The Works of Tacitus
tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
[1864-1877]
Tacitus: Annals Book 2 [30]
30. Besides Trio and Catus, Fonteius Agrippa and Caius Vibius were among his
accusers, and claimed with eager rivalry the privilege of conducting the case
for the prosecution, till Vibius, as they would not yield one to the other,
and Libo had entered without counsel, offered to state the charges against him
singly, and produced an extravagantly absurd accusation, according to which
Libo had consulted persons whether he would have such wealth as to be able to
cover the Appian road as far as Brundisium with money. There were other questions
of the same sort, quite senseless and idle; if leniently regarded, pitiable.
But there was one paper in Libo’s handwriting, so the prosecutor alleged, with
the names of Caesars and of Senators, to which marks were affixed of dreadful
or mysterious significance. When the accused denied this, it was decided that
his slaves who recognised the writing should be examined by torture. As an ancient
statute of the Senate forbade such inquiry in a case affecting a master’s life,
Tiberius, with his cleverness in devising new law, ordered Libo’s slaves to
be sold singly to the State-agent, so that, forsooth, without an infringement
of the Senate’s decree, Libo might be tried on their evidence. As a consequence,
the defendant asked an adjournment till next day, and having gone home he charged
his kinsman, Publius Quirinus, with his last prayer to the emperor.
31. The answer was that he should address himself to the Senate. Meanwhile his
house was surrounded with soldiers; they crowded noisily even about the entrance,
so that they could be heard and seen; when Libo, whose anguish drove him from
the very banquet he had prepared as his last gratification, called for a minister
of death, grasped the hands of his slaves, and thrust a sword into them. In
their confusion, as they shrank back, they overturned the lamp on the table
at his side, and in the darkness, now to him the gloom of death, he aimed two
blows at a vital part. At the groans of the falling man his freedmen hurried
up, and the soldiers, seeing the bloody deed, stood aloof. Yet the prosecution
was continued in the Senate with the same persistency, and Tiberius declared
on oath that he would have interceded for his life, guilty though he was, but
for his hasty suicide.
32. His property was divided among his accusers, and praetorships out of the
usual order were conferred on those who were of senators’ rank. Cotta Messalinus
then proposed that Libo’s bust should not be carried in the funeral procession
of any of his descendants; and Cneius Lentulus, that no Scribonius should assume
the surname of Drusus. Days of public thanksgiving were appointed on the suggestion
of Pomponius Flaccus. Offerings were given to Jupiter, Mars, and Concord, and
the 13th day of September, on which Libo had killed himself, was to be observed
as a festival, on the motion of Gallus Asinius, Papius Mutilus, and Lucius Apronius.
I have mentioned the proposals and sycophancy of these men, in order to bring
to light this old-standing evil in the State. Decrees of the Senate were also
passed to expel from Italy astrologers and magicians. One of their number, Lucius
Pituanius, was hurled from the Rock. Another, Publius Marcius, was executed,
according to ancient custom, by the consuls outside the Esquiline Gate, after
the trumpets had been bidden to sound.
33. On the next day of the Senate’s meeting much was said against the luxury
of the country by Quintus Haterius, an ex-consul, and by Octavius Fronto, an
ex-praetor. It was decided that vessels of solid gold should not be made for
the serving of food, and that men should not disgrace themselves with silken
clothing from the East. Fronto went further, and insisted on restrictions being
put on plate, furniture, and household establishments. It was indeed still usual
with the Senators, when it was their turn to vote, to suggest anything they
thought for the State’s advantage. Gallus Asinius argued on the other side.
