Meantime he granted to Soaimus the land of the Arabian Ituræans, to Cotys Lesser Armenia and later parts of Arabia, to Rhoemetalces the possessions of Cotys, and to Polemon son of Polemon his ancestral domain,—all these upon the vote of the senate. The ceremony took place in the Forum, where he sat upon the rostra in a chair between the consuls; some say he used silken awnings. Soon after he caught sight of a lot of mud in an alley and ordered that it be cast into the toga of Flavius Vespasian, who was ædile at the time and had charge of keeping alleys clean. This event was regarded at the moment as of no particular importance, but later, when Vespasian, who took charge of a state in confusion and turmoil, had reduced the same to order, it seemed to have been due to some divine prompting and to have signified that Gaius had entrusted the city to him unconditionally for its amelioration.
[A.D. 39 (a. u.792)]
[-13-] He now became consul again, and though he prevented the priest of Jupiter from taking the oath in the senate (for at this time they regularly did so privately, as in the days of Tiberius), he himself both when he entered upon office and when he relinquished it took the oath like the rest upon the rostra, which had been made larger than before. Thirty days was the duration of his tenure (whereas he let his colleague Lucius Apronius hold office for six months), and his successor was Sanguinius Maximus, præfectus urbi. During this and the following period numbers of the foremost men perished in fulfillment of a sentence of condemnation (for many who had been released from prison were punished for the very reasons that had led to their imprisonment by Tiberius), and many others in gladiatorial combats. There was nothing happening but slaughter. The emperor no longer made any concessions to the populace, opposing instead absolutely everything it wished, and consequently the people, too, resisted all his desires. The talk and actions usual at such a juncture with an angry ruler on one side and a hostile folk on the other were plainly in evidence. The contest between them, however, was not an equal one. The people could do nothing outside of discussion and showing their feelings by their demeanor, whereas Gaius dragged many of his opponents away while they were witnessing performances at the theatre and arrested many more after they had left the building. The chief causes for his rage were first that they did not show enthusiasm in attending; he made his appearance at a different hour on different occasions, sometimes not till nightfall, and they were worn out waiting for him: second, that they did not always applaud the performances that pleased him and sometimes even showed favor to objects of his dislike. Again, it vexed him mightily to have them cry out in their efforts to extol him: "Young Augustus!" He felt that he was not being congratulated upon being emperor while so young, but was being censured for holding at his age so great a domain. His regular conduct was as described. Once he said threateningly to the whole people: "How I wish you had one neck!" At another time, when he was showing some of his usual irritation, the populace in displeasure ceased to notice the spectacle, and turned against the informers, and with loud shouts demanded their surrender. Gaius, indignant, vouchsafed them no answer, but committing to others the conduct of the games withdrew into Campania. Later he returned to celebrate the birthday of Drusilla, brought into the hippodrome on a wagon her statue drawn by[10] elephants and gave the people a free show for two days. The first day, besides the equestrian contests, he had five hundred bears slaughtered, and on the second a like number of Libyan beasts was used up. Athletes struggled in the pancratium at many different points in the city. The populace was feasted and presents were given to the senators and their wives.
* * * * *
[-14-] At the same time that he authorized these murders, apparently because he was so very poor, he devised another kind of transaction. He took the surviving combatants and sold them at an excessive valuation to the consuls, the prætors, and the rest, meeting with acquiescence from some and compelling others, who objected strenuously, to carry out his wishes at the horse-races; and most of all he imposed upon the ones especially selected by lot for this purpose, for he had ordered that two prætors, just as it might happen, should be allotted to take charge of the gladiatorial games. He himself sat on the auctioneer's platform and kept outbidding them. Many also came from outside to bid against them, particularly because he allowed such as wished to employ a greater number of gladiators than the law permitted and because he often had recourse to them himself. So people bought them for large sums, some through need of the men, others thinking they should gratify him, and the largest number (in case they were reputed to be property-holders) out of a wish to avail themselves of this pretext for spending some of their substance and thus by becoming poorer save their lives.
Yet, in spite of this action of his, he afterward put out of the way by poison the best and most famous of these slaves. He did the same also in the case of rival horses and charioteers, being greatly devoted to the party that wore the frog green and from this color was called the Party of the Leek. Even now the place where the chariots practiced is called Galanum. One of the horses, that he named Incitatus, he invited to dinner, offered him golden barley, and drank his health in wine from gold goblets. He took oaths by the same beast's Guardian Spirit and Presiding Fortune and promised besides that he would appoint him consul. This he would certainly have done, too, if he had lived longer.
[-15-] Now formerly for the purpose of providing funds it had been voted that all those persons who had wished to leave anything to Tiberius and were alive should at their death bestow the same upon Gaius. The publication of a decree was deemed necessary to prevent its seeming that he could break the laws in securing by inheritance such gifts; for he had at the time neither wife nor children. But at the time of which I am speaking he proceeded to levy for himself without any vote absolutely all the property of men who had served among the centurions and had after the triumph which his father celebrated left it to somebody other than the emperor. When not even this sufficed, he hit upon the following third means of raising money. There was a senator, Gnæus Domitius Corbulo, who had noticed that the roads during the reign of Tiberius were in bad condition and was always nagging the road commissioners about it and furthermore kept making a nuisance of himself before the senate regarding the matter. Gaius took him as a confederate and through him attacked all those, alive or dead, who had ever been road commissioners and had received money for repairing the highways. He fined both them and the men who had secured any contracts from them, on the pretence that they had spent nothing. For this help Corbulo was at the time made consul, but later, in the reign of Claudius, he was accused and his conduct investigated. Claudius made no further demands for any sums still owing and after collecting what had been paid in, partly from the treasury and partly from Corbulo, he returned it to the persons who had been fined. All that was later. At this time these unfortunates one by one and practically everybody else in the City were, as one might say, despoiled. Of those who possessed anything there was no one,—not a man nor a woman,—who got off scot free. Though he allowed some of the more elderly persons to live, yet by calling them his fathers, grandfathers, mothers, and grandmothers, he got revenue from them during their lifetime and inherited their property when they died.
[-16-] Up to this time he was always speaking ill of Tiberius before everybody, and so far from rebuking others who criticised him privately or publicly he enjoyed their language. But now he entered the senate-house and eulogized his predecessor at length, besides severely rebuking the senate and the people, saying that they did wrong in finding fault with him. "I may do even this," he said, "in my capacity as emperor, but you are not only unjust but also guilty of impiety[11] to take such an attitude toward one who ruled you." Thereupon he considered separately the case of each man who had lost his life and showed to his own satisfaction that the senators had been responsible for the death of most of them; some, he alleged, they had killed by accusation, some by damning evidence, and all by sentence of condemnation. This he proved by having some freedmen read it from those very documents which he once declared he had burned. And he told them besides: "In case Tiberius really did do wrong, you ought not to have honored him while he lived, and at any rate, by Jupiter, you ought not to repudiate what you often said and voted. But you both behaved toward him with fickleness and again after filling Sejanus with conceit and spoiling him you put him to death, and therefore I ought not either to expect any decent treatment from you." After some such remarks he represented in his speech Tiberius himself as saying to him: "All this that you have said has been good and true. Therefore have no affection nor mercy for any one of them. They all hate you: they all pray for your death. They will murder you if they can. Hence do not stop to consider what acts of yours will please them and heed none of their talk. Rather, have regard to your own pleasure and safety solely, since that has the most just claim. In this way you will suffer no harm and will enjoy all supremest pleasures. You will, moreover, be honored by them whether they so desire or not. If you follow a different course, it will be useless, and beyond an empty reputation you will gain no advantage, but become the victim of plots and perish ingloriously. No man living is ruled of his own free will, but the element which is kept in fear, whatever its size, waits upon the stronger element, whereas if it attains to courage, it always wreaks vengeance upon the other, which has now become the weaker."
