" Tiberius however returned thanks to the Senate for
such an instance of affection; but as he was wont to mix pleasantry with
things serious, he asked, "How was it to be executed?
such an instance of affection; but as he was wont to mix pleasantry with
things serious, he asked, "How was it to be executed?
Tacitus
.
.
BOOK VI
A. D. 32-37.
Cneius Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus had begun their Consulship,
when the Emperor, having crossed the channel between Capreae [Footnote:
Capri. ] and Surrentum, [Footnote: Sorrento. ] sailed along the shore
of Campania; unresolved whether he should proceed to Rome; or
counterfeiting a show of coming, because he had determined not to come.
He often approached to the neighbourhood of the city, and even visited
the gardens upon the Tiber; but at last resumed his old retirement,
the gloomy rocks and solitude of the sea, ashamed of his cruelties, and
abominable lusts; in which he rioted so outrageously, that after the
fashion of royal tyrants, the children of ingenuous parentage became the
objects of his pollution: nor in them was he struck with a lovely face
only, or the graces of their persons; but in some their amiable and
childish innocence, in others their nobility and the glory of their
ancestors, became the provocatives of his unnatural passion. Then
likewise were devised the filthy names, till then unknown, of the
_Sellarii_ and _Spintriae_, expressing the odious lewdness of the place,
and the manifold postures and methods of prostitution practised in it.
For supplying his lust with these innocent victims, he entertained, in
his service professed procurers, to look them out and carry them off.
The willing they encouraged with presents, the backward they terrified
with threats; and upon such parents or kindred as withheld the infants,
they exercised force, seizure, and, as upon so many captives, every
species of licentious rage.
At Rome in the beginning of the year, as if the iniquities of Livia
had been but just discovered, and not even long since punished, furious
orders were passed against her statues too, and memory; with another,
"that the effects of Sejanus should be taken from the public treasury,
and placed in that of the Emperor:" as if this vain translation could
any wise avail the State. And yet such was the motion of these great
names, the Scipios, the Silani, and the Cassii; who urged it, each
almost in the same words, but all with mighty zeal and earnestness: when
all on a sudden, Togonius Gallus, while he would be thrusting his own
meanness amongst names so greatly illustrious, became the object of
derision: for he besought the Prince "to choose a body of Senators
of whom twenty, drawn by lot and under arms, should wait upon him and
defend his person, as often as he entered the Senate. " He had been weak
enough to credit a letter from the Emperor, requiring "the guard and
protection of one of the Consuls, that he might return in safety from
Capreae to Rome.
" Tiberius however returned thanks to the Senate for
such an instance of affection; but as he was wont to mix pleasantry with
things serious, he asked, "How was it to be executed? what Senators were
to be chosen? who to be omitted? whether always the same, or a continued
succession? whether young Senators, or such as had borne dignities?
whether those who were Magistrates, or those exercising no magistracy?
moreover what a becoming figure they would make, grave Senators, men of
the gown, under arms at the entrance of the Senate! in truth he held not
his life of such importance, to have it thus protected by arms. " So much
in answer to Togonius, without asperity of words; nor did he farther,
than this, press them to cancel the motion.
But Junius Gallio escaped not thus. He had proposed "that the Praetorian
soldiers, having accomplished their term of service, should thence
acquire the privilege of sitting in the fourteen rows of the theatre
allotted to the Roman knights. " Upon him Tiberius fell with violent
wrath, and, as if present, demanded, what business had he with the
soldiers? men whose duty bound them to observe only the orders of the
Emperor, and from the Emperor alone to receive their rewards. Gallio had
forsooth discovered a recompense which had escaped the sagacity of the
deified Augustus? Or was it not rather a project started by a mercenary
of Sejanus, to raise sedition and discord; a project tending to debauch
the rude minds of the soldiers with the show and bait of new honour; to
corrupt their discipline, and set them loose from military restrictions?
This reward, had the studied flattery of Gallio; who was instantly
expelled the Senate, and then Italy: nay, it became a charge upon him,
that his exile would be too easy, having for the place of it chosen
Lesbos, an island noble and delightful; he was therefore haled back to
Rome and confined a prisoner in the house of a Magistrate.