“With the growth of the empire private wealth too,” he said, “had increased,
and there was nothing new in this, but it accorded with the fashions of the
earliest antiquity. Riches were one thing with the Fabricii, quite another with
the Scipios. The State was the standard of everything; when it was poor, the
homes of the citizens were humble; when it reached such magnificence, private
grandeur increased. In household establishments, and plate, and in whatever
was provided for use, there was neither excess nor parsimony except in relation
to the fortune of the possessor. A distinction had been made in the assessments
of Senators and knights, not because they differed naturally, but that the superiority
of the one class in places in the theatre, in rank and in honour, might be also
maintained in everything else which insured mental repose and bodily recreation,
unless indeed men in the highest position were to undergo more anxieties and
more dangers, and to be at the same time deprived of all solace under those
anxieties and dangers.” Gallus gained a ready assent, under these specious phrases,
by a confession of failings with which his audience symphathised. And Tiberius
too had added that this was not a time for censorship, and that if there were
any declension in manners, a promoter of reform would not be wanting.
34. During this debate Lucius Piso, after exclaiming against the corruption
of the courts, the bribery of judges, the cruel threats of accusations from
hired orators, declared that he would depart and quit the capital, and that
he meant to live in some obscure and distant rural retreat. At the same moment
he rose to leave the Senate House. Tiberius was much excited, and though he
pacified Piso with gentle words, he also strongly urged his relatives to stop
his departure by their influence or their entreaties. Soon afterwards this same
Piso gave an equal proof of a fearless sense of wrong by suing Urgulania, whom
Augusta’s friendship had raised above the law. Neither did Urgulania obey the
summons, for in defiance of Piso she went in her litter to the emperor’s house;
nor did Piso give way, though Augusta complained that she was insulted and her
majesty slighted. Tiberius, to win popularity by so humouring his mother as
to say that he would go to the praetor’s court and support Urgulania, went forth
from the palace, having ordered soldiers to follow him at a distance. He was
seen, as the people thronged about him, to wear a calm face, while he prolonged
his time on the way with various conversations, till at last when Piso’s relatives
tried in vain to restrain him, Augusta directed the money which was claimed
to be handed to him. This ended the affair, and Piso, in consequence, was not
dishonoured, and the emperor rose in reputation. Urgulania’s influence, however,
was so formidable to the State, that in a certain cause which was tried by the
Senate she would not condescend to appear as a witness. The praetor was sent
to question her at her own house, although the Vestal virgins, according to
ancient custom, were heard in the courts, before judges, whenever they gave
evidence.
35. I should say nothing of the adjournment of public business in this year,
if it were not worth while to notice the conflicting opinions of Cneius Piso
and Asinius Gallus on the subject. Piso, although the emperor had said that
he would be absent, held that all the more ought the business to be transacted,
that the State might have honour of its Senate and knights being able to perform
their duties in the sovereign’s absence. Gallus, as Piso had forestalled him
in the display of freedom, maintained that nothing was sufficiently impressive
or suitable to the majesty of the Roman people, unless done before Caesar and
under his very eyes, and that therefore the gathering from all Italy and the
influx from the provinces ought to be reserved for his presence. Tiberius listened
to this in silence, and the matter was debated on both sides in a sharp controversy.
The business, however, was adjourned.
36. A dispute then arose between Gallus and the emperor. Gallus proposed that
the elections of magistrates should be held every five years, and that the commanders
of the legions who before receiving a praetorship discharged this military service
should at once become praetorselect, the emperor nominating twelve candidates
every year. It was quite evident that this motion had a deeper meaning and was
an attempt to explore the secrets of imperial policy. Tiberius, however, argued
as if his power would be thus increased. “It would,” he said, “be trying to
his moderation to have to elect so many and to put off so many. He scarcely
avoided giving offence from year to year, even though a candidate’s rejection
was solaced by the near prospect of office. What hatred would be incurred from
those whose election was deferred for five years! How could he foresee through
so long an interval what would be a man’s temper, or domestic relations, or
estate? Men became arrogant even with this annual appointment. What would happen
if their thoughts were fixed on promotion for five years? It was in fact a multiplying
of the magistrates five-fold, and a subversion of the laws which had prescribed
proper periods for the exercise of the candidate’s activity and the seeking
or securing office. With this seemingly conciliatory speech he retained the
substance of power.