At the close of this address Gaius reintroduced the complaints for maiestas, ordered his commands to be inscribed upon a bronze tablet and rushing hastily from the senate-house proceeded the same day to the suburbs of the capital. The senate and the people were filled with great fear as they thought of the denunciations against Tiberius, which they had often uttered, and of the many surprises his speech had had in store for them. Temporarily their alarm and dejection prevented them from saying a word or transacting any business. Next day they assembled again, praised Gaius unstintedly as a most sincere and pious ruler, and thanked him profusely that they had not perished like others. Accordingly, they voted annually to sacrifice cattle to the Spirit of Kindness that animated him both on the anniversary of the day he had read this matter just mentioned and on those belonging to the Palatium[12]: on such occasions his image in gold was to be conducted to the Capitol and hymns sung in its honor by the boys of noblest birth. They granted him also the right to celebrate a lesser triumph, as though he had defeated some enemies. This was what they voted at that meeting: later they added to it extensively on almost every pretext.
[-17-] Gaius took no heed of the celebration mentioned; it seemed to him to be no great thing to drive a horse on land: but he had a desire to ride horseback through the sea in a way, by bridging over the water between Puteoli and Bauli. This locality is opposite the City, twenty-six stades distant. Boats for the bridge were partly brought together and partly built new for the purpose. For the number it had proved possible to collect in a brief space of time was insufficient, although all feasible vessels had been gathered, and it was principally this fact that caused a serious famine in Italy and Rome. In joining these boats not merely a passageway was constructed but resting places and waiting rooms were built along in it, and these had running water fit for drinking. When it was ready, he put on the breastplate of Alexander (or so he said), and over it a purple silk chlamys, containing much gold and many precious stones from India. He furthermore girt on a sword, took a shield, and donned a garland of oak leaves. Next he offered sacrifice to Neptune and some other gods and to Envy (in order, he said, that no jealousy might attend him), and entered the passage from the end at Bauli, taking with him great numbers of armed horsemen and foot soldiers; and he made a fierce dash into the city as if he were after some enemies. There he rested the following day, as though seeking respite from battle, and wearing a gold-spangled tunic he returned on a chariot over the same bridge. He was drawn by race-horses that were most competent to gain victories. A long train of what was apparently spoils accompanied him, among them Darius, one of the Arsacidæ, belonging to the group of Parthians then serving as hostages. His friends and associates in beflowered robes followed him on vehicles, as did the army and the rest of the throng, which was decked out according to individual taste. Of course, in the midst of such a campaign and after so magnificent a victory he had to deliver a bit of an harangue: so he ascended a platform which had likewise been erected at about the center of the bridge. First he extolled himself as one who had undertaken a great enterprise; next he praised the soldiers as men exhausted by the dangers they had faced, adding the significant statement that they had traversed the sea on foot. For this gallantry he gave them money and afterward for the rest of the day and all through the night they enjoyed a banquet,—he on the bridge, as though some island, and they at anchor on other boats. Light in abundance shone upon them from the place itself and abundant light besides from the mountains. For since the place was crescent-shaped, fire was exhibited from all sides, as might be done in a theatre, so that no one could notice the darkness. It was his wish to make the night day, as he had made the sea land. When he had become full to excess of food and strong drink, he threw numbers of his companions off the bridge into the sea and sank many of the rest by making a circuitous attack upon them in boats that had rams. Some perished, but the majority though drunk managed to save themselves. The reason was that the sea showed itself extremely smooth and tranquil both while the bridge was being put together and while the other events were taking place. This, too, caused the emperor some elation, and he said that even Neptune was afraid of him. As for Darius and Xerxes, he made all manner of fun of them, inasmuch as he had bridged over a far vaster expanse of sea than they.
[-18-] The final episode in the career of that bridge, which I shall now relate, proved another source of death to many. Inasmuch as the emperor had exhausted his revenues in the construction he fell to plotting against many more persons because of their property. He presided at trials both privately and in company with the entire senate. That body also tried some cases by itself, yet it had not full powers and there were many appeals from its decisions. The decisions of the senate were merely made public, but when any men were condemned by Gaius their names were bulletined, as though he feared they might not learn their fate. These met their punishment some in prison and others by being hurled from the Capitoline. Still others killed themselves beforehand. There was no safety even for such as left the country, but many of them, too, lost their lives either on the road or while in banishment It is not worth while to burden my readers unduly by going into the details of most of these cases, but I may stop to notice Calvisius Sabinus, one of the foremost men in the senate. He had recently come from governing Pannonia, and he and his wife Cornelia were both indicted. The charge against her was that she had visited some military posts and had watched some soldiers practicing. These two did not stand trial but despatched themselves before the time set. The same is to be recorded of Titius Rufus, against whom a complaint was lodged that he had said the senate had one thing in their minds but uttered something different. Also one Junius Priscus, a prætor, was accused on various charges, but his death was really due to the supposition that he was wealthy. Gaius, on learning that he possessed nothing worth causing his death for, made this remarkable statement: "He fooled me and perished uselessly when he might as well have lived."
[-19-] Among these men put on trial at this time Domitius Afer encountered danger from an unexpected source and secured his preservation in a still more remarkable way. Gaius was incensed against him (if for no other reason) because in the reign of Tiberius he had accused a woman who was related to the emperor's mother Agrippina. Later the woman had met Afer and as she saw that out of embarrassment he stood aside from her path she called to him and said (referring to the matter): "Never mind, Domitius: it wasn't you, but Agamemnon, that caused me these troubles." [13] Just about this time Afer had set up an image of the emperor and had placed upon it an inscription showing that Gaius in his twenty-seventh year was already consul for the second time. This vexed the latter, who felt that undue notice was being given to his youth and his transgression of the law. So for this action, for which Afer had looked to be honored, he brought him before the senate and read a long speech against him. Gaius always maintained that he surpassed all living orators, and knowing that his adversary was an extremely gifted speaker he strove on this occasion to excel him. He would certainly have put Afer to death, if the latter had entered into the least competition with him. As it was, the man made no answer or defence, but pretended to be astonished and overcome by the cleverness of Gaius, and repeating the accusation point by point he praised it as though he were some listener and not on trial. When opportunity was given him to speak, he took to supplicating and bewailing his lot; finally he threw himself on the earth and lying there prostrate he besought his accuser, apparently fearing him as an orator rather than as Cæsar. In this way the latter when he saw and heard what I have described was melted, for he thought that he had really overwhelmed Domitius by the eloquence of his address. For this reason, then, and on account of Callistus the freedman, whom he was wont to honor and whose favor Domitius had courted, he ceased his anger. And when Callistus later blamed him for having accused the man in the first place, the emperor answered: "It would not have been right for me to hide such a speech." So Domitius was saved by being convicted of no longer being a skillful speaker.
On the other hand Lucius Annæus Seneca, who was superior in wisdom to all the Romans of his day and to many other great men, came very near being ruined, though he had done no wrong and there was no suspicion of such a thing, but just because he pled a case well in the senate while his sovereign was present. Gaius ordered him to be put to death, but let him go because he believed what one of his female associates said, that Seneca had a bad case of consumption and would die before a great while.