BOOK VI
A. D. 32-37.
Cneius Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus had begun their Consulship,
when the Emperor, having crossed the channel between Capreae [Footnote:
Capri. ] and Surrentum, [Footnote: Sorrento. ] sailed along the shore
of Campania; unresolved whether he should proceed to Rome; or
counterfeiting a show of coming, because he had determined not to come.
He often approached to the neighbourhood of the city, and even visited
the gardens upon the Tiber; but at last resumed his old retirement,
the gloomy rocks and solitude of the sea, ashamed of his cruelties, and
abominable lusts; in which he rioted so outrageously, that after the
fashion of royal tyrants, the children of ingenuous parentage became the
objects of his pollution: nor in them was he struck with a lovely face
only, or the graces of their persons; but in some their amiable and
childish innocence, in others their nobility and the glory of their
ancestors, became the provocatives of his unnatural passion. Then
likewise were devised the filthy names, till then unknown, of the
_Sellarii_ and _Spintriae_, expressing the odious lewdness of the place,
and the manifold postures and methods of prostitution practised in it.
For supplying his lust with these innocent victims, he entertained, in
his service professed procurers, to look them out and carry them off.
The willing they encouraged with presents, the backward they terrified
with threats; and upon such parents or kindred as withheld the infants,
they exercised force, seizure, and, as upon so many captives, every
species of licentious rage.
At Rome in the beginning of the year, as if the iniquities of Livia
had been but just discovered, and not even long since punished, furious
orders were passed against her statues too, and memory; with another,
"that the effects of Sejanus should be taken from the public treasury,
and placed in that of the Emperor:" as if this vain translation could
any wise avail the State. And yet such was the motion of these great
names, the Scipios, the Silani, and the Cassii; who urged it, each
almost in the same words, but all with mighty zeal and earnestness: when
all on a sudden, Togonius Gallus, while he would be thrusting his own
meanness amongst names so greatly illustrious, became the object of
derision: for he besought the Prince "to choose a body of Senators
of whom twenty, drawn by lot and under arms, should wait upon him and
defend his person, as often as he entered the Senate. " He had been weak
enough to credit a letter from the Emperor, requiring "the guard and
protection of one of the Consuls, that he might return in safety from
Capreae to Rome.
" Tiberius however returned thanks to the Senate for
such an instance of affection; but as he was wont to mix pleasantry with
things serious, he asked, "How was it to be executed? what Senators were
to be chosen? who to be omitted? whether always the same, or a continued
succession? whether young Senators, or such as had borne dignities?
whether those who were Magistrates, or those exercising no magistracy?
moreover what a becoming figure they would make, grave Senators, men of
the gown, under arms at the entrance of the Senate! in truth he held not
his life of such importance, to have it thus protected by arms. " So much
in answer to Togonius, without asperity of words; nor did he farther,
than this, press them to cancel the motion.
But Junius Gallio escaped not thus. He had proposed "that the Praetorian
soldiers, having accomplished their term of service, should thence
acquire the privilege of sitting in the fourteen rows of the theatre
allotted to the Roman knights. " Upon him Tiberius fell with violent
wrath, and, as if present, demanded, what business had he with the
soldiers? men whose duty bound them to observe only the orders of the
Emperor, and from the Emperor alone to receive their rewards. Gallio had
forsooth discovered a recompense which had escaped the sagacity of the
deified Augustus? Or was it not rather a project started by a mercenary
of Sejanus, to raise sedition and discord; a project tending to debauch
the rude minds of the soldiers with the show and bait of new honour; to
corrupt their discipline, and set them loose from military restrictions?
This reward, had the studied flattery of Gallio; who was instantly
expelled the Senate, and then Italy: nay, it became a charge upon him,
that his exile would be too easy, having for the place of it chosen
Lesbos, an island noble and delightful; he was therefore haled back to
Rome and confined a prisoner in the house of a Magistrate.
