The Works of Tacitus
tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
[1864-1877]
Tacitus: History Book 4 [40]
40. Domitian, on the day of his taking his seat in the Senate, made a brief
and measured speech in reference to the absence of his father and brother, and
to his own youth. He was graceful in his bearing, and, his real character being
yet unknown, the frequent blush on his countenance passed for modesty. On his
proposing the restoration of the Imperial honours of Galba, Curtius Montanus
moved that respect should also be paid to the memory of Piso. The Senate passed
both motions, but that which referred to Piso was not carried out. Certain commissioners
were then appointed by lot, who were to see to the restitution of property plundered
during the war, to examine and restore to their place the brazen tables of the
laws, which had fallen down through age, to free the Calendar from the additions
with which the adulatory spirit of the time had disfigured it, and to put a
check on the public expenditure. The office of praetor was restored to Tettius
Julianus, as soon as it was known that he had fled for refuge to Vespasian.
Griphus still retained his rank. It was then determined that the cause of Musonius
Rufus against Publius Celer should be again brought on. Publius was condemned,
and thus expiation was made to the shade of Soranus. The day thus marked by
an example of public justice was not barren of distinction to individuals. Musonius
was thought to have fulfilled the righteous duty of an accuser, but men spoke
very differently of Demetrius, a disciple of the Cynical school of philosophy,
who pleaded the cause of a notorious criminal by appeals to corrupt influences
rather than by fair argument. Publius himself, in his peril, had neither spirit
nor power of speech left. The signal for vengeance on the informers having been
thus given, Junius Mauricus asked Caesar to give the Senate access to the Imperial
registers, from which they might learn what impeachments the several informers
had proposed. Caesar answered, that in a matter of such importance the Emperor
must be consulted.
41. The Senate, led by its principal members, then framed a form of oath,
which was eagerly taken by all the magistrates and by the other Senators in
the order in which they voted. They called the Gods to witness, that nothing
had been done by their instrumentality to prejudice the safety of any person,
and that they had gained no distinction or advantage by the ruin of Roman citizens.
Great was the alarm, and various the devices for altering the words of the oath,
among those who felt the consciousness of guilt. The Senate appreciated the
scruple, but denounced the perjury. This public censure, as it might be called,
fell with especial severity on three men, Sariolenus Vocula, Nonnius Attianus,
and Cestius Severus, all of them infamous for having practised the trade of
the informer in the days of Nero. Sariolenus indeed laboured under an imputation
of recent date. It was said that he had attempted the same practices during
the reign of Vitellius. The Senators did not desist from threatening gestures,
till he quitted the chamber; then passing to Paccius Africanus, they assailed
him in the same way. It was he, they said, who had singled out as victims for
Nero the brothers Scribonius, renowned for their mutual affection and for their
wealth. Africanus dared not confess his guilt, and could not deny it; but he
himself turned on Vibius Crispus, who was pressing him with questions, and complicating
a charge which he could not rebut, shifted the blame from himself by associating
another with his guilt.
42. Great was the reputation for brotherly affection, as well as for eloquence,
which Vipstanus Messalla earned for himself on that day, by venturing, though
not yet of Senatorial age, to plead for his brother Aquilius Regulus. The fall
of the families of the Crassi and Orfitus had brought Regulus into the utmost
odium. Of his own free will, as it seemed, and while still a mere youth, he
had undertaken the prosecution, not to ward off any peril from himself, but
in the hope of gaining power. The wife of Crassus, Sulpicia Praetextata, and
her four children were ready, should the Senate take cognizance of the cause,
to demand vengeance. Accordingly, Messalla, without attempting to defend the
case or the person accused, had simply thrown himself in the way of the perils
that threatened his brother, and had thus wrought upon the feelings of several
Senators. On this Curtius Montanus met him with a fierce speech, in which he
went to the length of asserting, that after the death of Galba, money had been
given by Regulus to the murderer of Piso, and that he had even fastened his
teeth in the murdered man’s head. “Certainly,” he said, “Nero did not compel
this act; you did not secure by this piece of barbarity either your rank or
your life. We may bear with the defence put forward by men who thought it better
to destroy others than to come into peril themselves. As for you, the exile
of your father, and the division of his property among his creditors, had left
you perfectly safe, besides that your youth incapacitated you for office; there
was nothing in you which Nero could either covet or dread. It was from sheer
lust of slaughter and greed of gain that you, unknown as you were, you, who
had never pleaded in any man’s defence, steeped your soul in noble blood, when,
though you had snatched from the very grave of your Country the spoils of a
man of consular rank, had been fed to the full with seven million sesterces,
and shone with all sacerdotal honours, you yet overwhelmed in one common ruin
innocent boys, old men of illustrious name, and noble ladies, when you actually
blamed the tardy movements of Nero in wearying himself and his informers with
the overthrow of single families, and declared that the whole Senate might be
destroyed by one word. Keep, Conscript Fathers, preserve a man of such ready
counsels, that every age may be furnished with its teacher, and that our young
men may imitate Regulus, just as our old men imitate Marcellus and Crispus.