[-20-] Directly he appointed Domitius consul and removed those who held the office at the time: this he did because they had not proclaimed a thanksgiving on the occasion of his birthday (the prætors had held a horse-race and had slaughtered some beasts, but that happened every year) whereas they had celebrated a festival to commemorate the victory of Augustus over Antony. In order to find an accusation against them he chose to figure as a descendant of Antony rather than of Augustus. He had beforehand told those who shared his secrets that whichever the consuls did they would certainly get into trouble, whether they offered sacrifice as a mark of joy over Antony's disaster or whether they went without sacrificing on such an occasion as the victory of Augustus. It was for these reasons, then, that he summarily dismissed these officials and broke to pieces their fasces. One of them took it so much to heart that he killed himself.
Domitius was chosen as the emperor's colleague nominally by the people but actually by Gaius himself. The latter had, to be sure, restored the elections to the populace, but they had become rather lax in the performance of their duties because for a long time now they had enjoyed none of the privileges of freemen; and as a rule no more office-seekers presented themselves than were needed to fill vacant places, or if ever there was an excessive number the outcome had been all arranged among themselves. Thus the appearance of a democracy was preserved but none of the proper results was secured; and this led Gaius himself to abolish the elections again. After this things went on precisely as in the reign of Tiberius. Sometimes fifteen prætors were chosen and again one more or less, as it might happen.
Such was the action he took regarding the elections. In general he maintained a malignant and suspicious attitude toward quite everything that went on, as witness his banishing Carrina Secundus the orator because the latter had delivered in a gymnasium a speech against tyrants. Also, when Lucius Piso, son of Plancina and Gnaeus Piso, chanced to become governor of Africa, the emperor feared that pride might lead him to revolt, particularly since he was to have a large force made up of both citizens and foreigners. Hence the province was divided in two and the military force together with the Nomads in the immediate vicinity was assigned to a different official. That arrangement lasts to this day.
[-21-] Gaius had now spent practically all the money in Rome and the rest of Italy, gathered from every source from which he could in any way get it, and as no resource that was of any value or practicable could be found there, his expenses became a source of great annoyance to him. Therefore he set out for Gaul, declaring hostilities against the Celtae on the ground that they were showing some uneasiness, but in reality his purpose was to get money from that region and Spain, where wealth was also abundant. However, he did not make an outright declaration of his destination, but went first to one of the suburbs and then suddenly started on his journey, taking with him many dancers, gladiators, horses, women, and the rest of the rout. When he reached the section he had in view he did no damage to any of the enemy;—as soon as he had proceeded a short distance beyond the Rhine he turned back, and next he started apparently to conduct a campaign against Britain, but turned back from the ocean's edge, showing no little vexation at his lieutenants because they won some slight success;—among the subject peoples, however, and among the allies and the citizens he wrought the greatest imaginable havoc. In the first place he despoiled property holders on any and every excuse, and second, individuals and cities brought him "voluntarily" large gifts. He kept on murdering victims, alleging that some were rebelling and others conspiring. The general complaint against them all was that they were rich. The fact that he attended to the selling of their possessions in person enabled him to obtain far greater sums than would otherwise have been the case. Everybody was compelled to buy them, under all sorts of conditions and for much more than their value, for the reasons I have mentioned. Accordingly, he sent also for the finest and most precious heirlooms of the government and auctioned them off, selling with them the fame of the persons who had once used them. He would make some comment on each one, such as "This belonged to my father," "this to my mother," "this to my grandfather," "this to my great-grandfather," "this Egyptian piece belonged to Antony—became a prize of Augustus." Meantime he incidentally showed the necessity of selling them, so that no one dared to appear to be indigent, and he sold with each article some valuable association.
[-22-] In spite of all this he did not secure any surplus. He kept up his expenditures both for the objects that regularly interested him, producing some spectacles at Lugdunum, and also for the army. For the number of soldiers he had gathered amounted to twenty myriads, or, as some say, to twenty-five myriads. Seven times was he named imperator by them (just as pleased him), though he had won no battle and slain no enemy. To be sure, he did once by a ruse seize and make prisoners a few of the latter, but it was his own people whom he wasted most, striking some of them down individually and butchering othersen masse. Once he saw a crowd either of prisoners or some other persons and gave orders (in the cant phrase) that they should all be slain from baldhead to baldhead. Another time he was playing dice and, finding that he had no money, called for the census of the Gauls and ordered the wealthiest of them to be put to death. Then he returned to his fellow gamblers and said: "Here you are playing for a few denarii, while I have collected nearly fifteen thousand myriads." So these men perished without consideration. Indeed, one of them, Julius Sacerdos, who was fairly well off but not so extremely wealthy as naturally to become the object of attack, nevertheless fell a victim because of a similarity of names. This shows how carelessly everything went.
Others who perished I need not cite by name, simply mentioning enough to satisfy the requirements of my record. One, then, that he killed was Gastulicus Lentulus, a man of good reputation in every way, who had been governor of Germany for ten years; his death was due to the fact that the soldiers liked him. Another that he murdered was Lepidus, that lover and favorite of his, husband of Drusilla, the man who together with Gaius had maintained criminal relations with the emperor's other sisters Agrippina and Julia, the man whom he had permitted to stand for office five years earlier than the laws allowed, whom he also declared he should leave to succeed him as emperor. To celebrate the event he gave the soldiers money, as though he had worsted some hostile force, and sent three daggers to Mars the Avenger in Rome. His sisters for their connection with Lepidus he deported to the Portian islands, having first written to the senate a great deal of outrageous and brutal comment upon them. Agrippina was given the victim's bones in a jar and ordered to keep it in her bosom throughout the entire journey and bring it back to Rome again. Also, since many honors had been voted to these women on the emperor's account, the emperor forbade any distinction being awarded to any of his relatives again.
[-23-] He sent to the senate at the time a report of the matter as if he had escaped some great plot, for he was always pretending to be in danger and to be leading a miserable existence. The senators on being apprised of the facts passed several complimentary votes and granted him a lesser triumph; they sent envoys to announce this, some of whom were chosen by lot, but Claudius by election. That also displeased the emperor to such an extent that he again forbade anything approaching praise or honor being given to his relatives. He felt, too, that he had not been honored as he deserved, and indeed he never made any account of the honors granted him. It irritated him to have small distinctions voted, since that implied a slight, and greater distinctions irritated him because then he was deprived of the possibility of winning still higher prizes. He did not wish it to seem that anything that brought him honors was in the senators' power,—that would make them stronger than he,—nor again that they should have the right to grant such a thing to him, as if they had power and he was inferior to them. For this reason he ofttimes found fault with various gifts, on the ground that they did not increase his splendor but rather diminished his power. Being of this mind he used to become angry at those who did him honor if in any case it seemed that they had voted him less than he deserved. So capricious was he that no one could easily suit him.
Accordingly, for the reasons mentioned he would not receive all of those ambassadors, affecting to mistrust that they were spies, but chose out a few and sent the rest back before they reached Gaul. Those that he admitted to his presence were not accorded any august reception; indeed, he would have killed Claudius, had he not entertained a contempt for him, since the latter partly by nature and partly with intention gave the impression of great stupidity. Others were again sent, more in number (for he had complained among other points of the smallness of the first embassy), and they made the announcement that many marks of distinction had been voted to him: these he received gladly, even going out to meet them, for which action he received fresh honors at their hands. This, however, was somewhat later.
