gold from the senate-house, and still another upon a triumphal chariot. Behind these came the images of his ancestors and of his deceased relatives (except of Cæsar, because he had been enrolled among the heroes), and those of other Romans who had been prominent in any way, beginning with Romulus himself. An image of Pompey the Great was also seen, and all the nations he had acquired, each represented by a likeness which bore some local characteristic, were carried in procession. After these followed all the remaining objects mentioned above. When the couch had been placed in view upon the orators' platform, Drusus read something from that place: and from the other, the rostra of the Julian shrine, Tiberius delivered the following public oration over the deceased, according to a decree:—

[-35-] "What needed to be said privately by relatives over the divine Augustus Drusus has spoken. But since the senate has wisely deemed him worthy of some kind of public utterance, I know that the speech was fittingly entrusted to me. To whom more justly than to me, his child and successor, could be the task of praising him be confided? It is not my privilege, however, to be gladdened by the thought that my ability must prove no whit inferior to your desires in the matter and to his worth. Indeed, if I were to speak among strangers, I should be greatly alarmed lest in following my speech they should believe his deeds to be no better than I describe them. As it is, I am encouraged by the thought that my words will be directed to you who know all of them thoroughly, have experienced them all, and for that reason have deemed him worthy of these very praises. You will judge of his excellence not from what I may say but from what you yourselves know, and you will assist my discourse, making good what is deficient by your memory of events. So that in this way his eulogy will become a public one, given by all, as I, like the head of some chorus, indicate the chief points and you come in with the remainder of the refrain. I am certainly not afraid that you will hold me guilty of weakness because I am unable to meet your desires nor that you will be jealous to see his excellence going beyond your reach. Who does not understand the fact that not all mankind assembled in one place could worthily sound his praises? And you all voluntarily make way for him to triumph, not envious to think that not one of you could equal him, but rejoicing in his surpassing greatness. The greater he looms up before you, the more greatly will you feel yourselves benefited, so that envy will not be bred in you by your inferiority to him but awe from the advantages you have received at his hands.

[-36-] "I shall begin at the point where he also began to enter politics, that is, from his earliest manhood. This, indeed, is one of the greatest achievements of Augustus,—that when he had just emerged from boyhood and was entering upon the state of youth, he paid attention to education so long as public affairs were well managed by the famous Cæsar, the demi-god: when after the conspiracy against the latter the whole commonwealth was thrown into confusion, he at the same time amply avenged his father and rendered a much needed aid to you, not fearing the multitude of his enemies nor dreading the greatness of the business nor hesitating through his own immaturity. Yet what deed like this can be cited of Alexander of Macedon or our Romulus, who have the reputation of having done something brilliant when very young? But these I shall pass over, lest from merely comparing them with him and bringing them up,—and that among you who are acquainted with him no less than I,—I may be thought to be diminishing the greatness of Augustus. If I am to do this sort of thing, I should be justified only if I looked at his deeds beside those of Hercules: yet even then I should fail of my effect, inasmuch as the latter killed only serpents when he was a child, a stag and a boar when he was a man,—oh, yes, and by Jupiter a lion also, though reluctantly and in obedience to a command; whereas our hero voluntarily made wars and enacted laws not among beasts but among men, carefully preserved the commonwealth, and himself gained brilliance. It was for this that you chose him prætor and appointed him consul at that age when some are unwilling even to serve in the army.

[-37-] "This was the beginning of political life for Augustus, and it is the beginning of my speech about him. Soon after, seeing that the largest and best portion both of the people and of the senate was in accord with him, but that Lepidus and Antony, Sextus, Brutus, and Cassius were employing rebels, he feared that the city might become involved in many wars,—civil wars,—at once, and be so torn asunder and exhausted as not to be able to revive in any fashion; and so he manipulated them very cleverly and to the greatest public good. He attached himself to the strong ones, who were menacing the very city, and with them fought the others till he made an end of them: when these were out of the way he in turn freed us from the former. He chose against his will to surrender a few to their wrath so that he might save the majority, and he chose to assume a friendly attitude toward them individually so as not to have to fight with them all at once. From this he derived no individual gain but aided us all most evidently. Why should one speak at length to enumerate his deeds in the wars both at home and abroad? Consider especially that the former ought never to have occurred at all and that the latter by the conquests gained show their advantages better than any words, moreover that they largely depended upon chance, that the successes were obtained with the aid of many citizens and many allies so that these deserve the credit equally with him, and finally that the achievements might possibly be compared with those of some others. These, accordingly, I shall put aside. You can behold and read them inscribed in letters and characters in many places. I shall speak only of the works which belong to Augustus himself, which have never been performed by any other man, and have not only caused our city to survive from many dangers of a sorts but have rendered it more prosperous and powerful. The mention of them will confer upon him a unique glory and will afford the elder among you an innocent pleasure while giving the younger men an exact instruction in the character and constitution of the government.

[-38-] "This Augustus, then, whom you deemed worthy of this title for the very reasons just cited, as soon as he had freed himself from the civil wars after acting and enduring (not in a way that pleased himself) as Heaven approved, first of all preserved the lives of most of his opponents, who were survivors of the army, and thus he in no way imitated Sulla, called the Fortunate. Not to give you a list of all of them, who does not know about Sosius, about Scaurus the brother of Sextus, and particularly about Lepidus, who lived so long a time after his defeat and continued to be high priest his whole life through? Next he honored his companions in conflict with many great gifts, but did not allow them to act in any arrogant way or to be wanton. You know thoroughly among others in this category both Mæcenas and Agrippa, so that there is no need of my enumerating the names. Augustus had two qualities, too, which were never united in any one else. Some conquerors, I know, have spared their enemies and others have refused to allow their companions to give way to license. But both sorts of behavior at once, continually without any exception, were never found in the same man. Here is evidence. Sulla and Marius treated as enemies even the children of those who fought against them. Why need I cite the other less important men? Pompey and Cæsar were in general guiltless of this conduct, but permitted their friends to do not a few things that were contrary to their own principles. But this man had each of the two virtues so fused and intermingled that to his adversaries he made defeat look like victory and to his comrades he showed a happiness in excellence.

[-39-] "After doing this and quieting by kindness all that remained of factional disputes and imposing temperance by his benefits upon the victorious military, he might as a result of this and the weapons and the money at his command have been indisputably the sole lord of everything, as, indeed, he had been made by the very course of events. Yet he refused, and like a good physician, who takes in hand a disease-ridden body and heals it, he restored everything to you after making it well. And to what this action amounted you can best realize from the fact that our fathers spoke in praise of Pompey and Metellus, who was formerly prominent, because they voluntarily disbanded the forces with which they had been engaged in war. Now if they, who had but a small force and a merely temporary one and besides saw opponents who would not allow them to do otherwise,—if they received praise for doing this,—how could one speak fittingly of the magnanimity of Augustus? He held all your forces, however great, he was master of all your funds, vast in amount, had no one to fear or suspect: but whereas he might have ruled alone with the approval of all, he would not accept such a course, but laid the arms, the provinces, the money at your feet. Wherefore you with wise insistence and proper prudence would not have it nor allow him to retire to private life; you knew well that democracy would never accommodate itself to such tremendous interests, but that the superintendence of a single person would most surely preserve them, and so refused what was nominally independence but really factional discord. And making choice of him, whom you had proved worthy by his very deeds, you compelled him to stand at your head for a time at least. When you had in this way tested him even more than before, you finally forced him a second, a third, a fourth, and a fifth time to remain as manager of public affairs. [-40-] It was only natural. Who would not choose to be safe without trouble, to be prosperous without danger, to enjoy unsparingly the blessings of government and not to be disturbed by cares for its maintenance? Who was there that could rule even his private possessions better than Augustus, to say nothing of the goods of so many human beings? He accepted the trying and hostile provinces for his own portion to guard and preserve, but restored to you all such others as were peaceful and free from danger. Though he supported such a large standing army to fight in your behalf, he let the soldiers be troublesome to none of his own countrymen but rendered them to outsiders most terrifying guardians, to the people at home unarmed and unwarlike. The senators in places of authority were not deprived of appeal to the lot, but prizes for excellence were furnished them in addition. He did not destroy the power of the ballot in their decisions and he guaranteed safety in free speech as well. Cases difficult to decide he transferred from the people to the searching justice of the courts, but preserved to the popular body the dignity of the elections and trained citizens in these to seek a means of honor, not of strife. He even cut away the ambitious greed of office seekers and put a regard for reputation in its place. His own money, which he increased by legitimate methods, he spent for public needs: for the public funds he cared as if they were his own, while he refrained from touching them, as belonging to others. He saw that all public works that were falling to decay were repaired, and deprived no one connected with their renovation of the glory attaching: many structures he built anew (some in his own name, some in that of another), or else gave others charge of erecting them. Consequently, his gaze was directed toward public utility and privately he grudged no one the fame to be derived from public service. Wantonness among his own kin he recompensed relentlessly, but the offences of others he treated with humaneness. Those who had traits of excellence he allowed to come as near as they could to his own standard, and with the conduct of such as lived otherwise he did not concern himself minutely. Among those who conspired against him he invoked justice upon only those whose lives were of no profit even to themselves. The rest he placed in such a position that for a great while they could obtain no excuse either true or false for attacking him. It is nothing surprising that he was occasionally the object of conspiracies, for even the gods do not please all alike. The excellence of good rulers is discernible not in the villainies of others but in their own good behavior.

[-41-] "I have spoken, Quirites, of his greatest and most striking characteristics in a rather summary way. For if one should desire to enumerate all of his great points individually, it would need many days. Furthermore, I know that though you will have heard so few facts from me, they will lead you to remember for yourselves everything else, and it will seem almost as if I had spoken that too. In the rest that I have said about him I have not been speaking in a spirit of vainglory [7], nor has that been your state of mind in listening; but I intended that his many noble achievements might obtain an ever memorable glory in your souls. Who would not feel inclined to make mention of his senators?—how without giving offence he removed the scum that had come to the surface from the factions, how by this very act he exalted the remainder, magnified it by increasing the property requirement, and enriched it by grants of money; how he voted on an equality with the senators and had their help in making changes; how he communicated to them all the greatest and most important matters either in the meeting-place or else at his house, whither he called different members at different times because of his age and bodily infirmity. Who would not like to cite the condition of the rest of the Romans, before whom he set public works, money, games, festivals, amnesty, an abundance of food, safety not only from the enemy and evildoers but even from the acts of Heaven, nor such alone as befall by day, but by night as well? Or, again, the allies?—how he made their freedom free from danger and their alliance to involve no loss. Or the subject nations?—how no one of them was treated with insolence or abuse. How can one forget a man who was in private life poor, in public life rich, saving in his own case but liberal of expenditures for others?—one who even endured all toil and danger for you but would not submit to your escorting him when he went forth on any expedition or to your meeting him when he returned: one who on festivals admitted even the populace to his home, but on other days greeted even the senate only in its chambers? How could one forget the number and precision as well of his laws, which contained for the wronged an all-sufficient consolation and for the wrongdoers a not inhuman punishment? Or his rewards offered to those who married and had children? Or the prizes given to the soldiers without disadvantage to any other person? Then there is the fact of his being satisfied with our possessions once for all acquired by the will of Destiny, and his refusal to subjugate additional territory. For while imagining that we bore a wider sway we might meantime lose all we had. You recall how he always shared the joys and sorrows, the jests and earnestness of his intimate friends, and allowed absolutely all who could make any useful suggestion to feel free to speak; how he praised those who spoke the truth and hated flatterers; how he bestowed upon many large sums from his own means, and how when aught was bequeathed to him by men with children he restored it all to those children. What oblivion is dark enough to bury all this? It was for this, therefore, I say, that you naturally made him your head and a father of the people, that you decked him with many marks of esteem and numerous consulships and finally declared him a hero and published him as immortal. Hence we ought not either to mourn for him, but to give his body back now in due time to Nature, and to glorify his spirit, as that of a god, forever."

[-42-] This was what Tiberius read. Directly after, the same men as before took up the couch and carried it through the triumphal gateway, according to the senate's decree. There were present and took part in carrying him out the senate and the equestrian class, the women of his family, and the pretorian guard; and nearly everybody else in the city was in attendance. When the body had been placed on the pyre in the Campus Martius, all the priests marched about it first; and then the knights, all the magistrates and others, and the heavy-armed force for garrison duty ran around it; and they cast upon it all the triumphal decorations which any of them had ever received from him for any deed of valor. Next the centurions took torches, conformably to a decree of the senate, and kindled the fire from beneath. So it was consumed, and an eagle released from it flew aloft appearing to bear his spirit into heaven. When this had been accomplished most of those present departed; but Livia remained on the spot for five days in company with the most prominent knights, and gathered his bones, which she placed in the monument.

The show of grief required by law was prolonged [-43-] only for a few days by the men, but by the women, according to a decree, for a whole year. Real grief not in the hearts of many at the time, but later felt by all the citizens. Augustus had been accessible to all and was accustomed to aid many persons in the matter of money. He used to bestow honors scrupulously upon his friends and delighted exceedingly to have them speak frankly. One instance, in addition to what has been told, occurred in the case of Athenodorus. The latter was once brought into his room in a covered litter, as if it were some woman, and leaping from it sword in hand asked: "Aren't you afraid that some one may come in this way and kill you?" Instead of being angry Augustus thanked him for his suggestion.

The people consequently were wont to recall these traits of his, and how he did not get blindly enraged at those who injured him as well as how he kept faith with even such as were unworthy of it. There was a robber named Corocotta, who flourished in Spain, and the emperor was in the first place so angry at him that he offered twenty-five myriads to the man that captured him alive. Later the robber came to him of his own accord, and he not only did him no harm but made him richer by the amount of money mentioned. Hence the Romans missed him mightily for these reasons as well as because by mingling monarchy with democracy he preserved their freedom for them and secured orderliness and security, so that their lives, free from the audacities of democracy, free from the wantonness of tyrannies, were cast in a liberty of moderation and under a monarchy without terrors; they were subjects of royalty, yet not slaves, and democratic citizens without discord. [-44-] If any of them remembered his former deeds in the course of the civil wars, they laid them to the pressure of circumstances, and they thought it fair to look for his real disposition, which had given him undisputed authority. This offered, in truth, a mighty contrast. Any one who goes carefully into each of his separate actions will find this true. In regard to the mass of them I must record curtly that he stopped all factional disputes, transformed the government in a way to give it power, and strengthened it greatly. Therefore if any deed of violence is encountered,—as is often bound to happen when the face of a situation shifts unexpectedly,—one might more justly blame the circumstances themselves than him.

Not the smallest factor in his glory was the length of his reign. The majority of those that had lived under a democracy and the more powerful had time to die. Those who were left, knowing nothing of that form of government and having been reared entirely or mostly under existing conditions, were not only not displeased with them,—they had become so familiar,—but took delight in them, for they saw that these were better and more free from terror than others of which they heard.

[-45-] Though the people knew this during his life they nevertheless realized it more fully after his decease. Human nature is so constituted that in good fortune it does not perceive its prosperity so fully as it misses it when evil days arrive. This was the case then in regard to Augustus. When they found his successor Tiberius not the same sort of man they longed for the previous emperor. Persons with their wits about them had some immediate evidence of the change in the constitution. The consul Pompeius, who went out to meet the men bearing the body of Augustus, received a blow in the leg and had to be carried back with the body. An owl sat over the senate-house again at the very first sitting of the senate after his death and uttered many ill-omened cries. The two men differed so from each other that some suspected that Augustus with full knowledge of Tiberius's character had purposely appointed him for successor to the end that he himself might have greater glory. This began to be rumored at a later date.

[-46-] At this time they declared Augustus immortal and assigned to him attendants and sacred rites, making Livia (who was already called Julia and Augusta) his priestess. Permission was granted Livia to employ a lictor during the services. And she bestowed upon a certain Numerius Atticus, a senatorial exprætor, twenty-five myriads because he swore that he had seen Augustus ascending into heaven after the manner described in the cases of Proclus and of Romulus. A heroüm voted by the senate and built by Livia and Tiberius was erected to the dead emperor in Rome, and others at many different points, sometimes with the consent of the nations concerned and sometimes without their consent. Also the house at Nola, where he passed away, was dedicated to him as a precinct. While the heroüm was being built in Rome, they placed a golden image of him upon a couch in the temple of Mars, and to this they paid all the honors that they were afterward to give to his statue. Other votes in regard to him were that his image should not be borne in procession at any one's funeral and the consuls should celebrate his birthday with games no less than that of Mars[8] the tribunes, as being sacrosanct, were to manage the Augustalia. These officials conducted everything as had been the custom, wearing the triumphal costume at the horse-race; they did not, however, ascend the chariot. Besides this Livia held a private festival in his honor for three days in the Palatium, and this is continued to the present day by whoever is emperor.

[-47-] This was the extent of the decrees passed in memory of Augustus nominally by the senate but really by Tiberius and Livia. Various men made various motions and they decided that Tiberius should receive written proposals from them and pick out whatever he chose. I have added the name of Livia because she took a share in the proceedings, as though she had full power.

Meantime the populace was plunged in tumult because at the Augustalia one of the dancers would not enter the theatre for the stipulated pay. They did not cease their disturbances until the tribunes convened the senate without delay and begged that body to allow them to spend something more than the legal amount.—Here ends my account of Augustus.

[Footnote 3: A leaf is here missing in the codex Marcianus. Of the portion lost Zonaras supplies about one quarter.]

[Footnote 4: Another leaf of the codex Marcianus is here lacking, leaving a gap of which Zonaras and an Excerpt of de Valois supply a sixth or more.]

[Footnote 5: A conjecture of Boissevain's. The MS. has "Sardinia." (See
Mnemosyne, N.S. XIII, p. 329.)]

[Footnote 6: Dio here appears to confuse the festival of Augustus's Birthday (September 23d) with that of the Augustalia proper, which was celebrated October third to twelfth. The opening of chapter 34, Book Fifty-four, might lead one to think, however, that he had accustomed himself to use the phrase "which are still celebrated" to listing the latter from the former.]

[Footnote 7: This sentence in the MS. is faulty. Oddey and Bekker supplied words for the necessary sense.]

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

About Tiberius (chapter I ff.). How Cappadocia began to be governed by
Romans (chapter 17). How Germanicus Cæsar died (chapter 18). How Drusus
Cæsar died (chapter 22).

Duration of time, 11 years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated:

Drusus Cæsar Tiberi F., C. Norbanus C. F. Flaccus (A.D. 15 = a. u. 768 =
Second of Tiberius, from Aug. 19th.)

T. Statilius T. F. Sisenna Taurus, L. Scribonius L. F. Libo. (A.D. 16 = a. u. 769 = Third of Tiberius.)

C. Cæcilius C. F. Nepos [or] Rufus, L. Pomponius L. F. Flaccus. (A.D. 17 = a. u. 770 = Fourth of Tiberius.)

Tib. Cæsar Augusti F. (III), Germanicus Cæsar Tib. F. (II). (A.D. 18 = a. u. 771 = Fifth of Tiberius.)

M. Iunius M. F. Silanus, C. Norbanus C. F. Flaccus or Balbus. (A.D. 19 = a. u. 772 = Sixth of Tiberius.)

M. Valerius M. F. Messala, M. Aurelius M. F. Cotta. (A.D. 20 = a. u. 773
= Seventh of Tiberius.)

Tib. Cæsar Augusti F. (IV), Drusus Iulius Tib. F. (II). (A.D. 21 = a. u. 774 = Eighth of Tiberius.)

Decimus Haterius C. F. Agrippa, C. Sulpicius Serg. F. Galba. (A.D. 22 = a. u. 775 = Ninth of Tiberius.)

C. Asinius C. F. Pollio, C. Antistius C. F. Vetus. (A.D. 23 = a. u. 776 =
Tenth of Tiberius.)

Sergius Cornelius Sergi F. Cethego, L. Visellius L. F. Varro. (A.D. 24 = a. u. 777 = Eleventh of Tiberius.)

M. [or C.] Asinius [M. or] C. F. Agrippa, Cossus Cornelius Cossi F.
Lentulus. (A.D. 25 = a. u. 778 = Twelfth of Tiberius.)

(BOOK 57 BOISSEVAIN)

[-1-] Tiberius was a patrician of good education, but he had a most peculiar nature. He never let what he desired appear in his talk, and about what he said he wished he usually cared nothing at all. Thus his words indicated just the opposite of his real purpose: be denied any interest in what he longed for and urged the claims of what he hated. He would exhibit anger over matters that were very far from arousing his rage and made a show of affability where he was most vexed. He would pity those whom he severely punished and retain a grudge against those whom he pardoned. Sometimes he would regard his dearest foe as his nearest friend and again he would act toward his most intimate companion as if the latter were thoroughly hostile. In general, he thought it bad policy for the independent sovereign to reveal his state of mind; this was the source, he said, of great failures, but by the opposite course even more successes, and greater, were attained. If he had merely followed this method without complications, he would have had no protection against such as had come to know him; they would have taken everything by contraries and would have deemed his saying that he did not wish something to be equivalent to his ardently desiring it, and that he was eager for something equivalent to his not being concerned about it. It happened, however, that he became angry if any one gave evidence of understanding him. Many were those he put to death for no other offence than having comprehended him. It was a dangerous matter, then, to fail to understand him—for many were ruined by approving what he said instead of what he wished,—but still more dangerous to understand him. Such persons were suspected of discovering his practice and being consequently displeased with it. Practically the only sort of man that could maintain himself,—and such a person is rarely found,—was one who did not misunderstand his nature yet did not subject it to uncomfortable exposure. Under these conditions men would not be deceived by believing him nor be hated for revealing their comprehension of his policy. For he gave plenty of trouble both to any one who opposed what he said and to any one who favored it. As he was really anxious for one thing to be done but wanted to appear to desire something different, he invariably regarded those who took either side as his opponents and therefore was hostile to the one class because of his real feelings, and to the other for the sake of appearances.

[-2-] It was due to this characteristic that, as emperor, he sent a dispatch straight from Nola to the legions and provinces declaring that he was emperor. This name, which was voted him along with the rest, he would not accept, and though taking the portion of Augustus he would not adopt this title of his. At a time when he was already surrounded by the body-guards he asked the senate to help him escape suffering any violence at the burial of the emperor's body. He was afraid some men might snatch it up and burn it in the Forum, as they had that of Cæsar. When somebody thereupon as a compliment voted that he be given a guard, as if he had none, he saw through the man's flattery and answered: "The soldiers are not mine but the public's." Besides doing this he administered in fact all the business of the empire, meanwhile declaring that he wanted none of it. At first he said he should give it all up on account of his age,—fifty-six,—and his near-sightedness (although he saw extremely well in the dark, his eyes in the daylight were very weak). Later he asked for some associates and colleagues, though not to take charge of the whole domain at once, as in an oligarchy, but he divided it into three parts, one of which he should retain himself and yield the remaining two to others. One of these portions consisted of Rome and the rest of Italy, the second of the legions, the third of the subject peoples outside. Though he became very urgent, most of the senators still opposed him and begged him to govern the entire realm. But Asinius Gallus, who employed the frank speech of old days more than was good for him, replied: "Choose whichever part you wish." Tiberius rejoined: "How is it feasible for the same man both to make the division and to choose?" Gallus, perceiving into what a plight he had fallen, framed his words to flatter him, interrupting to the effect that: "I not setting before you the idea of your having a third but the impossibility of the empire's being divided." In fact, however, he did not mollify Tiberius, but after first undergoing many dire sufferings was subsequently murdered. For Gallus had married the former wife of the new ruler and claimed Drusus as his son, and consequently there had been hatred between them before this.

[-3-] Tiberius acted in this way at that time chiefly because it was his nature and he had determined upon that policy, but partly also because he was suspicious of the Pannonian and Germanic legions and feared Germanicus, the ruler of the Germany of that day and a favorite of theirs. He had previously made sure of the soldiers in Italy by means of the oaths established by Augustus; but as he was suspicious of the others he waited for either possible outcome, intending to save himself by retiring to private life in case the legions should revolt and prevail. For this reason he often feigned sickness and remained at home, so as not to be compelled to say or do anything definite. I have even heard that when it began to be said that Livia against the will of Augustus had kept the empire for him, he took such action[1] that he might appear to have received it not from her (with whom he was on very bad terms), but under compulsion from the senators through surpassing them in excellence. Again I have heard that when he saw that people were cool toward him he waited and delayed in order that they in the hope of his voluntarily resigning the empire might no adopt rebellious measures until he had secured an unshakable control of the government. Still, I do not record these stories as the true causes of his delay, but rather his usual disposition and the disturbance among the soldiers. He sent some one from Nola and had Agrippa killed at once. Yet he declared this had not been done by his orders and he threatened the perpetrator of the deed. Instead of punishing him, however, he allowed men to invent versions of the affair some to the effect that Augustus had put him out of the way just before his death, others that the centurion who was guarding him slew him on his own responsibility for some revolutionary dealings, others that Livia and not Tiberius had ordered his death.

[-4-] This rival, then, he had removed from the scene immediately, but there remained Germanicus, whom he feared mightily. The soldiers in Pannonia had risen as soon as they learned of the demise of Augustus. They gathered in one fort and having strengthened it they took many steps toward rebellion. Among other things they attempted to kill their leader, Junius Blæsus, and arrested and tortured his slaves. In general, what they wanted was to have the period of service extend over not more than sixteen years, and they demanded that they should receive a denarius per day and be given at once his prizes that were in the camp. In case they did not obtain their demands they threatened to make the province revolt and to march upon Rome. Indeed, they were at this time with difficulty won over by the persuasions of Blæsus to send envoys to Tiberius at Rome in regard to these matters. For they hoped during this change in the government to accomplish the utmost of their desires either by frightening the emperor into it or by giving the power to some one else. Subsequently, when Drusus came upon them with the Pretorians, they were thrown into tumult once more because no definite answer was returned them. Some of his followers they wounded and they put a guard around him in the night to prevent his escape. Noticing, however, an eclipse of the moon occurring they felt their boldness begin to waver so that they did no further harm to this detachment and despatched envoys again to Tiberius. Meantime a great storm came up, and when on this account every one had retired to his own quarters, the most audacious soldiers were destroyed, some in one manner, some in another, by Drusus and his associates in his own tent, whither he had summoned them on some unsignifying pretext. The rest were restored to good standing on condition of surrendering for punishment those responsible for the uprising. In this way this division became quiet.

