23. Having summoned the senate to meet by virtue of his tribunitian authority, and begun a mournful speech, he drew a deep sigh, as if unable to support himself under his affliction; and wishing that not his voice only, but his very breath of life, might fail him, gave his speech to his son Drusus to read. Augustus's will was then brought in, and read by a freedman; none of the witnesses to it being admitted, but such as were of the senatorian order, the rest owning their hand-writing without doors. The will began thus: " Since my ill-fortune has deprived me of my two sons, Caius and Lucius, let Tiberius Caesar be heir to two-thirds of my estate." These words countenanced the suspicion of those who were of opinion, that Tiberius was appointed successor more out of necessity than choice, since Augustus could not refrain from prefacing his will in that manner.
23. iure autem tribuniciae potestatis coacto senatu incohataque adlocutione derepente uelut impar dolori congemuit, utque non solum uox sed et spiritus deficeret optauit ac perlegendum librum Druso filio tradidit. inlatum deinde Augusti testamentum, non admissis signatoribus nisi senatorii ordinis, ceteris extra curiam signa agnoscentibus, recitauit per libertum. testamenti initium fuit: 'quoniam atrox fortuna Gaium et Lucium filios mihi eripuit, Tiberius Caesar mihi ex parte dimidia et sextante heres esto.' quo et ipso aucta suspicio est opinantium successorem ascitum eum necessitate magis quam iudicio, quando ita praefari non abstinuerit.
24. Though he made no scruple to assume and exercise immediately the imperial authority, by giving orders that he should be attended by the guards, who were the security and badge of the supreme power; yet he affected, by a most impudent piece of acting, to refuse it for a long time; one while sharply reprehending his friends who entreated him to accept it, as little knowing what a monster the government was; another while keeping in suspense the senate, when they implored him and threw themselves at his feet, by ambiguous answers, and a crafty kind of dissimulation; insomuch that some were out of patience, and one cried out, during the confusion, "Either let him accept it, or decline it at once;" and a second told him to his face, "Others are slow to perform what they promise, but you are slow to promise what you actually perform." At last, as if forced to it, and complaining of the miserable and burdensome service imposed upon him, he accepted the government; not, however, without giving hopes of his resigning it some time or other. The exact words he used were these: "Until the time shall come, when ye may think it reasonable to give some rest to my old age."
24. Principatum, quamuis neque occupare confestim neque agere dubitasset, et statione militum, hoc est ui et specie dominationis assumpta, diu tamen recusauit, impudentissimo mimo nunc adhortantis amicos increpans ut ignaros, quanta belua esset imperium, nunc precantem senatum et procumbentem sibi ad genua ambiguis responsis et callida cunctatione suspendens, ut quidam patientiam rumperent atque unus in tumultu proclamaret: 'aut agat aut desistat!' alter coram exprobraret ceteros, quod polliciti sint tarde praestare, sed ipsum, quod praestet tarde polliceri. tandem quasi coactus et querens miseram et onerosam iniungi sibi seruitutem, recepit imperium; nec tamen aliter, quam ut depositurum se quandoque spem faceret. ipsius uerba sunt: 'dum ueniam ad id tempus, quo uobis aequum possit uideri dare uos aliquam senectuti meae requiem.'
25. The cause of his long demur was fear of the dangers which threatened him on all hands; insomuch that he said, "I have got a wolf by the ears." For a slave of Agrippa's, Clemens by name, had drawn together a considerable force to revenge his master's death; Lucius Scribonius Libo, a senator of the first distinction, was secretly fomenting a rebellion; and the troops both in Illyricum and Germany were mutinous. Both armies insisted upon high demands, particularly that their pay should be made equal to that of the pretorian guards. The army in Germany absolutely refused to acknowledge a prince who was not their own choice; and urged, with all possible importunity, Germanicus, who commanded them, to take the government on himself, though he obstinately refused it. It was Tiberius's apprehension from this quarter, which made him request the senate to assign him some part only in the administration, such as they should judge proper, since no man could be sufficient for the whole, without one or more to assist him. He pretended likewise to be in a bad state of health, that Germanicus might the more patiently wait in hopes of speedily succeeding him, or at least of being admitted to be a colleague of the government. When the mutinies in the armies were suppressed, he got Clemens into his hands by stratagem. That he might not begin his reign by an act of severity, he did not call Libo to an account before the senate until his second year, being content, in the mean time, with taking proper precautions for his own security. For upon Libo's attending a sacrifice amongst the high-priests, instead of the usual knife, he ordered one of lead to be given him; and when he desired a private conference with him, he would not grant his request, but on condition that his son Drusus should be present; and as they walked together, he held him fast by the right hand, under the pretence of leaning upon him, until the conversation was over.
25. Cunctandi causa erat metus undique imminentium discriminum, ut saepe lupum se auribus tenere diceret. nam et seruus Agrippae Clemens nomine non contemnendam manum in ultionem domini compararat et L. Scribonius Libo uir nobilis res nouas clam moliebatur et duplex seditio militum in Illyrico et in Germania exorta est. flagitabant ambo exercitus multa extra ordinem, ante omnia ut aequarentur stipendio praetorianis. Germaniciani quidem etiam principem detractabant non a se datum summaque ui Germanicum, qui tum iis praeerat, ad capessendam rem p. urgebant, quanquam obfirmate resistentem. quem maxime casum timens, partes sibi quas senatui liberet, tuendas in re p. depoposcit, quando uniuersae sufficere solus nemo posset nisi cum altero uel etiam cum pluribus. simulauit et ualitudinem, quo aequiore animo Germanicus celerem successionem uel certe societatem principatus opperiretur. compositis seditionibus Clementem quoque fraude deceptum redegit in potestatem. Libonem, ne quid in nouitate acerbius fieret, secundo demum anno in senatu coarguit, medio temporis spatio tantum cauere contentus; nam et inter pontifices sacrificanti simul pro secespita plumbeum cultrum subiciendum curauit et secretum petenti non nisi adhibito Druso filio dedit dextramque obambulantis ueluti incumbens, quoad perageretur sermo, continuit.