At the time under discussion Gaius divorced Paulina on the pretext that she was barren, but really because he had had enough of her, and married Milonia Cæsonia. She had formerly been his mistress, but now as she was pregnant he chose to make her his wife and have her bear him a child a month later. The people of Rome were disturbed by this behavior and were still further disturbed because a number of trials were hanging over their heads as a result of the friendship they had shown for his sisters and for the men who had been murdered: even some ædiles and prætors were compelled to resign their offices and stand trial.—Meantime they also suffered from the excessive heat. This grew so extremely severe that curtains were stretched across the Forum.—Among the men exiled at this time Ofonius Tigillinus was banished on the charge of having had aliaisonwith Agrippina.
[-24-] All this, however, did not distress the people so much as their expectation that the cruelty and licentiousness of Gaius would go to still greater lengths. They were particularly troubled on ascertaining that King Agrippa and King Antiochus were with him, like two tyrant-trainers.
[A.D. 40 (a. u.793)]
As a consequence, while he was consul for the third time no tribune nor prætor dared to convene the senate. For he had no colleague; though this, as some think, was not intentional, but the regular appointee died and no one else in so short a period of time as was available could be brought forward in the comitia to fill his place. Moreover, the prætors who attend to the affairs of the consuls, whenever the latter are out of town, ought to have administered all business pending. But at this period, in order not to appear to have acted for the emperor, they performed none of their duties. The senators in a body ascended the Capitoline, offered their sacrifices, and did obeisance to the chair of Gaius located in the temple. Furthermore, according to a custom prevailing in the time of Augustus, they deposited money, [14] making a show of giving it to the emperor himself. Their practice was similar also in the following year. At the time of the events just narrated they came together in the senate-house after these proceedings, without any person having convened them, but accomplished nothing, wasting the whole day in laudations of Gaius and prayers in his behalf. Since they had no love for him nor any wish that he should survive, they simulated both these feelings to all the greater extent, as if hoping in this way to disguise their real sentiments. On the third day devoted to prayers they came together in response to an announcement of a meeting made by all the prætors in a written notice: still, they transacted no business on this day nor again on the next until on the twelfth day word was brought that Gaius had resigned his office. Then at last the men who had been elected for subsequent service succeeded to the position and administered the business that fell to them. It was voted among other measures that the same honors should be given to the birthdays of Tiberius and of Drusilla as to that of Augustus. The actor folk also celebrated a festival, provided a spectacle, and set up and dedicated images of Gaius and Drusilla.—This was in accordance with a letter of Gaius. Whenever he wished any business brought up he communicated in writing a small portion of it to all the senators, but most of it to the consuls, and then sometimes ordered this to be read in the senate.—So much for the transactions of the senate.
[-25-] Meanwhile Gaius sent for Ptolemæus, the son of Juba, and on ascertaining that he was wealthy put him to death and a number of others with him. Also when he reached the ocean and was to all appearances about to conduct a campaign in Britain and had drawn up all the soldiers on the beach, he embarked on the triremes but after putting out a little from the land he sailed back again. Next he took his seat on a high platform and gave his soldiers the watchword as if for battle, while the trumpeters urged them on. All of a sudden, however, he ordered them to gather the shells. Having secured these "spoils" (you see he needed booty for the celebration of his triumph) he became immensely elated, assuming that he had enslaved the ocean itself; and he gave his soldiers many presents. The shells he took back to Rome for the purpose of exhibiting the spoils to the people there as well. The senate did not see how it could remain inactive in the face of this procedure, inasmuch as it learned he was in an exalted frame of mind, nor yet again how it could praise him. For, when anybody bestows great praise or extraordinary honors for a small success or none at all, that person becomes suspected of making a mock and jest of the affair. Still, for all that, when Gaius entered the City he came very near devoting the whole senate to destruction because it had not voted him divine honors. But he contented himself with assembling the populace, upon whom he showered from a raised position quantities of silver and gold. Many perished in the effort to seize it; for, as some say, he had mixed small knife-blades in with the coin.
As a result of his adulteries he repeatedly received the titles of imperator and Germanicus and Britannicus no less than if he had subdued Gaul and Britain entire.
Since this was his manner of life, he was destined inevitably to be plotted against. He was on the lookout for an attack and arrested Anicius Cerealius and his son Sextus Papinius, whom he put to the torture. And inasmuch as the former would not utter a word, he persuaded Papinius (by promising him safety and immunity) to denounce certain persons (whether truly or falsely); he then straightway put to death both Cerealius and the rest before his very eyes. There was a Betilienus Bassus whom he had ordered killed, and he compelled Capito, the man's father, to be present at his son's execution, though Capito was not guilty of any crime and had received no court summons. When the father enquired if he would allow him to shut his eyes, Gaius ordered him to be slain likewise. He, finding himself in danger, pretended to have been one of the plotters and promised that he would disclose the names of all the rest; and he named the companions of Gaius and those who abetted his licentiousness and cruelty. He would have brought destruction upon many persons, had he not by laying further information against the prefects, and Callistus and Cæsonia, aroused distrust. So he was put to death, but this very act paved the way for the ruin of Gaius. For the emperor privately summoned the prefects and Callistus and said to them: "I am but one and you are three; and I am defenceless, whereas you are armed: hence, if you hate and desire to kill me, slay me at once." The general consequences were that he came to regard himself as an object of hatred, and believing that they were vexed at his behavior he harbored suspicion against them and wore a sword at his side when in the City; and to forestall any harmony of action on their part he attempted to embroil them one with another by pretending to make a confidant of each one separately and talking to him about the rest until they obtained a notion of his designs and left him a prey to the conspirators.
The same emperor ordered the senate to convene and affected to grant its members amnesty, saying that there were only a very few against whom he still retained his anger. This expression doubled the anxiety of each one of them, for everybody was thinking of himself.
[-26-] Another person, named Protogenes, assisted the emperor in all his projects, and carried continually on his person two books, of which he called the one "sword" and the other "dagger." This Protogenes once entered the senate as if on some indifferent business and when all, as was to be expected, saluted and greeted him, he darted a kind of sinister glance at Scribonius Proculus and said: "Do you, too, greet me, though you hate the emperor so?" On hearing this all those present surrounded their fellow senator and tore him to pieces and voted [some festivals to Gains as also] that the emperor should have a high platform in the senate-house to prevent any one's approaching him, besides enjoying the use of a military guard even there. [They resolved further that his statues should be guarded.
