CHAP. VIII.

[466]scacciáre

[467]ricuperáre

[468]flotta

[469]comándo

[470]infestáre

[471]présto

[472]rotto

[473]combattiménto

[474]seguíre

[475]malmenato

[476]forzáto

[477]fuggíre

[478]messo

[479]cenno

[480]protezióne

[481]intraprésa

[482]ignominiosamente

[483]battúto

[484]affátto

[485]dedicáto

[486]ripudiáre

[487]dichiaráre

[488]Azio

[489]promontório

[490]Epíro

[491]vascéllo

[492]prodigiosaménte

[493]grande

[494]rassomigliáre

[495]castéllo

[496]muóvere

[497]fuga

[498]cambiáre

[499]sorte

[500]dubbióso

[501]battáglia

[502]rovína

[503]assediáto

[504]ammazzársi

[505]seguíre

[506]esémpio

(Of Rome, 725—Of Christ, 11.)

After the death of Antony and Cleopatra,[1]Egypt was[2]reduced to the[3]form of a[4]province. Cæsar, in the year 725,[5]triumphed three times, for the[6]conquest of[7]Dalmatia, the victory at Actium, and the[8]reducing of Egypt. After which he[9]advised with Agrippa and Mecænas, either[10]seriously, or[11]pretendedly, about the[12]laying down of his[13]authority; Agrippa was for it, Mecænas against it; this last[14]advice he[15]resolved to follow, but[16]brought a[17]bill[18]nevertheless into the senate[19]to divest himself of his power, and by that[20]stratagem got it[21]secured to him both by the senate and the people, in the year 726.

[22]Cornelius Gallus, a[23]Roman[24]knight,[25]governor of Egypt, being[26]banished for his[27]insolence, slew himself. Augustus[28]carried on a war against the Cantabri and Austus for some years, by his[29]lieutenants: that is to say, from the year 729 to 735, in which they were entirely[30]reduced by Agrippa; who, upon his[31]return[32]refused a[33]triumph which was[34]offered him.[35]Phraates, king of the Parthians, about this time[36]restored the Roman[37]standards that had been[38]taken from Crassus.

For two of his[39]friends, Mecænas and M. Vipsanius Agrippa, he had a[40]particular[41]esteem aboveall others; the[42]former was a great[43]patron of[44]learning and[45]learned men. Augustus made Agrippa his[46]son-in-law, by[47]marrying his daughter Julia to him, whom he had by Scribonia. She had children, C. and L. Cæsars, Agrippa Posthumus, Agrippina married to Germanicus, Drusus’s son, Livia’s[48]grandson, and Julia, whom Æmilius married. He took Livia, when she was[49]big with child, by her former[50]husband Tiberius Nero, by whom he had no[51]issue, though she had by Nero, Tiberius, who was emperor afterwards, and Drusus who[52]died in Germany.

Tiberius having gotten the[53]tribunitial[54]power for five years, was[55]sent to[56]settle the[57]affairs of Armenia. Soon after he[58]retired to Rhodes, where, for fear of[59]falling under the[60]displeasure of his[61]step-sons, he[62]continued seven years. But the[63]occasion of his[64]retirement was his[65]aversion for his wife Julia, who[66]spent her time in all[67]manner of[68]debauchery. Augustus, upon a[69]discovery of her[70]pranks,[71]banished her.

The[72]age of this emperor[73]produced several great[74]men: amongst the[75]Greeks[76]Dionysius Halicarnassensis and[77]Nicholas Damascenus were[78]famous for their[79]talents in writing[80]history; and amongst the[81]Latins[82]Cornelius Nepos, Atticus’s[83]son-in-law, and Sallust, who died four years before the[84]battle of Actium. In this age livedlikewise those[85]celebrated[86]poets,[87]Virgil,[88]Horace,[89]Ovid,[90]Tibullus, and[91]Propertius.

Augustus died at Nola, in Campania, in the 14th year of[92]Christ, and the 76th year of his age, having[93]held the empire by himself, from the death of M. Antony, forty-three years; he was an[94]excellent[95]prince, and[96]necessary for those times.