[-5-] The warriors in Germany, however, where many had been assembled on account of the war, would not hear of moderation, since they saw that Germanicus was both a Cæsar and far superior to Tiberius, but proclaiming publicly the above facts they heaped abuse upon Tiberius and saluted Germanicus as emperor. When after much pleading he found himself unable to reduce them to order, finally he drew his sword as if to despatch himself. They cried out upon him in horror, and one of them proffering his own sword said: "Take this; this is sharper." Germanicus, seeing to what lengths the matter had gone, did not venture to kill himself, particularly as he had reason to believe that they would persist in their uprising none the less. Therefore he composed a letter purporting to have been sent from Tiberius, gave them twice the gift bequeathed them by Augustus,—pretending it was the emperor who did this,—and released those who were beyond the age of service. Most of them belonged to the city troops which Augustus had gathered as an extra force after the disaster to Varus. As a result, they ceased for the time being their seditious behavior. Later on came senators as envoys from Tiberius, to whom the latter had secretly communicated only so much as he wished Germanicus to know. He felt quite sure that they would tell him the emperor's plans in their entirety, and accordingly did not care that either they or Germanicus should trouble themselves about anything further; the instructions delivered were supposed to comprise everything. Now when these men had arrived and the soldiers learned about the trick Germanicus had played, a suspicion sprang up that the presence of the senators meant the overthrow of their leader's measures, and this led to new turmoil. The men-at-arms almost killed some of the envoys and to the point of seizing Germanicus's wife Agrippina (daughter of Agrippa and Julia, the daughter of Augustus) and his son, both of whom had been sent by him to some place for refuge. The boy was called Gaius Caligula because, being brought up for the most part in the camp he wore the military shoes instead of those usual at the capital. At the request of Germanicus they released to him Agrippina, who was pregnant but they retained possession of Gaius. Yet on this occasion too, as they accomplished nothing, they after a time grew quiet. In fact, they experienced such a revulsion of sentiment that of their own accord they arrested the boldest of their number: and some they killed privately, the rest they brought before a gathering; and then, according to the wish of the majority, [-6-] they executed some and released others. Germanicus being still afraid that they would make another uprising invaded the enemy's country and there spent some time, giving them plenty of work and abundant food,—the fruit of others' labor.

Thus, though he might have obtained the imperial power,—for he found favor in the sight of absolutely all the Romans as well as their subjects,—he declined the honor. For this Tiberius praised him and sent many pleasing messages both to him and to Agrippina: he was not, however, pleased with his rival's progress but feared him all the more because he had won the attachment of the legions. Tiberius assumed that he did not feel as he appeared to do, from his own consciousness of saying one thing and doing another. Hence he was suspicious of Germanicus and further suspicious of his wife, who was possessed of an ambition appropriate to her lofty lineage. Yet he displayed no sign of irritation toward them, but delivered many eulogies of Germanicus in the senate and proposed sacrifices to be offered in honor of his achievements as he did in the case of Drusus. Also he bestowed upon the soldiers in Pannonia the same privileges as Germanicus had given. For the future, however, he refused to release members of the service outside of Italy until they had served the twenty years.

[-7-] Now when no further news of a revolutionary nature came, but all parts of the Roman world began to yield a steady acquiescence to his leadership, he no longer practiced dissimulation regarding the acceptance of sovereign power, and managed the empire, so long as Germanicus lived, in the way I am about to describe. He did little or nothing, that is, on his own responsibility, but brought even the smallest matters before the senate and communicated them to that body. In the Forum a platform had been erected on which he sat in public to transact business, and he always gathered about him advisers, after the manner of Augustus. Moreover, he did not take any step of consequence without making it known to the rest. He stated his own opinion openly and not only granted every one the right to oppose it freely in speech, but sometimes even endured to have some vote directly against it. Often he would cast a vote himself. Drusus did this, like the rest, now voting first and again after some others. The emperor would sometimes remain silent and sometimes give his opinion first, or after a few others, or even last; in some cases he would speak out directly, but generally (to avoid appearing to have cut short their freedom of speech), he would say: "If I were to give my views I should propose this or that." This had equal influence with the other method, only those who came after were not prevented by him from stating what appeared good to them. But frequently he would outline one plan and those who came after him would prefer something different; occasionally they even prevailed. Yet for all that he harbored anger against no one. He held court himself, as I have stated, but he also attended the magistrates' courts, both when summoned by them and without an invitation. These officials he allowed to sit in their own places: he himself took his seat on the bench located opposite them and as presiding officer made any remarks that seemed to him pertinent.

[-8-] In all other matters, too, he behaved in this same way. He would not allow himself to be called "master" by the freedmen, nor "imperator" except by the soldiers; the title of Pater Patriæ he put away from him entirely: that of Augustus he did not assume (for he never permitted the question to be put to vote), but endured to hear it spoken and to read it when written. Moreover, when he sent messages to any kings he would regularly include this title in his letter. In general he spoke of himself as Cæsar, sometimes as Germanicus (from the exploits of Germanicus), and Princeps Senatus , according to ancient usage. Often he used to say: "My position is that of master of the slaves, imperator of the soldiers, and first citizen among the rest." He would pray, whenever it happened that he was so engaged, that he might live and rule so long a time as should be to the advantage of the public. And he was so democratic in all circumstances alike that on his birthday he did not permit any unusual demonstrations, and he did not give people the right to swear by his Fortune nor did he prosecute any one who after swearing by it incurred the charge of perjury. In short, he would not (at first, at least) sanction in his own case the carrying out of the custom which has obtained as a matter of course on the first day of the year, down to the present, in honor of Augustus, of all rulers that came after him of whom we make any account, and of such as nowadays succeed to imperial privileges,—namely, the ratification under oath of what they have done and of what they shall do by citizens alive during the particular year in question. Yet in the case of the measures of Augustus he both administered the oath to others and took it himself. In order to render his attitude more striking, he would let the first day of the month go by, not entering the senate nor showing himself at all in the City on that day, but spending the time in some suburb; then later he would come in and take pledges separately. This was part of the reason that he remained somewhere outside on the first days of the month, but he was also anxious to avoid disturbing any of the inhabitants, who were concerned with the new offices and the festival, and to avoid taking money from them. He did not even commend Augustus for his behavior in this respect because it brought about great dissatisfaction and a great expenditure in order to return favors. [-9-] Not only in this way were his actions democratic, but no precinct was set apart for him either by his own choice or in any other way,—that is to say at this time. Nor was any one allowed to set up an image of him. Without delay he expressly forbade any city or individual to do this. To this refusal he attached the phrase "unless I grant permission "; but he added: "I will not grant it." Least of all did he assume to have been insulted or to have been impiously treated by any one. (Men were already calling such a procedure impiety, and were bringing many suits based on that ground.) He would not hear of any such indictment being brought for his own benefit, though he paid tribute to the majesty of Augustus in this matter also. At first he would not punish even such as had incurred charges for their actions in regard to his predecessor, and some against whom complaint was made of their having perjured themselves by the Fortune of Augustus he released. As time went on, however, he put a very great number to death.

[-10-] Not only did he magnify Augustus as above stated, but in giving the finishing touches to the buildings of which Augustus had laid the foundations (though not bringing them to completion) he inscribed the first emperor's name; the latter's statues and heroä, likewise, whether those that the provinces or those that individuals were erecting he partly consecrated himself and partly assigned to some member of the pontifices. This plan of inscribing the builder's name he carried out not only in the case of the actual monuments of Augustus himself, but equally in the case of all such as needed any repair. He put in good condition all buildings that had fallen to decay (not constructing anything new at all himself, except the temple of Augustus), and appropriated none of them, but restored to all of them the same names, names of the original builders. While expending extremely little for himself he laid out very great sums for the common good, either building over or adorning practically all the public works. He assisted many cities and individuals and enriched numerous senators who were poor and on that account were no longer willing to be members of the senate. However, he did not do this promiscuously and even expunged the names of some for licentiousness and of others for poverty when they could give no adequate reason for it. Every gift that was bestowed upon any persons was counted out directly in his presence. For since in the days of Augustus the officials who made the presentation were wont to deduct large sums for their own use, he took the greatest care that this should not happen during his reign. All the expenditures, moreover, he made from the regular sources of income. He killed no one for his money, did not confiscate (at this time) any one's property, nor collect any funds by abuses. Indeed, when Aemilius Rectus once sent him from Egypt, of which he was governor, more money than was required, he sent him a message, saying: "To shear my sheep and not to shave them to the skin is what I desire."

[-11-] Furthermore he was extremely easy of access and ready to grant an audience. The senators he bade greet him all at once and so avoid jostling one another. In fine, he showed himself so considerate that once, when the leaders of the Rhodians sent him some communication and failed to write at the foot of the letter this customary formula about offering their prayers for his welfare, he summoned them in haste as if he intended to do them some harm, but on their arrival instead of administering any serious rebuke had them subscribe what was lacking and then sent them away. The temporary officials he honored as he would have done in a democracy, even rising from his seat at the approach of the consuls. Whenever he entertained them at dinner he would in the first place receive them at the door when they entered, and secondly escort them on their way when they departed. In case he was at any time being carried anywhere in his litter, he would not allow even one of the knights who was prominent to accompany him, still less a senator. On the occasion of festivals or so often as anything similar was going to afford the people leisure, he would go the evening before to one of the Cæsarians who lived near the places where there was sure to be a large crowd and there pass the night. His object was to make it possible for the people to meet him with a minimum of formality and fatigue. The equestrian contests he would often watch in person from the house of some freedman. He attended the spectacles very frequently in order to do honor to those who gave them as well as to ensure the orderliness of the multitude and to seem to take an interest in their celebration. Really he did not care in the least about anything of the kind, nor did he have the reputation of being enthusiastic in these matters. In every way he was so fair and equal that when the populace once desired that a certain dancer be set free he would not approve the proposal until the man's master had been persuaded and received the value of his chattel. His intercourse with his companions was like that between private individuals: he helped them when they were sued and joined them in the ceremony of sacrifice; he visited them when they were sick, taking no guard into the room with him; over one of them who died he himself delivered the funeral oration.

[-12-] Moreover, he bade his mother behave in a similar manner, so far as it was proper for her to do so, partly that she might imitate him and partly to prevent her becoming overproud. She occupied a position of great prominence, far above all women of former time, so that she could at any time receive the senate and such of the people as so wished to greet her in her house. This was also inscribed in the public records. The letters of Tiberius bore for a time her name also and were written by both with equal authority. Except that she never ventured to enter the senate or the camps or the public assemblies she undertook to man age everything like a sole ruler. In the time of Augustus she had had great influence and she declared that it was she who made Tiberius emperor. Consequently she was not satisfied to rule on equal terms with him, but wished to assert a superiority over him. In this way many measures out of the ordinary were introduced and many persons voted that she should be called Mother of her Country, many others that she should he termed Parent. Others proposed that Tiberius should receive his name from her, that just as the Greeks were called by their father's name so he should be called by his mother's. This vexed him and he neither ratified the honors voted her (save a very few) nor allowed her any further unusual freedom of action. For instance, she had once dedicated in her house an image to Augustus and in honor of the event wished to entertain the senate and the knights together with their wives, but he would not grant her permission to carry out any part of this program until the senate had voted it, and not even then to receive the men at dinner. Instead, he entertained the latter and she attended to the women. Finally, he removed her entirely from the public sphere, allowing her to direct affairs within doors; then, as she was troublesome even in this capacity, he proceeded to absent himself from the City and avoided her in every way possible. It was chiefly on her account that he removed to Capreae.—This is the tradition that obtains about Livia.

[-13-] Now Tiberius began to treat more harshly those accused of any crime and became at enmity with his son Drusus, who was most licentious and cruel (as is evidenced by the fact that the sharpest kind of swords was called Drusian after him); him he often censured both privately and publicly. Once he said to him outright in the Presence of many witnesses: "While I live you shall perform no act of violence or insolence, and if you venture to do any such thing, you shall be cut off from the possibility after I am dead." For during some time the emperor continued to live a very temperate life and allowed no one else to indulge in licentiousness but punished numbers for it. Yet once when the senators evinced a desire to have a penalty imposed by law upon those guilty of lewd living he would make no such ruling, explaining that it is better to correct them privately in some way or other instead of laying them open to a public punishment. Under existing conditions, he said, there was a chance of bringing some of them to moderation through fear of disgrace, and they might endeavor to escape discovery; but if the law should once be overcome by nature, no one would pay any further heed to it. Not a few men also were wearing quantities of purple clothing (though this had formerly been forbidden); of these no one was either rebuked or fined: but when a rain came up on a certain festival the emperor put on a dark woolen cloak. After this none of them dared any longer to assume any different kind of garb.

This is the way he behaved under all conditions so long as Germanicus lived. Subsequent to that event he changed many of his ways. Perhaps he had been minded from the first as he later appeared to feel, and had been merely shamming as long as Germanicus existed because he saw that he was lying in wait for the leadership; or perhaps he was excellent by nature but drifted into vice when he was deprived of his rival. [-14-] I shall notice also separate events,—all those, at least that deserve mention,—each in its proper place.

In the consulship of Drusus his son and of Gaius Norbanus he presented to the people the bequests made by Augustus: this was after some one had approached a corpse that was being carried out through the Forum for burial and bending down had whispered something in its ear; when the spectators asked what he had said, he stated that he had commissioned the dead to tell Augustus that they had got nothing as yet. This man the emperor immediately despatched, in order (as he jokingly said) that he might carry his own message to Augustus; with the rest he settled after a little, distributing sixty-five denarii apiece. Some say this payment was made the previous year.

At this time certain knights desired to enter a championship contest in the games which Drusus had arranged for his own celebration and that of Germanicus; Tiberius did not view their combat, and when one of them was killed he forbade the other to fight as a gladiator again. Still other conflicts took place in connection with the horse-race that was in honor of Augustus's birthday; indeed, a few beasts were slain. So things went on for a number of years.

At this time, too, Crete, its governor being dead, was attached to the quaestorship and to the quaestor's assistant for the future. Since, also, many of those to whom the provinces had been allotted lingered in Rome and in the remainder of Italy for a long time, so that those who had held the office before them delayed, contrary to precedent, Tiberius commanded that they should take their departure by the first day of June. Meanwhile his grandson by Drusus died, but he neglected none of his customary duties; it was his settled conviction that a governor of men ought not to give up care of the common weal by reason of private misfortunes, and he confirmed the rest in their purpose not to jeopardize the interests of the living because of the dead.

The river Tiber now proceeded to occupy a large portion of the City, so that there was an inundation. Most people regarded this also as a prodigy, like the great earthquakes which shook down a portion of the wall, and like the frequent fall of thunderbolts, which made wine leak even from pails that were sound. The emperor, however, thinking that it was due to the great number of springs, appointed five senators, chosen by lot, to constitute a permanent board to look after the river, to the end that it should not give out in summer nor become over full in winter, but flow evenly so far as possible all the time. These were the measures of Tiberius.

As for Drusus, he performed the duties pertaining to the consulship along with his colleague as any private citizen might have done. Being left heir to someone's estate he assisted in carrying out the funeral. Yet he was so prone to anger that he inflicted blows upon a distinguished knight, and for this exploit he obtained the surname of Castor. [2] And he showed himself such a hard drinker that one night, when he was forced to lend aid with the Pretorians to some people whose property was on fire, he commanded, at their request for water, to pour it out hot for them. He was so fond of dancers that this class raised a tumult and would not be brought to order by the laws which Tiberius had introduced to apply to them.

[-15-] These were the events of that period. Now when Statilius Taurus was consul with Lucius Libo, Tiberius forbade any man to wear silk clothing and likewise to use gold ornaments, except for sacred ceremonies. As some were at a loss to know whether it were forbidden them also to possess silver ornaments which had some gold inlaid, he wished to issue some decree about this too, but he refused to let the word emblaema , since it was a Greek term, be inserted in the original document. Yet he could find no native word that would describe such inlaid work.

This was the position he took in that matter. Now there was a centurion who wished to give some evidence before the senate in Greek, and he would not allow it. Yet he was wont to hear many suits that were argued there in that language and to investigate many himself. Besides his unusual behavior in this respect he failed to pass sentence on Lucius Scribonius Libo, a young noble suspected of revolutionary designs, so long as the latter was well; but upon his falling sick he had him brought into the senate in a covered litter (such as the wives of senators use) to be condemned to death.

A slight delay ensued and Libo committed suicide, whereupon the emperor passed judgment upon his behavior, though he was dead, gave his money to the accusers, and had sacrifices voted for his overthrow, not only for his own sake, but for the sake of Augustus and of the latter's father Julius, as had occasionally been decreed in past times.

Though he took such action in the case of this man, he administered no rebuke at all to Vibius Rufus, who used Cæsar's chair (the one on which the latter was always accustomed to sit and on which he was slain). Rufus did this regularly, besides having Cicero's wife as his consort, and prided himself on both achievements, evidently thinking that he would become an orator by means of the wife or a Cæsar by means of the chair. For this, as I have stated, he received no censure; indeed, he became consul.

Tiberius was, moreover, forever in the company of Thrasyllus and made some use of the mantic art every day, becoming himself so proficient in the study that when he was once bidden in a dream to give money to a certain person, he comprehended that a deceitful spirit had been called up before him and he put the man to death. Likewise, in the case of all the rest of the astrologers and magicians and those who practiced divination in any other way whatever, he had the foreigners executed and banished all such citizens as still at that time after the previous decree, by which it had been forbidden to engage in any such business in the City, were accused in court of employing the art.

To such of them as obeyed immunity had been granted. In fact, all the citizens would have been acquitted even contrary to his wish, had not a certain tribune prevented it. Here one could catch a glimpse of the democratic constitution, inasmuch as the senate, approving the course of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, overcame Drusus and Tiberius and was itself subdued by the tribune.

[-16-] These affairs were settled in this way. Certain men who had been quaestors the previous year were sent out to the provinces, since those who were quaestors at the time proved too few for them. This was done again and again, as often as it was found necessary.

Many of the public documents had either perished utterly or had faded during the lapse of time. Three senators were therefore elected to copy off what was extant and to look up the rest.—Assistance was given in several conflagrations not only by Tiberius but also by Livia.

The same year a certain Clemens, who had been a slave of Agrippa and resembled him to a certain extent, pretended to be he. He went to Gaul and won the attachment of many there, and later of many in Italy. Finally he marched upon Rome with the avowed intention of recovering the dominion of his grandfather. Many of the inhabitants of the city were thrown into confusion at this, and not a few joined his cause. Tiberius, however, got him in his hands by a clever device and through the agency of certain persons who pretended to sympathize with the upstart. Then he tortured the prisoner in order to learn something about his fellow conspirators, but when the victim uttered not a word the emperor asked him:" How did you get to be Agrippa?" And he replied: "In the same way as you got to be Cæsar."

[-17-] The following year Gaius Cæcilius and Lucius Flaccus received the title of consuls. And when some brought Tiberius money after the first of the month, he would not accept it and published a kind of document regarding this very point, in which he used a word that was not Latin. After thinking it over by night he sent for all those who had accurate knowledge of such matters, for he was extremely anxious to have his diction irreproachable. Thereupon a certain Ateius Capito declared: "Even if no one has previously used this expression, yet because of you we shall all enumerate it among the primitive usages," but was interrupted by one Marcellus,[3] who said: "You, being Cæsar, can extend Roman government over men, but not over words." And the emperor did the man no harm for this, in spite of the excessive frankness of his speech.

He had a grudge, however, against Archelaus. the king of Cappadocia, because the latter had first become his suppliant to the extent of employing him as advocate when this monarch in the time of Augustus had been accused by his people, and had subsequently slighted him on the occasion of a visit to Rhodes, but had paid court to Gaius, who also went to Asia. Therefore he summoned him on the charge of rebellious behavior and delivered him up to the votes of the senate. (The king was not only well stricken in years, but a great sufferer from gout, and was moreover believed to be demented.) As a matter of fact he had been incommoded previously by loss of mind to the extent of having a guardian placed over his domain by Augustus; but at that time he was no longer weak-witted and was merely feigning, in the hope of saving himself by this expedient if by no other. He would now have been executed, had not some one in testifying against him stated that he had once said: "When I get back home, I will show him what sort of sinews I possess." A shout of laughter went up at this, for the man was not only unable to stand, but could not even assume a sitting posture, and so Tiberius gave up his plan of putting him to death. The condition of the prince was so serious that he was carried into the senate in a covered litter. For since it was customary even for men, whenever one of them came there feeling ill, to be carried in a reclining position, Tiberius took advantage of the method on this occasion, too. (And the invalid spoke a few words, bending forward from the litter.) So it was that the life of Archelaus was temporarily saved, but he died shortly afterward in some other way. After this Cappadocia reverted to the Romans and was put in charge of a knight.

To the cities in Asia which had been damaged by the earthquake an ex-prætor was assigned with five lictors. Considerable money therefore was diverted from the revenues and considerable was given by Tiberius personally. For whereas he refrained scrupulously from the possessions of others,—so long at least as he practiced virtue at all,—and would not even accept the inheritances which were left to him by testators having relatives, he spent vast sums both upon the cities and upon private individuals. He would not hear of any honor or praise for these acts.—Embassies that came from foreign cities or nations he never dealt with alone, but caused a number of others to participate in the deliberations, and especially such as had once governed these peoples.

[-18-] Now Germanicus, having acquired a reputation for his campaign against the Celtae, advanced as far as the ocean, inflicted an overwhelming defeat upon the barbarians, collected and buried the bones of those who had fallen under Varus, and won back the military standards.

His wife Julia was not recalled from the banishment to which for unchastity her father Augustus had condemned her; nay, he even put her under lock and key till wretchedness and starvation caused her death.

The senate urged upon Tiberius the request that the month of November, on the sixteenth of which he had been born, should be called Tiberius; to which he responded: "What will you do, if there arise thirteen Cæsars?"

Later, when Marcus Junius and Lucius Norbanus came to office, a portent of some magnitude occurred on the very first day of the month, and it doubtless had a bearing on the fate of Germanicus. Norbanus the consul had always been devoted to the trumpet, and as he had practiced assiduously in this pursuit he wished on this occasion also to play the instrument just about dawn, when many persons were already near his house This proceeding threw them all without exception into confusion, just as if the consul had imparted to them some warlike signal; and they were also disturbed by the falling of the statue of Janus. Their calm was further ruffled by an oracle, reputed to be a Sibylline utterance, which would not fit any other period of the city's history, but pointed to that very time. It declared:

"After thrice three hundred revolving years have been numbered, Civil strife shall consume the Romans,—and the Sybaritan Folly." …

Tiberius denounced these verses as false and made an investigation of all the books containing any prophecies. Some he rejected as worthless and others he admitted as genuine.

As there had been a large influx of Jews into Rome and they were converting many of the native inhabitants to their principles he expelled the great majority of them.

At the death of Germanicus Tiberius and Livia were thoroughly pleased, but everybody else was mightily afflicted. He was a man who possessed the most striking physical beauty and likewise the noblest of spirits. Both in education and in strength he was conspicuous [and whereas he was the bravest of the brave against the enemy, he was the mildest of the mild to his friend. Though as a Cæsar he had extreme power he kept his ambitions on the same plane as weaker men. He in no wise conducted himself oppressively toward his subjects] or with jealousy toward Drusus or in any way to deserve censure toward Tiberius. [In brief, he belonged to the few men of all time who have neither sinned against the fortune allotted to them nor been destroyed by it.]

Although on several occasions he might [with the free consent not only of the soldiers but of the people and senate as well] have obtained the imperial power, he refused to do so. His death occurred in Antioch as the result of a plot formed by Piso and Plancina. Bones of men buried in the house where he dwelt and sheets of lead containing certain curses along with his name were found while he yet breathed.

Piso was brought before the senate by Tiberius himself on the charge of having murdered Germanicus, but succeeded in securing a postponement and committed suicide.

Germanicus left three sons, whom Augustus in his testament denominated
Cæsars. The eldest of these, Nero, at that time had his name
placed among the number of the iuvenes.

[-19-] Tiberius, who had hitherto been the author of manifold meritorious works and had made but few errors, now, when he ceased to have a rival in view, changed to precisely the reverse of his previous conduct, which had included many excellent deeds. Among other ways in which his rule became cruel he pushed to the bitter end the trials for maiestas, in cases where complaint was made against any one for committing any improper act or uttering any improper speech not only against Augustus but against Tiberius personally and against his mother.

Tiberius was stern in his chastisement of persons accused of an offence. He would remark as follows: "Nobody willingly submits to be ruled, but a man is driven into it reluctantly. Not only do subjects like to refuse obedience, but, more than that, they enjoy plotting against their rulers. And he would accept accusers indiscriminately: a slave might denounce a master or a son a father.

Indeed, by indicating to certain persons his wish for the death of certain others he brought about the destruction of the latter through the medium of the former, and there was no secrecy about these transactions.

Not only were slaves tortured to make them testify against their own masters, but freedmen and citizens as well. Such as accused or offered testimony against persons divided by lot the property of those convicted and received in addition both offices and honors. In the case of many he took care to ascertain the day and the hour that they had been born and on the basis of their character and fortune thus investigated would put them to death. If he discovered any qualities of haughtiness and aspiration to power in any one, he despatched him whether or no. Yet so much did he investigate and understand what was fated for each of the prominent men that on meeting Galba (subsequently emperor), when the latter had betrothed a wife, he remarked: "You also shall taste of the sovereignty." He spared him, as I conjecture, because this was settled as his fate; but, as he explained it himself, because Galba would reign only in old age and long after his death.

[Tiberius also found some pretexts for assassinations. The death of Germanicus led to the destruction of many others on the ground that they were pleased at it.]

The man who coöperated with him and helped him in all his undertakings with the utmost zeal was Lucius Aelius Sejanus, a son of Strabo, and formerly a favorite of Marcus Gabius Apicius,—that Apicius who so surpassed all mankind in voluptuous living that when he had once desired to learn how much he had already spent and how much he still had, on finding that two hundred and fifty myriads were left him became grief-stricken, feeling that he was destined to die of hunger, and took his own life. This Sejanus, accordingly, at one time shared his father's command of the Pretorians. After his father had been sent to Egypt, and he obtained entire control, he made the force more compact in many ways, gathering within one fortification the cohorts, which had been separate and apart from one another like those of the night guardsmen. In this way the entire body could receive the orders speedily and they were a source of terror to all, because they were within one fortification. This was the man whom Tiberius, because of the similarity of their characters, took as his helper, elevating him to prætorial honors, which had never yet been accorded to any of his peers; and he made him his adviser and assistant in all matters. [In fine, he changed so much after the death of Germanicus that whereas previously he was highly praised, he now attracted even greater wonder.]

