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25 - Works of Tacitus by Thomas Gordon, Publius Cornelius Tacitus · Works of Tacitus

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Speaker 1: Section twenty four of the Complete Works of Tacitus, edited
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Speaker 1: by Thomas Gordon. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information, ought
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Speaker 1: to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Graham Redman.
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Speaker 1: The Complete Works of Tacitus, to which are prefix political
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Speaker 1: discourses upon that author, Edited and translated by Thomas Gordon,
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Speaker 1: with introductory essays by Thomas Gordon, Volume one, The Annals,
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Speaker 1: Book two, Section six, The Death of Germanicus. As soon
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Speaker 1: as it was known at Rome that Artaxius was by
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Speaker 1: Germanicus given to the Armenians for their king, the fathers
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Speaker 1: decreed to him and Drusus the lesser triumph. Triumphal arches
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Speaker 1: were likewise erected on each side the Temple of Mars
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Speaker 1: the Avenger, supporting the statues of these two caesars. And
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Speaker 1: for Tiberius, he was more joyful to have established peace
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Speaker 1: by policy, than if by battles and victories he had
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Speaker 1: ended the war. He therefore also assailed by the ways
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Speaker 1: of craft Rescuporis, a king of Thras, that whole nation
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Speaker 1: had been subject to remetalsis. But upon his death, one
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Speaker 1: moiety was by Augustus granted to Harascuparis, his brother, and
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Speaker 1: one to Cotis, his son. In this partition, the vales
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Speaker 1: cities and territories bounding upon Greece fell to Cotis, to Rascuporis,
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Speaker 1: the wilds, the hills, and the parts exposed to a
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Speaker 1: hostile neighborhood. The two kings were likewise dissonant in their genius,
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Speaker 1: the former mild and agreeable, the latter cruel, rapacious, and
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Speaker 1: impatient of equality. Yet at first they lived in hollow friendship.
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Speaker 1: But in a while Rescuporis began to break bounds, to
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Speaker 1: seize for himself the portions of Cotis, and where he
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Speaker 1: met resistance, to exercise violence cautiously. It is true, and
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Speaker 1: by degrees in the life of Augustus, to whose grant
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Speaker 1: they owed both their kingdoms. And if his authority had
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Speaker 1: been despised, his vengeance was dreaded. But upon the change
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Speaker 1: of emperors, he poured in bands of robbers, demolished forts,
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Speaker 1: and thus sought to provoke war. Tiberius was about no
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Speaker 1: consideration of states, so anxious as that things, once settled,
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Speaker 1: should never after be molested. He instantly despatched a centurion
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Speaker 1: to the two kings to forbid their proceeding to a
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Speaker 1: dissi decision by arms, and coatis forthwith dismissed the forces
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Speaker 1: he had raised. Rascuporis feigned submission and desired an interview,
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Speaker 1: for that by treaty, he said, they might adjust all
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Speaker 1: their differences, and upon the time, the place, and even
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Speaker 1: upon the conditions, they quickly agreed, while one through easiness,
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Speaker 1: one through fraud, yielded and accepted every proposition. Rascuporis, for
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Speaker 1: a sanction, as he pretended to the league, added a banquet,
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Speaker 1: and the festivity and drinking was prolonged till midnight, when
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Speaker 1: coatis warm with wine and feasting, and void of circumspection,
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Speaker 1: was suddenly loaded with chains, deprecating in vain the brutal
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Speaker 1: treachery by the inviolable rights of kings, by the common
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Speaker 1: gods of their family, by that very banquet of sacred
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Speaker 1: pledge of concord and hospitality. Rascuporis, having now seized all Thrace,
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Speaker 1: wrote to Tiberius that bloody snares were contrived for him,
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Speaker 1: But he had anticipated the contriver, and, pretending a war
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Speaker 1: against the Bastonians and Scythians, fortified himself with new forces
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Speaker 1: horse and foot. He had a soft answer, that if
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Speaker 1: he had practiced no guile, he might securely trust to
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Speaker 1: his innocence. But neither could he himself nor the Senate,
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Speaker 1: without hearing the cause distinguish between justice and violence, that therefore,
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Speaker 1: delivering up Coatis, he should come and upon him effectually
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Speaker 1: transfer the odium of the crime. This letter Latinius Pandas,
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Speaker 1: Propraetor of Mesia, transmitted to Thrace by the soldiers sent
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Speaker 1: to receive Coatis. Rescuperris, wavering long between fear and rage,
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Speaker 1: determined at last, rather to be guilty of a finished
