Tiberius, while Drusus was still alive, had overcome the Dalmatians and Pannonians, who were again a little restless, had celebrated a triumph on horseback, and had banqueted the people, a part on the Capitol and a part in many other places. At this time also Livia and Julia together entertained the women. Same festivities were being made ready for Drusus The Feriæ were to be held a second time on this account so that he might celebrate his triumph on the same occasion, but his untimely death upset the plans. As a consolation to Livia images were awarded her and she was enrolled among the mothers of three children. For upon such men or women as are not granted so many offspring by Heaven, or at least upon some of them, a law emanating formerly from the senate but now from the emperor bestows the dignities belonging to parents of three children. In this way they are not subject to the reproaches for childlessness and may receive all but a few of the prizes for fecundity. Not only men but gods enjoy the privilege, to the end that, if any one dying leaves them anything, they may take possession of it. These are the facts of the matter.
[-3-] Augustus ordered that the sittings of the senate should be held on specified days. Previously there had been no real system about them, and some members on that account were often late; therefore he appointed two regular monthly councils, so that those whom the law summoned should be under compulsion to attend; and in order that no other excuse for their absence should be within their power he commanded that no court or other meeting which required their attention should be held at that time. He made provision with respect to the number necessary for ratifying decrees under each separate category, to put it briefly; and he increased the fines imposed upon those who without good excuse were not present at the gatherings. Inasmuch as many such offences had generally gone unpunished owing to the large number of those who had incurred penalties, he commanded that if many should do this, they should draw lots, and every fifth one to draw a lot should be held liable to punishment.—The names of all the senators he had recorded on a white tablet and conspicuously posted. From the beginning made by him this is now annually done.Hisintention in doing it was to make it absolutely necessary for them to come together. Sometimes, by some accident, not so many might assemble as a special case demanded. This would be known, because except on such days as the emperor himself might be present the number of those in attendance was both at this time and later carefully ascertained, and with a great degree of accuracy. Under these circumstances they would deliberate and their decision would be recorded, but it was not final, was not ratified: instead,auctoritaswas declared, in order that theirwillmight be evident,—for such is the force of this word. To translate the term into Greek by a single expression is not possible. This same custom prevailed in case they ever assembled through haste in an irregular place, or on a day that was not fitting, or without a legal summons, or if because of the opposition of tribunes a decree could not be passed, but their opinion was not to be concealed. Later, ratification was granted according to ancestral precedent to the resolution in question, and the latter obtained the name ofsenatus consultum. This method, strictly observed for an extremely long period by the men of old time, has in a already become null and void,—as also the prerogative of the prætors. For the latter were indignant that they might bring no proposition before the senate although they ranked above the tribunes in dignity and they received from Augustus the right of doing so, but in the course of time it was taken away from them again.
[-4-] These and other laws which he at this time enacted he inscribed on white tablets and submitted to the senate before taking any final action with regard to them; and he allowed the senators to read, each one, the articles separately, his object being that if any provision did not please them, or if they could suggest anything better, they might speak. He was very desirous of being democratic, and once, when one of the companions of his campaigns asked him to aid him in the capacity of advocate, at first he pretended to be busy and bade one of his friends serve as advocate; when, however, the petitioner grew angry and said: "but as often as you needed my assistance, I did not send somebody else to you in place of myself, but in person I encountered dangers everywhere in your behalf," the emperor then entered the courtroom and pled his cause. He also stood by a friend of his who was defendant in a suit, having first communicated this very purpose to the senate: he saved the friend but was so far from being angry at his accuser, although the latter spoke most bluntly, that when he had to undergo a scrutiny regarding his morals the emperor acquitted him, saying that his bluntness was a necessary thing on account of the out-and-out baseness of the mass of mankind. Augustus, indeed, punished others who were reported to be conspiring against their sovereign. He had quæstors hold office in the coast districts near the City and in certain other parts of Italy; and this he did for several years. Yet at this time he was unwilling, as I have remarked, [3] to enter the city on account of Drusus's death.
[B.C. 8(a. u. 746)]
[-5-] But the next year, in which Asinius Gallus and Graius Marcius were consuls, he came back and carried the laurel, contrary to custom, into the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. No festival did he celebrate over his achievements, thinking that he had lost far more in the death of Drusus than he had gained by the victories. The consuls carried out the program usual on such occasions and set some of the captives to fighting with one another. Later, when they and the rest of the officials were accused of having been appointed by means of some bribery, he did not investigate the case but pretended not even to know of it. He did not like to visit punishment on any of them or to pardon them if they were convicted. But from office seekers he demanded before the elections a deposit of money as a guarantee that they would resort to no such methods, on pain of forfeiting what they had paid in. This course all approved.—As it was not permissible for a slave to be tortured for evidence against his master, he ordered that, as often as the necessity for such a course should arise, the slave should be sold either to the State or to him, in order that being now the property of some one else than the man on trial he might be examined. Some found fault with this, because the law was to be invalidated by the change of masters; but others declared it to be necessary, because many under the previous arrangement united to take advantage of the loophole offered and to get the offices.
[-6-] Augustus, after this, although, as he said, he was minded to lay aside the supreme power, since the second ten-year period had run out, resumed it again with a show of reluctance and made a campaign against the Celtæ. He himself remained behind on Roman territory, but Tiberius crossed the Rhine. The barbarians in dread of him, all except the Sugambri, made overtures for peace, but they did not obtain their request at this time,—for Augustus refused to conclude a truce with them if they lacked the Sugambri,—nor did they later. To be sure, the Sugambri, too, sent envoys, but they failed completely to accomplish anything: on the contrary, all of them, a numerous and distinguished band, met an untimely end. Augustus arrested them and placed them in various cities: they took this very much amiss and committed suicide. The tribes then were quiet for a time, but later they amply requited the Romans for the calamity.—Besides doing this Augustus granted money to the soldiers, not as to victors, though he himself had taken the name of imperator and had given it to Tiberius, but because this was the first time that they had Gaius appearing in the exercises with them. He advanced Tiberius to the position of imperator in place of Drusus, and besides exalting him with that title appointed him consul once more. According to the ancient custom he had a written notice bulletined for the public benefit before Tiberius entered upon the office, and he furthermore accorded him the solemnity of a triumph. Augustus himself did not wish to hold it, but obtained the privilege of a horse-race perpetually upon his birthday. He enlarged the pomerium and renamed the month called Sextilis, Augustus. The people generally wanted September to be so named, because he had been born in it, but he preferred the other month, in which he had first been appointed consul and had conquered in many great battles. It was in these things that he took pride.