Pleased at this Gaius laid aside his anger toward them and with a buoyant spirit promised them some money. Pomponius, who was said to have plotted against him, he released, inasmuch as he had been betrayed by a friend. And, as the man's mistress when tortured would not utter a word, he did her no further harm and even gave her an honorary gift of money. Gaius was praised for this partly through fear and partly sincerely, and] as some called him hero and others god, he fairly went out of his head. Even before this he was in the habit of demanding that he be given superhuman regard and said that he had intercourse with the Moon Goddess and was crowned by Victory. He also pretended to be Jupiter and took this as a pretext for having carnal knowledge of various women, especially his sisters. Again he would often figure as [Neptune, because he had bridged so great an expanse of sea, or perhaps as] Juno and Diana and Venus. [He would impersonate Hercules, Bacchus, Apollo, and all the other divinities, not merely males but also females.] As fast as he changed the names he would assume all the rest of the attributes that belonged to them, [so that he might seem to resemble them]. Now he would be seen in feminine guise, holding a wine-cup and thyrsus, again with masculine trappings he would carry a club and lion-skin: [or perhaps a helmet and shield]. He would make up first with smooth chin and later on as a bearded man. Sometimes he wielded a trident and on other occasions he brandished the thunderbolt. He would array himself like a maiden equipped for [hunting or] war, and after a brief interval would come forth as a woman. Thus he could make changes with careful attention to details by the variety of his dress and by what he attached to or threw over it, and he was anxious to appear to be anything rather than a human being [and an emperor]. Once a certain Gaul, espying him on a, high platform transacting business in the guise of Jupiter, laughed aloud. Gaius called to him and asked: "What do I seem to you to be?" And the other answered—I shall tell his exact words—: "A big pack of foolishness." Yet the man met no dire fate, for he was a shoemaker. Persons of such rank as Gaius can bear the frankness of the common herd more easily than that of those who hold high position.—Now this was the attire he would assume whenever he pretended to be some god; and there were suitable supplications, prayers, and sacrifices offered to it. [-27-] Otherwise, he usually appeared in public in silk and triumphal dress. Very few were those whom he would kiss. To most of the senators even he extended his hand or foot for homage. Consequently the men who were kissed by him thanked him for it even in the senate, though all might see him kissing dancers every day. [And these divine honors paid him came not only from the many, accustomed at all times to flatter, but from those who really pretended to be something.]
Take the case of Lucius Vitellius, not of low birth nor without sense, a man who, on the contrary, had become famous by his governorship of Syria. In addition to his other brilliant exploits as an official he spoiled a plot of Artabanus in that region. He encountered the latter, who had suffered no punishment for Armenia, already close to the Euphrates and terrified him by his sudden appearance. He then induced him to come to a conference and finally compelled him to sacrifice to the images of Augustus and Gaius. Furthermore he made a peace with him that was advantageous for the Romans and secured his children as hostages. This Vitellius, then, was summoned by Gaius to be put to death. The complaint against him was the same as the Parthians had against their king whom they expelled. Jealousy made him the object of hatred, and fear the object of plots. [For every power stronger than himself Gaius entertained hatred, and he was suspicious of whatever was successful, feeling sure that it would ultimately attack him.] But Vitellius saved his life by somehow presenting himself in such a way as to appear of less importance than his reputation would lead one to expect. He fell at the emperor's feet shedding tears of lamentation, all the time saluting him frequently as divine and paying him worship; at last he vowed that should he survive he would sacrifice to Gaius. By this behavior he so mollified the offended monarch and won his good-will that he not only managed to survive but came to be regarded as one of his lord's most intimate friends. On one occasion Gaius declared he was enjoying converse with the Moon Goddess, and when he asked Vitellius if he could see the goddess with him, the other kept his eyes fixed on the ground, as if overcome by amazement. In a half whisper he answered: "Only you gods, master, may behold one another."—So Vitellius from these beginnings, later came to surpass all others in adulation.
[-28-] [Gaius gave orders that in Miletus of the province of Asia a certain tract of land should be set apart for his worship. His avowed reason for choosing this city was that Diana had preempted Ephesus, Augustus Pergamum, and Tiberius Smyrna. The truth of the matter, however, was that he had conceived a desire to appropriate to his own use the large and extremely beautiful temple which the Milesians were building to Apollo. Thereupon he went to still greater lengths and built actually in Rome itself one temple of his own that was accorded him by vote of the senate, and another at his private expense on the Capitoline.] He also planned a kind of dwelling on the Capitol, in order, as he said, that he might live in the same house with Jupiter. However, he disdained taking second place in this union of households and found fault with the god for occupying the Capitol before him: accordingly, he hastened to construct another temple on the Palatine and by way of a statue for it thought he should like to change that of Olympian Jove so as to resemble himself. This he found impossible, for the boat built to bring it was shattered by thunderbolts, and loud laughter was plainly heard as often as any persons approached the pedestal to take hold of it. So after hurling threats at the obdurate image he set up a new one of himself.—The temple of the Dioscuri in the Roman Forum he cut in two and made through it an approach to the Palatine running right between the statues, to the end (these were at all events his words) that he might have the Dioscuri for gate-keepers. Assuming the name of Dialius [15] he attached Cæsonia his wife, Claudius, and other persons who were very wealthy to his service as priests, receiving from each one two hundred and fifty myriads for this honor. He also consecrated himself to his own service and appointed his horse a fellow-priest. Dainty and expensive birds were daily sacrificed to him; he had a contrivance by which he defied the thunder with answering peals and could send return flashes when it lightened. Likewise whenever a bolt fell, he would in turn hurl a javelin at a rock, repeating each time the words of Homer: "Either lift me or I will thee." [16] [When thirty days after her marriage Cæsonia brought forth a little daughter, he pretended that this, too, had come about through supernatural means and gave himself airs on the fact that in so few days after becoming a husband he was a father. He gave the child the name of Drusilla, and taking her up to the Capitol placed her on the knees of Jupiter, with the implication that she was his child, and put her in charge of Minerva to be suckled.] This god, then, this Jupiter,—[he was called by the latter name so much that it even found its way into documents,—at the same time that all this took place was collecting money in most shameful and most frightful ways.] One may, to be sure, [leave out of account the wares and the taverns, the brothels [17] and the courts, the artisans and the wage-earning slaves] and other such sources from [every single one of] which he gathered funds; but how can one escape mentioning the rooms set apart in the very palace and the wives of the foremost men as well as the children of the most aristocratic families that he shut up in these rooms and foully abused, sparing absolutely no one in his greed for such victims, meeting with no resistance from some [who wished to avoid showing any displeasure] but seizing others quite against their will? [Yet these proceedings did not displease the mob very much, but they rather delighted with him in his licentiousness and in the fact that] he also would throw himself on the heap of gold and silver collected from these persons and roll in it. [When, however, after enacting severe laws in regard to the taxes he inscribed them in exceedingly small letters on a tablet which he then hung up aloft so as to make sure that it should be read as little as possible and that many through ignorance of what was bidden or forbidden should make themselves liable to the penalties thereof, the people straightway ran together excitedly into the hippodrome and raised fierce shouts.]
Once the people had come together in the hippodrome and were objecting to his conduct, and he had them cut down by the soldiers. In this way he imposed silence upon them all.
[A.D. 41 (a. u. 794)]
[-29-] As he continued to show insanity in every way, a plot was formed against him by Cassius Chairea and Cornelius Sabinus, though they were holding tribuneships in his pretorian guard. A number were in the conspiracy and privy to what was being done, among whom were Callistus and the prefect.
Practically all of his courtiers were interested, both in their own behalf and for the common good. Any who did not take part in the conspiracy still refused to reveal it, though they knew of it and were glad to see a plot formed against him.
But the men who actually killed Gaius were those mentioned. It is worth noting, besides, that Chairea was an old-fashioned sort of man and had a private cause for anger. Gaius was in the habit of nicknaming him "sissy" (though he was the hardiest of men) and whenever it came the turn of Chairea to command would give him some such watchword as "yearning" or "Venus." Again, an oracle had a short time before warned Gaius to beware of Cassius. The former, supposing that it had reference to Gaius Cassius, governor of Asia at the time, because he was a descendant of that Cassius who had slain Cæsar, had him brought as a prisoner. The person whose future conduct the divinity was really indicating to the emperor, however, was this Cassius Chairea. Likewise a certain Egyptian, Apollonius, foretold in his native land what happened to him. For this speech he was sent to Rome and was brought before the emperor the day on which the latter was destined to die; his punishment was postponed till a little later, and in this way his life was saved.