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Speaker 1: than an imperfect villany, he caused Coatis to be murdered,
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Speaker 1: and belied his death as if by his own hands
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Speaker 1: it had been procured. Neither yet did Tiberius change his
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Speaker 1: favorite course of dissembling. But upon the death of Pandus,
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Speaker 1: whom Rescuperus alleged to have been his enemy, preferred to
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Speaker 1: the government of Mesia Pomponius Flaccus, an ancient officer won
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Speaker 1: in close friendship with the king, and by it more
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Speaker 1: qualified to betray him. Hence chiefly he was preferred. Flaccus
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Speaker 1: passed into Thrace, and though he found him full of hesitation,
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Speaker 1: and revolving with great dismay upon the crying horror of
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Speaker 1: his own wickedness. Yet by mighty promises prevailed upon him
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Speaker 1: to enter the Roman barrier. Here the king, on pretense
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Speaker 1: of solemnity and honor, was surrounded with a strong party
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Speaker 1: and a crowd of offer officers, who pressed him by
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Speaker 1: earnest exhortations and many arguments. And the further they traveled,
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Speaker 1: the more apparent to him was his confinement, so that
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Speaker 1: at last, convinced of the necessity of going, he was
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Speaker 1: by them hailed to Rome. He was accused before the
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Speaker 1: Senate by the wife of Cotis, and condemned to exile
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Speaker 1: far from his kingdom. Thrace was divided between Rematalsis, his son,
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Speaker 1: who it was manifest had opposed all his father's outrageous measures,
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Speaker 1: and the sons of Cotis. These were miners and placed
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Speaker 1: with their kingdom under the administration of Trebellianus Rufus, formerly Praeta,
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Speaker 1: after the example of our ancestors, who sent Marcus Lepidus
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Speaker 1: into Egypt in quality of guardian to the children of
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Speaker 1: Ptolemy Rascuporus was transported to Alexandria, and their slain attempting
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Speaker 1: flight or falsely charged with it. At the same time, Venones,
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Speaker 1: who had been removed, as I have above related into Silesia,
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Speaker 1: corrupted his keepers and endeavored to escape to Armenia, thence
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Speaker 1: to the Albanians and Heniochians, and then to his kinsman,
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Speaker 1: the king of Scythia. Thus pretending to hunt and avoiding
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Speaker 1: the maritime coasts, he gained the devious recesses of the forests,
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Speaker 1: and then on a sudden rode full speed to the
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Speaker 1: river Pyramus. But the countrymen, apprized of the king's flight,
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Speaker 1: had broken the bridges. Neither was the stream to be
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Speaker 1: forded upon the banks. Therefore, of the river he was
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Speaker 1: by vibious fronto general of horse put in bonds, and
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Speaker 1: presently after by Remius, a resumed veteran. Lately his keeper
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Speaker 1: run through in affected roth with a sword. Hence arose
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Speaker 1: the stronger belief that from consciousness of fraud and dread
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Speaker 1: of discovery, Venones was slain. Germanicus, returning from Egypt, learned
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Speaker 1: that all his orders left with the legions in the
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Speaker 1: Eastern cities were either entirely abolished or contrary regulations, established
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Speaker 1: a ground for his severe resentment and reproaches upon Piso.
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Speaker 1: Nor less keen were the efforts and machinations of Piso
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Speaker 1: against Germanicus. Yet Piso afterwards determined to leave Syria, but
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Speaker 1: was detained by the following illness of Germanicus. Again, when
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Speaker 1: he heard of his recovery and perceived that vows were
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Speaker 1: paid for his restoration, the lictors, by his command, broke
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Speaker 1: the solemnity, drove away the victims already of the altars,
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Speaker 1: overturned the apparatus of the sacrifice, and scouted the people
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Speaker 1: of Antioch employed in celebrating the festival. He then departed
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Speaker 1: to Seleucia, waiting the event of the malady which had
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Speaker 1: again assaulted Germanicus. His own persuasion, too, that poison was
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Speaker 1: given him by Piso, heightened the cruel vehemence of the disease. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: upon the floors and walls were found fragments of human bodies,
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Speaker 1: the spoils of the grave, with charms and incantations, and
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Speaker 1: the name of Germanicus graved on sheets of lead, carcasses,
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Speaker 1: half burnt, besmeared with glore, and other witchcrafts by which
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Speaker 1: souls are thought doomed to the infernal gods. Besides, there
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Speaker 1: were certain persons charged as creatures of Piso, purposely sent
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Speaker 1: and employed to watch the progress and efforts of the disease.