[-20-] When Tiberius began to hold the consular office in company with Drusus, men immediately began to prophecy destruction for Drusus from this very circumstance. For there is not a man who was ever consul with Tiberius that did not meet a violent death, but in the first place there was Quintilius Varus, and next Gnæus Piso, and then Germanicus himself, who perished violently and miserably. The emperor was evidently doomed to cause such ruin throughout his life: Drusus, his colleague at this time, and Sejanus, who subsequently participated in the office, also came to grief.

While Tiberius was out of town, Gaius Lutorius Priscus,[4] a knight, who took great pride in his poetic talents and had composed a notable funeral oration over Germanicus for which he had received considerable money, was charged with having composed a poem upon Drusus also, during the latter's illness. For this he was tried in the senate, condemned and put to death. Now Tiberius was vexed, not because the man had been punished, but because the senators had inflicted death upon any one without his approval. He therefore rebuked them and ordered a decree to be issued to the effect that no person condemned by them be executed within ten days, nor the document applying to his case be made public before the same time. This was to ensure the possibility of his learning their decrees in advance even while absent and of rendering a final decision on such matters.

[-21-] After this, when his consulship had expired, he came to Rome and prevented the consuls from acting as advocates to certain persons by saying: "If I were consul, I should not do this."

One of the prætors was accused of having uttered some impious word or having committed some impious act against him, whereupon the man left the senate and taking off his robe of office returned, demanding as a private citizen to have the complaint lodged at once. At this the emperor showed great grief and molested him no further.

The dancers he drove out of Rome and would allow them no place in which to practice their profession, because they kept debauching the women and stirring up tumults.

He honored many men, and numbers of those who died, with statues and public funerals. A bronze statue of Sejanus was erected in the theatre during the life of the model. As a result, numerous images of this minister were made by many persons and many encomiuma were spoken both in the assembly and in the senate. The consuls themselves, besides the other prominent citizens, regularly had recourse to his house just at dawn, and communicated to him both all the private requests that any of them wished to make of Tiberius and the public business which had to be taken up. In brief, henceforth nothing of the kind was considered without his knowledge.

About this time one of the largest porticos in Rome began to lean to one side and was set upright in a remarkable way by a certain architect whose name no one knows, because Tiberius, jealous of his wonderful achievement, would not permit it to be entered in the records. This architect, accordingly, however he was called after strengthening the foundations all about, so that they could not move out of position, and surrounding all the rest of the arcade with thick fleeces and cloths, ran ropes all over it and through it and by the pushing of many men and machines brought it once more into its previous position. At the time Tiberius both admired him and felt envious of him; for the former reason he honored him with a present of money and for the latter he expelled him from the city. Later, the exile approached him to make supplication during the course of which he purposely let fall a crystal goblet, which fell apart somehow or was broken, and then by passing his hands over it showed it straightway intact; for this the suppliant hoped to have obtained pardon, but instead the emperor put him to death.

[-22-] Drusus, son of Tiberius, perished by poison. Sejanus, puffed up by power and rank, in addition to his other overweening behavior finally turned against Drusus and once struck him a blow with his fist. As this gave the assailant reason to fear both Drusus and Tiberius, and inasmuch as he felt sure that, if he could get the young man out of the way, he could handle the elder very easily, he administered poison to the former through the agency of those in attendance upon him and of Drusus's wife, whom some name Livilla. [5] Sejanus was her paramour.—The guilt was imputed to Tiberius because he altered none of his accustomed habits either during the illness of Drusus or at his death and would not allow others to alter theirs. But the story is not credible. This was his regular behavior, as a matter of principle, in every case alike, and furthermore he was attached to his son, the only one he had and legitimate. Those that engineered his death he punished, some at once and some later. At the time he entered the senate, delivered the appropriate eulogy over his child, and departed homeward.

Thus perished Sejanus's victim. Tiberius took his way to the senate-house, where he lamented him publicly, put Nero and Drusus (children of Germanicus) in charge of the senate, and exposed the body of Drusus upon the rostra; and Nero, being his son-in-law, pronounced an eulogy over him. This man's death proved a cause of death to many persons, who were taxed with being pleased at his demise. Among the large number of people who lost their lives was Agrippina, together with her children, the youngest excepted. Sejanus had incensed Tiberius greatly against her, anticipating that, when she and her children were disposed of, he might have for his spouse Livia, wife of Drusus, for whom he entertained a passion, and might wield supreme power, since no successor would be found for Tiberius. The latter detested his nephew as a bastard. Many others also did he banish or destroy for different and ever different causes, for the most part fictitious.

Tiberius forbade those debarred from fire and water to make any will,—a custom still observed. Ælius Saturninus he brought before the senate for trial on the charge of having recited some improper verses about him, and the culprit having been found guilty was hurled from the Capitol. [-23-]I might narrate many other such occurrences, if I were to go into all in detail. But the general statement may suffice that many were slain by him for such offences. And also this,—that he investigated carefully, case by case, all the slighting remarks that any persons were accused of uttering against him and then called himself all the ill names that other men invented. Even if a person made some statement secretly and to a single companion, he would publish this too, and actually had it entered on the official records. Often he falsely added, from his own consciousness of defects, what no one had even said as really spoken, in order that it might be thought he had juster cause for his wrath. Consequently it came to pass that he himself committed against himself all those outrages for which he was wont to chastise other people on the ground of impiety; and he likewise became subject to no little ridicule. For, if persons denied having spoken certain phrases, he, by asserting and taking oath that it had been said, wronged himself with greater show of reality. For this reason some suspected that he was bereft of his senses. Yet he was not generally believed to be insane simply for this behavior. All other business he managed in a way quite beyond criticism. For instance, he appointed a guardian over a certain senator that lived licentiously, as he might have done for a child. Again, he brought Capito, procurator of Asia, before the senate, and, after charging him with using soldiers and acting in some other ways as if he had supreme command, he banished him. In those days officials administering the imperial funds were allowed to do nothing more than to levy the customary tribute, and they were compelled, in the case of disputes, to stand trial in the Forum and according to the laws, on an equal footing with private persons.—So great were the contrasts in Tiberius's conduct.

[-24-] When the ten years of his office had expired, he did not ask any vote for its resumption, for he had no wish to receive it piecemeal, as Augustus had done. The decennial festival, however, was held.

Cremutius Cordus was forced to lay violent hands upon himself, because he had come into collision with Sejanus. He was at the gates of old age and had lived most irreproachably, so much so that no sufficient complaint could be found against him and he was tried for the history which he had long before composed regarding the deeds of Augustus and the latter himself had read. The ground of censure was that he had praised Cassius and Brutus and had attacked the people and the senate. Of Cæsar and Augustus he had spoken no ill, but at the same time had shown no excessive respect for them. This was the complaint against him, and this it was that caused his death as well as the burning of his works,—those found in the city at this time being destroyed by the ædiles, and those abroad by the officials of each place. Later they were published again, for his daughter Marcia in particular, as well as others, had hidden copies, and they attracted much greater attention by reason of the unhappy end of Cordus.

About this time Tiberius exhibited to the senators his pretorian cohort in the act of exercising, as if they were ignorant of his power; his purpose was to make them more afraid of him, when they saw his defenders so many and so strong.

Besides these events of the time that seem worthy to chronicle in a history, the people of Cyzicus were once more deprived of their freedom because they had imprisoned certain Romans and because they had not completed the heroüm to Augustus that they had begun to build.—And the emperor would certainly have put to death the man who sold the emperor's statue along with his house and was brought to trial for the act, had not the consul asked the ruler himself to give his vote first. Being ashamed to appear partial to himself, he cast his ballot for acquittal.

Also a senator, Lentulus, an excellent man naturally and now far advanced in old age, was accused by some one of having plotted against the emperor. Lentulus was present and burst out laughing. At this an uproar arose in the senate, which was calmed by Tiberius saying: "I am no longer worthy to live, if Lentulus, too, hates me."

[Footnote 1: Reading [Greek: epratten] (Boissevain) in place of the MS.
[Greek: eplatten].]

[Footnote: 2: This was the name of a celebrated gladiator of the time.
(Compare Horace, Epistles, I, 18, 19.)]

[Footnote 4: Reported elsewhere as Clutorius or Cluturius Priscus . The error may probably be referred to Dio as well as to Xiphilus, through whom this particular chapter comes. (See Dessau, Prosop. Imp. Rom., I, p.425)]

[Footnote 5: The version of Zonaras says: "whom some record as Julia, others as Livia." Inscriptions give her name as either Claudia Livia or Livilla . From these two pieces of evidence Boissevain with customary acumen concludes that Dio's original words were probably: "whom some name Livilla, and others Livia."]

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

Tiberius withdraws to Capreæ: Sabinus loses his life through the treachery of Latiarius (chapter 1).

Sejanus, puffed up by excessive honors, is put to death together with his household and friends by the artifice of Tiberius (chapters 4-19).

The lustfulness of Tiberius, his cruelty towards his own family and others, and likewise his greed (chapters 21-25).

DURATION OF TIME.

Cn. Lentulus Gætulicus, C. Calvisius Sabinus. (A.D. 26 = a. u. 779 =
Thirteenth of Tiberius, from Aug. 19th.)

M. Licinius Crassus, L. Calpurnius Piso. (A.D. 27 = a. u. 780 =
Fourteenth of Tiberius.)

App. Iunius Silanus, P. Silius Nerva. (A.D. 28 = a. u. 781 = Fifteenth of
Tiberius.)

L. Rubellius Geminus, C. Fufius Geminus. (A.D. 29 = a. u. 782 = Sixteenth of Tiberius.)

M. Vinicius Quartinus, L. Cassius Longinus. (A.D. 30 = a. u. 783 =
Seventeenth of Tiberius.)

Tiberius Aug. (V), L. Ælius Seianus. (A.D. 31 = a. u. 784 = Eighteenth of
Tiberius.)

Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, Furius Camillus Scribonianus. (A.D. 32 = a. u. 785 = Nineteenth of Tiberius.)

Serv. Sulpicius Galba, L. Cornelius Sulla, (A.D. 33 = a. u. 786 =
Twentieth of Tiberius.)

L. Vitellius, Paulus Fabius Persicus. (A.D. 34 = a. u. 787 = Twenty-first of Tiberius.)

C. Cestius Gallus, M. Servilius Nonianus. (A.D. 35 = a. u. 788 =
Twenty-second of Tiberius.)

Cn. Acerronius Proculus, C. Pontius Nigrinus. (A.D. 37 = a. u. 790 =
Twenty-fourth of Tiberius, to March 26th.)

(BOOK 57, BOISSEVAIN.)

[-1-] He went away about this time from Rome and never returned to the city at all, though he was ever on the point of doing so and kept sending messages to that effect.

Much calamity could be laid by the Romans at his door, since he wasted the lives of men alike for public service and for private whim, as when he decided to expel the hunting spectacles from the city. Consequently some persons attempted to carry them on in the country outside and perished in the ruins of their theatres, which had been loosely constructed of rude planks.

It was now, too, that a certain Latiarius, a companion of Sabinus (one of the most prominent men at Rome) and also in favor with Sejanus, concealed senators in the ceiling of the apartment where his friend lived and led Sabinus into conversation. By throwing out some of his usual remarks he induced the other also to speak out freely all that he had in his mind. It is the practice of such as wish to play the sycophant to take the lead in some kind of abuse and to disclose some secret, intending that their victim either for listening to them or for saying something similar may find himself liable to indictment. To the sycophants, since they do it with a purpose, freedom of speech involves no danger. They are regarded as speaking so not because their words express their real sentiments but because they wish to convict others. Their victims, however, are punished for the smallest syllable out of the ordinary that they may utter. This also happened in the present case. Sabinus was put in prison that very day and subsequently perished without trial. His body was flung down the Scalæ Gemoniæ and cast into the river. The affair was made more tragic by the behavior of a dog of Sabinus that went with him to his cell, was by him at his death, and at the end was thrown into the river with him.—Such was the nature of this event.

[-2-] During this same period Livia also passed away at the age of eighty-six. Tiberius paid her no visits while she was ill and did not personally attend to her laying out. In fact, he made no arrangements at all in her honor save the public funeral and images and some other small matters of no importance. As for her being deified, he forbade that absolutely. The senate, however, did not content itself with voting merely the measures which he had ordained, but enjoined upon the women mourning for her during the entire year, although it approved the course of Tiberius in not abandoning even at this time the conduct of public business. Furthermore they voted her an arch (as had never been done in the case of any other woman), because she had preserved not a few of them, had reared many children belonging to citizens, and had helped find husbands for numerous girls,—for all of which acts some called her Mother of her Country. She was buried in the mausoleum of Augustus.

Among the many excellent utterances of hers that are related is one concerned with the occasion when some men that were naked met her and on that account fell under sentence of execution; she saved their lives by saying that to chaste women such persons were no whit different from statues. When some one asked her how and by what course of action she had obtained such an influence over Augustus, she answered that it was by being scrupulously chaste herself, doing willingly whatever pleased him, not meddling with any of his business, and particularly by pretending neither to hear of nor notice the favorites that were the objects 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 disliked to annul the decree by direct command, he made it void in this way, by not allowing the work to be undertaken out of the public funds nor attending to it himself.

Sejanus was rising to still greater heights. It was voted that his birthday should be publicly observed, and the mass of statues which the senate and the equestrian order, the tribes and the foremost citizens set up, would have passed any one's power to count. Separate envoys were sent to both these "rulers" by the senate as well as the knights and also by the people, who selected them from their own tribunes and aediles. For both of them alike they offered prayers and sacrifices and they took oaths by their Fortunes.

[-3-] Gallus, who married the wife of Tiberius and spoke his mind regarding the empire, was the next object of the emperor's attack, for which the right moment had been carefully selected. [Whether he really believed that Sejanus would be emperor or whether it was out of fear of Tiberius, he paid court to the former. It may indeed, have been a kind of plot, to make the minister irksome to Tiberius and so accomplish his ruin: but at any rate Gallus transacted the greater and more important part of his business with him and made efforts to be one of the envoys. Therefore the emperor sent a report about him to the senate, making among other statements one to the effect that this man was jealous of his friendship for Sejanus, although Gallus himself treated Syriacus as an intimate friend. He did not make this known to Gallus, entertaining him most hospitably instead.] Hence something most unusual befell him that never happened to any one else. On the very same day he was banqueted at the house of Tiberius, pledging him in the cup of friendship, and was condemned before the senate. Indeed, a prætor was sent to imprison him and lead him away for punishment. Yet Tiberius, though he had acted so, did not permit his victim to die, in spite of the latter's wish for death as soon as he learned the decree. Instead, he bade Gallus (in order to make his lot still more dismal) to be of good cheer and instructed the senate[1] that he should be guarded without bonds until the emperor should reach the City; his object, as I said, was to make the prisoner suffer for the longest possible time both from deprivation of his civic rights and from terror. So it turned out. He was kept under the eyes of the consuls of each year except when Tiberius held the office, in that case he was guarded by the prætors, not to prevent his escape, but to prevent his death. He had no companion or servant as associate, spoke to no one, saw no one, except when he was compelled to take food. And what he got was of such a quality and amount as neither to afford him any pleasure or strength nor yet to allow him to die. This was the worst feature of it. Tiberius did the same thing in the case of many others. For instance, he had imprisoned one of his companions, and when there was later talk about executing him, he said: "I have not yet made my peace with him." Some one else, again, he had tortured very severely, and then on ascertaining that the victim had been unjustly accused he had him killed with all speed, remarking that he had been too terribly outraged to find any satisfaction in living. Syriacus, who had neither committed nor been charged with any wrong, but was renowned for his education, was slain merely for the reason that Tiberius said he was a friend of Gallus. [Sejanus brought false accusation also against Drusus, through the medium of his wife. For, by maintaining illicit relations with practically all the wives of the distinguished men, he learned what their husbands said and did, and further made them his assistants by promises of marriage. Now when Tiberius without discussion sent Drusus to Rome, Sejanus, fearing that his position might be injured, persuaded Cassius [2] to busy himself against him.]

After exalting Sejanus to a high pinnacle of glory and making him a member of his family by the alliance with Julia, daughter of Drusus, Tiberius later killed him.

[-4-] Now Sejanus was growing greater and more formidable all the time, and his progress made the senators and the rest look up to him as if he were actually emperor and esteem Tiberius lightly. When Tiberius learned this, he did not regard the matter as a trivial one, fearing, indeed, that they would hail his rival as emperor outright, and he did not neglect it. Yet he did nothing openly, for Sejanus had won the entire pretorian guard thoroughly to his own side and had gained the favor of the senators partly by benefits, partly by implanting hopes, and partly by intimidation. He had made all the attendants on Tiberius so entirely his friends that absolutely everything the emperor did was at once reported to him, whereas of what he did not a word reached Tiberius's ears. Hence the latter appeared content to follow where Sejanus led, appointed him consul, and termed him Sharer of his Cares, repeating often the phrase "My Sejanus," and publishing the same by writing it to the senate and the people. Men took this behavior as sincere and were deceived, and so set up bronze statues all about to both alike, wrote their names together in bulletins, and brought into the theatres gilded chairs for both. Finally it was voted that they should together be made consuls every four years and that a body of citizens should go out to meet both alike whenever they entered Rome. In the end they sacrificed to the images of Sejanus as to those of Tiberius. This was the way matters stood with Sejanus. Now among the rest many famous men met an ill fate, of whom was also Gaius Fufius Geminus. Being accused of the crime of maiestas against Tiberius he 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 his sovereign. As he was charged with weakness he went home before any vote was reached. When he learned that the quæstor had arrived to attend to his execution, he wounded himself and displaying 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 was made, made her way into the senate and there stabbed herself with a dagger, which she had brought in secretly.

Next he destroyed Mutilia and her husband together with two daughters on account of her friendship for his mother.

In the days of Tiberius all who accused any persons regularly received money and large allotments both from the victims' property and from the public treasury in addition to various honors. There were cases where certain men who impudently threw others into a panic or recklessly passed the death sentence upon them obtained in the one instance statues and in the other triumphal honors. Hence several citizens who were really illustrious and conquered the right to some such distinction would not assume it out of reluctance to let any period of their lives betray even a superficial similarity to the careers of those scoundrels.

Tiberius, feigning sickness, sent Sejanus on to Rome with the assurance that he should follow. He declared that in this separation a part of his own body and soul was wrenched away from him: shedding tears he embraced and kissed him, and Sejanus naturally was thereat the more elated.

[-5-] By this time Sejanus was so imposing both in his haughtiness of mind and in his immensity of power that, to make a long matter short, he seemed to be the emperor and Tiberius a kind of island potentate because the latter spent all his days in the island called Capreæ. Then there was rivalry and jostling about the great man's doors from the fear not merely that a person might fail to be observed by his patron but that he might appear among the last: for all the words and gestures, particularly of those in front, were carefully watched. People who hold a prominent position as the result of native worth are not given at all to seeking signs of friendship from others, and in case anything of the sort is seen to be wanting on the part of these others the persons in question are not provoked, inasmuch as they have an innate consciousness that they are not being looked down upon. Any, however, that hold an artificial rank are extremely jealous of all such attentions, feeling them to be necessary to render their position complete. If they fail to obtain them then they are as irritated as if slander were being pronounced against them and as angry as if they were the recipients of positive insult. Consequently the world is more scrupulous in the case of such persons than (one might almost say) in the case of emperors themselves. To the latter it is ascribed as a virtue to pardon any one if an error is committed; but in the self-made persons that course appears to argue an inherent weakness, whereas to attack and to exact vengeance is thought to furnish proof of great power.

One morning, the first of the month, when all were gathered at Sejanus's house, the couch placed in the small room where he received broke into infinitesimal fragments under the weight of the throng seated upon it; and, as he was leaving the house, a weasel darted through the midst of them. After he had sacrificed on the Capitol and was now coming down to the Forum, his servants that acted as body-guard turned aside along the road leading to the prison, because the crowd prevented them from escorting him, and as they descended the steps down which condemned criminals were commonly cast they slipped and fell. Subsequently he took the auspices and not one bird of good omen appeared, but crows flew and cawed about him and then flew off all together to the jail, where they alighted.

[-6-] These prodigies neither Sejanus nor any one else laid to heart. For, in view of the way things stood, not even if some god had plainly foretold that so great a change would take place in a short time, would any one have believed it. They swore by his Fortune as if they would never be weary, and hailed him colleague of Tiberius, making this phrase refer not to the consulship but to the supreme power. Tiberius was no longer uninformed of aught that concerned his minister. He racked his brains to see in what manner he might kill him, but, not finding any way in which he might do this openly and safely, he treated both the man himself and all the rest in a remarkable fashion, so as to gain an accurate knowledge of their feeling. He sent many despatches of all kinds regarding himself to Sejanus and to the senate incessantly, saying at one time that he was poorly and just at the point of death, and again that he was in exceedingly good health and would reach Rome directly. Now he would strongly approve Sejanus and again vehemently denounce him. Some of his companions he would honor to show his regard for him, and others he would dishonor. Thus Sejanus, filled in turn with extreme elation and extreme fear, was always in a flutter. He could not decide to be terrified and for that reason attempt a revolution, inasmuch as he was being honored, nor yet to become bold enough to attempt some desperate venture inasmuch as he was frequently abased. Moreover, all the rest of the people were getting to feel dubious, because they heard alternately and at short intervals the most contrary reports, because they could no longer justify themselves in either admiring or despising Sejanus, and because they were wondering about Tiberius, thinking first that he was going to die and then that his arrival was imminent.

[-7-] Sejanus was disturbed by all this, and a great deal more by the fact that from one of his statues at first a mass of smoke ascended in a burst, and then, when the head was taken off to enable investigators to see what was going on, a huge serpent darted up. Another head at once replaced the former, and accordingly he was on the point of sacrificing to himself (for sacrificing to himself was a regular part of his program), when a rope was discovered coiled around the statue's neck. Also a figure of Fortuna, made (as is said) in the time of Tullius, an early king of Rome,—one which Sejanus at this time kept at his house and took great pride in,—he saw turn away while he was sacrificing in person … and later others who had gone out in their company.[3] Most men were suspicious of these circumstances, but since they did not know the mind of Tiberius and further took into consideration the latter's caprice and the unstable condition of affairs, they were divided in sentiment. Privately they kept a sharp eye on their own safety, but publicly they paid court to him, among other reasons because Tiberius had joined to [him][4] as priests both Sejanus and his son. Moreover, they had given him the proconsular authority and had likewise voted that word be sent to all such as were consuls from year to year to emulate him in their office. So Tiberius had honored him with the priesthoods, but he did not send for him: instead, when his minister requested that he might go to Campania, pleading as an excuse that his fiancée was ill, the emperor directed him to stay where he was, giving as a reason that he would himself arrive in Rome in almost no time.

[-8-] As a result, then, of this, Sejanus was again gradually alienated and his vexation was increased by the fact that Tiberius appointed Gaius priest with the imperial commendation and gave some hints to the effect that he should make the new appointee his successor in the empire. The angry favorite would have begun rebellious measures, especially as the soldiers were ready to obey him in everything, had he not perceived that the populace was hugely pleased at what was said in regard to Gaius, out of reverence for the memory of Germanicus his father. Sejanus had previously thought that these persons, too, were on his side, and now, finding them enthusiastic for Gaius, he became dejected. He felt sorry that he had not shown open revolt during his consulship. The rest were strongly influenced against him by the course of events [5] as also by Tiberius's action in releasing soon after an enemy of Sejanus, chosen ten years before to govern Spain and just now being tried on certain charges. Because of Sejanus the emperor also granted temporary immunity from such suits to such others as were going to govern any provinces or to administer any similar public business. And in writing to the senate about the death of Nero he used simply the name Sejanus, with no phrases added as had been his custom. Moreover, he forbade offering sacrifice to any human being (because sacrifice was often offered to this man) and the introduction of any business looking to his own honor (because many honorary measures were being passed for his rival's benefit). He had forbidden this practice still earlier, but now, on account of Sejanus, he renewed his injunction. For naturally, if he allowed nothing of the sort to be done in his own case, he would not permit it in the case of another.

[-9-] In view of all this, the people began to look down on Sejanus more and more, to the point of drawing aside at his approach and leaving him alone,—and that openly, without pretence of concealment. When Tiberius learned of it, his courage revived: he felt that he should have the coöperation of the people and the senate, and accordingly began an attack upon his enemy. First, in order to take him off his guard to the fullest possible extent, be spread a report that he would give him the office of tribune. Then he despatched a communication against him to the senate by the hands of Nævius Sertorius Macro, whom he had privately appointed to command the body-guards and had instructed as to precisely what must be done. The latter came by night into Rome as if on some different errand and made known his message to Memmius Regulus, then consul (his colleague sided with Sejanus), and to Græcinius Laco, commander of the night watch. At dawn Macro ascended the Palatine, where there was to be a session of the senate in the temple of Apollo. Encountering Sejanus, who had not yet gone in, he saw that he was troubled at Tiberius's having sent him no message, and encouraged him, telling him aside and in confidence that he was bringing him the tribunician authority. Sejanus, overjoyed at this, hastened to the senate-chamber. Macro sent away to the camp the Pretorians that commonly surrounded the minister and the senate, after revealing to them his right as leader to do so and declaring that he brought documents from Tiberius that bestowed gifts upon them. Around the temple he stationed the night watch in their stead, went in himself, delivered his letter to the consuls, and went out before a word was read. He then put Laco in charge of guard duty at that point, and himself hurried to the camp to prevent any uprising.

[-10-] Meanwhile the letter was read. It was a long one and contained no wholesale denunciations of Sejanus but first some indifferent matters, then a slight censure of his conduct, then something else, and after that some further objection to him. At the close it said that two senators that were very intimate with him must be punished and that he himself must be kept guarded. Tiberius did not give them orders outright to put him to death, not because such was not his desire, but because he feared that some disturbance might be the result of it. But since, as he said, he could not take the journey safely, he had sent for one of the consuls.

This was all that the composition disclosed. During the reading many diverse utterances and expressions of countenance were observable. First, before the people heard the letter, they were engaged in lauding the man, whom they supposed to be on the point of receiving the tribunician authority. They shouted their approval realizing in anticipation all their hopes and making a demonstration to show that they would concur in granting him honor. When, however, nothing of the sort was discovered, but they kept hearing just the reverse of what they expected, they fell into confusion and subsequently into deep dejection. Some of those seated near him even withdrew. They now no longer cared to share the same seat with the man whom previously they were anxious to claim as friend. Then prætors and tribunes began to surround him to prevent his causing any uproar by rushing out,—which he certainly would have done, if he had been startled at the outset by any general tirade. As it was, he paid no great heed to what was read from time to time, thinking it a slight matter, a single charge, and hoping that nothing further, or at any rate nothing serious in regard to him had been made a matter of comment. So he let the time slip by and remained where he was.