26. When he was delivered from his apprehensions, his behaviour at first was unassuming, and he did not carry himself much above the level of a private person; and of the many and great honours offered him, he accepted but few, and such as were very moderate. His birth-day, which happened to fall at the time of the Plebeian Circensian games, he with difficulty suffered to be honoured with the addition of only a single chariot, drawn by two horses. He forbad temples, flamens, or priests to be appointed for him, as likewise the erection of any statues or effigies for him, without his permission; and this he granted only on condition that they should not be placed amongst the images of the gods, but only amongst the ornaments of houses. He also interposed to prevent the senate from swearing to maintain his acts; and the month of September from being called Tiberius, and October being named after Livia. The praenomen likewise of EMPEROR, with the cognomen of FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, and a civic crown in the vestibule of his house, he would not accept. He never used the name of AUGUSTUS, although he inherited it, in any of his letters, excepting those addressed to kings and princes. Nor had he more than three consulships; one for a few days, another for three months, and the third, during his absence from the city, until the ides [fifteenth] of May.
26. Verum liberatus metu ciuilem admodum inter initia ac paulo minus quam priuatum egit. ex plurimis maximisque honoribus praeter paucos et modicos non recepit. natalem suum plebeis incurrentem circensibus uix unius bigae adiectione honorari passus est. templa, flamines, sacerdotes decerni sibi prohibuit, etiam statuas atque imagines nisi permittente se poni; permisitque ea sola condicione, ne inter simulacra deorum sed inter ornamenta aedium ponerentur. intercessit et quo minus in acta sua iuraretur, et ne mensis September Tiberius, October Liuius uocarentur. praenomen quoque imperatoris cognomenque patris patriae et ciuicam in uestibulo coronam recusauit; ac ne Augusti quidem nomen, quanquam hereditarium, nullis nisi ad reges ac dynastas epistulis addidit. nec amplius quam mox tres consulatus, unum paucis diebus, alterum tribus mensibus, tertium absens usque in Idus Maias gessit.
27. He had such an aversion to flattery, that he would never suffer any senator to approach his litter, as he passed the streets in it, either to pay him a civility, or upon business. And when a man of consular rank, in begging his pardon for some offence he had given him, attempted to fall at his feet, he started from him in such haste, that he stumbled and fell. If any compliment was paid him, either in conversation or a set speech, he would not scruple to interrupt and reprimand the party, and alter what he had said. Being once called "lord," by some person, he desired that he might no more be affronted in that manner. When another, to excite veneration, called his occupations "sacred," and a third had expressed himself thus: " By your authority I have waited upon the senate," he obliged them to change their phrases; in one of them adopting persuasion, instead of "authority," and in the other, laborious, instead of "sacred."
27. Adulationes adeo auersatus est, ut neminem senatorum aut officii aut negotii causa ad lecticam suam admiserit, consularem uero satisfacientem sibi ac per genua orare conantem ita suffugerit, ut caderet supinus; atque etiam, si quid in sermone uel in continua oratione blandius de se diceretur, non dubitaret interpellare ac reprehendere et commutare continuo. dominus appellatus a quodam denuntiauit, ne se amplius contumeliae causa nominaret. alium dicentem sacras eius occupationes et rursus alium, auctore eo senatum se a[u]disse, uerba mutare et pro auctore suasorem, pro sacris laboriosas dicere coegit.
28. He remained unmoved at all the aspersions, scandalous reports, and lampoons, which were spread against him or his relations; declaring, "In a free state, both the tongue and the mind ought to be free." Upon the senate's desiring that some notice might be taken of those offences, and the persons charged with them, he replied, "We have not so much time upon our hands, that we ought to involve ourselves in more business. If you once make an opening for such proceedings, you will soon have nothing else to do. All private quarrels will be brought before you under that pretence." There is also on record another sentence used by him in the senate, which is far from assuming: "If he speaks otherwise of me, I shall take care to behave in such a manner, as to be able to give a good account both of my words and actions; and if he persists, I shall hate him in my turn."
28. sed et aduersus conuicia malosque rumores et famosa de se ac suis carmina firmus ac patiens subinde iactabat in ciuitate libera linguam mentemque liberas esse debere; et quondam senatu cognitionem de eius modi criminibus ac reis flagitante: 'non tantum,' inquit, 'otii habemus, ut implicare nos pluribus negotiis debeamus; si hanc fenestram aperueritis, nihil aliud agi sinetis: omnium inimicitiae hoc praetexto ad uos deferentur.' extat et sermo eius in senatu perciuilis: 'siquidem locutus aliter fuerit, dabo operam ut rationem factorum meorum dictorumque reddam; si perseuerauerit, in uicem eum odero.'
29. These things were so much the more remarkable in him, because, in the respect he paid to individuals, or the whole body of the senate, he went beyond all bounds. Upon his differing with Quintus Haterius in the senate-house, "Pardon me, sir," he said, "I beseech you, if I shall, as a senator, speak my mind very freely in opposition to you." Afterwards, addressing the senate in general, he said: "Conscript Fathers, I have often said it both now and at other times, that a good and useful prince, whom you have invested with so great and absolute power, ought to be a slave to the senate, to the whole body of the people, and often to individuals likewise: nor am I sorry that I have said it. I have always found you good, kind, and indulgent masters, and still find you so."
29. Atque haec eo notabiliora erant, quod ipse in appellandis uenerandisque et singulis et uniuersis prope excesserat humanitatis modum. dissentiens in curia a Q. Haterio: 'ignoscas,' inquit, 'rogo, si quid aduersus te liberius sicut senator dixero.' et deinde omnis adloquens: 'dixi et nunc et saepe alias, p. c., bonum et salutarem principem, quem uos tanta et tam libera potestate instruxistis, senatui seruire debere et uniuersis ciuibus saepe et plerumque etiam singulis; neque id dixisse me paenitet, et bonos et aequos et fauentes uos habui dominos et adhuc habeo.'