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Speaker 1: These things filled Germanicus with apprehensions great as his resentment.
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Speaker 1: If his doors, he said, were besieged under the eyes
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Speaker 1: of his enemies, he must render up his spirit. What
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Speaker 1: was to be expected to his unhappy wife, what to
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Speaker 1: his infant children. The progress of poison was thought too slow.
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Speaker 1: Piso was impatient and urging with eagerness to command alone
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Speaker 1: the legions, to possess alone the province. But Germanicus was
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Speaker 1: not sunk to such lowness and impotence that the price
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Speaker 1: of his murder should remain with the murderer, And by
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Speaker 1: a letter to Piso he renounced his friendship. Some add
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Speaker 1: that he commanded him to depart the province. Nor did
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Speaker 1: Piso tarry longer, but took ship, yet checked her sailing
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Speaker 1: in order to return with the more quickness. Should the
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Speaker 1: death of Germanicus the while leave the government of Syria vacant. Germanicus,
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Speaker 1: after a small revival, drooping again, when his end approached,
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Speaker 1: spoke on this wise to his tending friends. Were I
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Speaker 1: to yield to the destiny of nature. Just even then
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Speaker 1: were my complaints against the gods for hurrying me from
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Speaker 1: my parents, my children, and my country by a hasty
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Speaker 1: death in the prime of life, now shorten'd in my
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Speaker 1: course by the malignity of Piso and his wife. To
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Speaker 1: your breasts, I commit my last prayers. Tell my father,
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Speaker 1: tell my brother, with what violent persecutions, afflicted with what
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Speaker 1: mortal snares circumvented, I end a most miserable life by
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Speaker 1: death of all others, the worst, all they whose hopes
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Speaker 1: in my fortune, all they whose kindred blood, and even
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Speaker 1: they whose envy possessed them with impressions about me whilst living,
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Speaker 1: shall bewail me dead, that once great in glory, and
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Speaker 1: surviving so many wars, I fell at last by the
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Speaker 1: dark devices of a woman to you place will be
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Speaker 1: left to complain in the senate place, to invoke the
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Speaker 1: aid and vengeance of the laws. To commemorate the dead
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Speaker 1: with slothful wailings is not the principal office of friends.
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Speaker 1: They are to remember his dying wishes, to fulfill his
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Speaker 1: last desires. Even strangers will lament Germanicus, you are my friends.
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Speaker 1: If you loved me rather than my fortune, you will
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Speaker 1: vindicate your friendship. Show the people of Rome my wife
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Speaker 1: her who is the granddaughter of Augustus, and enumerate to
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Speaker 1: them our offspring, even six children. Their compassion will surely
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Speaker 1: attend you who accuse, and the accused, if they pretend
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Speaker 1: clandestine warrants of iniquity, will not be believed, if believed not,
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Speaker 1: pardoned his friends as a pledge of their fidelity, Touching
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Speaker 1: the hand of the dying prince, swore that they would
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Speaker 1: forego their lives sooner than their revenge. Then, turning to
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Speaker 1: his wife, he besought her that, in tenderness to his memory,
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Speaker 1: in tenderness to their common children, she would banish her
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Speaker 1: haughty spirit, yield to her hostile fortune, nor upon her
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Speaker 1: return to Rome, by an impotent competition for ruling, irritate
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Speaker 1: those who were masters of rule, so much openly and
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Speaker 1: more in secret. Whence he was believed to have warned
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Speaker 1: her of guile and danger from Tiberius. Soon after he expired,
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Speaker 1: to the heavy sorrow of the province and of all
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Speaker 1: the neighboring countries, insomuch that remote nations and foreign kings
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Speaker 1: were mourners. Such had been his complacency to our confederates,
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Speaker 1: such his humanity to his enemies, alike, venerable he was,
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Speaker 1: whether you saw him or heard him, and without ever
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Speaker 1: departing from the grave port and dignity of his sublime rank,
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Speaker 1: he yet lived, destitute of arrogance and untouched by envy.
