40 In reply, Tiberius praised Sejanus’ devotion, touched not too heavily on his own services to him, and asked for time, in order, he said, to consider the matter fully and freely. Then he wrote again:—”With other men, the standpoint for their decisions was what was in their own interests: the lot of princes was very different, as their weightiest affairs had to be regulated with an eye upon public opinion. Therefore he did not take refuge in the answer which came most readily to the pen — that Livia could determine for herself whether she ought to marry after Drusus or rest content with her old home, and that she had a mother and grandmother who were more natural advisers. He would deal more openly: and first with regard to Agrippina’s enmity, which would blaze out far more fiercely if Livia’s marriage divided, as it were, the Caesarian house into two camps. Even as matters stood, there were outbreaks of feminine jealousy, and the feud was unsettling his grandchildren. What then if the strife was accentuated by the proposed union?”—”For, Sejanus,” he continued, “you delude yourself, if you imagine that you can keep your present rank, or that the Livia who has been wedded successively to Gaius Caesar and to Drusus will be complaisant enough to grow old at the side of a Roman knight. Assuming that I myself consent, do you suppose the position will be tolerated by those who have seen her brother, her father, and our ancestors, in the supreme offices of state? You wish, for your own part, to stop short of the station you hold: but those magistrates and men of distinction who take you by storm and consult you on any and every subject make no secret of their opinion that you have long since transcended the heights of the equestrian order and left the friendships of my father far behind; and in their envy of you they censure myself as well. — You make the point that Augustus considered the possibility of bestowing his daughter on a Roman knight. Astonishing, certainly, that, tugged at by every sort of anxiety, and foreseeing an immense accession of dignity to the man whom he should have raised above his peers by such an alliance, his conversation ran on Gaius Proculeius and a few others, remarkable for their quietude of life and implicated in none of the business of the state! But, if we are to be moved by the hesitancy of Augustus, how much more cogent the fact that he affianced her to Marcus Agrippa and later to myself! — I have spoken openly, as was due to our friendship; but I shall oppose neither your decisions nor those of Livia. Of the result of my own reflections, and the further ties by which I propose to cement our union, I shall at present forbear to speak. One point only I shall make clear: no station, however exalted, would be unearned by your qualities and your devotion to myself; and when the occasion comes, either in the senate or before the public, I shall not be silent.”
[41] Rursum Seianus non iam de matrimonio sed altius metuens tacita suspicionum, vulgi rumorem, ingruentem invidiam deprecatur. ac ne adsiduos in domum coetus arcendo infringeret potentiam aut receptando facultatem criminantibus praeberet, huc flexit ut Tiberium ad vitam procul Roma amoenis locis degendam impelleret. multa quippe providebat: sua in manu aditus litterarumque magna ex parte se arbitrum fore, cum per milites commearent; mox Caesarem vergente iam senecta secretoque loci mollitum munia imperii facilius tramissurum: et minui sibi invidiam adempta salutantum turba sublatisque inanibus veram potentiam augeri. igitur paulatim negotia urbis, populi adcursus, multitudinem adfluentium increpat, extollens laudibus quietem et solitudinem quis abesse taedia et offensiones ac praecipua rerum maxime agitari.
41 In rejoinder, Sejanus — now alarmed not for his marriage but on deeper grounds — urged him to disregard the voice of suspicion, the babble of the multitude, the attacks of his maligners. At the same time, unwilling either to enfeeble his influence by prohibiting the throngs which besieged his doors or to give a handle to his detractors by receiving them, he turned to the idea of inducing Tiberius to spend his days in some pleasant retreat at a distance from Rome. The advantages, he foresaw, were numerous. Interviews would lie in his own bestowal; letters he could largely supervise, as they were transmitted by soldiers: before long, the Caesar, who was already in the decline of life and would be rendered laxer by seclusion, would be readier to transfer the functions of sovereignty; while his own unpopularity would diminish with the abolition of great levées, and the realities of his power be increased by the removal of its vanities. Little by little, therefore, he began to denounce the drudgeries of the capital, its jostling crowds, the endless stream of suitors, and to give his eulogies to quiet and solitude, where tedium and bickering were unknown and a man’s chief attention could be centred on affairs of first importance.