[-7-] The death of Mæcenas caused him grief. He had enjoyed many kind services at his hands, for which reason he had entrusted him, though but a knight, with the care of the City for a long time, but especially was his ministry of use when the emperor's passion became nearly uncontrollable. Mæcenas was then able to banish his anger and to lead him into a gentler frame of mind. Here is an instance. Mæcenas once found his patron holding court, and seeing that would undoubtedly condemn many persons to death, he undertook to push through the bystanders and get Finding this impossible, he wrote on a tablet: "Pray desist now, executioner." Making as if it contained something different, he threw it into the lap of Augustus, and the latter imposed no death sentences but immediately rose and left. The emperor was not displeased at such hints but rather glad of them, because whatever excess of anger he felt by reason of his own nature and the press of affairs he was able to tone down with the aid of his friend's frank advice.—This also is a very great proof of Mæcenas's excellence, that he made himself liked by Augustus, in spite of resisting his projects, and pleased all the people. Though he had tremendous influence with the emperor, so that he could bestow offices and honors upon many men, he did not lose his head but continued to the end of his life in the equestrian class. For all these reasons Augustus missed him greatly, and he was affected by the fact that his minister, though irritated about his own wife, had left him as his heir and had put all his property, save a very small amount, in his hands to give to his friends or not, as he saw fit. Such was the character of Mæcenas and such his treatment of Augustus. He was the first to construct a swimming pool of warm water in the city and the first to devise signs for letters, to facilitate speed,—a system which, through Aquila [4] a freedman, he taught to a number.
[B.C. 7 (a. u.747)]
[-8-] Tiberius on the first day that he began the consulship with Gnæus Piso convened the senate in the Octavium, because it was outside the pomerium. After assigning himself the duty of repairing the temple of Concord, in order that he might inscribe upon it his own name and that of Drusus, he held his triumph, and in company with his mother dedicated the so-called Precinct of Livia. He himself entertained the senate on the Capitol, and she the women privately. Not much later, as there was some disturbance in Germany, he took the field. The festival held in honor of the return of Augustus was managed by Gaius together with Piso, in his place. The Campus Agrippæ (except the portico) and the Diribitorium Augustus himself made public property. The latter was the largest house ever constructed under a single roof; now the whole top of it has been taken off because it could not be put together solidly again, and the edifice stands wide open to the sky. Agrippa had left it still in the process of building, and it was completed at this time. The portico in the plain, which Polla his sister (who had also decorated the race-courses) was making, was not yet finished. Meantime funeral combats in honor of Agrippa were given, all except Augustus wearing dark clothing and even his sons the same, and there were both duels and contests of groups; they were held in the Sæpta out of honor to Agrippa and because many of the structures surrounding the Forum had been burned. The blame for the fire was laid upon the debtor class and they were suspected of having set it with the purpose of having some of their debts remitted when they appeared to have lost considerable. They obtained nothing, however. The lanes at this time were provided with certain supervisors from among the people, whom we call road commissioners[5] They were allowed to use official dress and two lictors just in the places where they had jurisdiction and on certain days, and they were given charge of the body of slaves which previously had accompanied the ædiles to save buildings that were set afire,—an arrangement still continued to the present day. They, together with the tribunes and prætors, were by lot appointed to have charge of the entire city, which was divided into fourteen wards.—These were all the events of that year, for nothing worthy of mention happened in Germany.
[B.C. 6 (a. u.748)]
[-9-] The year following, which marked the consulship of Gaius Antistius and Lælius Balbus, Augustus was displeased to see that Gaius and Lucius, who were being brought up in the lap of sovereignty, did not carefully imitate his ways. They not only lived too luxuriously, but showed unseemly audacity. Lucius once entered the theatre by himself and became the center of attraction of the whole population; some merely let him engross their thoughts and others openly paid court to him. This treatment made him more arrogant, and among his other doings he proposed for consul Gaius, who was not yet a iuvenis. His father, however, expressed the earnest wish that no such complication of circumstances might arise as once occurred in his own case,—that any one younger than twenty should be consul. When the people still remained urgent he then said that a man ought to receive this office at time when he would not be liable to error himself and could resist the passions of the populace. After that he gave Gaius a priesthood, with the right of attendance in the senate and of beholding spectacles and sitting at banquets with that body. And wishing in some way [6] to rebuke them still more severely he bestowed upon Tiberius the tribunician authority for five years, and assigned to him Armenia, which was becoming estranged since the death of Tigranes. The result was that he was soon at odds with the people and Tiberius, though without effecting anything. The people felt that they had been slighted, and Tiberius feared their anger. He was, however, soon sent to Rhodes on the pretext that he needed some education; and he took not even his entire retinue, to say nothing of others, that so his appearance and his deeds might drop out of their minds. [The trip he made as a private person except in so far as he compelled the Parians to sell him the statue of Vesta, that it might be placed in the temple of Concord. When he reached the island he neither behaved at all nor spoke in an overweening way.—This is the truest reason for his foreign journey.] There is also a story current that he did this on account of his wife Julia, because he could no longer endure her; at any rate she was left behind at Rome. [Others have said that he was angry at not having been designated Cæsar. Others still, that he was driven out by Augustus, being accused of plotting against the latter's children. But that his departure was not for the sake of education nor because he was displeased at the decrees passed became plain from many of his subsequent actions, and especially through his immediately opening his will at that time, and reading it to his mother and to Augustus. But all possible conjectures were made.]
[B.C. 5 (a. u.749)]
The following year Augustus in the course of his twelfth consulship placed Gaius among the iuvenes and at the same time brought him before the senate, declared him Princeps luventutis, and allowed him to become cavalry commander.
* * * * *
[B.C. 2 (a. u.752)]
And after the elapse of a year Lucius also obtained all the honors that had been granted to his brother Gaius. On an occasion when the populace had gathered and were asking that some reforms be instituted, when, indeed, they had sent for this purpose the tribunes to Augustus, Lucius came and deliberated with them about their demands; and at this all were pleased.
[-10-]Augustus limited the number of the populace to be supplied with grain, something previously left vague, to twenty myriads, and, as some say, he gave each one sixty denarii.. .. to Mars, and that he himself and his grandsons, as often as they pleased, and those who were passing from the classification of children and were being registered among the iuvenes, should invariably resort thither; that magistrates being despatched to offices abroad should make that their starting-point; that the senate should there declare their votes in regard to the granting of triumphs and the victors celebrating them should devote to this Mars their sceptre and their crown; that such victors and all others who might obtain triumphal honors should have their likenesses in bronze erected in the Forum; that in case military standards captured by the enemy were ever recovered, they should be placed in the temple; that a festival of the god should be celebrated near the Scalæ by the persons successively occupying the office of præfectus alae; that a nail should be driven for his glory by those acting as censors; that senators have the right to undertake the work of furnishing the horses that were to compete in the equestrian contest, as well as the general care of the temple, precisely as had been provided by law in the case of Apollo and in the case of Jupiter Capitolinus.
These matters settled, Augustus dedicated that spacious hall: yet to Gaius and to Lucius he gave once and for all powers to officiate at all similar consecrations, on the strength of a kind of consular authority (founded on precedent) that they were to use. They, too, directed the horse-race on this occasion, and their brother Agrippa took part with the children of the leading families in the so-called "Troy" equestrian games. Two hundred and sixty lions were slaughtered in the hippodrome. There was a gladiatorial combat in the Sæpta, and a naval battle of "Persians" and "Athenians" was given on the spot, where even at the present day some relics of it are still exhibited. The above were the names applied to the parties engaged, and the Athenians, as of old, came out victorious.
In the course of the spectacle he let water into the Flaminian Hippodrome and thirty-six crocodiles were there cut in pieces. However, Augustus did not serve as consul every day continuously, but after holding office a little while he gave the title of the consulship to another.