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Speaker 1: The funeral, which was performed without exterior pomp or a
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Speaker 1: procession of images, drew its solemnity from the loud praises
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Speaker 1: and amiable memory of his virtues. There were those who,
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Speaker 1: from the loveliness of his person, his age, his manner
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Speaker 1: of dying, and even from the proximity of places where
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Speaker 1: both departed, compared him in the circumstances of his fate
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Speaker 1: to the great Alexander, each of a graceful person, each
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Speaker 1: of illustrious descent in years, neither much exceeding thirty, both
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Speaker 1: victims to the malice and machinations of their own people
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Speaker 1: in the midst of foreign nations. But Germanicus gentle towards
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Speaker 1: his friends, his pleasures, moderate, confined to one wife, all
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Speaker 1: his children by one bed, nor less a warrior, though
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Speaker 1: not so rash, however, hindered from a final reduction of Germany,
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Speaker 1: broken by him in so many victories and ready for
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Speaker 1: the yoke, so that had he been sole arbiter of things,
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Speaker 1: had he acted with the sovereignty and title of royalty,
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Speaker 1: he had easier overtaken him in the glory of conquests,
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Speaker 1: as he surpassed him in clemency, in moderation, and in
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Speaker 1: other virtues. His body, before its commitment to the pile,
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Speaker 1: was exhibited naked in the Forum of Antioch, the place
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Speaker 1: where the pile was erected. Whether it bore or the
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Speaker 1: marks of poison remained undecided for people, as they were
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Speaker 1: divided in their affections, as they pitted Germanicus and presumed
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Speaker 1: the guilt of Piso, or were partial to him gave
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Speaker 1: opposite accounts. It was next debated amongst the legates of
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Speaker 1: the legions and the other senators there to whom should
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Speaker 1: be committed the administration of Syria, And after the faint
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Speaker 1: efforts of others, it was long disputed between Vibius Marsus
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Speaker 1: and Canius. Sentius Marses at last yielded to Centius, the
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Speaker 1: older man and the more vehement competitor by him one martina,
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Speaker 1: infamous in that province for practices in poisoning, and a
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Speaker 1: close confidant of Plancina, was sent to Rome at the
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Speaker 1: suit of Vitellius Arrhenius and others, who were preparing criminal
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Speaker 1: articles against Piso and Plancina, as against persons evidently guilty. Agrippina,
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Speaker 1: though overwhelmed with sorrow and her body indisposed, yet impatient
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Speaker 1: of all delays to her revenge, embarked with the ashes
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Speaker 1: of Germanicus, and her children attended with universal commiseration that
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Speaker 1: a lady in quality, a princess, wont to be beheld
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Speaker 1: in her late splendid wedlock, with applauses and adorations, was
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Speaker 1: now seen bearing in her bosom her husband's funeral urn,
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Speaker 1: uncertain of vengeance for him, and fearful for herself, unfortunate
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Speaker 1: in her fruitfulness, and from so many children, obnoxious to
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Speaker 1: so many blows of fortune. Piso the while, was overtaken
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Speaker 1: at the Isle of Coas by a message that Germanicus
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Speaker 1: was deceased, and received it intemperately, slew victims and repaired
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Speaker 1: with thanksgivings to the temples. Yet, however immoderate and undisguised,
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Speaker 1: was his joy. More arrogant and insulting proved that of Plancina,
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Speaker 1: who immediately threw off her mourning, which for the death
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Speaker 1: of a sister she wore, and assumed a dress adapted
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Speaker 1: to gaiety and gladness. About him flocked the Centurions with
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Speaker 1: officious representations that upon him particularly were bent the affections
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Speaker 1: and zeal of the legions, and he should proceed to
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Speaker 1: resume the province, at first injuriously taken from him, and
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Speaker 1: now destitute of a governor. As he therefore consulted what
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Speaker 1: he had best pursue, his son Marcus Piso, advised a
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Speaker 1: speedy journey to Rome. Hitherto he said, nothing past expiation
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Speaker 1: was committed. Neither were impotent suspicions to be dreaded, nor
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Speaker 1: the idle blazonings of fame. His variance and contention with
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Speaker 1: Germanicus was perhaps subject to popular hate and diversion, but
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Speaker 1: to no prosecution or penalty. And by bereaving him of
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Speaker 1: the province his enemies were gratified. But if he returned
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Speaker 1: thither as Centius would certainly oppose him with arms. A
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Speaker 1: civil war would thence be actually begun. Neither would the
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Speaker 1: Centurions and soldiers persist in his party, men with whom
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Speaker 1: the recent memory of their late commander and an inveterate
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Speaker 1: love to the Caesars in general were still prevalent. The
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Speaker 1: Misio seller one in intimate credit with Piso, argued on
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Speaker 1: the contrary, that the present event must, by all means
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Speaker 1: be improved. It was Piso, and not Sentius, who had
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Speaker 1: commissioned to govern Syria. Upon him were conferred the jurisdiction
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Speaker 1: of Peeta and the badges of magistracy, and with him
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Speaker 1: the legions were entrusted, so that effects of hostility were
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Speaker 1: by his opponents attempted with howm much better warrant could
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Speaker 1: he avow, assuming arms in his own right and defense,
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Speaker 1: who was thus vested with the authority of general and
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Speaker 1: acted under special orders from the emperor, rumors too, were
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Speaker 1: to be neglected and left to perish with time. In
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Speaker 1: truth to the sallies and violence of recent hate, the
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Speaker 1: innocent were often unequal. But were he once possessed of
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Speaker 1: the army and had well augmented his forces, many things
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Speaker 1: not to be foreseen would from fortune derive success. Are
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Speaker 1: we then, preposterously hastening to arrive at Rome with the
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Speaker 1: ashes of Germanicus, that you may therefall unheard and undefended
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Speaker 1: A victim to the wailings of Agrippina, a prey to
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Speaker 1: the passionate populace governed by the first impressions of rumor Livia.