The deed was done as follows: Gaius was celebrating a festival in the palace and was attending to the production of a spectacle. In the course of this he was himself both eating and drinking and was feasting the rest of the company. Pomponius Secundus, consul at the time, was taking his fill of the food as he sat by the emperor's feet, and at the same time kept continually bending over to shower kisses upon them. Gaius himself decided that he wanted to dance and act as a tragedian. The followers of Chairea could endure it no longer. As he went out of the theatre to see the boys of most noble lineage whom he had imported from Greece and Ionia to sing the hymn composed in his honor, the conspirators wounded him, then intercepted him in a narrow passage and killed him. When he fell to the ground none of those present would keep his hands off him but they all savagely stabbed the lifeless corpse again and again. Some chewed pieces of his flesh. His wife and daughter were immediately slain.
So Gaius, who accomplished all these exploits in three years, nine months, and twenty-eight days, learned by actual experience that he was not a god.
Now he was openly spurned by those who had been accustomed to do him reverence even when absent. His blood was spilled by persons who were wont to speak and to write of him as "Jove" and "god." His statues and his images were dragged from their pedestals, for the people in particular retained a lively remembrance of the distress they had endured.
All the soldiers in the Germanic division raised an outcry and their remonstrance extended to the point of indulging in slaughter.
Those who stood by remembered the words once spoken by him to the populace: "How I wish you had but one neck!" and made it plain to him that it was he who had but one neck, whereas they had many hands. And when the pretorian guard, filled with consternation, began running about and demanding who had slain Gaius, Valerius Asiaticus, an ex-consul, took a remarkable mode of bringing them to their senses, in that he climbed up to a conspicuous place and cried out: "I only wish I had killed him!" This alarmed them so that they stopped their outcry.
All such persons as in any way acknowledged the authority of the senate obeyed their oaths and became once more quiet.—While the overthrow of Gaius was thus being accomplished, the consuls Sentius and Secundus forthwith transferred the funds from the treasure-chambers to the Capitol. They stationed most of the senators and plenty of soldiers as guards over it to prevent any plundering being done by the populace. So these men in company with the prefects and the circle of Sabinus and Chairea deliberated as to what should be done.
[Footnote 1: Emended by Boissevain from the "four" of the MS.]
[Footnote 2: Boissevain restores the MS. "ten" in place of the "twelve" of Robert Estienne.]
[Footnote 3: Compare Suetonius, Life of Gaius, chapter 15.]
[Footnote 4: This sentence is unintelligible and doubtless the MS. is corrupt. No editor has offered a wholly satisfactory emendation, though by comparing Book Sixty, chapter 4, the sense would seem to require: "no one, in taking the oath, mentions the name of Tiberius in the number of the emperors."]
[Footnote 5: Reading (with Boissevain) [Greek: exoruxas] for [Greek: dioruxas].]
[Footnote 6: This predicate is supplied on the suggestion of Boissevain.In the MS. an evident gap of a few words exists.]
[Footnote 7: Adopting the emendation of Bücheler, [Greek: ieraes eichosin].]
[Footnote 9: Boissevain remarks that this sentence may be interpreted to mean "All persons incurred equal censure whether they showed pleasure at [decrees passed in her honor], as being grieved [at her death], or behaved as if they were glad [that she had become a goddess]," but adds that the text is open to suspicion.]
[Footnote: 10 Reading [Greek: up] (a suggestion of Boissevain's) in place of [Greek: hép] Compare Book Sixty-one, chapter 16.]
[Footnote 11: Inserting with Bekker [Greek: alla chai asebeite.]]
[Footnote 12: This expression is obscure. Fabricius thought it contained a reference to the Palatine Games, and Boissevain queries whether we should read "at thespectaclesbelonging to the Palatium."]
[Footnote 13: This is a quotation of the speech made by Achilles to the heralds whom Agamemnon despatches to the hero's hut in pursuance of the threat previously uttered that he (Agamemnon) will take Briseis, favorite of Achilles, in lieu of Chryseis, surrendered to her father. (From Homer's Iliad, Book I, verse 335.)]
[Footnote 14: Sc. "in it"? (Boissevain)]
[Footnote 15: According to Boissevain, this is very probably a MS. error forJupiter Latiaris.]
[Footnote 16: From Homer's Iliad, Book Twenty-three, verse 724.]
[Footnote 17: Reading (with Reiske) pornas for ornas]
60
Claudius is made emperor: his faults and excellencies (chapters 1-7).
He restores their kingdoms to Antiochus, to both the Mithridates, toAgrippa, to Herod, and enlarges the size of the same (chapter 8).
The Chatti, Chauci, Mauri are overcome (chapters 8, 9).
Certain regulations: the harbor of Ostia: Lake Fucinus to empty into theTiber (chapters 10-13).
Assassinations instituted: crimes of Messalina and the freedmen (chapters 14-18).
Britain is partially subdued (chapters 19-23).
Certain regulations: outrages of Messalina: the causes of her demise (chapters 24-31).
Agrippina is wed: she at once enacts the role of a Messalina: at length she murders Claudius (chapters 32-35).
These events occurred during the remainder of the consulship of C. Cæsar (4th) and Cn. Sentius Saturninus, together with 13 other years in which the following held the consulship.
Claudius Cæsar Aug. (II), C. Cæcina Largus. (A.D. 42 = a. u. 795 = Second of Claudius, from Jan. 24th.)
Claudius Cæsar Aug. (III), L. Vitellius (II). (A.D. 43 = a. u. 796 =Third of Claudius.)
L. Quinctius Crispinus (II), M. Statilius Taurus. (A.D. 44 = a. u. 797 =Fourth of Claudius.)
M. Vinicius (II), T. Statilius Taurus Corvinus. (A.D. 45 = a. u. 798 =Fifth of Claudius.)
Valerius Asiaticus (II), M. Iunius Silanus. (A.D. 46 = a. u. 799 = Sixth of Claudius.)
Claudius Cæsar Aug. (IV), L. Vitellius (III). (A.D. 47 = a. u. 800 =Seventh of Claudius.)
A. Vitellius, L. Vipsanius. (A.D. 48 = a. u. 801 = Eighth of Claudius.)
C. Pompeius Longinus Gallus, Q. Veranius. (A.D. 49 = a. u. 802 = Ninth ofClaudius.)
C. Antistius Vetus, M. Suillius Nervilianus. (A.D. 50 = a. u. 803 = Tenth of Claudius.)
Claudius Cæsar Aug. (V), Ser. Cornelius Orfitus. (A.D. 51 = a. u. 804 =Eleventh of Claudius.)
Cornelius Sulla Faustus, L. Salvius Otho Titianus. (A.D. 52 = a. u. 805 =Twelfth of Claudius.)
Dec. Iunius Silanus Torquatus, Q. Haterius Antoninus. (A.D. 53 = a. u. 806 = Thirteenth of Claudius.)