30. He likewise introduced a certain show of liberty, by preserving to the senate and magistrates their former majesty and power. All affairs, whether of great or small importance, public or private, were laid before the senate. Taxes and monopolies, the erecting or repairing edifices, levying and disbanding soldiers, the disposal of the legions and auxiliary forces in the provinces, the appointment of generals for the management of extraordinary wars, and the answers to letters from foreign princes, were all submitted to the senate. He compelled the commander of a troop of horse, who was accused of robbery attended with violence, to plead his cause before the senate. He never entered the senate-house but unattended; and being once brought thither in a litter, because he was indisposed, he dismissed his attendants at the door.
30. Quin etiam speciem libertatis quandam induxit conseruatis senatui ac magistratibus et maiestate pristina et potestate. neque tam paruum quicquam neque tam magnum publici priuatique negotii fuit, de quo non ad patres conscriptos referretur: de uectigalibus ac monopoliis, de extruendis reficiendisue operibus, etiam de legendo uel exauctorando milite ac legionum et auxiliorum discriptione, denique quibus imperium prorogari aut extraordinaria bella mandari, quid et qua[m] forma[m] regum litteris rescribi placeret. praefectum alae de ui et rapinis reum causam in senatu dicere coegit. numquam curiam nisi solus intrauit; lectica quondam intro latus aeger comites a se remouit.
31. When some decrees were made contrary to his opinion, he did not even make any complaint. And though he thought that no magistrates after their nomination should be allowed to absent themselves from the city, but reside in it constantly, to receive their honours in person, a praetor-elect obtained liberty to depart under the honorary title of a legate at large. Again, when he proposed to the senate, that the Trebians might have leave granted them to divert some money which had been left them by will for the purpose of building a new theatre, to that of making a road, he could not prevail to have the will of the testator set aside. And when, upon a division of the house, he went over to the minority, nobody followed him. All other things of a public nature were likewise transacted by the magistrates, and in the usual forms; the authority of the consuls remaining so great, that some ambassadors from Africa applied to them, and complained, that they could not have their business dispatched by Caesar, to whom they had been sent. And no wonder; since it was observed that he used to rise up as the consuls approached, and give them the way.
31. quaedam aduersus sententiam suam decerni ne questus quidem est. negante eo destinatos magistratus abesse oportere, ut praesentes honori adquiescerent, praetor designatus liberam legationem impetrauit. iterum censente, ut Trebianis legatam in opus noui theatri pecuniam ad munitionem uiae transferre concederetur, optinere non potuit quin rata uoluntas legatoris esset. cum senatus consultum per discessionem forte fieret, transeuntem eum in alteram partem, in qua pauciores erant, secutus est nemo. Cetera quoque non nisi per magistratus et iure ordinario agebantur, tanta consulum auctoritate, ut legati ex Africa adierint eos querentes, trahi se a Caesare ad quem missi forent. nec mirum, cum palam esset, ipsum quoque eisdem et assurgere et decedere uia.
32. He reprimanded some persons of consular rank in command of armies, for not writing to the senate an account of their proceedings, and for consulting him about the distribution of military rewards; as if they themselves had not a right to bestow them as they judged proper. He commended a praetor, who, on entering office, revived an old custom of celebrating the memory of his ancestors, in a speech to the people. He attended the corpses of some persons of distinction to the funeral pile. He displayed the same moderation with regard to persons and things of inferior consideration. The magistrates of Rhodes, having dispatched to him a letter on public business, which was not subscribed, he sent for them, and without giving them so much as one harsh word, desired them to subscribe it, and so dismissed them. Diogenes, the grammarian, who used to hold public disquisitions at Rhodes every sabbath-day, once refused him admittance upon his coming to hear him out of course, and sent him a message by a servant, postponing his admission to the next seventh-day. Diogenes afterwards coming to Rome, and waiting at his door to be allowed to pay his respects to him, he sent him word to come again at the end of seven years. To some governors, who advised him to load the provinces with taxes, he answered, "It is the part of a good shepherd to shear, not flay, his sheep."
32. corripuit consulares exercitibus praepositos, quod non de rebus gestis senatui scriberent quodque de tribuendis quibusdam militaribus donis ad se referrent, quasi non omnium tribuendorum ipsi ius haberent. praetorem conlaudauit, quod honore inito consuetudinem antiquam rettulisset de maioribus suis pro contione memorandi. quorundam illustrium exequias usque ad rogum frequentauit. Parem moderationem minoribus quoque et personis et rebus exhibuit. cum Rhodiorum magistratus, quod litteras publicas sine subscriptione ad se dederant, euocasset, ne uerbo quidem insectatus ac tantum modo iussos subscribere remisit. Diogenes grammaticus, disputare sabbatis Rhodi solitus, uenientem eum, ut se extra ordinem audiret, non admiserat ac per seruolum suum in septimum diem distulerat; hunc Romae salutandi sui causa pro foribus adstantem nihil amplius quam ut post septimum annum rediret admonuit. praesidibus onerandas tributo prouincias suadentibus rescripsit boni pastoris esse tondere pecus, non deglubere.
33. He assumed the sovereignty by slow degrees, and exercised it for a long time with great variety of conduct, though generally with a due regard to the public good. At first he only interposed to prevent ill management. Accordingly, he rescinded some decrees of the senate; and when the magistrates sat for the administration of justice, he frequently offered his service as assessor, either taking his place promiscuously amongst them, or seating himself in a corner of the tribunal. If a rumour prevailed, that any person under prosecution was likely to be acquitted by his interest, he would suddenly make his appearance, and from the floor of the court, or the praetor's bench, remind the judges of the laws, and of their oaths, and the nature of the charge brought before them. He likewise took upon himself the correction of public morals, where they tended to decay, either through neglect, or evil custom.
33. Paulatim principem exeruit praestititque etsi uarium diu, commodiorem tamen saepius et ad utilitates publicas proniorem. ac primo eatenus interueniebat, ne quid perperam fieret. itaque et constitutiones senatus quasdam rescidit et magistratibus pro tribunali cognoscentibus plerumque se offerebat consiliarium assidebatque iuxtim uel exaduersum in parte primori; et si quem reorum elabi gratia rumor esset, subitus aderat iudices que aut e plano aut e quaesitoris tribunali legum et religionis et noxae, de qua cognoscerent, admonebat; atque etiam, si qua in publicis moribus desidia aut mala consuetudine labarent, corrigenda suscepit.