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Speaker 1: It is true, is your confederate Tiberius is your friend,
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Speaker 1: but both both secretly and indeed, none will more pompously
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Speaker 1: bewail the violent fate of Germanicus than such as do
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Speaker 1: most sincerely rejoice for it. Piso, of himself, prompt to
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Speaker 1: violent pursuits, was with no great labor persuaded into this opinion,
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Speaker 1: and in a letter transmitted to Tiberius, accused Germanicus of
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Speaker 1: luxury and pride, that for himself he had been expulsed
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Speaker 1: to leave room for dangerous designs against the state, and
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Speaker 1: now resumed, with his former faith and loyalty the care
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Speaker 1: of the army. In the meantime, he put Demicius on
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Speaker 1: boarder galley and ordered him to avoid appearing upon the
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Speaker 1: coasts or amongst the isles, but through the main sea
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Speaker 1: to sail to Syria. The deserters, who from all quarters
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Speaker 1: were flocking to him in crowds, he formed into companies
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Speaker 1: and armed all the retainers to the camp, then, sailing
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Speaker 1: over to the continent into accepted a regiment of recruits
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Speaker 1: upon their march into Syria, and wrote to the small
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Speaker 1: kings of Silesia to assist him with present succors. Nor
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Speaker 1: was the younger Piso slow in prosecuting all the measures
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Speaker 1: of war, though to adventure a war had been against
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Speaker 1: his sentiments and advice. As they coasted Lysia and Pamphylia,
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Speaker 1: they encountered the ships which carried Agrippina, with hostile spirits
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Speaker 1: on each side, and each at first prepared for combat,
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Speaker 1: but as equal dread of one another possessed both, they
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Speaker 1: proceeded not further than mutual contumalies. Bibious masses particularly summoned
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Speaker 1: Piso as a criminal to Rome. There to make his defense.
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Speaker 1: He answered with derision that when the Praeta, who was
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Speaker 1: to sit upon poisonings, had assigned a day to the
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Speaker 1: accusers and the accused, he would attend demicious the While
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Speaker 1: landing at Laodis Sea, a city of Syria, would have
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Speaker 1: proceeded to the winter quarters of the sixth Legion, which
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Speaker 1: he believed to be the most prone to engage in
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Speaker 1: novel attempts, but was prevented by Pacuvius. Its commander. Centius
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Speaker 1: represented this by letter to Piso, and warned him at
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Speaker 1: his peril to infect the camp by ministers of corruption,
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Speaker 1: or to assail the province by war, and drew into
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Speaker 1: a body such as he knew loved Germanicus, or such
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Speaker 1: as were averse to his foes. Upon them he inculcated
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Speaker 1: with much ardor that Piso was with open arms attacking
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Speaker 1: the majesty of the Prince and invading the Roman state.