[42] Ac forte habita per illos dies de Votieno Montano, celebris ingenii viro, cognitio cunctantem iam Tiberium perpulit ut vitandos crederet patrum coetus vocesque quae plerumque verae et graves coram ingerebantur. nam postulato Votieno ob contumelias in Caesarem dictas, testis Aemilius e militaribus viris, dum studio probandi cuncta refert et quamquam inter obstrepentis magna adseveratione nititur, audivit Tiberius probra quis per occuitum lacerabatur, adeoque perculsus est ut se vel statim vel in cognitione purgaturum clamitaret precibusque proximorum, adulatione omnium aegre componeret animum. et Votienus quidem maiestatis poenis adfectus est: Caesar obiectam sibi adversus reos inclementiam eo pervicacius amplexus, Aquiliam adulterii delatam cum Vario Ligure, quamquam Lentulus Gaetulicus consul designatus lege Iulia damnasset, exilio punivit Apidiumque Merulam quod in acta divi Augusti non iuraverat albo senatorio erasit.
42 As chance would have it, the trial at this juncture of the popular and talented Votienus Montanus forced Tiberius (who was already wavering) to the conviction that he must avoid the meetings of the senate and the remarks, often equally true and mordant, which were there repeated to his face. For, during the indictment of Votienus for the use of language offensive to the emperor, the witness Aemilius, a military man, in his anxiety to prove the case, reported the expressions in full, and, disregarding the cries of protest, struggled on with his tale with great earnestness. Tiberius thus heard the scurrilities with which he was attacked in private; and such was the shock that he kept crying out he would refute them, either on the spot or in charge of the trial his equanimity being restored with difficulty by the entreaties of his friends and the adulation of all. Votienus himself suffered the penalties of treason. The Caesar, as he had been reproached with recklessness to defendants, adhered to his methods with all the more tenacity; punishing Aquilia by exile on the charge of adultery with Varius Ligus, though Lentulus Gaetulicus, the consul designate, had pressed only for conviction under the Julian Law; and expunging Apidius Merula from the senatorial register because he had not sworn allegiance to the acts of the deified Augustus.
[43] Auditae dehinc Lacedaemoniorum et Messeniorum legationes de iure templi Dianae Limnatidis, quod suis a maioribus suaque in terra dicatum Lacedaemonii firmabant annalium memoria vatumque carminibus, sed Macedonis Philippi cum quo bellassent armis ademptum ac post C. Caesaris et M. Antonii sententia redditum. contra Messenii veterem inter Herculis posteros divisionem Peloponnesi protulere, suoque regi Denthaliatem agrum in quo id delubrum cessisse; monimentaque eius rei sculpta saxis et aere prisco manere. quod si vatum, annalium ad testimonia vocentur, pluris sibi ac locupletiores esse; neque Philippum potentia sed ex vero statuisse: idem regis Antigoni, idem imperatoris Mummii iudicium; sic Milesios permisso publice arbitrio, postremo Atidium Geminum praetorem Achaiae decrevisse. ita secondum Messenios datum. et Segestani aedem Veneris montem apud Erycum, vetustate dilapsam, restaurari postulavere, nota memorantes de origine eius et laeta Tiberio. suscepit curam libens ut consanguineus. tunc tractatae Massiliensium preces probatumque P. Rutilii exemplum; namque eum legibus pulsum civem sibi Zmyrnaei addiderant. quo iure Vulcacius Moschus exul in Massiliensis receptus bona sua rei publicae eorum et patriae reliquerat.