34. He reduced the expense of the plays and public spectacles, by diminishing the allowances to actors, and curtailing the number of gladiators. He made grievous complaints to the senate, that the price of Corinthian vessels was become enormous, and that three mullets had been sold for thirty thousand sesterces: upon which he proposed that a new sumptuary law should be enacted; that the butchers and other dealers in viands should be subject to an assize, fixed by the senate yearly; and the aediles commissioned to restrain eating-houses and taverns, so far as not even to permit the sale of any kind of pastry. And to encourage frugality in the public by his own example, he would often, at his solemn feasts, have at his tables victuals which had been served up the day before, and were partly eaten, and half a boar, affirming, "It has all the same good bits that the whole had." He published an edict against the practice of people's kissing each other when they met; and would not allow new year's gifts to be presented after the calends [the first] of January was passed. He had been in the habit of returning these offerings four-fold, and making them with his own hand; but being annoyed by the continual interruption to which he was exposed during the whole month, by those who had not the opportunity of attending him on the festival, he returned none after that day.
34. ludorum ac munerum impensas corripuit mercedibus scaenicorum recisis paribusque gladiatorum ad certum numerum redactis. Corinthiorum uasorum pretia in immensum exarsisse tresque mullos triginta milibus nummum uenisse grauiter conquestus, adhibendum supellectili modum censuit annonamque macelli senatus arbitratu quotannis temperandam, dato aedilibus negotio popinas ganeasque usque eo inhibendi, ut ne opera quidem pistoria proponi uenalia sinerent. et ut parsimoniam publicam exemplo quoque iuuaret, sollemnibus ipse cenis pridiana saepe ac semesa obsonia apposuit dimidiatumque aprum, affirmans omnia eadem habere, quae totum. Cotidiana oscula edicto prohibuit, item strenarum commercium ne ultra Kal. Ian. exerceretur. consuerat quadriplam stren[u]am, et de manu, reddere; sed offensus interpellari se toto mense ab iis qui potestatem sui die festo non habuissent, ultra non tulit.
35. Married women guilty of adultery, though not prosecuted publicly, he authorised the nearest relations to punish by agreement among themselves, according to ancient custom. He discharged a Roman knight from the obligation of an oath he had taken, never to turn away his wife; and allowed him to divorce her, upon her being caught in criminal intercourse with her son-in-law. Women of ill-fame, divesting themselves of the rights and dignity of matrons, had now begun a practice of professing themselves prostitutes, to avoid the punishment of the laws; and the most profligate young men of the senatorian and equestrian orders, to secure themselves against a decree of the senate, which prohibited their performing on the stage, or in the amphitheatre, voluntarily subjected themselves to an infamous sentence, by which they were degraded. All those he banished, that none for the future might evade by such artifices the intention and efficacy of the law. He stripped a senator of the broad stripes on his robe, upon information of his having removed to his gardens before the calends [the first] of July, in order that he might afterwards hire a house cheaper in the city. He likewise dismissed another from the office of quaestor, for repudiating, the day after he had been lucky in drawing his lot, a wife whom he had married only the day before.
35. matronas prostratae pudicitiae, quibus accusator publicus deesset, ut propinqui more maiorum de communi sententia coercerent auctor fuit. eq(uiti) R(omano) iuris iurandi gratiam fecit, uxorem in stupro generi compertam dimitteret, quam se numquam repudiaturum ante iurauerat. feminae famosae, ut ad euitandas legum poenas iure ac dignitate matronali exoluerentur, lenocinium profiteri coeperant, et ex iuuentute utriusque ordinis profligatissimus quisque, quominus in opera scaenae harenaeque edenda senatus consulto teneretur, famosi iudicii notam sponte subibant; eos easque omnes, ne quod refugium in tali fraude cuiquam esset, exilio adfecit. senatori latum clauum ademit, cum cognosset sub Kal. Iul. demigrasse in hortos, quo uilius post diem aedes in urbe conduceret. alium e quaestura remouit, quod uxorem pridie sortitionem ductam postridie repudiasset.
36. He suppressed all foreign religions, and the Egyptian and Jewish rites, obliging those who practised that kind of superstition, to burn their vestments, and all their sacred utensils. He distributed the Jewish youths, under the pretence of military service, among the provinces noted for an unhealthy climate; and dismissed from the city all the rest of that nation as well as those who were proselytes to that religion, under pain of slavery for life, unless they complied. He also expelled the astrologers; but upon their suing for pardon, and promising to renounce their profession, he revoked his decree.
36. externas caerimonias, Aegyptios Iudaicosque ritus compescuit, coactis qui superstitione ea tenebantur religiosas uestes cum instrumento omni comburere. Iudaeorum iuuentutem per speciem sacramenti in prouincias grauioris caeli distribuit, reliquos gentis eiusdem uel similia sectantes urbe summouit, sub poena perpetuae seruitutis nisi obtemperassent. expulit et mathematicos, sed deprecantibus ac se artem desituros promittentibus ueniam dedit.