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Speaker 1: And then marched at the head of a puissant body,
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Speaker 1: equipped for battle and resolute to engage. Neither failed. Piso,
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Speaker 1: though his enterprises had thus found miscarried to apply the
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Speaker 1: securest remedies to his present perplexities, and therefore seized a
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Speaker 1: castle of Silesia, strongly fortified its name Celendris. For to
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Speaker 1: the auxiliary Silicians sent him by the petty kings, he
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Speaker 1: had joined his body of deserters, as also the recruits
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Speaker 1: lately intercepted with all his own and Plancina's slaves, and
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Speaker 1: thus in number and bulk, had of the whole composed
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Speaker 1: a legion to them. He thus harangued, I, who am
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Speaker 1: the lieutenant of Caesar, am yet violently excluded from the province,
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Speaker 1: which to me Caesar has committed, not excluded by the legions,
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Speaker 1: for by their invitation I am arrived, but by Sentius,
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Speaker 1: who thus disguises under feigned crimes against me his own
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Speaker 1: animosity and personal hate. But with confidence you may stand
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Speaker 1: in battle where the opposite army upon the site of Piso,
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Speaker 1: a commander lately by themselves styled their father, will certainly
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Speaker 1: refuse to fight. They know too that were right to
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Speaker 1: decide it. I am the stronger and of no mean
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Speaker 1: puissants in a trial at arms. He then arrayed his
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Speaker 1: men without the fortifications, on a hill, steep and craggy,
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Speaker 1: for all the rest was begirt by the sea. Against
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Speaker 1: them stood the veterans, regularly embattled and supported with a
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Speaker 1: body of reserve, so that here appeared the force of men.
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Speaker 1: There only the terror and stubbornness of situation. On Pizo's side.
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Speaker 1: Was no spirit, no hope, nor even weapons, save those
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Speaker 1: of Rustics, for instant necessity, hastily acquired as soon as
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Speaker 1: they came to blows, the issue was no longer doubtful,
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Speaker 1: and while the Roman cohorts struggled up the steep, the
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Speaker 1: Sillyssians then fled and shut themselves up in the castle Piso,
25:56
Speaker 1: having the while, attempted in vain to storm the fleet,
26:00
Speaker 1: which rode at a small distance. As soon as he returned,
26:04
Speaker 1: presented himself upon the walls, whereby a succession of passionate
26:10
Speaker 1: complaints and entreaties, now bemoaning in agonies the bitterness of
26:15
Speaker 1: his lot. Then calling and cajoling every particular soldier by
26:20
Speaker 1: his name and by rewards, tempting all, he labored to
26:24
Speaker 1: excite a sedition, And thus much he had already effected,
26:29
Speaker 1: that the eagle bearer of the sixth Legion revolted to
26:33
Speaker 1: him with his eagle. This alarmed Sentius, and instantly he
26:37
Speaker 1: commanded the cornets and trumpets to sound, a mount to
26:41
Speaker 1: be raised, the ladders placed, and the bravest men to mount,
26:46
Speaker 1: and others to pour from the engines, volleys of darts
26:50
Speaker 1: and stones, and flaming torches. The obstinacy of Piso was
26:56
Speaker 1: at last vanquished, and he desired that, upon delivering his arms,
27:00
Speaker 1: he might remain in the castle till the Emperor's pleasure,
27:04
Speaker 1: to whom he would commit the government of Syria. Were
27:07
Speaker 1: known conditions which were not accepted, nor was aught granted him,
27:13
Speaker 1: save ships and a passport to Rome, after the illness
27:18
Speaker 1: of Germanicus became noised abroad. There and all its circumstances,
27:23
Speaker 1: like rumors magnified by distance, were related with many aggravations.
27:28
Speaker 1: Sadness seized the people, They burned with indignation, and even
27:34
Speaker 1: poured out in plaints the anguish of their souls. For this,
27:38
Speaker 1: they said, he had been banished to the extremities of
27:41
Speaker 1: the Empire. For this the province of Syria was committed
27:46
Speaker 1: to Piso. And these the fruits of Livia's mysterious conferences
27:51
Speaker 1: with Plancina. Truly had our fathers spoken concerning his father Drusus,
27:58
Speaker 1: that the possessors of rule beheld with an evil eye
28:01
Speaker 1: the popular spirit of their sons. Nor for aught else
28:05
Speaker 1: were they sacrificed, but for their equal treatment of the
28:09
Speaker 1: Roman people and studying to restore the popular state. These
28:14
Speaker 1: lamentations of the populace were, upon the tidings of his death,
28:19
Speaker 1: so inflamed that, without staying for an edict from the magistrates,
28:24
Speaker 1: without a decree of senate, they by general consent assumed
28:27
Speaker 1: a vacation. The public courts were deserted, private houses shut up.