M. Asinius Marcellus, Manius Acilius Aviola. (A.D. 54 = a. u. 807 =Fourteenth of Claudius—to October 13th.)
[A.D. 41 (a. u.794)]
[-1-] When Gaius perished in the manner described, the consuls despatched guards to every quarter of the city and gathered the senate on the Capitol, where many diverse opinions were uttered. Some favored a democracy, some a monarchy; some were for choosing this man, and others that. Therefore they spent the rest of the day and the whole night without accomplishing anything. Meanwhile some soldiers who had entered the palace for the purpose of making spoil of something or other found Claudius hidden away in a dark corner. He was attending Gaius when the latter came out of the theatre, and at this time through fear of the confusion had crouched down out of the way. At first, the men thinking that he was some one else and perhaps had something worth taking dragged him out. Afterwards, on recognizing him, they hailed him as emperor and conducted him to the camp. Then in company with their comrades they delivered to him the entire power of government, inasmuch as he was of the imperial race and was regarded as suitable. In spite of his shrinking and remonstrance the more he attempted to avoid the honor and to resist the more did the soldiers in turn insist upon not accepting an emperor from others but upon their own right to establish such a sovereign over the entire world. Hence, with a show of reluctance, he yielded. The consuls for a time sent tribunes and others forbidding him to assume any such authority and to submit to the jurisdiction of the people and the senate and the laws; but, when their attendant soldiers left them in the lurch, then finally they too yielded and voted him all the remaining privileges pertaining to sole rulership.
[-2-] So it was that Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, the son of Drusus child of Livia, obtained the imperial power without having been previously tested at all in any position of authority, save only that he had been consul. He was fifty years of age. In mental development he was by no means inferior, having been through a sufficient education to do a little history writing, but physically he was frail, and his head and hands shook a little. Hence his voice was also faltering and he did not himself read all the measures that he introduced before the senate but would give them to the quæstor to read,—though at first, at least, he was regularly present. Whatever he did read in person he generally recited sitting down. He was the first of the Romans, too, to employ a covered chair,—which has led to the present custom which prescribes that not only the emperors be carried in chairs but we ex-consuls, as well. Before this time, Augustus, Tiberius, and some others used to be carried sometimes in litters such as women even at the present day affect. These infirmities, however, were not the cause of nearly so much trouble to him as were the freedmen and women with whom he associated; for more conspicuously than any of his peers he was ruled by slaves and by women. From a child he had been reared with careful nursing and in the midst of terror and had for that reason feigned simplicity to a greater extent than was really true this fact he himself admitted in the senate: and as he had lived for a long time with his grandmother Livia and for another long period with his mother Antonia and again with liberti, and moreover had had several amours with women, he had acquired no qualities becoming a freeman, but although ruler of all the Romans and their subjects he was himself nothing more nor less than a slave. They would take advantage of him particularly when he was inclined to drink and sexual intercourse, for in both these directions he was quite insatiable and on such occasions was exceedingly easy to master. Moreover, he was afflicted by cowardice, which frequently roused in him so great alarm that he could not calculate anything as he ought. They anticipated this failing of his, too, and it was no inconsiderable help toward getting the better of him. By frightening him half to death they would reap great benefits, and in other people they inspired so much fear that—to give an epitome of the situation—once when a number were on the same day invited to dinner by Claudius and again by his dependents, the guests neglected him on some indifferent pretext and presented themselves at the feast of his companions.
[-3-] Though, generally speaking, he was the sort of character described, still he performed not a few valuable services whenever he was free from the influences mentioned and was master of himself. I shall take up his acts in detail.
All honors voted to him he immediately accepted, except the title "Father," and this he afterward took: yet he did not at once enter the senate, but delayed as late as the thirtieth day. The fact that he had seen Gaius perish as he did and now learned that some other candidates, presumably superior to himself, had been proposed for emperor by the senatorial body made him a little timid. Therefore he exercised great caution at all points and caused all men and women who approached him to be searched, for fear they might have a dagger. At banquets he made sure there were some soldiers present,—a custom which, set by him, continues to this day. That of invariable search was brought to an end by Vespasian. He put to death Chairea and some others in spite of his pleasure at the death of Gaius. In other words he looked far ahead to ensure his own safety, and was not so much grateful to the man for having by his deed enabled him to get the empire as he was displeased at the idea of any one assassinating an emperor. He acted in this matter not as an avenger of Gaius but as one who had caught a person plotting against himself. As a sequel to this murder Sabinus also died by his own hand, not choosing to survive after his comrade had been executed.
As for all other citizens who had openly shown their eagerness for a democracy or had been regarded as eligible for the supreme power. Claudius so far from bearing malice toward them gave them honors and offices. In plainer terms than any ruler that ever lived he promised them immunity,—therein imitating the example of the Athenians,[1] as he said,—and it was no mere promise, but he afforded it in fact. He abolished complaints of maiestas alike for things written and things done and punished no one on any such charge for either earlier or later offences. He invented no complaint for the sake of persecuting those who had wronged or insulted him when he was a private citizen; and there were many who had done this, particularly as he was deemed of no importance, and to please either Tiberius or Gaius. If, however, he found them guilty of some other crime, he would take vengeance on them also for their former abuse. [-4-] The taxes introduced in the reign of Gaius and whatever other measures had led to denunciation of the latter's acts were done away with by Claudius, not all at once but as opportunity offered. He also brought back such persons as Gaius had unjustly exiled,—-among others the latter's sisters Agrippina and Julia,—and restored to them, their property. Of those imprisoned,—and a very great number were in this predicament,—he liberated such as were suffering for maiestas or any similar complaints, but real criminals he punished.
He investigated the cases very carefully, in order that those who had committed crimes should not be released on account of the victims of blackmail, nor yet the latter be ruined on account of the former. Nearly every day either in company with the entire senate or alone he would sit on a platform trying cases, generally in the Forum, but occasionally elsewhere. In fact, he renewed the custom of having men sit as his colleagues, which had been abandoned ever since Tiberius withdrew to the island. Very often he joined the consuls and the prætors and especially those having charge of the finances in their investigations, and some few matters he turned over entirely to the various courts. He destroyed the poisons (which were found in great variety among the effects of Gaius); and the books of Protogenes (who was put to death) together with the documents which Gaius pretended to have burned but which were actually found in the imperial archives he showed to the senators and gave them to the latter, to the very men who had written them, no less than to those against whom they had been written, to read: afterward he burned them up. Yet, when the senate manifested a desire to dishonor Gaius, he personally prevented such a measure from being voted, but on his own responsibility caused all of his predecessor's images to disappear by night. Hence the name of Gaius does not occur in the list of emperors whom we mention in oaths and prayers any more than that of Tiberius. Neither of them, however, suffered any official disgrace.
[-5-] Accordingly, the unjust institutions set up by Gaius and by others on his account Claudius overturned. To Drusus his father and Antonia his mother he offered horse-races on their birthdays, putting off to different days the festivals which would occur on the same dates, in order that there should not be two celebrations at once. His grandmother Livia was not only honored by equestrian contests, but was deified, and he set up a statue to her in the temple of Augustus, charging the vestal virgins with the duty of offering sacrifice in proper form. He also ordered that women should use her name in taking oaths.
Though he paid such reverence to his ancestors, he himself would accept nothing beyond the names pertaining to his office. On the first day of August, to be sure,—his birthday,—there were equestrian contests, but not on his account: it was because the temple of Mars had been dedicated on that day, which had consequently been distinguished thereafter by annual contests.