37. But, above all things, he was careful to keep the public peace against robbers, burglars, and those who were disaffected to the government. He therefore increased the number of military stations throughout Italy; and formed a camp at Rome for the praetorian cohorts, which, till then, had been quartered in the city. He suppressed with great severity all tumults of the people on their first breaking out; and took every precaution to prevent them. Some persons having been killed in a quarrel which happened in the theatre, he banished the leaders of the parties, and the players about whom the disturbance had arisen; nor could all the entreaties of the people afterwards prevail upon him to recall them. The people of Pollentia having refused to permit the removal of the corpse of a centurion of the first rank from the forum, until they had extorted from his heirs a sum of money for a public exhibition of gladiators, he detached a cohort from the city, and another from the kingdom of Cottius; who concealing the cause of their march, entered the town by different gates, with their arms suddenly displayed, and trumpets sounding; and having seized the greatest part of the people, and the magistrates, they were imprisoned for life. He abolished everywhere the privileges of all places of refuge. The Cyzicenians having committed an outrage upon some Romans, he deprived them of the liberty they had obtained from their good services in the Mithridatic war. Disturbances from foreign enemies he quelled by his lieutenants, without ever going against them in person; nor would he even employ his lieutenants, but with much reluctance, and when it was absolutely necessary. Princes who were ill-affected towards him, he kept in subjection, more by menaces and remonstrances, than by force of arms. Some whom he induced to come to him by fair words and promises, he never would permit to return home; as Maraboduus the German, Thrascypolis the Thracian, and Archelaus the Cappadocian, whose kingdom he even reduced into the form of a province.
37. In primis tuendae pacis a grassaturis ac latrociniis seditionumque licentia curam habuit. stationes militum per Italiam solito frequentiores disposuit. Romae castra constituit, quibus praetorianae cohortes uagae ante id tempus et per hospitia dispersae continerentur. Populares tumultus et ortos grauissime coercuit et ne orerentur sedulo cauit. caede in theatro per discordiam admissa capita factionum et histriones, propter quos dissidebatur, relegauit, nec ut reuocaret umquam ullis populi precibus potuit euinci. cum Pollentina plebs funus cuiusdam primipilaris non prius ex foro misisset quam extorta pecunia per uim heredibus ad gladiatorium munus, cohortem ab urbe et aliam a Cotti regno dissimulata itineris causa detectis repente armis concinentibusque signis per diuersas portas in oppidum immisit ac partem maiorem plebei ac decurionum in perpetua uincula coiecit. aboleuit et ius moremque asylorum, quae usquam erant. Cyzicenis in ciues R. uiolentius quaedam ausis publice libertatem ademit, quam Mithridatico bello meruerant. Hostiles motus nulla postea expeditione suscepta per legatos compescuit, ne per eos quidem nisi cunctanter et necessario. reges infestos suspectosque comminationibus magis et querelis quam ui repressit; quosdam per blanditias atque promissa extractos ad se non remisit, ut Marobodum Germanum, [t]Rhascuporim Thracem, Archelaum Cappadocem, cuius etiam regnum in formam prouinciae redegit.
38. He never set foot outside the gates of Rome, for two years together, from the time he assumed the supreme power; and after that period, went no farther from the city than to some of the neighbouring towns; his farthest excursion being to Antium, and that but very seldom, and for a few days; though he often gave out that he would visit the provinces and armies, and made preparations for it almost every year, by taking up carriages, and ordering provisions for his retinue in the municipia and colonies. At last he suffered vows to be put up for his good journey and safe return, insomuch that he was called jocosely by the name of Callipides, who is famous in a Greek proverb, for being in a great hurry to go forward, but without ever advancing a cubit.
38. Biennio continuo post adeptum imperium pedem porta non extulit; sequenti tempore praeterquam in propinqua oppida et, cum longissime, Antio tenus nusquam afuit, idque perraro et paucos dies; quamuis prouincias quoque et exercitus reuisurum se saepe pronuntiasset et prope quotannis profectionem praepararet, uehiculis comprehensis, commeatibus per municipia et colonias dispositis, ad extremum uota pro itu et reditu suo suscipi passus, ut uulgo iam per iocum 'Callippides' uocaretur, quem cursitare ac ne cubiti quidem mensuram progredi prouerbio Graeco notatum est.
39. But after the loss of his two sons, of whom Germanicus died in Syria, and Drusus at Rome, he withdrew into Campania; at which time opinion and conversation were almost general, that he never would return, and would die soon. And both nearly turned out to be true. For indeed he never more came to Rome; and a few days after leaving it, when he was at a villa of his called the Cave, near Terracina, during supper a great many huge stones fell from above, which killed several of the guests and attendants; but he almost hopelessly escaped.
39. sed orbatus utroque filio, quorum Germanicus in Syria, Drusus Romae obierat, secessum Campaniae petit; constanti et opinione et sermone paene omnium quasi neque rediturus umquam et cito mortem etiam obiturus. quod paulo minus utrumque euenit; nam neque Romam amplius rediit [s]et paucos post dies iuxta Tarracinam in praetorio, cui Speluncae nomen est, incenante eo complura et ingentia saxa fortuito superne dilapsa sunt, multisque conuiuarum et ministrorum elisis praeter spem euasit.
40. After he had gone round Campania, and dedicated the capitol at Capua, and a temple to Augustus at Nola, which he made the pretext of his journey, he retired to Capri; being greatly delighted with the island, because it was accessible only by a narrow beach, being on all sides surrounded with rugged cliffs, of a stupendous height, and by a deep sea. But immediately, the people of Rome being extremely clamorous for his return, on account of a disaster at Fidenae, Where upwards of twenty thousand persons had been killed by the fall of the amphitheatre, during a public spectacle of gladiators, he crossed over again to the continent, and gave all people free access to him; so much the more, because, at his departure from the city, he had caused it to be proclaimed that no one should address him, and had declined admitting any persons to his presence, on the journey.
40. Peragrata Campania, cum Capuae Capitolium, Nolae templum Augusti, quam causam profectionis praetenderat, dedicasset, Capreas se contulit, praecipue delectatus insula, quod uno paruoque litore adiretur, saepta undique praeruptis immensae altitudinis rupibus et profundo mari[s]. statimque reuocante assidua obtestatione populo propter cladem, qua apud Fidenas supra uiginti hominum milia gladiatorio munere amphitheatri ruina perierant, transiit in continentem potestatemque omnibus adeundi sui fecit: tanto magis, quod urbe egrediens ne quis se interpellaret edixerat ac toto itinere adeuntis submouerat.
41. Returning to the island, he so far abandoned all care of the government, that he never filled up the decuriae of the knights, never changed any military tribunes or prefects, or governors of provinces, and kept Spain and Syria for several years without any consular lieutenants. He likewise suffered Armenia to be seized by the Parthians, Mcesia by the Dacians and Sarmatians, and Gaul to be ravaged by the Germans: to the great disgrace, and no less danger, of the empire.