28:34
Speaker 1: Prevalent everywhere were the symptoms of woe, heavy groans, dismal silence,
28:40
Speaker 1: the whole a scene of real sorrow, and nothing devised
28:45
Speaker 1: for form or show. And though they forbore not to
28:49
Speaker 1: bear the exterior marks and habiliments of mourning in their souls,
28:54
Speaker 1: they mourned still deeper. Accidentally, some merchants from Syria, who
29:00
Speaker 1: had left Germanicus still alive, brought more joyful news of
29:04
Speaker 1: his condition. These were instantly believed and instantly proclaimed, each
29:10
Speaker 1: as fast as they met informed others, who forthwith conveyed
29:14
Speaker 1: their light information with improvements and accumulated joy to more.
29:20
Speaker 1: All flew with exultation through the city, and to pay
29:24
Speaker 1: their thanks and vows, burst open the temple doors. The night, too,
29:30
Speaker 1: heightened their credulity, and affirmation was bolder in the dark.
29:35
Speaker 1: Nor did Tiberius restrain the course of these fictions, but
29:40
Speaker 1: left them to vanish with time. Hence with more bitterness.
29:45
Speaker 1: They afterwards grieved for him, as if a new snatched
29:49
Speaker 1: from them. Honours were invented and decreed to Germanicus, various
29:56
Speaker 1: as the affections and genius of the particular senators who
30:00
Speaker 1: proposed them, that his name should be sung in the
30:04
Speaker 1: Salian hymns curial chairs placed for him amongst the priests
30:08
Speaker 1: of Augustus, and over these chairs oaken crowns hung his
30:13
Speaker 1: statue in ivory. Proceed in the Cessensian Games, none but
30:18
Speaker 1: one of the Julian race be in the room of
30:21
Speaker 1: Germanicus created flamen or augur. Triumphal arches were added, one
30:28
Speaker 1: at Rome, one upon the banks of the Rhine, one
30:31
Speaker 1: upon Mount Aminus in Syria, with inscriptions of his exploits
30:36
Speaker 1: and a testimony subjoined that he died for the commonwealth.
30:41
Speaker 1: A sepulcher at Antioch, where his corpse was burnt, a
30:45
Speaker 1: tribunal at Epidaphne, the place where he ended his life.
30:50
Speaker 1: The multitude of statues, the many places where divine honors
30:54
Speaker 1: were appointed to be paid him would not be easily recounted.
30:59
Speaker 1: They would have also so decreed him as to one
31:02
Speaker 1: of the masters of eloquence, a golden shield, signal in
31:06
Speaker 1: bulk as in metal. But Tiberius offered to dedicate one himself,
31:11
Speaker 1: such as was usual, and of a like size with others,
31:15
Speaker 1: for that eloquence was not measured by fortune, and it
31:19
Speaker 1: was sufficient glory if he were ranked with ancient writers.
31:23
Speaker 1: The battalion called after the name of the June was
31:27
Speaker 1: now by the Equestrian Order entitled the Battalion of Germanicus,
31:33
Speaker 1: and a rule made that on every fifteenth of July
31:36
Speaker 1: these troops should follow as their standard the effigies of Germanicus.
31:43
Speaker 1: Of these honours many continue, some were instantly omitted, or
31:48
Speaker 1: by time are utterly obliterated. In the height of this
31:53
Speaker 1: public sorrow, Livia, sister to Germanicus and married to Drusus,
31:59
Speaker 1: was delivered of male twins, an event even in middling families,
32:04
Speaker 1: rare and acceptable, and to Tiberia such mighty matter of joy,
32:09
Speaker 1: that he could not refrain boasting to the fathers that
32:13
Speaker 1: to no Roman of the same eminence before him were
32:16
Speaker 1: ever two children born at a birth For to his
32:20
Speaker 1: own glory he turned all things, even things fortuitous. But
32:26
Speaker 1: to the people, at such a sad conjuncture it brought
32:30
Speaker 1: fresh anguish, as they feared that the family of Drusus,
32:34
Speaker 1: thus increased, would press heavily upon that of Germanicus. The
32:41
Speaker 1: same year, the lubricity of women was by the Senate
32:44
Speaker 1: restrained with severe laws, and it was provided that no
32:49
Speaker 1: woman should become venal if her father, grandfather, or husband
32:53
Speaker 1: were Roman knights for Vistilia, a lady born of a
32:58
Speaker 1: Pretorian family, had before the ed Isles, published herself a prostitute,
33:03
Speaker 1: upon a custom allowed by our ancestors, who thought that
33:07
