] 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.
of Campania; unresolved whether he should proceed to Rome; or
counterfeiting a show of coming, because he had determined not to come.
Tacitus
.
[_Here begins a lamentable chasm in this "Annal" for almost three years;
and by it we have lost the detail of the most remarkable incidents in
this reign, the exile of Agrippina into the Isle of Pandataria; of
Nero, into that of Pontia; and the murder of both there by the orders of
Tiberius: the conspiracy and execution of Sejanus, with that of all
his friends and dependents: the further wickedness of Livia, and her
death. _]
Now though the rage of the populace was expiring, and though most men
were mollified by former executions; it was determined to condemn the
other children of Sejanus. They were therefore carried both to prison,
the boy sensible of his impending doom; but the girl so ignorant, that
she frequently asked; "For what offence? and whither did they drag her?
she would do so no more; and they might take the rod and whip her. "
The writers of that time relate, "that as it was a thing unheard, for
a virgin to suffer capital punishment, she was deflowered by the
executioner just before he tied the rope; and that being both strangled,
the tender bodies of these children were cast into the place where the
carcasses of malefactors are exposed, before they are flung into the
Tiber. ". . .
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.
[_Here begins a lamentable chasm in this "Annal" for almost three years;
and by it we have lost the detail of the most remarkable incidents in
this reign, the exile of Agrippina into the Isle of Pandataria; of
Nero, into that of Pontia; and the murder of both there by the orders of
Tiberius: the conspiracy and execution of Sejanus, with that of all
his friends and dependents: the further wickedness of Livia, and her
death. _]
Now though the rage of the populace was expiring, and though most men
were mollified by former executions; it was determined to condemn the
other children of Sejanus. They were therefore carried both to prison,
the boy sensible of his impending doom; but the girl so ignorant, that
she frequently asked; "For what offence? and whither did they drag her?
she would do so no more; and they might take the rod and whip her. "
The writers of that time relate, "that as it was a thing unheard, for
a virgin to suffer capital punishment, she was deflowered by the
executioner just before he tied the rope; and that being both strangled,
the tender bodies of these children were cast into the place where the
carcasses of malefactors are exposed, before they are flung into the
Tiber. ". . .
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.