These were the exercises in honor of Mars. To Augustus himself a sacred contest was offered in Neapolis, the Campanian city, nominally because he had helped it rise when it was prostrated by earthquake and by fire, but in reality because the inhabitants, alone of their neighbors, were enthusiastic over Greek customs; and he also received the title of Father, with, binding force (for previously he was merely spoken of by that name and no decree had been passed). Moreover, it was now that for the first time he appointed two pretorian prefects, Quintus Ostorius Scapula and Publius Salvius Aper. This term "prefect" is the word which I, too, shall use solely to designate the commanders of any body, since it has won its way into general currency. Likewise Pylades the dancer conducted certain games, not performing any manual labor in connection with them (since he was now a man of advanced age) but employing the insignia of office and authorizing the necessary expenditures. Similarly the prætor Quintus Crispinus conducted games (though I need lay no emphasis on that point) and under his management knights and women of families not unknown to fame were brought into the orchestra. But of all this Augustus made no account; his daughter Julia, however, proved so dissolute that she held revels and drinking bouts by night in the Forum and on the very rostra. When at last he found this out, he was exceedingly enraged. He had guessed before that she did not lead a right life, but refused to believe it. For those who hold supreme power are acquainted with anything better than with their own affairs. Their own deeds do not go undetected by their associates, but they are not fully aware of the latter's. In this instance [when he learned what was going on], he gave way to such violent rage that he could not keep the matter to himself, but communicated it to the senate. As a result she was banished to the island of Pandateria, near Campania, and her mother Scribonia voluntarily was the companion of her voyage. Of the men who enjoyed her favors Iullus Antonius, on the ground that his conduct was prompted by designs upon the monarchy, was put to death, along with others, [prominent persons]. The remainder were banished to islands. [And since there was a tribune among them he was not tried till he had completed his term of office.] Many other women, too, were accused of similar behavior, but the emperor would not permit all the suits: he set a definite time and forbade investigation of what had occurred previous to that. In the case of his daughter he would show no mercy, urging that he would rather have been Phoebe's father than hers, but the rest he spared. Now Phoebe been a freedwoman of Julia's and the companion of her undertakings, and had already caused her own death. For this Augustus praised her.
[B.C. 1 (a. u.753)]
Gaius' captaincy of the legions on the Ister was a peaceful period. He fought no war, not because there was none but because he cultivated ruling in quiet and safety, and the dangers were assigned to others.
The revolt of the Armenians and the Parthians' coöperation with them kept Augustus sorrowful, and he was at a loss to know what to do. His age rendered him incapable of campaigning, Tiberius (as stated) had already withdrawn, he could not venture to send any other influential man, and Gaius and Lucius were, as it happened, young and inexperienced in affairs. Still, under the prod of necessity, he chose Gaius, gave him the proconsular authority and a wife (an act intended to increase his dignity) and assigned advisers to him. Gaius set out and was everywhere received with marks of distinction, occupying as he did the position of the emperor's grandson,—one might almost say son,—and Tiberius went to Chios and paid him court to rid himself of suspicion. He humiliated himself and groveled at the feet not only of Gaius but of all the latter's associates. On his return to Syria, after no great successes won, he was wounded.
[When the barbarians heard of the campaign of Gaius, Phrataces sent to Augustus men to explain what had occurred and asked to get back his brothers on condition of accepting peace.
[A.D. 1 (a. u.754)]
The emperor's reply, addressed simply to "Phrataces," without the title of king, directed him to lay aside the royal name and withdraw from Armenia. The Parthian, however, instead of being cowed at this, wrote back in a generally supercilious tone, calling himself "king of kings," but the other only "Cæsar."—Tigranes did not at once send any envoys, but when Artabazus somewhat later fell sick and died he despatched a letter, not writing the name "king" in it, and asked Augustus for the kingdom. Influenced by these considerations and in fear, likewise, of war with the Parthians, the emperor accepted the gifts and bade him go with good hopes to meet Gaius in Syria.]
[-10a-(Boissevain)] … other party from Egypt that campaigned against them they repulsed, and did not yield till a tribune from the pretorian guard was sent against them. He in progress of time checked their incursions, and for a long period no senator governed the cities in this region.
Coincident with these troubles there was a new movement on the part of the Celtæ. Some time earlier Domitius, while still governing the regions adjacent to the Ister, had intercepted the Hermunduri (a tribe that for some unknown reason had left their native land and were wandering about in search of a different country), and he had settled them in a portion of Marcomania; next, encountering no opposition, he had crossed the Albis, cemented friendship with the barbarians on the other side, and set up an altar to Augustus to commemorate the event. Just now he had transferred his position to the Rhine, where, in pursuance of an intention to have his subordinates restore certain Cheruscian exiles, he had met with misfortune and had caused the other barbarians likewise to concieve a contempt for the Romans. This was, however, the extent of his operations during the year in question, for because of the Parthian war impending no chastisement was visited upon the rebels immediately.
Nevertheless the war with the Parthians did not materialize. Phrataces heard that Gaius was in Syria, equipped with consular powers, and was furthermore uneasy about home interests in which even previously he had failed to discern a friendly feeling; hence he hastened to effect a reconciliation, secured on the proviso that he himself should depart from Armenia and his brothers remain over seas.
[A.D. 2(a. u.755)]
Now the Armenians fell into conflict with the Romans the following year, in which Publius Vinicius and Publius Varus were consuls. The restraining influence of the fact that Tigranes had perished in some barbarian war and that Erato had resigned the sovereignty was nullified as soon as they were delivered to a Mede, Ariobarzanes, who had once come to the Romans in company with Tiridates. They accomplished nothing worthy of note save that a leader named Addon,[7] who was occupying Artagira, induced Gaius to come close up to the wall, pretending that he would reveal to him some secrets of the Parthian king, and then wounded him. In the consequent siege he maintained a prolonged resistance. When he was at last overthrown, not only Augustus but Gaius, too, assumed the title of imperator, and Armenia passed into the control of Ariobarzanes. Soon after the latter died, and his son Artabazus received it as the gift of Augustus and the senate. Gaius fell ill from the wound, and though he was not in any way robust and the condition of his health had, in fact, injured his mind, he now grew still more feeble. At length he begged leave to retire to private life, and it was his wish to take up his abode somewhere in Syria. Augustus, in the depth of grief, communicated his desire to the senate, and urged him to come at any rate to Italy and then do what he pleased. So Gaius resigned at once all the duties of his office and took a coastwise trading vessel to Lycia, where, at Limyra, he breathed his last. Prior to his demise the spark of Lucius's life had also paled. (He, too, was being given practice in many places, sent now here, now there; and he was wont to read personally the letters of Gaius before the senate, so often as he was present.) His death was due to a sudden illness. In connection with both these cases, therefore, suspicion rested upon Livia, and particularly because the return of Tiberius from Rhodes to Rome occurred at this time. [-11-] As for him he was so extremely well versed in the art of divination by the stars, having with him Thrasyllus, who was a past master of all astrology, that he had understood accurately what was fated both for himself and for them. And the story goes that once in Rhodes he was about to push Thrasyllus from the walls, because the latter was the only one aware of all he had in mind; observing, however, that his intended victim looked gloomy, he asked him why his face was overcast. When the other replied that he suspected some danger, he was surprised [8] and gave up his murderous designs. Thrasyllus had such a clear knowledge of all things that when he descried approaching afar off the boat which brought to Tiberius the message from his mother and Augustus to return to Rome, he told him in advance what news it would bring.