Speaker 1: prostitutes were, by thus avowing their infamy, sufficiently punished. Tititius Labio,
33:15
Speaker 1: too was questioned that, in the manifest guilt of his wife,
33:19
Speaker 1: he had neglected the punishment prescribed by the law, but
33:23
Speaker 1: he alleged that the sixty days allowed for consultation were
33:27
Speaker 1: not elapsed, and it was deemed sufficient to proceed against Vestilia,
33:33
Speaker 1: who was banished to the Isle of Seriphus. Measures were
33:37
Speaker 1: also taken for exterminating the solemnities of the Jews and Egyptians,
33:42
Speaker 1: and by decree of Senate, four thousand descendants of franchised slaves,
33:48
Speaker 1: all tainted with that superstition but of proper strength and age,
33:53
Speaker 1: were to be transported to Sardinia to restrain the Santinian robbers,
33:58
Speaker 1: and if, through the malignity of the climate they perished,
34:02
Speaker 1: despicable would be the loss. The rest were doomed to
34:06
Speaker 1: depart Italy unless by a stated day they renounced their
34:11
Speaker 1: profane rites. After this, Tiberius represented that to supply the
34:18
Speaker 1: place of Oxia, who had presided seven and fifty years
34:22
Speaker 1: with the highest sanctimony over the vestals. Another virgin was
34:27
Speaker 1: to be chosen, and thanked Fontia, Sagrippa, and Acinius Pollio,
34:32
Speaker 1: that by offering their daughters they contended in good offices
34:35
Speaker 1: towards the commonwealth. Pollio's daughter was preferred for nothing else
34:41
Speaker 1: but that her mother had ever continued in the same wedlock.
34:45
Speaker 1: For Agrippa, by a divorce, had impaired the credit of
34:49
Speaker 1: his house upon her, who was postponed. Tiberius, in consolation,
34:54
Speaker 1: bestowed for her fortune a thousand great sesterces. As the
35:01
Speaker 1: people murmured at the severe dearth of corn, he settled
35:05
Speaker 1: grain at a price certain to the buyer, and undertook
35:09
Speaker 1: to pay fourteen pence a measure to the seller. Neither
35:13
Speaker 1: yet would he accept the name of father of his country,
35:16
Speaker 1: a title offered him before and for these bounties. Now again, Nay,
35:22
Speaker 1: he sharply rebuked such as styled these provisions of his
35:26
Speaker 1: divine occupations and him lord. Hence freedom of speech became
35:32
Speaker 1: cramped and insecure under such a prince, one who dreaded
35:37
Speaker 1: liberty and abhorred flattery. I find in the writers of
35:43
Speaker 1: those times, some of them senators, that in the Senate
35:46
Speaker 1: were read letters from Adgandestrius, Prince of the Catians, undertaking
35:52
Speaker 1: to despatch Arminius, if in order to it poison were
35:55
Speaker 1: sent him, and an answer returned that not by fra
36:00
Speaker 1: lords and blows in the dark, but armed and in
36:03
Speaker 1: the face of the sun, the Roman people took vengeance
36:06
Speaker 1: on their foes. In this Tiberius gained equal glory with
36:11
Speaker 1: our ancient captains, who rejected and disclosed a plot to
36:15
Speaker 1: poison King Pirus. Arminius, however, who upon the departure of
36:21
Speaker 1: the Romans and expulsion of Maribodius, aimed at royalty, became
36:26
Speaker 1: thence engaged in a struggle against the liberty of his country,
36:30
Speaker 1: and in defense of their liberty. His countrymen took arms
36:33
Speaker 1: against him, so that while with various fortune he contended
36:37
Speaker 1: with them, he fell by the treachery of his own
36:41
Speaker 1: kindred the deliverer of Germany. Without doubt, he was one
36:46
Speaker 1: who assailed the Roman power, not like other kings and
36:50
Speaker 1: leaders in its first elements, but in its highest pride
36:54
Speaker 1: and elevation, one sometimes beaten in battle, but never conquered
37:00
Speaker 1: in war thirty seven years he lived, twelve he commanded,
37:06
Speaker 1: and amongst these barbarous nations his memory is still celebrated
37:11
Speaker 1: in their songs, though his name be unknown in the
37:14
Speaker 1: annals of the Greeks, who only admire their own national
37:18
Speaker 1: exploits and renown, nor even amongst the Romans, does this
37:23
Speaker 1: great captain bear much distinction. While overlooking instances of modern
37:28
Speaker 1: prowess and glory, we only delight to magnify men and
37:33
Speaker 1: feats of old. End of Section twenty four