legacy which he brought them in the name of their former Emperor. The Prætorians might have hesi tated. But Tiberius had instantly assumed the command of them, while their Præfect had as instantly proffered the oath of allegiance. It remained to be seen whether the oath would be maintained. De spatches were sent by Tiberius to the legions at a distance, especially to those commanded by his nephew and adopted son, Germanicus, whose favor with the army, still more than his popularity with the people, greatly terrified his uncle. 30 The Senate, meanwhile, was prostrating itself before the Emperor. It had been convened by Tiberius as Tribune. Nothing, however, was proposed on his part, besides the consideration of the last honors to his predecessor. "For himself," he informed the Senate, "he desired nothing but the privilege of watching over the dead." 31 Even when the sepulture of Augustus had been performed, and the Senate again assembled, their first decrees related to the temple and the worship of their departed Emperor. Not till then came up the question of succession to his authority on earth. 32 It was the first time that such a question had been raised. Augustus succeeded to his uncle Julius only after a fearful interval of civil war in which he came off conqueror. A few had dreamed of returning to the ancient institutions when he 30 Tac., Ann., 1. 7. 31 Id., ib. 32 Id., ib., 1. 11. died. But there stood Tiberius; and the only point to be decided was the manner in which his claims could be satisfied. Not, therefore, with edicts, but with prayers,33 was the imperial power offered to him ; while he, affecting a desire to decline it, gave vent to lamentations upon his incapacity and his age. With renewed solicitations, some weeping, others stretching out their hands to the images of the gods, and many falling at the knees of Tiberius, the five hundred Senators united in imploring him to be their master. He then ordered an account left by Augustus concerning the resources and the exigencies of the Empire to be read aloud. As this rather increased than checked the supplications of which he was the object, Tiberius was heard to murmur, that "though unequal to the charge of the whole, he would accept any part of the government that might be entrusted to him." "And what part," inquired Asinius Gallus, a man whom Augustus described as ambitious and incapable, 34 "what part would Cæsar prefer?" The question was evidently offensive. Gallus, therefore, was fain to say that he had asked it, only to prove the impossibility of dividing the government. "How long," cried out another Senator to Tiberius, "will you suffer the State to be headless?" "We may trust," exclaimed a third, "that Cæsar will not refuse us, since he has not used his authority as Tribune to forbid our proposals." One voice alone was raised more boldly. 33 Versæ inde ad Tiberium preces." Tac., Ann., I.. 11. 34 Avidum et minorem." Id., ib., 1. 13. "Let Cæsar accept," it cried, "or else let him refuse!" A life-long hypocrite, Tiberius consented at the last only to conduct the government until it seemed fit to the Senate to allow him repose in his old age. 35 The titles with which his subjects would have crowned him were warily refused. 36 It was enough for him to consider himself their master. 37 The conduct of the Senate suggests the helplessness of the masses. Very different is the aspect of the soldiery suggested by the proceedings amongst the legions. Those in Pannonia sent messengers to demand redress against their officers and increased privileges. 38 Those in Germany broke out into such disorders that their generals considered the authority of the Emperor in peril. 39 The main army in Germany went so far as to beseech their leader, the Cæsar Germanicus, to assume the imperial power. Nor was it without great difficulty that the loyal prince succeeded in securing the allegiance of the troops to his uncle and adoptive father, the Emperor. 40 The mutiny in Pannonia was quelled by the Cæsar Drusus, the son of Tibe 35 Suet., Tib., 24. Tac., Ann., I. 7-14. Vell. Paterc., II. 124. Dion Cass., LVII. 2. And the subjects would speak of "Ti. Cæsaris Augusti nati ad æternitatem Romani nominis." Orelli, Inscript. Lat. Select., 689. 36 He would not be called Imperator or even Augustus. Suet., Tib., 26. Dion Cass., LVII. 2, 8. He used the latter title, however, in writing to foreign princes; while the former was assumed before the army. Eckhel, Doct. Num. Vet., tom. vi. p. 200. 37 After all this, the Abbé de la Bléterie undertakes "de faire voir que la puissance impériale fut toujours élective de droit et de fait." Mém. de l'Acad., Inscript. et B. Lettres, tom. XIX. pp. 357 et seq. See other Mémoires, tom. XXI., XXIV., XXV., XXVII. 38 Tac., Ann., I. 16 et seq. rius, or rather by a large force of Prætorians sent with him against the insurgents. The legionaries yielded to the chosen troops whom they acknowledged as their superiors. 41 It was all the clearer that the imperial power belonged to him alone whom the army accepted as its Emperor. There was another class whose voice was soon heard. It was that of the courtiers, the attendants, the ministers and even the women of the imperial palace. Tiberius ascended the throne without their recognition of his authority. They waited for him to establish his power, before they asserted theirs. His dependence upon them, as will presently appear, was not the less abject. Such was the Roman power. It could not be upheld but by the basest oppressions. It could not be resisted but by the vainest insurrections. A weary waste of fruitless exertions, of heartless severities opens before us as we proceed. 41 Tac., Ann., 1. 21 et seq. CHAPTER II. HUMILIATION AT ROME. "Romani qui cuncta diu rexere regendi; CLAUDIANUS, De IV. Cons. Hon., 309-311. "I KNOW a man," wrote Epictetus the Phrygian, in the first century of the Empire, "older than I am, and who is now a Præfect at Rome. When he passed through my town on his return from exile, what an account did he give me of his former life! And how did he promise, that for the future, when he had returned to Rome, he would apply himself to nothing else than how to spend the remainder of his days in repose and tranquillity! 'For how few,' he exclaimed, 'have I now remaining! You will not do it, said I. When you are once within the smell of Rome, you will forget all this : and if you can but gain admittance to Court, you will go there, heartily rejoiced, and thanking the gods. If you ever find me,' said he, putting one foot into the Court, think of me what you please.' Now, after all, how did he act? Before he entered the city, he was met by a message from Cæsar. On " |