Meantime Regulus called him forward, but he paid no attention, not out of contempt,—for he had already been humbled,—but because he was unaccustomed to hearing any command given him. But when the consul shouted at him a second and a third time, at the same time stretching out his arm and saying: "Sejanus, come here!" he enquired blankly: "Are you calling me ?" So at last he stood up, and Laco, who had entered, took his stand beside him. When finally the reading of the letter was finished, all with one voice both denounced him and uttered threats, some because they had been wronged, others through fear, some to disguise their friendship for him and others out of joy at his downfall. Regulus did not give all of them, however, a chance to vote, nor did he put the question to any one regarding the man's death, for fear there should be come opposition and a consequent disturbance; for Sejanus had numerous relatives and friends. Hence, after asking one person's opinion and obtaining a supporting vote in favor of imprisonment, he conducted the former favorite out of the senate-chamber, and in company with the other officials and with Laco led him down to the prison.

[-11-] Then might one have obtained a clear and searching insight into the weakness of man, so that self-conceit would have been never again, under any conditions possible. Him whom at dawn they had escorted to the senate-halls as one superior to themselves they were now dragging to a cell as if no better than the worst. On him whom they once deemed worthy of crowns they now heaped bonds. Him whom they were wont to protect as a master they now guarded like a runaway slave, and uncovered while he wore a headdress. Him whom they had adorned with the purple-bordered toga they struck in the face. Whom they were wont to adore and sacrifice to as to a god they were now leading to execution. The crowd also assailed him, reproaching him violently for the lives he had destroyed and jeering loudly at what had been hoped of him. All of his images they hurled down, beat down, and pulled down, seeming to feel that they were maltreating the man himself, and he thus became a spectator of what he was destined to suffer. For the moment he was merely cast into prison; but not much later,—that very day, in fact,—the senate assembled in the temple of Concord not far from his cell, and seeing the attitude of the populace and that none of the Pretorians was near by it condemned him to death. On these orders he was executed and his body cast down the Scalæ Gemoniæ, where the rabble abused it for three whole days and afterward threw it into the river. His children were put to death by special 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 meet death in 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 Stairs she withdrew and composed a statement regarding the death of Drusus, directed against Livilla, the latter's wife, who had been the cause of a quarrel between herself and her husband, resulting in their separation. This document she forwarded to Tiberius and then committed suicide. Thus the statement came to the hands of Tiberius, and when he had obtained proof of the information he put to death Livilla and all others therein mentioned. I have, indeed, heard that he spared her out of regard for her mother Antonia, and that Antonia herself voluntarily destroyed her daughter by starving her. At any rate, that was later.

[-12-] At this time a great uproar ensued in the City. The populace slew any one it saw of those who had possessed great influence with Sejanus and relying on him had committed acts of insolence. The soldiers, too, in irritation because they had been suspected of friendliness toward Sejanus and because the nightwatchmen had been preferred before them in the confidence of the emperor, proceeded to burn and plunder,—and this in spite of the fact that all officials were guarding the entire city in accordance with the injunction of Tiberius.

Not even the senate was quiet, but such members of it as had paid court to Sejanus were greatly disturbed by dread of reprisals; and those who had accused or borne witness against any persons were filled with fear by the prevailing suspicion that they had destroyed their victims out of regard for the minister instead of for Tiberius. Very small indeed was the courageous element, which was unhampered by these terrors and expected that Tiberius would become milder. For as usually happens, they laid the responsibility for their previous misfortunes upon the dead man and charged the emperor with few or none of them. Of the most of this unjust treatment, they said, he had been ignorant, and he had been forced into the rest against his will. Privately this was the disposition of the various classes; publicly they voted, as if they had cast off some 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 celebrated under the auspices of all the magistrates and priests,—as had never before occurred; and the day on which he died was to be made renowned by annual horse-races and slaughters of wild beasts, directed by those appointed to the four priesthoods and by the members of the Sodality of Augustus. This, too, had never before been done. To celebrate the ruin of the man whom they by the excess and novelty of their honors had led to destruction they voted solemnities that were not customary even for the gods. They comprehended so clearly that it was chiefly these honors which had bereft him of his senses that they at once forbade explicitly the giving of excessive marks of esteem to any one, as also the taking of oaths in the name of any one other than the emperor. Yet though they passed such votes, as if under a divine inspiration, they began shortly after to fawn upon Macro and Laco. They gave them great sums of money and to Laco the honors of ex-quaestors, while to Macro they extended the honors of ex-prætors. Similarly[6] they allowed them also to view spectacles in their company and to wear the toga praetextata at the ludi votivi. The men did not accept these privileges, however, for the recent example served as a deterrent. Nor would Tiberius take any honor bestowed, though many were voted him, chief among them being that he should begin from this time to be termed Father of his Country and that his birthday should be marked by ten equestrian contests and a senatorial banquet. Indeed, he gave notice anew that no one should introduce any such motion.—These were the events happening in the capital.

[-13-] Tiberius for a time had certainly been in great fear that Sejanus would occupy the City and sail against him, and so he had prepared boats, to the end that, if anything of the sort should come to pass, he might escape. He had commanded Macro,—or so some say,—if there should be any uprising to bring Drusus before the senate and the people and appoint him emperor.

When he learned that his enemy was dead, he rejoiced, as was natural, yet would not receive the embassy sent to congratulate him, though many members of the senate and many of the knights and of the populace had been despatched, as before. Indeed he even rebuffed the consul Regulus, who had always been devoted to his interests and had come in accordance with the emperor's own commands to see about his being conveyed in safety to the City.

[-14-] Thus perished Sejanus, who had attained greater power than those who obtained his office before or after him (save Plautianus). His relatives, his associates, and all the rest who had paid court to him and had moved that honors be granted him were brought to trial. The majority of them were convicted for the acts that had previously made them objects of envy; and their fellow-citizens condemned them for the measures which they themselves had previously voted. Numbers of men who had been tried on various charges and acquitted were again accused and convicted on the ground that they had been saved the first time as a favor to the deceased. Accordingly, if no other complaint could be brought against a person, the statement that he had been a friend of Sejanus served to convict him,—as if, forsooth, Tiberius himself had not been friendly with him, and caused others to become interested for his sake. Among those who laid information in this way were the men who were wont to pay court to Sejanus. Inasmuch as they knew thoroughly those who were in the same position, they had no great trouble either in finding them out or securing their conviction. So they, expecting to save themselves by doing this, and to obtain honors and money besides, accused others or else bore witness against them. But it proved that none of their hopes was realized. They found themselves liable to the same charges on which they had prosecuted others, and partly as a result of them and partly on account of the general detestation of traitors perished along with their companions. [-15-] Of those against whom charges were brought many were present in person to hear their accusation and make their defence, and some employed great frankness in so doing. Still, the majority made away with themselves prior to their conviction. They did this chiefly to avoid suffering insult and outrage. (For all who had incurred any such charge, senators as well as knights, women as well as men, were crowded together into the prison. After their condemnation some underwent the penalty there and others were hurled from the Capitol by the tribunes or the consuls. The bodies of all of them were cast into the Forum and subsequently were thrown into the river.) But their object was partly that their children might inherit their property. Very few estates of such as voluntarily took themselves off before their trial were confiscated, Tiberius in this way inviting men to become their own murderers, that he might avoid the reputation of having killed them; as if it were not far more fearful to compel a man to die by his own hand than to deliver him to the executioner. [-16-] Most of the estates of such as failed to die in this way were confiscated, only a little or nothing at all even being given to their accusers. For he was now giving far more[7] accurate attention to money. After this Tiberius increased to one per cent. a tax which was already one-half of one per cent. and proceeded to accept every inheritance left to him. And in fact nearly every one left him something,—even those who made away with themselves,—as they had to Sejanus while the latter lived.

Also, with that same intention which had led him not to take possession of the wealth of those who perished voluntarily, he made the senate sponsor for every official summons, to the end that he might be free from blame himself (for so he thought) and the senate pass sentence upon itself as a wrongdoer.[8] By this means people came to be thoroughly aware, during the time that they were being destroyed through one another's agency, that their former troubles had emanated no more from Sejanus than from Tiberius. For not only were the accusers of various persons brought to trial, but those who had condemned them were in turn sentenced. So it was that Tiberius spared no one, but kept using up all the citizens one against another; no firm friendships existed any longer[9]; but the unjust and the guiltless, the fearful and the fearless stood on the same footing as regarded the investigation made into the complaints about Sejanus. At length he saw fit to propose a kind of amnesty for the sufferers, and so he gave permission to those who wished to go into mourning for the deceased; and in addition he forbade that any one should in any way be hindered from showing this respect to the memory of any person,—for such prohibitory votes were frequently passed. Yet he did not in fact confirm this edict, but after a brief space he punished numbers on account of Sejanus and on other complaints: they were generally charged with having outraged and murdered their nearest female relatives.

[-17-] Such was the state of affairs at this time, and there was not a soul that could deny that he would be glad to feast on the emperor's flesh. Now the next year, when Gnæus Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus became consuls, a very laughable thing happened. It had now long been the custom for the members of the senate on the first of the year to take the oath not man by man, but for one (as I have stated)[10] to take the oath for them and the rest to express their acquiescence. This time, however, they did not do so, but of their own motion, without any compulsion, they were separately and individually pledged, as though this would make them any more regardful of their oath. Previously for many years the emperor had allowed matters to go on without a single person's swearing allegiance to his acts of government: this I have mentioned. [11]—At this time also there occurred something else still more laughable.

[-18-] They voted that he should select as many of their number as he liked and should employ twenty of them,—whomsoever the lot should designate,—as guards with daggers as often as he entered the senate-chamber. Of course, as the exterior of the building was watched by the soldiers and no private citizen could come inside, their resolution that a guard be given him amounted to a precaution against no one but themselves, thus indicating that they were hostile. Naturally Tiberius expressed his obligations to them and thanked them for their good intentions, but he rejected their offer as being too much out of the ordinary. He was not so simple as to give swords to the very men whom he hated and by whom he was hated. Yet, as a result of this very measure he began to grow suspicious of them,—for every act in contravention of sincerity which one undertakes for the purpose of flattery breeds suspicion,—and bidding a long adieu to their decrees he began to honor the Pretorians both by addresses and with money, in spite of his knowledge that they had been on the side of Sejanus, so that he might find them more disposed to be employed against the senators. On occasion, to be sure, he in turn commended the latter, when they voted that funds from the public treasury be bestowed on the guardsmen. He kept alternately deceiving the one party by his talk and winning over the other party by his acts in a most effective way. For instance, Junius Gallic had moved that a spectacle be provided in the meeting place of the knights for those of the body-guard who had finished their term of service: Tiberius did not merely banish him when the man was brought up on this very charge of giving an impression that he was persuading the soldiers to show good-will to the government rather than to the emperor; no, but when he found that Junius was setting sail for Lesbos he deprived him of a safe and comfortable existence there and delivered him to the custody of the magistrates, as he had once done with Gallus. And in order to assure the two classes still more fully how he felt toward both of them he not long after asked the senate that Macro and some military tribunes be deemed sufficient to conduct him to the senate-chamber. He had no need of those persons, for he had no idea of ever entering the city again, but what he wanted was to display his hatred of the senators and show the latter the friendliness of the soldiers. The senators actually granted this request. However, they attached to the decree a clause that the escort should be searched on entering to make sure that no one had a dagger hidden beneath his arm.—This resolution was passed in the following year.

[-19-] At this time he spared among some others who had been intimate with Sejanus Lucius Cæsianus,[12] a prætor, and Marcus Terentius, a knight. He overlooked the behavior of the former, who at the Floralia to ridicule Tiberius had had everything up to midnight done by baldheaded men (because the emperor himself was also baldheaded) and had furnished light to those leaving the theatre by the hands of five thousand boys with shaven pates. Tiberius was so far from becoming angry at him that he pretended not to have heard about it at all, though all baldheaded persons were from then on called Caesiani, after this man. Terentius he spared because when on trial for his friendship with Sejanus he not only did not deny it but affirmed that he had worked for him and paid court to him to the greatest possible extent for the reason that the minister was so highly honored by Tiberius himself. "Consequently," he said, "if the emperor did rightly in having such a friend, neither have I done any wrong: and if my sovereign, who knows all things accurately, erred, what wonder is it that I shared his deception? Our duty is to cherish all whom he honors without concerning ourselves overmuch about the kind of men they are, but making one thing determine our friendship for them,—the fact that they please the emperor." The senate for these reasons acquitted him and in addition rebuked his accusers. Tiberius concurred with them. When Piso, the praefectus urbi, died, he honored him with a public funeral,—a distinction granted also to others. In his place he chose Lucius Lamia, whom he had long ago put in charge of Syria[13] and was keeping at Rome. He took similar action, too, in the case of many others, really caring nothing at all for them, but making an outward show of honoring them.—Meantime Vitrasius Pollio, governor of Egypt died, and he entrusted the province for a time to one Hiberus, a Cæsarian.

[-20-] Now of the consuls Domitius held office the whole year through,—for he was husband of Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus,—but the rest adapted themselves to the whims of Tiberius. Some he elevated for a longer time and some for a shorter: some he stopped before the end of their appointed term and others he allowed to hold office beyond the limits designated. Not infrequently he would appoint a man for an entire year and then depose him, setting up another and still another in his place. Sometimes, after choosing certain substitutes for third place, he would then have others become consuls before them in the place of still others. These irregularities in the case of the consuls occurred through practically his entire reign. Of the candidates for the other offices he selected as many as he wished and sent their names to the senate, recommending some to that body,—and these were chosen, by acclamation,—but making others depend upon their own claims or the assent of the senate or the decision of the lot. After that, in order to follow out ancient precedent, such as belonged to the people and the plebs went before one of these two bodies and were announced: this is the same practice that is followed at present, intended to produce at least an appearance of valid election. In case there was ever a deficiency of candidates or they became involved in irreconcilable strife, a smaller number was chosen.—The following year, in which Servius Galba (that later became emperor) and Lucius Cornelius held the consular title, fifteen prætors held office. This went on for many years, so that sometimes sixteen and sometimes one or two less were chosen.

[-21-] The next move of Tiberius was to approach the capital and sojourn in its environs; he did not, however, go within the walls, although he was but thirty stades distant, so that he bestowed in marriage the remaining daughters of Germanicus and also Julia, the daughter of Drusus. Hence the city did not make a festival of their marriages, but everything went on as usual: the senators met and decided judicial cases. For Tiberius made an important point of their assembling as often as he would have convened them, and insisted on their not arriving later or departing earlier than the time fixed. He sent to the consuls many injunctions on this head and once ordered certain statements to be read aloud by them. He behaved in the same way in regard to certain other matters (just as if he could not write directly to the senate!). To that body he sent in not only the documents given him by the informers but also the confessions under torture which Macro obtained, so that nothing was left in the hands of the senators save 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, his chief reason for doing so being that Tiberius had reaffirmed the laws on contracts, enacted by Cæsar, which were sure to result in great loss of confidence and upheaval; and although his chief repeatedly urged him to utter some word,[14] he refused to answer. These events seemed to make some impression on the emperor and he modified the situation, so far as it pertained to loans, by giving two thousand five hundred myriads to the public treasury under the arrangement that this money could be lent out by the senatorial party without interest for three years to such as desired it. He further commanded that the most notorious of those who had steadily acted as accusers should be put to death on one day. And when a man who belonged to the centurions wished to lodge information against some one, he forbade that any person who had served in the army should do so, although he allowed the privilege to knights and senators.

[-22-] There is no denying that he received praise for his behavior in these matters, and most of all because he would not accept a number of honors that were voted to him for it. But the sensual orgies which he carried on shamelessly with the individuals of highest rank, male and female alike, caused ill to be spoken of him. For example, there was the case of his friend Sextus Marius. Imperial favor had made this man so rich and so powerful that when he was once at odds with a neighbor he invited him to dine for two successive days. On the first he razed his guest's dwelling entirely to the ground and on the next he rebuilt it on a larger scale and in more elaborate style. The victim of his treatment declared his ignorance of the perpetrators, whereupon Marius admitted being responsible for both occurrences and added significantly: "This shows you that I have both the knowledge and the power to repel attacks and also to requite a kindness." This friend, then, who had sent his daughter, a strikingly beautiful girl, to a place of refuge to prevent her being outraged by Tiberius, was charged with having criminal relations with her and for that reason destroyed both his daughter and himself. All this covered the emperor with disgrace, and his connection with the death of Drusus and Agrippina gave him a reputation for cruelty. Men had been thinking all along that the whole of the previous action against these two was due to Sejanus, and had been hoping that now their lives would be spared; so, when they learned that they had been actually murdered, they were exceedingly grieved, partly for the reasons mentioned and partly because, so far from depositing their bones in the imperial tomb, Tiberius ordered their remains to be hidden so carefully in the earth that they might never be found. In addition to Agrippina, Munatia Plancina was slain. Previous to this time, though he hated her (not on account of Germanicus but for another reason), he yet allowed her to live to prevent Agrippina from rejoicing at her death.

[-23-] Besides doing this he appointed Gaius quaestor, though not of first rank, promising him, however, that he would advance him to the other office five years earlier than was customary. At the same time he requested the senate not to make the young man conceited by numerous or extraordinary honors, for fear the latter might go astray in one way or another. He had, indeed, a descendant in the person of Tiberius, but him he disregarded both on account of age (he was a mere child as yet) and on account of the prevailing suspicion that this boy was not the son of Drusus. He therefore clove to Gaius as the most eligible candidate for sole ruler, especially as he felt sure that Tiberius would live but a short time and would be murdered by that very man. There was no detail of the character of Gaius of which he was in ignorance; indeed, he once remarked to his successor, who was quarreling with Tiberius: "You will kill him, and others will kill you." The emperor knew of no one else that suited him so entirely, and at the same time he was well aware that the man would be a thorough knave; yet the story obtains that he was glad to give him the empire in order that his own crimes might find concealment in the enormity of Gaius's offences and that the largest and the noblest portion of what was left of the senate might perish after him. At all events he is said to have often uttered the ancient saying:

Often, also, he declared Priam fortunate, because that king involved his country and his throne in his own utter ruin. These records about him are given a semblance of reality by what took place in those days. Such a multitude of the senators and of others lost their lives that out of the officials chosen by lot the ex-prætors held the governorship of the provinces for three years and the ex-consuls for six, owing to the lack of persons to succeed them. And what name could one properly give to the elected magistrates, whom from the first he allowed to hold office for an unusually long time?

Now among those who died at this time was also Gallus. Tiberius himself said that only then (and scarcely even so) did he become reconciled with him. Thus it was that contrary to the usual custom he inflicted upon some life as a punishment and bestowed upon others death as a kindness.

[-24-] The twentieth year of the emperor's reign now came in, and he himself though he sojourned in the vicinity of Albanum and Tusculum did not enter the City; the consuls, Lucius Vitellius and Fabius Persicus, celebrated the second ten-year period. The senators so termed it in preference to "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. Punishment overtook them at the same time that they were celebrating the appropriate festival. This time none of those accused was acquitted, but all were convicted,—the majority from documents contributed by Tiberius and the statements under torture obtained by Macro, the rest by what these two suspected they were planning. It was rumored that the real reason why Tiberius did not come to Rome was to avoid being disgraced while present by the sentences of condemnation. Among various persons who perished either at the hands of the executioners or by their own acts was Pomponius Labeo. He, who had once governed Moesia for eight years after his prætorship, was, with his wife, indicted for receiving bribes and voluntarily destroyed both her and himself. Mamercus AEmilius Scaurus, on the other hand, who had never governed anybody nor received bribes, was convicted because of a tragedy and fell a victim to a worse fate than any he had depicted. Atreus was the name of the composition, and in the manner of Euripides[16] it advised some one of the subjects of that monarch to endure the folly of the ruling prince. Tiberius, when he heard of it, declared that the verse had been composed against him at this juncture and that "Atreus" was merely a pretence used on account of that monarch's bloodthirstiness. And adding quietly "I will have him play the part of Ajax," he brought pressure to bear to make him commit suicide. The above was not the accusation made against him; instead, he was charged with having kept up a liaison with Livilla. Many others had been punished on her account, some with good reason and some as the result of blackmail.

[-25-] While matters at Rome were in this condition, the subject territory was not quiet either. The very moment a certain youth who declared he was Drusus appeared in the region of Greece and Ionia, the cities both received him enthusiastically and supported his cause. He would have proceeded to Syria and taken possession of the legions, had not some one recognized him and putting an end to his success taken him to Tiberius.

[A.D. 35 ( a. u. 788)] After this Gaius Gallus and Marcus Servilius became consuls. Tiberius was at Antium holding fête in honor of the nuptials of Gaius. Not even for such a purpose would he enter Rome, because of the case of one Fulcinius Trio. The latter, who had been a friend of Sejanus but had stood high in the favor of Tiberius on account of his readiness at blackmail, was, when accused, delivered up for punishment; and through fear he slew himself beforehand after abusing roundly both the emperor and Macro in his testament. His children did not dare to publish it, but Tiberius, learning what had been written, ordered it to be presented before the senate. Little did he trouble himself about such matters. Sometimes he would voluntarily give to the public denunciations of his conduct that were being kept secret, as another man would eulogies. Indeed, he took all that Drusus had uttered in distress and misfortune, and this, too, he sent in to the senate.—So much, then, for the death of Trio. Poppaeus Sabinus, who had governed both the Mysias and Macedonia besides during almost all the reign of Tiberius up to this time, withdrew from life with the greatest good-will before any charge could be brought against him. He was succeeded by Regulus with equal authority. For, according to some reports, Macedonia and Achaea were both assigned to the new ruler without lots being cast for them.

[-26-] About the same period Artabanus the Parthian after the death of Artaxias bestowed Armenia upon his son Arsaces. When no vengeance fell upon him from Tiberius for this move, he made an attempt upon Cappadocia and treated the Parthians, too, rather haughtily. Consequently some revolted from him and went on an embassy to Tiberius, asking a king for themselves from among those serving as hostages. He sent them at once Phraates, son of Phraates, and at the death of the latter (which occurred on the way) Tiridates, who was himself also of the royal race. To insure his securing the throne as easily as possible the emperor wrote orders to Mithridates the Iberian to invade Armenia, so that Artabanus should leave home and assist his son. Things turned out as planned, but the reign of Tiridates lasted only a short time, for Artabanus got the Scythians on his side and had no great difficulty in expelling him. So much for the Parthian affairs.—Armenia fell into the hands of Mithridates, son of Mithridates the Iberian, of course, and a brother of Pharasmanes, who became king of the Iberians after him.—When Sextus Papinius became consul with Quintus Plautius, the Tiber inundated a large part of the City so that it remained under water, and a much more extensive section in the vicinity of the hippodrome and the Aventine was devastated by fire. In view of these disasters Tiberius gave two thousand five hundred myriads to those who had suffered any loss.

And if Egyptian affairs also touch Roman interests at all, it might be mentioned that that year the phoenix was seen. All these events were thought to foreshadow the death of Tiberius. Thrasyllus died at this very time and the emperor himself 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 devised complaints and tortures against them. Not all that were accused, however, were put to death, because Thrasyllus handled Tiberius very cleverly. Concerning himself he stated very accurately both the day and the hour in which he should die, but he falsely declared that the emperor would live ten more years, in order that the latter, feeling he had a moderately long time to live, might be in no hurry to kill them. The issue justified the plan. Thinking that it would be possible for him later to do whatever he liked at his leisure, he made no haste in any way and showed no anger when the senate, in consideration of the opposition to the tortures expressed by the magistrates, postponed the sentencing of the prisoners. Yet pitiable scenes were not wanting. One woman wounded herself, was carried into the senate and from there to prison, where she died. Lucius Arruntius, distinguished both for his age and for his education, destroyed himself voluntarily when Tiberius was already sick and was not thought likely to recover. The man was aware of the evil character of Gaius and desired to depart before he should taste of it, saying: "I can not in my old age become the slave of a new master like him." Still others were saved,—some who had actually been condemned but were not permitted to die before the expiration of ten days, and others because their trial was again put off when the judges learned that Tiberius was seriously ailing.

[-28-] He passed away at Misenum before he could learn anything of this. He had been sick for a considerable time, but expecting to live, as Thrasyllus had foretold, he neither consulted physicians nor changed his way of life; wasting away gradually as he was, in old age and subject to a sickness that was not severe, he would often all but expire and then recover strength again. These changes would cause Gaius and the rest first great pleasure, when they thought he was going to die, and then great fear, when they thought he would live. His successor, therefore, fearing that his health might actually be restored, refused his requests for anything to eat, on the ground that he would be injured, and pretending that he needed warmth wrapped many thick cloths about him. In this way he smothered him, with a certain amount of help, to be sure, from Macro. The latter, as Tiberius was already seriously ill, was paying his court to the young man, particularly as he had before this succeeded in making him fall in love with his own wife, Ennia Thrasylla. Tiberius suspecting this had once said: "You understand well when to abandon the setting, and hasten to the rising sun."

So Tiberius, who possessed the most varied virtues, the most varied vices, and followed each set in turn as if the other did not exist, passed away in this fashion on the twenty-sixth day of March.[17] He had lived seventy-seven years, four months, nine days, of which he had spent as ruler twenty-two years, seven months and seven days. A public funeral was accorded him and a eulogy, delivered by Gaius.

[Footnote 1: Supplying here (as did Sylburgius, to fill a gap in the sense) … [GREEK: echeleuse chahi tae boulae]….]

[Footnote 2: The consul of A.D. 30, either C. Cassius Longinus or his brother L. Cassius Longinus .]

[Footnote 4: A corrupt reading for which no wholly satisfactory substitute has been offered.]

[Footnote 5: The predicate of this clause has fallen out in the MS., and the restoration is on lines suggested by Bekker.]

[Footnote 8: Using Boissevain's reading [Greek: adikousaes] (from Reiske) in preference to the MS. [Greek: diadikousaes].]

[Footnote 10: Evidently the previous reference was in a passage now lost, between Bk. 57, ch. 17, sect. 8, and Bk. 58, ch. 7, sect. 2 of the Codex Marcianus (Boissevain).]