Even unsuccessful villany finds some to emulate it: what will happen, if it
flourish and be strong? And the man, whom we dare not offend when he holds only
quaestor’s rank, are we to see him rise to the dignities of praetor and consul?
Do you suppose that Nero will be the last of the tyrants? Those who survived
Tiberius, those who survived Caligula, thought the same; and yet after each
there arose another ruler yet more detestable and more cruel. We are not afraid
of Vespasian; the age and moderation of the new Emperor reassure us. But the
influence of an example outlives the individual character. We have lost our
vigour, Conscript Fathers; we are no longer that Senate, which, when Nero had
fallen, demanded that the informers and ministers of the tyrant should be punished
according to ancient custom. The first day after the downfall of a wicked Emperor
is the best of opportunities.”
43. Montanus was heard with such approval on the part of the Senate, that
Helvidius conceived a hope that Marcellus also might be overthrown. He therefore
began with a panegyric on Cluvius Rufus, who, though not less rich nor less
renowned for eloquence, had never imperilled a single life in the days of Nero.
By this comparison, as well as by direct accusations, he pressed Eprius hard,
and stirred the indignation of the Senators. When Marcellus perceived this,
he made as if he would leave the House, exclaiming, “We go, Priscus, and leave
you your Senate; act the king, though Caesar himself be present.” Crispus followed.
Both were enraged, but their looks were different; Marcellus cast furious glances
about him, while Crispus smiled. They were drawn back, however, into the Senate
by the hasty interference of friends. The contest grew fiercer, while the well-disposed
majority on the one side, and a powerful minority on the other, fought out their
obstinate quarrel, and thus the day was spent in altercation.
44. At the next meeting of the Senate Caesar began by recommending that the
wrongs, the resentments, and the terrible necessities of former times, should
be forgotten, and Mucianus spoke at great length in favour of the informers.
At the same time he admonished in gentle terms and in a tone of entreaty those
who were reviving indictments, which they had before commenced and afterwards
dropped. The Senators, when they found themselves opposed, relinquished the
liberty which they had begun to exercise. That it might not be thought that
the opinion of the Senate was disregarded, or that impunity was accorded to
all acts done in the days of Nero, Mucianus sent back to their islands two men
of Senatorial rank, Octavius Sagitta and Antistius Sosianus, who had quitted
their places of banishment. Octavius had seduced one Pontia Postumia, and, on
her refusing to marry him, in the frenzy of passion had murdered her. Sosianus
by his depravity had brought many to ruin. Both had been condemned and banished
by a solemn decision of the Senate, and, though others were permitted to return,
were kept under the same penalty. But this did not mitigate the hatred felt
against Mucianus. Sosianus and Sagitta were utterly insignificant, even if they
did return; but men dreaded the abilities of the informers, their wealth, and
the power which they exercised in many sinister ways.
45. A trial, conducted in the Senate according to ancient precedents, brought
into harmony for a time the feelings of its members. Manlius Patruitus, a Senator,
laid a complaint, that he had been beaten by a mob in the colony of Sena, and
that by order of the magistrates; that the wrong had not stopped here, but that
lamentations and wailings, in fact a representation of funeral obsequies, had
been enacted in his presence, accompanied with contemptuous and insulting expressions
levelled against the whole Senate. The persons accused were summoned to appear,
and after the case had been investigated, punishment was inflicted on those
who were found guilty. A resolution of the Senate was also passed, recommending
more orderly behaviour to the people of Sena. About the same time Antonius Flamma
was condemned under the law against extortion, at the suit of the people of
Cyrene, and was banished for cruel practices.
46. Amidst all this a mutiny in the army all but broke out. The troops who,
having been disbanded by Vitellius, had flocked to support Vespasian, asked
leave to serve again in the Praetorian Guard, and the soldiers who had been
selected from the legions with the same prospect now clamoured for their promised
pay. Even the Vitellianists could not be got rid of without much bloodshed.
But the money required for retaining in the service so vast a body of men was
immensely large. Mucianus entered the camp to examine more accurately the individual
claims. The victorious army, wearing their proper decorations and arms, he drew
up with moderate intervals of space between the divisions; then the Vitellianists,
whose capitulation at Bovillae I have already related, and the other troops
of the party, who had been collected from the capital and its neighbourhood,
were brought forth almost naked. Mucianus ordered these men to be drawn up apart,
making the British, the German, and any other troops that there were belonging
to other armies, take up separate positions. The very first view of their situation
paralyzed them. They saw opposed to them what seemed a hostile array, threatening
them with javelin and sword. They saw themselves hemmed in, without arms, filthy
and squalid. And when they began to be separated, some to be marched to one
spot, and some to another, a thrill of terror ran through them all. Among the
troops from Germany the panic was particularly great; for they believed that
this separation marked them out for slaughter. They embraced their fellow soldiers,
clung to their necks, begged for parting kisses, and entreated that they might
not be deserted, or doomed in a common cause to suffer a different lot. They
invoked now Mucianus, now the absent Emperor, and, as a last resource, heaven
and the Gods, till Mucianus came forward, and calling them “soldiers bound by
the same oath and servants of the same Emperor,” stopped the groundless panic.