[-12-] The bodies of Lucius and of Gaius were brought to Rome by the military tribunes and by the chief men of each city. The targes and the golden spears which they had received from the knights on entering the class of iuvenes were set up in the senate-house.
Augustus was once called "master" by the people, but he not only forbade that any one should use this form of address to him but took very good care in every way to enforce his command.
[A.D. 3 (a. u.756)]
When his third ten-year period had been accomplished, he then accepted the rulership for the fourth time,—of course under compulsion! He had become milder through age and more hesitating in regard to offending any of the senators and now wished to have no differences with any of them.
For lending for three years to such as needed it fifteen hundred myriads of denarii, without interest, he was praised and reverenced by all.
Once, when a fire destroyed the palace, and many persons offered him large amounts, he would take nothing except an aureus from the various peoples and a denarius from single individuals. The nameaureus, which I give here, is a local term for a piece of money worth twenty-five denarii.[9] Some of the Greeks also, whose books we read for acquiring a pure Attic style, give it this name. When Augustus had restored his dwelling he made all of it public property, either because of the contributions made by the people or because he was high priest and wished to live in a building both private and public.
[-13-] The people urged Augustus very strongly to rescind the sentence of exile passed upon his daughter, but he answered that fire would mix with water before she should be brought back. And the populace did throw a good deal of fire into the Tiber. For the time being they accomplished nothing, but later they brought such pressure to bear that she was at last moved from the island to the mainland.
And later the outbreak of war with the Celtæ found Augustus wornout in body (by reason of old age and sickness) and incapable of takingthe field. Yielding, then, partly to the requirements of the situationand partly to the persuasions of Julia[10] (who had already been restoredfrom banishment)he both adopted Tiberius and sent him out[11] against the Celtæ, grantinghim the tribunician authority for ten years.
[A.D. 4 (a. u.757)]
Yet suspecting that he might lose his head and fearing a possible insurrection he adopted for him also his nephew Germanicus, though Tiberius himself had a son. After this he took courage, and feeling that he had successors and supporters, he became desirous to organize the senate once more. So he nominated the ten senators whom he most honored and appointed three of them, selected by lot, to be scrutinizers. There were not many, however, who either imposed sentence on themselves beforehand,—permission being given them to do so, just as previously,—or were retired against their will.
This business, then, was managed by others. The emperor himself took a census of the inhabitants of Italy possessing property valued at not less than five myriad denarii. The weaker citizens and those dwelling outside of Italy he did not compel to undergo the taking of a census, for he feared that they might be disturbed and show insubordination of some sort. And in order that he might not seem to be acting in the capacity of censor (for the reason I mentioned before) [12] he assumed proconsular powers for the purpose of completing the census and accomplishing the purification. And inasmuch as many of the young men of the senatorial class and of the equestrian, as well, had grown poor though not at fault for it themselves, he made up to most of them the required amount of property, and in the case of some eighty increased it to thirty myriads.
[A.D. 4 (a. u.757) ]
Since, also, many were giving unrestricted emancipation to their slaves, he directed what age the manumitter and likewise the person to be liberated by him must have reached: moreover, what regulations people in general, and the former masters, should observe toward those made freedmen.
[-14-] While he was thus occupied plots were formed against him, and notably one by Gnæus Cornelius, a son of the daughter of Pompey the Great. For some time the emperor was a prey to great perplexity not wishing to kill the men,—for he saw that no greater safety would be his by their destruction,—nor yet to let them go, for fear this might attract others to conspire against him. While he was in a dilemma as to what he should do and could not be free from anxiety by day nor from terror by night, Livia one day said to him:—
"What is this, husband? Why is it you do not sleep!"
"Wife," answered Augustus, "who could be even to the slightest degree free from care, that has so many enemies and is so constantly the object of plots of one set of men or another? Do you not see how many are attacking both me and our sovereignty? The vengeance meted out to those found guilty does not retard them: quite the contrary, as if they were pressing forward to do some noble action the rest also hasten to perish similarly."
Livia, hearing this, said: "That you should be the object of plots is not remarkable, nor is it contrary to human nature. Having so large an empire you must do many things and naturally you cause grief to not a few people. A ruler can not please all: on the contrary, even an exceedingly upright sovereign must inevitably make foes of many persons. For those who wish to be unjust are many more than those who act justly, and their desires it is impossible to satisfy. Even among such as possess a certain excellence some yearn for many great rewards which they can not obtain and some chafe because they are inferior to others: so both of them find fault with the ruler. From this you can see that it is impossible to avoid evil, and furthermore that of all the attacks made none is upon you but all upon your position of supremacy. If you were a private citizen, no one would willingly do you any harm unless he had previously received some injury. But for the supremacy and for the good things that it contains all yearn, and those who occupy any post of influence far more than their inferiors. It is the nature of wicked men, who have very little sense, to do so. It is implanted in their dispositions, just like anything else, and it is impossible by either persuasion or compulsion to remove such a bent from some of them. There is no law or fear stronger than natural tendencies. Reflect on this and do not take the offences of others so hard, but keep yourself and your supremacy carefully guarded, that we may hold it safely not by virtue of inflicting severe punishments but by means of strict watchfulness."
[-15-] To this Augustus replied: "Wife, I too know that nothing great is ever free from envy and plots,—least of all sole power. We should be peers of the gods if we did not have troubles and cares and fears beyond all private individuals. But to me it is also a source of grief that this is inevitably so and that no cure for it can be found."
"Yet," said Livia, "since some men are so constituted as to want to do wrong in any event, let us guard against them. We have many soldiers who protect us,—some marshaled against foreign foes and others about your person,—and a large retinue, so that by their help we may live safely both at home and abroad."
"I do not need," said Augustus, interrupting, "to state that many men on many occasions have perished at the hands of their immediate associates. For in addition to other disadvantages this, too, is a most distressing thing in monarchies, that we fear not only enemies (like other people) but also our friends. Many more rulers have been plotted against by such persons than by those who had nothing to do with them. This is to be expected, since the inner circle is with the potentate day and night, exercising and eating, and he has to take food and drink that they have prepared. Moreover, against acknowledged enemies you can array these very men, but against the latter themselves there is no one else to employ as an ally. To us, therefore, the whole time through, solitude is dreadful, company dreadful: to be unguarded is terrifying, but most terrifying are the guards themselves: enemies are difficult to deal with, but still greater difficulties are presented by our friends. They must all be called friends, whether they are such or not, but even if one should find them most reliable, even so one may not trust one's self in their company with a clear, carefree, unsuspecting heart. This, then, and the fact that it is requisite to take measures of defence against ordinary conspirators, make the situation overwhelmingly dreadful. For to be always compelled to be inflicting punishment and chastisement upon somebody is highly repugnant to men of character."
[-16-] "You are right," answered Livia, "and I have some advice to give you,—at least, if you prove willing to receive it and willing not to censure me that, woman as I am, I dare to make suggestions to you which no one else, even of your most intimate friends, would venture. And this is not through any lack of knowledge on their part, but because they are not bold enough to speak."
"Say on," rejoined Augustus, "and let us have it."