[Footnote 12: Cæsianus and Cæsiani are conjectures of Boissevain, the MS. being corrupt. The person meant is L. Apronius Cæsianus (consul A.D. 39).]

[Footnote 13: A correction of Casaubon's for "the army" (MS.), which seems senseless.]

[Footnote 14: The phrase yields no particular sense and is probably corrupt, but a correction is not easy. "To state his reasons" has been suggested; and a very slight change in the Greek produces "to eat something" another conjecture.]

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

About Gaius Cæsar, called also Caligula (chapters 1-6). How the Heroüm of Augustus was sanctified (chapter 7). How the Mauritanias began to be governed by Romans (chapter 25). How Gaius Cæsar died (chapters 29, 30).

Duration of time, the remainder of the consulship of Gnæus Acerronius and Pontius Nigrinus, together with three additional years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated.

M. Aquilius C. F. Iulianus, and P. Nonius M. F. Asprenas. (A.D. 38 = a. u. 791 = Second of Gaius.)

C. Cæsar Germanicus (II), L. Apronius L. F. Cæsianus. (A.D. 39 = a. u. 792 = Third of Gaius, from March 26th.)

C. Cæsar (IV), Cn. Sentius Cn. F. Saturninus. (A.D. 41 = a. u. 794 =
Fifth of Gaius, to Jan. 24th.)

This last year is not counted, because most of the events in it are recorded in the sixtieth book.

(BOOK 59, BOISSEVAIN)

[-1-] This, then, is the tradition about Tiberius. His successor was Gaius, son of Germanicus and Agrippina, who was known also, as I have stated, by the nicknames of Germanicus and Caligula. Tiberius had left the empire partly in charge of his grandson Tiberius; but Gaius had his will carried to the senate by Macro and caused it to be declared null and void by the consuls and the rest (with whom he had made previous arrangements) on the ground that the author of the document had not been of sound mind. This was evidenced by his allowing a mere boy to rule them, who had not yet the right even to enter the senate. Thus did Gaius at this time separate the lad from imperial office, and later in spite of having adopted him he slew him. Of no avail was the fact that Tiberius in his testament, still extant, had written the same words over in a number of ways, as if this would lend them some force, nor yet that all of it had been at this time read aloud by Macro before the senatorial body. For no injunction can have weight against the intentional misunderstanding or the power of one's successors. Tiberius suffered the same treatment he had accorded to his mother's wishes, save that he discharged none of the obligations imposed by her will in the case of any person, whereas all his bequests were paid to all the beneficiaries, save to his grandson. This, of course, made it perfectly plain that the whole fault found with the will had been invented on account of the lad. Gaius need not have published it, since he was not unacquainted with the contents, but inasmuch as many knew what was in it and it seemed likely that he himself on the one hand or the senate on the other would be blamed for its suppression, he chose rather to have the latter body overthrow it than to conceal the document.

[-2-] At the same time by paying all the bequests of the dead emperor, as if they were his own, to every one concerned he gained among the many a certain reputation for nobility of character. In company with the senate he inspected the Pretorians while they were busy with exercises and distributed to them the two hundred and fifty denarii apiece that had been bequeathed, and he added as a gift as many more. To the people he paid the one thousand one hundred and twenty-five myriads (this was the amount bequeathed to them) and in addition the sixty denarii per man which they had failed to receive on the occasion of his enrollment among the iuvenes,—this with interest amounting to fifteen denarii more. He also settled the bequests to the citizen force, to the night-watchmen, to those of the regular army outside Italy, and to any other army of native Romans in the smaller forts,—that is, the citizens proper received one hundred twenty-five denarii each, and all the rest seventy-five.

He behaved in this same way also in regard to Livia's will, executing all the provisions of it. If he had spent the rest of his money with equal propriety, he would nave been thought prudent and munificent. Sometimes, through fear of the people and the soldiers, he did so act, but it was mostly through whims. At such times he discharged not only the obligations of Tiberius but those of his great-grandmother, and debts owing to private individuals as well as to others. As it was, he lavished boundless sums upon dancers (whose recall he at once effected), upon horses, upon gladiators and everything of that sort; and so in an inconceivably short time he had exhausted the treasures, which had grown so great, and at the same time convicted himself of having done it through a sort of easy-going temper and indecision. He had found accumulated five myriad myriads, seven thousand five hundred denarii, or (according to others) eight myriad myriads, two thousand five hundred, and yet could not keep any part of it to the third year, but actually in the second season fell in need of a great deal besides.

[-3-] He went through the same process of deterioration, too, in almost all other respects. At first he seemed a most democratic person and would send no letters either to the people or to the senate nor assume any of the titles of sovereignty; yet he became most dictatorial, so that he took in one day all those honors which Augustus had with difficulty secured, voted one by one, during the long extent of his reign, some of which Tiberius had refused to accept at all. He postponed nothing except the title of Father , and that he acquired after no long time. Though he had proved himself the most libidinous of men, had seduced one woman already betrothed and had dragged others from their husbands, he afterward hated them all save one. And he would certainly have detested her, had he lived any longer. Toward his mother, his sisters, and his grandmother Antonia he conducted himself in the most dutiful manner possible. The last named he immediately saluted as Augusta and appointed her priestess of Augustus, giving her at once all the privileges pertaining to the vestal virgins. To his sisters he assigned these honors of the vestal virgins, the right to witness horse-races in the same section of seats with him, and the right to have uttered in their behalf as well the prayers which were annually offered by the magistrates and the priests for his welfare and that of the State, and the oaths of allegiance sworn to his empire. He set sail himself and with his own hands collected and brought back the bones of his mother and of his brothers that had died: wearing the purple-bordered toga and attended by some lictors, as at a triumph, he deposited these in the monument of Augustus. All measures voted against them he canceled, all who had plotted against them he chastised, and recalled such as were in exile on their account.—Now, though he had done all this, he showed himself the most impious of men in the case both of his grandmother and of his sisters. The former, because she had rebuked him for something, he forced to seek death by her own hand; and after ravishing all his sisters he shut two of them up on an island: the third had previously died. Again in the matter of Tiberius (whom he also termed "grandfather"), he asked that he might receive from the senate the same honors as Augustus; but these were not immediately voted, for the senators could not endure to honor that tyrant, nor did they make bold to dishonor him because they were not yet clearly acquainted with the character of their young lord, and consequently postponed everything until the latter should be present: so then Gaius bestowed upon him no mark of notice other than a public funeral, after bringing the body into the City by night and having it laid out at daybreak. And though he did make a speech over it, he did not say so much in praise of Tiberius as he did to remind the people of Augustus and Germanicus, comparing himself meanwhile with them.

[-4-] Gaius inevitably went so by contraries in every matter that he not only emulated but even surpassed his predecessor's licentiousness and bloodthirstiness, for which he had censured him; but of the qualities he had praised in him he imitated not one. Though he had been the first to insult him, the first to abuse him, so that others thinking to please him in this way made use of rather heedless freedom of speech, he later lauded and magnified Tiberius, going to the point of punishing some for what they had said. These, as enemies of the former emperor, he hated for their injurious remarks, and he hated equally those who in way praised Tiberius, as being the latter's friends.

Though he had put an end to complaints arising from maiestas, he made these the cause of many persons' downfall. Though according to his own account he dismissed the anger that he felt toward those who had united against his father and his mother and his brothers (and burned their letters), he yet put to death great numbers of them on the basis of evidence contained in such documents. He did, to be sure, really destroy some papers, but not those which held definite incontrovertible proof; of these he made copies. Besides, though he at first forbade any one to set up his images, he went on to manufacture the statues himself. Whereas once he requested the annulment of a decree that sacrifice should be offered to his Fortune, and had this action of his inscribed on a tablet, he afterward ordered temples and sacrifices to be prepared for him as for some god. He delighted by turns in vast throngs of men and in solitude; he grew angry if requests were preferred, or if they were not preferred. He would start out on enterprises with the greatest amount of dash, and then carry them through in the most sluggish manner. He both spent money most unsparingly and showed a thoroughly sordid spirit in exacting it. He was alike irritated and pleased both at those who flattered him and at those who spoke their own minds. Many who were guilty of great crimes he neglected to punish and many who had done no wrong he ruthlessly slaughtered. Among his associates he made some the recipients of excessive adulation and others of excessive insult. Consequently, no one knew either what to say or how to act toward him, but all who met with success obtained it as the result of chance rather than of rational calculation.

[-5-] That was the kind of emperor into whose hands the Romans had now fallen. Hence the deeds of Tiberius, though they were felt to have been most grievous, were still as far superior to those of Gaius as the deeds of Augustus were to those of his successor. For Tiberius always held the power in his own hands and used other people to help him carry out his wishes: Gaius, on the other hand, was ruled by charioteers and by gladiators; he was the slave of dancers and other theatrical performers. Indeed, he always kept Apelles, the most famous of the tragedians of that day, with him even in public. Thus he by himself and they by themselves did without let or hindrance all that such persons when given power would naturally dare to do. Everything that could help theatrical productions he arranged and settled on the slightest pretext in the most expensive manner, and compelled prætors and consuls to do the same, so that almost every day some performance of the kind was sure to be given. Originally he was but a spectator and listener at these and would take sides for and against various performers like one of the mob; and sometimes, if he were irritated at his opponents, he would not visit the spectacle. But as time went on he came to imitate and contend in many events, driving chariots, fighting duels, giving exhibitions of dancing, and acting in tragedy. This became his regular practice. And one night he urgently summoned the leaders of the senate as if to some important deliberation and then danced before them.

[-6-] Now in that year that Tiberius died and Gaius entered upon office in his stead he first began to show great deference to the senators on an occasion when knights were present at the meeting and also some of the populace. He promised to share his power with them and do whatever would please them, calling himself meanwhile their son and nursling. He was then twenty-five years old, lacking five months, four days. After this he freed those who were in prison, among whom was Quintus Pomponius, who for seven whole years after his consulship had been kept in a cell suffering abuse. Gaius did away with the complaints for maiestas, on account of which he saw that most of the prisoners were suffering, and heaped up (or so he pretended) and burned the documents pertaining to their cases that Tiberius had left behind. He also declared: "I have done this, that no matter how much I might wish to bear malice toward any one; for my mother's and my brothers' sake, I might still be unable to punish him." For this he was commended because it was expected that he at all events would speak the truth; by reason of his youth it was not thought possible that he could be guilty of duplicity in thought or speech. And he still further increased their hopes by ordering that the celebration of the Saturnalia extend over five days, and by taking from each of those enjoying an allowance of grain only an as instead of the denarius which they were wont to give an emperor for the manufacture of images.

It was voted that he should at once become consul by the removal of Proculus and Nigrinus, who were holding office at the time, and that he should thereafter be consul annually. However, he did not accept the offer, but instead waited until the two officials completed the six months' term for which they had been appointed, and then became consul himself, taking his uncle Claudius as a colleague. The latter, who had previously been ranked among the knights and after the death of Tiberius had been sent as an envoy to Gaius in behalf of that order, now for the first time after living forty-six years became both consul and senator at once. The behavior of Gaius in these matters appeared satisfactory and to his actions corresponded the speech which he delivered in the senate-house on entering upon his consulship. In it he denounced Tiberius for each of the crimes of which he was commonly accused and made many announcements about his own line of conduct; and the senate, fearing that he might change, issued a decree that his statements should be read annually.

[-7-] Soon after, clad in the triumphal garb, he dedicated the heroüm of Augustus. Boys of the noblest families, both of whose parents had to be living, together with maidens similarly circumstanced, sang the hymn, and the senators with their wives as well as the people were banqueted. Entertainments of all sorts were given. There were exhibitions involving music, and horseraces took place on two days,—twenty heats the first day and forty [1] more the second, because the former was the emperor's birthday and the latter that of Augustus. He had a similar number of events on many other occasions, as seemed good to him. Hitherto not more than ten[2] events had been usual, but this time he finished four hundred bears together with an equal number of beasts from Libya. The boys of noble birth performed "Troy" on horseback, and six horses drew the triumphal car on which he was borne. This was an innovation.

In the races he did not give the signals to the charioteers in person, but viewed the spectacle from a front seat with his brothers and his fellow-priests of the Augustan order. He was always greatly displeased if any one was absent from the theatre or left in the middle of the performance, and so, in order that no one might have an excuse for not attending, he postponed all lawsuits and suspended all periods of mourning. Thus, women bereft of their husbands were allowed to marry even before the appointed time, unless, indeed, they were pregnant. In order to enable people to come without formality and to save them the trouble of greeting him (for previously those who met the emperor on the streets always saluted him), he forbade any one's doing this again. Those who chose might come barefoot to the spectacles. It had been from very ancient times the custom for persons to do this who held court in the summer; the practice had been frequently followed by Augustus at the summer festivals but had been abandoned by Tiberius.

It was at this period that the senators first began sitting upon cushions instead of the bare boards, and that they were allowed to wear caps to the theatre, Thessalian fashion, to avoid distress from the sun's rays. And whenever the sun was particularly severe, they used instead of the theatre the Diribitorium, which was furnished with benches.—This was what Gaius did in his consulship, which he held two months and twelve days. The remainder of the six months' term he surrendered to the men previously appointed for it. [-8-] It was after this that he fell sick, but instead of dying himself he managed to cause the death of Tiberius, who had been registered among the iuvenes, had been given the title of Princeps Iuventutis, and finally had been adopted into his family.[3] The complaint brought against the lad was that he had prayed and expected that Gaius might die. This charge proved the destruction of many others, too. The same ruler who gave to Antiochus son of Antiochus the district of Commagene, which his father had held, and likewise the coast districts of Cilicia, and had freed Agrippa (grandson of Herod, who had been imprisoned by Tiberius), and had put him in charge of his grandfather's domain, not only deprived Agrippa's brother (or else his son) of his paternal fortune but furthermore had him murdered, without making any communication about him to the senate. Later he took similar action in a number of other cases.

Now the young Tiberius perished on suspicion of having utilized the emperor's illness as an occasion for conspiracy. On the other hand, there were Publius Afranius Potitus, a plebeian, who in a burst of foolish servility had promised not only of his own free will but under oath that he would give his life to have Gaius recover, and a certain Atanius Secundus, a knight, who announced that in the event of a favorable outcome he would fight as a gladiator. These, instead of the money which they hoped to receive from him in return for offering to die in exchange for his life, were compelled to keep their promises so as not to perjure themselves. That was the cause of these men's death. Again, his father-in-law Marcus Silanus, though he had made no promise and taken no oath, nevertheless, because his virtue and his relationship made him displeasing to the emperor and subjected him to extreme insults, for this reason committed suicide. Tiberius had held him in such honor as to refuse always to try a case that was appealed from his jurisdiction and to refer all such disputes back to him again. But Gaius abused him in every way and had such a high opinion of him that he called him "the golden sheep." Now Silanus on account of his age and his reputation was accorded by all the consuls the honor of casting his vote first; and to prevent his doing so any longer Gaius had abolished the custom of having some of the ex-consuls vote first or second according to the pleasure of those who put the vote. He arranged that such persons should cast their votes on the same footing as the rest and in the same order as they had held the office. Moreover, he put aside his victim's daughter to marry Cornelia Orestilla, whom he had actually seized during the marriage festival which she was celebrating with her betrothed, Gaius Calpurnius Piso. Before two months had elapsed he banished both of them on the ground that they had carnal knowledge of each other. He allowed Piso to take with him ten slaves, and then when the latter asked for more he let him employ as many as he liked, saying: "You will have just so many soldiers."

[-9-] The next year Marcus Julianus and Publius Nonius, regularly appointed, became consuls. Oaths pertaining to the acts of Tiberius were not introduced and for this reason are not used nowadays either. No one numbers Tiberius among the emperors in the list of members of his house.[4] But in regard to Augustus and Gaius they took the oaths which had regularly been the custom and others to the effect that they would hold Gaius and his sisters in greater respect than themselves and their children, and they offered prayers for all of them alike.

On the very first day of the new year one Machaon, a slave, climbed upon the couch of Jupiter Capitolinus and after uttering from that place many dire prophecies killed a little dog which he had brought in with him and slew himself.

The following good deeds must be set down to the credit of Gaius. He published, as Augustus had done, all the accounts of public funds, which had not been made known during the time Tiberius was out of the city. He helped the soldiers extinguish a conflagration and assisted those who suffered loss by it. As the equestrian order pined from lack of men he summoned the foremost men from every office, even abroad, and enrolled them with due regard to their relatives and their wealth. Some of them he allowed to wear the senatorial costume occasionally even before they had held any office through which we enter the senate, on the strength of their hopes to secure admission to that body. Previously it would seem that only those who had been born in the senatorial order were allowed to do this. These deeds caused pleasure to all. But this action in restoring the elections to the populus and the plebs, rescinding the decisions of Tiberius about these matters, and in abolishing the one per cent. tax, and again in scattering at some gymnastic contest tickets and distributing very large gifts to such as secured them,—these actions, though they delighted the lower classes, grieved the sensible, who reflected that even if the offices fell once more into the hands of the general public, still, in case the existing funds should be exhausted and private sources of income fail, many dreadful disasters would result.

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

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

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

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

[-13-] He now became consul again, and though he prevented the priest of Jupiter from taking the oath in the senate (for at this time they regularly did so privately, as in the days of Tiberius), he himself both when he entered upon office and when he relinquished it took the oath like the rest upon the rostra, which had been made larger than before. Thirty days was the duration of his tenure (whereas he let his colleague Lucius Apronius hold office for six months), and his successor was Sanguinius Maximus, præfectus urbi. During this and the following period numbers of the foremost men perished in fulfillment of a sentence of condemnation (for many who had been released from prison were punished for the very reasons that had led to their imprisonment by Tiberius), and many others in gladiatorial combats. There was nothing happening but slaughter. The emperor no longer made any concessions to the populace, opposing instead absolutely everything it wished, and consequently the people, too, resisted all his desires. The talk and actions usual at such a juncture with an angry ruler on one side and a hostile folk on the other were plainly in evidence. The contest between them, however, was not an equal one. The people could do nothing outside of discussion and showing their feelings by their demeanor, whereas Gaius dragged many of his opponents away while they were witnessing performances at the theatre and arrested many more after they had left the building. The chief causes for his rage were first that they did not show enthusiasm in attending; he made his appearance at a different hour on different occasions, sometimes not till nightfall, and they were worn out waiting for him: second, that they did not always applaud the performances that pleased him and sometimes even showed favor to objects of his dislike. Again, it vexed him mightily to have them cry out in their efforts to extol him: "Young Augustus!" He felt that he was not being congratulated upon being emperor while so young, but was being censured for holding at his age so great a domain. His regular conduct was as described. Once he said threateningly to the whole people: "How I wish you had one neck!" At another time, when he was showing some of his usual irritation, the populace in displeasure ceased to notice the spectacle, and turned against the informers, and with loud shouts demanded their surrender. Gaius, indignant, vouchsafed them no answer, but committing to others the conduct of the games withdrew into Campania. Later he returned to celebrate the birthday of Drusilla, brought into the hippodrome on a wagon her statue drawn by[10] elephants and gave the people a free show for two days. The first day, besides the equestrian contests, he had five hundred bears slaughtered, and on the second a like number of Libyan beasts was used up. Athletes struggled in the pancratium at many different points in the city. The populace was feasted and presents were given to the senators and their wives.

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

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

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

[-16-] Up to this time he was always speaking ill of Tiberius before everybody, and so far from rebuking others who criticised him privately or publicly he enjoyed their language. But now he entered the senate-house and eulogized his predecessor at length, besides severely rebuking the senate and the people, saying that they did wrong in finding fault with him. "I may do even this," he said, "in my capacity as emperor, but you are not only unjust but also guilty of impiety[11] to take such an attitude toward one who ruled you." Thereupon he considered separately the case of each man who had lost his life and showed to his own satisfaction that the senators had been responsible for the death of most of them; some, he alleged, they had killed by accusation, some by damning evidence, and all by sentence of condemnation. This he proved by having some freedmen read it from those very documents which he once declared he had burned. And he told them besides: "In case Tiberius really did do wrong, you ought not to have honored him while he lived, and at any rate, by Jupiter, you ought not to repudiate what you often said and voted. But you both behaved toward him with fickleness and again after filling Sejanus with conceit and spoiling him you put him to death, and therefore I ought not either to expect any decent treatment from you." After some such remarks he represented in his speech Tiberius himself as saying to him: "All this that you have said has been good and true. Therefore have no affection nor mercy for any one of them. They all hate you: they all pray for your death. They will murder you if they can. Hence do not stop to consider what acts of yours will please them and heed none of their talk. Rather, have regard to your own pleasure and safety solely, since that has the most just claim. In this way you will suffer no harm and will enjoy all supremest pleasures. You will, moreover, be honored by them whether they so desire or not. If you follow a different course, it will be useless, and beyond an empty reputation you will gain no advantage, but become the victim of plots and perish ingloriously. No man living is ruled of his own free will, but the element which is kept in fear, whatever its size, waits upon the stronger element, whereas if it attains to courage, it always wreaks vengeance upon the other, which has now become the weaker."

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

[-17-] Gaius took no heed of the celebration mentioned; it seemed to him to be no great thing to drive a horse on land: but he had a desire to ride horseback through the sea in a way, by bridging over the water between Puteoli and Bauli. This locality is opposite the City, twenty-six stades distant. Boats for the bridge were partly brought together and partly built new for the purpose. For the number it had proved possible to collect in a brief space of time was insufficient, although all feasible vessels had been gathered, and it was principally this fact that caused a serious famine in Italy and Rome. In joining these boats not merely a passageway was constructed but resting places and waiting rooms were built along in it, and these had running water fit for drinking. When it was ready, he put on the breastplate of Alexander (or so he said), and over it a purple silk chlamys, containing much gold and many precious stones from India. He furthermore girt on a sword, took a shield, and donned a garland of oak leaves. Next he offered sacrifice to Neptune and some other gods and to Envy (in order, he said, that no jealousy might attend him), and entered the passage from the end at Bauli, taking with him great numbers of armed horsemen and foot soldiers; and he made a fierce dash into the city as if he were after some enemies. There he rested the following day, as though seeking respite from battle, and wearing a gold-spangled tunic he returned on a chariot over the same bridge. He was drawn by race-horses that were most competent to gain victories. A long train of what was apparently spoils accompanied him, among them Darius, one of the Arsacidæ, belonging to the group of Parthians then serving as hostages. His friends and associates in beflowered robes followed him on vehicles, as did the army and the rest of the throng, which was decked out according to individual taste. Of course, in the midst of such a campaign and after so magnificent a victory he had to deliver a bit of an harangue: so he ascended a platform which had likewise been erected at about the center of the bridge. First he extolled himself as one who had undertaken a great enterprise; next he praised the soldiers as men exhausted by the dangers they had faced, adding the significant statement that they had traversed the sea on foot. For this gallantry he gave them money and afterward for the rest of the day and all through the night they enjoyed a banquet,—he on the bridge, as though some island, and they at anchor on other boats. Light in abundance shone upon them from the place itself and abundant light besides from the mountains. For since the place was crescent-shaped, fire was exhibited from all sides, as might be done in a theatre, so that no one could notice the darkness. It was his wish to make the night day, as he had made the sea land. When he had become full to excess of food and strong drink, he threw numbers of his companions off the bridge into the sea and sank many of the rest by making a circuitous attack upon them in boats that had rams. Some perished, but the majority though drunk managed to save themselves. The reason was that the sea showed itself extremely smooth and tranquil both while the bridge was being put together and while the other events were taking place. This, too, caused the emperor some elation, and he said that even Neptune was afraid of him. As for Darius and Xerxes, he made all manner of fun of them, inasmuch as he had bridged over a far vaster expanse of sea than they.

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

[-19-] Among these men put on trial at this time Domitius Afer encountered danger from an unexpected source and secured his preservation in a still more remarkable way. Gaius was incensed against him (if for no other reason) because in the reign of Tiberius he had accused a woman who was related to the emperor's mother Agrippina. Later the woman had met Afer and as she saw that out of embarrassment he stood aside from her path she called to him and said (referring to the matter): "Never mind, Domitius: it wasn't you, but Agamemnon, that caused me these troubles." [13] Just about this time Afer had set up an image of the emperor and had placed upon it an inscription showing that Gaius in his twenty-seventh year was already consul for the second time. This vexed the latter, who felt that undue notice was being given to his youth and his transgression of the law. So for this action, for which Afer had looked to be honored, he brought him before the senate and read a long speech against him. Gaius always maintained that he surpassed all living orators, and knowing that his adversary was an extremely gifted speaker he strove on this occasion to excel him. He would certainly have put Afer to death, if the latter had entered into the least competition with him. As it was, the man made no answer or defence, but pretended to be astonished and overcome by the cleverness of Gaius, and repeating the accusation point by point he praised it as though he were some listener and not on trial. When opportunity was given him to speak, he took to supplicating and bewailing his lot; finally he threw himself on the earth and lying there prostrate he besought his accuser, apparently fearing him as an orator rather than as Cæsar. In this way the latter when he saw and heard what I have described was melted, for he thought that he had really overwhelmed Domitius by the eloquence of his address. For this reason, then, and on account of Callistus the freedman, whom he was wont to honor and whose favor Domitius had courted, he ceased his anger. And when Callistus later blamed him for having accused the man in the first place, the emperor answered: "It would not have been right for me to hide such a speech." So Domitius was saved by being convicted of no longer being a skillful speaker.

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

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

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

Such was the action he took regarding the elections. In general he maintained a malignant and suspicious attitude toward quite everything that went on, as witness his banishing Carrina Secundus the orator because the latter had delivered in a gymnasium a speech against tyrants. Also, when Lucius Piso, son of Plancina and Gnaeus Piso, chanced to become governor of Africa, the emperor feared that pride might lead him to revolt, particularly since he was to have a large force made up of both citizens and foreigners. Hence the province was divided in two and the military force together with the Nomads in the immediate vicinity was assigned to a different official. That arrangement lasts to this day.