43 A hearing was now given to embassies from Lacedaemon and Messene upon the legal ownership of the temple of Diana Limnatis. That it had been consecrated by their own ancestors, and on their own ground, the Lacedaemonians sought to establish by the records of history and the hymns of th
e poets: it had been wrested from them, however, by the Macedonian arms during their war with Philip, and had been returned later by the decision of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. In reply, the Messenians brought forward the old partition of the Peloponnese between the descendants of Hercules:—”The Denthaliate district, in which the shrine stood, had been assigned to their king, and memorials of the fact, engraved on rock and ancient bronze, were still extant. But if they were challenged to adduce the evidences of poetry and history, the more numerous and competent witnesses were on their side, nor had Philip decided by arbitrary power, but on the merits of the case: the same had been the judgement of King Antigonus and the Roman commander Mummius; and a similar verdict was pronounced both by Miletus, when that state was commissioned to arbitrate, and, last of all, by Atidius Geminus, the governor of Achaia.” The point was accordingly decided in favour of Messene. The Segestans also demanded the restoration of the age-worn temple of Venus on Mount Eryx, and told the familiar tale of its foundation: much to the pleasure of Tiberius, who as a relative willingly undertook the task. At this time, a petition from Massilia was considered, and sanction was given to the precedent set by Publius Rutilius. For, after his banishment by form of law, Rutilius had been presented with the citizenship of Smyrna; on the strength of which, the exile Vulcacius Moschus had naturalized himself at Massilia and bequeathed his estate to the community, as his fatherland.
[44] Obiere eo anno viri nobiles Cn. Lentulus et L. Domitius. Lentulo super consulatum et triumphalia de Getis gloriae fuerat bene tolerata paupertas, dein magnae opes innocenter partae et modeste habitae. Domitium decoravit pater civili bello maris potens, donec Antonii partibus, mox Caesaris misceretur. avus Pharsalica acie pro optumatibus ceciderat. ipse delectus cui minor Antonia, Octavia genita, in matrimonium daretur, post exercitu flumen Albim transcendit, longius penetrata Germania quam quisquam priorum, easque ob res insignia triumphi adeptus est. obiit et L. Antonius, multa claritudine generis sed improspera. nam patre eius Iullo Antonio ob adulterium Iuliae morte punito hunc admodum adulescentulum, sororis nepotem, seposuit Augustus in civitatem Massiliensem ubi specie studiorum nomen exilii tegeretur. habitus tamen supremis honor ossaque tumulo Octaviorum inlata per decretum senatus.
44 This year saw the end of the great nobles, Gnaeus Lentulus and Lucius Domitius. Lentulus, over and above his consulate and the triumphal distinctions he had won against the Getae, could claim the glories, first of honest poverty gallantly carried, then of a great fortune innocently acquired and temperately employed. Domitius derived distinction from a father who had held the command of the sea during the Civil War, until he attached himself to the cause of Antony, and, later, to that of the Caesar: his grandfather had fallen on the aristocratic side upon the field of Pharsalia. Himself chosen to receive the hand of Octavia’s daughter, the younger Antonia, he crossed the Elbe with an army, penetrating deeper into Germany than any of his predecessors, and was rewarded for his exploit by the emblems of triumph. Lucius Antonius also passed away, the bearer of a great but luckless name: for, little more than a boy when his father Iullus paid the extreme penalty for his adultery with Julia, he had been relegated by Augustus to the city of Massilia, where the name of exile could be veiled under the pretext of study. His funeral, however, was celebrated with honour, and by a senatorial decree his bones were laid in the family tomb of the Octavii.
[45] Isdem consulibus facinus atrox in citeriore Hispania admissum a quodam agresti nationis Termestinae. is praetorem provinciae L. Pisonem, pace incuriosum, ex improviso in itinere adortus uno vulnere in mortem adfecit; ac pernicitate equi profugus, postquam saltuosos locos attigerat, dimisso equo per derupta et avia sequentis frustratus est. neque diu fefellit: nam prenso ductoque per proximos pagos equo cuius foret cognitum. et repertus cum tormentis edere conscios adigeretur, voce magna sermones patrio frustra se interrogari clamitavit: adsisterent socii ac spectarent; nullam vim tantam doloris fore ut veritatem eliceret. idemque cum postero ad quaestionem retraheretur, eo nisu proripuit se custodibus saxoque caput adflixit ut statim exanimaretur. sed Piso Termestinorum dolo caesus habetur; quippe pecunias e publico interceptas acrius quam ut tolerarent barbari cogebat.