Beside moderation in this respect he further forbade any one's worshiping him or offering him any sacrifice; he checked the many excessive acclamations accorded him; and he accepted only one image,—of silver,—and two statues, of bronze and stone, that had been voted to him at the start. All such expenditures, he declared, were useless and furthermore inflicted great loss and great annoyance upon the city. All the temples and all the rest of the public works had been filled with statues and votive offerings, so that he said he should have to make it a matter of thought what to do with them. He forbade the prætors' giving gladiatorial games and ordained that any one else who superintended them in any place whatsoever should not allow to be written or reported the statement that such games were being held for the emperor's preservation. He became so used to settling all these matters by considering the merits of each case rather than according to the dictates of custom that he adopted the same attitude toward other departments of life. For instance, when this year he betrothed one of his daughters to Lucius Junius Silanus and gave the other in marriage to Gnæus Pompeius Magnus, he did nothing out of the common to commemorate the occasion, but attended the courts in person on those days and convened the senate as usual. He ordered his sons-in-law temporarily to hold office among the viginti viri, and later to act as prefects of the city at the Feriæ. After a long interval he gave them the right to stand for the other offices five years sooner than was customary.
Gaius had despoiled this Pompeius of his titleMagnusand came very near killing him because he was so named. Yet out of contempt for him, since he was still but a boy, he did not go to such extremes, and merely abolished the offending epithet, saying that it was not safe for any one to be called Magnus. Claudius now restored to him this title and gave him his daughter to wife.
[-6-] These were certainly commendable actions. In addition, when at one time in the senate the consuls came down from their seats to talk with him, he rose in turn and went to meet them. In Naples he lived entirely like a private citizen. He and his associates while there adopted the Greek manner of life invariably; at the musical entertainments he would wear cloak and military boots, and at the gymnastic exercises a purple robe and golden crown. His action, moreover, in regard to money was remarkable, for he forbade any one to bring him contributions, as had been customary in the reigns of Augustus and of Gaius, and he refused to allow any person to name him as heir if such person possessed any relatives whatever. Indeed, the funds that had been confiscated by government order during the period of Tiberius and Gaius he gave back either to the victims themselves, if they still survived, or otherwise to their children.
It had been the custom[2] that if any slightest detail were carried out contrary to precedent on the occasion of the games these should be given over again, as I have stated. But since such occasions were frequent, occurring a third, fourth, fifth, and sometimes tenth time, and this partly by accident but generally by intention on the part of those benefited by these happenings, he enacted a law that on only one day should the equestrian contests take place a second time; in fact, however, he usually abrogated this privilege also. The schemers henceforth easily avoided falling into irregularities, as they gained very little by so doing.
In the matter of the Jews, who had again increased so greatly that by reason of their multitude it would have been hard without raising a tumult to bar them from the City, he decided not to drive them out, but ordered them to follow that mode of life prescribed by their ancestral custom and not to assemble in numbers.—The clubs instituted by Gaius he disbanded.—Also, seeing that there was no use in forbidding the populace to do certain things unless their daily life should be reorganized, he abolished the taverns where they were wont to gather and drink and commanded that no dressed meat nor warm water[3] should be sold. Some who disobeyed this ordinance were punished.
He restored to the various cities the statues which Gaius was in the habit of requiring them to send, restored also to the Dioscuri their temple and to Pompey the right of naming the theatre. On the stage-building of the latter he inscribed also the name of Tiberius, because that emperor had rebuilt the structure when it was burned. His own name he had chiseled there likewise (not because he had reared it but because he had dedicated it), but on no other part of the edifice. Likewise he did not wear the triumphal garb the entire time of the games, though permission was voted to him, but appeared in it merely to offer sacrifice; the rest of the festival he superintended in the purple-bordered garment.
[-7-] He introduced in the orchestra among others knights and women who were his peers, who had been accustomed in the reign of Gaius so to appear regularly. The reason was not that he liked their performance, but that he wanted a proof of their past behavior. Certainly none of them was again marshaled on the stage during the era of Claudius. The Pyrrhic dance, which the boys sent for by Gaius were practicing, they were allowed to perform once, were honored with citizenship for it, and were then dismissed. Others, in turn, chosen from among the retinue, then gave exhibitions.—This was what took place in theatrical circles.
In the hippodrome twelve camels and horses had one contest, and three hundred bears together with an equal number of Libyan beasts were slaughtered. Previous to this time the different classes in attendance had watched the spectacle each from its own special location,—senators, knights, and populace; thus it had come to be a regular practice, yet no definite positions had been assigned to them. [-8-] It was at this time that Claudius marked off the space which still belongs to the senate, and furthermore he allowed those senators who chose to view the sights somewhere else and even in citizen's dress. After this he banqueted the senators and their wives, the knights, and likewise the tribes.
Next he restored Commagene to Antiochus, for Gaius, though he had himself given him the district, had taken it away again; and Mithridates the Iberian, whom Gaius had summoned only to imprison, he sent home again to resume his sovereignty. To another Mithridates, a lineal descendant of Mithridates the Great, he granted Bosporus, giving to Polemon some land in Cilicia in place of it. He enlarged the domain of Agrippa of Palestine (who, happening to be in Rome, had helped him become emperor), and bestowed on him consular honors. To the latter's brother Herod he gave pretorial dignities and some authority. They were allowed to enter the senate and to express their thanks to him in Greek.—Now these were the acts of Claudius himself, and they were lauded by all.
But certain other deeds were done at this time of an entirely different nature by his freedmen and by his wife, Valeria Messalina. She became enraged at her niece Julia because the latter neither paid her honor nor flattered her; and she was also jealous because the girl was extremely beautiful and had been the only one to enjoy the favor of Claudius several times. Accordingly, she had her banished by bringing against her among other complaints that of adultery (for which Annius Seneca was also exiled) and after a while she succeeded in procuring Julia's death. As for the freedmen, it was they who persuaded Claudius to accept triumphal honors for his deeds in Mauretania, though he had not been successful and had not yet attained imperial power when the end of the war came. This same year, however, Sulpicius Galba overcame the Chatti, and Publius Gabinius conquered the Cauchi[4] beside winning fame in other ways; for instance, he recovered a military eagle, the only one left among the enemy from the catastrophe of Varus. Through the exploits of both of these men Claudius received a title of imperator that had some foundation in fact.
[A.D. 42 (a. u.795)]
[-9-] The next year the same Moors were again subdued in fighting with him. Suetonius Paulinus, one of the ex-prætors, overran their country as far as the Atlantic. Gnæus Hosidius Geta, one of the peers, making a subsequent campaign, advanced at once against their general Salabus and conquered him two separate times. And when the latter after leaving a few soldiers near the frontier to hold back any who might pursue took refuge in the sandy part of the country, Geta ventured to follow him. First stationing a part of his army opposite the hostile detachment that was awaiting him he provided himself with as much water as was feasible, and pushed forward. When this supply gave out and no more could be found, he was caught in an exceedingly unpleasant position. The barbarians, especially since through habit they can endure thirst an exceedingly long time, and through knowledge of the country can always getsomewater, had no trouble in maintaining themselves. The Romans, for the opposite reasons, found it impossible to advance and difficult to withdraw. While Geta was in a dilemma as to what he should do, one of the natives who was at peace with the invaders persuaded him to make use of incantations and enchantments, telling him that as a result of such procedure abundant water had frequently been granted them. No sooner had he taken this advice than so much rain burst from heaven as to allay the soldiers' thirst entirely, beside scaring the enemy, who thought the gods were assisting the Roman. Consequently they came to terms voluntarily and ended their warfare.—After these events Claudius divided the Moors who were in subjection into two districts, namely, the country about Tengis and that about Cæsarea, these cities giving their names to the whole region; and he appointed two knights as governors. At this same period certain parts of Numidia also were involved in warfare by neighboring barbarians, and when the latter had been conquered returned to a state of repose.