[-21-] Gaius had now spent practically all the money in Rome and the rest of Italy, gathered from every source from which he could in any way get it, and as no resource that was of any value or practicable could be found there, his expenses became a source of great annoyance to him. Therefore he set out for Gaul, declaring hostilities against the Celtae on the ground that they were showing some uneasiness, but in reality his purpose was to get money from that region and Spain, where wealth was also abundant. However, he did not make an outright declaration of his destination, but went first to one of the suburbs and then suddenly started on his journey, taking with him many dancers, gladiators, horses, women, and the rest of the rout. When he reached the section he had in view he did no damage to any of the enemy;—as soon as he had proceeded a short distance beyond the Rhine he turned back, and next he started apparently to conduct a campaign against Britain, but turned back from the ocean's edge, showing no little vexation at his lieutenants because they won some slight success;—among the subject peoples, however, and among the allies and the citizens he wrought the greatest imaginable havoc. In the first place he despoiled property holders on any and every excuse, and second, individuals and cities brought him "voluntarily" large gifts. He kept on murdering victims, alleging that some were rebelling and others conspiring. The general complaint against them all was that they were rich. The fact that he attended to the selling of their possessions in person enabled him to obtain far greater sums than would otherwise have been the case. Everybody was compelled to buy them, under all sorts of conditions and for much more than their value, for the reasons I have mentioned. Accordingly, he sent also for the finest and most precious heirlooms of the government and auctioned them off, selling with them the fame of the persons who had once used them. He would make some comment on each one, such as "This belonged to my father," "this to my mother," "this to my grandfather," "this to my great-grandfather," "this Egyptian piece belonged to Antony—became a prize of Augustus." Meantime he incidentally showed the necessity of selling them, so that no one dared to appear to be indigent, and he sold with each article some valuable association.

[-22-] In spite of all this he did not secure any surplus. He kept up his expenditures both for the objects that regularly interested him, producing some spectacles at Lugdunum, and also for the army. For the number of soldiers he had gathered amounted to twenty myriads, or, as some say, to twenty-five myriads. Seven times was he named imperator by them (just as pleased him), though he had won no battle and slain no enemy. To be sure, he did once by a ruse seize and make prisoners a few of the latter, but it was his own people whom he wasted most, striking some of them down individually and butchering others en masse . Once he saw a crowd either of prisoners or some other persons and gave orders (in the cant phrase) that they should all be slain from baldhead to baldhead. Another time he was playing dice and, finding that he had no money, called for the census of the Gauls and ordered the wealthiest of them to be put to death. Then he returned to his fellow gamblers and said: "Here you are playing for a few denarii, while I have collected nearly fifteen thousand myriads." So these men perished without consideration. Indeed, one of them, Julius Sacerdos, who was fairly well off but not so extremely wealthy as naturally to become the object of attack, nevertheless fell a victim because of a similarity of names. This shows how carelessly everything went.

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

[-23-] He sent to the senate at the time a report of the matter as if he had escaped some great plot, for he was always pretending to be in danger and to be leading a miserable existence. The senators on being apprised of the facts passed several complimentary votes and granted him a lesser triumph; they sent envoys to announce this, some of whom were chosen by lot, but Claudius by election. That also displeased the emperor to such an extent that he again forbade anything approaching praise or honor being given to his relatives. He felt, too, that he had not been honored as he deserved, and indeed he never made any account of the honors granted him. It irritated him to have small distinctions voted, since that implied a slight, and greater distinctions irritated him because then he was deprived of the possibility of winning still higher prizes. He did not wish it to seem that anything that brought him honors was in the senators' power,—that would make them stronger than he,—nor again that they should have the right to grant such a thing to him, as if they had power and he was inferior to them. For this reason he ofttimes found fault with various gifts, on the ground that they did not increase his splendor but rather diminished his power. Being of this mind he used to become angry at those who did him honor if in any case it seemed that they had voted him less than he deserved. So capricious was he that no one could easily suit him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pleased at this Gaius laid aside his anger toward them and with a buoyant spirit promised them some money. Pomponius, who was said to have plotted against him, he released, inasmuch as he had been betrayed by a friend. And, as the man's mistress when tortured would not utter a word, he did her no further harm and even gave her an honorary gift of money. Gaius was praised for this partly through fear and partly sincerely, and] as some called him hero and others god, he fairly went out of his head. Even before this he was in the habit of demanding that he be given superhuman regard and said that he had intercourse with the Moon Goddess and was crowned by Victory. He also pretended to be Jupiter and took this as a pretext for having carnal knowledge of various women, especially his sisters. Again he would often figure as [Neptune, because he had bridged so great an expanse of sea, or perhaps as] Juno and Diana and Venus. [He would impersonate Hercules, Bacchus, Apollo, and all the other divinities, not merely males but also females.] As fast as he changed the names he would assume all the rest of the attributes that belonged to them, [so that he might seem to resemble them]. Now he would be seen in feminine guise, holding a wine-cup and thyrsus, again with masculine trappings he would carry a club and lion-skin: [or perhaps a helmet and shield]. He would make up first with smooth chin and later on as a bearded man. Sometimes he wielded a trident and on other occasions he brandished the thunderbolt. He would array himself like a maiden equipped for [hunting or] war, and after a brief interval would come forth as a woman. Thus he could make changes with careful attention to details by the variety of his dress and by what he attached to or threw over it, and he was anxious to appear to be anything rather than a human being [and an emperor]. Once a certain Gaul, espying him on a, high platform transacting business in the guise of Jupiter, laughed aloud. Gaius called to him and asked: "What do I seem to you to be?" And the other answered—I shall tell his exact words—: "A big pack of foolishness." Yet the man met no dire fate, for he was a shoemaker. Persons of such rank as Gaius can bear the frankness of the common herd more easily than that of those who hold high position.—Now this was the attire he would assume whenever he pretended to be some god; and there were suitable supplications, prayers, and sacrifices offered to it. [-27-] Otherwise, he usually appeared in public in silk and triumphal dress. Very few were those whom he would kiss. To most of the senators even he extended his hand or foot for homage. Consequently the men who were kissed by him thanked him for it even in the senate, though all might see him kissing dancers every day. [And these divine honors paid him came not only from the many, accustomed at all times to flatter, but from those who really pretended to be something.]

Take the case of Lucius Vitellius, not of low birth nor without sense, a man who, on the contrary, had become famous by his governorship of Syria. In addition to his other brilliant exploits as an official he spoiled a plot of Artabanus in that region. He encountered the latter, who had suffered no punishment for Armenia, already close to the Euphrates and terrified him by his sudden appearance. He then induced him to come to a conference and finally compelled him to sacrifice to the images of Augustus and Gaius. Furthermore he made a peace with him that was advantageous for the Romans and secured his children as hostages. This Vitellius, then, was summoned by Gaius to be put to death. The complaint against him was the same as the Parthians had against their king whom they expelled. Jealousy made him the object of hatred, and fear the object of plots. [For every power stronger than himself Gaius entertained hatred, and he was suspicious of whatever was successful, feeling sure that it would ultimately attack him.] But Vitellius saved his life by somehow presenting himself in such a way as to appear of less importance than his reputation would lead one to expect. He fell at the emperor's feet shedding tears of lamentation, all the time saluting him frequently as divine and paying him worship; at last he vowed that should he survive he would sacrifice to Gaius. By this behavior he so mollified the offended monarch and won his good-will that he not only managed to survive but came to be regarded as one of his lord's most intimate friends. On one occasion Gaius declared he was enjoying converse with the Moon Goddess, and when he asked Vitellius if he could see the goddess with him, the other kept his eyes fixed on the ground, as if overcome by amazement. In a half whisper he answered: "Only you gods, master, may behold one another."—So Vitellius from these beginnings, later came to surpass all others in adulation.

[-28-] [Gaius gave orders that in Miletus of the province of Asia a certain tract of land should be set apart for his worship. His avowed reason for choosing this city was that Diana had preempted Ephesus, Augustus Pergamum, and Tiberius Smyrna. The truth of the matter, however, was that he had conceived a desire to appropriate to his own use the large and extremely beautiful temple which the Milesians were building to Apollo. Thereupon he went to still greater lengths and built actually in Rome itself one temple of his own that was accorded him by vote of the senate, and another at his private expense on the Capitoline.] He also planned a kind of dwelling on the Capitol, in order, as he said, that he might live in the same house with Jupiter. However, he disdained taking second place in this union of households and found fault with the god for occupying the Capitol before him: accordingly, he hastened to construct another temple on the Palatine and by way of a statue for it thought he should like to change that of Olympian Jove so as to resemble himself. This he found impossible, for the boat built to bring it was shattered by thunderbolts, and loud laughter was plainly heard as often as any persons approached the pedestal to take hold of it. So after hurling threats at the obdurate image he set up a new one of himself.—The temple of the Dioscuri in the Roman Forum he cut in two and made through it an approach to the Palatine running right between the statues, to the end (these were at all events his words) that he might have the Dioscuri for gate-keepers. Assuming the name of Dialius [15] he attached Cæsonia his wife, Claudius, and other persons who were very wealthy to his service as priests, receiving from each one two hundred and fifty myriads for this honor. He also consecrated himself to his own service and appointed his horse a fellow-priest. Dainty and expensive birds were daily sacrificed to him; he had a contrivance by which he defied the thunder with answering peals and could send return flashes when it lightened. Likewise whenever a bolt fell, he would in turn hurl a javelin at a rock, repeating each time the words of Homer: "Either lift me or I will thee." [16] [When thirty days after her marriage Cæsonia brought forth a little daughter, he pretended that this, too, had come about through supernatural means and gave himself airs on the fact that in so few days after becoming a husband he was a father. He gave the child the name of Drusilla, and taking her up to the Capitol placed her on the knees of Jupiter, with the implication that she was his child, and put her in charge of Minerva to be suckled.] This god, then, this Jupiter,—[he was called by the latter name so much that it even found its way into documents,—at the same time that all this took place was collecting money in most shameful and most frightful ways.] One may, to be sure, [leave out of account the wares and the taverns, the brothels [17] and the courts, the artisans and the wage-earning slaves] and other such sources from [every single one of] which he gathered funds; but how can one escape mentioning the rooms set apart in the very palace and the wives of the foremost men as well as the children of the most aristocratic families that he shut up in these rooms and foully abused, sparing absolutely no one in his greed for such victims, meeting with no resistance from some [who wished to avoid showing any displeasure] but seizing others quite against their will? [Yet these proceedings did not displease the mob very much, but they rather delighted with him in his licentiousness and in the fact that] he also would throw himself on the heap of gold and silver collected from these persons and roll in it. [When, however, after enacting severe laws in regard to the taxes he inscribed them in exceedingly small letters on a tablet which he then hung up aloft so as to make sure that it should be read as little as possible and that many through ignorance of what was bidden or forbidden should make themselves liable to the penalties thereof, the people straightway ran together excitedly into the hippodrome and raised fierce shouts.]

Once the people had come together in the hippodrome and were objecting to his conduct, and he had them cut down by the soldiers. In this way he imposed silence upon them all.

[-29-] As he continued to show insanity in every way, a plot was formed against him by Cassius Chairea and Cornelius Sabinus, though they were holding tribuneships in his pretorian guard. A number were in the conspiracy and privy to what was being done, among whom were Callistus and the prefect.

Practically all of his courtiers were interested, both in their own behalf and for the common good. Any who did not take part in the conspiracy still refused to reveal it, though they knew of it and were glad to see a plot formed against him.

But the men who actually killed Gaius were those mentioned. It is worth noting, besides, that Chairea was an old-fashioned sort of man and had a private cause for anger. Gaius was in the habit of nicknaming him "sissy" (though he was the hardiest of men) and whenever it came the turn of Chairea to command would give him some such watchword as "yearning" or "Venus." Again, an oracle had a short time before warned Gaius to beware of Cassius. The former, supposing that it had reference to Gaius Cassius, governor of Asia at the time, because he was a descendant of that Cassius who had slain Cæsar, had him brought as a prisoner. The person whose future conduct the divinity was really indicating to the emperor, however, was this Cassius Chairea. Likewise a certain Egyptian, Apollonius, foretold in his native land what happened to him. For this speech he was sent to Rome and was brought before the emperor the day on which the latter was destined to die; his punishment was postponed till a little later, and in this way his life was saved.

The deed was done as follows: Gaius was celebrating a festival in the palace and was attending to the production of a spectacle. In the course of this he was himself both eating and drinking and was feasting the rest of the company. Pomponius Secundus, consul at the time, was taking his fill of the food as he sat by the emperor's feet, and at the same time kept continually bending over to shower kisses upon them. Gaius himself decided that he wanted to dance and act as a tragedian. The followers of Chairea could endure it no longer. As he went out of the theatre to see the boys of most noble lineage whom he had imported from Greece and Ionia to sing the hymn composed in his honor, the conspirators wounded him, then intercepted him in a narrow passage and killed him. When he fell to the ground none of those present would keep his hands off him but they all savagely stabbed the lifeless corpse again and again. Some chewed pieces of his flesh. His wife and daughter were immediately slain.

So Gaius, who accomplished all these exploits in three years, nine months, and twenty-eight days, learned by actual experience that he was not a god.

Now he was openly spurned by those who had been accustomed to do him reverence even when absent. His blood was spilled by persons who were wont to speak and to write of him as "Jove" and "god." His statues and his images were dragged from their pedestals, for the people in particular retained a lively remembrance of the distress they had endured.

All the soldiers in the Germanic division raised an outcry and their remonstrance extended to the point of indulging in slaughter.

Those who stood by remembered the words once spoken by him to the populace: "How I wish you had but one neck!" and made it plain to him that it was he who had but one neck, whereas they had many hands. And when the pretorian guard, filled with consternation, began running about and demanding who had slain Gaius, Valerius Asiaticus, an ex-consul, took a remarkable mode of bringing them to their senses, in that he climbed up to a conspicuous place and cried out: "I only wish I had killed him!" This alarmed them so that they stopped their outcry.

All such persons as in any way acknowledged the authority of the senate obeyed their oaths and became once more quiet.—While the overthrow of Gaius was thus being accomplished, the consuls Sentius and Secundus forthwith transferred the funds from the treasure-chambers to the Capitol. They stationed most of the senators and plenty of soldiers as guards over it to prevent any plundering being done by the populace. So these men in company with the prefects and the circle of Sabinus and Chairea deliberated as to what should be done.

[Footnote 2: Boissevain restores the MS. "ten" in place of the "twelve" of Robert Estienne.]

[Footnote 4: This sentence is unintelligible and doubtless the MS. is corrupt. No editor has offered a wholly satisfactory emendation, though by comparing Book Sixty, chapter 4, the sense would seem to require: "no one, in taking the oath, mentions the name of Tiberius in the number of the emperors."]

[Footnote 5: Reading (with Boissevain) [Greek: exoruxas] for [Greek: dioruxas].]

[Footnote 6: This predicate is supplied on the suggestion of Boissevain.
In the MS. an evident gap of a few words exists.]

[Footnote 9: Boissevain remarks that this sentence may be interpreted to mean "All persons incurred equal censure whether they showed pleasure at [decrees passed in her honor], as being grieved [at her death], or behaved as if they were glad [that she had become a goddess]," but adds that the text is open to suspicion.]

[Footnote: 10 Reading [Greek: up] (a suggestion of Boissevain's) in place of [Greek: hép] Compare Book Sixty-one, chapter 16.]

[Footnote 12: This expression is obscure. Fabricius thought it contained a reference to the Palatine Games, and Boissevain queries whether we should read "at the spectacles belonging to the Palatium."]

[Footnote 13: This is a quotation of the speech made by Achilles to the heralds whom Agamemnon despatches to the hero's hut in pursuance of the threat previously uttered that he (Agamemnon) will take Briseis, favorite of Achilles, in lieu of Chryseis, surrendered to her father. (From Homer's Iliad, Book I, verse 335.)]

[Footnote 15: According to Boissevain, this is very probably a MS. error for Jupiter Latiaris .]

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

He restores their kingdoms to Antiochus, to both the Mithridates, to
Agrippa, to Herod, and enlarges the size of the same (chapter 8).

Certain regulations: the harbor of Ostia: Lake Fucinus to empty into the
Tiber (chapters 10-13).

Assassinations instituted: crimes of Messalina and the freedmen (chapters 14-18).

Certain regulations: outrages of Messalina: the causes of her demise (chapters 24-31).

Agrippina is wed: she at once enacts the role of a Messalina: at length she murders Claudius (chapters 32-35).

These events occurred during the remainder of the consulship of C. Cæsar (4th) and Cn. Sentius Saturninus, together with 13 other years in which the following held the consulship.

Claudius Cæsar Aug. (II), C. Cæcina Largus. (A.D. 42 = a. u. 795 = Second of Claudius, from Jan. 24th.)

Claudius Cæsar Aug. (III), L. Vitellius (II). (A.D. 43 = a. u. 796 =
Third of Claudius.)

L. Quinctius Crispinus (II), M. Statilius Taurus. (A.D. 44 = a. u. 797 =
Fourth of Claudius.)

M. Vinicius (II), T. Statilius Taurus Corvinus. (A.D. 45 = a. u. 798 =
Fifth of Claudius.)

Valerius Asiaticus (II), M. Iunius Silanus. (A.D. 46 = a. u. 799 = Sixth of Claudius.)

Claudius Cæsar Aug. (IV), L. Vitellius (III). (A.D. 47 = a. u. 800 =
Seventh of Claudius.)

C. Pompeius Longinus Gallus, Q. Veranius. (A.D. 49 = a. u. 802 = Ninth of
Claudius.)

C. Antistius Vetus, M. Suillius Nervilianus. (A.D. 50 = a. u. 803 = Tenth of Claudius.)

Claudius Cæsar Aug. (V), Ser. Cornelius Orfitus. (A.D. 51 = a. u. 804 =
Eleventh of Claudius.)

Cornelius Sulla Faustus, L. Salvius Otho Titianus. (A.D. 52 = a. u. 805 =
Twelfth of Claudius.)

Dec. Iunius Silanus Torquatus, Q. Haterius Antoninus. (A.D. 53 = a. u. 806 = Thirteenth of Claudius.)

M. Asinius Marcellus, Manius Acilius Aviola. (A.D. 54 = a. u. 807 =
Fourteenth of Claudius—to October 13th.)

(BOOK 60, BOISSEVAIN.)

[-1-] When Gaius perished in the manner described, the consuls despatched guards to every quarter of the city and gathered the senate on the Capitol, where many diverse opinions were uttered. Some favored a democracy, some a monarchy; some were for choosing this man, and others that. Therefore they spent the rest of the day and the whole night without accomplishing anything. Meanwhile some soldiers who had entered the palace for the purpose of making spoil of something or other found Claudius hidden away in a dark corner. He was attending Gaius when the latter came out of the theatre, and at this time through fear of the confusion had crouched down out of the way. At first, the men thinking that he was some one else and perhaps had something worth taking dragged him out. Afterwards, on recognizing him, they hailed him as emperor and conducted him to the camp. Then in company with their comrades they delivered to him the entire power of government, inasmuch as he was of the imperial race and was regarded as suitable. In spite of his shrinking and remonstrance the more he attempted to avoid the honor and to resist the more did the soldiers in turn insist upon not accepting an emperor from others but upon their own right to establish such a sovereign over the entire world. Hence, with a show of reluctance, he yielded. The consuls for a time sent tribunes and others forbidding him to assume any such authority and to submit to the jurisdiction of the people and the senate and the laws; but, when their attendant soldiers left them in the lurch, then finally they too yielded and voted him all the remaining privileges pertaining to sole rulership.

[-2-] So it was that Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, the son of Drusus child of Livia, obtained the imperial power without having been previously tested at all in any position of authority, save only that he had been consul. He was fifty years of age. In mental development he was by no means inferior, having been through a sufficient education to do a little history writing, but physically he was frail, and his head and hands shook a little. Hence his voice was also faltering and he did not himself read all the measures that he introduced before the senate but would give them to the quæstor to read,—though at first, at least, he was regularly present. Whatever he did read in person he generally recited sitting down. He was the first of the Romans, too, to employ a covered chair,—which has led to the present custom which prescribes that not only the emperors be carried in chairs but we ex-consuls, as well. Before this time, Augustus, Tiberius, and some others used to be carried sometimes in litters such as women even at the present day affect. These infirmities, however, were not the cause of nearly so much trouble to him as were the freedmen and women with whom he associated; for more conspicuously than any of his peers he was ruled by slaves and by women. From a child he had been reared with careful nursing and in the midst of terror and had for that reason feigned simplicity to a greater extent than was really true this fact he himself admitted in the senate: and as he had lived for a long time with his grandmother Livia and for another long period with his mother Antonia and again with liberti, and moreover had had several amours with women, he had acquired no qualities becoming a freeman, but although ruler of all the Romans and their subjects he was himself nothing more nor less than a slave. They would take advantage of him particularly when he was inclined to drink and sexual intercourse, for in both these directions he was quite insatiable and on such occasions was exceedingly easy to master. Moreover, he was afflicted by cowardice, which frequently roused in him so great alarm that he could not calculate anything as he ought. They anticipated this failing of his, too, and it was no inconsiderable help toward getting the better of him. By frightening him half to death they would reap great benefits, and in other people they inspired so much fear that—to give an epitome of the situation—once when a number were on the same day invited to dinner by Claudius and again by his dependents, the guests neglected him on some indifferent pretext and presented themselves at the feast of his companions.

[-3-] Though, generally speaking, he was the sort of character described, still he performed not a few valuable services whenever he was free from the influences mentioned and was master of himself. I shall take up his acts in detail.

All honors voted to him he immediately accepted, except the title "Father," and this he afterward took: yet he did not at once enter the senate, but delayed as late as the thirtieth day. The fact that he had seen Gaius perish as he did and now learned that some other candidates, presumably superior to himself, had been proposed for emperor by the senatorial body made him a little timid. Therefore he exercised great caution at all points and caused all men and women who approached him to be searched, for fear they might have a dagger. At banquets he made sure there were some soldiers present,—a custom which, set by him, continues to this day. That of invariable search was brought to an end by Vespasian. He put to death Chairea and some others in spite of his pleasure at the death of Gaius. In other words he looked far ahead to ensure his own safety, and was not so much grateful to the man for having by his deed enabled him to get the empire as he was displeased at the idea of any one assassinating an emperor. He acted in this matter not as an avenger of Gaius but as one who had caught a person plotting against himself. As a sequel to this murder Sabinus also died by his own hand, not choosing to survive after his comrade had been executed.

As for all other citizens who had openly shown their eagerness for a democracy or had been regarded as eligible for the supreme power. Claudius so far from bearing malice toward them gave them honors and offices. In plainer terms than any ruler that ever lived he promised them immunity,—therein imitating the example of the Athenians,[1] as he said,—and it was no mere promise, but he afforded it in fact. He abolished complaints of maiestas alike for things written and things done and punished no one on any such charge for either earlier or later offences. He invented no complaint for the sake of persecuting those who had wronged or insulted him when he was a private citizen; and there were many who had done this, particularly as he was deemed of no importance, and to please either Tiberius or Gaius. If, however, he found them guilty of some other crime, he would take vengeance on them also for their former abuse. [-4-] The taxes introduced in the reign of Gaius and whatever other measures had led to denunciation of the latter's acts were done away with by Claudius, not all at once but as opportunity offered. He also brought back such persons as Gaius had unjustly exiled,—-among others the latter's sisters Agrippina and Julia,—and restored to them, their property. Of those imprisoned,—and a very great number were in this predicament,—he liberated such as were suffering for maiestas or any similar complaints, but real criminals he punished.

He investigated the cases very carefully, in order that those who had committed crimes should not be released on account of the victims of blackmail, nor yet the latter be ruined on account of the former. Nearly every day either in company with the entire senate or alone he would sit on a platform trying cases, generally in the Forum, but occasionally elsewhere. In fact, he renewed the custom of having men sit as his colleagues, which had been abandoned ever since Tiberius withdrew to the island. Very often he joined the consuls and the prætors and especially those having charge of the finances in their investigations, and some few matters he turned over entirely to the various courts. He destroyed the poisons (which were found in great variety among the effects of Gaius); and the books of Protogenes (who was put to death) together with the documents which Gaius pretended to have burned but which were actually found in the imperial archives he showed to the senators and gave them to the latter, to the very men who had written them, no less than to those against whom they had been written, to read: afterward he burned them up. Yet, when the senate manifested a desire to dishonor Gaius, he personally prevented such a measure from being voted, but on his own responsibility caused all of his predecessor's images to disappear by night. Hence the name of Gaius does not occur in the list of emperors whom we mention in oaths and prayers any more than that of Tiberius. Neither of them, however, suffered any official disgrace.

[-5-] Accordingly, the unjust institutions set up by Gaius and by others on his account Claudius overturned. To Drusus his father and Antonia his mother he offered horse-races on their birthdays, putting off to different days the festivals which would occur on the same dates, in order that there should not be two celebrations at once. His grandmother Livia was not only honored by equestrian contests, but was deified, and he set up a statue to her in the temple of Augustus, charging the vestal virgins with the duty of offering sacrifice in proper form. He also ordered that women should use her name in taking oaths.

Though he paid such reverence to his ancestors, he himself would accept nothing beyond the names pertaining to his office. On the first day of August, to be sure,—his birthday,—there were equestrian contests, but not on his account: it was because the temple of Mars had been dedicated on that day, which had consequently been distinguished thereafter by annual contests.

Beside moderation in this respect he further forbade any one's worshiping him or offering him any sacrifice; he checked the many excessive acclamations accorded him; and he accepted only one image,—of silver,—and two statues, of bronze and stone, that had been voted to him at the start. All such expenditures, he declared, were useless and furthermore inflicted great loss and great annoyance upon the city. All the temples and all the rest of the public works had been filled with statues and votive offerings, so that he said he should have to make it a matter of thought what to do with them. He forbade the prætors' giving gladiatorial games and ordained that any one else who superintended them in any place whatsoever should not allow to be written or reported the statement that such games were being held for the emperor's preservation. He became so used to settling all these matters by considering the merits of each case rather than according to the dictates of custom that he adopted the same attitude toward other departments of life. For instance, when this year he betrothed one of his daughters to Lucius Junius Silanus and gave the other in marriage to Gnæus Pompeius Magnus, he did nothing out of the common to commemorate the occasion, but attended the courts in person on those days and convened the senate as usual. He ordered his sons-in-law temporarily to hold office among the viginti viri, and later to act as prefects of the city at the Feriæ. After a long interval he gave them the right to stand for the other offices five years sooner than was customary.

Gaius had despoiled this Pompeius of his title Magnus and came very near killing him because he was so named. Yet out of contempt for him, since he was still but a boy, he did not go to such extremes, and merely abolished the offending epithet, saying that it was not safe for any one to be called Magnus. Claudius now restored to him this title and gave him his daughter to wife.