He was[97]succeeded by Tiberius, a prince of a[98]savage[99]disposition, and[100]given up to all manner of debauchery; he was the son of Livia by Nero. He[101]dissembled his[102]vices at the[103]beginning of his reign with[104]wonderful[105]art, through fear of Germanicus, his brother’s son, whom he had[106]adopted at the[107]command of his[108]father-in-law. For, as he[109]gained a great[110]reputation by his[111]virtues and[112]exploits in war, he was[113]looked upon with a[114]jealous eye, as[115]fitter for the empire than himself. He[116]removed him from Germany where he had[117]wonderful[118]success against the enemy, into the[119]East, to[120]fight against the Parthians, in the year 769, having sent at the same time Cn. Piso into Syria, between whom and Germanicus was a[121]mortal enmity. Wherefore Germanicus died, not without the[122]suspicion of having been[123]poisoned by him, for which being[124]prosecuted at Rome by Agrippina, the wife of Germanicus, he[125]prevented his[126]sentence by a[127]voluntary death.

[128]Ælius Sejanus, a Roman[129]knight, was afterwards[130]raised by Tiberius, who after a great many[131]wicked[132]actions,[133]aiming now at no less than the empire itself, was, by a[134]letter of Tiberius to the senate,[135]thrown from the[136]top of all his[137]grandeur, and died by the[138]hand of an[139]executioner, with all his[140]family, in the 18th year of Tiberius.

About the 18th year of his[141]reign, he[142]retired to Caprea, an[143]island on the[144]coast of Campania, with a[145]design of never returning to the town, where he[146]privately[147]wallowed in all manner of[148]debauchery, and died in the 23rd year of his reign, to the great[149]joy of every one, being then in the 78th year of his age.

[150]Jesus Christ, the son of God, was[151]born of the[152]Virgin Mary, in the reign of Augustus, and[153]crucified in that of Tiberius, being then thirty-three years of age.

Caius Cæsar Caligula, so[154]called from a[155]shoe[156]worn by the[157]soldiery, which, when a boy, he[158]wore in the camp,[159]succeeded Tiberius, being the son of Germanicus and Agrippina, the daughter of M. Agrippa and Julia. He was[160]entered into the five and twentieth year of his age. Great was the joy of the people upon his first[161]accession to the[162]throne, and no less were their[163]hopes that he would be[164]like Germanicus his father, who is said to have been[165]possessed of all the good[166]qualitiesof[167]body and[168]mind. And indeed as the worst of princes frequently[169]begin well, he gave many[170]signs of his[171]moderation and[172]regard to the good of the public. But soon after, as if he had[173]put off all[174]humanity, he[175]outstripped the most savage[176]creatures in[177]cruelty; and having made sad[178]havoc among all[179]ranks and[180]degrees of men, he[181]killed likewise Macro,[182]commander of the[183]prætorian[184]bands, by whose[185]means he had been made emperor. He also[186]committed[187]crimes with his sisters. Having in a year’s time[188]exhausted[189]immense[190]treasures that had been[191]left by Tiberius, he[192]fell to[193]proscribing and[194]plundering. Among other proofs of his cruelty, he was[195]heard to say, I[196]wish the Roman people had but one[197]neck. In all his[198]buildings, or public[199]works, he[200]effected what was[201]looked upon to be impossible. He[202]ordered himself to be[203]worshipped as a god throughout the[204]world, and[205]temples to be[206]erected to him. At last, he was slain by Chærea Cassius,[207]tribune of a[208]cohort of his[209]guards, and some others, who had[210]entered into a[211]plot against him, after he had[212]reigned three years, ten months, and eight days, and[213]lived twenty-nine years.

Claudius Nero, Caligula’s uncle, and the son of Drusius[214]reigned after him,[215]naturally no bad man, but[216]senseless and foolish. He was not naturally[217]cruel, but only so when[218]instigated by others,[219]especially by his[220]freedmen and his[221]wives, into whose hands he[222]gave up himself and his[223]affairs. His first lady was Messalina, whose[224]depravity and[225]dissoluteness every body[226]knew but himself; till at last[227]venturing to[228]marry one Silius, a knight, she was by her[229]husband’s order slain, together with her[230]paramour, at the[231]instigation of[232]Narcissus, who with[233]Pallas, another of his[234]freedmen,[235]ruled him entirely.

Another[236]instance of his[237]folly is, that after Messalina was[238]put to death, by whom he had his son[239]Britannicus, and Octavia, he married Agrippina Germanicus his brother’s daughter, the mother of Nero by[240]Domitius, in the ninth year of his reign, by the[241]advice of Pallas: at whose and Agrippina’s[242]request, he[243]adopted Nero, and[244]passing by Britannicus,[245]designed him for his[246]successor. He[247]banished the[248]Jews from Rome, and the[249]mathematicians out of Italy: and[250]undertaking an[251]expedition into[252]Britain, he[253]subdued it all in sixteen days time, as Dio says, in the third year of his reign. He died in the year of Christ 54, by[254]poison[255]put in a[256]mushroom by Agrippina. He reigned thirteen years eight months and twenty days, and lived sixty-four years.