41. Regressus in insulam rei p. quidem curam usque adeo abiecit, ut postea non decurias equitum umquam supplerit, non tribunos militum praefectosque, non prouinciarum praesides ullos mutauerit, Hispaniam et Syriam per aliquot annos sine consularibus legatis habuerit, Armeniam a Parthis occupari, Moesiam a Dacis Sarmatisque, Gallias a Germanis uastari neglexerit: magno dedecore imperii nec minore discrimine.
42. But, having now the advantage of privacy, and being remote from the observation of the people of Rome, he abandoned himself to all the vicious propensities which he had long but imperfectly concealed, and of which I shall here give a particular account from the beginning. While a young soldier in the camp, he was so remarkable for his excessive inclination to wine, that, for Tiberius, they called him Biberius; for Claudius, Cal-, dius; and for Nero, Mero. And after he succeeded to the empire, and was invested with the office of reforming the morality of the people, he spent a whole night and two days together in feasting and drinking with Pomponius Flaccus and Lucius Piso; to one of whom he immediately gave the province of Syria, and to the other the prefecture of the city; declaring them, in his letterspatent, to be ' very pleasant companions, and friends fit for all occasions." He made an appointment to sup with Sestius Gallus, a lewd and prodigal old fellow, who had been disgraced by Augustus, and reprimanded by himself but a few days before in the senate-house; upon condition that he should not recede in the least from his usual method of entertainment, and that they should be attended at table by naked girls. He preferred a very obscure candidate for the quaestorship, before the most noble competitors, only for taking off, in pledging him at table, an amphora of wine at a draught. He presented Asellius Sabinus with two hundred thousand sesterces, for writing a dialogue, in the way of dispute, betwixt the truffle and the fig-pecker, the oyster and the thrush. He likewise instituted a new office to administer to his voluptuousness, to which he appointed Titus Caesonius Priscus, a Roman knight.
42. ceterum secreti licentiam nanctus et quasi ciuitatis oculis remotis, cuncta simul uitia male diu dissimulata tandem profudit: de quibus singillatim ab exordio referam. in castris tiro etiam tum propter nimiam uini auiditatem pro Tiberio 'Biberius,' pro Claudio 'Caldius,' pro Nerone 'Mero' uocabatur. postea princeps in ipsa publicorum morum correctione cum Pomponio Flacco et L. Pisone noctem continuumque biduum epulando potandoque consumpsit, quorum alteri Syriam prouinciam, alteri praefecturam urbis confestim detulit, codicillis quoque iucundissimos et omnium horarum amicos professus. Cestio Gall[i]o, libidinoso ac prodigo seni, olim ab Augusto ignominia notato et a se ante paucos dies apud senatum increpito cenam ea lege condixit, ne quid ex consuetudine immutaret aut demeret, utque nudis puellis ministrantibus cenaretur. ignotissimum quaesturae candidatum nobilissimis anteposuit ob epotam in conuiuio propinante se uini amphoram. Asellio Sabino sestertia ducenta donauit pro dialogo, in quo boleti et ficedulae et ostreae et turdi certamen induxerat. nouum denique officium instituit a uoluptatibus, praeposito equite R. T. Caesonio Prisco.
43. In his retreat at Capri, he also contrived an apartment containing couches, and adapted to the secret practice of lewdness, where he entertained companies of disreputable girls. He had several chambers set round with pictures and statues in the most suggestive attitudes, and furnished with the books of Elephantis, that none might want a pattern for the execution of any project that was prescribed him. He likewise contrived recesses in woods and groves for the gratification of young persons of both sexes, in caves and hollow rocks. So that he was publicly and commonly called, by an abuse of the name of the island, Caprineus.
43. secessu uero Caprensi etiam sellaria excogitauit, sedem arcanarum libidinum, in quam undique conquisiti puellarum et exoletorum greges monstrosique concubitus repertores, quos spintrias appellabat, triplici serie conexi, in uicem incestarent coram ipso, ut aspectu deficientis libidines excitaret. cubicula plurifariam disposita tabellis ac sigillis lasciuissimarum picturarum et figurarum adornauit librisque Elephantidis instruxit, ne cui in opera edenda exemplar impe[t]ratae schemae deesset. in siluis quoque ac nemoribus passim Venerios locos commentus est prost[r]antisque per antra et cauas rupes ex utriusque sexus pube Paniscorum et Nympharum habitu, quae palam iam et uulgo nomine insulae abutentes 'Caprineum' dictitabant.
44. But he was still more infamous, if possible, for an abomination not fit to be mentioned or heard, much less credited. When a picture, painted by Parrhasius, in which the artist had represented Atalanta in the act of submitting to Meleager's lust in the most unnatural way, was bequeathed to him, with this proviso, that if the subject was offensive to him, he might receive in lieu of it a million sesterces, he not only chose the picture, but hung it up in his bed-chamber. How much he was guilty of a most foul intercourse with women even of the first quality, appeared very plainly by the death of one Mallonia, who, being brought to his bed, but resolutely refusing to comply with his lust, he gave her up to the common informers. Even when she was upon her trial, he frequently called out to her, and asked her, "Do you repent?" until she, quitting the court, went home, and stabbed herself; openly upbraiding the vile old lecher for his gross obscenity; hence there was an allusion to him in a farce, which was acted at the next public sports, and was received with great applause, and became a common topic of ridicule: that the old goat He was so niggardly and covetous, that he never allowed to his attendants, in his travels and expeditions, any salary, but their diet only.