[-6-] These were certainly commendable actions. In addition, when at one time in the senate the consuls came down from their seats to talk with him, he rose in turn and went to meet them. In Naples he lived entirely like a private citizen. He and his associates while there adopted the Greek manner of life invariably; at the musical entertainments he would wear cloak and military boots, and at the gymnastic exercises a purple robe and golden crown. His action, moreover, in regard to money was remarkable, for he forbade any one to bring him contributions, as had been customary in the reigns of Augustus and of Gaius, and he refused to allow any person to name him as heir if such person possessed any relatives whatever. Indeed, the funds that had been confiscated by government order during the period of Tiberius and Gaius he gave back either to the victims themselves, if they still survived, or otherwise to their children.

It had been the custom[2] that if any slightest detail were carried out contrary to precedent on the occasion of the games these should be given over again, as I have stated. But since such occasions were frequent, occurring a third, fourth, fifth, and sometimes tenth time, and this partly by accident but generally by intention on the part of those benefited by these happenings, he enacted a law that on only one day should the equestrian contests take place a second time; in fact, however, he usually abrogated this privilege also. The schemers henceforth easily avoided falling into irregularities, as they gained very little by so doing.

In the matter of the Jews, who had again increased so greatly that by reason of their multitude it would have been hard without raising a tumult to bar them from the City, he decided not to drive them out, but ordered them to follow that mode of life prescribed by their ancestral custom and not to assemble in numbers.—The clubs instituted by Gaius he disbanded.—Also, seeing that there was no use in forbidding the populace to do certain things unless their daily life should be reorganized, he abolished the taverns where they were wont to gather and drink and commanded that no dressed meat nor warm water[3] should be sold. Some who disobeyed this ordinance were punished.

He restored to the various cities the statues which Gaius was in the habit of requiring them to send, restored also to the Dioscuri their temple and to Pompey the right of naming the theatre. On the stage-building of the latter he inscribed also the name of Tiberius, because that emperor had rebuilt the structure when it was burned. His own name he had chiseled there likewise (not because he had reared it but because he had dedicated it), but on no other part of the edifice. Likewise he did not wear the triumphal garb the entire time of the games, though permission was voted to him, but appeared in it merely to offer sacrifice; the rest of the festival he superintended in the purple-bordered garment.

[-7-] He introduced in the orchestra among others knights and women who were his peers, who had been accustomed in the reign of Gaius so to appear regularly. The reason was not that he liked their performance, but that he wanted a proof of their past behavior. Certainly none of them was again marshaled on the stage during the era of Claudius. The Pyrrhic dance, which the boys sent for by Gaius were practicing, they were allowed to perform once, were honored with citizenship for it, and were then dismissed. Others, in turn, chosen from among the retinue, then gave exhibitions.—This was what took place in theatrical circles.

In the hippodrome twelve camels and horses had one contest, and three hundred bears together with an equal number of Libyan beasts were slaughtered. Previous to this time the different classes in attendance had watched the spectacle each from its own special location,—senators, knights, and populace; thus it had come to be a regular practice, yet no definite positions had been assigned to them. [-8-] It was at this time that Claudius marked off the space which still belongs to the senate, and furthermore he allowed those senators who chose to view the sights somewhere else and even in citizen's dress. After this he banqueted the senators and their wives, the knights, and likewise the tribes.

Next he restored Commagene to Antiochus, for Gaius, though he had himself given him the district, had taken it away again; and Mithridates the Iberian, whom Gaius had summoned only to imprison, he sent home again to resume his sovereignty. To another Mithridates, a lineal descendant of Mithridates the Great, he granted Bosporus, giving to Polemon some land in Cilicia in place of it. He enlarged the domain of Agrippa of Palestine (who, happening to be in Rome, had helped him become emperor), and bestowed on him consular honors. To the latter's brother Herod he gave pretorial dignities and some authority. They were allowed to enter the senate and to express their thanks to him in Greek.—Now these were the acts of Claudius himself, and they were lauded by all.

But certain other deeds were done at this time of an entirely different nature by his freedmen and by his wife, Valeria Messalina. She became enraged at her niece Julia because the latter neither paid her honor nor flattered her; and she was also jealous because the girl was extremely beautiful and had been the only one to enjoy the favor of Claudius several times. Accordingly, she had her banished by bringing against her among other complaints that of adultery (for which Annius Seneca was also exiled) and after a while she succeeded in procuring Julia's death. As for the freedmen, it was they who persuaded Claudius to accept triumphal honors for his deeds in Mauretania, though he had not been successful and had not yet attained imperial power when the end of the war came. This same year, however, Sulpicius Galba overcame the Chatti, and Publius Gabinius conquered the Cauchi[4] beside winning fame in other ways; for instance, he recovered a military eagle, the only one left among the enemy from the catastrophe of Varus. Through the exploits of both of these men Claudius received a title of imperator that had some foundation in fact.

[-9-] The next year the same Moors were again subdued in fighting with him. Suetonius Paulinus, one of the ex-prætors, overran their country as far as the Atlantic. Gnæus Hosidius Geta, one of the peers, making a subsequent campaign, advanced at once against their general Salabus and conquered him two separate times. And when the latter after leaving a few soldiers near the frontier to hold back any who might pursue took refuge in the sandy part of the country, Geta ventured to follow him. First stationing a part of his army opposite the hostile detachment that was awaiting him he provided himself with as much water as was feasible, and pushed forward. When this supply gave out and no more could be found, he was caught in an exceedingly unpleasant position. The barbarians, especially since through habit they can endure thirst an exceedingly long time, and through knowledge of the country can always get some water, had no trouble in maintaining themselves. The Romans, for the opposite reasons, found it impossible to advance and difficult to withdraw. While Geta was in a dilemma as to what he should do, one of the natives who was at peace with the invaders persuaded him to make use of incantations and enchantments, telling him that as a result of such procedure abundant water had frequently been granted them. No sooner had he taken this advice than so much rain burst from heaven as to allay the soldiers' thirst entirely, beside scaring the enemy, who thought the gods were assisting the Roman. Consequently they came to terms voluntarily and ended their warfare.—After these events Claudius divided the Moors who were in subjection into two districts, namely, the country about Tengis and that about Cæsarea, these cities giving their names to the whole region; and he appointed two knights as governors. At this same period certain parts of Numidia also were involved in warfare by neighboring barbarians, and when the latter had been conquered returned to a state of repose.

[-10-] The office of consul Claudius held in conjunction with Gaius Largus. He allowed the latter to continue consul for a whole year, but as for himself he remained a magistrate only two months at this time. He had the rest swear to the deeds of Augustus, and was himself sworn, but in regard to his own deeds he allowed no such procedure on the part of any one. On leaving the office he took the oath again, like other people. This was always his practice, every time he was consul.

About this period certain speeches of Augustus and Tiberius were being read according to decree on the first of the month, and when they had kept the senators busy till evening he ended the reading, declaring that it was sufficient for them to be engraved on tablets.

Some prætors who were entrusted with the administration of the funds having incurred charges, he did not take legal measures against them, but made the rounds of those who sold goods and let buildings, and corrected whatever he deemed to be abuses. This he did also on numerous other occasions.—There were likewise peculiarities in the appointment of the prætors, for their number was now fourteen or eighteen or somewhere between, just as it happened.—Beside this action with reference to the finances he established a board of three ex-prætors to collect debts owing the government, granting them lictors and the usual force of assistants.

[-11-] On the occasion of a severe famine he considered the problem of abundant provisions not only for that particular crisis, but for all succeeding time. Practically all food used by the Romans was imported, and yet the region near the mouth of the Tiber had no safe landing-places nor suitable harbors, so that their mastery of the sea was rendered useless. Save for such staples as were brought in during their season and stored in warehouses nothing from abroad could be had in the winter season; and if any one risked a voyage, he was almost sure to meet with disaster. Being cognizant of these facts Claudius undertook to build a harbor and would not be turned aside, though the architects on his enquiring how great the expense would be replied: "You don't want to do this." So sure were they that the great disbursements necessary would cause him to rein in his ambition if he should learn beforehand the exact amount. He, however, desired a work worthy of the dignity and greatness of Rome, and he brought it to a successful conclusion. In the first place he excavated a very considerable piece of land, constructed quays on all sides of it, and let the sea into it. Next in the sea itself he heaped huge mounds on both sides of the entrance to this place,—mounds that enclosed a large body of water. Between these breakwaters he reared an island and planted on it a tower with a beacon light.—This harbor, then, still so called in local parlance, was created by him at this period. He had another project to make an outlet into the Liris from Lake Fucina, in the Marsian country, to the end that the land around it might be tilled and the river be rendered more navigable. But the expenditure was all to no purpose.

He made a number of laws, most of which I have no need to mention; but here are some of the regulations that he introduced. He had the governors who were chosen by lot set out before the first day of April; for it was their habit to delay a long time in the City. And he would not permit those chosen by election to express any thanks to him in the senate,—this had been a kind of custom with them,—but he said: "These persons ought not to thank me, as if they were so eager for office, but I them, because they cheerfully help me bear the burden of government: and if they acquit themselves well in office, I shall praise them still more." Such men as by reason of insufficient means were not able to be senators he allowed to ask permission to retire, and he admitted some of the knights to tribuneships: the rest of them, without exception, he forced to attend the senate as often as notice was sent them. He was so severe upon those who were remiss in this matter that some killed themselves.

[-12-] In other respects he was sociable and considerate in his dealings with them. He would visit them when sick and be a partner in their merrymakings. A certain tribune beat a slave of his in public, but Claudius did the offender himself no harm, only depriving him of his assistants, and these he restored not long afterward. Another of his slaves was sent to the Forum and severely scourged, because he had insulted a prominent man. In the senate the emperor would himself regularly rise in case the rest had been standing for a long time. On account of his ill health, as I related, he frequently remained seated and read his advice, if asked for it. He allowed Lucius Sulla to sit on the prætors' bench because this man, being unable by reason of age to hear anything from his own seat, had stood up. The day on which a year previous he had been declared emperor he did nothing unusual, except to give the Pretorians twenty-five denarii, and this he continued to do every year thereafter. Some of the prætors, however, of their own free will and not by any decree publicly celebrated that day and also the birthday of Messalina. Not all of them did this, but as many as chose. This shows what freedom they had. You may see how really moderate Claudius was in all such matters from the fact that when a son was born to him,—called at that time Claudius Tiberius Germanicus but later also Britannicus ,—he did not make the occasion in any way conspicuous and would not allow him to be named Augustus nor Messalina Augusta.

[-13-]He was constantly arranging gladiatorial games, taking a degree of pleasure in them that aroused criticism. Very few beasts were destroyed, but a great many human beings, some of whom fought with one another whereas others were devoured by animals. The emperor hated vehemently the freed slaves who in the reigns of Tiberius and Gaius had conspired against their masters, as well as those who extorted blackmail from people or had borne false witness against any persons. The majority of these he got rid of in the manner mentioned, though some of them he punished by other methods. A great many he delivered up to the vengeance of their masters. So great did the number become of those who died a public death that the statue of Augustus, erected on the scene, was turned to face in another direction, both to prevent its being thought that he was viewing the slaughter and to avoid having the statue always covered up. For this act Claudius was well laughed at when people reflected how he sated himself with the sights that he did not think proper for even the inanimate bronze to behold. It might be noted particularly that he used to delight greatly even at lunch time in watching those who were incidentally cut down in the middle of the spectacle. Yet a lion that had been trained to eat men and on this account greatly pleased the crowd he ordered killed on the principle that it was not fitting for Romans to gaze on such a sight. He received abundant praise, however, for appearing in the people's midst at the spectacle, for giving them all they wanted, and for his employing a herald so very little and announcing most events by notices written on boards.

[-14-] After he had become accustomed, then, to feast his fill on blood and slaughter, he had recourse more readily to other kinds of killings. The Cæsarians and Messalina were really responsible for this. Whenever they desired to obtain any one's death, they would terrify him, with the result that they would be allowed to do everything they chose. Often, when in a moment of sudden alarm his momentary terror had led him to order some one's death, afterward, when he recovered and came to his senses, he would search for the man and on learning what had happened would be grieved and repent. He began this series of slaughters with Gaius Appius Silanus. This man, who was of very noble family and at the time was governor of Spain, he had sent for, pretending that he wanted to see him about something, had married him to Messalina's mother, and had for some time held him in honor among his dearest and closest friends. Then he suddenly killed him. The reason was that Silanus had offended Messalina, the most abandoned and lustful of women, in refusing to lie with her, and by the slight shown the empress had alienated Narcissus, the emperor's freedman. As they had no true charge to bring against him, nor even one that would be believed, Narcissus invented a dream in which he declared he had seen Claudius murdered by the hand of Silanus. So just before dawn, while the emperor was still in bed, he came all of a tremble to tell him the dream, and Messalina by expatiating on it made it worse. Thus Silanus perished just because of a vision.

[-15-] After the latter's death the Romans at once lost confidence in Claudius, and Annius Vinicianus with some others formed a plot against him. The chief conspirator had been one of those proposed at the death of Gaius for the imperial office, and it was partly fear inspired by this fact that caused him to rebel. As he possessed no considerable force, however, he sent to Furius Camillus Scribonianus, governor of Dalmatia, who had a large body of native and foreign troops. Camillus, who was inclined to the project of his own accord, was induced to revolt at the same time, particularly because he had been spoken of for emperor. When so much had been accomplished, many senators and knights joined the ranks of Annius. They did him no good, however,[5] for the soldiers, because Camillus proffered them the name of populus and promised that he would restore to them their ancient freedom, suspected that they should have troubles and changes of government again and would therefore no longer obey him. Then in terror he fled from them, and coming to the island Issa he there met a voluntary death. Claudius for a time was quite cowed with fear and was ready at a demand from Camillus to withdraw from his sovereignty voluntarily. Later he recovered courage and rewarded his soldiers among other methods by having the citizen legions (the seventh and the eleventh) named the Claudian, and the Faithful, and the Pious, by the senate itself. Then he made reprisals upon those who had plotted against him and on this charge put many to death, among them a prætor, who first had to resign his office. Numbers, of whom Vinicianus was one, committed suicide, for Messalina and Narcissus and all the latter's fellow freedmen seized this opportunity to wreak their direst vengeance. They employed slaves and liberti, for instance, and informers against their own masters. These masters and others of undoubted nobility, foreigners and citizens alike, not only plebeians, but some of the knights and senators, were put to the torture in spite of the fact that Claudius at the very beginning of his reign had sworn not to torture any free citizen.

[-16-] Many men therefore at this time and many women incurred punishment. Some of the latter met their fate right in the prison, and when they were to die were actually led in chains upon a scaffold, like captives, and their bodies like those of others were thrown down the Scalæ Gemoniæ. Of those who were executed outside the prison only the heads were exhibited in that place. Some of the most guilty, nevertheless, either through favoritism or by the use of money saved their necks with the help of Messalina and of the Cæsarians following Narcissus. All the children of those who perished were granted immunity and some received money. Trials were held in the senate-house in the presence of Claudius, his prefects, and his freedmen. With a consul on each side he made his report to the senators while seated upon a chair of state or on a bench. Next he himself went to his accustomed seat and chairs were set for his escort. This same program was followed also at the other most important functions.

It was at this time that a certain Galæsus, a freedman of Camillus, was brought into the senate and talked with the utmost frankness on a variety of subjects. The following remark of his is worth instancing. Narcissus had taken the floor and said to him: "What would you have done, Galæsus, if Camillus had become monarch?" He replied: "I should have stood behind him and said nothing." So he became famous for this speech, and Arria for something quite different. The latter, who was wife of Cæcina Pætus, refused to live after he had been put to death, although, being on very intimate terms with Messalina, she might have occupied a position of some honor. Moreover, when her husband showed cowardice, she strengthened his resolution. She took the sword and gave herself a wound, then handed it to him, saying: "See, Pætus, I feel no pain."—These two persons, then, were accorded praise, for by reason of the long succession of woes matters had now come to such a pass that excellence no longer meant anything else than dying nobly.

The attitude of Claudius in bringing destruction upon them and others is indicated by his forever giving to the soldiers as a watchword this verse about its being necessary "In one's first anger to ward off the foe." [6] He kept throwing out many other hints of that sort in Greek both to them and to the senate, with the result that those who could understand any of them laughed at him. These were some of the happenings of that period.—And the tribunes at the death of one of their number themselves convened the senate for the purpose of appointing a tribune to succeed him,—this in spite of the fact that the consuls were accessible.

[-17-] When Claudius now became consul again,—it was the third time,—he put an end to many sacrifices and many feast days. For, as the greater part of the year was given up to them, no small damage was done to public business. Beside curtailing the number of these he retrenched in all the other ways that he could. What had been given away by Gaius without any justice or reason he demanded back from the recipients; but he gave back to the road commissioners all that his predecessor had exacted in fines on account of Corbulo. Moreover, he gave notice to magistrates chosen by lot, since they were even now slow about leaving the City, that they must commence their journey before the middle of April came. He reduced to servitude the Lycians, who rising in revolt had slain some Romans, and merged them in the prefecture of Pamphylia. During the investigation, which was conducted in the senate-house, he put a question in the Latin tongue to one of the envoys who had originally been a Lycian but had been made a Roman. As the man did not understand what was said, he took away his citizenship, saying that it was not proper for a person to be a Roman who had no knowledge of Roman speech. A great many other persons unworthy of citizenship were excluded from its privileges, whereas he granted it to some quite without restrictions, either individuals or large bodies of men. And inasmuch as practically everywhere Romans were esteemed above foreigners, many sought the franchise by personal application to the emperor and many bought it from Messalina and the Cæsarians. For this reason, though the right was at first bartered only for great sums, it later was so cheapened by the facility with which it could be obtained that it came to be said that if a person only gave a man some broken glassware he might become a citizen.

This behavior, then, subjected the emperor to no end of jests, but he received praise for such actions as the following. Many persons were all the time becoming objects of blackmail, some because they did not use Claudius's proper title and others because they were going to leave him nothing when they died,—the blackmailers asserting that it was necessary for those who obtained citizenship from him to do both of these things. The emperor now stepped in and forbade that any one should be called to account for such negligence.—Now Messalina and his freedmen kept offering for sale and peddling out not merely the franchise, and military posts, and positions as procurator, and governmental offices, but everything in general to such an extent that all necessaries grew scarce[7]; and Claudius was forced to muster the populace on the Campus Martius and there from a platform to ordain what the prices of wares should be.

Claudius himself wearing a chlamys gave a contest of armed men at the camp. His son's birthday was observed voluntarily by the prætors with a kind of spectacle that they produced and with dinners. This was once afterward repeated, too,—at least by all of them that chose.

[-18-] Meanwhile Messalina was exhibiting her own licentious tendencies and was forcing the other women of her circle to show themselves equally unchaste. Many of them she caused to commit adultery in the very palace, while their husbands were present and observed what took place. Such men she loved and cherished, and crowned with honors and offices: but others, who would not submit to this humiliation, she hated and brought to destruction in every possible way. These deeds, however, though of such a character and carried on so openly, for a long while never came to the notice of Claudius. Messalina gave him some attractive housemaids for bedfellows and intercepted those who were able to afford him any information,—some by kindness and some by punishments. Thus, at this period, she succeeded in putting out of the way Catonius Justus, captain of the pretorian guard, before he could carry out his intention of telling the emperor something about these doings. And becoming jealous of Julia, daughter of Drusus son of Tiberius, and later wife of Nero Germanicus, just as she had been of the other Julia, she compassed her death.—It was about then, also, that one of the knights on the charge of having conspired against Claudius was hurled down, the Capitoline by the tribunes and the consuls.

[-19-] At the same time that these events were happening in the City Aulus Plautius, a senator of great renown, made a campaign against Britain. The cause was that a certain Bericus, who had been ejected from the island during a revolution, had persuaded Claudius to send a body of troops there. This Plautius after he was made general had difficulty in leading his army beyond Gaul. The soldiers objected, on the ground that their operations were to take place outside the limits of the known world, and would not yield him obedience until the arrival of Narcissus, sent by Claudius, who mounted the tribunal of Plautius and tried to address them. This made them more irritated than ever and they would not allow the newcomer to say a word, but all suddenly shouted together the well-known phrase: "Ho! Ho! the Saturnalia!" (For at the festival of Saturn slaves celebrate the occasion by donning their masters' dress.) After this they at once followed Plautius voluntarily, but their delay had brought the expedition late in the season. Three divisions were made, in order that they might not be hindered in advancing (as might happen to a single force), and some of them in their voyage across became discouraged because they were buffeted into a backward course, whereas others acquired confidence from the fact that a flash of light starting from the east shot across to the west, the direction in which they were sailing. So they came to anchor on the shore of the island and found no one to oppose them. The Britons as a result of their inquiries had not expected that they would come and had therefore not assembled beforehand. Nor even at this time would they come into closer conflict with the invaders, but took refuge in the swamps and in the forests, hoping to exhaust their opponents in some other way, so that the latter as in the days of Julius Cæsar would sail back empty-handed. [-20-] Plautius accordingly had considerable trouble in searching for them.—They were not free and independent but were parceled out among various kings.—When at last he did find them, he conquered first Caratacus and next Togodumnus, children of Cynobelinus, who was dead. After the flight of those kings he attached by treaty a portion of the Bodunni, ruled by a nation of the Catuellani. Leaving a garrison there he advanced farther. On reaching a certain river, which the barbarians thought the Romans would not be able to cross without a bridge,—a conviction which led them to encamp in rather careless fashion on the opposite bank,—he sent ahead Celtæ who were accustomed to swim easily in full armor across the most turbulent streams. These fell unexpectedly upon the enemy, but instead of shooting at any of the men confined themselves to wounding the horses that drew their chariots and consequently in the confusion not even the mounted warriors could save themselves. Plautius sent across also Fiavius Vespasian, who afterward obtained the imperial office, and his brother Sabinus, a lieutenant of his. So they likewise got over the river in some way and killed numbers of the foe, who were not aware of their approach. The survivors, however, did not take to flight, and on the next day joined issue with them again. The two forces were rather evenly matched until Gnæus Hosidius Geta, at the risk of being captured, managed to conquer the barbarians in such a way that he received triumphal honors without having ever been consul.

Thence the Britons retired to the river Thames at a point near where it empties into the ocean and the latter's flood-tide forms a lake. This they crossed easily because they knew where the firm ground in this locality and the easy passages were; but the Romans in following them up came to grief at this spot. However, when the Celtæ swam across again and some others had traversed a bridge a little way up stream, they assailed the barbarians from many sides at once and cut down large numbers of them. In pursuing the remainder incautiously they got into swamps from which it was not easy to make one's way out, and in this way lost many men.

[-21-] Shortly after Togodumnus perished, but the Britons so far from yielding stood together all the more closely to avenge his death. Because of this fact and his previous mishap Plautius became alarmed, and instead of advancing farther proceeded to guard what he had already gained and sent for Claudius. He had been notified to do this in case he met with any particularly stubborn resistance, and a large reinforcement for the army, consisting partly of elephants, had been assembled in advance.

When the message reached him, Claudius entrusted domestic affairs (including the management of the soldiers) to his colleague Vitellius, whom he had caused to become consul like himself for the entire six months' period, and started himself on the expedition. He sailed down the river to Ostia, and from there followed the coast to Massilia. Thence advancing partly by land and partly along the water courses he came to the ocean and crossed over to Britain, where he joined the legions that were waiting for him near the Thames. Taking charge of these he crossed the stream, and encountering the barbarians, who had gathered at his approach, he defeated them in a pitched battle and captured Camulodunum, the capital of Cynobelinus. Next he extended his authority over numerous tribes, in some cases by treaty, in others by force, and was frequently, contrary to precedent, saluted as imperator. The usual practice is that no single person may receive this title more than once from one and the same war. He deprived those he conquered of their arms and assigned them to the attention of Plautius, bidding him to subjugate the regions that were left. Claudius himself now hastened back to Rome, sending ahead the news of the victory by his sons-in-law, Magnus and Silanus.

[-22-] The senate on learning of his achievement gave him the title of Britannicus and allowed him to celebrate a triumph.

They voted also that there should be an animal festival commemorating the event and that an arch bearing a trophy should be erected in the City and a second in Gaul, because it was from that district that he had set sail in crossing over to Britain. They bestowed on his son the same honorific title as upon him, so that Claudius was known in a way as Britannicus Proper. Messalina was granted the same privilege of front seats as Livia had enjoyed and also the use of the carpentum. These were the honors bestowed upon the imperial family.

The memory of Gaius disgusted the senators so much that they resolved that all the bronze coinage which had his image stamped upon it should be melted down. Though this was done, yet the bronze was converted to no better use, for Messalina made statues of Mnester the dancer out of it. Inasmuch as the latter had once been on intimate terms with Gaius, she made this offering as a mark of gratitude for his consenting to a liaison with her. She had been madly enamored of him, and when she found herself unable in any way either by promises or by frightening him to persuade him to have intercourse with her, she had a talk with her husband and asked him that the man might be forced to obey her, pretending that she wanted his help for some different purpose. Claudius accordingly told him to do whatsoever he should be ordered by Messalina. On these terms he agreed to enjoy her, alleging that he had been commanded to do so by her husband. Messalina adopted this same method with numerous other men, and committed adultery feigning that Claudius knew what was taking place and countenanced her unchastity.

[-23-] Portions of Britain, then, were captured at this time in the manner described. After this, during the second consulship of Gaius Crispus and the first of Titus Statilius, Claudius came to Rome at the end of a six months' absence from the city (of which time he had spent only sixteen days in Britain) and celebrated his triumph. In this he followed the well-established precedents, even to the extent of ascending the steps of the Capitol on his knees, with his sons-in-law supporting him on each side. He granted to the senators taking part with him in the procession triumphal honors, and this not merely to the ex-consuls … for he was accustomed to do that most lavishly on other occasions and with the slightest excuse. Upon Rufrius Pollio the prefect he bestowed an image and a seat in the senatorial body as often as he would enter that assembly with him. And to avoid having it thought that he was making any innovation, he declared that Augustus had done this in the case of a certain Valerius, a Ligurian. He also increased the dignity of Laco (formerly præfectus vigilum but now procurator of the Gauls) by this same mark of esteem and in addition by the honors belonging to ex-consuls.

Having finished this business he held the festival following the triumph and assumed for the occasion some of the consular authority. It took place in both the theatres at once. In the course of the spectacle he would frequently absent himself while others superintended it in his place. He had announced as many horse-races as could find place in a day, but they amounted to not more than ten altogether. For between the separate courses bears were slaughtered and athletes struggled. Boys sent for from Asia also executed the Pyrrhic dance. The performers in the theatre gave, with the consent of the senate, another festival likewise intended to commemorate the victory. All this was done on account of the successes in Britain, and to the end that other nations might more readily capitulate it was voted that all the agreements which Claudius or the lieutenants representing him should make with any peoples should be binding, the same as if sanctioned by the senate and the people.