"I will tell you," continued Livia, "without hesitation, because I share your comforts and adversities, and while you are safe I myself hold dominion day by day, whereas if you come to any harm (which Heaven forbid!) I shall perish with you. Well, then, human nature persuades some to sin under any conditions, and there is no device for controlling it when it has once started toward any goal. What seems good to persons,—not to rehearse the vices of the masses,—at once induces very many of them to do wrong. [-17-] The boast of birth and pride of wealth, greatness of honor, audacity founded on bravery, and conceit due to authority, bring shipwreck to not a few. There is no making nobility ignoble, bravery cowardly, or prudence foolish: it is impossible. Nor, again, is it to curtail men's abundance or to strike down ambitions where conduct has been correct: that is iniquitous. That he who is on the defensive and anticipates others' movements should incur injury and ill repute is inevitable. Come, let us change our policy and spare some of them. To me it seems far more feasible to set things right by kindness than by harshness. Not only are those who grant pardon loved by the objects of their clemency, who strive to repay the favor, but all others both respect and reverence them and will not readily endure to see harm done to them. Sovereigns, however, who maintain an inexorable anger not only are hated by those who have aught to fear, but cause uneasiness to all the rest. As a result, men plot against them to avoid meeting an untimely fate. Do you not notice that physicians very rarely have recourse to cutting and burning, wishing to avoid aggravating a person's disease, but in the majority of cases soothe and cure by means of fomentations and mild drugs? Do not think that because those ailments have to do with the body and these with the mind that they are essentially different. Very many experiences of the body are similar in a way to what goes on in the souls of men, no matter how bodiless the latter may be. The soul contracts under the influence of fear and expands under that of wrath. Pain humiliates men and audacity puffs them up. The correspondences then are very close and therefore both kinds of trouble need treatments which are much alike. A gentle speech uttered to a man causes all his unruliness to subside, just as a harsh one provokes to anger even an easy-going person. The granting of pardon melts the most audacious, just as punishment irritates the most mild. Acts of violence inflame all men in every instance, even though such measures may be thoroughly just, but considerate treatment mollifies them. Hence one would more readily brave great dangers through persuasion and voluntarily, than under compulsion. Such is the inherent, unalterable quality of both methods of behavior that even among brute beasts that have no mind many of the strongest and fiercest are domesticated by petting and are subdued by coaxing, whereas many of the most cowardly and weak are made unmanageable and maddened by cruelties and terrors.
[-18-] "I am not saying that we must spare absolutely all wrongdoers, for we must cut out of the way the daredevil and busybody, the man of evil nature and evil devices, who gives himself up to an unyielding, persistent baseness, just as we treat parts of the body that are quite incurable. But of the rest, who err through youth or ignorance or a misunderstanding or some other chance, some purposely and others unwillingly, it is proper to admonish some with words, to bring others to their senses by threats, and to handle still others with moderation in some different way, precisely as in other [matters] … all men impose upon some greater and upon others lesser punishments. So far as these persons are concerned you may employ moderation without danger, inflicting upon some the penalty of banishment, upon others that of loss of political rights, upon still others a money fine. You may also place some of them in country districts or in certain cities.
"In the past a few have been brought to their senses by missing what they hoped for, by failing to secure what they aimed at. A degradation in seats[13] and factional disputes involving disgrace, as well as being injured or terrified before they could make a move, has improved not a few. Yet one well born and courageous would prefer to die rather than to have any such experience. As a result, vengeance would become not easier for the plotters but more difficult, and we should be able to live in safety, since not a word could be said against us. At present we are thought to kill many through anger,[14] many because of a desire for their money, others through fear of their bravery, and a great many others on account of jealousy of their excellence. No one will readily believe that a person possessing so great an authority and power can seriously be the object of the plots of any unarmed individual. Some talk as above and others say that we hear a great many lies and foolishly pay heed to many of them, believing them true. They assert that those who spy into and overhear doubtful matters concoct many falsehoods, some being influenced by enmity, others by wrath, some because they can get money from their foes, others because they can get no money from the same persons, and further, that they report not only the fact of certain persons having committed suspicious actions or intending to commit them, but also how A said so-and-so, and B hearing it was silent, how one man laughed and somebody else wept.
[-19-] "I could cite innumerable other details of like nature which, no matter how true they were, are no business for free men to concern themselves about or report to you. If they went unnoticed, they would do you no harm, but when heard they might irritate you even against your will: and that ought by no means to happen, especially in a ruler of the people. Now many believe that from this cause large numbers unjustly perish, some without a trial and others by some unwarranted condemnation of a court. They will not admit that the evidence given or statements made under torture or any similar proof against them is genuine. This is the sort of talk, though some of it may not be just, which is reported in the case of practically all so put to death. And you ought, Augustus, to be free not only from injustice but from the appearance of it. It is sufficient for a private individual to avoid irregular conduct, but it behooves a ruler to incur not even the suspicion of it. You are the leader of human beings, not of beasts, and the only way you can make them really friendly to you is by persuading them by every means and constantly, without a break, that you will wrong no one either voluntarily or involuntarily. A man can be forced to fear another but he has to be persuaded to love him: and he is to be persuaded by the good treatment he himself receives and the benefits he sees conferred on others. The person, however, who suspects that somebody has perished unjustly both fears that he may some day meet the same fate and is compelled to hate the one responsible for the deed. And to be hated by one's subjects is (besides containing no element of good) exceedingly unprofitable. The general mass of people feel that ordinary individuals must defend themselves against all who wrong them in any way or else be despised and consequently oppressed: but rulers, they think, ought to prosecute those who wrong the State but endure those who are thought to commit offences against them privately; rulers can not be harmed by disdain or assault, because they have many guardians to protect them.
[-20-] "When I hear this and turn my attention to this I feel inclined to tell you outright to put no one to death for any such reason. Places of supremacy are established for the preservation of subjects, to prevent them from being injured either by one another or by foreign tribes: such places are not, by Jupiter, for the purpose of allowing the rulers themselves to hard their subjects. It is most glorious to be able not to destroy most of the citizens but to save them all, if possible. It is right to educate them by laws and, favours and admonitions, that they may be right-minded and further to watch and guard them, so that even if they wish to do wrong they may not be able. And if there is anything ailing, we must cure and correct it in some way, in order that there may be no entire loss. To endure the offences of the multitude is a task requiring great prudence and force: if any one should simply punish all of them as they deserve, before he knew it he would have destroyed the majority of mankind. For these reasons, then, I give you my opinion to the effect that you should not inflict the death penalty for any such error, but bring the men to their senses in some other way, so that they will not again do anything dangerous. What crime could a man commit shut up on an island, or in the country, or in some city, not only destitute of a throng of servants and money, but under guard, if it be necessary? If the enemy were anywhere near here or some alien force had dominion over this sea so that one of the prisoners might escape to them and do us some harm, or if, again, there were strong cities in Italy with fortifications and weapons, so that if a man seized them he might become a menace to us, that would be a different story. But all towns in this neighborhood are unarmed and lacking any walls that would serve in war, and the enemy is removed from them by vast distances; a long stretch of sea, and a journey by land including mountains and rivers hard to cross lie between them and us.
Why, then, should one fear this man or that man, defenceless, private citizens, here in the middle of your empire and enclosed by your armed forces? I can not see how any one could conceive such a notion or how the maddest madman could accomplish anything.