Domitius Nero,[257]mounted the throne after the death of his[258]step-father, being then seventeen years of age. He at first,[259]behaved himself in such a manner, that he might be[260]reckoned among the best of[261]princes; that is, as long as he[262]listened to the[263]precepts of his[264]master Seneca. Afterwards, being[265]corrupted with[266]luxury and[267]flattery, he[268]became more like a[269]monster than a man. He[270]stopped the progress of the Parthians, who had[271]over-run Armenia, by Corbulo, a[272]gallant[273]commander, and a person of great[274]virtue and[275]authority, who[276]recovered Armenia, in the ninth year of Nero, and[277]obliged[278]Tiridates, Volegesis king of the Parthians brother, to[279]come to Rome, and to[280]beg his[281]crown of Nero, in the thirteenth year of Nero’s reign; in which year he[282]recalled Corbulo, and put him to death. He[283]destroyed Britannicus by[284]poison in the very[285]beginning of his reign. He likewise[286]ordered his mother Agrippina to be put to death, after having first[287]disgraced and[288]banished her from the[289]court, which[290]parricide, that nothing might be[291]wanting to[292]complete the[293]unhappiness of the times, the Senate[294]approved of. Afterwards having married Poppæa, whom he[295]took from Otho, he[296]banished Octavia, and at last put her to death. Upon the[297]discovery of a[298]plot, which Piso, and someothers had[299]laid against him; he put to death the[300]poet Lucan, and Seneca the philosopher, with several others, in the year of Christ 65, and the same year he[301]kicked his wife Poppæa, when[302]pregnant,[303]to death. He had the[304]impudence to[305]appear upon the[306]stage, and[307]act amongst the[308]players and[309]harpers, and[310]ride[311]chariot-races at the[312]Circensian games; and to[313]represent for his[314]diversion the[315]appearance of[316]Troy in[317]flames, he[318]set fire to the city, and[319]imputed it to the[320]Christians. He[321]became so odious and[322]contemptible by his[323]villanies, that he was[324]forsaken by all, and being[325]sought for in order to be[326]punished, he[327]performed the[328]executioner’s[329]office upon himself, in the 14th year of his[330]reign, and 68th of our Lord.

A little before Nero’s death,[331]C. Julius Vindex, who was[332]proprætor of Gaul,[333]openly[334]rebelled, and[335]persuaded Sergius Galba,[336]governor of Spain, to[337]set up for emperor, which he accordingly did, and[338]put Vindex to death presently after. He reigned about seven months, being very[339]old. He was slain together with Piso, whom he had[340]adopted, after M. Silvius Otho was[341]proclaimed emperor; he reigned only about three months.

In the mean time, Vitellius[342]trusting to the[343]legions of Germany, which he[344]commanded in[345]quality of a[346]consular[347]lieutenant-general,[348]took upon him the[349]name of emperor, and[350]defeated Otho’s army in a[351]rencounter near[352]Bebriacum, who being[353]weary of a civil war, killed himself.

Vitellius reigned eight months after Otho, and was[354]succeeded by Vespasian, who had been[355]sent by Nero to[356]quell the[357]Jews. He reigned ten years with the greatest[358]justice and[359]clemency. He was a great[360]encourager of[361]learning and[362]learned men. The only thing that was[363]blamed in him, was his[364]covetousness, which he used to[365]excuse, by[366]alleging the[367]emptiness of the[368]Exchequer.

The war in[369]Judea was[370]finished in his time, to which he was sent by Nero, as we have[371]already[372]said. It was[373]begun by some[374]seditious[375]people that were[376]headed by Eleazar, the son of Ananias, the[377]high-priest, who[378]took up arms against the Romans, under the[379]pretence of[380]religion. Cestius Gallus,[381]lieutenant of Syria,[382]laid siege to[383]Jerusalem, but was[384]beaten off with great[385]slaughter in the 12th year of Nero. The[386]victorious Jews upon their[387]return to Jerusalem, amongst other generals,[388]made choice of[389]Josephus, theson of[390]Matthias for one. In the year of Christ 67, Vespasian,[391]carrying his arms through Galilee and Judea,[392]took, besides most of their towns, Josephus their[393]commander, who[394]foretold his[395]rise. At last, he[396]fell upon Jerusalem, the[397]metropolis of the[398]nation, which was taken by his son Titus, in the second year of his reign.

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