[-24-] Achæa and Macedonia, which ever since Tiberius became emperor had belonged to elected governors, Claudius now returned to the choice by lot. And abolishing the office of "prætor charged with the administration of funds" he put the business in the hands of quæstors as it had been of old; and these were not annual magistrates, as was the case with them previously and with the prætors subsequently, but the same two men attended to their duties for three entire years. Some of these secured a prætorship immediately afterward and others drew a salary the amount of which depended on the impression of efficiency they had created while in office.

The quæstors, then, were given charge of the treasury in place of governorships in Italy outside of the City; for he did away with all of the latter. To compensate the prætors he entrusted to their care several kinds of judicial cases which the consuls were previously accustomed to try. Those serving as soldiers, since by law they could not have wives, were granted the privileges of married men. Marcus Julius Cottius received an increase in his ancestral domain (which included the Alps named after him) and was now for the first time called king. The Rhodians were deprived of their liberty because they had impaled certain Romans. And Umbonius Silio, governor of Bætica, was summoned and ejected from the senate because he had sent so little grain to the soldiers then serving in Mauretania. At least, this was the accusation brought against him. In reality it was not so at all, but his treatment was due to his having offended some of the freedmen. So he brought together all his furniture, considerable in amount and very beautiful, in the auction room as if he were going to call for bids on all of it: but he sold only his senatorial dress. By this he showed that he had received no deadly blow and could enjoy life as a private citizen.—Beside these events of the time the weekly market was transferred to a different day because of some religious rites. That happened, too, on many other occasions.

[-25-] following year Marcus Vinicius for the second and Statilius Corvinus for the first time entered upon the office of consul. Claudius himself took all the customary oaths in detail, but prevented the rest from taking oath separately. Accordingly, as in earlier times, one man who was a prætor and second who was a tribune and one each of the other officials repeated the oaths for those of the same grade. This custom was followed for several years.

Now since the City was becoming filled with numbers of images,—for those who wished might without restrictions appear in public in a painting or in bronze or stone,—he had most of those already existing set somewhere else and for the future forbade that any private citizen be allowed to follow the practice, unless the senate should grant permission or except he had built or repaired some public work. Such persons and their relatives might have their likenesses set up in the places in question.

Having banished the governor of a certain province for venality the emperor confiscated to public uses all the extra funds that the man had gathered in office. Again, to prevent these persons eluding those who wished to bring them to trial, he would give to nobody one office immediately after another. This had been the custom in earlier days also, to the end that any one without difficulty might institute a suit against them in the intervening period; indeed, those whose terms had expired and who were granted leave of absence from the City might not even take these absences in succession, since it was intended that, if officials should be guilty of any irregularity, they should not gain the further benefit of escaping investigation by either continuous office or continuous absence. The custom had, however, fallen out of use. So carefully did Claudius guard against both possibilities that he would not without out some delay allow even an official who was his colleague to be chosen by lot for the governorship of a province that would naturally belong to him. Still, he allowed some of them to govern for two years and sometimes he would send elected magistrates. Persons who preferred a request to leave Italy for a time were given permission by Claudius himself without action of the senate; yet, in order to appear to be doing it under some form of law, he ordered that a decree to the effect be issued. Votes of this sort were also passed the following year. At the time under consideration he arranged the votive festival which he had promised in commemoration of his campaign. To the populace supported by public dole he gave seventy-five denarii in every case and in some cases more, so that for a few it amounted to three hundred twelve and a half. He did not, however, distribute all of it in person, but his sons-in-law also took part, because the distribution lasted several days and he was anxious to use them in holding court.

In the case of the Saturnalia he put back the fifth day which had been appointed by Gaius but was later abolished. [-26-] and inasmuch as the sun was to undergo an eclipse on his birthday, he feared that some disturbance might result,—for already certain other portents had occurred,—and therefore he gave notice beforehand not only that there would be an eclipse and when and for how long, but also the reasons for which this would necessarily take place. They are as follows:

The moon, which revolves lower down than the sun (or so it is believed), either directly below him or perhaps with Mercury and likewise Venus intervening, has a longitudinal movement just like him, and a higher and lower movement just like him, but furthermore a latitudinal movement such as nowhere belongs to the sun under any circumstances. When, therefore, she gets in a direct line with him over our heads and passes under his blaze, then she obscures his beams that extend toward the earth, for some to a greater, for some to a less degree, but does not conceal his presence for even the briefest moment. For since the sun has a light of his own he can never surrender it, and consequently, when the moon is not directly in people's way so as to throw a shadow over him, he always appears entire.

This, then, is what happens to the sun and it was made public by Claudius at the time mentioned. With regard to the moon, however,—for it is not irrelevant to speak of lunar phenomena also, since once I have broached this subject,—as often as she gets directly opposite the sun (and she only takes such a position with reference to him at full moon, whereas he takes it with reference to her at the season of new moon), a conical shadow falls upon the earth. This occurs whenever in her motion to and from us her revolution takes her between the sun and the earth; then she is deprived of the sun's light and appears by herself just as she really is. Such are the conditions of the case.

[-27-] At the close of that year Valerius Asiaticus for the second time and also Marcus Silanus became consuls. The latter held office for the period for which he was elected. Asiaticus, however, though elected to serve for the whole year (as was done in other cases), failed to do so and resigned voluntarily. Some others had done this, though mostly by reason of poverty. The expenses connected with the horse-races had greatly increased, for generally there was a series of twenty-four contests. But Asiaticus withdrew simply by reason of his wealth, which also proved his destruction. Inasmuch as he was extremely well-to-do and by being consul a second time had aroused the dislike and jealousy of many, he desired in a way to overthrow himself, feeling that by so doing he would be less likely to encounter danger. Still he was deceived.—Vinicius, on the other hand, suffered no harm from Claudius, for though he was an illustrious man he managed by keeping quiet and minding his own business to preserve his life; but he perished by poison administered by Messalina. She suspected that he had killed his wife Julia and was angry because he refused to have intercourse with her. He was duly accorded a public funeral and eulogies,—an honor which had been granted to many.

Asinius Gallus, half-brother of Drusus by the same mother, conspired against Claudius but instead of being put to death was banished. The reason perhaps was that he made ready no army and collected no funds in advance but was emboldened merely by his extreme folly, which led him to think that the Romans would submit to having him rule them on account of his family. But the chief cause was that he was a very small and unshapely person and was therefore held in contempt, incurring ridicule rather than danger.

[-28-]The people were truly loud in praise of Claudius for his moderation, and also, by Jupiter, at the fact that he showed displeasure when a certain man sought the aid of the tribunes against the person who had freed him, asking and securing thus a helper in his cause. Both the man in question and those associated with him in the proceedings were punished; and the emperor further forbade rendering assistance to persons in this way against their former masters, on pain of being deprived of the right to bring suit against others. Per contra, people were vexed at seeing him so much the slave of his wife and freedmen. This feeling was especially marked on an occasion when Claudius himself and all the rest were anxious to kill Sabinus (former governor of the Celtæ in the reign of Gains) in a gladiatorial fight, but the latter approached Messalina and she saved him. They were also irritated at her having withdrawn Mnester from the theatre and keeping him with her. But whenever any talk about his not dancing sprang up among the people, Claudius would appear surprised and make various apologies, taking oath that he was not at his house. The populace, believing him to be really ignorant of what was going on, was grieved to think that he alone was not cognizant of what was being done in the imperial apartments,—behavior so conspicuous that news of it had already traveled to the enemy. They were unwilling, however, to reveal to him the state of affairs, partly through awe of Messalina and partly to spare Mnester. For he pleased the people as much by his skill as he did the empress by his beauty. With his abilities in dancing he combined great cleverness of repartee, so that once when the crowd with mighty enthusiasm begged him to perform a famous pantomime, he dared to come to the front of the stage and say:

As the number of lawsuits was now beyond reckoning and persons summoned would now no longer put in an appearance because they expected to be defeated, he gave written notice that by a given day he should decide the case against them, by default, so that they would lose it even if absent. And there was no deviation from this rule.

Mithridates king of the Iberians[8] undertook to rebel and was engaged in preparations for a war against the Romans. His mother, however, opposed him and since she could not win him over by persuasion, determined to take to flight: he then became anxious to conceal his project, and so, while himself continuing preparations, he sent his brother Cotys on an embassy to convey a friendly message to Claudius. But Cotys proved a treacherous ambassador and told the emperor all, and he was made king of Iberia in place of Mithridates.

[-29-]The following year, the eight hundredth anniversary of the founding of the city of Rome, Claudius became consul for the fourth and Lucius Vitellius for the third time. Claudius now ejected some members of the senate, the majority of whom were not sorry to be driven out but willingly stood aside on account of their poverty. Likewise he brought in a number to fill their places. Among these he summoned with haste one Surdinius Gallus, qualified to be a senator, who had emigrated to Carthage, and said to him: "I will bind you with golden fetters." Gallus, therefore, fettered by his rank, remained at home.

Although Claudius visited dire punishment upon the freedmen of others, in case he caught them in any crime, he was very lenient with his own. One day an actor in the theatre uttered this well-worn saying:

whereupon the whole assemblage looked at Polybius, the emperor's freedman. He, undismayed, shouted out: "The same poet, however, says:—

Information was laid that some persons were plotting against Claudius, but in the majority of instances he paid no attention, saying: "It doesn't do to adopt the same defensive tactics against a flea as against a beast of prey." Asiaticus, however, was tried before him and came very near being acquitted. He entered a general denial, declaring: "I have no knowledge of nor acquaintance with any of these persons who are testifying against me." Then the soldier who stated he had been an associate of his, being asked which one Asiaticus was, pointed out a baldheaded man that happened to be standing near him. Baldness was the only thing of which he was sure about Asiaticus. This event occasioned much laughter and Claudius was on the point of freeing him, when Vitellius to please Messalina made the statement that he had been sent for by the prisoner, who requested the privilege of deciding the manner of death to be visited upon him. Hearing this, Claudius believed that on account of a guilty conscience Asiaticus had really condemned himself and accordingly had him executed.

Among many others who were calumniated by Messalina he put to death
Asiaticus and likewise Magnus, his son-in-law. Asiaticus had property,
and the family of Magnus as well as his close relationship were irksome.
Of course, they were nominally convicted on different charges from these.

This year a new island, not large, made its appearance by the side of the island Thera.

Claudius, monarch of the Romans, published a law to the effect that no senator might journey above seven mile-posts from the City without the monarch's express orders.[10]

Moreover, since many persons would afford their sick slaves no care, but drove them out of their houses, a law was passed that all slaves surviving such an experience should be free.

He also prohibited anybody's driving through the City [sic] seated in a vehicle.[11]

[-30-]Vespasian in Britain had been hemmed in by the barbarians and was in danger of annihilation, but his son Titus becoming alarmed about his father managed by unusual daring to break through the enclosing line; he then pursued and destroyed the fleeing enemy. Plautius for his skillful handling of the war with Britain and his successes in it both received praise from Claudius and obtained an ovation. [In the course of the armed combat of gladiators many foreign freedmen and British captives fought. The number of men receiving their finishing blow in this part of the spectacle was large, and he took pride in the fact.]

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo as prætor in Celtica organized the forces and damaged among other barbarians the Cauchi, as they are commonly called. While in the midst of the enemy's country he was recalled by Claudius, who on ascertaining his valor and his discipline would not allow him to climb to any greater heights. Corbulo learning this turned back, giving vent only to the following exclamation:—"How fortunate were those who became prætors in the days of old!" He implied that the latter had been permitted to exhibit their prowess without danger whereas his progress had been blocked by the emperor on account of jealousy. Yet even so he obtained a triumph. Being again entrusted with an army he trained it no less thoroughly, and as the nations were at peace he had the men dig a trench all the way across from the Rhine to the Meuse, as much as a hundred and seventy stadia long, the purpose of which was to prevent the rivers flowing back and causing inundations at the flood tide of the ocean.

When a grandson was borne to him by his daughter Antonia (whom, after the death of Magnus, he had given in marriage to Cornelius Faustus Sulla, brother of Messalina), he had the good sense not to allow any decree to be passed in honor of the occasion.

Messalina and her freedmen swelled with importance. There were three of the latter in particular who divided the ruling power among themselves: Callistus, who had been given charge of the records of value; Narcissus, who presided over the letters and hence wore a dagger at his belt; and Pallas, to whom the administration of funds had been entrusted.

[-31-] Messalina, as if it did not satisfy her to play the adulteress and harlot,—for besides her usual shameful behavior she sometimes carried on a regular brothel in the palace, serving as a prostitute herself and compelling women of highest rank to do the same,—now conceived a desire to have many husbands, that is, with the legal title. [And she would have entered upon a legal contract with all those who enjoyed her favors, had she not been detected and destroyed in her very first attempt. For a time all the Cæesarians were on good terms with her and everything they did was with one mind. But when she slandered and killed Polybius, after herself making repeated advances to him, they no longer trusted her. As a result, deserted by their good-will, she perished.] She registered Gaius Silius [son of the Silius slain by Tiberius] as her husband, celebrated the marriage in costly fashion, bestowed a royal residence upon him, and gathered in it all the most valuable of Claudius's heirlooms. Finally she declared him consul. Now all this though [even previously] heard and seen by everybody [else] continued to escape the notice of Claudius. So when he went down to Ostia to inspect the grain supply, and she was left behind in Rome on the pretext of being ill, she got up a banquet of no little renown and carried on a most licentious revel. Then Narcissus, having got Claudius alone, conveyed to him through the medium of concubines information of all that was taking place. [And by frightening him with the idea that Messalina was going to kill him also and set up Silius as emperor in his place, he persuaded him to arrest and torture several persons.] The moment this was done the emperor hastened back in person to the city; and entering just as he was he put to death Mnester with many others and then slew Messalina [after she had retreated into the gardens of Asiaticus, which more than anything else were the cause of her ruin.]

[A.D. 48-54]

After her Claudius destroyed also his own slave for insulting one of the prominent men.

After a little he married his niece Agrippina, mother of Domitius, who was surnamed Nero. She had beauty and had been in the habit of consulting him constantly and being in his company alone because he was her uncle, though she was rather more free in her conduct toward him than would properly become a niece. [And for this reason he executed Silanus, feeling that he was plotting against him.] [Yet Silanus was regarded as an upright man and was honored by Claudius to the extent of receiving triumphal honors while still a boy, being betrothed to the emperor's daughter Octavia, and becoming prætor long before the age ordained. He was allowed to give the festival that fell to his lot at the expense of Claudius, and during it the latter asked some favors of him as if he were himself the mere head of some party[12] and uttered any shouts that he saw other people wished him to utter. Yet in spite of all this Claudius had become such a slave to the women that on their account he killed both his sons-in-law.]

On the heels of this occurrence Vitellius came forward in the senate with a declaration that the good of the State required Claudius to marry. He indicated Agrippina as a suitable person in this emergency and suggested that they force him to the marriage. Then the senators rose and came to Claudius and "compelled" him to marry. They also passed a decree permitting Romans to wed their nieces, a union formerly prohibited.

[-32-] As soon as Agrippina had become settled in the palace, she gained complete control of Claudius; for she possessed in an unusual degree the quality of savoir faire . Likewise she won the devotion of all those who were at all fond of him, partly by fear and partly by benefits conferred. [At length she caused his son Britannicus to be brought up as if he were no relation of the emperor. The other child, who had betrothed the daughter of Sejanus, was dead. She made Domitius at this time son-in-law of Claudius and later actually had him adopted. She accomplished these ends partly by causing the freedmen to persuade Claudius and partly by seeing to it beforehand that the senate, the populace, and the soldiers should always concur to favor her demands. This son Agrippina] was training for the assumption of imperial office and was having educated under Seneca. She gathered for him an inconceivable amount of wealth, omitting not one of the most humble and least influential citizens in her search for money, paying court to every one who was in the least degree well-off and murdering many for this very reason. In addition, she destroyed out of jealousy some of the foremost women and put to death Lollia Paulina because the latter had cherished some hope of being married to Claudius. As she did not recognize the woman's head when it was brought to her, she opened with her own hand the mouth and inspected the teeth, which had certain peculiarities.

Mithridates, king of the Iberians; was defeated in a conflict with a Roman army. Despairing of his life he begged that a hearing be granted him to show cause why he should not be summarily executed or led in the procession of triumph. This right having been accorded him Claudius received him in Rome, standing on a tribunal, and addressed threatening language to him. The king throughout replied in an unabashed manner and concluded his remarks with "I was not carried to you, but made the journey: if you doubt it, release me and try to find me."

[-33-] She [sc. Agrippina] quickly became a second Messalina, and chiefly because she obtained from the senate among other honors the right to use the carpentum at festivals.

When Claudius had adopted her son Nero and had made him his son-in-law (by disowning his daughter and introducing her into another family so that he might not have the name of uniting brother and sister), a mighty portent occurred. All that day the sky seemed to be on fire.

Agrippina banished also Calpurnia, one of the most distinguished ladies in the land, or perhaps even caused her death (as one version of the story reports), because Claudius had admired and commended her beauty.

When Nero (for this is the name for him that has won its way into favor) was registered among the iuvenes, the day that he was registered the Divine Power shook the earth for long distances and by night struck terror to the hearts of all men without exception.

[-32-] [While Nero was growing up, Britannicus received neither honor nor care. Agrippina, indeed, either drove away or killed those who showed any zeal in his behalf. Sosibius, to whom his bringing up and education had been entrusted, she caused to be slain on the pretext that he was plotting against Nero. After that she delivered the boy to the charge of persons who suited her and did him all the harm she could. She would not let him visit his father nor appear before the people, but kept him in a kind of imprisonment, though without bonds.]

Dio, 61st Book: "Since the prefects Crispinus and Lusius Veta would not yield to her in every matter, she ousted them from office."

[A.D. 51-52]

[-33-] [No one attempted any kind of reprisal upon Agrippina, for, to be brief, she had more power than Claudius himself and gave greetings in public to those who desired it. This fact was entered on the records.]

She possessed all powers, since she dominated Claudius and had made sure of the devotion of Narcissus and Pallas. (Callistus, after rising to great heights of influence, was dead.)

The astrologers were banished from the entire expanse of Italy, and their disciples were punished.

Carnetacus, a barbarian chieftain who was captured and brought to Rome and received his pardon at the hands of Claudius, then, after his liberation, wandered about the city; and on beholding its brilliance and its size he exclaimed: "Can you, who own these things and things like them, still yearn for our miserable tents?"

Claudius conceived a wish to have a naval battle in a certain lake[13]; so, after building a wooden wall around it and setting up benches, he gathered an enormous multitude. Claudius and Nero were arrayed in military costume. Agrippina wore a beautiful chlamys woven with gold, and the rest of the people whatever pleased their fancy. Those who were to take part in this sea-fight were condemned criminals, and each side had fifty ships, one party being called Rhodians and the other Sicilians. First they drew close together and after uniting at one spot they addressed Claudius in this fashion: "Salve, imperator, morituri salutamus."[14] Since this afforded them no salvation and they were still ordered to fight, they used simple smashing tactics and took very good care not to harm each other. This went on until they were cut down by outside force. [Somewhat later the Fucinian Lake caved in and Narcissus was severely criticised for it. He presided over the undertaking, and it was thought that after spending a great deal less than he had received[15] he had then purposely contrived the collapse, in order that his villainy might go undetected.]

[A.D. 52-53]

About Narcissus there is a story of how openly, he used to make sport of Claudius. One day when the latter was holding court the Bithynians raised a great outcry against Junius Cilo, their governor, because, as they asserted, he had taken very considerable bribes. Claudius not understanding on account of their noise asked the bystanders what they were saying. Thereupon, instead of telling him the truth, Narcissus said: "They are expressing their gratitude to Junius." Claudius, believing him, rejoined: "Why, he shall have charge of them two years more!"

Agrippina often attended her husband in public, when he was transacting ordinary business, or when he was hearing ambassadors; she sat upon a separate platform. This was surely one of the most remarkable sights of the time.

On one occasion when a certain orator, Julius Gallicus, was pleading a case, Claudius grew vexed and ordered that he be cast into the Tiber, near the banks of which he chanced to be holding court. Domitius Afer, who as an advocate had the greatest ability of his contemporaries, made a very neat joke on this. A man whom Gallicus had disappointed came to Domitius for assistance, whereupon the latter said to him: "And who told you I could swim better than he can?"

Later Claudius fell sick, and Nero entered the senate to promise a horse-race in case Claudius should regain his health. Agrippina was leaving no stone unturned to make him popular with the masses and to cause him to be regarded as the only natural successor to the imperial throne. Hence it was that she selected the equestrian contest, on which they doted especially, for Nero to promise in the event of Claudius's recovery (an outcome against which she sincerely prayed).—Again, after instigating a riot over the sale of bread she persuaded Claudius to make known to the populace by public bulletin and to write to the senate that, if he should die, Nero was fully capable of administering public interests. In consequence of this he became a power and his name was on everybody's lips, whereas in regard to Britannicus numbers did not know of his existence and all others regarded him as idiotic and epileptic; for this was the declaration that Agrippina gave out.—Well, Claudius became convalescent and Nero conducted the horse-race in a sumptuous manner; now, too, he married Octavia, a new circumstance to cause him a feeling of manly dignity.

[A.D. 53-54]

Nothing seemed to satisfy Agrippina, though all rights which Livia had possessed were bestowed upon her also and a number of additional honors had been decreed. She, wielding equal power with Claudius, desired to have his title outright; and once, when a blaze had spread over the city to a considerable distance, she accompanied him in the work of rescue.

[-34-] Claudius was irritated by Agrippina's actions, of which he now began to become aware, and sought to find his son Britannicus. The boy, however, was purposely kept out of his sight by the empress most of the time, for she was doing everything conceivable to secure the right of succession for Nero, since he was her own son by her former husband Domitius. Claudius, who displayed his affection whenever he met Britannicus, was not disposed to endure her behavior and made preparations to put an end to her power, to register his son among the iuvenes, and appoint him as heir to the empire.

This news alarmed Agrippina, who decided to anticipate the emperor's project by poisoning him. Since, however, by reason of the great quantity of wine he was forever drinking and his general habits of life, which all emperors adopt for their protection, he could not easily be harmed, she sent for a drug-woman named Lucusta, a recent captive renowned for the desired skill, and obtaining from her a poison whose effect was sure she put it in one of the vegetables called[16] mushrooms. Then she herself ate of the others in the dish but made her husband eat the one which had the poison; for it was the largest and finest of them. The victim of this plot was carried out of the banquet apparently quite overcome by strong drink, but that had happened many times before. During the night the poison took effect and he passed away, without having been able to say or hear a word. It was the thirteenth of October, and he had lived sixty-three years, two months, and thirteen days, having been emperor thirteen years, eight months and twenty days. Agrippina's rapid vengeance had been aided by the fact that before her attempt she had despatched Narcissus to Campania, feigning that he needed to take the waters there for his gout. Had he been present, she would never have done the deed, such extreme care did he take of his master. His death followed hard upon that of Claudius, and he left behind him a reputation for power unequaled by any man of that age. His property amounted to more than ten thousand myriads, and cities and kings were dependent upon him. Even when he was on the point of being slain, he managed to execute a brilliant coup. He had charge of the correspondence of Claudius and had in his possession letters containing secret information against Agrippina and others: all of these he burned before his death.

And he was slain beside the tomb of Messalina,—a coincidence manifestly intended by chance, to satisfy her vengeance.

[-35-] In such fashion did Claudius meet his end. It seemed that indications of this event were given in advance by the comet star, which was seen over a wide expanse of territory, by the shower of blood, by the bolt that descended upon the standards of the Pretorians, by the opening of its own accord of the temple of Jupiter Victor, by the swarming of bees in the camp, and by the fact that one representative of each political office died. The emperor received the state burial and all the other honors obtained by Augustus. Agrippina and Nero feigned sorrow for the man whom they had killed, and elevated to heaven him whom they had carried out in a state of collapse from the banquet. On this point Lucius Junius Gallic, brother of Seneca, was the author of a most witty saying. Seneca himself had composed a work that he called Gourdification,—a word made on the analogy of "deification"; and his brother is credited with expressing a great deal in one short sentence. For whereas the public executioners were accustomed to drag the bodies of those killed in prison to the Forum with large hooks, and thence hauled them to the river, he said that Claudius must have been raised to heaven with a hook. Nero has also left us a remark not unworthy of record. He declared mushrooms to be the food of the gods, because Claudius by means of a mushroom had become a god.

[Footnote:1 A reference to Book Forty-four, chapter 26 (the Return of the
"Party of the Peiræus").]

[Footnote 2: Adopting Canter's emendation. [Greek: eithismenou] for the unintelligible [Greek: ois men oute] of the MSS.]

[Footnote 3: The drinking of warm water ranked among the ancients as a luxurious practice. (Compare the end of chapter 14, Book Fifty-seven, and the end of chapter 11, Book Fifty-nine.)]

[Footnote 4: An emendation by Leunclavius, based on Suetonius, Life of
Claudius, chapter 24 (fin.).]

[Footnote 6: A line of Homer's occurring in the Iliad once (XXIV, 369) and in the Odyssey twice (XVI, 72, and XXI, 133).]

[Footnote 7: Because monopolies of selling them had been conceded for huge sums to avaricious tradesmen.]

[Footnote 8: This is an error. Mithridates of Bosporus is the person actually meant.]

[Footnotes 9: These two quotations are to be found in Kock ( Fragmenta Comicorum Græcorum ) Vol. III, p. 499. They are Nos. 487 and 488 of the [Greek: Adespota Opoteras]. Kock sees no reason for assigning them specifically to the New Comedy (as Meineke has done).]

[Footnote 10: For a further discussion of this isolated statement (from
Suidas) see Mommsen, Staatsrecht , III, p. 912, note 1.]

[Footnote 11: From an examination of Suetonius, Life of Claudius, chapter 25, it seems likely that Dio wrote "cities" (plural), referring to all the Italian towns.]

[Footnote 15: This verb is a mere conjecture by one of the editors. The
MS. reading, "he had hoped," is, of course, corrupt.]

[Footnote 16: Dio probably says "called" here because the Greek word he uses for "mushrooms" has many other meanings, such as snuff of a wick, scab, knob, etc.]

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