[-21-] "With these premises, therefore, let us give the idea a trial. The discontented will soon themselves change their ways and bring about an improvement in others. You notice that Cornelius is both of good birth and renowned. This matter has to be reasoned out in a human fashion. The sword can not effect everything for you; it would be a great blessing if it could bring some men to their senses and persuade them or even compel them to love any one with genuine affection: but, instead, it will destroy the body of one man and alienate the minds of the rest. People do not become more attached to any one because of the vengeance they see meted out to others, but they become more hostile through the influence of their own fears. That is one side of the picture. On the other hand, those who obtain pardon for any crime and repent are ashamed to wrong their benefactors again, but render them much service in return, hoping to receive much more again for it. When a man is saved by some one who has been wronged, he thinks that his rescuer, if fairly treated, will go to any lengths to aid him. Heed me, therefore, dearest, and make a change. Then all your other acts that have caused displeasure will appear to have been due to necessity. In conducting so great a city from democracy into monarchy it is impossible to make the transfer without bloodshed. But if you follow your old policy, you will be thought to have done these unpleasant things intentionally."
[-22-] Augustus heeded these suggestions of Livia and released all those against whom charges were pending, admonishing some of them orally; Cornelius he even appointed consul. Later he so conciliated both him and the other men that no one else again really plotted against him or had the reputation of so doing. Livia had had most to do with saving the life of Cornelius, yet she was destined to be held responsible for the death of Augustus.
[A.D. 5 (a. u. 758)]
At this time, in the consulship of Cornelius and Valerius Messala, earthquakes of ill omen occurred and the Tiber tore away the bridge so that the City was under water for seven days. There was an eclipse of the sun, and famine set in. This same year Agrippa was enrolled among the iuvenes, but obtained none of the same privileges as his brother. The senators attended the horse-races separately and the knights also separately from the remainder of the populace, as is done nowadays. And since the noblest families did not show themselves inclined to give their daughters for the service of Vesta, a law was passed that the daughters of freedmen might likewise be consecrated. Many contended for the honor, and so they drew lots in the senate in the presence of their fathers; no priestess, however, was appointed from this class.
[-23-] The soldiers were displeased at the small size of the prizes for the wars that had taken place at this period and no one was willing to carry arms for longer than the specified term of his service. It was therefore voted that five thousand denarii be given to members of the pretorian guard when they had ended sixteen, and three thousand to the other soldiers when they had completed twenty years' service. Twenty-three legions were being supported at that time, or, as others say, twenty-five, of citizen soldiers. Only nineteen of them now remain. The Second (Augusta) is the one that winters in Upper Britain. Of the Third there are three divisions,—the Gallic, in Phoenicia; the Cyrenaic, in Arabia; the Augustan, in Numidia. The Fourth. (Scythian) is in Syria, the Fifth (Macedonian), in Dacia. The Sixth is divided into two parts, of which the one (Victrix) is in Lower Britain, and the other (Ferrata) is in Judæa. The soldiers of the Seventh, generally called Claudians, are in Upper Moesia. Those of the Eighth, Augustans, are in Upper Germany. Those of the Tenth are both in Upper Pannonia (Legio Gemina) and in Judaea. The Eleventh, in Lower Moesia, is the Claudian. This name two legions received from Claudius because they had not fought against him in the insurrection of Camillus. The Twelfth (Fulminata) is in Cappadocia: the Thirteenth (Gemina) in Dacia: the Fourteenth (Gemina) in Upper Pannonia: the Fifteenth (Apollinaris) in Cappadocia. The Twentieth, called both Valeria and Victrix, is also in Upper Britain. These, I believe, together with those that have the title of the Twenty second[15] and winter in Upper Germany Augustus took in charge and kept; and this I say in spite of the fact that they are by no means called Valerians by all and do not themselves use the title any longer. These are preserved from the Augustan legions. Of the rest some have been scattered altogether and others were mixed in with different legions by Augustus himself and by the other emperors, from which circumstance they are thought to have been called Gemina.
[-24-] Now that I have once been brought into a discussion of the legions, I shall speak of the forces as they are at present according to the disposition made by subsequent emperors: in this way any one who desires to learn anything about them may do so easily, finding all his information written in one place. Nero organized the First legion, called the Italian, and now wintering in Lower Moesia; Galba, the First legion, called Adiutrix, in Lower Pannonia, and the Seventh (Gemina), which is in Spain; Vespasian, the Second, Adiutrix, in Lower Pannonia, and the Fourth (the Flavian) in Syria; Domitian, the First (Minervia), in Lower Germany; Trajan, the Second (the Egyptian), and the Thirtieth (Germanic), which he also named after himself. Marcus Antoninus organized the Second, which is in Noricum, and the Third, in Rhætia; these are also called Italian: Severus the Parthian legions, i. e., the First and the Third in Mesopotamia and between them the Second, the one in Italy.
This is at present the number of legions which are enrolled in the service, exclusive of the cohortes urbanæ and the pretorian guard. At that time, in the days of Augustus, those I mentioned were being supported, whether twenty-three or twenty-five altogether; and then there was some allied force, whatever the size, of infantry and cavalry and sailors. I can not state the exact figures. The body-guards, ten thousand in all, were divided into ten portions, and the six thousand warders of the city into four portions, and there were picked foreign horsemen to whom the name Batavians is applied (from the island Batavia in the Rhine), because the Batavians are noted for superiority in horsemanship. I can not, however, state their exact number any more than that of the evocati. He began to reckon in the latter from the time that he called the warriors who had previously supported his father to arms again against Antony; and he retained control of them. They constitute even now a special corps and carry rods, like the centurions.
For the distribution mentioned he needed money and therefore introduced a motion into the senate to the effect that a definite permanent fund be created, in order that without troubling any private citizen they might obtain abundant support and rewards from the proposed appropriation. The means for such a fund was accordingly sought.—As no one showed a willingness to become ædile, some from the ranks of ex-quæstors and ex-tribunes were compelled by lot to take the office. This happened frequently at other times.
[A.D. 6 (a. u.759)]
[-25-] After this, in the consulship of Æmilius Lepidus and Lucius Arruntius, when no source for the fund was found that suited anybody, but quite everybody felt dejected because such an attempt was being made, Augustus in the name of himself and of Tiberius put money into the treasury, which he called the ærarium militare. Some of the ex-prætors—such as drew the lots—he instructed to administer it for three years, employing two lictors apiece and such further assistance as was fitting. This was done by successive officials for a number of years. At present they are chosen by whoever is emperor and they go about without lictors. Augustus himself made some further contributions and promised to do this annually, and he accepted offers from kings and certain peoples. From private individuals, though a number were ready and glad to give (as they said), he would take nothing. But as all this proved very slight in comparison with the large amount spent, and there was need of some inexhaustible supply, he ordered each one of the senators to devise means by himself, to write his plan in a book, and give it to him to look over. This was not because he had no plan of his own, but because he was most anxious to persuade them to choose the one that he wished. Various men proposed various courses, but he would approve none of them: instead, he arranged for five per cent. of the inheritances and bequests which should be left by deceased persons (except in the case of very near relations or poor families); he pretended that he had found this tax suggestion in Cæsar's memoirs. It was a method that had been introduced once before, but had been later abolished and was now introduced anew. In this way he increased the revenues. The expenditures made by three men of consular rank, whom the lot designated, he partly made smaller and partly did away with altogether.