And indeed the victorious army seconded the tears of the vanquished with their
approving shouts. This terminated the proceedings for that day. But when Domitian
harangued them a few days afterwards, they received him with increased confidence.
The land that was offered them they contemptuously rejected, and begged for
regular service and pay. Theirs were prayers indeed, but such as it was impossible
to reject. They were therefore received into the Praetorian camp. Then such
as had reached the prescribed age, or had served the proper number of campaigns,
received an honourable discharge; others were dismissed for misconduct; but
this was done by degrees and in detail, always the safest mode of reducing the
united strength of a multitude.
47. It is a fact that, whether suggested by real poverty or by a wish to
give the appearance of it, a proposition passed the Senate to the effect that
a loan of sixty million sesterces from private persons should be accepted. Pompeius
Silvanus was appointed to manage the affair. Before long, either the necessity
ceased or the pretence was dropped. After this, on the motion of Domitian, the
consulships conferred by Vitellius were cancelled, and the honours of a censor’s
funeral were paid to Sabinus; great lessons both of the mutability of fortune,
ever bringing together the highest honours and the lowest humiliations.
48. About the same time the proconsul Lucius Piso was murdered. I shall make
the account of this murder as exact as possible by first reviewing a few earlier
circumstances, which have a bearing on the origin and motives of such deeds.
The legion and the auxiliaries stationed in Africa to guard the frontiers of
the Empire were under the proconsul’s authority during the reigns of the divine
Augustus and Tiberius. But in course of time Caligula, prompted by his restless
temper and by his fear of Marcus Silanus, who then held Africa, took away the
legion from the proconsul, and handed it over to a legate whom he sent for that
purpose. The patronage was equally divided between the two officers. A source
of disagreement was thus studiously sought in the continual clashing of their
authority, and it was further developed by an unprincipled rivalry. The power
of the legates grew through their lengthened tenure of office, and, perhaps,
because an inferior feels greater interest in such a competition. All the more
distinguished of the proconsuls cared more for security than for power.
49. At this time the legion in Africa was commanded by Valerius Festus, a
young man of extravagant habits and immoderate ambition, who was now made uneasy
by his relationship to Vitellius. Whether this man in their frequent interviews
tempted Piso to revolt, or whether he resisted such overtures, is not known
for certain, for no one was present at their confidential meetings, and, after
Piso’s death, many were disposed to ingratiate themselves with the murderer.
There is no doubt that the province and the troops entertained feelings of hostility
to Vespasian, and some of the Vitellianists, who had escaped from the capital,
incessantly represented to Piso that Gaul was hesitating and Germany ready to
revolt, that his own position was perilous, and that for one who in peace must
be suspected, war was the safer course. While this was going on, Claudius Sagitta,
prefect of Petra’s Horse, making a very quick passage, reached Africa before
Papirius, the centurion despatched by Mucianus. He declared that an order to
put Piso to death had been given to the centurion, and that Galerianus, his
cousin and son-in-law, had perished; that his only hope of safety was in bold
action; that in such action two paths were open; he might defend himself on
the spot, or he might sail for Gaul and offer his services as general to the
Vitellianist armies. Piso was wholly unmoved by this statement. The centurion
despatched by Mucianus, on landing in the port of Carthage, raised his voice,
and invoked in succession all blessings on the head of Piso, as if he were Emperor,
and bade the bystanders, who were astonished by this sudden and strange proceeding,
take up the same cry. The credulous mob rushed into the market-place, and demanded
that Piso should shew himself. They threw everything into an uproar with their
clamorous shouts of joy, careless of the truth, and only eager to flatter. Piso,
acting on the information of Sagitta, or, perhaps, from natural modesty, would
not make his appearance in public, or trust himself to the zeal of the populace.
On questioning the centurion, and finding that he had sought a pretext for accusing
and murdering him, he ordered the man to be executed, moved, not so much by
any hope of saving his life, as by indignation against the assassin; for this
fellow had been one of the murderers of Macer, and was now come to slay the
proconsul with hands already stained with the blood of the legate. He then severely
blamed the people of Carthage in an edict which betrayed his anxiety, and ceased
to discharge even the usual duties of his office, shutting himself up in his
palace, to guard against any casual occurrence that might lead to a new outbreak.
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