44. Maiore adhuc ac turpiore infamia flagrauit, uix ut referri audiriue, nedum credi fas sit, quasi pueros primae teneritudinis, quos pisciculos uocabat, institueret, ut natanti sibi inter femina uersarentur ac luderent lingua morsuque sensim adpetentes; atque etiam quasi infantes firmiores, necdum tamen lacte depulsos, inguini ceu papillae admoueret, pronior sane ad id genus libidinis et natura et aetate. quare Parrasi quoque tabulam, in qua Meleagro Atalanta ore morigeratur, legatam sibi sub condicione, ut si argumento offenderetur decies pro ea sestertium acciperet, non modo praetulit, sed et in cubiculo dedicauit. fertur etiam in sacrificando quondam captus facie ministri acerram praeferentis nequisse abstinere, quin paene uixdum re diuina peracta ibidem statim seductum constupraret simulque fratrem eius tibicinem; atque utrique mox, quod mutuo flagitium exprobrarant, crura fregisse. feminarum quoque, et quidem illustrium, capitibus quanto opere solitus sit inludere, euidentissime apparuit Malloniae cuiusdam exitu, quam perductam nec quicquam amplius pati constantissime recusantem delatoribus obiecit ac ne ream quidem interpellare desiit, 'ecquid paeniteret'; donec ea relicto iudicio domum se abripuit ferroque transegit, obscaenitate[m] oris hirsuto atque olido seni clare exprobrata. unde mora in Atellanico exhodio proximis ludis adsensu maximo excepta percrebruit, 'hircum uetulum capreis naturam ligurire.'
46. Once, indeed, he treated them liberally, at the instigation of his step-father, when, dividing them into three classes, according to their rank, he gave the first six, the second four, and the third two, hundred thousand sesterces, which last class he called not friends, but Greeks.
46. Pecuniae parcus ac tenax comites peregrinationum expeditionumque numquam salario, cibariis tantum sustentauit, una modo liberalitate ex indulgentia uitrici prosecutus, cum tribus classibus factis pro dignitate cuiusque, primae sescenta sestertia, secundae quadringenta distribuit, ducenta tertiae, quam non amicorum sed Graecorum appellabat.
47. During the whole time of his government, he never erected any noble edifice; for the only things he did undertake, namely, building the temple of Augustus, and restoring Pompey's Theatre, he left at last, after many years, unfinished. Nor did he ever entertain the people with public spectacles; and he was seldom present at those which were given by others, lest any thing of that kind should be requested of him; especially after he was obliged to give freedom to the comedian Actius. Having relieved the poverty of a few senators, to avoid further demands, he declared that he should for the future assist none, but those who gave the senate full satisfaction as to the cause of their necessity. Upon this, most of the needy senators, from modesty and shame, declined troubling him. Amongst these was Hortalus, grandson to the celebrated orator Quintus Hortensius, who [marrying], by the persuasion of Augustus, had brought up four children upon a very small estate.
47. Princeps neque opera ulla magnifica fecit—nam et quae sola susceperat, Augusti templum restitutionemque Pompeiani theatri, imperfecta post tot annos reliquit —neque spectacula omnino edidit; et iis, quae ab aliquo ederentur, rarissime interfuit, ne quid exposceretur, utique postquam comoedum Actium coactus est manumittere. paucorum senatorum inopia sustentata, ne pluribus opem ferret, negauit se aliis subuenturum, nisi senatui iustas necessitatium causas probassent. quo pacto plerosque modestia et pudore deterruit, in quibus Hortalum, Quinti Hortensi oratoris nepotem, qui permodica re familiari auctore Augusto quattuor liberos tulerat.
48. He displayed only two instances of public munificence. One was an offer to lend gratis, for three years, a hundred millions of sesterces to those who wanted to borrow; and the other, when, some large houses being burnt down upon Mount Coelius, he indemnified the owners. To the former of these he was compelled by the clamours of the people, in a great scarcity of money, when he had ratified a decree of the senate obliging all money-lenders to advance two-thirds of their capital on land, and the debtors to pay off at once the same proportion of their debts, and it was found insufficient to remedy the grievance. The other he did to alleviate in some degree the pressure of the times. But his benefaction to the sufferers by fire, he estimated at so high a rate, that he ordered the Coelian Hill to be called, in future, the Augustan. To the soldiery, after doubling the legacy left them by Augustus, he never gave any thing, except a thousand denarii a man to the pretorian guards, for not joining the party of Sejanus; and some presents to the legions in Syria, because they alone had not paid reverence to the effigies of Sejanus among their standards. He seldom gave discharges to the veteran soldiers, calculating on their deaths from advanced age, and on what would be saved by thus getting rid of them, in the way of rewards or pensions. Nor did he ever relieve the provinces by any act of generosity, excepting Asia, where some cities had been destroyed by an earthquake.
48. Publice munificentiam bis omnino exhibuit, pro posito milies sestertium gratuito in trienni tempus et rursus quibusdam dominis insularum, quae in monte Caelio deflagrarant, pretio restituto. quorum alterum magna difficultate nummaria populo auxilium flagitante coactus est facere, cum per senatus consultum sanxisset, ut faeneratores duas patrimonii partes in solo collocarent, debitores totidem aeris alieni statim soluerent, nec res expediretur; alterum ad mitigandam temporum atrocitatem. quod tamen beneficium tanti aestimauit, ut montem Caelium appellatione mutata uocari Augustum iusserit. militi post duplicata ex Augusti testamento legata nihil umquam largitus est, praeterquam singula milia denariorum praetorianis, quod Seiano se non accommodassent, et quaedam munera Syriacis legionibus, quod solae nullam Seiani imaginem inter signa coluissent. atque etiam missiones ueteranorum rarissimas fecit, ex senio mortem, ex morte compendium captans. ne prouincias quidem liberalitate ulla subleuauit, excepta Asia, disiectis terrae motu ciuitatibus.
49. In the course of a very short time, he turned his mind to sheer robbery. It is certain that Cneius Lentulus, the augur, a man of vast estate, was so terrified and worried by his threats and importunities, that he was obliged to make him his heir; and that Lepida, a lady of a very noble family, was condemned by him, in order to gratify Quirinus, a man of consular rank, extremely rich, and childless, who had divorced her twenty years before, and now charged her with an old design to poison him. Several persons, likewise, of the first distinction in Gaul, Spain, Syria, and Greece, had their estates confiscated upon such despicably trifling and shameless pretences, that against some of them no other charge was preferred, than that they held large sums of ready money as part of their property. Old immunities, the rights of mining, and of levying tolls, were taken from several cities and private persons. And Vonones, king of the Parthians, who had been driven out of his dominions by his own subjects, and fled to Antioch with a vast treasure, claiming the protection of the Roman people, his allies, was treacherously robbed of all his money, and afterwards murdered.