[-26-] This was not the only source of trouble to the Romans: there was also a severe famine. As a consequence, the gladiators and the slaves offered for sale were removed to a distance of over seven hundred and fifty stadia, Augustus and others dismissed the greater part of their retinue, there was a cessation of lawsuits, and senators were permitted to leave the city and go where they pleased. In order to prevent any hindrance to decrees from this last measure it was ordered that all those framed by as many as happened to attend meetings should be binding. Moreover, ex-consuls were appointed to take charge of grain and bread supplies, so as to have a stated quantity sold to each person. Those who were recipients of public bounty had as much added to their supply gratis by Augustus as they might obtain at any time. When even that did not suffice, he forbade the citizens to hold any public festivals on his birthday.
Since also at this time many parts of the City fell a prey to fire, he formed a company of freedmen in seven divisions to render assistance on such occasions, and appointed a knight as their leader, thinking soon to disband them. He did not do this, however. Having ascertained by experience that the aid they gave was most valuable and necessary, he kept them. The night-watchmen exist to the present day, subject to special regulations, and those in the service are selected not from the freedmen only any longer but from on the rest of the classes as well. They have barracks in the city and draw pay from the public treasury.
[-27-] The multitude, under the burden of the famine and the tax and the losses sustained by fire, were ill at ease. They discussed openly many schemes of insurrection and by night scattered pamphlets more still: this move was said to be traceable to a certain Publius Rufus, but others were suspected of it. Rufus could not have originated or have taken an active part in it; therefore it was thought that others who aimed at a revolution were making an illicit use of his name. An investigation of the affair was resolved upon and rewards for information offered. Information accordingly came in and the city as a result was stirred up. This lasted till the scarcity of grain subsided, when gladiatorial games in honor of Drusus were given by Germanicus Cæsar and Tiberius Claudius Nero, his sons. [In the course of them an elephant vanquished a rhinoceros and a knight distinguished for his wealth fought as a gladiator.] The people were encouraged by this honor shown to the memory of Drusus and by Tiberius's dedication of the temple of the Dioscuri, upon which he inscribed not only his name but also that of Drusus. Himself he called Claudianus instead of Claudius, because of his adoption into the family of Augustus. He continued to direct operations against the enemy and visited the City constantly whenever opportunity offered; this was partly on account of various kinds of business but chiefly owing to fear that Augustus might promote somebody else during his absence. These were the events in the City that year.
In Achæa the governor died in the middle of his term and directions were given to his quæstor and to his assessor (whom, as I have said,[16] we call legatus) that the latter should administer the government as far as the isthmus, and the former the rest of it. Herod [17] of Palestine, who was accused by his brothers of some wrongdoing, was banished beyond the Alps and his portion of the Palestinian domain reverted to the State. [Augustus suffered from old age and infirmity, so that he could not transact business for all that needed his aid: some cases he reviewed and tried with his counselors, sitting upon the tribunal on the Palatine; the embassies which came from the various nations and princes he put in charge of three ex-consuls, under the arrangement that any one of them individually might listen to such an embassy and return an answer, except in cases where it was necessary for himself and the senate to render a decision besides.]
[-28-] During this same period also many wars took place. Pirates overran many quarters, so that Sardinia had no senatorial governor for some years, but was in charge of soldiers with knights for commanders. Not a few cities rebelled, with the result that for two years the same persons held office in the same provinces of the People, and were personally appointed instead of being chosen by lot. The provinces of Cæsar were in general so arranged that men should govern in the same places for a considerable time. However, I shall not go into all these matters minutely. Many things not worthy of record happened in individual instances, and no one would be benefited by the exact details. I shall mention simply the events worth remembering, and very briefly, save those of greatest importance.
The Isaurians began marauding expeditions and kept on till they faced grim war, but were finally subdued. The Gætuli, discontented with their king, Juba, and at the same time feeling themselves slighted because not governed by the Romans, rose against him: they ravaged the neighboring territory and killed even many of the Romans who made a campaign against them. In fine, they gained so great an ascendancy that Cornelius Cossus, who reduced them, received triumphal honors and title for it. While these troubles were in progress expeditions against the Celtæ were being conducted by various leaders, and notably by Tiberius. He advanced first to the river Visurgis and subsequently as far as the Albis, but nothing of any moment was accomplished then, although not only Augustus but also Tiberius was dubbed imperator for it, and Gaius Sentius, governor of Germany, received triumphal honors. The Celtæ were so afraid of their foes that they made a truce with him not merely once but twice. And the reason that peace was again granted them, in spite of their having broken it so soon, was that the affairs of the Dalmatians and Pannonians, who had begun a rebellion on a large scale, needed vigilant attention.
[-29-] The Dalmatians, smarting under the levies of tribute, had for some time previous kept quiet even against their will. But, at the same time that Tiberius made his second campaign against the Celtæ, Valerius Messalinus, the governor of Dalmatia and Pannonia, was himself despatched to the front with Tiberius, taking most of his army; they, too, were ordered to send a contingent and on coming together for this purpose had a chance to see the flower of their fighting force. After that there was no more delay, but urged on particularly by one Bato, a Dæsidiatian, at first a few revolted and worsted the Romans that came against them, and this success then led others to rebel. Next, the Breuci, a Pannonian tribe, put another leader named Bato at their head and marched against Sirmium and the Romans in the town. This they did not capture: Cæcina Severus, the governor of Moesia close by, he heard of their uprising marched rapidly upon them, and joining battle with them near the river Dravus vanquished their army. Hoping to renew the struggle soon, since many of the Romans also had fallen, they turned to summon their allies, and collected as many as they could. Meanwhile the Dalmatian Bato had made a descent upon Salonæ, and being himself grievously wounded with a stone accomplished nothing, but sent some others, who wrought havoc along the whole sea-coast as far as Apollonia. There, in spite of his defeat, his representatives won a slight battle against the Romans who encountered them.
[-30-] Tiberius ascertaining this feared they might invade Italy and so returned from Celtica: he sent Messalinus ahead and himself followed with the rest of the army. Bato learned of their approach and though not yet well went to meet Messalinus. He proved the latter's superior in open conflict but was afterward conquered by an ambuscade. Thereupon he went to Bato the Breucan, and making common cause with him in the war occupied a mountain named Alma. Here they were defeated in a slight skirmish by Rhoemetalces the Thracian, despatched in advance against them by Severus, but resisted Severus himself vigorously. Later Severus withdrew to Moesia because the Dacians and the Sauromatæ were ravaging it, and while Tiberius and Messalinus were tarrying in Siscia the Dalmatians overran their allied territory and likewise caused many to revolt. Although Tiberius approached them, they would engage in no open battle with him but kept moving from one place to another, devastating a great deal of ground. Owing to their knowledge of the country and the lightness of their equipment they could easily go wherever they pleased. When winter set in, they did much greater damage by invading Macedonia again. Rhoemetalces and his brother Rhascuporis got the better of this force in battle.
[A.D. 7 (a. u.760)]
The rest did not stay in their territory while it was being ravaged (this was principally later, in the consulship of Cæcilius Metellus and Lincinius Silanus), but took refuge on the heights, from which they made descents whenever they saw a chance.