37. He also increased the incomes of some of the Senators. Hence it was the
more surprising that he listened somewhat disdainfully to the request of Marcus
Hortalus, a youth of noble rank in conspicuous poverty. He was the grandson
of the orator Hortensius, and had been induced by Augustus, on the strength
of a gift of a million sesterces, to marry and rear children, that one of our
most illustrious families might not become extinct. Accordingly, with his four
sons standing at the doors of the Senate House, the Senate then sitting in the
palace, when it was his turn to speak he began to address them as follows, his
eyes fixed now on the statue of Hortensius which stood among those of the orators,
now on that of Augustus:- “Senators, these whose numbers and boyish years you
behold I have reared, not by my own choice, but because the emperor advised
me. At the same time, my ancestors deserved to have descendants. For myself,
not having been able in these altered times to receive or acquire wealth or
popular favour, or that eloquence which has been the hereditary possession of
our house, I was satisfied if my narrow means were neither a disgrace to myself
nor burden to others. At the emperor’s bidding I married. Behold the offspring
and progeny of a succession of consuls and dictators. Not to excite odium do
I recall such facts, but to win compassion. While you prosper, Caesar, they
will attain such promotion as you shall bestow. Meanwhile save from penury the
great-grandsons of Quintus Hortensius, the foster-children of Augustus.”
38. The Senate’s favourable bias was an incitement to Tiberius to offer prompt
opposition, which he did in nearly these words: – “If all poor men begin to
come here and to beg money for their children, individuals will never be satisfied,
and the State will be bankrupt. Certainly our ancestors did not grant the privilege
of occasionally proposing amendments or of suggesting, in our turn for speaking,
something for the general advantage in order that we might in this house increase
our private business and property, thereby bringing odium on the Senate and
on emperors whether they concede or refuse their bounty. In fact, it is not
a request, but an importunity, as utterly unreasonable as it is unforeseen,
for a senator, when the house has met on other matters, to rise from his place
and, pleading the number and age of his children, put a pressure on the delicacy
of the Senate, then transfer the same constraint to myself, and, as it were,
break open the exchequer, which, if we exhaust it by improper favouritism, will
have to be replenished by crimes. Money was given you, Hortalus, by Augustus,
but without solicitation, and not on the condition of its being always given.
Otherwise industry will languish and idleness be encouraged, if a man has nothing
to fear, nothing to hope from himself, and every one, in utter recklessness,
will expect relief from others, thus becoming useless to himself and a burden
to me.” These and like remarks, though listened to with assent by those who
make it a practice to eulogise everything coming from sovereigns, both good
and bad, were received by the majority in silence or with suppressed murmurs.
Tiberius perceived it, and having paused a while, said that he had given Hortalus
his answer, but that if the senators thought it right, he would bestow two hundred
thousand sesterces on each of his children of the male sex. The others thanked
him; Hortalus said nothing, either from alarm or because even in his reduced
fortunes he clung to his hereditary nobility. Nor did Tiberius afterwards show
any pity, though the house of Hortensius sank into shameful poverty.
39. That same year the daring of a single slave, had it not been promptly checked,
would have ruined the State by discord and civil war. A servant of Postumus
Agrippa, Clemens by name, having ascertained that Augustus was dead, formed
a design beyond a slave’s conception, of going to the island of Planasia and
seizing Agrippa by craft or force and bringing him to the armies of Germany.
The slowness of a merchant vessel thwarted his bold venture. Meanwhile the murder
of Agrippa had been perpetrated, and then turning his thoughts to a greater
and more hazardous enterprise, he stole the ashes of the deceased, sailed to
Cosa, a promontory of Etruria, and there hid himself in obscure places till
his hair and beard were long. In age and figure he was not unlike his master.
Then through suitable emissaries who shared his secret, it was rumoured that
Agrippa was alive, first in whispered gossip, soon, as is usual with forbidden
topics, in vague talk which found its way to the credulous ears of the most
ignorant people or of restless and revolutionary schemers. He himself went to
the towns, as the day grew dark, without letting himself be seen publicly or
remaining long in the same places, but, as he knew that truth gains strength
by notoriety and time, falsehood by precipitancy and vagueness, he would either
withdraw himself from publicity or else forestall it.
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