49. Procedente mox tempore etiam ad rapinas conuertit animum. satis constat, Cn. Lentulum Augurem, cui census maximus fuerit, metu et angore ad fastidium uitae ab eo actum et ut ne quo nisi ipso herede moreretur; condemnatam et generosissimam feminam Lepidam in gratiam Quirini consularis praediuitis et orbi, qui dimissam eam e matrimonio post uicensimum annum ueneni olim in se comparati arguebat; praeterea Galliarum et Hispaniarum Syriaeque et Graeciae principes confiscatos ob tam leue ac tam inpudens calumniarum genus, ut quibusdam non aliud sit obiectum, quam quod partem rei familiaris in pecunia haberent; plurimis etiam ciuitatibus et priuatis ueteres immunitates et ius metallorum ac uectigalium adempta; sed et Vononem regem Parthorum, qui pulsus a suis quasi in fidem p. R. cum ingenti gaza Antiochiam se receperat. spoliatum perfidia et occisum.
50. He first manifested hatred towards his own relations in the case of his brother Drusus, betraying him by the production of a letter to himself, in which Drusus proposed that Augustus should be forced to restore the public liberty. In course of time, he shewed the same disposition with regard to the rest of his family. So far was he from performing any office of kindness or humanity to his wife, when she was banished, and, by her father's order, confined to one town, that he forbad her to stir out of the house, or converse with any men. He even wronged her of the dowry given her by her father, and her yearly allowance, by a quibble of law, because Augustus had made no provision for them on her behalf in his will. Being harassed by his mother, Livia, who claimed an equal share in the government with him, he frequently avoided seeing her, and all long and private conferences with her, lest it should be thought that he was governed by her counsels, which, notwithstanding, he sometimes sought, and was in the habit of adopting. He was much offended at the senate, when they proposed to add to his other titles that of the Son of Livia, as well as Augustus. He, therefore, would not suffer her to be called " the Mother of her country," nor to receive any extraordinary public distinction. Nay, he frequently admonished her " not to meddle with weighty affairs, and such as did not suit her sex;" especially when he found her present at a fire which broke out near the Temple of Vesta, and encouraging the people and soldiers to use their utmost exertions, as she had been used to do in the time of her husband.
50. Odium aduersus necessitudines in Druso primum fratre detexit, prodita eius epistula, qua secum de cogendo ad restituendam libertatem Augusto agebat, deinde et in reliquis. Iuliae uxori tantum afuit ut relegatae, quod minimum est, offici aut humanitatis aliquid impertiret, ut ex constitutione patris uno oppido clausam domo quoque egredi et commercio hominum frui uetuerit; sed et peculio concesso a patre praebitisque annuis fraudauit, per speciem publici iuris, quod nihil de his Augustus testamento cauisset. matrem Liuiam grauatus uelut partes sibi aequas potentiae uindicantem, et congressum eius assiduum uitauit et longiores secretioresque sermones, ne consiliis, quibus tamen interdum et egere et uti solebat, regi uideretur. tulit etiam perindigne actum in senatu, ut titulis suis quasi Augusti, ita et 'Liuiae filius' adiceretur. quare non 'parentem patriae' appellari, non ullum insignem honorem recipere publice passus est; sed et frequenter admonuit, maioribus nec feminae conuenientibus negotiis abstineret, praecipue ut animaduertit incendio iuxta aedem Vestae et ipsam interuenisse populumque et milites, quo enixius opem ferrent, adhortatam, sicut sub marito solita esset.
51. He afterwards proceeded to an open rupture with her, and, as is said, upon this occasion. She having frequently urged him to place among the judges a person who had been made free of the, city, he refused her request, unless she would allow it to be inscribed on the roll, "That the appointment had been extorted from him by his mother." Enraged at this, Livia brought forth from her chapel some letters from Augustus to her, complaining of the sourness and insolence of Tiberius's temper, and these she read. So much was he offended at these letters having been kept so long, and now produced with so much bitterness against him, that some considered this incident as one of the causes of his going into seclusion, if not the principal reason for so doing. In the whole years he lived during his retirement, he saw her but once, and that for a few hours only. When she fell sick shortly afterwards, he was quite unconcerned about visiting her in her illness; and when she died, after promising to attend her funeral, he deferred his coming for several days, so that the corpse was in a state of decay and putrefaction before die interment; and he then forbad divine honours being paid to her, pretending that he acted according to her own directions. He likewise annulled her will, and in a short time ruined all her friends and acquaintance; not even sparing those to whom, on her death-bed, she had recommended the care of her funeral, but condemning one of them, a man of equestrian rank, to the tread-mill.
51. dehinc ad simultatem usque processit hac, ut ferunt, de causa. instanti saepius, ut ciuitate donatum in decurias adlegeret, negauit alia se condicione adlecturum, quam si pateretur ascribi albo extortum id sibi a matre. at illa commota ueteres quosdam ad se Augusti codicillos de acerbitate et intolerantia morum eius e sacrario protulit atque recitauit. hos et custoditos tam diu et exprobratos tam infeste adeo grauiter tulit, ut quidam putent inter causas secessus hanc ei uel praecipuam fuisse. toto quidem triennio, quo uiuente matre afuit, semel omnino eam nec amplius quam uno die paucissimis uidit horis; ac mox neque aegrae adesse curauit defunctamque et, dum aduentus sui spem facit, complurium dierum mora corrupto demum et tabido corpore funeratam prohibuit consecrari, quasi id ipsa mandasset. testamentum quoque eius pro irrito habuit omnisque amicitias et familiaritates, etiam quibus ea funeris sui curam moriens demandauerat, intra breue tempus afflixit, uno ex iis, equestris ordinis uiro, et in antliam condemnato.