[-31-] When Augustus learned this he began to be suspicious of Tiberius, for he thought the latter might have overcome them soon but was delaying purposely so that he might be under arms as long as possible, with war for an excuse. The emperor therefore sent Germanicus, though he was then quæstor, and gave him soldiers not only from the free born citizens but from the freedmen, some of whom were slaves that he had taken from both men and women, in return for their value, with food for six months, and had set free. This was not the only measure he took in view of the necessities of the war: he also postponed the review of the knights, which was wont to occur in the Forum. And he vowed to conduct the Great Games [18] because a woman had cut some letters on her arm and had practiced some kind of divination. He knew well, to be sure, that she had not been possessed by some divine power, but had done it intentionally. Inasmuch, however, as the populace were terribly wrought up over the wars and the famine (which had now set in once more), he, too, affected to believe what was said and did anything that would lead to the encouragement of the multitude as a matter of course. In view of the stringency in the grain supply he again appointed two grain commissioners from among the ex-consuls, together with lictors. As there was need of further money for operations against the enemy and the support of night-watchmen, he introduced the tax of two per cent. on the sale of slaves, and he ordered that the money delivered from the public treasury to the prætors who gave armed combats should no longer be expended.
[-32-]The reason that he sent Germanicus and not Agrippa to take the field was that the latter possessed a servile nature and spent most of his time fishing, wherefore he also used to call himself Neptune. He used to give way to violent anger and slandered Julia as a stepmother, while upon Augustus he heaped abundant reproaches in the matter of his paternal inheritance. When he could not be made to moderate his conduct he was banished and his property was given to the ærarium militare: he himself was put ashore on Planasia, the island near Corsica.—These were the events in the City.
Germanicus reached Pannonia, where armies from various points were shortly to assemble; the Batos watched for Severus, who was approaching from Moesia, and fell upon him unexpectedly, while he was encamped near the Volcæan marshes. The pickets outside the ramparts they frightened and hurled back within it, but as the men inside stood their ground, the attacking party was defeated. After this the Romans divided, in order that many detachments might overrun the country in separate places at one time. Most of them did nothing worthy of note during this enterprise, but Germanicus conquered in battle and badly demoralized the Mæzei, a Dalmatian tribe.—These were the results of that year.
[A.D. 8 (a. u.761)]
[-33-] In the consulship of Marcus Furius with Sextus Nonius the Dalmatians and Pannonians decided they would like to make peace because they were in distress primarily from famine and then from disease that followed it, due to their using grasses of various sorts and roots for food. They did not attempt, however to open any negotiations, being restrained by those who had no hope of preservation at the hands of the Romans. So even as they were they still resisted. And one Scenobardus, who had feigned a readiness to change sides, and had had dealings on this very business with Manius Ennius, commander of the garrison in Siscia, declaring that he was ready to desert, became afraid that he might be injured ere his project was complete, and [19] …
The Po, which they call the monarch of rivers that cleave the soil of Italy, known by the name Eridanus, had its waters let into a very broad excavation, on the command of the emperor Augustus. A seventh division of the channel of this river flows through the center of the state, affording at its mouth a most satisfactory harbor, and was formerly believed (my authority is Dio) to be an entirely safe anchorage for a fleet of two hundred and fifty ships.(From the Latin of Jordan.)
When the famine at last had subsided, he conducted a horse-race in the name of Germanicus, who was son of Drusus, and in the name of his brother. On this occasion an elephant fought a rhinoceros, and a knight who had once held a prominent position on account of wealth contended in single combat.
And he found himself sinking under the burden of old age and physical weakness, so that he could not transact business with all the persons that needed his services, he delivered to three ex-consuls the care of the embassies that were constantly arriving from peoples and kings; each one of these officials separately was empowered to give any such delegation a hearing and to transmit an answer to them, save in such cases as he and the senate needed to pass upon finally. Other questions continued to be investigated and decided by the emperor himself with the help of his cabinet.
[-34-] … however, among the first, but among the last he declared, in order that everybody might be permitted to hold an individual opinion, and no one of them be obliged to abandon his own ideas because he felt it obligatory to agree with his sovereign; and he would often help the magistrates try cases. Also, as often as the consulting judges held different views, his vote was reckoned only as equal to that of any one else. It was at this time that Augustus allowed the senate to try the majority of cases without his being present, and he no longer frequented the assemblies of the people. Instead, he had the previous year personally appointed all who were to hold office, because there were factional outbreaks: this year and those following he merely posted a kind of bulletin and made known to the plebs and to the people what persons he favored. Yet he had so much strength for managing hostile campaigns that he journeyed to Ariminum in order that he might be able to give from close at hand all necessary advice in regard to the Dalmatians and Pannonians. Prayers were offered at his departure and sacrifices upon his return, as if he had come back from some hostile territory. This was what was done in Rome.
Meantime Bato the Breucan, who had betrayed Pinnes and received the governorship of the Breuci as reward for this, was captured by the other Bato, and perished. The Breucan had been a little suspicious of his subject tribes and went around to each of the garrisons to demand hostages: the other, learning of this habit, lay in wait for him, conquered him in battle, and shut him up within the fortifications. Later his defeated rival was given up by those in the place, and he took him and led him before the army, whereupon the man was condemned to death and sentence executed without delay. After this event numbers of the Pannonians rose in revolt. Silvanus led a campaign in person, conquered the Breucans, and won the allegiance of some of the rest without a struggle. Bato seeing this gave up all hope of Pannonia, but stationed garrisons at the passes leading to Dalmatia and ravaged the country. Then the remainder of the Pannonians, especially as their country was suffering harm from Silvanus, made terms. Only certain nests of brigands, who in so great a disturbance could naturally do damage for a long time, held out. Tins practically always happens in the case of all enemies, and is especially characteristic of the tribes in question. These localities were reduced by other persons.
[Footnote 1: Lat.custodes vigilum.]
[Footnote 2: Cp. Ovid,Tristia, IV, 10, vv. 7 and 8.]
[Footnote 3: See Chapter 2.]
[Footnote 4: Compare Reifferscheid'sSuetoni Reliquice, page 136.]
[Footnote 5: OrCuratores Viarum.]
[Footnote 6: Between this point and … "to Mars" two leaves are missing in the codex Marcianus. The gap is filled in the usual makeshift fashion by Xiphilinus and Zonaras.]
[Footnote 7: The ancients seem rather uncertain about this personage's name, for Velleius Paterculus givesAdduus, and FlorusDonnes. The modern reader may take his choice of the three, and the layman is as likely to be right as the expert]
[Footnote 8: Between this point and the words "he both adopted Tiberius," etc., in chapter 13, two leaves of the codex Marcianus are lacking. Of the missing portion Xiphilinus and Zonaras supply perhaps three-sevenths.]
[Footnote 9: These are the words of Xiphilinus. Zonaras presents an alternate possibility (X, 36) as follows: "Among the Greeks, Dio says, the coin calledaureushas twenty drachmæ (denarii) as its regular rate of exchange."]
[Footnote 10: It seems rather likely that Zonaras has become confused, and that he should have said "Livia."]
[Footnote 11: Verb supplied by Xylander.]
[Footnote 12: Possibly a reference to the opening of Book Fifty-four.(Boissée.)]
[Footnote 13: Compare Xenophon,Cyropædia, VIII, 4, 5.]
[Footnote 14: The three words after "kill" are on the basis of a suggestion made by Boissevain. The MS. has a gap of some fifteen letters.]