45 Under the same consuls, an audacious crime was committed in Hither Spain by a rustic of the Termestine tribe. Making a surprise attack on the governor of the province, Lucius Piso, who was travelling with a carelessness due to the peaceful conditions, he struck him dead with one blow. Carried clear by the speed of his horse, he turned it loose on reaching wooded country, and eluded the hue and cry in the rugged and trackless wilds. But detection was not long deferred: the horse was caught and led round the villages in the neighbourhood till the ownership was ascertained. After discovery, when the torture was applied in order to force him to disclose his confederates, he cried aloud in his native tongue that “questions were useless: his partners might stand by and watch — for pain would have no terrors capable of extracting the truth.” Next day, as he was being dragged again to the torture, he threw himself clear of the warders and dashed his head against a rock, with such an exertion of strength that he expired on the spot. It is believed nevertheless, that Piso fell a victim to a Termestine conspiracy: for public monies had gone astray, and he was exacting restitution with a vigour too much for barbarian patience.
[46] Lentulo Gaetulico C. Calvisio consulibus decreta triumphi insignia Poppaeo Sabino contusis Thraecum gentibus, qui montium editis incultu atque eo ferocius agitabant. causa motus super hominum ingenium, quod pati dilectus et validissimum quemque militiae nostrae dare aspernabantor, ne regibus quidem parere nisi ex libidine soliti, aut si mitterent auxilia, suos ductores praeficere nec nisi adversum accolas belligerare. ac tum rumor incesserat fore ut disiecti aliisque nationibus permixti diversas in terras traherentur. sed antequam arma inciperent, misere legatos amicitiam obsequiumque memoraturos, et mansura haec si nullo novo onere temptarentur: sin ut victis servitium indiceretur, esse sibi ferrum et iuventutem et promptum libertati aut ad mortem animum. simul castella rupibus indita conlatosque illuc parentes et coniuges ostentabant bellumque impeditum arduum cruentum minitabantur.
46 In the consulate of Lentulus Gaetulicus and Gaius Calvisius, triumphal decorations were voted to Poppaeus Sabinus, for crushing the Thracian tribesmen, who, on their mountain peaks, lived uncivilized, and proportionately bold. The cause of the insurrection, apart from the temper of the insurgents, was that they refused to tolerate the military levies and to devote the whole of their able-bodied manhood to the Roman service. Their obedience, indeed, even to their kings was usually a matter of caprice, and the occasional contingents they sent were led by their own chiefs and acted only against neighbouring clans. In this case, too, a rumour was current that the clans were to be broken up and incorporated with other stocks, then dragged into distant countries. Still, before appealing to arms they sent a deputation to insist on their former friendship and loyalty. “Both,” they said, “would be continued if they were not tried by fresh impositions. But if they were sentenced to slavery as a vanquished race, they had steel and young men, and souls resolute for freedom or for death.” At the same time, they pointed to their strongholds perched upon the crags, and to the parents and wives placed in them for refuge, and threatened a war intricate, arduous, and bloody.
[47] At Sabinus, donec exercitus in unum conduceret, datis mitibus responsis, postquam Pomponius Labeo e Moesia cum legione, rex Rhoemetalces cum auxiliis popularium qui fidem non mutaverant, venere, addita praesenti copia ad hostem pergit, compositum iam per angustias saltuum. quidam audentius apertis in collibus visebantur, quos dux Romanus acie suggressus haud aegre pepulit sanguine barbarorum modico ob propinqua suffugia. mox castris in loco communitis valida manu montem occupat angustum et aequali dorso continuum usque ad proximum castellum quod magna vis armata aut incondita tuebatur. simul in ferocissimos, qui ante vallum more gentis cum carminibus et tripudiis persultabant, mittit delectos sagittariorum. ii dum eminus grassabantur crebra et inulta vulnera fecere: propius i
ncedentes eruptione subita turbati sunt receptique subsidio Sugambrae cohortis, quam Romanus promptam ad pericula nec minus cantuum et armorum tumultu trucem haud procul instruxerat.
Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24) Page 257